Beamer frame number without total

Question

The command

\setbeamertemplate{footline}[frame number]{}

issues the frame number in the format a/b where a is current and b total. Is there a command that produces just a, in the same color, character, position etc? I'd prefer to avoid having to edit things at tex level or producing a new command.

Answer 1

The original definition from beamerbaseauxtemplates.sty is

\defbeamertemplate{footline}{frame number}
{
  \hfill%
  \usebeamercolor[fg]{page number in head/foot}%
  \usebeamerfont{page number in head/foot}%
  \insertframenumber\,/\,\inserttotalframenumber\kern1em\vskip2pt%
}

So if you want to keep colour, character position etc., try with

\setbeamertemplate{footline}{% 
  \hfill% 
  \usebeamercolor[fg]{page number in head/foot}% 
  \usebeamerfont{page number in head/foot}% 
  \insertframenumber%
  %\,/\,\inserttotalframenumber
  \kern1em\vskip2pt% 
}

But I'm not sure if this fulfils you not "tex level or producing a new command" requirements, whatever this means.

---

With an up-to-date version of beamer, this can be simplified to

\setbeamertemplate{footline}{
  \hfill%
  \usebeamercolor[fg]{page number in head/foot}%
  \usebeamerfont{page number in head/foot}%
  \setbeamertemplate{page number in head/foot}[framenumber]%
  \usebeamertemplate*{page number in head/foot}\kern1em\vskip2pt%
}