Section or chapter in header

Question

I am writing a document and I have made it, so that on every even page, the header shows the current chapter, and on every odd page it shows the current section. But how can I show either the current chapter or the current section in the header, depending on the fact that the current page already belongs to a section or not?

\documentclass[a4paper, 12pt, twoside]{scrreprt}                            
\usepackage{geometry}                           
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}             
\usepackage[ngerman]{babel}              
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}        
\usepackage{blindtext}  
\usepackage[headsepline]{scrlayer-scrpage}
\pagestyle{scrheadings}
\clearpairofpagestyles                          
\rohead{\chaptername :\ \rightmark}     
\lehead{\chaptername :\ \leftmark}      
\automark[section]{chapter}                                         
\ofoot[\pagemark]{\pagemark}

\begin{document}
\chapter{1}
    \blindtext
    \chapter{2}
    \section{2.1}
    \blindtext
    \chapter{3}
    \blindtext
    \section{3.1}
    \blindtext
\end{document}

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 15 '17 at 10:21

You can use the additive star version \automark*:

\documentclass[a4paper, 12pt, twoside]{scrreprt}                            
\usepackage{geometry}                           
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}             
\usepackage[ngerman]{babel}              
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}        
\usepackage{blindtext}  
\usepackage[headsepline]{scrlayer-scrpage}
\automark[chapter]{chapter}
\automark*[section]{}% Add odd side marks without removing previous marks
\renewcommand*{\chaptermarkformat}{\chapapp~\thechapter:\enskip}% Put "chapter" oder "appendix" in front of the chapter number in running head
\clearpairofpagestyles
\ohead{\headmark}                         
\ofoot*{\pagemark}

\begin{document}
\chapter{Erstes Kapitel}
    \Blindtext\Blindtext
\chapter{Zweites Kapitel}
\section{Erster Abschnitt des zweiten Kapitels}
    \Blindtext\Blindtext
\chapter{Drittes Kapitel}
    \Blindtext\Blindtext
\section{Erster Abschnitt des dritten Kapitels}
    \Blindtext\Blindtext
\end{document}

The first \automark[chapter]{chapter} activates automatic running heads and defines a \chaptermark to set left and right mark and resets \sectionmark etc. The second \automark*[section]{} does only define \sectionmark to set the right mark (odd syntax: left argument → right mark; right argument → left mark). So you have chapter on the left and right pages until you have a \section that changes the running head of right pages to be the section.

Sorry, I'm away and so couldn't react to your comment directly. You are naturally right that the starred version of \automark make is easier to reset only \sectionmark. — Ulrike Fischer, Jan 15 '17 at 16:56

Ulrike Fischer · Answer 2 · 2017-01-15T16:53:37.987

You should redefine \sectionmark so that it also sets the left mark. In KOMA-syntax e.g. like this (a simple \renewcommand\sectionmark[1]{\markboth{#1}{#1}} should work too, but looses some of the KOMA internals):

\documentclass[a4paper, 12pt, twoside]{scrreprt}
\usepackage{geometry}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[ngerman]{babel}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{blindtext}
\usepackage[headsepline]{scrlayer-scrpage}
\pagestyle{scrheadings}
\clearpairofpagestyles
\renewcommand\chaptermarkformat{Kapitel~}
\rohead{\leftmark}
\lehead{\leftmark}
\automark{chapter}
\automark*{section}

\ofoot[\pagemark]{\pagemark}

\begin{document}
\chapter{Erstes Kapitel}
    \Blindtext\Blindtext
\chapter{Zweites Kapitel}
\section{Erster Abschnitt des zweiten Kapitels}
    \Blindtext\Blindtext
\chapter{Drittes Kapitel}
    \Blindtext\Blindtext
\section{Erster Abschnitt des dritten Kapitels}
    \Blindtext\Blindtext
\end{document}

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:34

You can check whether \rightmark expands to something printable (using this answer).

\rohead{\setbox0=\hbox{\rightmark\unskip}\ifdim\wd0=0pt\chaptername\ \leftmark\else Abschnitt \rightmark\fi}
\lehead{\chaptername\ \leftmark}

\documentclass[a4paper, 12pt, twoside]{scrreprt}                            
\usepackage{geometry}                           
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}             
\usepackage[ngerman]{babel}              
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}        
\usepackage{blindtext}  
\usepackage[headsepline]{scrlayer-scrpage}
\pagestyle{scrheadings}
\clearpairofpagestyles                          
\rohead{\setbox0=\hbox{\rightmark\unskip}\ifdim\wd0=0pt\chaptername\ \leftmark\else Abschnitt \rightmark\fi}
\lehead{\chaptername\ \leftmark}      
\automark[section]{chapter}                                         
\ofoot[\pagemark]{\pagemark}

\begin{document}
\chapter{Erstes Kapitel}
    \Blindtext\Blindtext
\chapter{Zweites Kapitel}
\section{Erster Abschnitt des zweiten Kapitels}
    \Blindtext\Blindtext
\chapter{Drittes Kapitel}
    \Blindtext\Blindtext
\section{Erster Abschnitt des dritten Kapitels}
    \Blindtext\Blindtext
\end{document}

This is not reliable -- the section number can change on the previous page. See e.g. \chapter{Erstes Kapitel} blub \newpage blub \newpage blub \par \vspace{0.8\textheight}\par blub \\blub \section{Erster Abschnitt des ersten Kapitels}. — Ulrike Fischer, Jan 13 '17 at 16:09
@UlrikeFischer Right, thanks; I have modified (corrected?) my answer. — gernot, Jan 13 '17 at 16:25

Section or chapter in header

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