### F.5.1 Running `Info-validate`

To use `Info-validate`, visit the Info file you wish to check and type:

    M-x Info-validate

Note that the `Info-validate` command requires an upper case ‘I’. You may also need to create a tag table before running `Info-validate`. See Tagifying.

If your file is valid, you will receive a message that says “File appears valid”. However, if you have a pointer that does not point to a node, error messages will be displayed in a buffer called ‘`*problems in info file*`’.

For example, `Info-validate` was run on a test file that contained only the first node of this manual. One of the messages said:

    In node "Overview", invalid Next: Texinfo Mode

This meant that the node called ‘`Overview`’ had a ‘Next’ pointer that did not point to anything (which was true in this case, since the test file had only one node in it).

Now suppose we add a node named ‘`Texinfo Mode`’ to our test case but we do not specify a ‘Previous’ for this node. Then we will get the following error message:

    In node "Texinfo Mode", should have Previous: Overview

This is because every ‘Next’ pointer should be matched by a ‘Previous’ (in the node where the ‘Next’ points) which points back.

`Info-validate` also checks that all menu entries and cross references point to actual nodes.

`Info-validate` requires a tag table and does not work with files that have been split. (The `texinfo-format-buffer` command automatically splits large files.) In order to use `Info-validate` on a large file, you must run `texinfo-format-buffer` with an argument so that it does not split the Info file; and you must create a tag table for the unsplit file.