Can I merge \ref and \nameref into one command?

Question

Note: There is a question here with an almost identical title, but the person there is asking for a completely different thing.

I am currently writing a document that regularly refers to the name of a section and the numbers of the theorems. Below is a MWE:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{nameref}
\newtheorem{theorem}{Theorem}
\begin{document}
\section{Section Name}
\label{sec1}
\begin{theorem}
\label{thm1}
    Every section has a name.
\end{theorem}
By Theorem \ref{thm1}, this section has a name, which is \nameref{sec1}.
\end{document}

This runs perfectly, but I do not wish to distinguish \ref from \nameref. That is, I would like to instead write:

By Theorem \ref{thm1}, this section has a name, which is \ref{sec1}.

or:

By \ref{thm1}, this section has a name, which is \ref{sec1}.

and the text will output as:

By Theorem 1, this section has a name, which is Section Name.

Is this possible? And yes, I wish to keep it as \ref, instead of something like \myref.

Answer 1

(I'm not able to comment currently, or I would ask if you were trying to avoid cleveref before posting this. If you are, let me know.)

If your goal is just to get the output, and not specifically figure out how to combine commands like that, then I would suggest using the cleveref package, as what you describe is essentially reinventing the \cref command.

Also, because unless its functionality is modified somehow, using \nameref{thm1} is going to give you the name of the section containing your theorem (which I don't think is the goal).

Here's an example of your code with \cref:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{nameref}
\usepackage{cleveref}
% defines how the name for references to a single, and multiple
% items of the given type should be referenced
\crefname{theorem}{Theorem}{Theorems}
\newtheorem{theorem}{Theorem}
\begin{document}
\section{Section Name}
\label{sec1}
\begin{theorem}
\label{thm1}
    Every section has a name.
\end{theorem}
By \cref{thm1}, this section has a name, which is \nameref{sec1}.
\end{document}

There is one line included to specify how the package should refer to theorems.

This package also allows you to specify formatting for the references:

% make references bold
\crefformat{theorem}{\B{Theorem~#2#1#3}}

as well as specifying what to do when two or more items are specified:

\newcommand{\crefrangeconjunction}{--}  % placed between numbers in a range
\newcommand{\crefpairconjunction}{ and }  % placed between two items
\newcommand{\crefmiddleconjunction}{ , }  % placed between items in a list
\newcommand{\creflastconjunction}{, and }  % placed before last item in a list
% specify format for two items
\crefrangeformat{theorem}{\B{Theorems~#3#1#4\crefrangeconjunction#5#2#6}}
% specify format for more than two items
\crefmultiformat{theorem}{\B{Theorems~#2#1#3}}%
       {\B{ and~#2#1#3}}{\B{, #2#1#3}}{\B{, and~#2#1#3}}

Defining internal references

An example of the file from my thesis, which defined reference styles for everything I needed. (There's some difference between \Crefname and \crefname that escapes me right now.) Each block contains identical commands, the only difference being the type of thing they are for:

\Crefname{equation}{Equation}{Equations}
\Crefname{figure}{Figure}{Figures}
\Crefname{tabular}{Table}{Tables}
\Crefname{section}{Section}{Sections}
\Crefname{chapter}{Chapter}{Chapters}
\Crefname{appendix}{Appendix}{Appendices}
\crefname{equation}{Equation}{Equations}
\crefname{figure}{Figure}{Figures}
\crefname{tabular}{Table}{Tables}
\crefname{section}{Section}{Sections}
\crefname{chapter}{Chapter}{Chapters}
\crefname{appendix}{Appendix}{Appendices}
\crefdefaultlabelformat{#2\B{#1}#3}
\crefformat{equation}{\B{Equation~#2#1#3}}
\crefformat{table}{\B{Table~#2#1#3}}
\crefformat{figure}{\B{Figure~#2#1#3}}
\crefformat{section}{\B{Section~#2#1#3}}
\crefformat{chapter}{\B{Chapter~#2#1#3}}
\crefformat{appendix}{\B{Appendix~#2#1#3}}
\newcommand{\crefrangeconjunction}{--}
\newcommand{\crefpairconjunction}{ and }
\newcommand{\crefmiddleconjunction}{ , }
\newcommand{\creflastconjunction}{, and }
\crefrangeformat{table}{\B{Tables~#3#1#4\crefrangeconjunction#5#2#6}}
\crefrangeformat{figure}{\B{Figures~#3#1#4\crefrangeconjunction#5#2#6}}
\crefrangeformat{equation}{\B{Equations~#3#1#4\crefrangeconjunction#5#2#6}}
\crefrangeformat{chapter}{\B{Chapters~#3#1#4\crefrangeconjunction#5#2#6}}
\crefrangeformat{section}{\B{Sections~#3#1#4\crefrangeconjunction#5#2#6}}
\crefrangeformat{appendix}{\B{Appendices~#3#1#4\crefrangeconjunction#5#2#6}}
\crefmultiformat{table}{\B{Tables~#2#1#3}}%
       {\B{ and~#2#1#3}}{\B{, #2#1#3}}{\B{, and~#2#1#3}}
\crefmultiformat{figure}{\B{Figures~#2#1#3}}%
       {\B{ and~#2#1#3}}{\B{, #2#1#3}}{\B{, and~#2#1#3}}
\crefmultiformat{equation}{\B{Equations~#2#1#3}}%
       {\B{ and~#2#1#3}}{\B{, #2#1#3}}{\B{, and~#2#1#3}}
\crefmultiformat{chapter}{\B{Chapters~#2#1#3}}%
       {\B{ and~#2#1#3}}{\B{, #2#1#3}}{\B{, and~#2#1#3}}
\crefmultiformat{section}{\B{Sections~#2#1#3}}%
       {\B{ and~#2#1#3}}{\B{, #2#1#3}}{\B{, and~#2#1#3}}
\crefmultiformat{appendix}{\B{Appendices~#2#1#3}}%
       {\B{ and~#2#1#3}}{\B{, #2#1#3}}{\B{, and~#2#1#3}}

Answer 2

This uses a special \label command instead of a special \ref command.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{nameref}
\newtheorem{theorem}{Theorem}
\makeatletter
\newcommand{\sectionlabel}[1]{\let@currentlabel=@currentlabelname
  \edef@currentlabelname{section}%
  \label{#1}}
\makeatother
\begin{document}
\section{Section Name}
\sectionlabel{sec1}
\begin{theorem}
\label{thm1}
    Every section has a name.
\end{theorem}
By Theorem \ref{thm1}, this section has a name, which is \ref{sec1}.
\end{document}

---

This modifies \@startsection, which is used by \section, \subsection, etc.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{etoolbox}
\newtheorem{theorem}{Theorem}
\makeatletter
\patchcmd{@sect}{\refstepcounter{#1}}%
  {\refstepcounter{#1}\edef@currentlabel{#7}}% #7=short title, #8=long title
  {}{FAILED}
\makeatother
\begin{document}
\section{Section Name}
\label{sec1}
\begin{theorem}
\label{thm1}
    Every section has a name.
\end{theorem}
By Theorem \ref{thm1}, this section has a name, which is \ref{sec1}.
\end{document}