9.1.3 @listoffloats: Tables of Contents for Floats ¶

You can write a @listoffloats command to generate a list of floats for a given float type (see @float [type][,label]: Floating Material), analogous to the document’s overall table of contents. Typically, it is written in its own @unnumbered node to provide a heading and structure, rather like @printindex (see Printing Indices and Menus).

@listoffloats takes one optional argument, the float type. Here’s an example:

@node List of Figures
@unnumbered List of Figures
@listoffloats Figure

Without any argument, @listoffloats generates a list of floats for which no float type was specified, i.e., no first argument to the @float command (see @float [type][,label]: Floating Material).

Here’s what the output from @listoffloats looks like, given the example figure earlier in this chapter:

Figure 9.1

Usually, each line in the list of floats contains the float type (if any), the float number, and the caption, if any—the @shortcaption argument, if it was specified, else the @caption argument. The page number may also be included, depending on output format.

Unnumbered floats (those without cross-reference labels) are omitted from the list of floats.

The formatting of @listoffloats depends on the output format. In Info, for example, a @listoffloats is formatted as a menu.

In LaTeX output, \listoffigures is output for the ‘figure’ (case insensitive) float type, \listoftables is output for the ‘table’ (case insensitive) float type. For other float types, a specific \listof command is output.