I'd like to modify the names used to typeset some of my document elements. For example, the caption of figure
floats should change from "Figure" to "Fig.", and my \tableofcontents
sectioning heading shouldn't read "Contents", but "Table of Contents". How can I do that?
\documentclass{article}
% \usepackage[english]{babel}
\begin{document}
\tableofcontents
\section{foo}
\begin{figure}[h]
\centering
\rule{1cm}{1cm}% placeholder for graphic
\caption{A figure}
\end{figure}
\end{document}
Best Answer
The answer depends on whether or not you use a language package like
babel
orpolyglossia
.Without
babel
Names like "Figure" and "Contents" are stored in macros like
\figurename
and\contentsname
, i.e., to change them, you have to change the definition of the respective macros. Add the following to your preamble:Here's a list of the "name macros" (and their default meaning) defined by the LaTeX standard classes
article
,book
, andreport
:\abstractname
[onlyarticle
,report
]: Abstract\appendixname
: Appendix\bibname
[onlybook
,report
]: Bibliography\chaptername
[onlybook
,report
]: Chapter\contentsname
: Contents\figurename
: Figure\indexname
: Index\listfigurename
: List of Figures\listtablename
: List of Tables\partname
: Part\refname
[onlyarticle
]: References\tablename
: TableOther classes and packages may define additional "name macros"; here are some you're likely to come up against (plus their source):
\acronymname
[glossaries
]: Acronyms\alsoname
[makeidx
]: see also\ccname
[letter
]: cc\enclname
[letter
]: encl\glossaryname
[glossaries
]: Glossary\headtoname
[letter
]: To\lstlistingname
[listings
]: Listing (the environment)\lstlistlistingname
[listings
]: Listings (the "List of")\nomname
[nomencl
]: Nomenclature\notesname
[endnotes
]: Notes\pagename
[letter
]: Page\prefacename
[babel
]: Preface\proofname
[amsthm
]: Proof\seename
[makeidx
]: see (misdefined as "see also" in the AMS classes)\seeonlyname
[AMS classes]: seeWith
babel
(orpolyglossia
)The same principles as above apply – with one crucial difference: for every language, "name macros" must be redefined in the argument of
\addto\captions<language>
(instead of a simple\renewcommand
). That is, for the English language, you'd have to add the following to your preamble (after loadingbabel
(orpolyglossia
)):Changing "Bibliography" and "References" with
biblatex
The
biblatex
package is an exception to the rule: It uses "bibliography strings" for (among other things) the headings of bibliographies, so redefining\bibname
or\refname
won't work (whether you usebabel
or not). To rename both "Bibliography" and "References" to "Works Cited" for the English language, add the following to your preamble:Afterword
"Name macros" should only contain the string to be printed. Don't add formatting instructions like
\renewcommand{\contentsname}{\vspace{20pt}{\Huge Table of Contents}}
– they may "work" in the document body, but are likely to play havoc with, e.g., headers and bookmarks. To change the formatting of the "Contents" heading, either redefine\tableofcontents
as shown in this answer or, if you want your changes to apply to all sectioning headings, have a look at thetitlesec
package. For captions, thecaption
package offers a host of customization possibilities.