[Tex/LaTex] How to \label-\ref an un-numbered section

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I'm trying to 'reference' the \section*{Introduction} of my article. I can quite easily reference the \section{InsertSectionName} with a \label{} and a \ref{} (taking this as my definition of 'reference') but it doesn't appear to work this way for an un-numbered section.

Is there a way to do it, or to at least reference the first line of the \section*{Introduction}?

Note: I prefer to have the "Introduction" of my article as un-numbered and to start with (Section)"1" thereafter.

Best Answer

You have a logical issue: how would you refer to an unnumbered section? If by name, then you have (in theory) issues of how the name in the title should be typeset versus how it should be written as a label. One extraordinarily cheap way of doing things is to hijack the labeling mechanism:

\documentclass{article}
\newcounter{intro}
\renewcommand{\theintro}{Introduction}
\begin{document}
 \section*{Preface to the article}
 \refstepcounter{intro}
 \label{s:intro}


 \ref{s:intro}
\end{document}

The reference will print "Introduction" (i.e. regardless of what you call the section).

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