GNU Emacs Manual

2012·2.4 MB·English

by  Richard M. Stallman

GNU Emacs Manual

GNU Emacs Manual
Seventeenth Edition, Updated for Emacs Version 24.5.
Richard Stallman et al.
This is the Seventeenth edition of the GNU Emacs Manual,
updated for Emacs version 24.5.
Copyright (cid:13)c 1985–1987, 1993–2015 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under
the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or any later
version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the Invariant Sections
being “The GNU Manifesto,” “Distribution” and “GNU GENERAL PUBLIC
LICENSE,” with the Front-Cover Texts being “A GNU Manual,” and with the
Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the license is included in the
section entitled “GNU Free Documentation License.”
(a) The FSF’s Back-Cover Text is: “You have the freedom to copy and modify
this GNU manual. Buying copies from the FSF supports it in developing GNU
and promoting software freedom.”
Published by the Free Software Foundation
51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor
Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
ISBN 978-0-9831592-5-4
Cover art by Etienne Suvasa; cover design by Matt Lee.
i
Short Contents
Preface ................................................. 1
Distribution ............................................. 2
Introduction............................................. 5
1 The Organization of the Screen.......................... 6
2 Characters, Keys and Commands ....................... 11
3 Entering and Exiting Emacs ........................... 14
4 Basic Editing Commands.............................. 16
5 The Minibuffer ...................................... 26
6 Running Commands by Name.......................... 36
7 Help............................................... 37
8 The Mark and the Region ............................. 45
9 Killing and Moving Text .............................. 52
10 Registers ........................................... 64
11 Controlling the Display ............................... 69
12 Searching and Replacement............................ 90
13 Commands for Fixing Typos .......................... 109
14 Keyboard Macros ................................... 114
15 File Handling ...................................... 122
16 Using Multiple Buffers ............................... 147
17 Multiple Windows................................... 156
18 Frames and Graphical Displays ........................ 162
19 International Character Set Support.................... 177
20 Major and Minor Modes.............................. 199
21 Indentation ........................................ 205
22 Commands for Human Languages...................... 208
23 Editing Programs ................................... 240
24 Compiling and Testing Programs....................... 261
25 Maintaining Large Programs .......................... 281
26 Abbrevs........................................... 309
27 Dired, the Directory Editor ........................... 315
28 The Calendar and the Diary .......................... 331
29 Sending Mail....................................... 350
30 Reading Mail with Rmail............................. 359
31 Miscellaneous Commands............................. 379
32 Emacs Lisp Packages ................................ 408
ii
33 Customization...................................... 412
34 Dealing with Common Problems....................... 443
A GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE................... 459
B GNU Free Documentation License...................... 470
C Command Line Arguments for Emacs Invocation.......... 478
D X Options and Resources............................. 493
E Emacs 23 Antinews.................................. 500
F Emacs and Mac OS / GNUstep........................ 502
G Emacs and Microsoft Windows/MS-DOS ................ 505
The GNU Manifesto..................................... 515
Glossary .............................................. 523
Key (Character) Index................................... 546
Command and Function Index ............................ 555
Variable Index ......................................... 568
Concept Index ......................................... 575
iii
Table of Contents
Preface .............................................. 1
Distribution......................................... 2
Acknowledgments................................................... 2
Introduction ........................................ 5
1 The Organization of the Screen ............... 6
1.1 Point .......................................................... 6
1.2 The Echo Area................................................. 7
1.3 The Mode Line................................................. 8
1.4 The Menu Bar................................................. 9
2 Characters, Keys and Commands............ 11
2.1 Kinds of User Input........................................... 11
2.2 Keys.......................................................... 11
2.3 Keys and Commands.......................................... 12
3 Entering and Exiting Emacs.................. 14
3.1 Entering Emacs............................................... 14
3.2 Exiting Emacs................................................ 15
4 Basic Editing Commands..................... 16
4.1 Inserting Text................................................. 16
4.2 Changing the Location of Point............................... 17
4.3 Erasing Text.................................................. 19
4.4 Undoing Changes............................................. 20
4.5 Files.......................................................... 20
4.6 Help.......................................................... 21
4.7 Blank Lines................................................... 21
4.8 Continuation Lines............................................ 22
4.9 Cursor Position Information................................... 22
4.10 Numeric Arguments.......................................... 23
4.11 Repeating a Command....................................... 25
iv
5 The Minibuffer ................................ 26
5.1 Using the Minibuffer.......................................... 26
5.2 Minibuffers for File Names.................................... 26
5.3 Editing in the Minibuffer...................................... 27
5.4 Completion................................................... 28
5.4.1 Completion Example..................................... 28
5.4.2 Completion Commands................................... 29
5.4.3 Completion Exit ......................................... 30
5.4.4 How Completion Alternatives Are Chosen................ 31
5.4.5 Completion Options...................................... 32
5.5 Minibuffer History............................................ 32
5.6 Repeating Minibuffer Commands.............................. 34
5.7 Entering passwords ........................................... 34
5.8 Yes or No Prompts............................................ 35
6 Running Commands by Name ............... 36
7 Help ............................................ 37
7.1 Documentation for a Key ..................................... 39
7.2 Help by Command or Variable Name.......................... 39
7.3 Apropos...................................................... 40
7.4 Help Mode Commands........................................ 41
7.5 Keyword Search for Packages.................................. 42
7.6 Help for International Language Support...................... 42
7.7 Other Help Commands........................................ 43
7.8 Help Files..................................................... 43
7.9 Help on Active Text and Tooltips ............................. 44
8 The Mark and the Region .................... 45
8.1 Setting the Mark.............................................. 45
8.2 Commands to Mark Textual Objects.......................... 47
8.3 Operating on the Region...................................... 47
8.4 The Mark Ring............................................... 48
8.5 The Global Mark Ring........................................ 49
8.6 Shift Selection................................................ 49
8.7 Disabling Transient Mark Mode............................... 50
v
9 Killing and Moving Text...................... 52
9.1 Deletion and Killing........................................... 52
9.1.1 Deletion ................................................. 52
9.1.2 Killing by Lines.......................................... 53
9.1.3 Other Kill Commands.................................... 54
9.1.4 Options for Killing....................................... 54
9.2 Yanking ...................................................... 55
9.2.1 The Kill Ring............................................ 55
9.2.2 Yanking Earlier Kills..................................... 55
9.2.3 Appending Kills.......................................... 56
9.3 “Cut and Paste” Operations on Graphical Displays............ 57
9.3.1 Using the Clipboard...................................... 57
9.3.2 Cut and Paste with Other Window Applications.......... 58
9.3.3 Secondary Selection...................................... 58
9.4 Accumulating Text............................................ 59
9.5 Rectangles.................................................... 60
9.6 CUA Bindings................................................ 62
10 Registers...................................... 64
10.1 Saving Positions in Registers................................. 64
10.2 Saving Text in Registers..................................... 64
10.3 Saving Rectangles in Registers............................... 65
10.4 Saving Window Configurations in Registers................... 66
10.5 Keeping Numbers in Registers................................ 66
10.6 Keeping File Names in Registers............................. 66
10.7 Keyboard Macro Registers................................... 67
10.8 Bookmarks .................................................. 67
11 Controlling the Display...................... 69
11.1 Scrolling..................................................... 69
11.2 Recentering.................................................. 70
11.3 Automatic Scrolling.......................................... 71
11.4 Horizontal Scrolling.......................................... 72
11.5 Narrowing................................................... 73
11.6 View Mode.................................................. 73
11.7 Follow Mode................................................. 74
11.8 Text Faces................................................... 74
11.9 Colors for Faces.............................................. 75
11.10 Standard Faces............................................. 75
11.11 Text Scale.................................................. 78
11.12 Font Lock mode............................................ 78
11.13 Interactive Highlighting..................................... 80
11.14 Window Fringes ............................................ 81
11.15 Displaying Boundaries...................................... 82
11.16 Useless Whitespace......................................... 82
11.17 Selective Display............................................ 83
11.18 Optional Mode Line Features............................... 84
vi
11.19 How Text Is Displayed...................................... 85
11.20 Displaying the Cursor....................................... 86
11.21 Line Truncation ............................................ 87
11.22 Visual Line Mode........................................... 87
11.23 Customization of Display................................... 88
12 Searching and Replacement ................. 90
12.1 Incremental Search........................................... 90
12.1.1 Basics of Incremental Search............................ 90
12.1.2 Repeating Incremental Search........................... 91
12.1.3 Errors in Incremental Search............................ 91
12.1.4 Special Input for Incremental Search .................... 92
12.1.5 Isearch Yanking......................................... 93
12.1.6 Not Exiting Incremental Search......................... 93
12.1.7 Searching the Minibuffer................................ 94
12.2 Nonincremental Search....................................... 95
12.3 Word Search................................................. 95
12.4 Symbol Search............................................... 96
12.5 Regular Expression Search................................... 96
12.6 Syntax of Regular Expressions ............................... 97
12.7 Backslash in Regular Expressions ........................... 100
12.8 Regular Expression Example................................ 102
12.9 Searching and Case......................................... 102
12.10 Replacement Commands................................... 103
12.10.1 Unconditional Replacement........................... 103
12.10.2 Regexp Replacement.................................. 103
12.10.3 Replace Commands and Case......................... 104
12.10.4 Query Replace........................................ 105
12.11 Other Search-and-Loop Commands ........................ 107
13 Commands for Fixing Typos............... 109
13.1 Undo....................................................... 109
13.2 Transposing Text........................................... 110
13.3 Case Conversion............................................ 111
13.4 Checking and Correcting Spelling........................... 111
14 Keyboard Macros........................... 114
14.1 Basic Use................................................... 114
14.2 The Keyboard Macro Ring.................................. 115
14.3 The Keyboard Macro Counter .............................. 116
14.4 Executing Macros with Variations........................... 118
14.5 Naming and Saving Keyboard Macros....................... 118
14.6 Editing a Keyboard Macro.................................. 119
14.7 Stepwise Editing a Keyboard Macro......................... 120