How to remove Section, SubSection titles?

Question

How do I remove a section/subsection title, but keep the section/subsection name in the headings and in the table of contents?

For example, I type in my document somewhere,

section{My Section}

and I get

"(section number) MY SECTION" in the headings, 
"(section number) My Section.........(page number)" in the table of contents, 
"(section number) My Section" before the first paragraph.

How do I prevent the third item from occurring?

I have been searching for hours and it seems that this should have a simple one line solution, but I haven't found it. I have thought about using

addcontentsline{toc}{subsection}{My Section}

but then I lose "(section number) MY SECTION" in the headings and I lose the (section number) in the table of contents. So an equivalent set of question,

How do I add numbered sections to the toc and to the headings?

Working example?

documentclass[12pt]{book}
usepackage{lipsum}
begin{document}
tableofcontents
chapter{Chapter 1}
section{Section 1}
subsection{Subsection 1}
Here is lovely paragraph. And notice there is a ``subsection title'' right above me. How do I get rid of that title thingy???? 
subsection{Subsection 2}
More stuff..... $$1+2+3+cdots+infty=-frac{1}{12}$$
lipsum[1-10]
section{Section 2}
lipsum[1-10]
Section{Section 3}
lipsum[1-10]
chapter{Chapter 2}
section{Section 1}
Again, above me a section name, how do I get rid of that guy??? 
lipsum[1-10]
section{Section 2}
lipsum[1-10]
end{document}

Werner · Accepted Answer

You can define a fakesection that does all the things the regular section does except print the actual heading:

newcommand{fakesection}[1]{%
  parrefstepcounter{section}% Increase section counter
  sectionmark{#1}% Add section mark (header)
  addcontentsline{toc}{section}{protectnumberline{thesection}#1}% Add section to ToC
  % Add more content here, if needed.
}

A similar macro for fakesubsection would be

newcommand{fakesubsection}[1]{%
  parrefstepcounter{subsection}% Increase subsection counter
  subsectionmark{#1}% Add subsection mark (header)
  addcontentsline{toc}{subsection}{protectnumberline{thesubsection}#1}% Add subsection to ToC
  % Add more content here, if needed.
}

The uses would be fakesection{some section} and fakesubsection{some subsection}.

egreg · Answer

I can't see any application for this setting: without any visual clue in the text, a table of contents containing inexistent titles doesn't make sense.

However, one can do it with titlesec, ensuring that the references will be correct, both in the table of contents and with the label-ref mechanism.

documentclass{book}

usepackage{lipsum}

usepackage{titlesec}

makeatletter
titleformat{section}[runin]{}{}{0pt}{@gobble}
titleformat{subsection}[runin]{}{}{0pt}{@gobble}
makeatother
titlespacing{section}{parindent}{0pt}{0pt}
titlespacing{subsection}{parindent}{0pt}{0pt}

begin{document}
tableofcontents

chapter{Chapter 1}

section{Section 1}

subsection{Subsection 1}

Here is lovely paragraph. And notice there is a ``subsection title'' 
right above me. How do I get rid of that title thingy?

subsection{Subsection 2}

More stuff:
[
1+2+3+cdots+infty=-frac{1}{12}
]
lipsum[1-10]

section{Section 2}
lipsum[1-10]

end{document}

Table of contents page

First chapter page

Paula H · Answer

everybody!
I was tring to do the same and found a simple solution if it's helpfull.
Write:
lhead{Whatever you want}
rhead{nothing if you want to avoid the number and title of sections}
begin{document}

It worked for me.
Good luck!

How to remove Section, SubSection titles?

3 Answers

Table of contents page

First chapter page

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