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I am looking to modify the table of contents without a package, to change the number formatting for different sectioning levels. Below is an example:

\def\numberline#1{\csname #1@numberline\endcsname}
\def\section@numberline{\thesection.\space}
\def\subsection@numberline{\hb@[email protected]{\thesubsection.\hfil}}

This requires the argument of \numberline in \@sect being redefined, but also seems to require removal of \protect before \numberline. So, I have used etoolbox as follows:

\patchcmd{\@sect}{\protect\numberline{\csname the#1\endcsname}}{\numberline{#1}}{}{}

However, the resulting toc file then reads:

\contentsline {section}{1. Test}{1}{}%
\contentsline {subsection}{\hbox to.5in{1.1.\hfil }Test}{1}{}%

But I would like to the toc file to read as normal (when \protect is still used):

\contentsline {section}{\numberline{section}Test}{1}{}%
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline{subsection}Test}{1}{}%

MWE:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{etoolbox}
\makeatletter
\def\numberline#1{\csname #1@numberline\endcsname}
\def\section@numberline{\thesection.\space}
\def\subsection@numberline{\hb@[email protected]{\thesubsection.\hfil}}
\patchcmd{\@sect}{\protect\numberline{\csname the#1\endcsname}}{\numberline{#1}}{}{}
\makeatother
\begin{document}
\tableofcontents
\section{Test}
\subsection{Test}
\end{document}

Thank you!

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1
  • It's easy enough to achieve your desired .toc file (simply use \RenewDocumentCommand{\numberline}{m}{\csname #1@numberline\endcsname}), but the values of \thesection and \thesubsection is not available/correct when the ToC is set, so \numberline{section} and \numberline{subsection} will print incorrect values. Commented Jul 21 at 17:23

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
2

I'd use a different approach:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{etoolbox}

\makeatletter
\newcommand{\newnumberline}[2]{\csname #1@numberline\endcsname{#2}}
\newcommand{\section@numberline}[1]{#1. }
\newcommand{\subsection@numberline}[1]{\hb@[email protected]{#1.\hfil}}
\patchcmd{\@sect}
  {\protect\numberline}
  {\protect\newnumberline{#1}}
  {}{}
\makeatother

\begin{document}

\tableofcontents

\section{Test}

\subsection{Test}

\end{document}

Here \newnumberline has two arguments, the first one is passed to \csname and the result is what you expected.

output

The .toc file is

\contentsline {section}{\newnumberline {section}{1}Test}{1}{}%
\contentsline {subsection}{\newnumberline {subsection}{1.1}Test}{1}{}%
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1
  • Thank you! This is great. Commented Jul 21 at 17:36

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