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Usually these commands will be those needed 0138 for the code used in the next part. For example, an <code>smcmemo</code> 0139 class might be called with an option to read in a file with a list of 0140 people for the to-head, as <code>\documentclass[mathto]{smcmemo}</code>, and 0141 therefore needs to define a command 0142 <code>\newcommand{\setto}[1]{\def\@tolist{#1}}</code> used in that 0143 file. 0144 0145 </li><li> In the <em>handle options part</em> the class or package declares 0146 and processes its options. Class options allow a user to start their 0147 document as <code>\documentclass[<var>option list</var>]{<var>class 0148 name</var>}</code>, to modify the behavior of the class. An example is when you 0149 declare <code>\documentclass[11pt]{article}</code> to set the default 0150 document font size. 0151 0152 </li><li> Finally, in the <em>more declarations part</em> the class or package usually does 0153 most of its work: declaring new variables, commands and fonts, and 0154 loading other files. 0155 </li></ol> 0156 0157 <p>Here is a starting class file, which should be saved as <samp>stub.cls</samp> 0158 where LaTeX can find it, for example in the same directory as the 0159 <samp>.tex</samp> file. 0160 </p> 0161 <div class="example"> 0162 <pre class="example">\NeedsTeXFormat{LaTeX2e} 0163 \ProvidesClass{stub}[2017/07/06 stub to start building classes from] 0164 \DeclareOption*{\PassOptionsToClass{\CurrentOption}{article}} 0165 \ProcessOptions\relax 0166 \LoadClass{article} 0167 </pre></div> 0168 <a name="index-class-file-example"></a> 0169 0170 <p>It identifies itself, handles the class options via the default of 0171 passing them all to the <code>article</code> class, and then loads the 0172 <code>article</code> class to provide the basis for this class’s code. 0173 </p> 0174 <p>For more, see the official guide for class and package writers, the 0175 Class Guide, at 0176 <a href="http://www.latex-project.org/help/documentation/clsguide.pdf">http://www.latex-project.org/help/documentation/clsguide.pdf</a> (much 0177 of the descriptions here derive from this document), or the tutorial 0178 <a href="https://www.tug.org/TUGboat/tb26-3/tb84heff.pdf">https://www.tug.org/TUGboat/tb26-3/tb84heff.pdf</a>. 0179 </p> 0180 0181 0182 0183 <hr/><div class='referenceinfo'> <a href='https://latexref.xyz/'> <i>Unofficial LaTeX2e reference manual</i></a></div> 0184 </body> 0185 </html>