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16 Defining New Texinfo Commands

Texinfo provides several ways to define new commands (in all cases, it’s not recommended to try redefining existing commands):

• A Texinfo macro allows you to define a new Texinfo command as any sequence of text and/or existing commands (including other macros). The macro can have any number of parameters—text you supply each time you use the macro.

  Incidentally, these macros have nothing to do with the @defmac command, which is for documenting macros in the subject area of the manual (see The Template for a Definition).

• ‘@alias’ is a convenient way to define a new name for an existing command.
• ‘@definfoenclose’ allows you to define new commands with customized output for all non-TeX output formats.

Most generally of all (not just for defining new commands), it is possible to invoke any external macro processor and have Texinfo recognize so-called #line directives for error reporting.

If you want to do simple text substitution, @set and @value is the simplest approach (see Flags: @set, @clear, conditionals, and @value).

• Defining Macros
• Invoking Macros
• Macro Details and Caveats
• ‘@alias new=existing’
• @definfoenclose: Customized Highlighting
• External Macro Processors: Line Directives