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  Index Files

When you invoke the hlink command, it first looks to find all the documents that may need to be linked. This it does by searching in all the document libraries specified on the command line (or just the current directory by default), looking for directories with a ".htx" extension.

It then ensures that each document has an up to date index file (a file called "htx.index" stored within the document directory), creating one if necessary. Index files are text files that contain, amongst other things, details of all the potential in-going and out-going cross-references for a document and list the HTML files in which they occur. This is a summary of the cross-links the document might potentially be involved in and serves to reduce the time needed to re-link it on subsequent occasions. New index files are normally only re-generated when a document changes.

In addition to cross-reference information, index files also contain details of the title of each HTML page in the document and an indication of which is the "top" page. This information is used by other HTX utilities to perform documentation searches, etc.



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HTX Hypertext Cross-Reference Utilities
Starlink User Note 188
R.F. Warren-Smith
6th January 1998
E-mail:rfws@star.rl.ac.uk