On Apache
Under GNU General Public License
2024-04-26 10:10 @18.221.174.248 CrawledBy Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com)
File: efaq.info, Node: Top, Next: FAQ notation, Prev: (dir), Up: (dir)
The GNU Emacs FAQ
*****************
This is the GNU Emacs FAQ, last updated on June 12, 2023.
This FAQ is maintained as a part of GNU Emacs. If you find any
errors, or have any suggestions, please use 'M-x report-emacs-bug' to
report them.
This is the version of the FAQ distributed with Emacs 24.3, and
mainly describes that version. Although there is some information on
older versions, details about very old releases (now only of historical
interest) have been removed. If you are interested in this, consult
either the version of the FAQ distributed with older versions of Emacs,
or the history of this document in the Emacs source repository.
Since Emacs releases are very stable, we recommend always running the
latest release.
This FAQ is not updated very frequently. When you have a question
about Emacs, the Emacs manual is often the best starting point.
Copyright (C) 2001-2013 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Copyright (C) 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 Reuven M. Lerner
Copyright (C) 1992, 1993 Steven Byrnes
Copyright (C) 1990, 1991, 1992 Joseph Brian Wells
This list of frequently asked questions about GNU Emacs with
answers ("FAQ") may be translated into other languages, transformed
into other formats (e.g., Texinfo, Info, WWW, WAIS), and updated
with new information.
The same conditions apply to any derivative of the FAQ as apply to
the FAQ itself. Every copy of the FAQ must include this notice or
an approved translation, information on who is currently
maintaining the FAQ and how to contact them (including their e-mail
address), and information on where the latest version of the FAQ is
archived (including FTP information).
The FAQ may be copied and redistributed under these conditions,
except that the FAQ may not be embedded in a larger literary work
unless that work itself allows free copying and redistribution.
[This version has been heavily edited since it was included in the
Emacs distribution.]
* Menu:
* FAQ notation::
* General questions::
* Getting help::
* Status of Emacs::
* Common requests::
* Bugs and problems::
* Compiling and installing Emacs::
* Finding Emacs and related packages::
* Key bindings::
* Alternate character sets::
* Mail and news::
* Concept index::
File: efaq.info, Node: FAQ notation, Next: General questions, Up: Top
1 FAQ notation
**************
This chapter describes notation used in the GNU Emacs FAQ, as well as in
the Emacs documentation. Consult this section if this is the first time
you are reading the FAQ, or if you are confused by notation or terms
used in the FAQ.
* Menu:
* Basic keys::
* Extended commands::
* Emacs manual::
* File-name conventions::
* Common acronyms::
File: efaq.info, Node: Basic keys, Next: Extended commands, Up: FAQ notation
1.1 What do these mean: 'C-h', 'C-M-a', <RET>, '<ESC> a', etc.?
===============================================================
* 'C-x': press the <x> key while holding down the <Control> key
* 'M-x': press the <x> key while holding down the <Meta> key (if your
computer doesn't have a <Meta> key, *note No Meta key::)
* 'M-C-x': press the <x> key while holding down both <Control> and
<Meta>
* 'C-M-x': a synonym for the above
* <LFD>: Linefeed or Newline; same as 'C-j'
* <RET>: <Return>, sometimes marked <Enter>; same as 'C-m'
* <DEL>: <Delete>, usually *not* the same as <Backspace>; same as
'C-?' (see *note Backspace invokes help::, if deleting invokes
Emacs help)
* <ESC>: Escape; same as 'C-['
* <TAB>: Tab; same as 'C-i'
* <SPC>: Space bar
Key sequences longer than one key (and some single-key sequences) are
written inside quotes or on lines by themselves, like this:
'M-x frobnicate-while-foo RET'
Any real spaces in such a key sequence should be ignored; only <SPC>
really means press the space key.
The ASCII code sent by 'C-x' (except for 'C-?') is the value that
would be sent by pressing just <x> minus 96 (or 64 for upper-case <X>)
and will be from 0 to 31. On Unix and GNU/Linux terminals, the ASCII
code sent by 'M-x' is the sum of 128 and the ASCII code that would be
sent by pressing just <x>. Essentially, <Control> turns off bits 5 and
6 and <Meta> turns on bit 7(1).
'C-?' (aka <DEL>) is ASCII code 127. It is a misnomer to call 'C-?'
a "control" key, since 127 has both bits 5 and 6 turned ON. Also, on
very few keyboards does 'C-?' generate ASCII code 127.
*Note (emacs)Keys::.
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) DOS and Windows terminals don't set bit 7 when the <Meta> key is
pressed.
File: efaq.info, Node: Extended commands, Next: Emacs manual, Prev: Basic keys, Up: FAQ notation
1.2 What does 'M-x COMMAND' mean?
=================================
'M-x COMMAND' means type 'M-x', then type the name of the command, then
type <RET>. (*Note Basic keys::, if you're not sure what 'M-x' and
<RET> mean.)
'M-x' (by default) invokes the command 'execute-extended-command'.
This command allows you to run any Emacs command if you can remember the
command's name. If you can't remember the command's name, you can type
<TAB> and <SPC> for completion, <?> for a list of possibilities, and
'M-p' and 'M-n' (or up-arrow and down-arrow) to see previous commands
entered. An Emacs "command" is an "interactive" Emacs function.
Your system administrator may have bound other key sequences to
invoke 'execute-extended-command'. A function key labeled 'Do' is a
good candidate for this, on keyboards that have such a key.
If you need to run non-interactive Emacs functions, see *note
Evaluating Emacs Lisp code::.
File: efaq.info, Node: Emacs manual, Next: File-name conventions, Prev: Extended commands, Up: FAQ notation
1.3 How do I read topic XXX in the Emacs manual?
================================================
When we refer you to some TOPIC in the Emacs manual, you can read this
manual node inside Emacs (assuming nothing is broken) by typing 'C-h i m
emacs <RET> m TOPIC <RET>'.
This invokes Info, the GNU hypertext documentation browser. If you
don't already know how to use Info, type <?> from within Info.
If we refer to TOPIC:SUBTOPIC, type 'C-h i m emacs <RET> m TOPIC
<RET> m SUBTOPIC <RET>'.
If these commands don't work as expected, your system administrator
may not have installed the Info files, or may have installed them
improperly. In this case you should complain.
If you are reading this FAQ in Info, you can simply press <RET> on a
reference to follow it.
*Note Getting a printed manual::, if you would like a paper copy of
the Emacs manual.
File: efaq.info, Node: File-name conventions, Next: Common acronyms, Prev: Emacs manual, Up: FAQ notation
1.4 What are 'src/config.h', 'site-lisp/default.el', etc.?
==========================================================
These are files that come with Emacs. The Emacs distribution is divided
into subdirectories; e.g., 'etc', 'lisp', and 'src'. Some of these
(e.g., 'etc' and 'lisp') are present both in an installed Emacs and in
the sources, but some (e.g., 'src') are only found in the sources.
If you use Emacs, but don't know where it is kept on your system,
start Emacs, then type 'C-h v data-directory <RET>'. The directory name
displayed by this will be the full pathname of the installed 'etc'
directory. (This full path is recorded in the Emacs variable
'data-directory', and 'C-h v' displays the value and the documentation
of a variable.)
The location of your Info directory (i.e., where Info documentation
is stored) is kept in the variable 'Info-default-directory-list'. Use
'C-h v Info-default-directory-list <RET>' to see the value of this
variable, which will be a list of directory names. The last directory
in that list is probably where most Info files are stored. By default,
Emacs Info documentation is placed in '/usr/local/share/info'.
For information on some of the files in the 'etc' directory, *note
Informational files for Emacs::.
File: efaq.info, Node: Common acronyms, Prev: File-name conventions, Up: FAQ notation
1.5 What are FSF, LPF, GNU, RMS, FTP, and GPL?
==============================================
FSF
Free Software Foundation
LPF
League for Programming Freedom
GNU
GNU's Not Unix
RMS
Richard Matthew Stallman
FTP
File Transfer Protocol
GPL
GNU General Public License
Avoid confusing the FSF and the LPF. The LPF opposes look-and-feel
copyrights and software patents. The FSF aims to make high quality free
software available for everyone.
The word "free" in the title of the Free Software Foundation refers
to "freedom," not "zero cost." Anyone can charge any price for
GPL-covered software that they want to. However, in practice, the
freedom enforced by the GPL leads to low prices, because you can always
get the software for less money from someone else, since everyone has
the right to resell or give away GPL-covered software.
File: efaq.info, Node: General questions, Next: Getting help, Prev: FAQ notation, Up: Top
2 General questions
*******************
This chapter contains general questions having to do with Emacs, the
Free Software Foundation, and related organizations.
* Menu:
* The LPF::
* Real meaning of copyleft::
* Guidelines for newsgroup postings::
* Newsgroup archives::
* Reporting bugs::
* Unsubscribing from Emacs lists::
* Contacting the FSF::
File: efaq.info, Node: The LPF, Next: Real meaning of copyleft, Up: General questions
2.1 What is the LPF?
====================
The LPF opposes the expanding danger of software patents and
look-and-feel copyrights. More information on the LPF's views is
available at the LPF home page (http://progfree.org/).
File: efaq.info, Node: Real meaning of copyleft, Next: Guidelines for newsgroup postings, Prev: The LPF, Up: General questions
2.2 What is the real legal meaning of the GNU copyleft?
=======================================================
The real legal meaning of the GNU General Public License (copyleft) will
only be known if and when a judge rules on its validity and scope.
There has never been a copyright infringement case involving the GPL to
set any precedents. Although legal actions have been brought against
companies for violating the terms of the GPL, so far all have been
settled out of court (in favor of the plaintiffs). Please take any
discussion regarding this issue to the newsgroup
<news:gnu.misc.discuss>, which was created to hold the extensive flame
wars on the subject.
RMS writes:
The legal meaning of the GNU copyleft is less important than the
spirit, which is that Emacs is a free software project and that
work pertaining to Emacs should also be free software. "Free"
means that all users have the freedom to study, share, change and
improve Emacs. To make sure everyone has this freedom, pass along
source code when you distribute any version of Emacs or a related
program, and give the recipients the same freedom that you enjoyed.
File: efaq.info, Node: Guidelines for newsgroup postings, Next: Newsgroup archives, Prev: Real meaning of copyleft, Up: General questions
2.3 What are appropriate messages for the various Emacs newsgroups?
===================================================================
The file 'etc/MAILINGLISTS' describes the purpose of each GNU mailing
list (*note Informational files for Emacs::). For those lists which are
gatewayed with newsgroups, it lists both the newsgroup name and the
mailing list address. The Emacs mailing lists are also described at the
Emacs Savannah page (http://savannah.gnu.org/mail/?group=emacs).
The newsgroup <news:comp.emacs> is for discussion of Emacs programs
in general. The newsgroup <news:gnu.emacs.help> is specifically for GNU
Emacs. It therefore makes no sense to cross-post to both groups, since
only one can be appropriate to any question.
Messages advocating "non-free" software are considered unacceptable
on any of the 'gnu.*' newsgroups except for <news:gnu.misc.discuss>,
which was created to hold the extensive flame-wars on the subject.
"Non-free" software includes any software for which the end user can't
freely modify the source code and exchange enhancements. Be careful to
remove the 'gnu.*' groups from the 'Newsgroups:' line when posting a
followup that recommends such software.
<news:gnu.emacs.bug> is a place where bug reports appear, but avoid
posting bug reports to this newsgroup directly (*note Reporting bugs::).
File: efaq.info, Node: Newsgroup archives, Next: Reporting bugs, Prev: Guidelines for newsgroup postings, Up: General questions
2.4 Where can I get old postings to <news:gnu.emacs.help> and other GNU groups?
===============================================================================
The FSF has maintained archives of all of the GNU mailing lists for many
years, although there may be some unintentional gaps in coverage. The
archive can be browsed over the web at the GNU mail archive
(http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/). Raw files can be downloaded from
<ftp://lists.gnu.org/>.
Web-based Usenet search services, such as Google
(http://groups.google.com/groups/dir?q=gnu&;), also archive the 'gnu.*'
groups.
You can also read the archives of the 'gnu.*' groups and post new
messages at Gmane (http://gmane.org/). Gmane is a service that presents
mailing lists as newsgroups (even those without a traditional
mail-to-news gateway).
File: efaq.info, Node: Reporting bugs, Next: Unsubscribing from Emacs lists, Prev: Newsgroup archives, Up: General questions
2.5 Where should I report bugs and other problems with Emacs?
=============================================================
The correct way to report Emacs bugs is to use the command 'M-x
report-emacs-bug'. It sets up a mail buffer with the essential
information and the correct e-mail address, which is
<bug-gnu-emacs AT gnu.org> for the released versions of Emacs. Anything
sent to <bug-gnu-emacs AT gnu.org> also appears in the newsgroup
<news:gnu.emacs.bug>, but please use e-mail instead of news to submit
the bug report. This ensures a reliable return address so you can be
contacted for further details.
Be sure to read the "Bugs" section of the Emacs manual before
reporting a bug! The manual describes in detail how to submit a useful
bug report (*note Reporting Bugs: (emacs)Bugs.). (*Note Emacs manual::,
if you don't know how to read the manual.)
RMS says:
Sending bug reports to <help-gnu-emacs AT gnu.org> (which has the
effect of posting on <news:gnu.emacs.help>) is undesirable because
it takes the time of an unnecessarily large group of people, most
of whom are just users and have no idea how to fix these problem.
<bug-gnu-emacs AT gnu.org> reaches a much smaller group of people who
are more likely to know what to do and have expressed a wish to
receive more messages about Emacs than the others.
RMS says it is sometimes fine to post to <news:gnu.emacs.help>:
If you have reported a bug and you don't hear about a possible fix,
then after a suitable delay (such as a week) it is okay to post on
'gnu.emacs.help' asking if anyone can help you.
If you are unsure whether you have found a bug, consider the
following non-exhaustive list, courtesy of RMS:
If Emacs crashes, that is a bug. If Emacs gets compilation errors
while building, that is a bug. If Emacs crashes while building,
that is a bug. If Lisp code does not do what the documentation
says it does, that is a bug.
File: efaq.info, Node: Unsubscribing from Emacs lists, Next: Contacting the FSF, Prev: Reporting bugs, Up: General questions
2.6 How do I unsubscribe from a mailing list?
=============================================
If you are receiving a GNU mailing list named LIST, you should be able
to unsubscribe from it by sending a request to the address
<LIST-request AT gnu.org>. Mailing lists mails normally contain
information in either the message header ('List-Unsubscribe:') or as a
footer that tells you how to unsubscribe.
File: efaq.info, Node: Contacting the FSF, Prev: Unsubscribing from Emacs lists, Up: General questions
2.7 How do I contact the FSF?
=============================
For up-to-date information, see the FSF contact web-page
(http://www.fsf.org/about/contact.html). You can send general
correspondence to <info AT fsf.org>.
For details on how to order items directly from the FSF, see the FSF
on-line store (http://shop.fsf.org/).
File: efaq.info, Node: Getting help, Next: Status of Emacs, Prev: General questions, Up: Top
3 Getting help
**************
This chapter tells you how to get help with Emacs.
* Menu:
* Basic editing::
* Learning how to do something::
* Getting a printed manual::
* Emacs Lisp documentation::
* Installing Texinfo documentation::
* Printing a Texinfo file::
* Viewing Info files outside of Emacs::
* Informational files for Emacs::
* Help installing Emacs::
* Obtaining the FAQ::
File: efaq.info, Node: Basic editing, Next: Learning how to do something, Up: Getting help
3.1 I'm just starting Emacs; how do I do basic editing?
=======================================================
Type 'C-h t' to invoke the self-paced tutorial. Just typing 'C-h'
enters the help system. Starting with Emacs 22, the tutorial is
available in many foreign languages such as French, German, Japanese,
Russian, etc. Use 'M-x help-with-tutorial-spec-language <RET>' to
choose your language and start the tutorial.
Your system administrator may have changed 'C-h' to act like <DEL> to
deal with local keyboards. You can use 'M-x help-for-help' instead to
invoke help. To discover what key (if any) invokes help on your system,
type 'M-x where-is <RET> help-for-help <RET>'. This will print a
comma-separated list of key sequences in the echo area. Ignore the last
character in each key sequence listed. Each of the resulting key
sequences (e.g., <F1> is common) invokes help.
Emacs help works best if it is invoked by a single key whose value
should be stored in the variable 'help-char'.
File: efaq.info, Node: Learning how to do something, Next: Getting a printed manual, Prev: Basic editing, Up: Getting help
3.2 How do I find out how to do something in Emacs?
===================================================
There are several methods for finding out how to do things in Emacs.
* The complete text of the Emacs manual is available via the Info
hypertext reader. Type 'C-h r' to display the manual in Info mode.
Typing <h> immediately after entering Info will provide a short
tutorial on how to use it.
* To quickly locate the section of the manual which discusses a
certain issue, or describes a command or a variable, type 'C-h i m
emacs <RET> i TOPIC <RET>', where TOPIC is the name of the topic,
the command, or the variable which you are looking for. If this
does not land you on the right place in the manual, press ','
(comma) repeatedly until you find what you need. (The 'i' and ','
keys invoke the index-searching functions, which look for the TOPIC
you type in all the indices of the Emacs manual.)
* You can list all of the commands whose names contain a certain word
(actually which match a regular expression) using 'C-h a' ('M-x
command-apropos').
* The command 'C-h F' ('Info-goto-emacs-command-node') prompts for
the name of a command, and then attempts to find the section in the
Emacs manual where that command is described.
* You can list all of the functions and variables whose names contain
a certain word using 'M-x apropos'.
* You can list all of the functions and variables whose documentation
matches a regular expression or a string, using 'M-x
apropos-documentation'.
* You can order a hardcopy of the manual from the FSF. *Note Getting
a printed manual::.
* You can get a printed reference card listing commands and keys to
invoke them. You can order one from the FSF for $2 (or 10 for
$18), or you can print your own from the 'etc/refcards/refcard.tex'
or 'etc/refcards/refcard.pdf' files in the Emacs distribution.
Beginning with version 21.1, the Emacs distribution comes with
translations of the reference card into several languages; look for
files named 'etc/refcards/LANG-refcard.*', where LANG is a
two-letter code of the language. For example, the German version
of the reference card is in the files 'etc/refcards/de-refcard.tex'
and 'etc/refcards/de-refcard.pdf'.
* There are many other commands in Emacs for getting help and
information. To get a list of these commands, type '?' after
'C-h'.
File: efaq.info, Node: Getting a printed manual, Next: Emacs Lisp documentation, Prev: Learning how to do something, Up: Getting help
3.3 How do I get a printed copy of the Emacs manual?
====================================================
You can order a printed copy of the Emacs manual from the FSF. For
details see the FSF on-line store (http://shop.fsf.org/).
The full Texinfo source for the manual also comes in the 'doc/emacs'
directory of the Emacs distribution, if you're daring enough to try to
print out this several-hundred-page manual yourself (*note Printing a
Texinfo file::).
If you absolutely have to print your own copy, and you don't have
TeX, you can get a PostScript or PDF (or HTML) version from
<http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/>
*Note Learning how to do something::, for how to view the manual from
Emacs.
File: efaq.info, Node: Emacs Lisp documentation, Next: Installing Texinfo documentation, Prev: Getting a printed manual, Up: Getting help
3.4 Where can I get documentation on Emacs Lisp?
================================================
Within Emacs, you can type 'C-h f' to get the documentation for a
function, 'C-h v' for a variable.
For more information, the Emacs Lisp Reference Manual is available in
Info format (*note Emacs Lisp: (elisp)Top.).
You can also order a hardcopy of the manual from the FSF, for details
see the FSF on-line store (http://shop.fsf.org/). (This manual is not
always in print.)
An HTML version of the Emacs Lisp Reference Manual is available at
<http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/elisp-manual/elisp.html>
File: efaq.info, Node: Installing Texinfo documentation, Next: Printing a Texinfo file, Prev: Emacs Lisp documentation, Up: Getting help
3.5 How do I install a piece of Texinfo documentation?
======================================================
Emacs releases come with pre-built Info files, and the normal install
process places them in the correct location. This is true for most
applications that provide Info files. The following section is only
relevant if you want to install extra Info files by hand.
First, you must turn the Texinfo source files into Info files. You
may do this using the stand-alone 'makeinfo' program, available as part
of the Texinfo package at
<http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/>
For information about the Texinfo format, read the Texinfo manual
which comes with the Texinfo package. This manual also comes installed
in Info format, so you can read it from Emacs; type 'C-h i m texinfo
<RET>'.
Alternatively, you could use the Emacs command 'M-x
texinfo-format-buffer', after visiting the Texinfo source file of the
manual you want to convert.
Neither 'texinfo-format-buffer' nor 'makeinfo' installs the resulting
Info files in Emacs's Info tree. To install Info files, perform these
steps:
1. Move the files to the 'info' directory in the installed Emacs
distribution. *Note File-name conventions::, if you don't know
where that is.
2. Run the 'install-info' command, which is part of the Texinfo
distribution, to update the main Info directory menu, like this:
install-info --info-dir=DIR-PATH DIR-PATH/FILE
where DIR-PATH is the full path to the directory where you copied
the produced Info file(s), and FILE is the name of the Info file
you produced and want to install.
If you don't have the 'install-info' command installed, you can
edit the file 'info/dir' in the installed Emacs distribution, and
add a line for the top level node in the Info package that you are
installing. Follow the examples already in this file. The format
is:
* Topic: (relative-pathname). Short description of topic.
If you want to install Info files and you don't have the necessary
privileges, you have several options:
* Info files don't actually need to be installed before being used.
You can use a prefix argument for the 'info' command and specify
the name of the Info file in the minibuffer. This goes to the node
named 'Top' in that file. For example, to view a Info file named
'INFO-FILE' in your home directory, you can type this:
C-u C-h i ~/INFO-FILE <RET>
Alternatively, you can feed a file name to the 'Info-goto-node'
command (invoked by pressing <g> in Info mode) by typing the name
of the file in parentheses, like this:
C-h i g (~/INFO-FILE) <RET>
* You can create your own Info directory. You can tell Emacs where
that Info directory is by adding its pathname to the value of the
variable 'Info-default-directory-list'. For example, to use a
private Info directory which is a subdirectory of your home
directory named 'Info', you could put this in your '.emacs' file:
(add-to-list 'Info-default-directory-list "~/Info")
You will need a top-level Info file named 'dir' in this directory
which has everything the system 'dir' file has in it, except it
should list only entries for Info files in that directory. You
might not need it if (fortuitously) all files in this directory
were referenced by other 'dir' files. The node lists from all
'dir' files in 'Info-default-directory-list' are merged by the Info
system.
File: efaq.info, Node: Printing a Texinfo file, Next: Viewing Info files outside of Emacs, Prev: Installing Texinfo documentation, Up: Getting help
3.6 How do I print a Texinfo file?
==================================
You can't get nicely printed output from Info files; you must still have
the original Texinfo source file for the manual you want to print.
Assuming you have TeX installed on your system, follow these steps:
1. Make sure the first line of the Texinfo file looks like this:
\input texinfo
You may need to change 'texinfo' to the full pathname of the
'texinfo.tex' file, which comes with Emacs as
'doc/misc/texinfo.tex' (or copy or link it into the current
directory).
2. Type 'texi2dvi TEXINFO-SOURCE', where TEXINFO-SOURCE is the name of
the Texinfo source file for which you want to produce a printed
copy. The 'texi2dvi' script is part of the GNU Texinfo
distribution.
Alternatively, 'texi2pdf' produces PDF files.
3. Print the DVI file 'TEXINFO-SOURCE.dvi' in the normal way for
printing DVI files at your site. For example, if you have a
PostScript printer, run the 'dvips' program to print the DVI file
on that printer.
To get more general instructions, retrieve the latest Texinfo package
(*note Installing Texinfo documentation::).
File: efaq.info, Node: Viewing Info files outside of Emacs, Next: Informational files for Emacs, Prev: Printing a Texinfo file, Up: Getting help
3.7 Can I view Info files without using Emacs?
==============================================
Yes. Here are some alternative programs:
* 'info', a stand-alone version of the Info program, comes as part of
the Texinfo package. *Note Installing Texinfo documentation::, for
details.
* Tkinfo, an Info viewer that runs under X Window system and uses
Tcl/Tk. You can get Tkinfo at
<http://math-www.uni-paderborn.de/~axel/tkinfo/>.
File: efaq.info, Node: Informational files for Emacs, Next: Help installing Emacs, Prev: Viewing Info files outside of Emacs, Up: Getting help
3.8 What informational files are available for Emacs?
=====================================================
This isn't a frequently asked question, but it should be! A variety of
informational files about Emacs and relevant aspects of the GNU project
are available for you to read.
The following files (and others) are available in the 'etc' directory
of the Emacs distribution (see *note File-name conventions::, if you're
not sure where that is). Many of these files are available via the
Emacs 'Help' menu, or by typing 'C-h ?' ('M-x help-for-help').
'COPYING'
GNU General Public License
'DISTRIB'
Emacs Availability Information
'GNU'
The GNU Manifesto
'INTERVIEW'
Richard Stallman discusses his public-domain UNIX-compatible
software system with BYTE editors
'MACHINES'
Status of Emacs on Various Machines and Systems
'MAILINGLISTS'
GNU Project Electronic Mailing Lists
'NEWS'
Emacs news, a history of recent user-visible changes
More GNU information, including back issues of the 'GNU's Bulletin',
are at
<http://www.gnu.org/bulletins/bulletins.html> and
<http://www.cs.pdx.edu/~trent/gnu/gnu.html>
File: efaq.info, Node: Help installing Emacs, Next: Obtaining the FAQ, Prev: Informational files for Emacs, Up: Getting help
3.9 Where can I get help in installing Emacs?
=============================================
*Note Installing Emacs::, for some basic installation hints, and see
*note Problems building Emacs::, if you have problems with the
installation.
The GNU Service directory (http://www.fsf.org/resources/service/)
lists companies and individuals willing to sell you help in installing
or using Emacs and other GNU software.
File: efaq.info, Node: Obtaining the FAQ, Prev: Help installing Emacs, Up: Getting help
3.10 Where can I get the latest version of this FAQ?
====================================================
The Emacs FAQ is distributed with Emacs in Info format. You can read it
by selecting the 'Emacs FAQ' option from the 'Help' menu of the Emacs
menu bar at the top of any Emacs frame, or by typing 'C-h C-f' ('M-x
view-emacs-FAQ'). The very latest version is available in the Emacs
development repository (*note Latest version of Emacs::).
File: efaq.info, Node: Status of Emacs, Next: Common requests, Prev: Getting help, Up: Top
4 Status of Emacs
*****************
This chapter gives you basic information about Emacs, including the
status of its latest version.
* Menu:
* Origin of the term Emacs::
* Latest version of Emacs::
* New in Emacs 24::
* New in Emacs 23::
* New in Emacs 22::
* New in Emacs 21::
* New in Emacs 20::
File: efaq.info, Node: Origin of the term Emacs, Next: Latest version of Emacs, Up: Status of Emacs
4.1 Where does the name "Emacs" come from?
==========================================
Emacs originally was an acronym for Editor MACroS. RMS says he "picked
the name Emacs because <E> was not in use as an abbreviation on ITS at
the time." The first Emacs was a set of macros written in 1976 at MIT
by RMS for the editor TECO (Text Editor and COrrector, originally Tape
Editor and COrrector) under ITS (the Incompatible Timesharing System) on
a PDP-10. RMS had already extended TECO with a "real-time" full-screen
mode with reprogrammable keys. Emacs was started by Guy Steele
<gls AT east.com> as a project to unify the many divergent TECO command
sets and key bindings at MIT, and completed by RMS.
Many people have said that TECO code looks a lot like line noise; you
can read more at <news:alt.lang.teco>. Someone has written a TECO
implementation in Emacs Lisp (to find it, see *note Packages that do not
come with Emacs::); it would be an interesting project to run the
original TECO Emacs inside of Emacs.
For some not-so-serious alternative reasons for Emacs to have that
name, check out the file 'etc/JOKES' (*note File-name conventions::).
File: efaq.info, Node: Latest version of Emacs, Next: New in Emacs 24, Prev: Origin of the term Emacs, Up: Status of Emacs
4.2 What is the latest version of Emacs?
========================================
Emacs 24.3 is the current version as of this writing. A version number
with two components (e.g., '22.1') indicates a released version; three
components indicate a development version (e.g., '23.0.50' is what will
eventually become '23.1').
Emacs is under active development, hosted at Savannah
(http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/emacs/). The source code can be
retrieved anonymously following the instructions
(http://savannah.gnu.org/bzr/?group=emacs). The repository is GNU
Bazaar.
Because Emacs undergoes many changes before a release, the version
number of a development version is not especially meaningful. It is
better to refer to the date on which the sources were retrieved from the
development repository. The development version is usually quite robust
for every-day use, but if stability is more important to you than the
latest features, you may want to stick to the releases.
The following sections list some of the major new features in the
last few Emacs releases. For full details of the changes in any version
of Emacs, type 'C-h C-n' ('M-x view-emacs-news'). As of Emacs 22, you
can give this command a prefix argument to read about which features
were new in older versions.
File: efaq.info, Node: New in Emacs 24, Next: New in Emacs 23, Prev: Latest version of Emacs, Up: Status of Emacs
4.3 What is different about Emacs 24?
=====================================
* Emacs now includes a package manager. Type 'M-x list-packages' to
get started. You can use this to download and automatically
install many more Lisp packages.
* Emacs Lisp now supports lexical binding on a per-file basis. In
_lexical binding_, variable references must be located textually
within the binding construct. This contrasts with _dynamic
binding_, where programs can refer to variables defined outside
their local textual scope. A Lisp file can use a local variable
setting of 'lexical-binding: t' to indicate that the contents
should be interpreted using lexical binding. See the Emacs Lisp
Reference Manual for more details.
* Some human languages, such as English, are written from left to
right. Others, such as Arabic, are written from right to left.
Emacs now has support for any mixture of these forms--this is
"bidirectional text".
* Handling of text selections has been improved, and now integrates
better with external clipboards.
* A new command 'customize-themes' allows you to easily change the
appearance of your Emacs.
* Emacs can be compiled with the GTK+ 3 toolkit.
* Support for several new external libraries can be included at
compile time:
* "Security-Enhanced Linux" (SELinux) is a Linux kernel feature
that provides more sophisticated file access controls than
ordinary "Unix-style" file permissions.
* The ImageMagick display library. This allows you to display
many more image format in Emacs, as well as carry out
transformations such as rotations.
* The GnuTLS library for secure network communications. Emacs
uses this transparently for email if your mail server supports
it.
* The libxml2 library for parsing XML structures.
* Much more flexibility in the handling of windows and buffer
display.
As always, consult the 'NEWS' file for more information.
File: efaq.info, Node: New in Emacs 23, Next: New in Emacs 22, Prev: New in Emacs 24, Up: Status of Emacs
4.4 What is different about Emacs 23?
=====================================
* Emacs has a new font code that can use multiple font backends,
including freetype and fontconfig. Emacs can use the Xft library
for anti-aliasing, and the otf and m17n libraries for complex text
layout and text shaping.
* The Emacs character set is now a superset of Unicode. Several new
language environments have been added.
* Emacs now supports using both X displays and ttys in the same
session ('multi-tty').
* Emacs can be started as a daemon in the background.
* There is a new NeXTstep port of Emacs. This supports GNUstep and
Mac OS X (via the Cocoa libraries). The Carbon port of Emacs,
which supported Mac OS X in Emacs 22, has been removed.
* Directory-local variables can now be defined, in a similar manner
to file-local variables.
* Transient Mark mode (*note Highlighting a region::) is on by
default.
Other changes include: support for serial port access; D-Bus bindings; a
new Visual Line mode for line-motion; improved completion; a new mode
('DocView') for viewing of PDF, PostScript, and DVI documents; nXML mode
(for editing XML documents) is included; VC has been updated for newer
version control systems; etc.
File: efaq.info, Node: New in Emacs 22, Next: New in Emacs 21, Prev: New in Emacs 23, Up: Status of Emacs
4.5 What is different about Emacs 22?
=====================================
* Emacs can be built with GTK+ widgets, and supports drag-and-drop
operation on X.
* Emacs 22 features support for GNU/Linux systems on S390 and x86-64
machines, as well as support for the Mac OS X and Cygwin operating
systems.
* The native MS-Windows, and Mac OS X builds include full support for
images, toolbar, and tooltips.
* Font Lock mode, Auto Compression mode, and File Name Shadow Mode
are enabled by default.
* The maximum size of buffers is increased: on 32-bit machines, it is
256 MBytes for Emacs 23.1, and 512 MBytes for Emacs 23.2 and above.
* Links can be followed with 'mouse-1', in addition to 'mouse-2'.
* Mouse wheel support is enabled by default.
* Window fringes are customizable.
* The mode line of the selected window is now highlighted.
* The minibuffer prompt is displayed in a distinct face.
* Abbrev definitions are read automatically at startup.
* Grep mode is separate from Compilation mode and has many new
options and commands specific to grep.
* The original Emacs macro system has been replaced by the new Kmacro
package, which provides many new commands and features and a simple
interface that uses the function keys F3 and F4. Macros are stored
in a macro ring, and can be debugged and edited interactively.
* The Grand Unified Debugger (GUD) can be used with a full graphical
user interface to GDB; this provides many features found in
traditional development environments, making it easy to manipulate
breakpoints, add watch points, display the call stack, etc.
Breakpoints are visually indicated in the source buffer.
* Many new modes and packages have been included in Emacs, such as
Calc, TRAMP, URL, IDO, CUA, ERC, rcirc, Table, Image-Dired, SES,
Ruler, Org, PGG, Flymake, Password, Printing, Reveal, wdired,
t-mouse, longlines, savehist, Conf mode, Python mode, DNS mode,
etc.
* Leim is now part of Emacs. Unicode support has been much improved,
and the following input methods have been added: belarusian,
bulgarian-bds, bulgarian-phonetic, chinese-sisheng, croatian,
dutch, georgian, latin-alt-postfix, latin-postfix, latin-prefix,
latvian-keyboard, lithuanian-numeric, lithuanian-keyboard,
malayalam-inscript, rfc1345, russian-computer, sgml, slovenian,
tamil-inscript, ucs, ukrainian-computer, vietnamese-telex, and
welsh.
The following language environments have also been added:
Belarusian, Bulgarian, Chinese-EUC-TW, Croatian, French, Georgian,
Italian, Latin-6, Latin-7, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malayalam, Russian,
Slovenian, Swedish, Tajik, Tamil, UTF-8, Ukrainian, Welsh, and
Windows-1255.
* In addition, Emacs 22 now includes the Emacs Lisp Reference Manual
(*note Emacs Lisp documentation::) and the Emacs Lisp Intro.
File: efaq.info, Node: New in Emacs 21, Next: New in Emacs 20, Prev: New in Emacs 22, Up: Status of Emacs
4.6 What is different about Emacs 21?
=====================================
Emacs 21 features a thorough rewrite of the display engine. The new
display engine supports variable-size fonts, images, and can play sounds
on platforms which support that. As a result, the visual appearance of
Emacs, when it runs on a windowed display, is much more reminiscent of
modern GUI programs, and includes 3D widgets (used for the mode line and
the scroll bars), a configurable and extensible toolbar, tooltips
(a.k.a. balloon help), and other niceties.
In addition, Emacs 21 supports faces on text-only terminals. This
means that you can now have colors when you run Emacs on a GNU/Linux
console and on 'xterm' with 'emacs -nw'.
File: efaq.info, Node: New in Emacs 20, Prev: New in Emacs 21, Up: Status of Emacs
4.7 What is different about Emacs 20?
=====================================
The differences between Emacs versions 18 and 19 were rather dramatic;
the introduction of frames, faces, and colors on windowing systems was
obvious to even the most casual user.
There are differences between Emacs versions 19 and 20 as well, but
many are more subtle or harder to find. Among the changes are the
inclusion of MULE code for languages that use non-Latin characters and
for mixing several languages in the same document; the "Customize"
facility for modifying variables without having to use Lisp; and
automatic conversion of files from Macintosh, Microsoft, and Unix
platforms.
File: efaq.info, Node: Common requests, Next: Bugs and problems, Prev: Status of Emacs, Up: Top
5 Common requests
*****************
* Menu:
* Setting up a customization file::
* Using Customize::
* Colors on a TTY::
* Debugging a customization file::
* Displaying the current line or column::
* Displaying the current file name in the titlebar::
* Turning on abbrevs by default::
* Associating modes with files::
* Highlighting a region::
* Replacing highlighted text::
* Controlling case sensitivity::
* Working with unprintable characters::
* Searching for/replacing newlines::
* Yanking text in isearch::
* Wrapping words automatically::
* Turning on auto-fill by default::
* Changing load-path::
* Using an already running Emacs process::
* Compiler error messages::
* Indenting switch statements::
* Customizing C and C++ indentation::
* Horizontal scrolling::
* Overwrite mode::
* Turning off beeping::
* Turning the volume down::
* Automatic indentation::
* Matching parentheses::
* Hiding #ifdef lines::
* Repeating commands::
* Valid X resources::
* Evaluating Emacs Lisp code::
* Changing the length of a Tab::
* Inserting text at the beginning of each line::
* Forcing the cursor to remain in the same column::
* Forcing Emacs to iconify itself::
* Using regular expressions::
* Replacing text across multiple files::
* Documentation for etags::
* Disabling backups::
* Disabling auto-save-mode::
* Going to a line by number::
* Modifying pull-down menus::
* Deleting menus and menu options::
* Turning on syntax highlighting::
* Scrolling only one line::
* Editing MS-DOS files::
* Filling paragraphs with a single space::
* Escape sequences in shell output::
* Fullscreen mode on MS-Windows::
File: efaq.info, Node: Setting up a customization file, Next: Using Customize, Up: Common requests
5.1 How do I set up a '.emacs' file properly?
=============================================
*Note (emacs)Init File::.
In general, new Emacs users should not be provided with '.emacs'
files, because this can cause confusing non-standard behavior. Then
they send questions to <help-gnu-emacs AT gnu.org> asking why Emacs isn't
behaving as documented.
Emacs includes the Customize facility (*note Using Customize::).
This allows users who are unfamiliar with Emacs Lisp to modify their
'.emacs' files in a relatively straightforward way, using menus rather
than Lisp code.
While Customize might indeed make it easier to configure Emacs,
consider taking a bit of time to learn Emacs Lisp and modifying your
'.emacs' directly. Simple configuration options are described rather
completely in *note (emacs)Init File::, for users interested in
performing frequently requested, basic tasks.
Sometimes users are unsure as to where their '.emacs' file should be
found. Visiting the file as '~/.emacs' from Emacs will find the correct
file.
File: efaq.info, Node: Using Customize, Next: Colors on a TTY, Prev: Setting up a customization file, Up: Common requests
5.2 How do I start using Customize?
===================================
The main Customize entry point is 'M-x customize <RET>'. This command
takes you to a buffer listing all the available Customize groups. From
there, you can access all customizable options and faces, change their
values, and save your changes to your init file. *Note (emacs)Easy
Customization::.
If you know the name of the group in advance (e.g., "shell"), use
'M-x customize-group <RET>'.
If you wish to customize a single option, use 'M-x customize-option
<RET>'. This command prompts you for the name of the option to
customize, with completion.
File: efaq.info, Node: Colors on a TTY, Next: Debugging a customization file, Prev: Using Customize, Up: Common requests
5.3 How do I get colors and syntax highlighting on a TTY?
=========================================================
In Emacs 21.1 and later, colors and faces are supported in non-windowed
mode, i.e., on Unix and GNU/Linux text-only terminals and consoles, and
when invoked as 'emacs -nw' on X, and MS-Windows. (Colors and faces
were supported in the MS-DOS port since Emacs 19.29.) Emacs
automatically detects color support at startup and uses it if available.
If you think that your terminal supports colors, but Emacs won't use
them, check the 'termcap' entry for your display type for color-related
capabilities.
The command 'M-x list-colors-display' pops up a window which exhibits
all the colors Emacs knows about on the current display.
Syntax highlighting is on by default since version 22.1.
File: efaq.info, Node: Debugging a customization file, Next: Displaying the current line or column, Prev: Colors on a TTY, Up: Common requests
5.4 How do I debug a '.emacs' file?
===================================
Start Emacs with the '-debug-init' command-line option. This enables
the Emacs Lisp debugger before evaluating your '.emacs' file, and places
you in the debugger if something goes wrong. The top line in the
'trace-back' buffer will be the error message, and the second or third
line of that buffer will display the Lisp code from your '.emacs' file
that caused the problem.
You can also evaluate an individual function or argument to a
function in your '.emacs' file by moving the cursor to the end of the
function or argument and typing 'C-x C-e' ('M-x eval-last-sexp').
Use 'C-h v' ('M-x describe-variable') to check the value of variables
which you are trying to set or use.
File: efaq.info, Node: Displaying the current line or column, Next: Displaying the current file name in the titlebar, Prev: Debugging a customization file, Up: Common requests
5.5 How do I make Emacs display the current line (or column) number?
====================================================================
By default, Emacs displays the current line number of the point in the
mode line. You can toggle this feature off or on with the command 'M-x
line-number-mode', or by setting the variable 'line-number-mode'. Note
that Emacs will not display the line number if the buffer's size in
bytes is larger than the value of the variable
'line-number-display-limit'.
You can similarly display the current column with 'M-x
column-number-mode', or by putting the form
(setq column-number-mode t)
in your '.emacs' file. This feature is off by default.
The '"%c"' format specifier in the variable 'mode-line-format' will
insert the current column's value into the mode line. See the
documentation for 'mode-line-format' (using 'C-h v mode-line-format
<RET>') for more information on how to set and use this variable.
The 'linum' package (distributed with Emacs since version 23.1)
displays line numbers in the left margin, like the "set number"
capability of 'vi'. The packages 'setnu' and 'wb-line-number' (not
distributed with Emacs) also implement this feature.
File: efaq.info, Node: Displaying the current file name in the titlebar, Next: Turning on abbrevs by default, Prev: Displaying the current line or column, Up: Common requests
5.6 How can I modify the titlebar to contain the current file name?
===================================================================
The contents of an Emacs frame's titlebar is controlled by the variable
'frame-title-format', which has the same structure as the variable
'mode-line-format'. (Use 'C-h v' or 'M-x describe-variable' to get
information about one or both of these variables.)
By default, the titlebar for a frame does contain the name of the
buffer currently being visited, except if there is a single frame. In
such a case, the titlebar contains Emacs invocation name and the name of
the machine at which Emacs was invoked. This is done by setting
'frame-title-format' to the default value of
(multiple-frames "%b" ("" invocation-name "@" system-name))
To modify the behavior such that frame titlebars contain the buffer's
name regardless of the number of existing frames, include the following
in your '.emacs':
(setq frame-title-format "%b")
File: efaq.info, Node: Turning on abbrevs by default, Next: Associating modes with files, Prev: Displaying the current file name in the titlebar, Up: Common requests
5.7 How do I turn on abbrevs by default just in mode MYMODE?
============================================================
Abbrev mode expands abbreviations as you type them. To turn it on in a
specific buffer, use 'M-x abbrev-mode'. To turn it on in every buffer
by default, put this in your '.emacs' file:
(setq-default abbrev-mode t)
To turn it on in a specific mode, use:
(add-hook 'MYMODE-mode-hook
(lambda ()
(setq abbrev-mode t)))
If your Emacs version is older then 22.1, you will also need to use:
(condition-case ()
(quietly-read-abbrev-file)
(file-error nil))
File: efaq.info, Node: Associating modes with files, Next: Highlighting a region, Prev: Turning on abbrevs by default, Up: Common requests
5.8 How do I make Emacs use a certain major mode for certain files?
===================================================================
If you want to use a certain mode FOO for all files whose names end with
the extension '.BAR', this will do it for you:
(add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.BAR\\'" . FOO-mode))
Alternatively, put this somewhere in the first line of any file you
want to edit in the mode FOO (in the second line, if the first line
begins with '#!'):
-*- FOO -*-
The variable 'interpreter-mode-alist' specifies which mode to use
when loading an interpreted script (e.g., shell, python, etc.). Emacs
determines which interpreter you're using by examining the first line of
the script. Use 'C-h v' (or 'M-x describe-variable') on
'interpreter-mode-alist' to learn more.
File: efaq.info, Node: Highlighting a region, Next: Replacing highlighted text, Prev: Associating modes with files, Up: Common requests
5.9 How can I highlight a region of text in Emacs?
==================================================
You can cause the region to be highlighted when the mark is active by
including
(transient-mark-mode 1)
in your '.emacs' file. Since Emacs 23.1, this feature is on by default.
File: efaq.info, Node: Replacing highlighted text, Next: Controlling case sensitivity, Prev: Highlighting a region, Up: Common requests
5.10 How can I replace highlighted text with what I type?
=========================================================
Use 'delete-selection-mode', which you can start automatically by
placing the following Lisp form in your '.emacs' file:
(delete-selection-mode 1)
According to the documentation string for 'delete-selection-mode'
(which you can read using 'M-x describe-function <RET>
delete-selection-mode <RET>'):
When Delete Selection mode is enabled, Transient Mark mode is also
enabled and typed text replaces the selection if the selection is
active. Otherwise, typed text is just inserted at point regardless
of any selection.
This mode also allows you to delete (not kill) the highlighted region
by pressing <DEL>.
File: efaq.info, Node: Controlling case sensitivity, Next: Working with unprintable characters, Prev: Replacing highlighted text, Up: Common requests
5.11 How do I control Emacs's case-sensitivity when searching/replacing?
========================================================================
The value of the variable 'case-fold-search' determines whether searches
are case sensitive:
(setq case-fold-search nil) ; make searches case sensitive
(setq case-fold-search t) ; make searches case insensitive
Similarly, for replacing, the variable 'case-replace' determines
whether replacements preserve case.
You can also toggle case sensitivity at will in isearch with 'M-c'.
To change the case sensitivity just for one major mode, use the major
mode's hook. For example:
(add-hook 'FOO-mode-hook
(lambda ()
(setq case-fold-search nil)))
File: efaq.info, Node: Working with unprintable characters, Next: Searching for/replacing newlines, Prev: Controlling case sensitivity, Up: Common requests
5.12 How do I search for, delete, or replace unprintable (eight-bit or control) characters?
===========================================================================================
To search for a single character that appears in the buffer as, for
example, '\237', you can type 'C-s C-q 2 3 7'. Searching for *all*
unprintable characters is best done with a regular expression ("regexp")
search. The easiest regexp to use for the unprintable chars is the
complement of the regexp for the printable chars.
* Regexp for the printable chars: '[\t\n\r\f -~]'
* Regexp for the unprintable chars: '[^\t\n\r\f -~]'
To type these special characters in an interactive argument to
'isearch-forward-regexp' or 're-search-forward', you need to use 'C-q'.
('\t', '\n', '\r', and '\f' stand respectively for <TAB>, <LFD>, <RET>,
and 'C-l'.) So, to search for unprintable characters using
're-search-forward':
'M-x re-search-forward <RET> [^ <TAB> C-q <LFD> C-q <RET> C-q C-l
<SPC> -~] <RET>'
Using 'isearch-forward-regexp':
'C-M-s [^ <TAB> <LFD> C-q <RET> C-q C-l <SPC> -~]'
To delete all unprintable characters, simply use replace-regexp:
'M-x replace-regexp <RET> [^ <TAB> C-q <LFD> C-q <RET> C-q C-l <SPC>
-~] <RET> <RET>'
Replacing is similar to the above. To replace all unprintable
characters with a colon, use:
M-x replace-regexp <RET> [^ <TAB> C-q <LFD> C-q <RET> C-q C-l <SPC>
-~] <RET> : <RET>
File: efaq.info, Node: Searching for/replacing newlines, Next: Yanking text in isearch, Prev: Working with unprintable characters, Up: Common requests
5.13 How do I input a newline character in isearch or query-replace?
====================================================================
Use 'C-q C-j'. For more information, *note Special Input for
Incremental Search: (emacs)Special Isearch.
File: efaq.info, Node: Yanking text in isearch, Next: Wrapping words automatically, Prev: Searching for/replacing newlines, Up: Common requests
5.14 How do I copy text from the kill ring into the search string?
==================================================================
Use 'M-y'. *Note (emacs)Isearch Yank::.
File: efaq.info, Node: Wrapping words automatically, Next: Turning on auto-fill by default, Prev: Yanking text in isearch, Up: Common requests
5.15 How do I make Emacs wrap words for me?
===========================================
Use 'auto-fill-mode', activated by typing 'M-x auto-fill-mode'. The
default maximum line width is 70, determined by the variable
'fill-column'. To learn how to turn this on automatically, see *note
Turning on auto-fill by default::.
File: efaq.info, Node: Turning on auto-fill by default, Next: Changing load-path, Prev: Wrapping words automatically, Up: Common requests
5.16 How do I turn on 'auto-fill-mode' by default?
==================================================
To turn on 'auto-fill-mode' just once for one buffer, use 'M-x
auto-fill-mode'.
To turn it on for every buffer in a certain mode, you must use the
hook for that mode. For example, to turn on 'auto-fill' mode for all
text buffers, including the following in your '.emacs' file:
(add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'turn-on-auto-fill)
If you want 'auto-fill' mode on in all major modes, do this:
(setq-default auto-fill-function 'do-auto-fill)
File: efaq.info, Node: Changing load-path, Next: Using an already running Emacs process, Prev: Turning on auto-fill by default, Up: Common requests
5.17 How do I change 'load-path'?
=================================
In general, you should only add to the 'load-path'. You can add
directory /DIR/SUBDIR to the load path like this:
(add-to-list 'load-path "/dir/subdir/")
To do this relative to your home directory:
(add-to-list 'load-path "~/mysubdir/")
File: efaq.info, Node: Using an already running Emacs process, Next: Compiler error messages, Prev: Changing load-path, Up: Common requests
5.18 How do I use an already running Emacs from another window?
===============================================================
'emacsclient', which comes with Emacs, is for editing a file using an
already running Emacs rather than starting up a new Emacs. It does this
by sending a request to the already running Emacs, which must be
expecting the request.
* Setup:
Emacs must have executed the 'server-start' function for
'emacsclient' to work. This can be done either by a command line
option:
emacs -f server-start
or by invoking 'server-start' from '.emacs':
(if (SOME CONDITIONS ARE MET) (server-start))
When this is done, Emacs creates a Unix domain socket named
'server' in '/tmp/emacsUSERID'. See 'server-socket-dir'.
To get your news reader, mail reader, etc., to invoke
'emacsclient', try setting the environment variable 'EDITOR' (or
sometimes 'VISUAL') to the value 'emacsclient'. You may have to
specify the full pathname of the 'emacsclient' program instead.
Examples:
# csh commands:
setenv EDITOR emacsclient
# using full pathname
setenv EDITOR /usr/local/emacs/etc/emacsclient
# sh command:
EDITOR=emacsclient ; export EDITOR
* Normal use:
When 'emacsclient' is run, it connects to the socket and passes its
command line options to Emacs, which at the next opportunity will
visit the files specified. (Line numbers can be specified just
like with Emacs.) The user will have to switch to the Emacs window
by hand. When the user is done editing a file, the user can type
'C-x #' (or 'M-x server-edit') to indicate this. If there is
another buffer requested by 'emacsclient', Emacs will switch to it;
otherwise 'emacsclient' will exit, signaling the calling program to
continue.
There is an alternative version of 'emacsclient' called 'gnuserv',
written by Andy Norman <ange AT hplb.com> (*note Packages that
do not come with Emacs::). 'gnuserv' uses Internet domain sockets,
so it can work across most network connections.
The most recent 'gnuserv' package is available at
<http://meltin.net/hacks/emacs/>
File: efaq.info, Node: Compiler error messages, Next: Indenting switch statements, Prev: Using an already running Emacs process, Up: Common requests
5.19 How do I make Emacs recognize my compiler's funny error messages?
======================================================================
Customize the 'compilation-error-regexp-alist' variable.
File: efaq.info, Node: Indenting switch statements, Next: Customizing C and C++ indentation, Prev: Compiler error messages, Up: Common requests
5.20 How do I change the indentation for 'switch'?
==================================================
Many people want to indent their 'switch' statements like this:
f()
{
switch(x) {
case A:
x1;
break;
case B:
x2;
break;
default:
x3;
}
}
To achieve this, add the following line to your '.emacs':
(c-set-offset 'case-label '+)
File: efaq.info, Node: Customizing C and C++ indentation, Next: Horizontal scrolling, Prev: Indenting switch statements, Up: Common requests
5.21 How to customize indentation in C, C++, and Java buffers?
==============================================================
The Emacs 'cc-mode' features an interactive procedure for customizing
the indentation style, which is fully explained in the 'CC Mode' manual
that is part of the Emacs distribution, see *note Customization
Indentation: (ccmode)Customizing Indentation. Here's a short summary of
the procedure:
1. Go to the beginning of the first line where you don't like the
indentation and type 'C-c C-o'. Emacs will prompt you for the
syntactic symbol; type <RET> to accept the default it suggests.
2. Emacs now prompts for the offset of this syntactic symbol, showing
the default (the current definition) inside parentheses. You can
choose one of these:
'0'
No extra indentation.
'+'
Indent one basic offset.
'-'
Outdent one basic offset.
'++'
Indent two basic offsets
'--'
Outdent two basic offsets.
'*'
Indent half basic offset.
'/'
Outdent half basic offset.
3. After choosing one of these symbols, type 'C-c C-q' to reindent the
line or the block according to what you just specified.
4. If you don't like the result, go back to step 1. Otherwise, add
the following line to your '.emacs':
(c-set-offset 'SYNTACTIC-SYMBOL OFFSET)
where SYNTACTIC-SYMBOL is the name Emacs shows in the minibuffer
when you type 'C-c C-o' at the beginning of the line, and OFFSET is
one of the indentation symbols listed above ('+', '/', '0', etc.)
that you've chosen during the interactive procedure.
5. Go to the next line whose indentation is not to your liking and
repeat the process there.
It is recommended to put all the resulting '(c-set-offset ...)'
customizations inside a C mode hook, like this:
(defun my-c-mode-hook ()
(c-set-offset ...)
(c-set-offset ...))
(add-hook 'c-mode-hook 'my-c-mode-hook)
Using 'c-mode-hook' avoids the need to put a '(require 'cc-mode)' into
your '.emacs' file, because 'c-set-offset' might be unavailable when
'cc-mode' is not loaded.
Note that 'c-mode-hook' runs for C source files only; use
'c++-mode-hook' for C++ sources, 'java-mode-hook' for Java sources, etc.
If you want the same customizations to be in effect in _all_ languages
supported by 'cc-mode', use 'c-mode-common-hook'.
File: efaq.info, Node: Horizontal scrolling, Next: Overwrite mode, Prev: Customizing C and C++ indentation, Up: Common requests
5.22 How can I make Emacs automatically scroll horizontally?
============================================================
In Emacs 21 and later, this is on by default: if the variable
'truncate-lines' is non-'nil' in the current buffer, Emacs automatically
scrolls the display horizontally when point moves off the left or right
edge of the window.
Note that this is overridden by the variable
'truncate-partial-width-windows' if that variable is non-nil and the
current buffer is not full-frame width.
In Emacs 20, use 'hscroll-mode'.
File: efaq.info, Node: Overwrite mode, Next: Turning off beeping, Prev: Horizontal scrolling, Up: Common requests
5.23 How do I make Emacs "typeover" or "overwrite" instead of inserting?
========================================================================
'M-x overwrite-mode' (a minor mode). This toggles 'overwrite-mode' on
and off, so exiting from 'overwrite-mode' is as easy as another 'M-x
overwrite-mode'.
On some systems, <Insert> toggles 'overwrite-mode' on and off.
File: efaq.info, Node: Turning off beeping, Next: Turning the volume down, Prev: Overwrite mode, Up: Common requests
5.24 How do I stop Emacs from beeping on a terminal?
====================================================
Martin R. Frank <martin AT cc.edu> writes:
Tell Emacs to use the "visible bell" instead of the audible bell, and
set the visible bell to nothing.
That is, put the following in your 'TERMCAP' environment variable
(assuming you have one):
... :vb=: ...
And evaluate the following Lisp form:
(setq visible-bell t)
File: efaq.info, Node: Turning the volume down, Next: Automatic indentation, Prev: Turning off beeping, Up: Common requests
5.25 How do I turn down the bell volume in Emacs running under X?
=================================================================
On X Window system, you can adjust the bell volume and duration for all
programs with the shell command 'xset'.
Invoking 'xset' without any arguments produces some basic
information, including the following:
usage: xset [-display host:dpy] option ...
To turn bell off:
-b b off b 0
To set bell volume, pitch and duration:
b [vol [pitch [dur]]] b on
File: efaq.info, Node: Automatic indentation, Next: Matching parentheses, Prev: Turning the volume down, Up: Common requests
5.26 How do I tell Emacs to automatically indent a new line to the indentation of the previous line?
====================================================================================================
Such behavior is automatic (in Text mode) in Emacs 20 and later. From
the 'etc/NEWS' file for Emacs 20.2:
** In Text mode, now only blank lines separate paragraphs. This makes
it possible to get the full benefit of Adaptive Fill mode in Text mode,
and other modes derived from it (such as Mail mode). <TAB> in Text
mode now runs the command indent-relative; this makes a practical
difference only when you use indented paragraphs.
If you want spaces at the beginning of a line to start a paragraph, use
the new mode, Paragraph Indent Text mode.
If you have 'auto-fill-mode' turned on (*note Turning on auto-fill by
default::), you can tell Emacs to prefix every line with a certain
character sequence, the "fill prefix". Type the prefix at the beginning
of a line, position point after it, and then type 'C-x .'
('set-fill-prefix') to set the fill prefix. Thereafter, auto-filling
will automatically put the fill prefix at the beginning of new lines,
and 'M-q' ('fill-paragraph') will maintain any fill prefix when
refilling the paragraph.
If you have paragraphs with different levels of indentation, you will
have to set the fill prefix to the correct value each time you move to a
new paragraph. There are many packages available to deal with this
(*note Packages that do not come with Emacs::). Look for "fill" and
"indent" keywords for guidance.
File: efaq.info, Node: Matching parentheses, Next: Hiding #ifdef lines, Prev: Automatic indentation, Up: Common requests
5.27 How do I show which parenthesis matches the one I'm looking at?
====================================================================
Call 'show-paren-mode' in your '.emacs' file:
(show-paren-mode 1)
You can also enable this mode by selecting the 'Paren Match
Highlighting' option from the 'Options' menu of the Emacs menu bar at
the top of any Emacs frame.
Alternatives to this mode include:
* If you're looking at a right parenthesis (or brace or bracket) you
can delete it and reinsert it. Emacs will momentarily move the
cursor to the matching parenthesis.
* 'C-M-f' ('forward-sexp') and 'C-M-b' ('backward-sexp') will skip
over one set of balanced parentheses, so you can see which
parentheses match. (You can train it to skip over balanced
brackets and braces at the same time by modifying the syntax
table.)
* Here is some Emacs Lisp that will make the <%> key show the
matching parenthesis, like in 'vi'. In addition, if the cursor
isn't over a parenthesis, it simply inserts a % like normal.
;; By an unknown contributor
(global-set-key "%" 'match-paren)
(defun match-paren (arg)
"Go to the matching paren if on a paren; otherwise insert %."
(interactive "p")
(cond ((looking-at "\\s\(") (forward-list 1) (backward-char 1))
((looking-at "\\s\)") (forward-char 1) (backward-list 1))
(t (self-insert-command (or arg 1)))))
File: efaq.info, Node: Hiding #ifdef lines, Next: Repeating commands, Prev: Matching parentheses, Up: Common requests
5.28 In C mode, can I show just the lines that will be left after '#ifdef' commands are handled by the compiler?
================================================================================================================
'M-x hide-ifdef-mode'. (This is a minor mode.) You might also want to
investigate 'cpp.el', which is distributed with Emacs.
File: efaq.info, Node: Repeating commands, Next: Valid X resources, Prev: Hiding #ifdef lines, Up: Common requests
5.29 How do I repeat a command as many times as possible?
=========================================================
As of Emacs 20.3, there is indeed a 'repeat' command ('C-x z') that
repeats the last command. If you preface it with a prefix argument, the
prefix arg is applied to the command.
You can also type 'C-x <ESC> <ESC>' ('repeat-complex-command') to
reinvoke commands that used the minibuffer to get arguments. In
'repeat-complex-command' you can type 'M-p' and 'M-n' (and also up-arrow
and down-arrow, if your keyboard has these keys) to scan through all the
different complex commands you've typed.
To repeat a set of commands, use keyboard macros. Use 'C-x (' and
'C-x )' to make a keyboard macro that invokes the command and then type
'C-x e'. *Note (emacs)Keyboard Macros::.
If you're really desperate for the '.' command in 'vi' that redoes
the last insertion/deletion, use VIPER, a 'vi' emulation mode which
comes with Emacs, and which appears to support it.
File: efaq.info, Node: Valid X resources, Next: Evaluating Emacs Lisp code, Prev: Repeating commands, Up: Common requests
5.30 What are the valid X resource settings (i.e., stuff in .Xdefaults)?
========================================================================
*Note (emacs)X Resources::.
You can also use a resource editor, such as editres (for X11R5 and
onwards), to look at the resource names for the menu bar, assuming Emacs
was compiled with the X toolkit.
File: efaq.info, Node: Evaluating Emacs Lisp code, Next: Changing the length of a Tab, Prev: Valid X resources, Up: Common requests
5.31 How do I execute ("evaluate") a piece of Emacs Lisp code?
==============================================================
There are a number of ways to execute ("evaluate", in Lisp lingo) an
Emacs Lisp "form":
* If you want it evaluated every time you run Emacs, put it in a file
named '.emacs' in your home directory. This is known as "your
'.emacs' file," and contains all of your personal customizations.
* You can type the form in the '*scratch*' buffer, and then type
<LFD> (or 'C-j') after it. The result of evaluating the form will
be inserted in the buffer.
* In 'emacs-lisp-mode', typing 'C-M-x' evaluates a top-level form
before or around point.
* Typing 'C-x C-e' in any buffer evaluates the Lisp form immediately
before point and prints its value in the echo area.
* Typing 'M-:' or 'M-x eval-expression' allows you to type a Lisp
form in the minibuffer which will be evaluated once you press
<RET>.
* You can use 'M-x load-file' to have Emacs evaluate all the Lisp
forms in a file. (To do this from Lisp use the function 'load'
instead.)
The functions 'load-library', 'eval-region', 'eval-buffer',
'require', and 'autoload' are also useful; see *note Emacs Lisp
documentation::, if you want to learn more about them.
File: efaq.info, Node: Changing the length of a Tab, Next: Inserting text at the beginning of each line, Prev: Evaluating Emacs Lisp code, Up: Common requests
5.32 How do I change Emacs's idea of the <TAB> character's length?
==================================================================
Set the default value of the variable 'tab-width'. For example, to set
<TAB> stops every 10 characters, insert the following in your '.emacs'
file:
(setq-default tab-width 10)
Do not confuse variable 'tab-width' with variable 'tab-stop-list'.
The former is used for the display of literal <TAB> characters. The
latter controls what characters are inserted when you press the <TAB>
character in certain modes.
File: efaq.info, Node: Inserting text at the beginning of each line, Next: Forcing the cursor to remain in the same column, Prev: Changing the length of a Tab, Up: Common requests
5.33 How do I insert <some text> at the beginning of every line?
================================================================
To do this to an entire buffer, type 'M-< M-x replace-regexp <RET> ^
<RET> your text <RET>'.
To do this to a region, use 'string-insert-rectangle'. Set the mark
('C-<SPC>') at the beginning of the first line you want to prefix, move
the cursor to last line to be prefixed, and type 'M-x
string-insert-rectangle <RET>'. To do this for the whole buffer, type
'C-x h M-x string-insert-rectangle <RET>'.
If you are trying to prefix a yanked mail message with '>', you might
want to set the variable 'mail-yank-prefix'. In Message buffers, you
can even use 'M-;' to cite yanked messages ('M-;' runs the function
'comment-region', it is a general-purpose mechanism to comment regions)
(*note Changing the included text prefix::).
File: efaq.info, Node: Forcing the cursor to remain in the same column, Next: Forcing Emacs to iconify itself, Prev: Inserting text at the beginning of each line, Up: Common requests
5.34 How do I make Emacs behave like this: when I go up or down, the cursor should stay in the same column even if the line is too short?
=========================================================================================================================================
Use 'M-x picture-mode'.
See also the variable 'track-eol' and the command 'set-goal-column'
bound to 'C-x C-n' (*note (emacs)Moving Point::).
File: efaq.info, Node: Forcing Emacs to iconify itself, Next: Using regular expressions, Prev: Forcing the cursor to remain in the same column, Up: Common requests
5.35 How do I tell Emacs to iconify itself?
===========================================
'C-z' iconifies Emacs when running under X and suspends Emacs otherwise.
*Note (emacs)Frame Commands::.
File: efaq.info, Node: Using regular expressions, Next: Replacing text across multiple files, Prev: Forcing Emacs to iconify itself, Up: Common requests
5.36 How do I use regexps (regular expressions) in Emacs?
=========================================================
*Note (emacs)Regexp Backslash::.
The 'or' operator is '\|', not '|', and the grouping operators are
'\(' and '\)'. Also, the string syntax for a backslash is '\\'. To
specify a regular expression like 'xxx\(foo\|bar\)' in a Lisp string,
use 'xxx\\(foo\\|bar\\)'.
Note the doubled backslashes!
* Unlike in Unix 'grep', 'sed', etc., a complement character set
('[^...]') can match a newline character (<LFD> a.k.a. 'C-j' a.k.a.
'\n'), unless newline is mentioned as one of the characters not to
match.
* The character syntax regexps (e.g., '\sw') are not meaningful
inside character set regexps (e.g., '[aeiou]'). (This is actually
typical for regexp syntax.)
File: efaq.info, Node: Replacing text across multiple files, Next: Documentation for etags, Prev: Using regular expressions, Up: Common requests
5.37 How do I perform a replace operation across more than one file?
====================================================================
Dired mode ('M-x dired <RET>', or 'C-x d') supports the command
'dired-do-query-replace-regexp' ('Q'), which allows users to replace
regular expressions in multiple files.
You can use this command to perform search/replace operations on
multiple files by following the following steps:
* Assemble a list of files you want to operate on with either
'find-dired', 'find-name-dired' or 'find-grep-dired'.
* Mark all files in the resulting Dired buffer using 't'.
* Use 'Q' to start a 'query-replace-regexp' session on the marked
files.
* To accept all replacements in each file, hit '!'.
Another way to do the same thing is to use the "tags" feature of
Emacs: it includes the command 'tags-query-replace' which performs a
query-replace across all the files mentioned in the 'TAGS' file. *Note
(emacs)Tags Search::.
File: efaq.info, Node: Documentation for etags, Next: Disabling backups, Prev: Replacing text across multiple files, Up: Common requests
5.38 Where is the documentation for 'etags'?
============================================
The 'etags' man page should be in the same place as the 'emacs' man
page.
Quick command-line switch descriptions are also available. For
example, 'etags -H'.
File: efaq.info, Node: Disabling backups, Next: Disabling auto-save-mode, Prev: Documentation for etags, Up: Common requests
5.39 How do I disable backup files?
===================================
You probably don't want to do this, since backups are useful, especially
when something goes wrong.
To avoid seeing backup files (and other "uninteresting" files) in
Dired, load 'dired-x' by adding the following to your '.emacs' file:
(add-hook 'dired-load-hook
(lambda ()
(require 'dired-x)))
With 'dired-x' loaded, 'M-o' toggles omitting in each dired buffer.
You can make omitting the default for new dired buffers by putting the
following in your '.emacs':
(add-hook 'dired-mode-hook 'dired-omit-toggle)
If you're tired of seeing backup files whenever you do an 'ls' at the
Unix shell, try GNU 'ls' with the '-B' option. GNU 'ls' is part of the
GNU Fileutils package, available from 'ftp.gnu.org' and its mirrors
(*note Current GNU distributions::).
To disable or change the way backups are made, *note (emacs)Backup
Names::.
Beginning with Emacs 21.1, you can control where Emacs puts backup
files by customizing the variable 'backup-directory-alist'. This
variable's value specifies that files whose names match specific patters
should have their backups put in certain directories. A typical use is
to add the element '("." . DIR)' to force Emacs to put *all* backup
files in the directory 'dir'.
File: efaq.info, Node: Disabling auto-save-mode, Next: Going to a line by number, Prev: Disabling backups, Up: Common requests
5.40 How do I disable 'auto-save-mode'?
=======================================
You probably don't want to do this, since auto-saving is useful,
especially when Emacs or your computer crashes while you are editing a
document.
Instead, you might want to change the variable 'auto-save-interval',
which specifies how many keystrokes Emacs waits before auto-saving.
Increasing this value forces Emacs to wait longer between auto-saves,
which might annoy you less.
You might also want to look into Sebastian Kremer's 'auto-save'
package (*note Packages that do not come with Emacs::). This package
also allows you to place all auto-save files in one directory, such as
'/tmp'.
To disable or change how 'auto-save-mode' works, *note (emacs)Auto
Save::.
File: efaq.info, Node: Going to a line by number, Next: Modifying pull-down menus, Prev: Disabling auto-save-mode, Up: Common requests
5.41 How can I go to a certain line given its number?
=====================================================
Are you sure you indeed need to go to a line by its number? Perhaps all
you want is to display a line in your source file for which a compiler
printed an error message? If so, compiling from within Emacs using the
'M-x compile' and 'M-x recompile' commands is a much more effective way
of doing that. Emacs automatically intercepts the compile error
messages, inserts them into a special buffer called '*compilation*', and
lets you visit the locus of each message in the source. Type 'C-x `' to
step through the offending lines one by one (starting with Emacs 22, you
can also use 'M-g M-p' and 'M-g M-n' to go to the previous and next
matches directly). Click 'Mouse-2' or press <RET> on a message text in
the '*compilation*' buffer to go to the line whose number is mentioned
in that message.
But if you indeed need to go to a certain text line, type 'M-g M-g'
(which is the default binding of the 'goto-line' function starting with
Emacs 22). Emacs will prompt you for the number of the line and go to
that line.
You can do this faster by invoking 'goto-line' with a numeric
argument that is the line's number. For example, 'C-u 286 M-g M-g' will
jump to line number 286 in the current buffer.
File: efaq.info, Node: Modifying pull-down menus, Next: Deleting menus and menu options, Prev: Going to a line by number, Up: Common requests
5.42 How can I create or modify new pull-down menu options?
===========================================================
Each menu title (e.g., 'File', 'Edit', 'Buffers') represents a local or
global keymap. Selecting a menu title with the mouse displays that
keymap's non-'nil' contents in the form of a menu.
So to add a menu option to an existing menu, all you have to do is
add a new definition to the appropriate keymap. Adding a 'Forward Word'
item to the 'Edit' menu thus requires the following Lisp code:
(define-key global-map
[menu-bar edit forward]
'("Forward word" . forward-word))
The first line adds the entry to the global keymap, which includes
global menu bar entries. Replacing the reference to 'global-map' with a
local keymap would add this menu option only within a particular mode.
The second line describes the path from the menu-bar to the new
entry. Placing this menu entry underneath the 'File' menu would mean
changing the word 'edit' in the second line to 'file'.
The third line is a cons cell whose first element is the title that
will be displayed, and whose second element is the function that will be
called when that menu option is invoked.
To add a new menu, rather than a new option to an existing menu, we
must define an entirely new keymap:
(define-key global-map [menu-bar words]
(cons "Words" (make-sparse-keymap "Words")))
The above code creates a new sparse keymap, gives it the name
'Words', and attaches it to the global menu bar. Adding the 'Forward
Word' item to this new menu would thus require the following code:
(define-key global-map
[menu-bar words forward]
'("Forward word" . forward-word))
Note that because of the way keymaps work, menu options are displayed
with the more recently defined items at the top. Thus if you were to
define menu options 'foo', 'bar', and 'baz' (in that order), the menu
option 'baz' would appear at the top, and 'foo' would be at the bottom.
One way to avoid this problem is to use the function
'define-key-after', which works the same as 'define-key', but lets you
modify where items appear. The following Lisp code would insert the
'Forward Word' item in the 'Edit' menu immediately following the 'Undo'
item:
(define-key-after
(lookup-key global-map [menu-bar edit])
[forward]
'("Forward word" . forward-word)
'undo)
Note how the second and third arguments to 'define-key-after' are
different from those of 'define-key', and that we have added a new
(final) argument, the function after which our new key should be
defined.
To move a menu option from one position to another, simply evaluate
'define-key-after' with the appropriate final argument.
More detailed information--and more examples of how to create and
modify menu options--are in the 'Emacs Lisp Reference Manual', under
"Menu Keymaps." (*Note Emacs Lisp documentation::, for information on
this manual.)
File: efaq.info, Node: Deleting menus and menu options, Next: Turning on syntax highlighting, Prev: Modifying pull-down menus, Up: Common requests
5.43 How do I delete menus and menu options?
============================================
The simplest way to remove a menu is to set its keymap to 'nil'. For
example, to delete the 'Words' menu (*note Modifying pull-down menus::),
use:
(define-key global-map [menu-bar words] nil)
Similarly, removing a menu option requires redefining a keymap entry
to 'nil'. For example, to delete the 'Forward word' menu option from
the 'Edit' menu (we added it in *note Modifying pull-down menus::), use:
(define-key global-map [menu-bar edit forward] nil)
File: efaq.info, Node: Turning on syntax highlighting, Next: Scrolling only one line, Prev: Deleting menus and menu options, Up: Common requests
5.44 How do I turn on syntax highlighting?
==========================================
'font-lock-mode' is the standard way to have Emacs perform syntax
highlighting in the current buffer. It is enabled by default in Emacs
22.1 and later.
With 'font-lock-mode' turned on, different types of text will appear
in different colors. For instance, in a programming mode, variables
will appear in one face, keywords in a second, and comments in a third.
To turn 'font-lock-mode' off within an existing buffer, use 'M-x
font-lock-mode <RET>'.
In Emacs 21 and earlier versions, you could use the following code in
your '.emacs' file to turn on 'font-lock-mode' globally:
(global-font-lock-mode 1)
Highlighting a buffer with 'font-lock-mode' can take quite a while,
and cause an annoying delay in display, so several features exist to
work around this.
In Emacs 21 and later, turning on 'font-lock-mode' automatically
activates the new "Just-In-Time fontification" provided by
'jit-lock-mode'. 'jit-lock-mode' defers the fontification of portions
of buffer until you actually need to see them, and can also fontify
while Emacs is idle. This makes display of the visible portion of a
buffer almost instantaneous. For details about customizing
'jit-lock-mode', type 'C-h f jit-lock-mode <RET>'.
In versions of Emacs before 21, different levels of decoration are
available, from slight to gaudy. More decoration means you need to wait
more time for a buffer to be fontified (or a faster machine). To
control how decorated your buffers should become, set the value of
'font-lock-maximum-decoration' in your '.emacs' file, with a 'nil' value
indicating default (usually minimum) decoration, and a 't' value
indicating the maximum decoration. For the gaudiest possible look,
then, include the line
(setq font-lock-maximum-decoration t)
in your '.emacs' file. You can also set this variable such that
different modes are highlighted in a different ways; for more
information, see the documentation for 'font-lock-maximum-decoration'
with 'C-h v' (or 'M-x describe-variable <RET>').
Also see the documentation for the function 'font-lock-mode',
available by typing 'C-h f font-lock-mode' ('M-x describe-function <RET>
font-lock-mode <RET>').
To print buffers with the faces (i.e., colors and fonts) intact, use
'M-x ps-print-buffer-with-faces' or 'M-x ps-print-region-with-faces'.
You will need a way to send text to a PostScript printer, or a
PostScript interpreter such as Ghostscript; consult the documentation of
the variables 'ps-printer-name', 'ps-lpr-command', and 'ps-lpr-switches'
for more details.
File: efaq.info, Node: Scrolling only one line, Next: Editing MS-DOS files, Prev: Turning on syntax highlighting, Up: Common requests
5.45 How can I force Emacs to scroll only one line when I move past the bottom of the screen?
=============================================================================================
Customize the 'scroll-conservatively' variable with 'M-x
customize-variable <RET> scroll-conservatively <RET>' and set it to a
large value like, say, 10000. For an explanation of what this means,
*note (emacs)Auto Scrolling::.
Alternatively, use the following Lisp form in your '.emacs':
(setq scroll-conservatively most-positive-fixnum)
File: efaq.info, Node: Editing MS-DOS files, Next: Filling paragraphs with a single space, Prev: Scrolling only one line, Up: Common requests
5.46 How can I edit MS-DOS files using Emacs?
=============================================
As of Emacs 20, detection and handling of MS-DOS (and Windows) files is
performed transparently. You can open MS-DOS files on a Unix system,
edit it, and save it without having to worry about the file format.
When editing an MS-DOS style file, the mode line will indicate that
it is a DOS file. On Unix and GNU/Linux systems, and also on a
Macintosh, the string '(DOS)' will appear near the left edge of the mode
line; on DOS and Windows, where the DOS end-of-line (EOL) format is the
default, a backslash ('\') will appear in the mode line.
File: efaq.info, Node: Filling paragraphs with a single space, Next: Escape sequences in shell output, Prev: Editing MS-DOS files, Up: Common requests
5.47 How can I tell Emacs to fill paragraphs with a single space after each period?
===================================================================================
Add the following line to your '.emacs' file:
(setq sentence-end-double-space nil)
File: efaq.info, Node: Escape sequences in shell output, Next: Fullscreen mode on MS-Windows, Prev: Filling paragraphs with a single space, Up: Common requests
5.48 Why these strange escape sequences from 'ls' from the Shell mode?
======================================================================
In many systems, 'ls' is aliased to 'ls --color', which prints using
ANSI color escape sequences. Emacs version 21.1 and later includes the
'ansi-color' package, which lets Shell mode recognize these escape
sequences. In Emacs 23.2 and later, the package is enabled by default;
in earlier versions you can enable it by typing 'M-x
ansi-color-for-comint-mode' in the Shell buffer, or by adding '(add-hook
'shell-mode-hook 'ansi-color-for-comint-mode-on)' to your init file.
In Emacs versions before 21.1, the 'ansi-color' package is not
included. In that case, you need to unalias 'ls' for interactive shells
running in Emacs; this can be done by checking the 'EMACS' variable in
the environment.
File: efaq.info, Node: Fullscreen mode on MS-Windows, Prev: Escape sequences in shell output, Up: Common requests
5.49 How can I start Emacs in fullscreen mode on MS-Windows?
============================================================
Use the function 'w32-send-sys-command'. For example, you can put the
following in your '.emacs' file:
(add-hook 'term-setup-hook
#'(lambda () (w32-send-sys-command ?\xF030)))
To avoid the slightly distracting visual effect of Emacs starting
with its default frame size and then growing to fullscreen, you can add
an 'Emacs.Geometry' entry to the Windows registry settings. *Note
(emacs)X Resources::.
To compute the correct values for width and height, first maximize
the Emacs frame and then evaluate '(frame-height)' and '(frame-width)'
with 'M-:'.
File: efaq.info, Node: Bugs and problems, Next: Compiling and installing Emacs, Prev: Common requests, Up: Top
6 Bugs and problems
*******************
The Emacs manual lists some common kinds of trouble users could get
into, see *note Dealing with Emacs Trouble: (emacs)Lossage, so you might
look there if the problem you encounter isn't described in this chapter.
If you decide you've discovered a bug, see *note Reporting Bugs:
(emacs)Bugs, for instructions how to do that.
The file 'etc/PROBLEMS' in the Emacs distribution lists various known
problems with building and using Emacs on specific platforms; type 'C-h
C-p' to read it.
* Menu:
* Problems with very large files::
* ^M in the shell buffer::
* Problems with Shell Mode::
* Termcap/Terminfo entries for Emacs::
* Errors with init files::
* Emacs ignores X resources::
* Emacs ignores frame parameters::
* Editing files with $ in the name::
* Shell mode loses the current directory::
* Security risks with Emacs::
* Dired claims that no file is on this line::
File: efaq.info, Node: Problems with very large files, Next: ^M in the shell buffer, Up: Bugs and problems
6.1 Does Emacs have problems with files larger than 8 megabytes?
================================================================
Old versions (i.e., anything before 19.29) of Emacs had problems editing
files larger than 8 megabytes. In versions 19.29 and later, the maximum
buffer size is at least 2^27-1, or 134,217,727 bytes, or 132 MBytes.
The maximum buffer size on 32-bit machines increased to 256 MBytes in
Emacs 22, and again to 512 MBytes in Emacs 23.2.
Emacs compiled on a 64-bit machine can handle much larger buffers.
File: efaq.info, Node: ^M in the shell buffer, Next: Problems with Shell Mode, Prev: Problems with very large files, Up: Bugs and problems
6.2 How do I get rid of '^M' or echoed commands in my shell buffer?
===================================================================
Try typing 'M-x shell-strip-ctrl-m <RET>' while in 'shell-mode' to make
them go away. If that doesn't work, you have several options:
For 'tcsh', put this in your '.cshrc' (or '.tcshrc') file:
if ($?EMACS) then
if ("$EMACS" =~ /*) then
if ($?tcsh) unset edit
stty nl
endif
endif
Or put this in your '.emacs_tcsh' or '~/.emacs.d/init_tcsh.sh' file:
unset edit
stty nl
Alternatively, use 'csh' in your shell buffers instead of 'tcsh'.
One way is:
(setq explicit-shell-file-name "/bin/csh")
and another is to do this in your '.cshrc' (or '.tcshrc') file:
setenv ESHELL /bin/csh
(You must start Emacs over again with the environment variable properly
set for this to take effect.)
You can also set the 'ESHELL' environment variable in Emacs Lisp with
the following Lisp form,
(setenv "ESHELL" "/bin/csh")
The above solutions try to prevent the shell from producing the '^M'
characters in the first place. If this is not possible (e.g., if you
use a Windows shell), you can get Emacs to remove these characters from
the buffer by adding this to your '.emacs' init file:
(add-hook 'comint-output-filter-functions 'shell-strip-ctrl-m)
On a related note: if your shell is echoing your input line in the
shell buffer, you might want to customize the 'comint-process-echoes'
variable in your shell buffers, or try the following command in your
shell start-up file:
stty -icrnl -onlcr -echo susp ^Z
File: efaq.info, Node: Problems with Shell Mode, Next: Termcap/Terminfo entries for Emacs, Prev: ^M in the shell buffer, Up: Bugs and problems
6.3 Why do I get an error message when I try to run 'M-x shell'?
================================================================
This might happen because Emacs tries to look for the shell in a wrong
place. If you know where your shell executable is, set the variable
'explicit-shell-file-name' in your '.emacs' file to point to its full
file name.
Some people have trouble with Shell Mode on MS-Windows because of
intrusive antivirus software; disabling the resident antivirus program
solves the problems in those cases.
File: efaq.info, Node: Termcap/Terminfo entries for Emacs, Next: Errors with init files, Prev: Problems with Shell Mode, Up: Bugs and problems
6.4 Where is the termcap/terminfo entry for terminal type 'emacs'?
==================================================================
The termcap entry for terminal type 'emacs' is ordinarily put in the
'TERMCAP' environment variable of subshells. It may help in certain
situations (e.g., using rlogin from shell buffer) to add an entry for
'emacs' to the system-wide termcap file. Here is a correct termcap
entry for 'emacs':
emacs:tc=unknown:
To make a terminfo entry for 'emacs', use 'tic' or 'captoinfo'. You
need to generate '/usr/lib/terminfo/e/emacs'. It may work to simply
copy '/usr/lib/terminfo/d/dumb' to '/usr/lib/terminfo/e/emacs'.
Having a termcap/terminfo entry will not enable the use of full
screen programs in shell buffers. Use 'M-x terminal-emulator' for that
instead.
A workaround to the problem of missing termcap/terminfo entries is to
change terminal type 'emacs' to type 'dumb' or 'unknown' in your shell
start up file. 'csh' users could put this in their '.cshrc' files:
if ("$term" == emacs) set term=dumb
File: efaq.info, Node: Errors with init files, Next: Emacs ignores X resources, Prev: Termcap/Terminfo entries for Emacs, Up: Bugs and problems
6.5 Why does Emacs say 'Error in init file'?
============================================
An error occurred while loading either your '.emacs' file or the
system-wide file 'site-lisp/default.el'. Emacs 21.1 and later pops the
'*Messages*' buffer, and puts there some additional information about
the error, to provide some hints for debugging.
For information on how to debug your '.emacs' file, see *note
Debugging a customization file::.
It may be the case that you need to load some package first, or use a
hook that will be evaluated after the package is loaded. A common case
of this is explained in *note Terminal setup code works after Emacs has
begun::.
File: efaq.info, Node: Emacs ignores X resources, Next: Emacs ignores frame parameters, Prev: Errors with init files, Up: Bugs and problems
6.6 Why does Emacs ignore my X resources (my .Xdefaults file)?
==============================================================
As of version 19, Emacs searches for X resources in the files specified
by the following environment variables:
* 'XFILESEARCHPATH'
* 'XUSERFILESEARCHPATH'
* 'XAPPLRESDIR'
This emulates the functionality provided by programs written using
the Xt toolkit.
'XFILESEARCHPATH' and 'XUSERFILESEARCHPATH' should be a list of file
names separated by colons. 'XAPPLRESDIR' should be a list of directory
names separated by colons.
Emacs searches for X resources:
1. specified on the command line, with the '-xrm RESOURCESTRING'
option,
2. then in the value of the 'XENVIRONMENT' environment variable,
- or if that is unset, in the file named '~/.Xdefaults-HOSTNAME'
if it exists (where HOSTNAME is the name of the machine Emacs
is running on),
3. then in the screen-specific and server-wide resource properties
provided by the server,
- or if those properties are unset, in the file named
'~/.Xdefaults' if it exists,
4. then in the files listed in 'XUSERFILESEARCHPATH',
- or in files named 'LANG/Emacs' in directories listed in
'XAPPLRESDIR' (where LANG is the value of the 'LANG'
environment variable), if the 'LANG' environment variable is
set,
- or in files named Emacs in the directories listed in
'XAPPLRESDIR'
- or in '~/LANG/Emacs' (if the 'LANG' environment variable is
set),
- or in '~/Emacs',
5. then in the files listed in 'XFILESEARCHPATH'.
File: efaq.info, Node: Emacs ignores frame parameters, Next: Editing files with $ in the name, Prev: Emacs ignores X resources, Up: Bugs and problems
6.7 Why don't my customizations of the frame parameters work?
=============================================================
This probably happens because you have set the frame parameters in the
variable 'initial-frame-alist'. That variable holds parameters used
only for the first frame created when Emacs starts. To customize the
parameters of all frames, change the variable 'default-frame-alist'
instead.
These two variables exist because many users customize the initial
frame in a special way. For example, you could determine the position
and size of the initial frame, but would like to control the geometry of
the other frames by individually positioning each one of them.
File: efaq.info, Node: Editing files with $ in the name, Next: Shell mode loses the current directory, Prev: Emacs ignores frame parameters, Up: Bugs and problems
6.8 How do I edit a file with a '$' in its name?
================================================
When entering a file name in the minibuffer, Emacs will attempt to
expand a '$' followed by a word as an environment variable. To suppress
this behavior, type '$$' instead.
File: efaq.info, Node: Shell mode loses the current directory, Next: Security risks with Emacs, Prev: Editing files with $ in the name, Up: Bugs and problems
6.9 Why does shell mode lose track of the shell's current directory?
====================================================================
Emacs has no way of knowing when the shell actually changes its
directory. This is an intrinsic limitation of Unix. So it tries to
guess by recognizing 'cd' commands. If you type 'cd' followed by a
directory name with a variable reference ('cd $HOME/bin') or with a
shell metacharacter ('cd ../lib*'), Emacs will fail to correctly guess
the shell's new current directory. A huge variety of fixes and
enhancements to shell mode for this problem have been written to handle
this problem (*note Finding a package with particular functionality::).
You can tell Emacs the shell's current directory with the command
'M-x dirs'.
File: efaq.info, Node: Security risks with Emacs, Next: Dired claims that no file is on this line, Prev: Shell mode loses the current directory, Up: Bugs and problems
6.10 Are there any security risks in Emacs?
===========================================
* The 'movemail' incident. (No, this is not a risk.)
In his book 'The Cuckoo's Egg', Cliff Stoll describes this in
chapter 4. The site at LBL had installed the '/etc/movemail'
program setuid root. (As of version 19, 'movemail' is in your
architecture-specific directory; type 'C-h v exec-directory <RET>'
to see what it is.) Since 'movemail' had not been designed for
this situation, a security hole was created and users could get
root privileges.
'movemail' has since been changed so that this security hole will
not exist, even if it is installed setuid root. However,
'movemail' no longer needs to be installed setuid root, which
should eliminate this particular risk.
We have heard unverified reports that the 1988 Internet worm took
advantage of this configuration problem.
* The 'file-local-variable' feature. (Yes, a risk, but easy to
change.)
There is an Emacs feature that allows the setting of local values
for variables when editing a file by including specially formatted
text near the end of the file. This feature also includes the
ability to have arbitrary Emacs Lisp code evaluated when the file
is visited. Obviously, there is a potential for Trojan horses to
exploit this feature.
As of Emacs 22, Emacs has a list of local variables that are known
to be safe to set. If a file tries to set any variable outside
this list, it asks the user to confirm whether the variables should
be set. You can also tell Emacs whether to allow the evaluation of
Emacs Lisp code found at the bottom of files by setting the
variable 'enable-local-eval'.
*Note (emacs)File Variables::.
* Synthetic X events. (Yes, a risk; use 'MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1' or
better.)
Emacs accepts synthetic X events generated by the 'SendEvent'
request as though they were regular events. As a result, if you
are using the trivial host-based authentication, other users who
can open X connections to your X workstation can make your Emacs
process do anything, including run other processes with your
privileges.
The only fix for this is to prevent other users from being able to
open X connections. The standard way to prevent this is to use a
real authentication mechanism, such as 'MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1'. If
using the 'xauth' program has any effect, then you are probably
using 'MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1'. Your site may be using a superior
authentication method; ask your system administrator.
If real authentication is not a possibility, you may be satisfied
by just allowing hosts access for brief intervals while you start
your X programs, then removing the access. This reduces the risk
somewhat by narrowing the time window when hostile users would have
access, but _does not eliminate the risk_.
On most computers running Unix and X, you enable and disable access
using the 'xhost' command. To allow all hosts access to your X
server, use
xhost +
at the shell prompt, which (on an HP machine, at least) produces
the following message:
access control disabled, clients can connect from any host
To deny all hosts access to your X server (except those explicitly
allowed by name), use
xhost -
On the test HP computer, this command generated the following
message:
access control enabled, only authorized clients can connect
File: efaq.info, Node: Dired claims that no file is on this line, Prev: Security risks with Emacs, Up: Bugs and problems
6.11 Dired says, 'no file on this line' when I try to do something.
===================================================================
Dired uses a regular expression to find the beginning of a file name.
In a long Unix-style directory listing ('ls -l'), the file name starts
after the date. The regexp has thus been written to look for the date.
By default, it should understand dates and times regardless of the
language, but if your directory listing has an unusual format, Dired may
get confused.
There are two approaches to solving this. The first one involves
setting things up so that 'ls -l' outputs a more standard format. See
your OS manual for more information.
The second approach involves changing the regular expression used by
dired, 'directory-listing-before-filename-regexp'.
File: efaq.info, Node: Compiling and installing Emacs, Next: Finding Emacs and related packages, Prev: Bugs and problems, Up: Top
7 Compiling and installing Emacs
********************************
* Menu:
* Installing Emacs::
* Problems building Emacs::
File: efaq.info, Node: Installing Emacs, Next: Problems building Emacs, Up: Compiling and installing Emacs
7.1 How do I install Emacs?
===========================
This answer is meant for users of Unix and Unix-like systems. Users of
other operating systems should see the series of questions beginning
with *note Emacs for MS-DOS::, which describe where to get non-Unix
source and binaries, and how to install Emacs on those systems.
Most GNU/Linux distributions provide pre-built Emacs packages. If
Emacs is not installed already, you can install it by running (as root)
a command such as 'yum install emacs' (Red Hat and derivatives) or
'apt-get install emacs' (Debian and derivatives).
If you want to compile Emacs yourself, read the file 'INSTALL' in the
source distribution. In brief:
* First download the Emacs sources. *Note Current GNU
distributions::, for a list of ftp sites that make them available.
On 'ftp.gnu.org', the main GNU distribution site, sources are
available as
<ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/emacs/emacs-VERSION.tar.gz>
(Replace 'VERSION' with the relevant version number, e.g., '23.1'.)
* Next uncompress and extract the source files. This requires the
'gzip' and 'tar' programs, which are standard utilities. If your
system does not have them, these can also be downloaded from
'ftp.gnu.org'.
GNU 'tar' can uncompress and extract in a single-step:
tar -zxvf emacs-VERSION.tar.gz
* At this point, the Emacs sources should be sitting in a directory
called 'emacs-VERSION'. On most common Unix and Unix-like systems,
you should be able to compile Emacs with the following commands:
cd emacs-VERSION
./configure # configure Emacs for your particular system
make # use Makefile to build components, then Emacs
If the 'make' completes successfully, the odds are fairly good that
the build has gone well. (*Note Problems building Emacs::, if you
weren't successful.)
* By default, Emacs is installed in '/usr/local'. To actually
install files, become the superuser and type
make install
Note that 'make install' will overwrite '/usr/local/bin/emacs' and
any Emacs Info files that might be in '/usr/local/share/info/'.
File: efaq.info, Node: Problems building Emacs, Prev: Installing Emacs, Up: Compiling and installing Emacs
7.2 What should I do if I have trouble building Emacs?
======================================================
First look in the file 'etc/PROBLEMS' (where you unpack the Emacs
source) to see if there is already a solution for your problem. Next,
look for other questions in this FAQ that have to do with Emacs
installation and compilation problems.
If you'd like to have someone look at your problem and help solve it,
see *note Help installing Emacs::.
If you cannot find a solution in the documentation, please report the
problem (*note Reporting bugs::).
File: efaq.info, Node: Finding Emacs and related packages, Next: Key bindings, Prev: Compiling and installing Emacs, Up: Top
8 Finding Emacs and related packages
************************************
* Menu:
* Finding Emacs on the Internet::
* Finding a package with particular functionality::
* Packages that do not come with Emacs::
* Spell-checkers::
* Current GNU distributions::
* Difference between Emacs and XEmacs::
* Emacs for minimalists::
* Emacs for MS-DOS::
* Emacs for MS-Windows::
* Emacs for GNUstep::
* Emacs for Mac OS X::
File: efaq.info, Node: Finding Emacs on the Internet, Next: Finding a package with particular functionality, Up: Finding Emacs and related packages
8.1 Where can I get Emacs on the net?
=====================================
Information on downloading Emacs is available at the Emacs home-page
(http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/).
*Note Installing Emacs::, for information on how to obtain and build
the latest version of Emacs, and see *note Current GNU distributions::,
for a list of archive sites that make GNU software available.
File: efaq.info, Node: Finding a package with particular functionality, Next: Packages that do not come with Emacs, Prev: Finding Emacs on the Internet, Up: Finding Emacs and related packages
8.2 How do I find a Emacs Lisp package that does XXX?
=====================================================
First of all, you should check to make sure that the package isn't
already available. For example, typing 'M-x apropos <RET> wordstar
<RET>' lists all functions and variables containing the string
'wordstar'.
It is also possible that the package is on your system, but has not
been loaded. To see which packages are available for loading, look
through your computer's lisp directory (*note File-name conventions::).
The Lisp source to most packages contains a short description of how
they should be loaded, invoked, and configured--so before you use or
modify a Lisp package, see if the author has provided any hints in the
source code.
The command 'C-h p' ('finder-by-keyword') allows you to browse the
constituent Emacs packages.
For advice on how to find extra packages that are not part of Emacs,
see *note Packages that do not come with Emacs::.
File: efaq.info, Node: Packages that do not come with Emacs, Next: Spell-checkers, Prev: Finding a package with particular functionality, Up: Finding Emacs and related packages
8.3 Where can I get Emacs Lisp packages that don't come with Emacs?
===================================================================
Your first port of call should be the 'M-x list-packages' command. This
connects to the GNU ELPA (http:///elpa.gnu.org) ("Emacs Lisp Package
Archive") server and fetches the list of additional packages that it
offers. These are GNU packages that are available for use with Emacs,
but are distributed separately. Select a package to get more details
about the features that it offers, and then if you wish, Emacs can
download and automatically install it for you.
The Emacs Lisp List (ELL)
(http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/sje30/emacs/ell.html), maintained by
Stephen Eglen <S.J.Eglen AT damtp.uk>, aims to provide one compact
list with links to all of the current Emacs Lisp files on the Internet.
The ELL can be browsed over the web, or from Emacs with the 'ell'
package (http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/sje30/emacs/ell.el).
Many authors post their packages to the Emacs sources newsgroup
(news:gnu.emacs.sources). You can search the archives of this group
with Google (http://groups.google.com/group/gnu.emacs.sources), or Gmane
(http://dir.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.sources), for example.
Several packages are stored in the Lisp area of the Emacs Wiki
(http://emacswiki.org/elisp/).
Read the file 'etc/MORE.STUFF' for more information about external
packages.
File: efaq.info, Node: Spell-checkers, Next: Current GNU distributions, Prev: Packages that do not come with Emacs, Up: Finding Emacs and related packages
8.4 Spell-checkers
==================
Various spell-checkers are compatible with Emacs, including:
GNU Aspell
<http://aspell.net/>
Ispell
<http://fmg-www.cs.ucla.edu/geoff/ispell.html>
Hunspell
<http://hunspell.sourceforge.net/>
File: efaq.info, Node: Current GNU distributions, Next: Difference between Emacs and XEmacs, Prev: Spell-checkers, Up: Finding Emacs and related packages
8.5 Where can I get other up-to-date GNU stuff?
===============================================
The most up-to-date official GNU software is normally kept at
<ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu>
A list of sites mirroring 'ftp.gnu.org' can be found at
<http://www.gnu.org/order/ftp.html>
File: efaq.info, Node: Difference between Emacs and XEmacs, Next: Emacs for minimalists, Prev: Current GNU distributions, Up: Finding Emacs and related packages
8.6 What is the difference between Emacs and XEmacs (formerly Lucid Emacs)?
===========================================================================
XEmacs is a branch version of Emacs. It was first called Lucid Emacs,
and was initially derived from a prerelease version of Emacs 19. In
this FAQ, we use the name "Emacs" only for the official version.
Emacs and XEmacs each come with Lisp packages that are lacking in the
other. The two versions have some significant differences at the Lisp
programming level. Their current features are roughly comparable,
though the support for some operating systems, character sets and
specific packages might be quite different.
Some XEmacs code has been contributed to Emacs, and we would like to
use other parts, but the earlier XEmacs maintainers did not always keep
track of the authors of contributed code, which makes it impossible for
the FSF to get copyright papers signed for that code. (The FSF requires
these papers for all the code included in the Emacs release, aside from
generic C support packages that retain their separate identity and are
not integrated into the code of Emacs proper.)
If you want to talk about these two versions and distinguish them,
please call them "Emacs" and "XEmacs." To contrast "XEmacs" with "GNU
Emacs" would be misleading, since XEmacs too has its origin in the work
of the GNU Project. Terms such as "Emacsen" and "(X)Emacs" are not
wrong, but they are not very clear, so it is better to write "Emacs and
XEmacs."
File: efaq.info, Node: Emacs for minimalists, Next: Emacs for MS-DOS, Prev: Difference between Emacs and XEmacs, Up: Finding Emacs and related packages
8.7 I don't have enough disk space to install Emacs
===================================================
GNU Zile is a lightweight Emacs clone. Zile is short for 'Zile Is Lossy
Emacs'. It has all of Emacs's basic editing features. The Zile binary
typically has a size of about 130 kbytes, so this can be useful if you
are in an extremely space-restricted environment. More information is
available from
<http://www.gnu.org/software/zile/>
File: efaq.info, Node: Emacs for MS-DOS, Next: Emacs for MS-Windows, Prev: Emacs for minimalists, Up: Finding Emacs and related packages
8.8 Where can I get Emacs for MS-DOS?
=====================================
To build Emacs from source for MS-DOS, see the instructions in the file
'msdos/INSTALL' in the distribution. The DOS port builds and runs on
plain DOS, and also on all versions of MS-Windows from version 3.X
onwards, including Windows XP and Vista.
The file 'etc/PROBLEMS' contains some additional information
regarding Emacs under MS-DOS.
A pre-built binary distribution of the old Emacs 20 is available, as
described at
<ftp://ftp.delorie.com/pub/djgpp/current/v2gnu/emacs.README>
For a list of other MS-DOS implementations of Emacs (and Emacs
look-alikes), consult the list of "Emacs implementations and
literature," available at
<http://www.finseth.com/emacs.html>
Note that while many of these programs look similar to Emacs, they
often lack certain features, such as the Emacs Lisp extension language.
File: efaq.info, Node: Emacs for MS-Windows, Next: Emacs for GNUstep, Prev: Emacs for MS-DOS, Up: Finding Emacs and related packages
8.9 Where can I get Emacs for Microsoft Windows?
================================================
There is a separate FAQ
(http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/windows/ntemacs.html) for Emacs on
MS-Windows. For MS-DOS, *note Emacs for MS-DOS::.
File: efaq.info, Node: Emacs for GNUstep, Next: Emacs for Mac OS X, Prev: Emacs for MS-Windows, Up: Finding Emacs and related packages
8.10 Where can I get Emacs for GNUstep?
=======================================
Beginning with version 23.1, Emacs supports GNUstep natively. See the
file 'nextstep/INSTALL' in the distribution.
File: efaq.info, Node: Emacs for Mac OS X, Prev: Emacs for GNUstep, Up: Finding Emacs and related packages
8.11 Where can I get Emacs for Mac OS X?
========================================
Beginning with version 22.1, Emacs supports Mac OS X natively. See the
file 'nextstep/INSTALL' in the distribution.
File: efaq.info, Node: Key bindings, Next: Alternate character sets, Prev: Finding Emacs and related packages, Up: Top
9 Key bindings
**************
* Menu:
* Binding keys to commands::
* Invalid prefix characters::
* Terminal setup code works after Emacs has begun::
* Working with function and arrow keys::
* X key translations for Emacs::
* Backspace invokes help::
* Swapping keys::
* Producing C-XXX with the keyboard::
* No Meta key::
* No Escape key::
* Compose Character::
* Binding combinations of modifiers and function keys::
* Meta key does not work in xterm::
* ExtendChar key does not work as Meta::
* SPC no longer completes file names::
File: efaq.info, Node: Binding keys to commands, Next: Invalid prefix characters, Up: Key bindings
9.1 How do I bind keys (including function keys) to commands?
=============================================================
Keys can be bound to commands either interactively or in your '.emacs'
file. To interactively bind keys for all modes, type 'M-x
global-set-key <RET> KEY CMD <RET>'.
To bind a key just in the current major mode, type 'M-x local-set-key
<RET> KEY CMD <RET>'.
*Note (emacs)Key Bindings::.
To make the process of binding keys interactively easier, use the
following "trick": First bind the key interactively, then immediately
type 'C-x <ESC> <ESC> C-a C-k C-g'. Now, the command needed to bind the
key is in the kill ring, and can be yanked into your '.emacs' file. If
the key binding is global, no changes to the command are required. For
example,
(global-set-key (quote [f1]) (quote help-for-help))
can be placed directly into the '.emacs' file. If the key binding is
local, the command is used in conjunction with the 'add-hook' function.
For example, in TeX mode, a local binding might be
(add-hook 'tex-mode-hook
(lambda ()
(local-set-key (quote [f1]) (quote help-for-help))))
* Control characters in key sequences, in the form yanked from the
kill ring are given in their graphic form--i.e., <CTRL> is shown as
'^', <TAB> as a set of spaces (usually 8), etc. You may want to
convert these into their vector or string forms.
* If a prefix key of the character sequence to be bound is already
bound as a complete key, then you must unbind it before the new
binding. For example, if 'ESC {' is previously bound:
(global-unset-key [?\e ?{]) ;; or
(local-unset-key [?\e ?{])
* Aside from commands and "lambda lists," a vector or string also can
be bound to a key and thus treated as a macro. For example:
(global-set-key [f10] [?\C-x?\e?\e?\C-a?\C-k?\C-g]) ;; or
(global-set-key [f10] "\C-x\e\e\C-a\C-k\C-g")
File: efaq.info, Node: Invalid prefix characters, Next: Terminal setup code works after Emacs has begun, Prev: Binding keys to commands, Up: Key bindings
9.2 Why does Emacs say 'Key sequence XXX uses invalid prefix characters'?
=========================================================================
Usually, one of two things has happened. In one case, the control
character in the key sequence has been misspecified (e.g., 'C-f' used
instead of '\C-f' within a Lisp expression). In the other case, a
"prefix key" in the keystroke sequence you were trying to bind was
already bound as a "complete key". Historically, the 'ESC [' prefix was
usually the problem, in which case you should evaluate either of these
forms before attempting to bind the key sequence:
(global-unset-key [?\e ?[]) ;; or
(global-unset-key "\e[")
File: efaq.info, Node: Terminal setup code works after Emacs has begun, Next: Working with function and arrow keys, Prev: Invalid prefix characters, Up: Key bindings
9.3 Why doesn't this [terminal or window-system setup] code work in my '.emacs' file, but it works just fine after Emacs starts up?
===================================================================================================================================
During startup, Emacs initializes itself according to a given code/file
order. If some of the code executed in your '.emacs' file needs to be
postponed until the initial terminal or window-system setup code has
been executed but is not, then you will experience this problem (this
code/file execution order is not enforced after startup).
To postpone the execution of Emacs Lisp code until after terminal or
window-system setup, treat the code as a "lambda list" and set the value
of either the 'term-setup-hook' or 'window-setup-hook' variable to this
lambda function. For example,
(add-hook 'term-setup-hook
(lambda ()
(when (string-match "\\`vt220" (or (getenv "TERM") ""))
;; Make vt220's "Do" key behave like M-x:
(global-set-key [do] 'execute-extended-command))))
For information on what Emacs does every time it is started, see the
'lisp/startup.el' file.
File: efaq.info, Node: Working with function and arrow keys, Next: X key translations for Emacs, Prev: Terminal setup code works after Emacs has begun, Up: Key bindings
9.4 How do I tell what characters or symbols my function or arrow keys emit?
============================================================================
Type 'C-h c' then the function or arrow keys. The command will return
either a function key symbol or character sequence (see the Emacs
documentation for an explanation). This works for other keys as well.
File: efaq.info, Node: X key translations for Emacs, Next: Backspace invokes help, Prev: Working with function and arrow keys, Up: Key bindings
9.5 How do I set the X key "translations" for Emacs?
====================================================
Emacs is not written using the Xt library by default, so there are no
"translations" to be set. (We aren't sure how to set such translations
if you do build Emacs with Xt; please let us know if you've done this!)
The only way to affect the behavior of keys within Emacs is through
'xmodmap' (outside Emacs) or 'define-key' (inside Emacs). The
'define-key' command should be used in conjunction with the
'function-key-map' map. For instance,
(define-key function-key-map [M-<TAB>] [?\M-\t])
defines the 'M-<TAB>' key sequence.
File: efaq.info, Node: Backspace invokes help, Next: Swapping keys, Prev: X key translations for Emacs, Up: Key bindings
9.6 Why does the <Backspace> key invoke help?
=============================================
The <Backspace> key (on most keyboards) generates ASCII code 8. 'C-h'
sends the same code. In Emacs by default 'C-h' invokes help-command.
This is intended to be easy to remember since the first letter of 'help'
is 'h'. The easiest solution to this problem is to use 'C-h' (and
<Backspace>) for help and <DEL> (the <Delete> key) for deleting the
previous character.
For many people this solution may be problematic:
* They normally use <Backspace> outside of Emacs for deleting the
previous character. This can be solved by making <DEL> the command
for deleting the previous character outside of Emacs. On many Unix
systems, this command will remap <DEL>:
stty erase `^?'
* The user may prefer the <Backspace> key for deleting the previous
character because it is more conveniently located on their keyboard
or because they don't even have a separate <Delete> key. In this
case, the <Backspace> key should be made to behave like <Delete>.
There are several methods.
- Some terminals (e.g., VT3## terminals) and terminal emulators
(e.g., TeraTerm) allow the character generated by the
<Backspace> key to be changed from a setup menu.
- You may be able to get a keyboard that is completely
programmable, or a terminal emulator that supports remapping
of any key to any other key.
- With Emacs 21.1 and later, you can control the effect of the
<Backspace> and <Delete> keys, on both dumb terminals and a
windowed displays, by customizing the option
'normal-erase-is-backspace-mode', or by invoking 'M-x
normal-erase-is-backspace'. See the documentation of these
symbols (*note Emacs Lisp documentation::) for more info.
- It is possible to swap the <Backspace> and <DEL> keys inside
Emacs:
(keyboard-translate ?\C-h ?\C-?)
This is the recommended method of forcing <Backspace> to act
as <DEL>, because it works even in modes which bind <DEL> to
something other than 'delete-backward-char'.
Similarly, you could remap <DEL> to act as 'C-d', which by
default deletes forward:
(keyboard-translate ?\C-? ?\C-d)
*Note Swapping keys::, for further details about
'keyboard-translate'.
- Another approach is to switch key bindings and put help on
'C-x h' instead:
(global-set-key "\C-h" 'delete-backward-char)
;; overrides mark-whole-buffer
(global-set-key "\C-xh" 'help-command)
This method is not recommended, though: it only solves the
problem for those modes which bind <DEL> to
'delete-backward-char'. Modes which bind <DEL> to something
else, such as 'view-mode', will not work as you expect when
you press the <Backspace> key. For this reason, we recommend
the 'keyboard-translate' method, shown above.
Other popular key bindings for help are 'M-?' and 'C-x ?'.
Don't try to bind <DEL> to 'help-command', because there are many
modes that have local bindings of <DEL> that will interfere.
When Emacs 21 or later runs on a windowed display, it binds the
<Delete> key to a command which deletes the character at point, to make
Emacs more consistent with keyboard operation on these systems.
For more information about troubleshooting this problem, see *note If
<DEL> Fails to Delete: (emacs)DEL Does Not Delete.
File: efaq.info, Node: Swapping keys, Next: Producing C-XXX with the keyboard, Prev: Backspace invokes help, Up: Key bindings
9.7 How do I swap two keys?
===========================
You can swap two keys (or key sequences) by using the
'keyboard-translate' function. For example, to turn 'C-h' into <DEL>
and <DEL> to 'C-h', use
(keyboard-translate ?\C-h ?\C-?) ; translate `C-h' to DEL
(keyboard-translate ?\C-? ?\C-h) ; translate DEL to `C-h'.
The first key sequence of the pair after the function identifies what is
produced by the keyboard; the second, what is matched for in the
keymaps.
However, in the specific case of 'C-h' and <DEL>, you should toggle
'normal-erase-is-backspace-mode' instead of calling
'keyboard-translate'. *Note (emacs)DEL Does Not Delete::.
Keyboard translations are not the same as key bindings in keymaps.
Emacs contains numerous keymaps that apply in different situations, but
there is only one set of keyboard translations, and it applies to every
character that Emacs reads from the terminal. Keyboard translations
take place at the lowest level of input processing; the keys that are
looked up in keymaps contain the characters that result from keyboard
translation.
File: efaq.info, Node: Producing C-XXX with the keyboard, Next: No Meta key, Prev: Swapping keys, Up: Key bindings
9.8 How do I produce C-XXX with my keyboard?
============================================
On terminals (but not under X), some common "aliases" are:
'C-2' or 'C-<SPC>'
'C-@'
'C-6'
'C-^'
'C-7' or 'C-S--'
'C-_'
'C-4'
'C-\'
'C-5'
'C-]'
'C-/'
'C-?'
Often other aliases exist; use the 'C-h c' command and try <CTRL>
with all of the digits on your keyboard to see what gets generated. You
can also try the 'C-h w' command if you know the name of the command.
File: efaq.info, Node: No Meta key, Next: No Escape key, Prev: Producing C-XXX with the keyboard, Up: Key bindings
9.9 What if I don't have a <Meta> key?
======================================
On many keyboards, the <Alt> key acts as <Meta>, so try it.
Instead of typing 'M-a', you can type '<ESC> a'. In fact, Emacs
converts 'M-a' internally into '<ESC> a' anyway (depending on the value
of 'meta-prefix-char'). Note that you press <Meta> and <a> together,
but with <ESC>, you press <ESC>, release it, and then press <a>.
File: efaq.info, Node: No Escape key, Next: Compose Character, Prev: No Meta key, Up: Key bindings
9.10 What if I don't have an <Escape> key?
==========================================
Type 'C-[' instead. This should send ASCII code 27 just like an Escape
key would. 'C-3' may also work on some terminal (but not under X). For
many terminals (notably DEC terminals) <F11> generates <ESC>. If not,
the following form can be used to bind it:
;; F11 is the documented ESC replacement on DEC terminals.
(define-key function-key-map [f11] [?\e])
File: efaq.info, Node: Compose Character, Next: Binding combinations of modifiers and function keys, Prev: No Escape key, Up: Key bindings
9.11 Can I make my <Compose Character> key behave like a <Meta> key?
====================================================================
On a dumb terminal such as a VT220, no. It is rumored that certain
VT220 clones could have their <Compose> key configured this way. If
you're using X, you might be able to do this with the 'xmodmap' command.
File: efaq.info, Node: Binding combinations of modifiers and function keys, Next: Meta key does not work in xterm, Prev: Compose Character, Up: Key bindings
9.12 How do I bind a combination of modifier key and function key?
==================================================================
You can represent modified function keys in vector format by adding
prefixes to the function key symbol. For example (from the Emacs
documentation):
(global-set-key [?\C-x right] 'forward-page)
where '?\C-x' is the Lisp character constant for the character 'C-x'.
You can use the modifier keys <Control>, <Meta>, <Hyper>, <Super>,
<Alt>, and <Shift> with function keys. To represent these modifiers,
prepend the strings 'C-', 'M-', 'H-', 's-', 'A-', and 'S-' to the symbol
name. Here is how to make 'H-M-RIGHT' move forward a word:
(global-set-key [H-M-right] 'forward-word)
* Not all modifiers are permitted in all situations. <Hyper>,
<Super>, and <Alt> are not available on Unix character terminals.
Non-ASCII keys and mouse events (e.g., 'C-=' and 'Mouse-1') also
fall under this category.
*Note Binding keys to commands::, for general key binding
instructions.
File: efaq.info, Node: Meta key does not work in xterm, Next: ExtendChar key does not work as Meta, Prev: Binding combinations of modifiers and function keys, Up: Key bindings
9.13 Why doesn't my <Meta> key work in an 'xterm' window?
=========================================================
*Note Single-Byte Character Set Support: (emacs)Unibyte Mode.
If the advice in the Emacs manual fails, try all of these methods
before asking for further help:
* You may have big problems using 'mwm' as your window manager.
(Does anyone know a good generic solution to allow the use of the
<Meta> key in Emacs with 'mwm'?)
* For X11: Make sure it really is a <Meta> key. Use 'xev' to find
out what keysym your <Meta> key generates. It should be either
'Meta_L' or 'Meta_R'. If it isn't, use 'xmodmap' to fix the
situation. If <Meta> does generate 'Meta_L' or 'Meta_R', but 'M-x'
produces a non-ASCII character, put this in your '~/.Xdefaults'
file:
XTerm*eightBitInput: false
XTerm*eightBitOutput: true
* Make sure the 'pty' the 'xterm' is using is passing 8 bit
characters. 'stty -a' (or 'stty everything') should show 'cs8'
somewhere. If it shows 'cs7' instead, use 'stty cs8 -istrip' (or
'stty pass8') to fix it.
* If there is an 'rlogin' connection between 'xterm' and Emacs, the
'-8' argument may need to be given to rlogin to make it pass all 8
bits of every character.
* If Emacs is running on Ultrix, it is reported that evaluating
'(set-input-mode t nil)' helps.
* If all else fails, you can make 'xterm' generate '<ESC> W' when you
type 'M-W', which is the same conversion Emacs would make if it got
the 'M-W' anyway. In X11R4, the following resource specification
will do this:
XTerm.VT100.EightBitInput: false
(This changes the behavior of the 'insert-eight-bit' action.)
With older 'xterm's, you can specify this behavior with a
translation:
XTerm.VT100.Translations: #override \
Meta<KeyPress>: string(0x1b) insert()
You might have to replace 'Meta' with 'Alt'.
File: efaq.info, Node: ExtendChar key does not work as Meta, Next: SPC no longer completes file names, Prev: Meta key does not work in xterm, Up: Key bindings
9.14 Why doesn't my <ExtendChar> key work as a <Meta> key under HP-UX 8.0 and 9.x?
==================================================================================
This is a result of an internationalization extension in X11R4 and the
fact that HP is now using this extension. Emacs assumes that the
'XLookupString' function returns the same result regardless of the
<Meta> key state which is no longer necessarily true. Until Emacs is
fixed, the temporary kludge is to run this command after each time the X
server is started but preferably before any xterm clients are:
xmodmap -e 'remove mod1 = Mode_switch'
This will disable the use of the extra keysyms systemwide, which may
be undesirable if you actually intend to use them.
File: efaq.info, Node: SPC no longer completes file names, Prev: ExtendChar key does not work as Meta, Up: Key bindings
9.15 Why doesn't SPC complete file names anymore?
=================================================
Starting with Emacs 22.1, 'SPC' no longer completes file names in the
minibuffer, so that file names with embedded spaces could be typed
without the need to quote the spaces.
You can get the old behavior by binding 'SPC' to
'minibuffer-complete-word' in the minibuffer, as follows:
(define-key minibuffer-local-filename-completion-map (kbd "SPC")
'minibuffer-complete-word)
(define-key minibuffer-local-must-match-filename-map (kbd "SPC")
'minibuffer-complete-word)
File: efaq.info, Node: Alternate character sets, Next: Mail and news, Prev: Key bindings, Up: Top
10 Alternate character sets
***************************
* Menu:
* Emacs does not display 8-bit characters::
* Inputting eight-bit characters::
* Right-to-left alphabets::
* How to add fonts::
File: efaq.info, Node: Emacs does not display 8-bit characters, Next: Inputting eight-bit characters, Up: Alternate character sets
10.1 How do I make Emacs display 8-bit characters?
==================================================
*Note Single-byte Character Set Support: (emacs)Unibyte Mode. On a
Unix, when Emacs runs on a text-only terminal display or is invoked with
'emacs -nw', you typically need to use 'set-terminal-coding-system' to
tell Emacs what the terminal can display, even after setting the
language environment; otherwise non-ASCII characters will display as
'?'. On other operating systems, such as MS-DOS and MS-Windows, Emacs
queries the OS about the character set supported by the display, and
sets up the required terminal coding system automatically.
File: efaq.info, Node: Inputting eight-bit characters, Next: Right-to-left alphabets, Prev: Emacs does not display 8-bit characters, Up: Alternate character sets
10.2 How do I input eight-bit characters?
=========================================
Various methods are available for input of eight-bit characters. *Note
Single-byte Character Set Support: (emacs)Unibyte Mode. For more
sophisticated methods, *note (emacs)Input Methods::.
File: efaq.info, Node: Right-to-left alphabets, Next: How to add fonts, Prev: Inputting eight-bit characters, Up: Alternate character sets
10.3 Where is an Emacs that can handle Semitic (right-to-left) alphabets?
=========================================================================
Emacs supports display and editing of bidirectional scripts, such as
Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrew, since version 24.1. *Note bidirectional
display: New in Emacs 24.
File: efaq.info, Node: How to add fonts, Prev: Right-to-left alphabets, Up: Alternate character sets
10.4 How do I add fonts for use with Emacs?
===========================================
First, download and install the BDF font files and any auxiliary
packages they need. The GNU Intlfonts distribution can be found on the
GNU Software Directory Web site
(http://directory.fsf.org/localization/intlfonts.html).
Next, if you are on X Window system, issue the following two commands
from the shell's prompt:
xset +fp /usr/local/share/emacs/fonts
xset fp rehash
(Modify the first command if you installed the fonts in a directory that
is not '/usr/local/share/emacs/fonts'.) You also need to arrange for
these two commands to run whenever you log in, e.g., by adding them to
your window-system startup file, such as '~/.xsessionrc' or
'~/.gnomerc'.
Now, add the following line to your '~/.emacs' init file:
(add-to-list 'bdf-directory-list "/usr/share/emacs/fonts/bdf")
(Again, modify the file name if you installed the fonts elsewhere.)
Finally, if you wish to use the installed fonts with 'ps-print', add
the following line to your '~/.emacs':
(setq ps-multibyte-buffer 'bdf-font-except-latin)
A few additional steps are necessary for MS-Windows; they are listed
below.
First, make sure _all_ the directories with BDF font files are
mentioned in 'bdf-directory-list'. On Unix and GNU/Linux systems, one
normally runs 'make install' to install the BDF fonts in the same
directory. By contrast, Windows users typically don't run the Intlfonts
installation command, but unpack the distribution in some directory,
which leaves the BDF fonts in its subdirectories. For example, assume
that you unpacked Intlfonts in 'C:/Intlfonts'; then you should set
'bdf-directory-list' as follows:
(setq bdf-directory-list
'("C:/Intlfonts/Asian"
"C:/Intlfonts/Chinese" "C:/Intlfonts/Chinese.X"
"C:/Intlfonts/Chinese.BIG" "C:/Intlfonts/Ethiopic"
"C:/Intlfonts/European" "C:/Intlfonts/European.BIG"
"C:/Intlfonts/Japanese" "C:/Intlfonts/Japanese.X"
"C:/Intlfonts/Japanese.BIG" "C:/Intlfonts/Korean.X"
"C:/Intlfonts/Misc"))
Next, you need to set up the variable 'w32-bdf-filename-alist' to an
alist of the BDF fonts and their corresponding file names. Assuming you
have set 'bdf-directory-list' to name all the directories with the BDF
font files, the following Lisp snippet will set up
'w32-bdf-filename-alist':
(setq w32-bdf-filename-alist
(w32-find-bdf-fonts bdf-directory-list))
Now, create fontsets for the BDF fonts:
(create-fontset-from-fontset-spec
"-*-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-16-*-*-*-c-*-fontset-bdf,
japanese-jisx0208:-*-*-medium-r-normal-*-16-*-*-*-c-*-jisx0208.1983-*,
katakana-jisx0201:-*-*-medium-r-normal-*-16-*-*-*-c-*-jisx0201*-*,
latin-jisx0201:-*-*-medium-r-normal-*-16-*-*-*-c-*-jisx0201*-*,
japanese-jisx0208-1978:-*-*-medium-r-normal-*-16-*-*-*-c-*-jisx0208.1978-*,
thai-tis620:-misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--16-160-72-72-m-80-tis620.2529-1,
lao:-misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--16-160-72-72-m-80-MuleLao-1,
tibetan-1-column:-TibMdXA-fixed-medium-r-normal--16-160-72-72-m-80-MuleTibetan-1,
ethiopic:-Admas-Ethiomx16f-Medium-R-Normal--16-150-100-100-M-160-Ethiopic-Unicode,
tibetan:-TibMdXA-fixed-medium-r-normal--16-160-72-72-m-160-MuleTibetan-0")
Many of the international bdf fonts from Intlfonts are type 0, and
therefore need to be added to font-encoding-alist:
(setq font-encoding-alist
(append '(("MuleTibetan-0" (tibetan . 0))
("GB2312" (chinese-gb2312 . 0))
("JISX0208" (japanese-jisx0208 . 0))
("JISX0212" (japanese-jisx0212 . 0))
("VISCII" (vietnamese-viscii-lower . 0))
("KSC5601" (korean-ksc5601 . 0))
("MuleArabic-0" (arabic-digit . 0))
("MuleArabic-1" (arabic-1-column . 0))
("MuleArabic-2" (arabic-2-column . 0)))
font-encoding-alist))
You can now use the Emacs font menu to select the 'bdf: 16-dot
medium' fontset, or you can select it by setting the default font in
your '~/.emacs':
(set-default-font "fontset-bdf")
File: efaq.info, Node: Mail and news, Next: Concept index, Prev: Alternate character sets, Up: Top
11 Mail and news
****************
* Menu:
* Changing the included text prefix::
* Saving a copy of outgoing mail::
* Expanding aliases when sending mail::
* Sorting the messages in an Rmail folder::
* Rmail writes to /var/spool/mail::
* Replying to the sender of a message::
* Automatically starting a mail or news reader::
* Reading news with Emacs::
* Gnus does not work with NNTP::
* Making Gnus faster::
* Catching up in all newsgroups::
File: efaq.info, Node: Changing the included text prefix, Next: Saving a copy of outgoing mail, Up: Mail and news
11.1 How do I change the included text prefix in mail/news followups?
=====================================================================
If you read mail with Rmail, set the variable 'mail-yank-prefix'. For
Gnus, set 'message-yank-prefix'. For VM, set 'vm-included-text-prefix'.
For mh-e, set 'mh-ins-buf-prefix'.
For fancier control of citations, use Supercite (*note the Supercite
Manual: (sc)Top.).
To prevent Emacs from including various headers of the replied-to
message, set the value of 'mail-yank-ignored-headers' to an appropriate
regexp.
File: efaq.info, Node: Saving a copy of outgoing mail, Next: Expanding aliases when sending mail, Prev: Changing the included text prefix, Up: Mail and news
11.2 How do I save a copy of outgoing mail?
===========================================
You can either mail yourself a copy by including a 'BCC' header in the
mail message, or store a copy of the message directly to a file by
including an 'FCC' header.
If you use standard mail, you can automatically create a 'BCC' to
yourself by putting
(setq mail-self-blind t)
in your '.emacs' file. You can automatically include an 'FCC' field by
putting something like the following in your '.emacs' file:
(setq mail-archive-file-name (expand-file-name "~/outgoing"))
The output file will be in Unix mail format.
If you use 'mh-e', add an 'FCC' or 'BCC' field to your components
file.
It does not work to put 'set record filename' in the '.mailrc' file.
File: efaq.info, Node: Expanding aliases when sending mail, Next: Sorting the messages in an Rmail folder, Prev: Saving a copy of outgoing mail, Up: Mail and news
11.3 Why doesn't Emacs expand my aliases when sending mail?
===========================================================
*Note The Emacs Manual: (emacs)Mail Aliases.
* Normally, Emacs expands aliases when you send the message. To
expand them before this, use 'M-x expand-mail-aliases'.
* Emacs normally only reads the '.mailrc' file once per session, when
you start to compose your first mail message. If you edit the file
after this, you can use 'M-x build-mail-aliases' to make Emacs
reread it. Prior to Emacs 24.1, this is not an interactive
command, so you must instead type 'M-: (build-mail-aliases) <RET>'.
* If you like, you can expand mail aliases as abbrevs, as soon as you
type them in. To enable this feature, execute the following:
(add-hook 'mail-mode-hook 'mail-abbrevs-setup)
Note that the aliases are expanded automatically only after you
type a word-separator character (e.g., <RET> or ','). You can
force their expansion by moving point to the end of the alias and
typing 'C-x a e' ('M-x expand-abbrev').
File: efaq.info, Node: Sorting the messages in an Rmail folder, Next: Rmail writes to /var/spool/mail, Prev: Expanding aliases when sending mail, Up: Mail and news
11.4 How can I sort the messages in my Rmail folder?
====================================================
In Rmail, type 'C-c C-s C-h' to get a list of sorting functions and
their key bindings.
File: efaq.info, Node: Rmail writes to /var/spool/mail, Next: Replying to the sender of a message, Prev: Sorting the messages in an Rmail folder, Up: Mail and news
11.5 Why does Rmail need to write to '/var/spool/mail'?
=======================================================
This is the behavior of the 'movemail' program which Rmail uses. This
indicates that 'movemail' is configured to use lock files.
RMS writes:
Certain systems require lock files to interlock access to mail
files. On these systems, 'movemail' must write lock files, or you
risk losing mail. You simply must arrange to let 'movemail' write
them.
Other systems use the 'flock' system call to interlock access. On
these systems, you should configure 'movemail' to use 'flock'.
File: efaq.info, Node: Replying to the sender of a message, Next: Automatically starting a mail or news reader, Prev: Rmail writes to /var/spool/mail, Up: Mail and news
11.6 How can I force Rmail to reply to the sender of a message, but not the other recipients?
=============================================================================================
Ron Isaacson <isaacson AT seas.edu> says: When you hit <r> to reply
in Rmail, by default it CCs all of the original recipients (everyone on
the original 'To' and 'CC' lists). With a prefix argument (i.e., typing
'C-u' before <r>), it replies only to the sender. However, going
through the whole 'C-u' business every time you want to reply is a pain.
This is the best fix I've been able to come up with:
(defun rmail-reply-t ()
"Reply only to the sender of the current message. (See rmail-reply.)"
(interactive)
(rmail-reply t))
(add-hook 'rmail-mode-hook
(lambda ()
(define-key rmail-mode-map "r" 'rmail-reply-t)
(define-key rmail-mode-map "R" 'rmail-reply)))
File: efaq.info, Node: Automatically starting a mail or news reader, Next: Reading news with Emacs, Prev: Replying to the sender of a message, Up: Mail and news
11.7 How do I make Emacs automatically start my mail/news reader?
=================================================================
To start Emacs in Gnus:
emacs -f gnus
in Rmail:
emacs -f rmail
A more convenient way to start with Gnus:
alias gnus 'emacs -f gnus'
gnus
It is probably unwise to automatically start your mail or news reader
from your '.emacs' file. This would cause problems if you needed to run
two copies of Emacs at the same time. Also, this would make it
difficult for you to start Emacs quickly when you needed to.
File: efaq.info, Node: Reading news with Emacs, Next: Gnus does not work with NNTP, Prev: Automatically starting a mail or news reader, Up: Mail and news
11.8 How do I read news under Emacs?
====================================
Use 'M-x gnus'. For more information on Gnus, *note the Gnus Manual:
(gnus)Top, which includes *note the Gnus FAQ: (gnus)Frequently Asked
Questions.
File: efaq.info, Node: Gnus does not work with NNTP, Next: Making Gnus faster, Prev: Reading news with Emacs, Up: Mail and news
11.9 Why doesn't Gnus work via NNTP?
====================================
There is a bug in NNTP version 1.5.10, such that when multiple requests
are sent to the NNTP server, the server only handles the first one
before blocking waiting for more input which never comes. NNTP version
1.5.11 claims to fix this.
You can work around the bug inside Emacs like this:
(setq nntp-maximum-request 1)
You can find out what version of NNTP your news server is running by
telnetting to the NNTP port (usually 119) on the news server machine
(i.e., 'telnet server-machine 119'). The server should give its version
number in the welcome message. Type 'quit' to get out.
File: efaq.info, Node: Making Gnus faster, Next: Catching up in all newsgroups, Prev: Gnus does not work with NNTP, Up: Mail and news
11.10 How do I make Gnus faster?
================================
From the Gnus FAQ (*note Reading news with Emacs::):
If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are
a few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
Set 'gnus-check-new-newsgroups' and 'gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups'
to 'nil' to make startup faster.
Set 'gnus-show-threads', 'gnus-use-cross-reference' and
'gnus-nov-is-evil' to 'nil' to make entering and exiting the
summary buffer faster.
File: efaq.info, Node: Catching up in all newsgroups, Prev: Making Gnus faster, Up: Mail and news
11.11 How do I catch up all newsgroups in Gnus?
===============================================
In the '*Newsgroup*' buffer, type 'M-< C-x ( c y C-x ) M-0 C-x e'
Leave off the initial 'M-<' if you only want to catch up from point
to the end of the '*Newsgroup*' buffer.
File: efaq.info, Node: Concept index, Prev: Mail and news, Up: Top
Concept Index
*************
[index]
* Menu:
* '#ifdef', selective display of: Hiding #ifdef lines. (line 6)
* '$' in file names: Editing files with $ in the name.
(line 6)
* '-debug-init' option: Debugging a customization file.
(line 6)
* '.', equivalent to 'vi' command: Repeating commands. (line 6)
* '.emacs' debugging: Debugging a customization file.
(line 6)
* '.emacs' file, errors in: Errors with init files.
(line 6)
* '.emacs' file, locating: Setting up a customization file.
(line 6)
* '.emacs' file, setting up: Setting up a customization file.
(line 6)
* '.Xdefaults': Emacs ignores X resources.
(line 6)
* '/var/spool/mail' and Rmail: Rmail writes to /var/spool/mail.
(line 6)
* Abbrevs, turning on by default: Turning on abbrevs by default.
(line 6)
* Acronyms, definitions for: Common acronyms. (line 6)
* add fonts for use with Emacs: How to add fonts. (line 6)
* Adding to 'load-path': Changing load-path. (line 6)
* Alternate character sets: Alternate character sets.
(line 6)
* Alternative Info file viewers: Viewing Info files outside of Emacs.
(line 6)
* Anti-aliased fonts: New in Emacs 23. (line 6)
* Antivirus programs, and Shell Mode: Problems with Shell Mode.
(line 11)
* Apple computers, Emacs for: Emacs for Mac OS X. (line 6)
* Apropos: Learning how to do something.
(line 22)
* Arabic: Right-to-left alphabets.
(line 6)
* Archived postings from 'gnu.emacs.help': Newsgroup archives. (line 6)
* Arrow keys, symbols generated by: Working with function and arrow keys.
(line 6)
* Aspell: Spell-checkers. (line 6)
* Associating modes with files: Associating modes with files.
(line 6)
* 'auto-fill-mode', activating automatically: Turning on auto-fill by default.
(line 6)
* 'auto-fill-mode', introduction to: Wrapping words automatically.
(line 6)
* 'auto-mode-alist', modifying: Associating modes with files.
(line 6)
* Auto-saving: Disabling auto-save-mode.
(line 6)
* Automatic entry to 'auto-fill-mode': Turning on auto-fill by default.
(line 6)
* Automatic filing of outgoing mail: Saving a copy of outgoing mail.
(line 6)
* Backspace key invokes help: Backspace invokes help.
(line 6)
* Backup files in a single directory: Disabling backups. (line 30)
* Backups, disabling: Disabling backups. (line 6)
* Basic editing with Emacs: Basic editing. (line 6)
* Basic keys: Basic keys. (line 6)
* Bazaar repository, Emacs: Latest version of Emacs.
(line 6)
* Beeping, turning off: Turning off beeping. (line 6)
* Beginning editing: Basic editing. (line 6)
* Bell, visible: Turning off beeping. (line 6)
* Bell, volume of: Turning the volume down.
(line 6)
* bidirectional display: New in Emacs 24. (line 19)
* bidirectional scripts: Right-to-left alphabets.
(line 6)
* Binding keys to commands: Binding keys to commands.
(line 6)
* Binding modifiers and function keys: Binding combinations of modifiers and function keys.
(line 6)
* Bug reporting: Reporting bugs. (line 6)
* Bugs and problems: Bugs and problems. (line 6)
* Building Emacs from source: Installing Emacs. (line 6)
* 'C-h', definition of: Basic keys. (line 6)
* 'C-M-h', definition of: Basic keys. (line 6)
* Case sensitivity in replacements: Controlling case sensitivity.
(line 12)
* Case sensitivity of searches: Controlling case sensitivity.
(line 6)
* 'case-fold-search': Controlling case sensitivity.
(line 6)
* 'case-replace': Controlling case sensitivity.
(line 12)
* Catching up all newsgroups in Gnus: Catching up in all newsgroups.
(line 6)
* Character sets: New in Emacs 23. (line 11)
* Checking spelling: Spell-checkers. (line 6)
* Colorizing text: Turning on syntax highlighting.
(line 6)
* Colors on a TTY: Colors on a TTY. (line 6)
* Colors on text-only terminals: New in Emacs 21. (line 14)
* Column, displaying the current: Displaying the current line or column.
(line 6)
* Command description in the manual: Learning how to do something.
(line 26)
* Commands, binding keys to: Binding keys to commands.
(line 6)
* Commands, extended: Extended commands. (line 6)
* Commands, repeating many times: Repeating commands. (line 6)
* Common acronyms, definitions for: Common acronyms. (line 6)
* Common requests: Common requests. (line 6)
* Compilation error messages: Going to a line by number.
(line 6)
* Compiler error messages, recognizing: Compiler error messages.
(line 6)
* Compiling and installing Emacs: Compiling and installing Emacs.
(line 6)
* Compiling Emacs for DOS: Emacs for MS-DOS. (line 6)
* <Compose Character> key, using as <Meta>: Compose Character. (line 6)
* Console, colors: Colors on a TTY. (line 6)
* Contracting the FSF: Contacting the FSF. (line 6)
* Control characters, generating: Producing C-XXX with the keyboard.
(line 6)
* Control characters, working with: Working with unprintable characters.
(line 6)
* Control key, notation for: Basic keys. (line 6)
* Control-Meta characters, notation for: Basic keys. (line 6)
* Conventions for file names: File-name conventions.
(line 6)
* Copying outgoing mail to a file: Saving a copy of outgoing mail.
(line 6)
* 'COPYING', description of file: Informational files for Emacs.
(line 6)
* Copyleft, real meaning of: Real meaning of copyleft.
(line 6)
* Creating new menu options: Modifying pull-down menus.
(line 6)
* Crosspostings make Gnus catching up slow: Making Gnus faster.
(line 6)
* Current directory and 'shell-mode': Shell mode loses the current directory.
(line 6)
* Current GNU distributions: Current GNU distributions.
(line 6)
* Customization file, setting up: Setting up a customization file.
(line 6)
* Customize groups: Using Customize. (line 6)
* Customize indentation: Customizing C and C++ indentation.
(line 6)
* Customizing faces: Using Customize. (line 6)
* Customizing variables: Using Customize. (line 6)
* Daemon mode: New in Emacs 23. (line 17)
* Debugging '.emacs' file: Debugging a customization file.
(line 6)
* Debugging '.emacs' file <1>: Errors with init files.
(line 6)
* Decoration level, in 'font-lock-mode': Turning on syntax highlighting.
(line 34)
* DEL key does not delete: Backspace invokes help.
(line 6)
* <DEL>, definition of: Basic keys. (line 6)
* 'delete-selection-mode': Replacing highlighted text.
(line 6)
* Deleting menus and menu options: Deleting menus and menu options.
(line 6)
* Development, Emacs: Latest version of Emacs.
(line 6)
* Difference Emacs and XEmacs: Difference between Emacs and XEmacs.
(line 6)
* Differences between Emacs 19 and Emacs 20: New in Emacs 20. (line 6)
* Differences between Emacs 20 and Emacs 21: New in Emacs 21. (line 6)
* Differences between Emacs 21 and Emacs 22: New in Emacs 22. (line 6)
* Differences between Emacs 22 and Emacs 23: New in Emacs 23. (line 6)
* Differences between Emacs 23 and Emacs 24: New in Emacs 24. (line 6)
* Differences between Unix and Emacs regexps: Using regular expressions.
(line 6)
* Directories and files that come with Emacs: File-name conventions.
(line 6)
* Directory, current in 'shell-mode': Shell mode loses the current directory.
(line 6)
* Directory-local variables: New in Emacs 23. (line 23)
* Dired does not see a file: Dired claims that no file is on this line.
(line 6)
* Disabling 'auto-save-mode': Disabling auto-save-mode.
(line 6)
* Disabling backups: Disabling backups. (line 6)
* Discussion of the GPL: Real meaning of copyleft.
(line 6)
* Displaying eight-bit characters: Emacs does not display 8-bit characters.
(line 6)
* Displaying the current line or column: Displaying the current line or column.
(line 6)
* 'DISTRIB', description of file: Informational files for Emacs.
(line 6)
* <Do> key: Extended commands. (line 17)
* Documentation: New in Emacs 22. (line 69)
* Documentation for 'etags': Documentation for etags.
(line 6)
* Documentation on Emacs Lisp: Emacs Lisp documentation.
(line 6)
* Documentation, installing new Texinfo files: Installing Texinfo documentation.
(line 6)
* DOS, Emacs for: Emacs for MS-DOS. (line 6)
* Downloading and installing Emacs: Installing Emacs. (line 6)
* Downloading Emacs: Finding Emacs on the Internet.
(line 6)
* Drag-and-drop: New in Emacs 22. (line 6)
* Echoed commands in 'shell-mode': ^M in the shell buffer.
(line 6)
* Editing files with '$' in the name: Editing files with $ in the name.
(line 6)
* Editing MS-DOS files: Editing MS-DOS files. (line 6)
* Eight-bit characters, displaying: Emacs does not display 8-bit characters.
(line 6)
* Eight-bit characters, entering: Inputting eight-bit characters.
(line 6)
* Eight-bit characters, working with: Working with unprintable characters.
(line 6)
* Emacs 20, new features in: New in Emacs 20. (line 6)
* Emacs 21, new features in: New in Emacs 21. (line 6)
* Emacs 22, new features in: New in Emacs 22. (line 6)
* Emacs 23, new features in: New in Emacs 23. (line 6)
* Emacs 24, new features in: New in Emacs 24. (line 6)
* Emacs entries for termcap/terminfo: Termcap/Terminfo entries for Emacs.
(line 6)
* Emacs for MS-DOS: Emacs for MS-DOS. (line 6)
* Emacs for MS-Windows: Emacs for MS-Windows. (line 6)
* Emacs Lisp Archive: Packages that do not come with Emacs.
(line 6)
* Emacs Lisp List: Packages that do not come with Emacs.
(line 6)
* Emacs Lisp Manual: New in Emacs 22. (line 69)
* Emacs Lisp Reference Manual: Emacs Lisp documentation.
(line 6)
* Emacs manual, obtaining a printed or HTML copy of: Getting a printed manual.
(line 6)
* Emacs manual, reading topics in: Emacs manual. (line 6)
* Emacs name origin: Origin of the term Emacs.
(line 6)
* Emacs server functions: Using an already running Emacs process.
(line 6)
* 'emacsclient': Using an already running Emacs process.
(line 6)
* Entering eight-bit characters: Inputting eight-bit characters.
(line 6)
* Epoch: Difference between Emacs and XEmacs.
(line 6)
* Error in '.emacs': Errors with init files.
(line 6)
* Error in init file: Errors with init files.
(line 6)
* Errors when building Emacs: Problems building Emacs.
(line 6)
* Errors, recognizing compiler: Compiler error messages.
(line 6)
* <ESC>, definition of: Basic keys. (line 6)
* Escape key, lacking: No Escape key. (line 6)
* Escape sequences in 'ls' output: Escape sequences in shell output.
(line 6)
* 'etags', documentation for: Documentation for etags.
(line 6)
* Evaluating Lisp code: Evaluating Emacs Lisp code.
(line 6)
* Expanding aliases when sending mail: Expanding aliases when sending mail.
(line 6)
* 'explicit-shell-file-name': Problems with Shell Mode.
(line 6)
* <ExtendChar> key as <Meta>: ExtendChar key does not work as Meta.
(line 6)
* Extended commands: Extended commands. (line 6)
* FAQ for Emacs on MS-Windows: Emacs for MS-Windows. (line 6)
* FAQ for Gnus: Reading news with Emacs.
(line 6)
* FAQ notation: FAQ notation. (line 6)
* FAQ, 'font-lock-mode': Turning on syntax highlighting.
(line 6)
* FAQ, obtaining the: Obtaining the FAQ. (line 6)
* Farsi: Right-to-left alphabets.
(line 6)
* Faster, starting Gnus: Making Gnus faster. (line 6)
* File extensions and modes: Associating modes with files.
(line 6)
* File name, displaying in the titlebar: Displaying the current file name in the titlebar.
(line 6)
* File names containing '$', editing: Editing files with $ in the name.
(line 6)
* 'file-local-variable' and security: Security risks with Emacs.
(line 6)
* File-name conventions: File-name conventions.
(line 6)
* Files included with Emacs: Informational files for Emacs.
(line 6)
* Files, maximum size: Problems with very large files.
(line 6)
* Files, replacing strings across multiple: Replacing text across multiple files.
(line 6)
* Filing outgoing mail: Saving a copy of outgoing mail.
(line 6)
* Fill prefix: Automatic indentation.
(line 18)
* 'fill-column', default value: Wrapping words automatically.
(line 6)
* Filling automatically: Turning on auto-fill by default.
(line 6)
* Finding an Emacs Lisp package: Finding a package with particular functionality.
(line 6)
* Finding commands and variables: Learning how to do something.
(line 30)
* Finding current GNU software: Current GNU distributions.
(line 6)
* Finding Emacs and related packages: Finding Emacs and related packages.
(line 6)
* Finding Emacs on the Internet: Finding Emacs on the Internet.
(line 6)
* Finding other packages: Packages that do not come with Emacs.
(line 6)
* Finding topics in the Emacs manual: Emacs manual. (line 6)
* Folder, sorting messages in an Rmail: Sorting the messages in an Rmail folder.
(line 6)
* 'font-lock-mode': Turning on syntax highlighting.
(line 6)
* Frame parameters: Emacs ignores frame parameters.
(line 6)
* 'frame-title-format': Displaying the current file name in the titlebar.
(line 6)
* Free Software Foundation, contacting: Contacting the FSF. (line 6)
* Freetype fonts: New in Emacs 23. (line 6)
* FSF, definition of: Common acronyms. (line 6)
* FTP, definition of: Common acronyms. (line 6)
* Fullscreen mode: Fullscreen mode on MS-Windows.
(line 6)
* Function documentation: Emacs Lisp documentation.
(line 6)
* Function keys and modifiers: Binding combinations of modifiers and function keys.
(line 6)
* Function keys, symbols generated by: Working with function and arrow keys.
(line 6)
* Functionality, finding a particular package: Finding a package with particular functionality.
(line 6)
* General Public License, real meaning of: Real meaning of copyleft.
(line 6)
* General questions: General questions. (line 6)
* Generating control characters: Producing C-XXX with the keyboard.
(line 6)
* Getting help: Getting help. (line 6)
* GNU mailing lists: Guidelines for newsgroup postings.
(line 6)
* GNU newsgroups, appropriate messages for: Guidelines for newsgroup postings.
(line 6)
* GNU, definition of: Common acronyms. (line 6)
* 'GNU', description of file: Informational files for Emacs.
(line 6)
* Gnus and NNTP: Gnus does not work with NNTP.
(line 6)
* Gnus FAQ: Reading news with Emacs.
(line 6)
* Gnus is slow when catching up: Making Gnus faster. (line 6)
* Gnus newsreader: Reading news with Emacs.
(line 6)
* Gnus, Catching up all newsgroups in: Catching up in all newsgroups.
(line 6)
* Gnus, starting faster: Making Gnus faster. (line 6)
* 'gnuserv': Using an already running Emacs process.
(line 53)
* GNUstep port: New in Emacs 23. (line 19)
* GNUstep, Emacs for: Emacs for GNUstep. (line 6)
* Going to a line by number: Going to a line by number.
(line 6)
* Good bug reports: Reporting bugs. (line 6)
* GPL, definition of: Common acronyms. (line 6)
* GPL, real meaning of: Real meaning of copyleft.
(line 6)
* GTK+ Toolkit: New in Emacs 22. (line 6)
* Hebrew, handling with Emacs: Right-to-left alphabets.
(line 6)
* Help for Emacs: Learning how to do something.
(line 6)
* Help installing Emacs: Help installing Emacs.
(line 6)
* Help invoked by Backspace: Backspace invokes help.
(line 6)
* Help system, entering the: Basic editing. (line 6)
* 'hide-ifdef-mode': Hiding #ifdef lines. (line 6)
* Hiding '#ifdef' text: Hiding #ifdef lines. (line 6)
* Highlighting and replacing text: Replacing highlighted text.
(line 6)
* Highlighting based on syntax: Turning on syntax highlighting.
(line 6)
* Highlighting matching parentheses: Matching parentheses. (line 6)
* Highlighting text: Highlighting a region.
(line 6)
* Horizontal scrolling: Horizontal scrolling. (line 6)
* How to submit a bug report: Reporting bugs. (line 6)
* HP-UX, the <ExtendChar> key: ExtendChar key does not work as Meta.
(line 6)
* 'hscroll-mode': Horizontal scrolling. (line 6)
* Hunspell: Spell-checkers. (line 6)
* Iconification under the X Window System: Forcing Emacs to iconify itself.
(line 6)
* Ignored X resources: Emacs ignores X resources.
(line 6)
* Ignoring case in searches: Controlling case sensitivity.
(line 6)
* Included text prefix, changing: Changing the included text prefix.
(line 6)
* Indentation, how to customize: Customizing C and C++ indentation.
(line 6)
* Indenting new lines: Automatic indentation.
(line 6)
* Indenting of 'switch': Indenting switch statements.
(line 6)
* Index search in a manual: Learning how to do something.
(line 13)
* Info file viewers: Viewing Info files outside of Emacs.
(line 6)
* Info files, how to install: Installing Texinfo documentation.
(line 6)
* Info, finding topics in: Emacs manual. (line 6)
* Informational files included with Emacs: Informational files for Emacs.
(line 6)
* Init file debugging: Debugging a customization file.
(line 6)
* Init file, errors in: Errors with init files.
(line 6)
* Init file, setting up: Setting up a customization file.
(line 6)
* Input, 8-bit characters: Inputting eight-bit characters.
(line 6)
* <Insert>: Overwrite mode. (line 6)
* Installation help: Help installing Emacs.
(line 6)
* Installing Emacs: Installing Emacs. (line 6)
* Installing Texinfo documentation: Installing Texinfo documentation.
(line 6)
* 'INTERVIEW', description of file: Informational files for Emacs.
(line 6)
* intlfonts: How to add fonts. (line 6)
* Invalid prefix characters: Invalid prefix characters.
(line 6)
* isearch yanking: Yanking text in isearch.
(line 6)
* Ispell: Spell-checkers. (line 6)
* Just-In-Time syntax highlighting: Turning on syntax highlighting.
(line 26)
* Key bindings: Key bindings. (line 6)
* Key translations under X: X key translations for Emacs.
(line 6)
* 'keyboard-translate': Swapping keys. (line 6)
* Keymaps and menus: Modifying pull-down menus.
(line 6)
* Keys, binding to commands: Binding keys to commands.
(line 6)
* Keys, swapping: Swapping keys. (line 6)
* Lacking an Escape key: No Escape key. (line 6)
* Large files, opening: Problems with very large files.
(line 6)
* Latest FAQ version, obtaining the: Obtaining the FAQ. (line 6)
* Latest version of Emacs: Latest version of Emacs.
(line 6)
* League for Programming Freedom: The LPF. (line 6)
* Learning more about Gnus: Reading news with Emacs.
(line 6)
* Learning to do something in Emacs: Learning how to do something.
(line 6)
* Length of tab character: Changing the length of a Tab.
(line 6)
* Levels of syntax highlighting: Turning on syntax highlighting.
(line 34)
* lexical binding: New in Emacs 24. (line 10)
* <LFD>, definition of: Basic keys. (line 6)
* Line number, displaying the current: Displaying the current line or column.
(line 6)
* Line wrap: Wrapping words automatically.
(line 6)
* 'line-number-mode': Displaying the current line or column.
(line 6)
* Lisp forms, evaluating: Evaluating Emacs Lisp code.
(line 6)
* Lisp packages that do not come with Emacs: Packages that do not come with Emacs.
(line 6)
* 'load-path', modifying: Changing load-path. (line 6)
* Lookup a subject in a manual: Learning how to do something.
(line 13)
* LPF, definition of: Common acronyms. (line 6)
* LPF, description of: The LPF. (line 6)
* 'ls' in Shell mode: Escape sequences in shell output.
(line 6)
* Lucid Emacs: Difference between Emacs and XEmacs.
(line 6)
* M-x, meaning of: Extended commands. (line 6)
* Mac OS X Cocoa: New in Emacs 23. (line 19)
* Mac OS X, Emacs for: Emacs for Mac OS X. (line 6)
* 'MACHINES', description of file: Informational files for Emacs.
(line 6)
* Macintosh, Emacs for: Emacs for Mac OS X. (line 6)
* Mail alias expansion: Expanding aliases when sending mail.
(line 6)
* Mail and news: Mail and news. (line 6)
* Mail reader, starting automatically: Automatically starting a mail or news reader.
(line 6)
* Mail replies, inserting a prefix character: Inserting text at the beginning of each line.
(line 6)
* Mail, saving outgoing automatically: Saving a copy of outgoing mail.
(line 6)
* 'mail-yank-prefix': Inserting text at the beginning of each line.
(line 6)
* Mailing lists, appropriate messages for: Guidelines for newsgroup postings.
(line 6)
* 'MAILINGLISTS', description of file: Informational files for Emacs.
(line 6)
* Major mode for shell scripts: Associating modes with files.
(line 17)
* Manual, obtaining a printed or HTML copy of: Getting a printed manual.
(line 6)
* Matching parentheses: Matching parentheses. (line 6)
* Maximize frame: Fullscreen mode on MS-Windows.
(line 6)
* Maximum file size: Problems with very large files.
(line 6)
* Maximum line width, default value: Wrapping words automatically.
(line 6)
* Menus and keymaps: Modifying pull-down menus.
(line 6)
* Menus, creating or modifying: Modifying pull-down menus.
(line 6)
* Menus, deleting: Deleting menus and menu options.
(line 6)
* <Meta> key and 'xterm': Meta key does not work in xterm.
(line 6)
* <Meta> key, notation for: Basic keys. (line 6)
* <Meta> key, what to do if you lack it: No Meta key. (line 6)
* <Meta>, using <Compose Character> for: Compose Character. (line 6)
* <Meta>, using <ExtendChar> for: ExtendChar key does not work as Meta.
(line 6)
* Microsoft files, editing: Editing MS-DOS files. (line 6)
* Microsoft Windows, Emacs for: Emacs for MS-Windows. (line 6)
* Misspecified key sequences: Invalid prefix characters.
(line 6)
* 'mode-line-format': Displaying the current line or column.
(line 6)
* Modes, associating with file extensions: Associating modes with files.
(line 6)
* Modifiers and function keys: Binding combinations of modifiers and function keys.
(line 6)
* Modifying 'load-path': Changing load-path. (line 6)
* Modifying pull-down menus: Modifying pull-down menus.
(line 6)
* Mouse wheel: New in Emacs 22. (line 24)
* 'movemail' and security: Security risks with Emacs.
(line 6)
* MS-DOS files, editing: Editing MS-DOS files. (line 6)
* MS-DOS, Emacs for: Emacs for MS-DOS. (line 6)
* Multi-tty support: New in Emacs 23. (line 14)
* Multilingual Environment: New in Emacs 22. (line 54)
* Multiple files, replacing across: Replacing text across multiple files.
(line 6)
* New lines, indenting of: Automatic indentation.
(line 6)
* New modes: New in Emacs 22. (line 48)
* New Texinfo files, installing: Installing Texinfo documentation.
(line 6)
* News reader, starting automatically: Automatically starting a mail or news reader.
(line 6)
* News replies, inserting a prefix character: Inserting text at the beginning of each line.
(line 6)
* 'NEWS', description of file: Informational files for Emacs.
(line 6)
* Newsgroups, appropriate messages for: Guidelines for newsgroup postings.
(line 6)
* NeXTstep port: New in Emacs 23. (line 19)
* NNTP, Gnus fails to work with: Gnus does not work with NNTP.
(line 6)
* No Escape key: No Escape key. (line 6)
* No <Meta> key: No Meta key. (line 6)
* Not enough disk space to install Emacs: Emacs for minimalists.
(line 6)
* Notation for keys: Basic keys. (line 6)
* Official GNU software sites: Current GNU distributions.
(line 6)
* Old Usenet postings for GNU groups: Newsgroup archives. (line 6)
* One space following periods: Filling paragraphs with a single space.
(line 6)
* Opening very large files: Problems with very large files.
(line 6)
* Ordering GNU software: Contacting the FSF. (line 10)
* Origin of the term "Emacs": Origin of the term Emacs.
(line 6)
* Original version of Emacs: Origin of the term Emacs.
(line 6)
* Overview of help systems: Learning how to do something.
(line 6)
* 'overwrite-mode': Overwrite mode. (line 6)
* Overwriting existing text: Overwrite mode. (line 6)
* Package, finding: Finding a package with particular functionality.
(line 6)
* packages, installing more: New in Emacs 24. (line 6)
* Packages, those that do not come with Emacs: Packages that do not come with Emacs.
(line 6)
* Pairs of parentheses, highlighting: Matching parentheses. (line 6)
* 'paren.el': Matching parentheses. (line 6)
* Parentheses, matching: Matching parentheses. (line 6)
* Patents for software, opposition to: The LPF. (line 6)
* Periods, one space following: Filling paragraphs with a single space.
(line 6)
* 'picture-mode': Forcing the cursor to remain in the same column.
(line 6)
* Posting messages to newsgroups: Guidelines for newsgroup postings.
(line 6)
* Prefix character, inserting in mail/news replies: Inserting text at the beginning of each line.
(line 6)
* Prefix characters, invalid: Invalid prefix characters.
(line 6)
* Prefix in mail/news followups, changing: Changing the included text prefix.
(line 6)
* Prefixing a region with some text: Inserting text at the beginning of each line.
(line 6)
* Prefixing lines: Automatic indentation.
(line 18)
* Previous line, indenting according to: Automatic indentation.
(line 6)
* Printed Emacs manual, obtaining: Getting a printed manual.
(line 6)
* Printing a Texinfo file: Printing a Texinfo file.
(line 6)
* Printing documentation: Printing a Texinfo file.
(line 6)
* Problems building Emacs: Problems building Emacs.
(line 6)
* Producing control characters: Producing C-XXX with the keyboard.
(line 6)
* Pull-down menus, creating or modifying: Modifying pull-down menus.
(line 6)
* Quoting in mail messages: Changing the included text prefix.
(line 6)
* Reading news under Emacs: Reading news with Emacs.
(line 6)
* Reading the Emacs manual: Learning how to do something.
(line 8)
* Reading topics in the Emacs manual: Emacs manual. (line 6)
* Recognizing non-standard compiler errors: Compiler error messages.
(line 6)
* Recompilation: Going to a line by number.
(line 6)
* Recursive search/replace operations: Replacing text across multiple files.
(line 6)
* Reducing the increment when scrolling: Scrolling only one line.
(line 6)
* Reference card for Emacs: Learning how to do something.
(line 6)
* Reference cards, in other languages: Learning how to do something.
(line 40)
* Reference manual for Emacs Lisp: Emacs Lisp documentation.
(line 6)
* Regexps: Using regular expressions.
(line 6)
* Regexps and unprintable characters: Working with unprintable characters.
(line 6)
* Regexps for recognizing compiler errors: Compiler error messages.
(line 6)
* Region, highlighting a: Highlighting a region.
(line 6)
* Regular expressions: Using regular expressions.
(line 6)
* Remaining in the same column, regardless of contents: Forcing the cursor to remain in the same column.
(line 6)
* Removing yourself from GNU mailing lists: Unsubscribing from Emacs lists.
(line 6)
* Repeating commands many times: Repeating commands. (line 6)
* Replacing highlighted text: Replacing highlighted text.
(line 6)
* Replacing newlines: Searching for/replacing newlines.
(line 6)
* Replacing strings across files: Replacing text across multiple files.
(line 6)
* Replacing, and case sensitivity: Controlling case sensitivity.
(line 12)
* Replies to mail/news, inserting a prefix character: Inserting text at the beginning of each line.
(line 6)
* Replying only to the sender of a message: Replying to the sender of a message.
(line 6)
* Reporting bugs: Reporting bugs. (line 6)
* Repository, Emacs: Latest version of Emacs.
(line 6)
* Resources, X: Valid X resources. (line 6)
* <RET>, definition of: Basic keys. (line 6)
* Richard Stallman, acronym for: Common acronyms. (line 6)
* Right-to-left alphabets: Right-to-left alphabets.
(line 6)
* right-to-left languages: New in Emacs 24. (line 19)
* Rmail and '/var/spool/mail': Rmail writes to /var/spool/mail.
(line 6)
* Rmail, replying to the sender of a message in: Replying to the sender of a message.
(line 6)
* Rmail, sorting messages in: Sorting the messages in an Rmail folder.
(line 6)
* RMS, definition of: Common acronyms. (line 6)
* Saving a copy of outgoing mail: Saving a copy of outgoing mail.
(line 6)
* Saving at frequent intervals: Disabling auto-save-mode.
(line 6)
* Scrolling horizontally: Horizontal scrolling. (line 6)
* Scrolling only one line: Scrolling only one line.
(line 6)
* Searching for newlines: Searching for/replacing newlines.
(line 6)
* Searching for unprintable characters: Working with unprintable characters.
(line 6)
* Searching without case sensitivity: Controlling case sensitivity.
(line 6)
* Security with Emacs: Security risks with Emacs.
(line 6)
* Selectively displaying '#ifdef' code: Hiding #ifdef lines. (line 6)
* Self-paced tutorial, invoking the: Basic editing. (line 6)
* Semitic alphabets: Right-to-left alphabets.
(line 6)
* Sender, replying only to: Replying to the sender of a message.
(line 6)
* Sending mail with aliases: Expanding aliases when sending mail.
(line 6)
* Set number capability in 'vi' emulators: Displaying the current line or column.
(line 25)
* Setting the included text character: Changing the included text prefix.
(line 6)
* Setting X resources: Valid X resources. (line 6)
* Shell buffer, echoed commands and '^M' in: ^M in the shell buffer.
(line 6)
* Shell Mode, problems: Problems with Shell Mode.
(line 6)
* 'shell-mode' and current directory: Shell mode loses the current directory.
(line 6)
* Show matching paren as in 'vi': Matching parentheses. (line 26)
* Single space following periods: Filling paragraphs with a single space.
(line 6)
* Slow catch up in Gnus: Making Gnus faster. (line 6)
* Software patents, opposition to: The LPF. (line 6)
* Sorting messages in an Rmail folder: Sorting the messages in an Rmail folder.
(line 6)
* Source code, building Emacs from: Installing Emacs. (line 6)
* Sources for current GNU distributions: Current GNU distributions.
(line 6)
* 'SPC' file name completion: SPC no longer completes file names.
(line 6)
* <SPC>, definition of: Basic keys. (line 6)
* Spell-checker: Spell-checkers. (line 6)
* Stallman, Richard, acronym for: Common acronyms. (line 6)
* Starting Gnus faster: Making Gnus faster. (line 6)
* Starting mail/news reader automatically: Automatically starting a mail or news reader.
(line 6)
* Status of Emacs: Status of Emacs. (line 6)
* Stuff, current GNU: Current GNU distributions.
(line 6)
* Supported systems: New in Emacs 22. (line 9)
* Suspending Emacs: Forcing Emacs to iconify itself.
(line 6)
* Swapping keys: Swapping keys. (line 6)
* 'switch', indenting: Indenting switch statements.
(line 6)
* Symbols generated by function keys: Working with function and arrow keys.
(line 6)
* Syntax highlighting: Turning on syntax highlighting.
(line 6)
* Syntax highlighting on a TTY: Colors on a TTY. (line 6)
* Synthetic X events and security: Security risks with Emacs.
(line 6)
* Tab length: Changing the length of a Tab.
(line 6)
* <TAB>, definition of: Basic keys. (line 6)
* TECO: Origin of the term Emacs.
(line 6)
* Termcap: Termcap/Terminfo entries for Emacs.
(line 6)
* Terminal setup code in '.emacs': Terminal setup code works after Emacs has begun.
(line 6)
* Terminfo: Termcap/Terminfo entries for Emacs.
(line 6)
* Texinfo documentation, installing: Installing Texinfo documentation.
(line 6)
* Texinfo file, printing: Printing a Texinfo file.
(line 6)
* Text indentation: Automatic indentation.
(line 6)
* Text strings, putting regexps in: Using regular expressions.
(line 6)
* Text, highlighting: Highlighting a region.
(line 6)
* themes: New in Emacs 24. (line 27)
* Titlebar, displaying the current file name in: Displaying the current file name in the titlebar.
(line 6)
* Toggling 'overwrite-mode': Overwrite mode. (line 6)
* Toolbar support: New in Emacs 21. (line 6)
* 'transient-mark-mode': Highlighting a region.
(line 6)
* Translations for keys under X: X key translations for Emacs.
(line 6)
* TTY colors: New in Emacs 21. (line 14)
* Tutorial, invoking the: Basic editing. (line 6)
* Unbundled packages: Packages that do not come with Emacs.
(line 6)
* Unicode: New in Emacs 23. (line 11)
* Unix regexps, differences from Emacs: Using regular expressions.
(line 6)
* Unix systems, installing Emacs on: Installing Emacs. (line 6)
* Unprintable characters, working with: Working with unprintable characters.
(line 6)
* Unsubscribing from GNU mailing lists: Unsubscribing from Emacs lists.
(line 6)
* Up-to-date GNU stuff: Current GNU distributions.
(line 6)
* Usenet archives for GNU groups: Newsgroup archives. (line 6)
* Usenet groups, appropriate messages for: Guidelines for newsgroup postings.
(line 6)
* Usenet reader in Emacs: Reading news with Emacs.
(line 6)
* Using an existing Emacs process: Using an already running Emacs process.
(line 6)
* Variable documentation: Emacs Lisp documentation.
(line 6)
* Variable-size fonts: New in Emacs 21. (line 6)
* Version, latest: Latest version of Emacs.
(line 6)
* Vertical movement in empty documents: Forcing the cursor to remain in the same column.
(line 6)
* Very large files, opening: Problems with very large files.
(line 6)
* Viewing Info files: Viewing Info files outside of Emacs.
(line 6)
* Visible bell: Turning off beeping. (line 6)
* Volume of bell: Turning the volume down.
(line 6)
* 'w32-bdf-filename-alist': How to add fonts. (line 55)
* 'w32-find-bdf-fonts': How to add fonts. (line 55)
* Why Emacs?: Origin of the term Emacs.
(line 22)
* Windows files, editing: Editing MS-DOS files. (line 6)
* Working with arrow keys: Working with function and arrow keys.
(line 6)
* Working with function keys: Working with function and arrow keys.
(line 6)
* Working with unprintable characters: Working with unprintable characters.
(line 6)
* Wrapping lines: Wrapping words automatically.
(line 6)
* Wrapping word automatically: Wrapping words automatically.
(line 6)
* X and tty displays: New in Emacs 23. (line 14)
* X events and security: Security risks with Emacs.
(line 6)
* X key translations: X key translations for Emacs.
(line 6)
* X resources: Valid X resources. (line 6)
* X resources being ignored: Emacs ignores X resources.
(line 6)
* X Window System and iconification: Forcing Emacs to iconify itself.
(line 6)
* XEmacs: Difference between Emacs and XEmacs.
(line 6)
* Xterm and <Meta> key: Meta key does not work in xterm.
(line 6)
* Yanking text into the search string: Yanking text in isearch.
(line 6)
* Zile: Emacs for minimalists.
(line 6)
Generated by $Id: phpMan.php,v 4.55 2007/09/05 04:42:51 chedong Exp $ Author: Che Dong
On Apache
Under GNU General Public License
2024-04-26 10:10 @18.221.174.248 CrawledBy Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com)