9.1.1 Highlighting Commands are Useful

The highlighting commands can be used to extract useful information from the file, such as lists of functions or file names. It is possible, for example, to write a program in Emacs Lisp (or a keyboard macro) to insert an index entry after every paragraph that contains words or phrases marked by a specified command. You could do this to construct an index of functions if you had not already made the entries.

The commands serve a variety of purposes:

@code{sample-code}

Indicate text that is a literal example of a piece of a program. See @code.

@kbd{keyboard-characters}

Indicate keyboard input. See @kbd.

@key{key-name}

Indicate the conventional name for a key on a keyboard. See @key.

@samp{text}

Indicate text that is a literal example of a sequence of characters. See @samp.

@verb{text}

Write a verbatim sequence of characters. See @verb.

@var{metasyntactic-variable}

Indicate a metasyntactic variable. See @var.

@env{environment-variable}

Indicate an environment variable. See @env.

@file{file-name}

Indicate the name of a file. See @file.

@command{command-name}

Indicate the name of a command. See @command.

@option{option}

Indicate a command-line option. See @option.

@dfn{term}

Indicate the introductory or defining use of a term. See @dfn.

@cite{reference}

Indicate the name of a book. See @cite.

@abbr{abbreviation}

Indicate an abbreviation.

@acronym{acronym}

Indicate an acronym. See @acronym.

@indicateurl{uniform-resource-locator}

Indicate an example (that is, nonfunctional) uniform resource locator. See @indicateurl. (Use @url (see @url) for live url's.)

@email{email-address[, displayed-text]}

Indicate an electronic mail address. See @email.