9.1.1 @float [type][,label]: Floating Material

To produce floating material, enclose the material you want to be displayed separate between @float and @end float commands, on lines by themselves.

Floating material often uses @image to display an already-existing graphic (see Inserting Images), or @multitable to display a table (see @multitable: Multi-column Tables). However, the contents of the float can be anything. Here’s an example with simple text:

@float Figure,fig:ex1
This is an example float.
@end float

And the output:

As shown in the example, @float takes two arguments (separated by a comma), type and label. Both are optional.

type

Specifies the sort of float this is; typically a word such as “Figure”, “Table”, etc. If this is not given, and label is, any cross-referencing will simply use a bare number.

label

Specifies a cross-reference label for this float. If given, this float is automatically given a number, and will appear in any @listoffloats output (see @listoffloats: Tables of Contents for Floats). Cross references to label are allowed. For example, ‘see @ref{fig:ex1}’ will produce see Figure 9.1.

On the other hand, if label is not given, then the float will not be numbered and consequently will not appear in the @listoffloats output or be cross-referenceable.

Ordinarily, you specify both type and label, to get a labeled and numbered float.

In the LaTeX output, code loading the float package is output in the preamble if @float are present. A @float with type ‘figure’ or ‘table’ (case insensitive) is already defined by the package. Other float types lead to the definition of a new float environment, with names based on the @float type with anything else than letters and ‘-’ removed.

In Texinfo, all floats are numbered in the same way: with the chapter number (or appendix letter), a period, and the float number, which simply counts 1, 2, 3, …, and is reset at each chapter. Each float type is counted independently.

Floats within an @unnumbered, or outside of any chapter, are simply numbered consecutively from 1.

These numbering conventions are not, at present, changeable.