Getting section numbering to start at 0

Question

   \documentclass[11pt,a4paper]{article}
    \usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
    \usepackage{lipsum}
    \usepackage{tocloft}
    \begin{document}

    \tableofcontents
    \thispagestyle{empty}    
    \newpage

    \section{Preface} %want section number to be 0
    \thispagestyle{empty}    
    \pagenumbering{roman}
    \lipsum[1-3]
    \newpage

    \section{Start From Here}
    \lipsum[1-5]

    \section{And So On...}
    \lipsum[1-5]
    \end{document}

How do I get section numbering to start at 0?

Edit: I know I can do \section*{Preface}, but that removes it from the ToC, which isn't what I want.

Use \section*{Preface} \addcontentsline{toc}{section}{Preface}. — , Apr 08 '13 at 02:34
If you really want a 0 section, add this to the preamble: \setcounter{section}{-1}; otherwise, do as Harish has suggested. — Gonzalo Medina, Apr 08 '13 at 02:37
@GonzaloMedina I have \thispagestyle{empty} because I want to clear out the header and footer, but I want to include a roman numeral on the preface. Is this possible? — TheRealFakeNews, Apr 08 '13 at 02:43
@AlanH Your wish with the pagenumbering is a separate question … — Speravir, Apr 08 '13 at 02:48
@AlanH yes, it's better. Also, please include in that question the headers you are using and how you are using them. — Gonzalo Medina, Apr 08 '13 at 02:51
Related Question: How can I reset the chapter number from zero with memoir? — Peter Grill, Apr 08 '13 at 09:16

score 112 · Accepted Answer · edited Sep 22 '14 at 14:44

112

Just insert \setcounter{section}{-1} in the preamble.

\documentclass[11pt,a4paper]{article}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{tocloft}
\setcounter{section}{-1}

\begin{document}
\tableofcontents
\newpage
\thispagestyle{empty}
\section{Preface} %want section number to be 0
\lipsum[1-3]
\newpage
\section{Start From Here}
\lipsum[1-5]
\section{And So On...}
\lipsum[1-5]
\end{document}

edited Sep 22 '14 at 14:44

T. Verron

13,552

answered Apr 08 '13 at 02:37

n.r.

4,942

5

Why do I need to set the counter to -1, rather than 0? – user27182 Oct 07 '14 at 15:16
9

The default is 0. Each chapter increments the number and is labelled with the incremented number. So -1 produces 0 as the first label. – Martin Brandenburg Mar 14 '15 at 23:39
1

this does not seem to work in the book documentclass. – ncmathsadist Jan 18 '21 at 19:57
I learned this: Make sure you set the conter AFTER the \chapter command if you are doing everything with \input. – ncmathsadist Jan 18 '21 at 20:07

Getting section numbering to start at 0

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