How to call for the current chapter and section name without using labels? - TeX

TopAnswers TeX

Top Answer

samcarter

You don't need the `fancyhdr` package, memoir provides its own mechanism for headings:

```
\documentclass{memoir}
\usepackage{lipsum}

\makepagestyle{headings}
\makeevenhead{headings}{\rightmark}{}{\leftmark}
\makeoddhead{headings}{\rightmark}{}{\leftmark}

\begin{document}
\chapter{abcd}
\lipsum[1-1]
\section{efgh}
\lipsum
\chapter{pqrs}
\lipsum[1-1]
\section{wxyz}
\lipsum
\end{document}
```

![Screen Shot 2020-11-29 at 15.09.00.png](/image?hash=0dfb6c0ea11d8acde400d465c6efe9b005363d981f86d378462d876f39613a5c)

(although memoir is two sided by default, so I would suggest to switch the positions for even and odd pages)

Answer #2

user 3.14159

You can use `\sectionmark` and `\chaptermark` to redefine `\rhead` and `\lhead` to contain, say, the title of the section or chapter, respectively.
```
\documentclass{memoir}
\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\pagestyle{fancy}
\renewcommand\chaptermark[1]{\lhead{#1}}
\renewcommand\sectionmark[1]{\rhead{#1}}
\begin{document}
\chapter{abcd}
\lipsum[1-1]
\section{efgh}
\lipsum
\chapter{pqrs}
\lipsum[1-1]
\section{wxyz}
\lipsum
\end{document}
```
![ani.gif](/image?hash=fc2a6f8a94458a473793e31630e6c30e1fde4d1d035a01894ce8a32b6ce7d0ce)

Here is an improved version with a lot of help from @samcarter. It is essentially copied from the top of p. 19 of the `fancyhdr` manual.
```
\documentclass{memoir}
\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\pagestyle{fancy}
\renewcommand{\chaptermark}[1]{\markboth{#1}{}}
\renewcommand{\sectionmark}[1]{\markright{#1}}
\begin{document}
\chapter{pqrs}
\lipsum

\vspace{10\baselineskip}
aaaa
\section{wxyz}
\lipsum
\chapter{abcd}
\lipsum[1-1]
\section{efgh}
\lipsum
\chapter{pqrs}
\lipsum[1-1]
\section{wxyz}
\lipsum
\end{document}    
```
![ani.gif](/image?hash=29346f81e6a64f5d235ee554e5e4f638d4725a11bb72fb79417acdd1ac0a8093)

Here you go: ``` \documentclass[oneside,twocolumn]{memoir} \usepackage{lipsum} \makepagestyle{headings} \makeoddhead{headings} {\leftmark} {}% {\rightmark} \makeheadrule{headings}{\textwidth}{0.5pt} \makefootrule{headings}{\textwidth}{0.5pt}{0pt} \makepsmarks{headings}{% \createmark{chapter}{left}{shownumber}{\@chapapp\ }{. \ } \createmark{section}{right}{shownumber}{}{. \ } \createplainmark{toc}{both}{\contentsname} \createplainmark{lof}{both}{\listfigurename} \createplainmark{lot}{both}{\listtablename} \createplainmark{bib}{both}{\bibname} \createplainmark{index}{both}{\indexname} \createplainmark{glossary}{both}{\glossaryname} } \pagestyle{headings} \begin{document} \chapter{abcd} \lipsum[1-1] \section{efgh} \lipsum \chapter{pqrs} \lipsum[1-1] \section{wxyz} \lipsum \end{document} ```

MWE - ``` \documentclass[oneside,twocolumn]{memoir} \usepackage{lipsum} \makepagestyle{headings} \makeoddhead{headings} {\rightmark} {}% {\leftmark} \makeheadrule{headings}{\textwidth}{0.5pt} \makefootrule{headings}{\textwidth}{0.5pt}{0pt} \begin{document} \chapter{abcd} \lipsum[1-1] \section{efgh} \lipsum \chapter{pqrs} \lipsum[1-1] \section{wxyz} \lipsum \end{document} ```

Thanks, but the actual question was in what macro is the section name saved? e.g. From your answer it seems that `\rightmark` and `\leftmark` save the current chapter name, I wonder which macros save current section names.

@marmot @samcarter Thank you so much for your answers and apologies for the delay in my response. I was having some problem with @marmot's answer, I didn't take much effort to find what was wrong with the code as @samcarter's solution worked for me, but I have two questions for that solution. 1) How to add the section title on the other side of the header? 2) How to add a `headrule` (added by default when `\pagestyle{fancy}`) and footrule in memoir?

While this may be the case, this would mean that the example ![Screen Shot 2020-11-25 at 8.40.42 AM.png](/image?hash=3dcbbe54597ebe98e26801d09655c45ed99c2a4818d309fc37cac680dbd75b82) is very poorly chosen. Am I missing something?

I think what fancyhdr means is that you can modify the conten of chapter/section mark by redefining them. Should they be stored in the left or right mark, should they be upper or lowercase? Should they include numbers etc.

Well, I just followed the `fancyhdr` manual (on p. 13): ![Screen Shot 2020-11-25 at 8.30.26 AM.png](/image?hash=eec3a9d359403627b3560072592f42265128225c1c0dfd50c74f4dbf1bfa437e) And you told (and proved to) me that there is an issue when the section gets pushed to the next page. How is this not an issue of `fancyhdr`, given that I am following its manual? Or am I misreading the manual?

No, I don't think this is a fancyhdr problem. For example using `\*mark`: ``` \documentclass{memoir} \usepackage{fancyhdr} \usepackage{lipsum} \pagestyle{fancy} \lhead{\leftmark} \rhead{\rightmark} \begin{document} \chapter{pqrs} \lipsum \vspace{10\baselineskip} aaaa \section{wxyz} \lipsum \end{document} ```

Ulrike pointed out that redefining the sectionmark to set the header can results in problems, e.g. when the section is pushed to the next page: ``` \documentclass{memoir} \usepackage{fancyhdr} \usepackage{lipsum} \pagestyle{fancy} \renewcommand\chaptermark[1]{\lhead{#1}} \renewcommand\sectionmark[1]{\rhead{#1}} \begin{document} \chapter{pqrs} \lipsum \vspace{10\baselineskip} aaaa \section{wxyz} \lipsum \end{document} ```

2 Answers