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I'm new to LaTeX. When I'm learning how to use it, I'm always having trouble searching the meaning of some commands, such as \thechapter, \chaptertitlename... I think these must be basic commands in LaTeX but I cannot figure out what EXACTLY they are used for. Someone suggest me to check texdoc, however I didn't find the explanation of what I want either(I searched for the commands name in the doc). Is there some other resource that I can refer to? Or am I using wrong way of reading texdocs?

Guido
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Trams
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    The commands you refers to are more "internal" commands and, typically are not need by normal users. As a beginner you should look for a good LaTeX manual to learn how to use it (see http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/11/what-are-good-learning-resources-for-a-latex-beginner) – Guido Nov 27 '15 at 04:07
  • \chaptertitlename is not even a LaTeX command in the sense of being part of the standard classes or LaTeX format. It will only be defined if you load an extension package which defines it. As earlier comments have mentioned, if you are new to LaTeX, \thechapter is not a command you should be thinking about either, even though it is provided by the standard classes for documents consisting of chapters. You should just use \chapter{Chapter Title} and let LaTeX worry about \thechapter for now, at least. – cfr Nov 27 '15 at 04:25
  • What if I want to customize my own style of chapter(or section) title? Should the \thechapter commands help? – Trams Nov 27 '15 at 04:35
  • @Trams if you want to do that, commands like \thechapter can help (although there are also packages which make this easier by providing a kind-of interface, with user-friendly commands that save you from having to get under the bonnet and do it all by hand). But that isn't basic, or beginner level – Au101 Nov 27 '15 at 05:06
  • Yeah, maybe I will try it after further study and practice of LaTeX. Thanks a lot :) – Trams Nov 27 '15 at 05:17

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