[latexrefman] The most common case is the table of contents and there @var{num} is the page number of the first page of @var{unit}.

[Vincent Belaïche]

I read this sentence in node \addcontentsline and I must admit it is
unclear to me. In the case of table of content, @var{unit} is the page
counter, and @var{num} is the current page number at the shipout of
the page where \addcontentsline is found.

Jim are you the author of this sentence ? Could you clarify the point ?

  V.