9.1.2 @caption & @shortcaption

You may write a @caption anywhere within a @float environment, to define a caption for the float. It is not allowed in any other context. @caption takes a single argument, enclosed in braces. Here’s an example:

@float
An example float, with caption.
@caption{Caption for example float.}
@end float

The output is:

@caption can appear anywhere within the float; it is not processed until the @end float. The caption text is usually a sentence or two, but may consist of several paragraphs if necessary.

In the output, the caption always appears below the float; this is not currently changeable. It is preceded by the float type and/or number, as specified to the @float command (see the previous section).

The @shortcaption command likewise may be used only within @float, and takes a single argument in braces. The short caption text is used instead of the caption text in a list of floats (see the next section). Thus, you can write a long caption for the main document, and a short title to appear in the list of floats. For example:

@float
... as above ...
@shortcaption{Text for list of floats.}
@end float

The text for @shortcaption may not contain comments (@c), verbatim text (@verb), environments such as @example, footnotes (@footnote) or other complex constructs. The same constraints apply to @caption unless there is a @shortcaption.