\addtocontents (LaTeX2e unofficial reference manual (November 2018))

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#### 25.1.2 `\addtocontents`

Synopsis:

    \addtocontents{ext}{text}

Add text, which may be text or formatting commands, directly to the auxiliary file with extension ext. This is most commonly used for the table of contents so that is the discussion here, but this also applies to the list of figures and list of tables.

This will put some vertical space in the table of contents after the ‘`Contents`’ header.

    \tableofcontents\newpage
    \addtocontents{toc}{\protect\vspace*{3ex}}

The `\addtocontents` command has two arguments. Both are required.

ext

  Typically one of: `toc` for the table of contents, `lof` for the list of figures, or `lot` for the list of tables. The extension of the file holding the information.

text

  The text, and possibly commands, to be written.

The sectioning commands such as `\chapter` use the `\addcontentsline` command to store information. This command creates lines in the `.toc` auxiliary file containing the `\contentsline` command (see \addcontentsline). In contrast, the command `\addtocontents` puts material directly in that file.

The `\addtocontents` command has an interaction with `\include` (see \include & \includeonly). If you use them at the same level, as with `\addtocontents{...}{...}\include{...}` then lines in the table of contents can come out in the wrong order. The solution is to move `\addtocontents` into the file being included.

Unofficial LaTeX2e reference manual