D.4 Showing the Sectioning Structure of a File

You can show the sectioning structure of a Texinfo file by using the C-c C-s command (texinfo-show-structure). This command lists the lines that begin with the @-commands for @chapter, @section, and the like. It constructs what amounts to a table of contents. These lines are displayed in another buffer called the ‘*Occur*’ buffer. In that buffer, you can position the cursor over one of the lines and use the C-c C-c command (occur-mode-goto-occurrence), to jump to the corresponding spot in the Texinfo file.

C-c C-s

M-x texinfo-show-structure

Show the @chapter, @section, and such lines of a Texinfo file.

C-c C-c

M-x occur-mode-goto-occurrence

Go to the line in the Texinfo file corresponding to the line under the cursor in the *Occur* buffer.

If you call texinfo-show-structure with a prefix argument by typing C-u C-c C-s, it will list not only those lines with the @-commands for @chapter, @section, and the like, but also the @node lines. You can use texinfo-show-structure with a prefix argument to check whether the ‘Next’, ‘Previous’, and ‘Up’ pointers of an @node line are correct.

Often, when you are working on a manual, you will be interested only in the structure of the current chapter. In this case, you can mark off the region of the buffer that you are interested in by using the C-x n n (narrow-to-region) command and texinfo-show-structure will work on only that region. To see the whole buffer again, use C-x n w (widen). (See Narrowing in The GNU Emacs Manual, for more information about the narrowing commands.)

In addition to providing the texinfo-show-structure command, Texinfo mode sets the value of the page delimiter variable to match the chapter-level @-commands. This enables you to use the C-x ] (forward-page) and C-x [ (backward-page) commands to move forward and backward by chapter, and to use the C-x n p (narrow-to-page) command to narrow to a chapter. See Pages in The GNU Emacs Manual, for more information about the page commands.