Cfrgtkky

I have lots of little sections and subsections in an article. some of them have a title and some don't. Is it possible to have a table of contents where only the named sections/subsections appear in it?

chapter{My chapter}

section{Alice}

section{}

subsection{}

subsection{Ava}

section{Bob}

section{}

section{}

section{Charles}

I want only the sections and subsections named Alice, Ava, Bob, Charles to show up in the table of contents.

With a standard class you could patch @sect:

documentclass{report}

usepackage{xpatch}

letoriginaladdcontentslineaddcontentsline

makeatletter

xpatchcmd@sect

  {addcontentsline {toc}{#1}{ifnum #2>c@secnumdepth else protect numberline {csname the#1endcsname }fi #7}}

  {%

    if!#7!else

      originaladdcontentsline {toc}{#1}{ifnum #2>c@secnumdepth else protect numberline {csname the#1endcsname }fi #7}%

    fi

  }{}{PatchFailed}

xpatchcmd@sect

  {addcontentsline {toc}{#1}{ifnum #2>c@secnumdepth else protect numberline {csname the#1endcsname }fi #7}}

  {%

    if!#7!else

    originaladdcontentsline {toc}{#1}{ifnum #2>c@secnumdepth else protect numberline {csname the#1endcsname }fi #7}%

    fi

  }{}{PatchFailed}

makeatother

begin{document}

tableofcontents

chapter{My chapter}

section{Alice}

section{}

subsection{}

subsection{Ava}

section{Bob}

section{}

section{}

section{Charles}

end{document}

Result:

But you could also use a KOMA-Script class. Then there would be no TOC entry for empty section titles by default:

documentclass{scrreprt}

begin{document}

tableofcontents

chapter{My chapter}

section{Alice}

section{}

subsection{}

subsection{Ava}

section{Bob}

section{}

section{}

section{Charles}

end{document}

Result:

You need to redefine the tex macros that render the toc entry. That said, what you need to edit depends on the document class and the packages you include into your document. For the simplest latex book, no packages used, that would be something like

makeatletter

defl@section#1#2{%

  globalletoldnumlinenumberline

  defnumberline##1{}%

  if!#1!

    globalletnumberlineoldnumline

  else

    globalletnumberlineoldnumline

    @dottedtocline{1}{1.5em}{2.3em}{#1}{#2}%

  fi}

defl@subsection#1#2{%

  globalletoldnumlinenumberline

  defnumberline##1{}%

  if!#1!

    globalletnumberlineoldnumline

  else

    globalletnumberlineoldnumline

    @dottedtocline{2}{3.8em}{3.2em}{#1}{#2}%

  fi}

makeatother

that you need to put before begin{document}.

With etoc you can have both types of tables of contents at the same time (with the standard classes).

documentclass{report}



usepackage{etoc}



newcommand{trimmedtableofcontents}{%

begingroup

etocsetstyle{chapter}

     {}

     {ifxetocthenameempty

      else

        etocifnumbered

        {etocsavedchaptertocline

           {numberline{etocnumber}etocname}{etocpage}}

        {etocsavedchaptertocline{etocname}{etocpage}}%

      fi

     }%

     {}

     {}

etocsetstyle{section}

     {}

     {ifxetocthenameempty

      else

        etocifnumbered

        {etocsavedsectiontocline

           {numberline{etocnumber}etocname}{etocpage}}

        {etocsavedsectiontocline{etocname}{etocpage}}%

      fi

     }%

     {}

     {}

etocsetstyle{subsection}

     {}

     {ifxetocthenameempty

      else

        etocifnumbered

        {etocsavedsubsectiontocline

           {numberline{etocnumber}etocname}{etocpage}}

        {etocsavedsubsectiontocline{etocname}{etocpage}}%

      fi

     }%

     {}

     {}

tableofcontents

endgroup

}



begin{document}

trimmedtableofcontents

renewcommandcontentsname{Full table of contents}

tableofcontents

chapter{My chapter}

section{Alice}

section{}

subsection{}

subsection{Ava}

section{Bob}

section{}

section{}

section{Charles}

end{document}

First page:

Second page: