5.3.2 ‘@*’, ‘@*n’: Begin major section

‘@*’ begins a new major (starred) section (of level 0). The command must be followed by the name of the section (entry in the Table of Contents), followed by a period. (If a period appears in the name itself, it must be protected by braces.)

The section name is also used as a running head on the output pages. To deal with the possibility that the full name may be too long, the section name may be preceded by an optional argument enclosed in brackets. If it is present, the optional argument is used as the running head. (If a period appears as part of the optional argument, it must be protected by braces.)

If ‘@*’ is followed by a digit n, it begins a new major (sub)section of level n. This is also entered into the Table of Contents. Thus, the complete syntax to begin a major section is

@*n [Short name]Full name.

For example,

@* MAIN PROGRAM.  This begins a major section (of level 0).

@a
main()
{}

@*1 [Input routines\dots]A very long section name that essentially
means ``input routines.''  Now follow some subroutines. 

@a
get_input()
{}

For LaTeX, the highest permissible major level is 2 (a subsubsection).

Section names can contain reasonably arbitrary TeX text, including font-changing commands and other macros. However, it is necessary to understand that fragile commands (in the sense of LaTeX) may not work because the section name is used in various contexts (e.g., as a page header). If a macro in a section name doesn’t work properly, try preceding it with ‘\protect’.

FWEAVE converts ‘@*’ commands to section numbers. For a discussion of section numbering, see Numbering.