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Merge pull request #1534 from joshrotenberg/docs/guide-summary-updates
Guide updates: summary.md
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guide/src/format/summary.md

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@@ -4,66 +4,96 @@ The summary file is used by mdBook to know what chapters to include, in what
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order they should appear, what their hierarchy is and where the source files
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are. Without this file, there is no book.
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Even though `SUMMARY.md` is a markdown file, the formatting is very strict to
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allow for easy parsing. Let's see how you should format your `SUMMARY.md` file.
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This markdown file must be named `SUMMARY.md`. Its formatting
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is very strict and must follow the structure outlined below to allow for easy
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parsing. Any element not specified below, be it formatting or textual, is likely
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to be ignored at best, or may cause an error when attempting to build the book.
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#### Structure
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### Structure
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1. ***Title*** It's common practice to begin with a title, generally <code
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class="language-markdown"># Summary</code>. But it is not mandatory, the
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parser just ignores it. So you can too if you feel like it.
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1. ***Title*** - While optional, it's common practice to begin with a title, generally <code
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class="language-markdown"># Summary</code>. This is ignored by the parser however, and
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can be ommitted.
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```markdown
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# Summary
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```
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2. ***Prefix Chapter*** Before the main numbered chapters you can add a couple
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of elements that will not be numbered. This is useful for forewords,
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introductions, etc. There are however some constraints. You can not nest
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prefix chapters, they should all be on the root level. And you can not add
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1. ***Prefix Chapter*** - Before the main numbered chapters, prefix chapters can be added
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that will not be numbered. This is useful for forewords,
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introductions, etc. There are, however, some constraints. Prefix chapters cannot be
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nested; they should all be on the root level. And you can not add
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prefix chapters once you have added numbered chapters.
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```markdown
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[Title of prefix element](relative/path/to/markdown.md)
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[A Prefix Chapter](relative/path/to/markdown.md)
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- [First Chapter](relative/path/to/markdown2.md)
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```
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3. ***Part Title:*** Headers can be used as a title for the following numbered
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1. ***Part Title*** - Headers can be used as a title for the following numbered
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chapters. This can be used to logically separate different sections
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of book. The title is rendered as unclickable text.
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of the book. The title is rendered as unclickable text.
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Titles are optional, and the numbered chapters can be broken into as many
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parts as desired.
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```markdown
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# My Part Tile
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- [First Chapter](relative/path/to/markdown.md)
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```
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4. ***Numbered Chapter*** Numbered chapters are the main content of the book,
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they will be numbered and can be nested, resulting in a nice hierarchy
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(chapters, sub-chapters, etc.)
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1. ***Numbered Chapter*** - Numbered chapters outline the main content of the book
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and can be nested, resulting in a nice hierarchy
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(chapters, sub-chapters, etc.).
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```markdown
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# Title of Part
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- [Title of the first Chapter](relative/path/to/markdown.md)
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- [Title of the second Chapter](relative/path/to/markdown2.md)
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- [Title of a sub Chapter](relative/path/to/markdown3.md)
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- [First Chapter](relative/path/to/markdown.md)
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- [Second Chapter](relative/path/to/markdown2.md)
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- [Sub Chapter](relative/path/to/markdown3.md)
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# Title of Another Part
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- [More Chapters](relative/path/to/markdown4.md)
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- [Another Chapter](relative/path/to/markdown4.md)
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```
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Numbered chapters can be denoted with either `-` or `*`.
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1. ***Suffix Chapter*** - Like prefix chapters, suffix chapters are unnumbered, but they come after
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numbered chapters.
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```markdown
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- [Last Chapter](relative/path/to/markdown.md)
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[Title of Suffix Chapter](relative/path/to/markdown2.md)
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```
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You can either use `-` or `*` to indicate a numbered chapter.
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5. ***Suffix Chapter*** After the numbered chapters you can add a couple of
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non-numbered chapters. They are the same as prefix chapters but come after
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the numbered chapters instead of before.
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All other elements are unsupported and will be ignored at best or result in an
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error.
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#### Other elements
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- ***Separators*** In between chapters you can add a separator. In the HTML renderer
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this will result in a line being rendered in the table of contents. A separator is
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a line containing exclusively dashes and at least three of them: `---`.
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- ***Draft chapters*** Draft chapters are chapters without a file and thus content.
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The purpose of a draft chapter is to signal future chapters still to be written.
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Or when still laying out the structure of the book to avoid creating the files
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while you are still changing the structure of the book a lot.
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Draft chapters will be rendered in the HTML renderer as disabled links in the table
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of contents, as you can see for the next chapter in the table of contents on the left.
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Draft chapters are written like normal chapters but without writing the path to the file
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```markdown
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- [Draft chapter]()
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```
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1. ***Draft chapters*** - Draft chapters are chapters without a file and thus content.
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The purpose of a draft chapter is to signal future chapters still to be written.
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Or when still laying out the structure of the book to avoid creating the files
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while you are still changing the structure of the book a lot.
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Draft chapters will be rendered in the HTML renderer as disabled links in the table
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of contents, as you can see for the next chapter in the table of contents on the left.
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Draft chapters are written like normal chapters but without writing the path to the file.
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```markdown
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- [Draft Chapter]()
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```
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1. ***Separators*** - Separators can be added before, in between, and after any other element. They result
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in an HTML rendered line in the built table of contents. A separator is
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a line containing exclusively dashes and at least three of them: `---`.
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```markdown
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# My Part Title
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[A Prefix Chapter](relative/path/to/markdown.md)
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---
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- [First Chapter](relative/path/to/markdown2.md)
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```
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### Example
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Below is the markdown source for the `SUMMARY.md` for this guide, with the resulting table
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of contents as rendered to the left.
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```markdown
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{{#include ../SUMMARY.md}}
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```

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