Why do we need to compile twice to see the changes in table of contents?

Asked Oct 31 '15 at 11:13

Active Oct 31 '15 at 11:46

Viewed 2,190 times

I'm using Texmaker 4.4.1 as an editor and MiKTeX 2.9 as a compiler. When ever I create table of contents (\tableofcontents), table of figures (\tableoffigures) and table of tables (\tableoftables); I need to compile the codes twice to see the changes in the pdf document.

Why can't I compile only once and see the changes?

edited Oct 31 '15 at 11:46

Johannes_B

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asked Oct 31 '15 at 11:13

Hepkhatduh

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That's just the way it is, see for example Need to Typeset twice for correct compile? – Torbjørn T. Oct 31 '15 at 11:18
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some times more. – touhami Oct 31 '15 at 11:20
Because TeX does not support incremental compilation. It can't know how many chapters etc. are there in advance unless you would provide code right from the start that does a pre-definition – Oct 31 '15 at 11:20
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See also Why is the .toc file created at end document? for some more in-depth description of how the ToC is generated. – Torbjørn T. Oct 31 '15 at 11:21
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So, it seems that there is no other way to do it just in one go! – Hepkhatduh Oct 31 '15 at 11:26
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@Hepkhatduh: No, this isn't a problem nowadays, with fast computers, but it was really 'tedious', say, 20 years ago, for large documents. By the way: This has nothing to do with TeXMaker, MikTeX etc. – Oct 31 '15 at 11:27
Alright I'll stay happy with "how it works" even if I'm too lazy to compile twice. All the answers say that i should compile more than once – Hepkhatduh Oct 31 '15 at 11:31
@Hepkhatduh perfect – touhami Oct 31 '15 at 11:32
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You don't have to check that the ToC etc. are updated every time you change of course. And there are several ways of automating compilations, so you only have to click once, and multiple runs are executed, see Tools for automating document compilation – Torbjørn T. Oct 31 '15 at 11:34
Related: Understanding how references and labels work – Werner Oct 31 '15 at 12:55

Why do we need to compile twice to see the changes in table of contents?

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