Customizing indexentry

Question

I am trying to create an index manually, where each index entry refers to a page and the corresponding chapter. So basically I am creating my own idx file, then use Latex's MakeIndex functionality to get ind file, and then produce the corresponding PDF file.

So my tex file simply looks like:

\documentclass[a4paper,10pt]{extarticle}
\usepackage[10pt]{extsizes}
\usepackage{makeidx}
\begin{document}
\printindex
\end{document}

My idx file has entries as follows:

\indexentry{Aims of regulation}{3}
\indexentry{Cost of regulation}{4}

Now I was wondering how to edit my indexentry command to allow for a chapter number, so the index looks something like:

Aims of regulation, ...... Ch5.p3

Cost of regulation, ....... Ch5.p4

I was trying to use:

\indexentry{Aims of regulation}{Ch5.p3}
\indexentry{Cost of regulation}{Ch5.p4}

but that doesn't work since I assume only numbers are accepted.

My aim is simply to make use of MakeIndex so a sorted .ind file is created automatically, which I then simply print to a PDF file.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Makeindex supports composite page numbers. The following example uses the first part for the chapter number and the second part for the page number. A style file for makeindex is created to add macro markup that is defined to analyze the page number to add the formatting (adding Ch, dot, and p).

\documentclass[a4paper,10pt]{book}
\usepackage{makeidx}
\makeindex

\usepackage{etoolbox}
\makeatletter
% Write composite page numbers of the form <ch>-<pg>
\patchcmd\@wrindex{\thepage}{\thechapter-\thepage}{}{%
  \@latex@error{Patching `\string\@wrindex` failed}\@ehc
}

\newif\ifChapterPageRange
\def\ChapterPageRangetrue{\global\let\ifChapterPageRange\iftrue}
\def\ChapterPageRangefalse{\global\let\ifChapterPageRange\iffalse}
\newcommand*{\ChapterPage}[1]{%
  \expandafter\@ChapterPage\romannumeral-`\x#1\@nil
}
\def\@ChapterPage#1\@nil{%
  \@@ChapterPage#1--\@nil{#1}%
}
\def\@@ChapterPage#1-#2-#3\@nil#4{%
  \def\ChapterPage@Temp{#2}%
  \ifx\ChapterPage@Temp\@empty
    \global\let\ChapterPage@Chapter\@empty
    \romannumeral-`\x#4%
  \else
    \ifChapterPageRange
      \def\ChapterPage@Temp{#1}%
      \ifx\ChapterPage@Temp\ChapterPage@Chapter
        p#2%
      \else
        Ch#1.p#2%
      \fi
      \ChapterPageRangefalse
    \else
      Ch#1.p#2%
      \gdef\ChapterPage@Chapter{#1}%
    \fi
  \fi
}
\let\ChapterPage@Chapter\@empty
\makeatother

\usepackage{filecontents}
\begin{filecontents*}{\jobname.mst}
page_compositor "-"
delim_0 ", \\ChapterPage{"
delim_1 ", \\ChapterPage{"
delim_2 ", \\ChapterPage{"
delim_n "}, \\ChapterPage{"
delim_r "}--\\ChapterPageRangetrue\\ChapterPage{"
delim_t "}\\ChapterPageRangefalse"
encap_infix "{\\ChapterPage{"
encap_suffix "}}"
\end{filecontents*}

\begin{document}
\chapter{First chapter}
\index{Aims of regulation|textbf}
\newpage
\null\index{Aims of regulation|textbf}
\newpage
\null\index{Aims of regulation|textbf}
\addtocounter{chapter}{3}
\chapter{Regulation}
Aims of regulation\index{Aims of regulation}
\newpage
Cost of regulation\index{Cost of regulation}

\printindex
\end{document}

Raw index file \jobname.idx:

\indexentry{Aims of regulation|textbf}{1-1}
\indexentry{Aims of regulation|textbf}{1-2}
\indexentry{Aims of regulation|textbf}{1-3}
\indexentry{Aims of regulation}{5-5}
\indexentry{Cost of regulation}{5-6}

Sorted and formatted index file \jobname.ind:

\begin{theindex}

  \item Aims of regulation, \ChapterPage{
                \textbf{\ChapterPage{1-1}--\ChapterPageRangetrue\ChapterPage{1-3}}}, \ChapterPage{
                5-5}\ChapterPageRangefalse

  \indexspace

  \item Cost of regulation, \ChapterPage{5-6}\ChapterPageRangefalse

\end{theindex}

Remarks:

• The index style file \jobname.mst is automatically loaded by makeindex.
• Support for the encap and page range features of makeindex.
• In page ranges, the second chapter prefix is suppressed if the chapter is the same.
• The \romannumeral-\x` trick removes a starting space.
• The format "Ch.p" is not looking too good.

Answer 2

This workaround is the best I've been able to achieve... Hope it can be useful to you.

First of all, create a custom .ist file, call it myfile.ist and put it where your .tex file is.

myfile.ist

delim_0 ", \\dotfill Ch0.p"
delim_1 ", \\dotfill Ch0.p"
delim_2 ", \\dotfill Ch0.p"
delim_n ", Ch0.p"

Then suppose this is your .tex file

myfile.tex

\documentclass{book}
\usepackage{makeidx}

\makeindex

\begin{document}

\chapter{First}

Cost of regulation\index{Cost of regulation}. Aims of regulation\index{Aims of regulation}.

\chapter{Second}

Aims of regulation\index{Aims of regulation}.

\printindex

\end{document} 

At this point, run the sequence:

pdflatex myfile

makeindex -s myfile.ist myfile.idx

Now open the file myfile.ind which should have the contents:

\begin{theindex}

  \item Aims of regulation, \dotfill Ch0.p1, Ch0.p3

  \indexspace

  \item Cost of regulation, \dotfill Ch0.p1

\end{theindex}

Replace the chapter numbers with the correct ones:

\begin{theindex}

  \item Aims of regulation, \dotfill Ch1.p1, Ch2.p3

  \indexspace

  \item Cost of regulation, \dotfill Ch1.p1

\end{theindex}

At this point, run again

pdflatex myfile

and you will have

Answer 3

I have adjusted your code as follows:

\usepackage{etoolbox}
\makeatletter
% Write composite page numbers of the form <ch>-<pg>
\patchcmd\@wrindex{\thepage}{\thechapter-\thepage}{}{%
  \@latex@error{Patching `\string\@wrindex` failed}\@ehc
}

\newif\ifChapterPageRange
\def\ChapterPageRangetrue{\global\let\ifChapterPageRange\iftrue}
\def\ChapterPageRangefalse{\global\let\ifChapterPageRange\iffalse}
\newcommand*{\ChapterPage}[1]{%
  \expandafter\@ChapterPage\romannumeral-`\x#1\@nil
}
\def\@ChapterPage#1\@nil{%
  \@@ChapterPage#1--\@nil{#1}%
}
\def\@@ChapterPage#1-#2-#3\@nil#4{%
  \def\ChapterPage@Temp{#2}%
  \ifx\ChapterPage@Temp\@empty
    \global\let\ChapterPage@Chapter\@empty
    \romannumeral-`\x#4%
  \else
    \ifChapterPageRange
      \def\ChapterPage@Temp{#1}%
      \ifx\ChapterPage@Temp\ChapterPage@Chapter
        #2%
                %p#2%
      \else
              \textbf{#1}:#2%
        %Ch#1:p#2%
      \fi
      \ChapterPageRangefalse
    \else
          \textbf{#1}:#2%
      %Ch#1:p#2%
      \gdef\ChapterPage@Chapter{#1}%
    \fi
  \fi
}
\let\ChapterPage@Chapter\@empty
\makeatother

\usepackage{filecontents}
\begin{filecontents*}{\jobname.mst}
heading_prefix "{\\bfseries\\hfil " % Insert in front of letter 
heading_suffix "\\hfil}\\nopagebreak\n" % Append after letter 
headings_flag 1 % Turn on headings (uppercase)

page_compositor "-"
delim_0 "\\dotfill \\ChapterPage{"
delim_1 "\\dotfill \\ChapterPage{"
delim_2 "\\dotfill \\ChapterPage{"
delim_n "}, \\ChapterPage{"
delim_r "}--\\ChapterPageRangetrue\\ChapterPage{"
delim_t "}\\ChapterPageRangefalse"
encap_infix "{\\ChapterPage{"
encap_suffix "}}"
\end{filecontents*}

So now an index entry is produced that looks like for example:

Cost of regulation .......... 1:1

But for example, if I have the same index entry on a different page, say page 4, my index entry will look like:

Cost of regulation ...... 1:1, 1:4

How would I adjust the code to get something like:

Cost of regulation ......... 1:1, 4

Thanks.

Apologies - I know this is asking for help and shouldn't be done here. But the comment box doesn't allow me to type in this much.