@node Command
A node is a segment of text that begins at an @node
command and continues until the next @node command. The
definition of node is different from that for chapter or section. A
chapter may contain sections and a section may contain subsections;
but a node cannot contain subnodes; the text of a node continues only
until the next @node command in the file. A node usually
contains only one chapter structuring command, the one that follows
the @node line. On the other hand, in printed output nodes
are used only for cross references, so a chapter or section may
contain any number of nodes. Indeed, a chapter usually contains
several nodes, one for each section, subsection, and
subsubsection.
To create a node, write an @node command at the beginning of a
line, and follow it with four arguments, separated by commas, on the
rest of the same line. These arguments are the name of the node, and
the names of the `Next', `Previous', and `Up' pointers, in that order.
You may insert spaces before each pointer if you wish; the spaces are
ignored. You must write the name of the node, and the names of the
`Next', `Previous', and `Up' pointers, all on the same line. Otherwise,
the formatters fail. (See Info file `info', node `Top', for more information
about nodes in Info.)
Usually, you write one of the chapter-structuring command lines
immediately after an @node line--for example, an
@section or @subsection line. (See section Types of Structuring Command.)
Please note: The GNU Emacs Texinfo mode updating commands work only with Texinfo files in which
@nodelines are followed by chapter structuring lines. See section Updating Requirements.
TeX uses @node lines to identify the names to use for cross
references. For this reason, you must write @node lines in a
Texinfo file that you intend to format for printing, even if you do not
intend to format it for Info. (Cross references, such as the one at the
end of this sentence, are made with @xref and its related
commands; see section Cross References.)