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I want to display my Chapter-Numbers on the right below the Title. I came to the following minimal working example:

\usepackage{lipsum} % for dummy text only

    \section{First section with\\linebreak}

However the unnumbered section now gets numbered as 1. How can I suppress \thesection for unnumbered sections? When I move the \marginnote to the <label> field in \titleformat the Number 'ignores' that the Title contains linebreaks and is positioned relative to the first line.

EDIT: As an example, this is my code for the chapter. Using your solution – which works without an \if – I get the Error “\begin{document} missing“.

        \color[rgb]{0.39453,0.48047,0.511719}   % Error Happens Here

As soon as I add a \if around the block, the error disappears.

            \color[rgb]{0.39453,0.48047,0.511719}   % No Error Happens with if
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I think I would use \llap instead of \marginnote –  cmhughes Jun 28 '12 at 17:37
@cmhughes Could you give an example of using \llap instead of \marginnote? Why would you use it instead? –  jacob11235 Jun 29 '12 at 6:51
I just compiled your MWE- nevermind, I see that \llap wouldn't produce the same results, my mistake –  cmhughes Jun 29 '12 at 15:13
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2 Answers

up vote 5 down vote accepted

I would opt for a solution that is semantically more clear. titlesec provides the option to specify a different style for numberless sections.

Copy your original command, specify numberless, remove the things you don't want to show (like section numbers) and you're done!

% Regular sections:
% ...etc

% Numberless sections:
% ...etc
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+1 for stealing my green tick:-) –  David Carlisle Jun 24 '13 at 9:37
I just noticed a problem with your solution. As soon as I remove the \if...\fi around my definition (even \iftrue works), Latex gives me Missing \begin{document} at my \color{...} call. Any Ideas? @DavidCarlisle You might get it back, if I don't get this to work ;) –  jacob11235 Jun 25 '13 at 7:32
@jacob11235 there is no color of \if in this solution or in your original question, so it isn't clear what code you are referring to that doesn't work? –  David Carlisle Jun 25 '13 at 8:28
@DavidCarlisle I added the Code to the Question. The \if came from your answer. –  jacob11235 Jun 25 '13 at 12:18
@DavidCarlisle Finally found the Problem. \color's optional argument's closing Bracket was matched to \titleformat's opening bracket. Adding braces around it fixed the Error. –  jacob11235 Jul 2 '13 at 7:18
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You can test whether the * version is being used by


as \ttl@key@numberless is // for numbered form so the \if is true as the same character appears twice, and it is /* for the unnumbered section so the \if compares / and * which are false.

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Thanks! I'll vote up as soon as I reach 15rep ;) –  jacob11235 Jun 29 '12 at 6:53
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