Starred chapter number and name in header

Question

I have created custom chapter headings:

\documentclass[final]{book}
\usepackage{lipsum}

% Custom macros 
\def \mychapter#1{%
\chapter*{\centering{\LARGE #1}\thispagestyle{empty}}%
\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{#1}%
}

\def \mychapterwithsubtitle#1#2{%
\chapter*{\baselineskip=20pt\centering{\LARGE #1}\\*\vspace*{0.3cm}\textnormal{\Large #2}\thispagestyle{empty}}%
\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{#1: #2}%
}

% Headers
\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\pagestyle{fancy}
\fancyhead{}
\fancyfoot{}
\renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0pt}
\renewcommand{\footrulewidth}{0pt}

% Document
\begin{document}
\mychapter{Some chapter}
\lipsum[1-10]
\mychapterwithsubtitle{Chapter Two}{Subtitle of this chapter}
\lipsum[11-30]
\mychapterwithsubtitle{Chapter Three}{Some other subtitle}
\lipsum[31-50]
\end{document}

Now, I would like to be able to put text of mychapter heading and name along with subtitles of mychapterwithsubtitles headings in the header (let's say left side of odd pages header).

I know that there are commands that could be used with fancyhdr package like \leftmark, \rightmark and \thechapter, but those only work for regular chapters and do not produce any result for starred versions of chapters which I tend to use.

Is there any way to put starred chapter name and number in header?

Answer 1

As Barbara mentioned in her comments, you can use mechnaisms like \markboth or \markright. I just added the mark to your definitions.

I also defined a command xchapter that takes an optional argument that will be typeset as the subtitle. The command in general patches the original \@makeschapterhead, makes the starting page empty and most important, clears the headers of any pre-existing material.

Since this patches the original book-chapter-definition, it is not compatible with KOMA-script.

\documentclass[final]{book}
\usepackage{xparse}
\usepackage{etoolbox}
\usepackage{lipsum}


\def\mychapter#1{%
\chapter*{\centering{\LARGE #1}\thispagestyle{empty}}
\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{#1}%
\markright{#1}%
}

\def \mychapterwithsubtitle#1#2{%
\chapter*{\baselineskip=20pt\centering{\LARGE#1}\\*\vspace*{0.3cm}\textnormal{\Large#2}\thispagestyle{empty}}%
\markright{#1: #2}%
\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{#1: #2}%
}

\makeatletter
\DeclareDocumentCommand{\xchapter}{ m o }{
    \begingroup
    \ProvideDocumentCommand{\schapterheadendvskip}{}{\vskip 40\p@}
    \patchcmd{\chapter}{plain}{empty}{}{}
    \patchcmd{\@makeschapterhead}{\Huge}{\LARGE}{}{}
    \patchcmd{\@makeschapterhead}{\raggedright}{\centering}{}{}
    \patchcmd{\@makeschapterhead}{\vskip 40\p@}{\schapterheadendvskip}{}{}
    \clearpage\markboth{}{}
    \IfNoValueTF{#2}{
    \chapter*{#1}
    \addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{#1}
    \markright{#1}
}{
    \renewcommand{\schapterheadendvskip}{\vskip
        15\p@{\normalfont\Large\centering#2\par\nobreak} \vskip 20\p@}
    \chapter*{#1}
    \addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{#1:\space#2}
    \markright{#1: #2}
}
\endgroup
}
\makeatother

\usepackage{showframe}

\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\pagestyle{fancy}
\fancyhf{}
\fancyhead[LO]{\rightmark}
\renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0pt}
\renewcommand{\footrulewidth}{0pt}


\setlipsumdefault{1-24}
\begin{document}
\tableofcontents
\mychapter{A chapter without a subtitle}
\lipsum
\mychapterwithsubtitle{Chapter with many many little
ducklings}{And a subtitle}
\lipsum
\mychapterwithsubtitle{no ducklings}{but some puppies}
\lipsum
\xchapter{There once was a little duckling}[and it was sooo cute]
\lipsum
\xchapter{The first law of thermodynamics}
\lipsum
\chapter*{Look at the header on the next odd page}
\lipsum
\end{document}