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<head>
<title>UK TeX FAQ -- question label the-commands</title>
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<h3>Redefining counters’ <code>\</code><code>the-</code>commands</h3>
<p/>Whenever you request a new LaTeX counter, LaTeX creates a bunch
of behind-the-scenes commands, as well as definining the counter
itself.
<p/>Among other things, <code>\</code><code>newcounter{</code><em>fred</em><code>}</code> creates a command
<code>\</code><code>the</code><code><em>fred</em></code>, which expands to “the value of
<code><em>fred</em></code>” when you’re typesetting.
<p/>The definition of <code>\</code><code>the</code><code><em>fred</em></code> should express the
value of the counter: it is almost always always a mistake to use the
command to produce anything else. The value may reasonably be
expressed as an arabic, a roman or a greek number, as an alphabetic
expression, or even as a sequence (or pattern of) symbols. If you
need a decision process on whether to re-define
<code>\</code><code>the</code><code><em>fred</em></code>, consider what might happen when you do
so.
<p/>So, for example, if you want your section numbers to be terminated by
a period, you could make <code>\</code><code>thesection</code> expand with a terminating
period. However, such a change to <code>\</code><code>thesection</code> makes the
definition of <code>\</code><code>thesubsection</code> look distinctly odd: you are going to
find yourself redefining things left, right and centre. Rather, use
the standard techniques for
<a href="FAQ-seccntfmt.html">adjusting the presentation of section numbers</a>.
<p/>Or, suppose you want the page number to appear at the bottom of each
page surrounded by dashes (“<code>-</code><code>- nnn -</code><code>-</code>”). Would you want to
achieve this by redefining <code>\</code><code>thepage</code>, given the likely appearance
of the table of contents with the dashes attached every page number,
or of the modified <code>\</code><code>pageref</code> references. In this case, the
modification is best done by redefining the page style itself, perhaps
<a href="FAQ-fancyhdr.html">package <i>fancyhdr</i></a>.
<p/><p/><p/><p>This question on the Web: <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=the-commands">http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=the-commands</a>
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