Optional arguments like \section

Optional arguments, in macros defined using \newcommand, don't quite work like the optional argument to \section. The default value of \section's optional argument is the value of the mandatory argument, but \newcommand requires that you 'know' the value of the default beforehand.

The requisite trick is to use a macro in the optional argument:

\newcommand\thing[2][\DefaultOpt]{\def\DefaultOpt{#2} ...}

This question on the Web: http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=oarglikesect