[Tex/LaTex] section numbers (\thesection) and names have next page’s values

header-footermemoirpage-breakingsectioning

I have customized my headers to display section numbers and section names.

However: (a) The section number (\thesection) in my header often shows up with the next page's value. (b) The section name for the first page in a chapter needs to be manually set.

In the following example code, (a) the section numbers of pages 1-3 display the next page's section number. (b) Also the first page's section name needs to be manually set with \markright, or it displays as empty text.

Btw, my assumption is that all of my chapters start on odd pages. (I'm currently doing this manually by using \ensuredoublepage, though one could certainly amend the \chapter command.)

This problem seems to stem from the timing of page breaking, sectioning, and writing the header (with the section numbers/names). What is an easy way to fix this?

Note that the example code looks long (in order to fill multiple pages required to demonstrate this effect) but is actually very simple. For understanding the problem, only the code up till the \chapter command is important, and the problem must lie there as well.

\documentclass{memoir}

\makeoddhead{myheadings}{\textit{\rightmark}}{}{\textit{\thesection} {\ } -- {\ } \thepage}
\makeevenhead{myheadings}{\thepage {\ \ } -- {\ \ }\textit{\thesection}}{}{\textit{\leftmark}}
\makeheadrule{myheadings}{\textwidth}{\normalrulethickness}

\makepagestyle{chapter}
\makeoddhead{chapter}{\textit{\rightmark}}{}{\textit{\thesection} {\ } -- {\ } \thepage}
\makeheadrule{chapter}{\textwidth}{\normalrulethickness}

\begin{document}

\pagestyle{myheadings}
  \renewcommand{\chaptermark}[1]{\markboth{#1}{}}
  \renewcommand{\sectionmark}[1]{\markright{#1}}

\markright{Section one (Without this macro, there'd be no text here!)}

\chapter{The only chapter}

This is introductory text. This is introductory text. This is introductory text. This is introductory text. This is introductory text. This is introductory text. This is introductory text. This is introductory text. This is introductory text. This is introductory text. This is introductory text. This is introductory text. This is introductory text. This is introductory text. This is introductory text. This is introductory text. This is introductory text. This is introductory text. This is introductory text. This is introductory text. This is introductory text. This is introductory text. This is introductory text. This is introductory text. This is introductory text. This is introductory text. This is introductory text. This is introductory text. This is introductory text.


\section{Section one}

This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section.

This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section. This is the first section.


\section{Section two}

This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section.This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section.This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section.This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section.This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section.This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section.This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section.This is the second section. This is the second section.

This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section.This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section.This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section.This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section.This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section.This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section.This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section.This is the second section. This is the second section.

This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section.This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section.This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section.This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section.This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section.This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section.This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section. This is the second section.This is the second section. This is the second section.

\section{Section three}

This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section.This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section.This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section.This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section.This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section.This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section.This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section.This is the third section. This is the third section.

This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section.This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section.This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section.This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section.This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section.This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section.This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section.This is the third section. This is the third section.

This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section.This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section.This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section.This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section.This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section.This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section.This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section. This is the third section.This is the third section. This is the third section.

\section{Section four}

This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section.This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section.This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section.This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section.This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section.This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section.This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section.This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section.

This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section.This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section.This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section.This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section.This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section.This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section.This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section.This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section.

This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section.This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section.This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section.This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section.This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section.This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section.This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section.This is the fourth section. This is the fourth section.

\end{document}

Best Answer

Ok, forget my previous answer ;-) I now found this document, which gives good information in 1.3.

The first problem is, that you are using \thesection in \makeoddhead (e.g.). This is expanded at the wrong time, like you suspected yourself. If you put it into some \*mark command, it will work.

The second problem is, that you are putting the chapter name into \leftmark but you use \rightmark on the first page of the chapter. As the above cited document says, \leftmark comes from the last definiton and \rightmark from the first definition on the page. Unfortunately there is no \markleft. So in order to retain the chapter name for the following pages, putting it in \leftmark and later only using \markright for the section number would be ok. Only now on the first page, \rightmark contains the first definition, which is the empty one of \markboth in \chaptermark.

In order to circumvent this. I propose, saving the chapter name and later reissuing it into \rightmark. The following does this in a way, that alternates chapter and section names in the header. Notice that you will need some additional adjustment if chapters start on even pages...

\documentclass{memoir}

\usepackage{extramarks}

\makepagestyle{myheadings}
\makeoddhead{myheadings}{\textit{\leftmark}}{}{\textit{\rightmark} {\ } -- {\ } \thepage}
\makeevenhead{myheadings}{\thepage {\ \ } -- {\ \ }\textit{\rightmark}}{}{\textit{\cchapter}}
\makeheadrule{myheadings}{\textwidth}{\normalrulethickness}

\makepagestyle{chapter}
\makeoddhead{chapter}{\textit{\leftmark}}{}{\textit{\lastrightmark} {\ } -- {\ } \thepage}
\makeheadrule{chapter}{\textwidth}{\normalrulethickness}

\renewcommand\chaptermark[1]{\markboth{#1}{}\def\cchapter{#1}}
\renewcommand\sectionmark[1]{\markboth{#1}{\thesection}}
\pagestyle{myheadings}
\begin{document}
...

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Displaying the range of sections on the page in the header

Since class memoir is used, starting a chapter on any page is easy:

\renewcommand*{\clearforchapter}{\clearpage}

Getting the headers right is much more complicate. Having page style plain for the first page of chapters would simplify this task a lot, because then the section values in the mark registers can be reset easily. The example below uses lots of additional mark registers instead (using eTeX and package etex) to remember section titles, section names and chapter numbers.

Remarks:

The section title is remembered in \MarkSectionTitle. Its chapter number is put in \MarkSectionChapterNumber. The title is only printed, if this chapter number matches the current chapter number to avoid printing the title from the previous chapter at the starting pages of a new chapter.
Unnumbered chapters/sections are unsupported/poorly supported.
The numbering stuff has prototype quality only. There might be some missing cases/bugs.
\MarkSectionEarlyNumber was added to catch the case where a section starts a new page. That means, the previous section also ends on that page, but the first number of the header should be the new section on the page.

The example file:

\documentclass{memoir}
\usepackage{lipsum}

\usepackage{etex}

\newmarks\MarkSectionTitle
\newmarks\MarkSectionChapterNumber
\newmarks\MarkSectionNumber
\newmarks\MarkSectionEarlyNumber
\newmarks\MarkChapterNumber

\makeatletter
\newcommand*{\AddMarks}[2]{%
  \begingroup
    \let\label\relax
    \let\index\relax
    \let\glossary\relax
    \protected@edef\x{#2}%
    \toks@\expandafter{\x}%
    \marks#1\expandafter{\the\toks@}%
  \endgroup
}
\newcommand*{\MarksNoBreak}{%
  \if@nobreak\ifvmode\nobreak\fi\fi
}
\newcommand*{\OriginalSection}{}
\let\OriginalSection\section
\renewcommand*{\section}{%
  \@ifstar{\OriginalSection*}{%
    \stepcounter{section}%
    \AddMarks\MarkSectionEarlyNumber{\thesection}%
    \addtocounter{section}{-1}%
    \OriginalSection
  }%
}

\makepagestyle{secheadings}
\makepsmarks{secheadings}{%
  \def\chaptermark##1{%
    \AddMarks\MarkChapterNumber{\thechapter}%
    \marks\MarkSectionEarlyNumber{}%
    \MarksNoBreak
  }%
  \def\sectionmark##1{%
    \ifnum\value{secnumdepth}>0 %
      \AddMarks\MarkSectionNumber{\thesection}%
    \fi
    \AddMarks\MarkSectionTitle{##1}%
    \AddMarks\MarkSectionChapterNumber{\thechapter}%
    \MarksNoBreak
  }%
  \def\tocmark{}%
  \def\lofmark{}%
  \def\lotmark{}%
  \def\bibmark{}%
  \def\indexmark{}%
  \def\glossarymark{}%
}
\newcommand*{\SecHeadingsSetup}{%
  \protected@edef\SecHeadingsTheChapter{\thechapter}%
  \edef\SecHeadingsSectionChapterNumber{%
    \firstmarks\MarkSectionChapterNumber 
  }%
  \ifx\SecHeadingsTheChapter\SecHeadingsSectionChapterNumber
    \edef\SecHeadingsFirstTitle{\firstmarks\MarkSectionTitle}%
    \edef\SecHeadingsPreviousChapterNumber{\topmarks\MarkChapterNumber}%
    \edef\SecHeadingsThisChapterNumber{\firstmarks\MarkChapterNumber}%  
    \edef\SecHeadingsLastNumber{\botmarks\MarkSectionNumber}% 
    \let\SecHeadingsFirstNumber\@empty
    \ifx\SecHeadingsPreviousChapterNumber\SecHeadingsThisChapterNumber
      \edef\SecHeadingsFirstNumber{\topmarks\MarkSectionEarlyNumber}% 
    \fi
    \ifx\SecHeadingsFirstNumber\@empty
      \edef\SecHeadingsFirstNumber{\firstmarks\MarkSectionNumber}%
    \fi
    \ifx\SecHeadingsFirstNumber\@empty
      \let\SecHeadingsNumbers\@empty  
    \else
      \ifx\SecHeadingsFirstNumber\SecHeadingsLastNumber
        \let\SecHeadingsNumbers\SecHeadingsFirstNumber 
      \else
        \def\SecHeadingsNumbers{%
          \SecHeadingsFirstNumber--\SecHeadingsLastNumber
        }%
      \fi 
    \fi   
  \else   
    \let\SecHeadingsFirstTitle\@empty
    \let\SecHeadingsNumbers\@empty
  \fi
}
\newcommand*{\SecHeadingsPrint}[2]{%
  \ifx#1\@empty
    \ifx#2\@empty
      \SecHeadingsOut{}%
    \else
      \SecHeadingsOut{#2}%
    \fi
  \else
    \ifx#2\@empty
      \SecHeadingsOut{#1}%
    \else
      \SecHeadingsOut{#1 -- #2}%
    \fi
  \fi  
}
\newcommand*{\SecHeadingsOut}[1]{%
  #1%
  \protected@edef\SecHeadingsTemp{#1}%
  \@onelevel@sanitize\SecHeadingsTemp 
  \typeout{Header(\thepage): \SecHeadingsTemp}%
}
\makeevenhead{secheadings}{\thepage}{}{%
  \SecHeadingsSetup
  \SecHeadingsPrint\SecHeadingsFirstTitle\SecHeadingsNumbers
}
\makeoddhead{secheadings}{%
  \SecHeadingsSetup
  \SecHeadingsPrint\SecHeadingsNumbers\SecHeadingsFirstTitle
}{}{\thepage}
\makeatother 

\aliaspagestyle{chapter}{secheadings}
\pagestyle{secheadings}

\renewcommand*{\clearforchapter}{\clearpage}

\begin{document}

\chapter{The only chapter} \lipsum[1]
\section{Section one} \lipsum[1]
\section{Section two} \lipsum[1-2]\lipsum[4]\lipsum[4]\lipsum[4]
\section{Section three} \lipsum[1]\lipsum[1]\lipsum[1]
\section{Section four} \lipsum[1]\lipsum[1]\lipsum[1] 
\section{Section five} \lipsum[2]
\section{Section six} \lipsum[1] 
\section{Section seven} \lipsum[1]
\section{Section eight} \lipsum[1]
\section{Section nine} \lipsum[1-5]
\section{Section ten} \lipsum[1]   
\section{Section eleven} \lipsum[1-8]

\chapter{The second chapter} \lipsum[1-10]
\section{Section one} \lipsum[1]

\chapter{The third chapter}
\section{Section one} \lipsum[4]
\section{Section two} \lipsum[4]
\section{Section three} \lipsum[4]

\end{document}

Result:

Header(1): 1.1 -- Section one
Header(2): Section two -- 1.2
Header(3): 1.3--1.4 -- Section three
Header(4): Section five -- 1.4--1.5
Header(5): 1.6--1.8 -- Section six
Header(6): Section nine -- 1.9
Header(7): 1.9--1.11 -- Section ten
Header(8): Section eleven -- 1.11
Header(9): 1.11 -- Section eleven
Header(10): 
Header(11): 
Header(12): Section one -- 2.1
Header(13): 3.1--3.3 -- Section one

[Tex/LaTex] Header not displaying correctly on chapter page due to subsection

We must give more structure to the right mark emitted by the \chapter command; so we do

\renewcommand{\chaptermark}[1]{%
  \markboth{\chaptername\ \thechapter}
           {\noexpand\firstsubsectiontitle}}

The \subsectiontitle macro will be defined by the \subsection command; of course it won't work if no subsection starts in the first page:

\renewcommand{\subsectionmark}[1]{%
  \markright{#1}\gdef\firstsubsectiontitle{#1}}

Here's an example; notice some changes I've made to your code. For instance I've redefined the \sectionmark command so it doesn't emit any mark.

The solution to the numbering problem of subsection is to \setcounter{secnumdepth}{1}.

\documentclass{report}

% PACKAGES
\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\usepackage{lastpage} % Allows referencing of the last page to allow footer to read: "Page [Current page] of [Total number of pages]."
\usepackage{comment} % Allows comments of the type: \begin{comment}This text is commented out.\end{comment}
%\usepackage[colorlinks=true]{hyperref} % Turns table of contents and labels into clickable links. Commented out to speed up compiling.
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc} % Allows use of ">" symbol.
\usepackage{lmodern} %Not really sure what this is for.

% FORMATTING
% Header and Footer
\pagestyle{fancy}

% Allows calling chapter and section names in headers and footers.
\renewcommand{\chaptermark}[1]{%
  \markboth{\chaptername\ \thechapter}
  {\noexpand\firstsubsectiontitle}}
\renewcommand{\sectionmark}[1]{}
\renewcommand{\subsectionmark}[1]{%
  \markright{#1}\gdef\firstsubsectiontitle{#1}}
\newcommand\firstsubsectiontitle{}

% General Header and Footer
\fancyhf{}
\fancyhead[L]{\DocumentAuthor} 
\fancyhead[R]{\BookAuthor>\leftmark>\rightmark}
\fancyfoot[C]{Page \thepage\ of \pageref{LastPage}}

% Chapter Header and Footer
\fancypagestyle{plain}{%
  \fancyhf{} \fancyhead[L]{\DocumentAuthor}%
  \fancyhead[R]{\BookAuthor>\leftmark>\rightmark}%
  \fancyfoot[C]{Page \thepage\ of \pageref{LastPage}}%
}

% Header/Footer Separation-line Width
\renewcommand\headrulewidth{0.4pt} 
\renewcommand\footrulewidth{0.4pt}

\setlength\parindent{0pt} % Remove paragraph indentation.

% NAME AND CLASS SECTION
\newcommand{\DocumentAuthor}{Author Name}
\newcommand{\BookAuthor}{Book Author}

\setcounter{secnumdepth}{1}

%DOCUMENT
\begin{document}

\tableofcontents
\thispagestyle{empty}

\chapter{Title of Chapter 1}
\section{Sample Problems}
\subsection{Title of Subsection 1}
\pagebreak{}
\subsection{Title of Subsection 2}
\subsection{Title of Subsection 3}
\pagebreak{}
\subsection{Title of Subsection 4}

\end{document}

With this code the first subsection in the page will be put in the header.

What's \noexpand\firstsubsectiontitle doing? The \markboth and \markright commands must record the current values of the counters and titles, so their arguments are passed through an \edef; this, in the case of the first chapter and English language, would set a left mark with value Chapter\ 1. If we said only \firstsubsectiontitle in the second argument, it would be expanded leaving a wrong right mark because it would be empty for the first chapter and would contain the last subsection in the preceding chapter!

So we say "dear TeX, don't expand \firstsubsectiontitle right now, but only when you'll set the header."

Actually, if there can be more than one subsection in the chapter pages, a different solution should be used:

% Allows calling chapter and section names in headers and footers.
\renewcommand{\chaptermark}[1]{%
  \markboth{\chaptername\ \thechapter}
           {\noexpand\firstsubsectiontitle}%
  \global\firstsubsectionmarktrue}
\renewcommand{\sectionmark}[1]{}
\renewcommand{\subsectionmark}[1]{%
  \markright{#1}%
  \iffirstsubsectionmark
    \gdef\firstsubsectiontitle{#1}%
  \fi
  \global\firstsubsectionmarkfalse}
\newif\iffirstsubsectionmark
\def\firstsubsectiontitle{}

so that the first subsection would set the mark.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Displaying the range of sections on the page in the header

[Tex/LaTex] Header not displaying correctly on chapter page due to subsection

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