Computer Science
MAKEINDEX(1L) MAKEINDEX(1L)
NAME
makeindex - a general purpose, formatter-independent index
processor
SYNOPSIS
makeindex [-c] [-g] [-i] [-l] [-o ind] [-p num] [-q] [-r]
[-s sfile] [-t log] [idx0 idx1 idx2...]
DESCRIPTION
The program makeindex is a general purpose hierarchical
index generator; it accepts one or more input files (often
produced by a text formatter such as TeX (tex(1L)) or
troff(1), sorts the entries, and produces an output file
which can be formatted. The index can have up to three
levels (0, 1, and 2) of subitem nesting. The way in which
words are flagged for indexing within the main document is
specific to the formatter used; makeindex does not auto-
mate the process of selecting these words. As the output
index is hierarchical, makeindex can be considered compli-
mentary to the awk(1)-based make.index(1L) system of Bent-
ley and Kernighan, which is specific to troff(1), gener-
ates non-hierarchical indices, and employs a much simpler
syntax for indicating index entries. For illustration of
use with troff and TeX, see the section EXAMPLES below.
The formats of the input and output files are specified in
a style file; by default, input is assumed to be a .idx
file, as generated by LaTeX.
Unless specified explicitly, the base name of the first
input file (idx0) is used to determine the names of other
files. For each input file name specified, a file of that
name is sought. If this file is not found and the file
name has no extension, the extension .idx is appended. If
no file with this name is found, makeindex aborts.
If exactly one input file was given and no explicit style
file was specified using -s, makeindex uses a file with
the extension .mst as default style file (when present).
For important notes on how to select index keywords, see
the document by Lamport cited below. As an issue separate
from selecting index keywords, a systematic mechanism for
placing index terms in a document is suggested in Index
Preparation and Processing, a paper cited below.
OPTIONS
-c Compress intermediate blanks (ignoring leading
and trailing blanks and tabs). By default,
blanks in the index key are retained.
-g Employ German word ordering in the index, in
accord with rules set forth in DIN 5007. By
default, makeindex employs a word ordering in
which precedence is: symbols, numbers, uppercase
letters, lowercase letters. The sequence in
German word ordering is: symbols, lowercase let-
ters, uppercase letters, numbers. Additionally,
this option enables makeindex to recognize the
German TeX-commands {"a, "o, "u and "s} as {ae,
oe, ue and ss} during the sorting of the
entries. The quote character must be redefined
in a style file (for example, redefine quote as
'+'). If the quote character is not redefined,
makeindex will produce an error message and
abort.
-i Take input from stdin. When this option is
specified and -o is not, output is written to
stdout.
-l Letter ordering; by default, word ordering is
used (see the ORDERING section).
-o ind Employ ind as the output index file. By
default, the file name is created by appending
the extension .ind to the base name of the first
input file (idx0).
-p num Set the starting page number of the output index
file to be num (useful when the index file is to
be formatted separately). The argument num may
be numerical or one of the following:
any The starting page is the last source
page number plus 1.
odd The starting page is the first odd
page following the last source page
number.
even The starting page is the first even
page following the last source page
number.
The last source page is obtained by searching
backward in the log file for the first instance
of a number included within paired square brack-
ets ([...]). If a page number is missing or the
log file is not found, no attempt will be made
to set the starting page number. The source log
file name is determined by appending the exten-
sion .log to the base name of the first input
file (idx0).
-q Quiet mode; send no messages to stderr. By
default, progress and error messages are sent to
stderr as well as to the transcript file.
-r Disable implicit page range formation; page
ranges must be created by using explicit range
operators; see SPECIAL EFFECTS below. By
default, three or more successive pages are
automatically abbreviated as a range (e.g.
1--5).
-s sty Employ sty as the style file (no default). The
environment variable INDEXSTYLE defines the path
where the style file should be found.
-t log Employ log as the transcript file. By default,
the file name is created by appending the exten-
sion .ilg to the base name of the first input
file (idx0).
STYLE FILE
The style file informs makeindex about the format of the
.idx input files and the intended format of the final out-
put file; examples appear below. This file can reside
anywhere in the path defined by the environment variable
INDEXSTYLE. The style file contains a list of <specifier,
attribute> pairs. There are two types of specifiers:
input and output. Pairs do not have to appear in any par-
ticular order. A line begun by `%' is a comment. In the
following list of specifiers and arguments, <string> is an
arbitrary string delimited by double quotes ("..."),
<char> is a single letter embraced by single quotes
('...'), and <number> is a nonnegative integer. The maxi-
mum length of a <string> is 2048. A literal backslash or
quote must be escaped (by a backslash). Anything not
specified in the style file will be assigned a default
value, which is shown at the head of the rightmost column.
INPUT STYLE SPECIFIERS
actual <char> '@'
Symbol indicating that the next
entry is to appear in the output
file.
arg_close <char> '}'
Closing delimiter for the index
entry argument.
arg_open <char> '{'
Opening delimiter for the index
entry argument.
encap <char> '|'
Symbol indicating that the rest
of the argument list is to be
used as the encapsulating command
for the page number.
escape <char> '\\'
Symbol which escapes the follow-
ing letter, unless its preceding
letter is escape. Note: quote is
used to escape the letter which
immediately follows it, but if it
is preceded by escape, it is
treated as a ordinary character.
These two symbols must be dis-
tinct.
keyword <string> "\\indexentry"
Command which tells makeindex
that its argument is an index
entry.
level <char> '!'
Delimiter denoting a new level of
subitem.
quote <char> '"'
Note: quote is used to escape the
letter which immediately follows
it, but if it is preceded by
escape, it is treated as a ordi-
nary character. These two sym-
bols must be distinct.
range_close <char> ')'
Closing delimiter indicating the
end of an explicit page range.
range_open <char> '('
Opening delimiter indicating the
beginning of an explicit page
range.
OUTPUT STYLE SPECIFIERS
preamble <string> "\\begin{theindex}\n"
Preamble of output file.
postamble <string> "\n\n\\end{theindex}\n"
Postamble of output file.
setpage_prefix <string> "\n \\setcounter{page}{"
Prefix of command which sets the
starting page number.
setpage_suffix <string> "}\n"
Suffix of command which sets the
starting page number.
group_skip <string> "\n\n \\indexspace\n"
Vertical space to be inserted
before a new group begins.
headings_flag <string> 0
Flag indicating treatment of new
group headers, which are inserted
when before a new group (symbols,
numbers, and the 26 letters):
positive values cause an upper-
case letter to be inserted
between prefix and suffix, and
negative values cause a lowercase
letter to be inserted (default is
0, which produces no header).
heading_prefix <string> ""
Header prefix to be inserted
before a new letter begins.
symhead_positive <string>
"Symbols"
Heading for symbols to be
inserted if headings_flag is pos-
itive.
symhead_negative <string>
"symbols"
Heading for symbols to be
inserted if headings_flag is neg-
ative.
numhead_positive <string>
"Numbers"
Heading for numbers to be
inserted if headings_flag is pos-
itive.
numhead_negative <string>
"numbers"
Heading for numbers to be
inserted if headings_flag is neg-
ative.
item_0 <string> "\n \\item "
Command to be inserted between
two primary (level 0) items.
item_1 <string> "\n \\subitem "
Command to be inserted between
two secondary (level 1) items.
item_2 <string> "\n \\subsubitem "
Command to be inserted between
two level 2 items.
item_01 <string> "\n \\subitem "
Command to be inserted between a
level 0 item and a level 1 item.
item_x1 <string> "\n \\subitem "
Command to be inserted between a
level 0 item and a level 1 item,
where the level 0 item does not
have associated page numbers.
item_12 <string> "\n \\subsubitem "
Command to be inserted between a
level 1 item and a level 2 item.
item_x2 <string> "\n \\subsubitem "
Command to be inserted between a
level 1 item and a level 2 item,
where the level 1 item does not
have associated page numbers.
delim_0 <string> ", "
Delimiter to be inserted between
a level 0 key and its first page
number (default: comma followed
by a blank).
delim_1 <string> ", "
Delimiter to be inserted between
a level 1 key and its first page
number (default: comma followed
by a blank).
delim_2 <string> ", "
Delimiter to be inserted between
a level 2 key and its first page
number (default: comma followed
by a blank).
delim_n <string> ", "
Delimiter to be inserted between
two page numbers for the same key
in any level (default: comma fol-
lowed by a blank).
delim_r <string> "--"
Delimiter to be inserted between
the starting and ending page num-
bers of a range.
delim_t <string> ""
Delimiter to be inserted at the
end of a page list. This delim-
iter has no effect on entries
which have no associated page
list.
encap_prefix <string> "\\"
First part of prefix for the com-
mand which encapsulates the page
number.
encap_infix <string> "{"
Second part of prefix for the
command which encapsulates the
page number.
encap_suffix <string> "}".
Suffix for the command which
encapsulates the page number.
line_max <number> 72
Maximum length of a line in the
output, beyond which a line
wraps.
indent_space <string> "\t\t"
Space to be inserted in front of
a wrapped line (default: two
tabs).
indent_length <number> 16
Length of indent_space (default:
16, equivalent to 2 tabs).
suffix_2p <string> ""
Delimiter to replace the range
delimiter and the second page
number of a two page list. When
present, it overrides delim_r.
Example: "f.".
suffix_3p <string> ""
Delimiter to replace the range
delimiter and the second page
number of a three page list. When
present, it overrides delim_r and
suffix_mp. Example: "ff.".
suffix_mp <string> ""
Delimiter to replace the range
delimiter and the second page
number of a multiple page list
(three or more pages). When pre-
sent, it overrides delim_r.
Example: "f.".
EXAMPLES
TeX EXAMPLE
The following example shows a style file called book.ist,
which defines an index for a book which can be formatted
independently of the main source:
preamble
"\\documentstyle[12pt]{book}
\\begin{document}
\\begin{theindex}
{\\small\n"
postamble
"\n\n}
\\end{theindex}
\\end{document}\n"
Assuming that a particular book style requires the index
(as well as any chapters) to start from an odd page num-
ber, and that the input file is named foo.idx, the follow-
ing command line produces output in file footmp.ind:
makeindex -s book.ist -o footmp.ind -p odd foo
Here a non-default output file name is used to avoid clob-
bering the output for the book itself (presumably foo.dvi,
which would have been the default name for the index out-
put file!).
TROFF EXAMPLE
A sample control file for creating an index, which we will
assume resides in the file sample.ist:
keyword "IX:"
preamble
".\\\" start of index output
\".\\\" enter two column mode
.2C
.SH
.ce
INDEX
.XS
INDEX
.XE
.R
.ps 9p
.vs 11p
.sp
.de I1
.ti 0.25i
..
.de I2
.ti 0.5i
.."
postamble "\n.\\\" end of index output"
setpage_prefix "\n.nr % "
setpage_suffix ""
group_skip "\n.sp 1.0"
headings_flag 1
heading_prefix "\n.IS\n"
heading_suffix "\n.IE"
item_0 "\n.br\n"
item_1 "\n.I1\n"
item_2 "\n.I2\n"
item_01 "\n.I1\n"
item_x1 "\n.I1\n"
item_12 "\n.I2\n"
item_x2 "\n.I2\n"
delim_0 ", "
delim_1 ", "
delim_2 ", "
delim_r "-"
delim_t "."
encap_prefix "\\fB"
encap_infix ""
encap_suffix "\\fP"
indent_space ""
indent_length 0
The local macro package may require modification, as in
this example of an extension to the -ms macros (note that
at some sites, this macro should replace a pre-existing
macro of the same name):
.
.de IX
.ie '\\n(.z'' .tm IX: \\$1 \\$2 \\$3 \\$4 \\$5 \\$6 \\$7 \\$8 \\$9 {\\n(PN}
.el \\!.IX \\$1 \\$2 \\$3 \\$4 \\$5 \\$6 \\$7 \\$8 \\$9 {\\n(PN}
..
(note that the string {\\n(PN} is separated from the rest
of the line by a tab. If your local macro package does
not contain this extension, just include those lines at
the beginning of your file. Here is a simple troff(1)
input file, which we will assume is named sample.txt:
This is a sample file to test the \fImakeindex\fP(1L)
program, and see
.IX {indexing!programs!C language}
.IX {makeindex@\fImakeindex\fP(1L)}
.bp
.rs
.IX {Knuth}
.IX {typesetting!computer-aided}
how well it functions in the \fItroff\fP(1) environment.
Note that index entries are indicated by the .IX macro,
which causes the following text to be written to stdout
along with the current page number.
CREATING THE INDEX FILE IN THE BOURNE SHELL
To create an input file for makeindex, in the Bourne shell
environment, do the equivalent at your site of the com-
mand:
psroff -ms -Tpsc -t sample.txt > /dev/null 2> sample.tmp
Some sites will require ditroff instead of psroff. To
filter out any genuine error messages, invoke grep(1):
grep '^IX: ' sample.tmp > sample.idx
CREATING THE INDEX FILE USING UCSF ENHANCED TROFF/TRANSCRIPT
With UCSF Enhanced troff/TRANSCRIPT, the -I option of
psroff(1L) can produce both formatter output and an index
file:
psroff -ms -I sample.inp -Tpsc sample.txt
If it is wished to suppress the formatter output:
psroff -ms -I sample.inp -Tpsc -t sample.txt > /dev/null
COMPLETING THE INDEX
Any of the above procedures leaves the input for makeindex
in sample.inp. The next step is to invoke makeindex:
makeindex -s sample.ist sample.idx
This leaves troff(1)-ready output in the file sample.ind.
ORDERING
By default, makeindex assumes word ordering; if the -l
option is in effect, letter ordering is used. In word
ordering, a blank precedes any letter in the alphabet,
whereas in letter ordering, it does not count at all.
This is illustrated by the following example:
word order letter order
sea lion seal
seal sea lion
Numbers are always sorted in numeric order. For instance,
9 (nine), 123
10 (ten), see Derek, Bo
Letters are first sorted without regard to case; when
words are identical, the uppercase version precedes its
lowercase counterpart.
A special symbol is defined here to be any character not
appearing in the union of digits and the English alpha-
betic characters. Patterns starting with special symbols
precede numbers, which precede patterns starting with let-
ters. As a special case, a string starting with a digit
but mixed with non-digits is considered to be a pattern
starting with a special character.
SPECIAL EFFECTS
Entries such as
\indexentry{alpha}{1}
\indexentry{alpha!beta}{3}
\indexentry{alpha!beta!gamma}{10}
in the input file will be converted to
\item alpha, 1
\subitem beta, 3
\subsubitem gamma, 10
in the output index file. Notice that the level symbol
(`!') is used above to delimit hierarchical levels.
It is possible to make an item appear in a designated form
by using the actual (`@') operator. For instance,
\indexentry{alpha@{\it alpha\/}}{1}
will become
\item {\it alpha\/}, 1
after processing. The pattern preceding `@' is used as
sort key, whereas the one following it is written to the
output file. Note that two appearances of the same key,
one with and one without the actual operator, are regarded
as distinct entries.
The item, subitem, and subsubitem fields may have individ-
ual sort keys:
\indexentry{aa@{\it aa\/}!bb@{\it bb\/}!cc@{\it cc\/}}{1}
This will be converted to
\item {\it aa}, 1
\subitem {\it bb}, 3
\subsubitem {\it cc}, 10
It is possible to encapsulate a page number with a desig-
nated command using the encap (`|') operator:
\indexentry{alpha|bold}{1}
will be converted to
\item alpha, \bold{1}
where, with a suitable definition for TeX, \bold{n} will
expand to {\bf n}. In this example, the three output
attributes associated with page encapsulation encap_pre-
fix, encap_infix, and encap_suffix, correspond to back-
slash, left brace, and right brace, respectively. This
mechanism allows page numbers to be set in different
fonts. For example, the page where the definition of a
keyword appears can be in one font, the location of a pri-
mary example can be in another font, and other appearances
in yet a third font.
The encap operator can also be used to create cross refer-
ences in the index:
\indexentry{alpha|see{beta}}{1}
will become
\item alpha, \see{beta}{1}
in the output file, where
\see{beta}{1}
will expand to
{\it see\/} beta
Note that in a cross reference like this the page number
disappears.
A pair of encap concatenated with range_open (`|(') and
range_close (`|)') creates an explicit page range:
\indexentry{alpha|(}{1}
\indexentry{alpha|)}{5}
will become
\item alpha, 1--5
Intermediate pages indexed by the same key will be merged
into the range implicitly. This is especially useful when
an entire section about a particular subject is to be
indexed, in which case only the range opening and closing
operators need to be inserted at the beginning and end of
the section. Explicit page range formation can also
include an extra command to set the page range in a desig-
nated font:
\indexentry{alpha|(bold}{1}
\indexentry{alpha|)}{5}
will become
\item alpha, \bold{1--5}
Several potential problems are worth mentioning. First,
entries like
\indexentry{alpha|(}{1}
\indexentry{alpha|bold}{3}
\indexentry{alpha|)}{5}
will be interpreted as
\item alpha, \bold{3}, 1--5
but with a warning message in the transcript about encoun-
tering an inconsistent page encapsulator. An explicit
range beginning in a Roman page number and ending in Ara-
bic is also considered an error. In this instance, (if
possible) the range is broken into two subranges, one in
Roman and the other in Arabic. For instance,
\indexentry{alpha|(}{i}
\indexentry{alpha}{iv}
\indexentry{alpha}{3}
\indexentry{alpha|)}{7}
will be turned into
\item alpha, i--iv, 3--7
with a warning message in the transcript file complaining
about an illegal range formation.
Finally, every special symbol mentioned in this section
may be escaped by the quote operator (`"'). Thus
\indexentry{alpha"@beta}{1}
will actually become
\item alpha@beta, 1
as a result of executing makeindex. The quoting power of
quote is eliminated if it is immediately preceded by
escape (`\'). For example,
\indexentry{f\"ur}{1}
becomes
\item f\"ur, 1
which represents an umlaut-accented `u' to the TeX family
of processors.
From version 2.11 of makeindex, the quote operator may
quote any character in the range 1 ... 255. Character 0
is excluded because it is used internally in the makeindex
source code as a string terminator. With this change,
sort keys can be created for all eight-bit characters
except 0. The sorting order is
punctuation characters (in ASCII order),
digits,
control characters (1 ... 31),
space (32),
letters (ignoring case),
characters 127 ... 255.
Here is an example showing the indexing of all printable
ASCII characters other than letters and digits, assuming
the default TeX format. For convenience, the page number
references are the corresponding ASCII ordinal values.
\indexentry{" @" (space)}{32}
\indexentry{"!@"! (exclamation point)}{33}
\indexentry{""@"" (quotation mark)}{34}
\indexentry{"#@"\# (sharp sign)}{35}
\indexentry{"$@"\$ (dollar sign)}{36}
\indexentry{"%@"\% (percent sign)}{37}
\indexentry{"&@"\& (ampersand)}{38}
\indexentry{"<@"$<$ (left angle bracket)}{60}
\indexentry{"=@"= (equals)}{61}
\indexentry{">@"$>$ (right angle bracket)}{62}
\indexentry{"?@"? (query)}{63}
\indexentry{"@@"@ (at sign)}{64}
\indexentry{"[@"[ (left square bracket)}{91}
\indexentry{"\@"\verb=\= (backslash)}{92}
\indexentry{"]@"] (right square bracket)}{93}
\indexentry{"^@"\verb=^= (caret)}{94}
\indexentry{"_@"\verb=_= (underscore)}{95}
\indexentry{"`@"\verb=~= (grave accent)}{96}
\indexentry{"{@"\"{ (left brace)}{123}
\indexentry{"|@"\verb="|= (vertical bar)}{124}
\indexentry{"}@"\"} (right brace)}{125}
\indexentry{"~@"\verb=~= (tilde)}{126}
Characters in the actual fields following the `@' charac-
ter which have special significance to TeX must be repre-
sented as control sequences, or as math mode characters.
Note particularly how the entries for the at sign, left
and right braces, and the vertical bar, are coded. The
index file output by makeindex for this example looks like
this:
\begin{theindex}
\item ! (exclamation point), 33
\item " (quotation mark), 34
\item \# (sharp sign), 35
\item \$ (dollar sign), 36
\item \% (percent sign), 37
\item \& (ampersand), 38
\item $<$ (left angle bracket), 60
\item = (equals), 61
\item $>$ (right angle bracket), 62
\item ? (query), 63
\item @ (at sign), 64
\item [ (left square bracket), 91
\item \verb=\= (backslash), 92
\item ] (right square bracket), 93
\item \verb=^= (caret), 94
\item \verb=_= (underscore), 95
\item \verb=~= (grave accent), 96
\item \{ (left brace), 123
\item \verb=|= (vertical bar), 124
\item \} (right brace), 125
\item \verb=~= (tilde), 126
\indexspace
\item (space), 32
\end{theindex}
FILES
makeindex executable file
$TEXMFMAIN/tex/plain/misc/idxmac.tex
TeX macro file used by makeindex
$TEXMFMAIN/tex/latex/base/makeidx.sty
TeX macro file used by makeindex
SEE ALSO
ditroff(1L), latex(1L), make.index (1L), qsort(3),
tex(1L), troff(1L)
UCSF Enhanced troff/TRANSCRIPT -- An Overview, R. P. C.
Rodgers and Conrad Huang, LSMB Technical Report 90-2, UCSF
School of Pharmacy, San Francisco, 1990.
Index Preparation and Processing, Pehong Chen and Michael
A. Harrison, Software: Practice and Experience, 19(9),
897-915, September 1988.
Automating Index Preparation, Pehong Chen and Michael A.
Harrison. Technical Report 87/347, Computer Science Divi-
sion, University of California, Berkeley, 1987 (a LaTeX
document supplied with makeindex).
MakeIndex: An Index Processor for LaTeX, Leslie Lamport,
February 1987 (a LaTeX document supplied with makeindex).
Tools for Printing Indices, Jon L. Bentley and Brian W.
Kernighan, Electronic Publishing -- Origination, Dissemi-
nation, and Design, 1(1), 3-18, June 1988 (also available
as: Computing Science Technical Report No. 128, AT&T Bell
Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ 07974, 1986).
AUTHOR
Pehong Chen, Chen & Harrison International Systems, Inc.
Palo Alto, California, USA <chen@renoir.berkeley.edu>.
Manual page extensively revised and corrected, and
troff(1) examples created by Rick P. C. Rodgers, UCSF
School of Pharmacy <rodgers@cca.ucsf.edu>.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Leslie Lamport contributed significantly to the design.
Michael Harrison provided valuable comments and sugges-
tions. Nelson Beebe improved on the portable version, and
maintains the source distribution for the TeX Users Group.
Andreas Brosig contributed to the German word ordering.
The modification to the -ms macros was derived from a
method proposed by Ravi Sethi of AT&T Bell Laboratories.
The LOG and CONTRIB files in the makeindex source distri-
bution record other contributions.
10 December 1991 1
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