Tables of contents
Introduction to tables of contents
Want a table of contents for your document? Easy. Just enter
.TOC
as the very last macro of your document file. Mom will have picked
up all document titles (in
collated
documents) and headings, as well as the endnotes section and
bibliography, if they exist, and assigned them the appropriate page
number. Talk about a no-brainer!
That said, tables of contents have even more control macros than
endnotes. As always, the reason for so many control macros is so
that if you want to change just about any aspect of the table of
contents’ typographic appearance, you can.
Tables of contents appearance and behaviour
When you output a table of contents (with
.TOC),
mom finishes processing the last page of your document, then breaks
to a new page for printing the table of contents.
Mom follows standard typesetting conventions for tables of contents.
To this end, if
HEADERS
are enabled for the document, the first page of the table of
contents has no page header, but does have a first page number
(roman numeral), always “i”, in the bottom margin. If
FOOTERS
are enabled for the document, the first page has neither a footer,
nor a page number in the top margin. (If you absolutely must have
a page footer on the first page of the table of contents, simply
invoke
.FOOTER_ON_FIRST_PAGE
immediately before .TOC.) Subsequent table of contents
pages have both page headers or footers and a page number.
Entries in a table of contents are hierarchically indented, as you
would expect, and if headings are numbered in the body of the document,
you can instruct mom to number them in the table of contents as
well (see
TOC_ENTRY_NUMBERS).
Tables of contents are never set in columns, regardless of whether
the rest of the document is. Lastly, if
recto/verso
printing is enabled, the table of contents respects it. This
sometimes leads to tables of contents that begin with the wrong
margins, but the margins can be corrected either by outputting a
BLANKPAGE
or by using the control macro
TOC_RV_SWITCH.
The overall table of contents
family,
point size
and
lead
can be altered with
control macros,
as can the family,
font,
point size and indent of each level of entry. Furthermore, the page
numbering style can be changed, as can the amount of visual space
reserved for entry page numbers.
PDF output
When files containing a table of contents are processed with
pdfmom,
entries in the table of contents are clickable links when the
document is viewed at the screen. The colour of the links is the
last .PDF_LINK_COLOR in effect, so if you wish another
colour, it should be set just before issuing .TOC.
When preparing files for printing, coloured links in both the table
of contents and elsewhere in the document may not be desirable.
You can disable the colour by passing
pdfmom
the -c option, like this:
pdfmom -c doc.mom > doc.pdf
Positioning the Table of Contents
Because a table of contents can’t be generated until the
end of a document (hence the last macro in the file), it is also
the last page of the document. While this is desirable for some
language conventions—French, for example—it is not
desirable for others.
Automatic PDF relocation of the Table of Contents
When
pdfmom
is used to process files with a table of contents, the macro
.AUTO_RELOCATE_TOC can be used to reposition the table
of contents to the top of the output document, with the presence
of a cover and/or title page sensibly taken into account. Full
AUTO_RELOCATE_TOC usage is described in the manual,
Producing PDFs with groff and mom.
In order to take advantage of automatic table of contents
repositioning, you must use
pdfmom.
with groff’s native PDF driver (ie without the
-Tps flag). Files that need to be processed with
the -Tps flag require you to reposition the table
of contents yourself with psselect, described
below.
Note:
Note: .AUTO_RELOCATE_TOC must come before
START.
Using psselect to relocate the Table of Contents in PostScript documents
To change the location of the table of contents in files
processed with pdfmom -Tps, you have two choices:
rearrange the pages by hand (okay for one or two hard copies),
or use the psselect programme provided by the
psutils suite of tools (which you may have to
install as a package from your distribution if it is not already on
your system).
The procedure for using psselect to put the
table of contents near the beginning of a document begins by
you determining how many pages it contains. You can do this by
previewing the document with the document viewer of your choice
(gv, Okular, Evince, etc).
Once you know the number of pages in the table of contents, you use
psselect to place them where you want.
Say, for example, the table of contents runs to just one page. The
command to place a one-page table of contents at the start of a
document is:
psselect -p _1,1-_2
The -p option instructs psselect that what
follows is a comma-separated list of the order in which you want
pages of a document rearranged. The underscore character means
"counting backwards from the end of the document". Thus, the above
says: "Put the last page first (ie the table of contents), followed
by all pages from the original first page up to the second to last
(ie the last page before the table of contents)."
If your table of contents runs to two pages, the option to
psselect would look like this:
psselect -p _1-_2,1-_3
If your table of contents runs to two pages and you have a cover
page, the command would look like this:
psselect -p 1,_1-_2,2-_3
Note:
psselect outputs to stdout, so you have to redirect the
output to a new file.
psselect -p <page list> <file>.ps > <new-file>.ps
The TOC macro
Macro: TOC [ INCLUDE_TITLE ]
If you want a table of contents, just place .TOC at the
very end of your document. Mom takes care of the rest.
The optional argument, INCLUDE_TITLE, is needed only
if your document is standalone, i.e. is not collated, for example
an essay. By default, mom does not include the title (and page
number) of standalone documents in the Table of Contents since it
is largely redundant. If you would like her to include the title,
invoke .TOC with INCLUDE_TITLE.
Note:
If the last line of text in a document, before .TOC,
falls too close to the bottom margin, or if the line is followed
by a macro likely to cause a linebreak (e.g., .LIST OFF or
.IQ), mom may output a superfluous blank page before the
Table of Contents.
In order to avoid this, insert
.EL
after the last line of text, before .TOC and/or any
concluding macros. For example,
some concluding text.
.EL
.TOC
or
some concluding text.
.EL
.LIST OFF
.TOC
Control macros for tables of contents
Aside from allowing you to set the style of table of contents
entries on a per-level basis, the control macros let you design
the table of contents as if they were a complete document unto
themselves (overall family, headers/footers, pagination, etc).
1. General tables of contents style control
Macro: TOC_FAMILY <family>
TOC_FAMILY establishes the default family for every page element in
a table of contents, including the table of contents’ header
string (by default, “Contents”) and the page
number in the top or bottom margin. The default is the prevailing
document family.
All page elements in the table of contents also have their own
_FAMILY control macros, which can be used on a case-by-case basis to
override the default family set with TOC_FAMILY.
Macro: TOC_PT_SIZE <base type size of the toc>
• Does not require a unit of measure; points is assumed
Unlike most other control macros that deal with size of document
elements, TOC_PT_SIZE takes as its argument an absolute value,
relative to nothing. (Compare this with the
_SIZE
control macros.) The argument represents the base point size
of tables of contents from which the size of all other table of
contents elements are calculated.
The default for
PRINTSTYLE TYPESET
is 12.5 points (the same default size used in the body of the
document).
Macro: TOC_LEAD <leading of the toc> [ ADJUST ]
• Does not require a unit of measure; points is assumed
Unlike most other control macros that deal with leading of document
elements, TOC_LEAD takes as its argument an absolute value, relative
to nothing. Therefore, the argument represents the
leading
of tables of contents in
points
unless you append an alternative
unit of measure.
For example,
.TOC_LEAD 14
sets the base leading of tables of contents to 14 points, whereas
.TOC_LEAD .5i
sets the base leading of tables of contents to 1/2 inch.
If you want the leading of tables of contents adjusted to fill the
page, pass TOC_LEAD the optional argument ADJUST. (See
DOC_LEAD_ADJUST
for an explanation of leading adjustment.)
The default for
PRINTSTYLE TYPESET
is the prevailing document lead (16 by default), adjusted.
Note:
Even if you give mom a .DOC_LEAD_ADJUST OFF command,
she will still, by default, adjust the leading of the table of
contents. You must enter
TOC_LEAD <lead> with no ADJUST
argument to disable this default behaviour.
Additional note:
Tables of contents are always double-spaced in
PRINTSTYLE TYPEWRITE,
regardless of whether the body of the document is single-spaced.
2. Page numbering
The pagination style of tables of contents is controlled by the same
macros that control
document page numbering,
except
PAGENUM
(tables of contents always start on page 1). The defaults are the
same as for the rest of the document, with the exception that tables
of contents, by default, have roman numeral page numbers.
Therefore, if you wish to change some aspect of table of contents
pagination style, use the
document pagination control macros
immediately prior to .TOC.
A special macro
TOC_PAGENUM_STYLE
controls the style of table of contents pagination (ie the actual
table of contents pages' numbers, not the page number references of
entries).
Macro: PAGINATE_TOC <toggle>
By default, mom paginates tables of contents. If you’d like
her not to, do
.PAGINATE_TOC OFF
(or NO, X, etc).
Note:
Simply invoking
.PAGINATION OFF
or
.PAGINATE OFF
disables table of contents pagination for the first
page of the table of contents only. You must use
.PAGINATE_TOC OFF to disable table of contents
pagination completely, even if pagination is turned off elsewhere in
your document.
Macro: TOC_PAGENUM_STYLE <DIGIT | ROMAN | roman | ALPHA | alpha>
See
PAGENUM_STYLE
for an explanation of the arguments.
By default, mom uses roman numerals to number table of contents
pages. Use TOC_PAGENUM_STYLE if you’d prefer something else.
For example, to have standard digits instead of roman numerals, do
the following:
.TOC_PAGENUM_STYLE DIGIT
The table of contents header string is the title that appears at to top of the
table of contents. By default, it’s “Contents”.
If you’d like the title of the table of contents to read
something other than “Contents”, do, for
example
.TOC_HEADER_STRING "Table of Contents"
• Requires a unit of measure
Normally, the TOC header string falls at the same vertical position
as the
docheader.
If you’d like it to fall at a different position, say 2 inches, use
.TOC_HEADER_V_POS 2i
See
Arguments to the control macros.
The following TOC_HEADER control macros may also be
grouped
using TOC_HEADER_STYLE.
.TOC_HEADER_FAMILY default = prevailing doc family
.TOC_HEADER_FONT default = bold
.TOC_HEADER_SIZE default = +4
.TOC_HEADER_QUAD default = left
.TOC_HEADER_COLOR default = black
.TOC_HEADER_CAPS default = no
.TOC_HEADER_SMALLCAPS default = no
.TOC_HEADER_UNDERSCORE default = none
4. Entries and reference page numbers style
“Entries” refers to the hierarchical arrangement of
section titles (in
collated
documents) and headings as they appear in the table of contents:
Section title
Head level 1
Head level 2
Head level 3
...
The style for title entries (e.g., chapter numbers or titles) and
heading levels is controlled by
TOC_TITLE_STYLE
and
TOC_ENTRY_STYLE
respectively.
“Reference page numbers” means the page numbers
associated with entries. Macros to control their style take the
form .TOC_PN_<SPEC>, and the defaults are listed
here.
Macro: TOC_TITLE_STYLE <see below for args>
TOC_TITLE_STYLE allows you to set all the style parameters for
title entries in the tables of contents with one macro. The
number of arguments can run long, so you may want to break them into
several lines with the backslash character (\). The
arguments are:
FAMILY <family>
FONT <font>
SIZE +|-<n>
COLOR <color>
INDENT <amount>
CAPS | NO_CAPS
The arguments may be entered in any order.
The family, font, size, and color arguments behave identically
to the individual control macros that govern other tags, therefore see
Arguments to the control macros
for usage. Their defaults are the same as for paragraphs in
running text.
INDENT lets you indent title entries by the amount specified, and
requires a
unit of measure.
The default is zero.
CAPS instructs mom to capitalize title entries.
Capitalization may be enabled or disabled on a per-entry-level
basis.
As an example, if you want title entries bold, slightly larger than other
entries and capitalized, you could do either
.TOC_TITLE_ENTRY FONT B SIZE +.5 CAPS
or
.TOC_TITLE_ENTRY \
FONT B \
SIZE +.5 \
CAPS
Macro: TOC_ENTRY_STYLE <level> <see below for remaining args>
TOC_ENTRY_STYLE allows you to set individually all the style
parameters for any level of entry (beneath titles) in the tables
of contents. The number of arguments can run long, so you may
want to break them into several lines with the backslash character
(\).
<level> corresponds to a
HEADING
level assigned in the body of the document. The remaining arguments
are as follows.
FAMILY <family>
FONT <font>
SIZE +|-<n>
COLOR <color>
INDENT <amount>
CAPS | NO_CAPS
The arguments may be entered in any order.
The family, font, size, and color arguments behave identically
to the individual control macros that govern other tags, therefore see
Arguments to the control macros
for usage. Their defaults are the same as for paragraphs in
running text.
INDENT lets you indent entries by the amount specified, and
requires a
unit of measure.
Mom sensibly indents and aligns all levels of entry. If you change
the indent for any level, all levels beneath it are still indented
according to mom’s normal arrangement, but with the indent
assigned to level taken into account. When you use
INDENT, the indent is measured from the left margin of
the entire text of the previous level, including numbering, if any.
CAPS instructs mom to capitalize title entries.
Capitalization may be enabled or disabled on a per-title basis.
As an example, if you want a particular entry level, say
“2”, to be in Helvetica, italics, and slightly larger
than other entries, you could do either
.TOC_ENTRY_STYLE 2 FAMILY H FONT I SIZE +.25
or
.TOC_ENTRY_STYLE 2 \
FAMILY H
FONT I \
SIZE +.25
Macro: TOC_PREFIX_CHAPTER_NUMBER <none> <anything>
Alias: TOC_PREFIX_SECTION_NUMBER
By default, mom does not prefix a chapter number to chapters or
section titles in the table of contents. If you would like her to
do so, invoke TOC_PREFIX_CHAPTER_NUMBER without an
argument before
START.
You may subsequently disable the prefixing of chapter numbers by
supplying the macro with any argument (OFF, QUIT, Q, X...)
prior to the START that comes after
COLLATE.
This macro is useful you want chapters numbered in the table of
contents but the chapters themselves are identified by title only.
It can be used with both
DOCTYPE CHAPTER
and
DOCTYPE DEFAULT.
The alias TOC_PREFIX_SECTION_NUMBER may be preferable
in the latter case.
Macro: PAD_TOC_CHAPTER_NUMBERS <number of chapters>
Alias: PAD_TOC_SECTION_NUMBERS
If the number of chapters or major sections
(DOCTYPE DEFAULT)
exceeds 9, you can have mom pad the numbers so the rightmost
numerals of the chapter numbers align. Simply invoke
PAD_TOC_CHAPTER_NUMBERS with the number of chapters in
the document.
Without padding:
9. Chapter Title.....................100
10. Chapter Title....................123
With padding:
9. Chapter Title....................100
10. Chapter Title....................123
Macro: TOC_ENTRY_NUMBERS <FULL> <TRUNCATE> <NONE>
If numbering is enabled for any level of
HEADING,
mom, by default, includes the numbering in that level’s
entries in table of contents. If you would prefer that
numbering not be included in the table of contents,
issue .TOC_ENTRY_NUMBERS NONE. If
you’d like to include numbering, but not the full,
concatenated numbering used in the body of the document, issue
.TOC_ENTRY_NUMBERS TRUNCATE.
Assuming numbering is enabled for HEADINGs 1, 2, and 3,
.TOC_ENTRY_NUMBERS FULL (mom’s default), would
result in
1. Level-1 entry
1.1. Level-2 entry
1.1.1. Level-3 entry
2. Level-1 entry
2.1. Level-2 entry
2.1.1. Level-3 entry
whereas .TOC_ENTRY_NUMBERS TRUNCATE would produce
1. Level-1 entry
1. Level-2 entry
1. Level-3 entry
2. Level-1 entry
1. Level-2 entry
1. Level-3 entry
and .TOC_ENTRY_NUMBERS NONE would remove numbering
completely.
Level-1 entry
Level-2 entry
Level-3 entry
Level-1 entry
Level-2 entry
Level-3 entry
Note:
.TOC_ENTRY_NUMBERS TRUNCATE removes the numbering
associated with table of contents chapter or section titles
when
PREFIX_CHAPTER_NUMBER
is enabled. To enable the numbering of chapter or section titles
in this circumstance, use
TOC_PREFIX_CHAPTER_NUMBER.
5. Additional table of contents control macros
The following five macros allow you to
Macro: TOC_APPENDS_AUTHOR <none> | "<name(s) of authors>"
In certain kinds of collated documents, different authors are
responsible for the articles or stories contained within them. In
such documents, you may wish to have the author or authors appended
to the table of contents’ title entry for each story or
article.
If you invoke .TOC_APPENDS_AUTHOR without an
argument, mom appends the first argument you passed to
AUTHOR
to table of contents title entries, separated by a front-slash.
If you invoke .TOC_APPENDS_AUTHOR with an argument
(surrounded by double-quotes), mom will append it to the table of
contents title entries instead. This is useful if you have multiple
authors you wish to identify by last name only. For example, if
three authors—Joe Blough, Jane Doe, and John Deere—are
responsible for a single article
.TOC_APPENDS_AUTHOR "Blough et al."
would be a good way to identify them in the table of contents.
Macro: TOC_TITLE_ENTRY "<alternate wording for a title entry in the toc>"
In
collated
documents, the title of each chapter appears in the table of
contents. It may sometimes happen that you don’t want the
title as it appears in the table of contents to be the same as what
appears in the
docheader.
You might, for example, want to shorten it. Or, in the case of
chapters where the docheader contains both a chapter number and a
chapter title, like this
Chapter 6
Burning Bush — Maybe God Was Right
you might want only the chapter title, not the chapter number, to
show up in the table of contents. (By default, .TOC
generates both.)
If you want to change the wording of a title entry in the table of
contents, simply invoke
.TOC_TITLE_ENTRY
with the desired wording, enclosed in double-quotes. Using the
example, above,
.CHAPTER 6
.CHAPTER_TITLE "Burning Bush — Maybe God Was Right"
.TOC_TITLE_ENTRY "Burning Bush"
.DOCTYPE CHAPTER
would identify chapter 6 in the table of contents simply as
“Burning Bush”.
Macro: SPACE_TOC_ITEMS
If you’d like mom to add a small amount of space between table
of contents entry levels, use .SPACE_TOC_ITEMS. Mom will
visually group entry levels in a way that's pleasing to the eye.
The only catch to this macro is that the bottom margins of table of
contents pages may not align perfectly.
Macro: TOC_PADDING <number of placeholders to allow for page number listings>
By default, mom allows room for 3 digits in the page number
references of table of contents entries. If you’d like some
other number of placeholders, say 2 (if your document runs to less
than 100 pages), do
.TOC_PADDING 2
Macro: TOC_RV_SWITCH
TOC_RV_SWITCH doesn’t take an argument. It simply instructs
mom to switch the left and right margins of the first table of
contents page in
recto/verso
documents should the table of contents happen to begin on an even
page when you want an odd, or vice versa.
The same result can be accomplished by outputting a
BLANKPAGE.
6. I still need more!
If there is some aspect of Table of Contents formatting for which
no TOC control macros are provided, mom has a special
toggle macro
to help out: TOC_PAGE_SETTINGS.
TOC_PAGE_SETTINGS allows you to enter extra formatting changes for
the Table of Contents as if it were simply another collated section
or chapter of a document. Because it’s a toggle macro,
invoking it by itself begins collecting your formatting directives,
and invoking it with any argument (OFF, QUIT, END...) stops
the collection.
TOC_PAGE_SETTINGS is special in that the formatting commands
contained within it must be preceded by \! (that’s
backslash-exclamation point).
For example, say you want to redesign the default page headers for
the Tables of Contents so that it only contains the document title
on the left and “Contents” in italics on the right, and
furthermore adjust the footer margin and footer gap, this is how
you’d do it:
.TOC_PAGE_SETTINGS
\!.HEADER_RECTO L "^\E*[$TITLE]#\*[IT]Contents\*[PREV]^"
\!.FOOTER_MARGIN 3P
\!.B_MARGIN 6P+3p
.TOC_PAGE_SETTINGS END
(For an explanation of why the example uses .B_MARGIN to
set/change the footer gap, see
here.)
TOC_PAGE_SETTINGS can be put in the stylesheet section of a document
(ie after
PRINTSTYLE
and before
START)
or invoked just before
TOC.