Node:Defining Macros, Next:Invoking Macros, Up:Defining New Texinfo Commands
You use the Texinfo @macro command to define a macro, like this:
@macro macroname{param1, param2, ...}
text ... \param1\ ...
@end macro
The parameters param1, param2, ... correspond to arguments supplied when the macro is subsequently used in the document (described in the next section).
For a macro to work with TeX, macroname must consist entirely of letters: no digits, hyphens, underscores, or other special characters.
If a macro needs no parameters, you can define it either with an empty
list (@macro foo {}) or with no braces at all (@macro
foo).
The definition or body of the macro can contain most Texinfo
commands, including previously-defined macros. Not-yet-defined macro
invocations are not allowed; thus, it is not possible to have mutually
recursive Texinfo macros. Also, a macro definition that defines another
macro does not work in TeX due to limitations in the design of
@macro.
In the macro body, instances of a parameter name surrounded by
backslashes, as in \param1\ in the example above, are
replaced by the corresponding argument from the macro invocation. You
can use parameter names any number of times in the body, including zero.
To get a single \ in the macro expansion, use \\. Any
other use of \ in the body yields a warning.
The newlines after the @macro line and before the @end
macro line are ignored, that is, not included in the macro body. All
other whitespace is treated according to the usual Texinfo rules.
To allow a macro to be used recursively, that is, in an argument to a
call to itself, you must define it with @rmacro, like this:
@rmacro rmac {arg}
a\arg\b
@end rmacro
...
@rmac{1@rmac{text}2}
This produces the output `a1atextb2b'. With @macro instead of
@rmacro, an error message is given.
You can undefine a macro foo with @unmacro foo.
It is not an error to undefine a macro that is already undefined.
For example:
@unmacro foo