Page numbering, book class

Question

So in the default book class, the page number for chapters appears at the bottom of the page. I just want the page numbering to alternate left and right, as it does for all other pages.

How can I change the different behavior for pages where there is a chapter?

I have googled the problem and I am aware the package fancyhdr may be of some use, but I don't understand how to use it (yes I read some of the documentation and I still don't understand). So far I just use its default behavior:

\usepackage{fancyhdr}

\pagestyle{fancy}
\fancyhead[LE,RO]{\slshape \rightmark}
\fancyhead[LO,RE]{\slshape \leftmark}
\fancyfoot[C]{\thepage}

\begin{document}
\Stuff
\end{document}

EDIT: I want the page numbers to appear in the header. I've changed the code to look like this:

\usepackage{fancyhdr}

\pagestyle{fancy}
\fancyhead[LE]{\slshape \rightmark}
\fancyhead[RO]{\slshape \leftmark}
\fancyhead[LO,RE]{\thepage}

\begin{document}
\Stuff
\end{document}

What this does is to alternate the pages depending on whether it is odd or even, but for chapters, the pages are still centered. Also, I now have page numbers listed in BOTH the header AND the footer for ALL pages...

Answer 1

The letters in square brackets tell you, which position in the header or footer the contents of the curly brackets will be positioned in. L, R, C are left, right, and center, O and E are odd and even. So \fancyfoot[C]{\thepage} will print the current page number cnetered in the footer. It might be useful to have a look at the documentation.

After your edit, I’d recommend you clear all headers and footers in the pagestyle fancy with \fancyhf{} and redefine the pagestyle plain that is used by the \chapter-command with \fancypagestyle:

\documentclass{book}

\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\pagestyle{fancy}
\fancyhf{}%clear all headers and footers
\fancyhead[LE]{\slshape \rightmark}
\fancyhead[RO]{\slshape \leftmark}
\fancyhead[LO,RE]{\thepage}

\fancypagestyle{plain}{%
\fancyhf{}%clear all headers and footers
\renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0pt}%header rule invisible
}

\usepackage{lipsum}

\begin{document}
\chapter{Stuff}
\lipsum
\section{More stuff}
\lipsum
\chapter{Different stuff}
\lipsum
\section{Different stuff in a section}
\lipsum
\end{document}

Answer 2

I found what I was looking for. Put this in the preamble:

\usepackage{etoolbox} 
\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\pagestyle{fancy}
\fancyhead[RO]{\slshape \rightmark}
\fancyhead[LE]{\slshape \leftmark}
\fancyhead[LO,RE]{\thepage}
\renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0pt}
\renewcommand{\footrulewidth}{0pt}
\cfoot{} % get rid of the page number 
\patchcmd{\chapter}{\thispagestyle{plain}}{\thispagestyle{fancy}}{}{}

As far as I understand it, the code below changes the pagestyle of Chapter from plain to fancy.

\usepackage{etoolbox} 
\patchcmd{\chapter}{\thispagestyle{plain}}{\thispagestyle{fancy}}{}{}

You can clear the page numbers from the footer using:

\cfoot{}

You can adjust the width of the lines by changing the number (or remove them by putting 0pt):

\renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0pt}
\renewcommand{\footrulewidth}{0pt}

Thanks for the help.