How to combine the title of the document with the page counter in the footer

Questions
, ,
1

Hi,

I’m trying to create a footer that is made up of both the title of the document (as a variable) and the current page counter, e.g. “Document title | 1”. Everything I’ve tried is giving me syntax errors.

This is what I’m trying to edit that currently works (aligning left and right on opposite pages):

footer: context {
      set text(8pt)
      if calc.odd(here().page()) {
        align(right, counter(page).display(" | 1"))
      } else {
        align(left, counter(page).display("| 1"))
      }
    }

What I’ve tried that doesn’t work:

  1. align(right, counter(page).display(" | 1"))[#title]
  2. align(right)[#text], counter(page).display(" | 1"))

Is there an easy way to combine two strings (that are both variables) in the footer? Thanks!

2

Hi there! Welcome to the forum. You can combine two strings with the “+” operator (see the Typst documentation):

#let title = "your title variable"
#align(right, context counter(page).display(title + " | 1"))

If this does not solve your problem, don’t hesitate to ask a follow up question. Otherwise, please mark this answer as the solution :blush:

1 Like
3

Thanks for the warm welcome and helpful suggestion. I’ve tried solving it with this, but I’m still getting errors. What I’ve tried:

  1. align(right, counter(page).display(title + "1"))
  2. align(right, counter(page).display([title] + "1"))
  3. align(right, counter(page).display([#title] + "1"))

None of which works, unfortunately. I’m certain the variable is assigned because it’s working elsewhere in the document. The error I’m getting is error: expected string, function, or auto, found content.

Would it be helpful to share the full template?

4

Oh, I messed up, sry…

#align(right, title + context counter(page).display(" | 1 "))

should work. “#align(right, context counter(page).display(” | 1 ") " outputs " | " followed by the number and the title is not part of the pattern of the display function.
I changed the order (title to the left) and didn’t check again if it works :frowning:

5

That’s done the trick! Thanks so much for your help – it’s much appreciated.

6

This is not how you’re supposed to use counter.display.numbering (numbering.numbering).

All non-numbering formatting should be done outside like this:

#let title = [Document title]
#set page(
  footer: context {
    let page = counter(page).get().first()
    set text(8pt)
    if calc.odd(page) {
      align(right)[#title | #page]
    } else {
      align(left)[#page | #title]
    }
  },
)
#set par(justify: true)

#range(5).map(_ => lorem(150)).intersperse(parbreak()).join()

image
image916×615 145 KB

Or a more proper way that is customizable:

#let title = [Document title]
#set page(
  numbering: "I",
  footer: context {
    assert(page.numbering != none) // Assumes this is always true.
    let page-number = counter(page).get().first()
    let page-formatted = counter(page).display() // `page.numbering` is used automatically.k
    set text(8pt)
    if calc.odd(page-number) {
      align(right)[#title | #page-formatted]
    } else {
      align(left)[#page-formatted | #title]
    }
  },
)
#set par(justify: true)

#range(5).map(_ => lorem(150)).intersperse(parbreak()).join()

Also, if you want to add a code mode snippet, you can use typc language marker:

```typc
```

So that the syntax highlight is correct:

footer: context {
      set text(8pt)
      if calc.odd(here().page()) {
        align(right, counter(page).display(" | 1"))
      } else {
        align(left, counter(page).display("| 1"))
      }
    }

There is also typ and typm for math.

7

I think you can just call .display() and not worry about page.numbering:

#let title = [Document title]
#set page(
  numbering: "I",
  footer: context {
    set text(8pt)
    let n = counter(page).display()
    if calc.odd(here().page()) {
      align(right)[#title | #n]
    } else {
      align(left)[#n | #title]
    }
  },
)
#set par(justify: true)

#range(5).map(_ => lorem(150)).intersperse(parbreak()).join()

To check for left or right side it’s maybe better to use here().page() which gives the physical page number (so odd should always be on the right) while counter(page) can be set to anything by the user/template.

1 Like
8

Indeed, but the numbering still should be set, because if the default numbering would be "1.1." then it would add a period, so the assertion is just a best practice.

If this is omitted or set to auto, displays the counter with the numbering style for the counted element or with the pattern "1.1" if no such style exists.

Since I don’t know how exactly the pages will look like, I used the more flexible option where you can change where the odd numbers start. If the intent is to start with the first physical page, then here().page() should be used.

9

The documentation says

If [the numbering] is omitted or set to auto, displays the counter with the numbering style for the counted element

For the page counter this defaults to "1" so that’s fine.

Regarding here().page() vs counter(page), I don’t understand your point. We want different alignment for odd vs even physical pages: for a page physically on the right, we want the footer on the right. And the physical page is given by here().page(). For this purpose, the counter(page) flexibility doesn’t bring anything except bugs as far as I can see…

Or do you mean that the document might be right-to-left? If that’s a concern It seems to me a better solution would be to check text.dir, and still use here().page().

1 Like
10

I can imagine a document where one or more first pages serve some special purpose and must not be counted toward physical pages that are used to determine which is left and which is right. There are a lot of cover/title pages where the numbering can start on the 2nd page or even after that. Without knowing the exact structure/intent, I wouldn’t suggest a single solution. In Okular, there is even a special view mode where the first page is centered, which can help in certain situations.

11

This is precisely why you want to use here().page(): it works consistently no matter where the user decides to start numbering pages. Normally it shouldn’t make a difference since the page on the right “should” show an odd number but you never know what the user will do. I think we’re going a bit in circle though… I would be interested to see a concrete document where counter(page) does the right thing and here().page() doesn’t.

1 Like