Changing Section heading in latex template

Question

I would like to change the section and subsection heading in my latex template. The current heading is in bold, but it also has to be indented and numbered. I do not know how to change it in the class file.

I have attached the images and code snippet of section heading and also link to the class file. Any help to change the class file is appreciated.

Image of Current Section Heading:

Image of Required Section Heading:

Class File Link

\newcommand\section{\@startsection {section}{1}{\z@}%
                               {-3.5ex \@plus -1ex \@minus -.2ex}%
                               {2.3ex \@plus .2ex}%
                               {\normalfont\normalsize\bfseries}}
\newcommand\subsection{\@startsection{subsection}{2}{\z@}%
                                 {-3.25ex\@plus -1ex \@minus -.2ex}%
                                 {1.5ex \@plus .2ex}%
                                 {\normalfont\normalsize\bfseries}}

\newcommand\subsubsection{\@startsection{subsubsection}{3}{\z@}%
                                 {-3.25ex\@plus -1ex \@minus -.2ex}%
                                 {1.5ex \@plus .2ex}%
                                 {\normalfont\normalsize\bfseries}}

\newcommand\paragraph{\@startsection{paragraph}{4}{\z@}%
                                {3.25ex \@plus -1ex \@minus -.2ex}%
                                {-1em}%
                                {\normalfont\normalsize\bfseries}}

\newcommand\subparagraph{\@startsection{subparagraph}{5}{\parindent}%
                                   {3.25ex \@plus -1ex \@minus -.2ex}%
                                   {-1em}%
                                  {\normalfont\normalsize\bfseries}}

Answer 1

Do not change the class file. Make your changes in your preamble.

The third argument to the \@startsection command is the indent from the left margin. In your examples it has always been set as \z@ for zero indent. Try, for example,

\makeatletter
\renewcommand{\subsection}{\@startsection
{subsection}{2}{5mm}%               % name, level, indent   
{as in class}%                      % beforeskip
{as in class}%                      % afterskip
{as in class}}%                     % style 
\makeatother

and similarly for the other sectional headings. You will have to adjust the indents as appropriate for your design.

The \setsecnumdeph{<num>} controls which sectional levels get numbered. To have numbering down to the subsubsection level put

\setsecnumdepth{3}

in your preamble.

The typesetting of the section number is by an internal LaTeX macro \@seccntformat whose typical definition, but it depends on the class file, is along the lines of

\newcommand*{\@seccntformat}[1]{\csname the#1\endcsname\quad}

which typesets the section number followed by a \quad space. To change the spacing to, say, \yourlength, in your preamble put

\makeatletter
\renewcommand*{\@seccntformat}[1]{\csname the#1\endcsname\yourlength}
\makeatother

BTW: You are talking about a class file, not a template. GOM