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This is Info file ../../info/new-users-guide.info, produced by Makeinfo-1.63 from the input file new-users-guide.texi. This file will serve as the User's Manual for the XEmacs editor. Copyright (C) 1985, 1986, 1988 Richard M. Stallman. Copyright (C) 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994 Lucid, Inc. Copyright (C) 1993, 1994 Sun Microsystems, Inc. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies. File: new-users-guide.info, Node: Help, Next: Modes, Prev: Customization Basics, Up: Top Help **** XEmacs provides a comprehensive Help facility. On the extreme right of the menu-bar there is a Help menu. There are several help commands provided by this menu. You can also use `C-h' for invoking the Help facility. Type "?" for a list of keys you can type after typing `C-h'. If you want more information on what your options are and what kind of help you can get type "?" again. You will get a listing of all the keys you can type and what they will do. Initially if you want help, type `C-h' three times. * Menu: * The Help Menu:: Items on the Help menu File: new-users-guide.info, Node: The Help Menu, Prev: Help, Up: Help Help menu ========= When you click on the Help menu with any of the mouse buttons you will get the following menu items: Info Selecting this item will take you to the Info page which is the online documentation browsing system. You can simply click on the highlighted items and "Info" will take you to the document providing information about that topic. Describe Mode After you select this item, you will get a documentation on the major and minor modes which are enabled in the buffer you are working with. *Note Modes::, for information on Modes. Hyper Apropos... After you select this item, you will see the following message in the echo area: List symbols matching regexp: If you type "mode" and hit RET, you will get a list of all the symbols (like functions and commands). You can now get documentation on any of the given symbols by "clicking" on any of the symbols (i.e. drag your mouse on the appropriate symbol and release the button). For example, if you "click" on the 'auto-fill-mode' you will get the following message in the window at the bottom: auto-fill-mode Function, Command: Toggle auto-fill mode. With arg, turn auto-fill mode on if and only if arg is positive. In auto-fill mode, inserting a space at a column beyond `fill-column' automatically breaks the line at a previous space. Variable: value = nil variable not documented Command Apropos... Selecting this item will prompt you for a string just like when you select Hyper Apropos.... After you give a string name, you will get a listing of all the functions and commands containing that string name with a very short description about what that command does. Full Apropos... After you select this item, you will be prompted for a string name in the echo area: Apropos (regexp): Now you can give any string name, for example "mode" and hit RET. You will get a listing of all the variables and commands containing that string i.e "mode" with a short description of its function. List Keybindings Select this item and you will get a listing of all the keys and the commands that they execute. Depending on which Major mode your buffer is in, you will get a listing of the special keybindings for that particular buffer also. For example, if you are in "Texinfo" mode, part of your list will contain: C-c C-c n texinfo-insert-@node C-c C-c o texinfo-insert-@noindent C-c C-c s texinfo-insert-@samp C-c C-c t texinfo-insert-@table C-c C-c v texinfo-insert-@var C-c C-c x texinfo-insert-@example C-c C-c { texinfo-insert-braces These keybindings apply only to "Texinfo" mode. *Note Modes::, for more information on various modes. Describe Key... After you select this item, you will be see the following message in the echo area: Describe Key: After you type a command key sequence, full documentation of that command will be displayed. For example if you type `C-g', you will see the following documentation for `C-g': keyboard-quit: Signal a `quit' condition. This means that `C-g' will quit whatever command you gave earlier. Describe Function... This menu item provides documentation for a function. After you select this item, it will prompt you for a function name in the echo area: Describe function (default <some function name>): If you hit RET without giving a function name, you will get documentation for that default function name, otherwise if you type a function name and hit RET, you will get documentation for the given function. Describe Variable... You can get documentation on any variable by selecting this menu item. It is similar to Describe Function and will prompt you for a variable name. Unix Manual... After you select this item you will be prompted for a Unix command for which you wish to see the man page. You will see the following message in the echo area: Manual entry: (default <some name>) Now you can type any command, for example type `who' and press RET. You will get the man page for the Unix command `who' which lists who is on the system. Emacs Tutorial Select this item and you will get a tutorial on Emacs. It is good for new users. Emacs News Select this item and you will get a lot of historical and current news on Emacs ! For more information on the Help facility, *Note Help: ()Help. File: new-users-guide.info, Node: Modes, Next: Files, Prev: Help, Up: Top Major and Minor Modes ********************* XEmacs is "language sensitive". It has several "major" and "minor" modes. The major modes customize Emacs to edit text of a particular sort. There are major modes for C, Lisp, Emacs Lisp, LaTeX, English etc. Within each major mode, certain functions and keys are redefined to "suit" that particular sort of text. The minor modes provide certain features which can be turned off or on at any time. Emacs can only be in one major mode at any time, but it can turn on several minor modes at the same time. After you have selected any major or minor mode, you can select Describe Mode from the Help menu and you will get documentation about those modes. * Menu: * Major Modes:: Choosing Major Modes * Minor Modes:: Auto-Fill, Abbrev and other minor modes File: new-users-guide.info, Node: Major Modes, Next: Minor Modes, Prev: Modes, Up: Modes Major Modes =========== Emacs has several major modes which customize Emacs to edit text of various sorts. You can have only one major mode at any time. Within each major mode, Emacs redefines certain functions (like cursor movement, indentation and text killing) to suit the needs of the text being edited. When you are editing a specific type of text you should switch to the appropriate mode. If you are working with C code, you should switch to C mode; if you are working with Lisp code, then switch to lisp mode and if you are working with English text switch to Text mode. When you open a file to work on, Emacs usually selects the appropriate mode. For example, if you open a file called `guide.c' then Emacs will select the C mode because of the ".c" extension of the file. To explicitly select a mode type the following command: ;;; selects lisp mode M-x lisp-mode ;;; selects C mode M-x c-mode To select any other mode, just add the major mode name before the '-mode'. The current mode in which you are in will be displayed in parenthesis in the mode-line at the bottom of the frame. All major modes have some special keybindings and you can get a listing of those keybindings by selecting List Keybindings from the Help menu on the menu bar. Some of the available modes in XEmacs are : fundamental-mode When you start XEmacs, usually you start with the default "Fundamental" mode. This mode has no special definitions or settings. nroff-mode Use this mode when you have to format a text with nroff before it can be available in readable form. It redefines some indentation commands. *Note Nroff Mode: ()Nroff Mode, for information on this mode. tex-mode Use this mode if you are using the LaTeX text-formatter. It provides commands for insertion of quotes, braces and other characters. It also allows you to format the buffer for printing. *Note TeX Mode: ()TeX Mode, for information on this mode. texinfo-mode Texinfo is a documentation system that uses a single source file to produce both printed output and on-line documentation. When you use this mode, there will be some special keybindings for inserting some characters and executing some commands. This info file which you are reading right now is produced by 'Texinfo' outline-mode Use this mode for editing outlines. When you enable this mode, you can make part of the text temporarily invisible so that you can see the overall structure of the outline. *Note Outline Mode: ()Outline Mode, for information on this mode. c-mode Use this mode for C programs. It will redefine some indentation commands. *Note C Indent: ()C Indent. lisp-mode Use this mode for Lisp programs. Look at the XEmacs Reference Manual for more information. fortran-mode Use this mode for Fortran programs. This mode provides special commands to move around and some other indentation commands. For more information on this mode, *Note Fortran: ()Fortran. edit-picture This is the picture mode which you can use to create a picture out of text characters. *Note Picture: ()Picture, for more information. asm-mode Use asm-mode for editing files of assembler code. Look at the file ` /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.11/lisp/modes/asm.el' for more information. There are some other modes and commands for working with other kinds of text or programs. Emacs also provides commands for reading and sending Mail. For more information on these features look at the XEmacs Manual. Emacs also provides the functions of a desk calendar, with a diary of past or planned events. For more information on the calendar mode look at the manual for Calendar Mode and Diary. File: new-users-guide.info, Node: Minor Modes, Prev: Major Modes, Up: Modes Minor Modes =========== The minor modes in Emacs provide some optional features which you can turn on or off. Any number of minor modes can be active at the same time with any major mode. You can enable a minor mode in one buffer and disable it in other mode. To enable a minor mode, for example the font-lock mode type the following command: M-x font-lock-mode To enable the other minor modes, replace the "font-lock" with the name of the minor mode. To disable the mode type the command again. A positive argument will always turn the mode on. Whenever you type this command, it will turn the mode on if it was off, OR it will turn it off if it was on i.e. it toggles. Look at the mode-line at the bottom of the frame. If it says FLock in parentheses, then it means that this mode is on, otherwise it is off. The following are some of the minor modes available in XEmacs. To enable any one of them type "M-x" in front of them. font-lock-mode You can also choose this mode by selecting the Syntax Highlighting menu item from the Options menu on the menu-bar at the top. If you wish to have this mode enabled permanently, choose Save Options from the Options menu. *Note Options Menu::, for more information on the Options menu. You can also add statements in your `.emacs' file. For each major mode in which you wish to enable this minor mode, you need a statement in your `.emacs' file. The following example shows how to enable the font-lock mode when the major mode is c-mode. (add-hook 'c-mode-hook 'turn-on-font-lock) *Note Other Customizations::. When you enable this mode, the text will be displayed in different colors and fonts depending on the type of the text. This makes the text very easy to read and understand. For example, comments might be displayed in red, variables in black, functions in blue and other keywords in different colors and fonts. When you select More from the Syntax Highlighting option, you get very detailed display of colors and fonts; function names within comments themselves might appear in a different font and color. auto-fill-mode Enabling this mode will provide automatic word-wrapping. The SPC key will break lines i.e. insert newlines as you type to prevent lines from becoming too long. overwrite-mode When you enable this mode, the text that you type will replace the existing text rather than moving it to the right (the default case). You can enable this mode by selecting Overstrike menu-item from the Options menu from the menu-bar. abbrev-mode After you enable this mode, you can define words which will expand into some different text i.e. you can define abbreviations. For example, you might define "expand" to "expand will eventually expand to this text". After this definition you will be able to get "expand will eventually expand to this text" simply by typing expand SPC *Note Abbrevs: ()Abbrevs, for more information on this mode and on defining abbreviations. auto-save-mode After you enable this mode in a buffer, the contents of that buffer will be saved periodically. This will reduce the amount you might lose in case of a system crash. line-number-mode After you enable this mode, the line number at which your cursor is present will be displayed continously in the mode line. blink-paren To enable this command, just type M-x blink-paren Do not add the "-mode" to it. You can also select the Paren Highlighting option from the Options menu. After you enable this command, put your cursor on one of the left parenthesis. The other matching parenthesis will start blinking. *Note Options Menu:: for more information on the Paren Highlighting option. For information on some other modes, look at the XEmacs Reference Manual and the associated files. File: new-users-guide.info, Node: Files, Next: Other Customizations, Prev: Modes, Up: Top Files ***** The basic unit of stored data in Unix is the "file". To edit a file, you must tell Emacs to read the file into a buffer. This is called "visiting" the file. You can now edit the buffer and to save the changes you must write the buffer back to the file. In addition to visiting and saving files, Emacs can delete, copy, rename, and append to files, and operate on file directories. * Menu: * File Names:: How to type and edit file name arguments. * Visiting:: Visiting a file prepares Emacs to edit the file. * Saving Files:: How to save Emacs files. File: new-users-guide.info, Node: File Names, Next: Visiting, Prev: Files, Up: Files File Names ========== Most of the Emacs commands that operate on a file require you to specify a file name. For example, you might specify the file name initially when you enter Emacs : xemacs myfile RET After you hit RET, you will enter XEmacs with "myfile" read into the current buffer. If you do not specify the filename when entering Emacs, you can use the Open... option from the File menu. You will be prompted for a filename in the echo area: Find file: /usr/workspace/ Type in a file name which you want to open after the "/" and hit RET. The specified file will be read into the current buffer. The "/usr/workspace" might be the "default directory". When Emacs prompts you for a file, it uses the default-directory unless you specify a directory. You can see what the default directory of the current buffer is by using the Describe Variable option from the Help menu. When Emacs prompts you for the variable name to describe, type DEFAULT-DIRECTORY. If you wish to open a file in some other directory, use DEL or the BackSpace key to go back and type the path name of the new directory. You can create a new directory by typing `M-x make-directory'. This command will prompt you for a directory name: Create directory: /usr/workspace/ After you type a directory name and press RET, a new directory with the specified name will be created. If you do not wish to create a new directory, then simply press `C-g' to quit the command. Similarly, you can also remove a directory by using the command `remove-directory'. The command `M-x pwd' will print the current buffer's default directory. For more information on file names, *Note File Names: ()File Names. File: new-users-guide.info, Node: Visiting, Next: Saving Files, Prev: File Names, Up: Files Visiting Files ============== To edit a file in Emacs you need to "visit" it. "Visiting" a file means copying its contents (or reading them) into the current buffer. Emacs will create a new buffer for each file that you visit. The buffer will be named after the file that you open. If you open a file `/usr/workspace/myfile.texinfo', the buffer will be called "myfile.texinfo". If a buffer with this name already exists, a unique name will be constructed by appending `<2>', `<3>', etc. If this is the second buffer with the same name, a "<2>" will be appended, "<3>" for a third buffer and so on. The name of the buffer which is being displayed in the window will be shown both at the top and bottom of the frame. Once you are in XEmacs, you can use the following commands: `C-x C-f' This command will visit a file (`find-file'). It will prompt you for a file name to visit. The Open... option from the File menu does the same thing: Find file: /usr/workspace/ Type in a filename and press RET. You will see a new buffer on the screen with its name in the mode-line. If the filename you specify already exists in Emacs, the buffer containing that file will be selected. You will get an error message if the filename does not exist. If you still press RET, a new buffer with the given filename will be displayed on the screen. `C-x C-v' This command (`find-alternate-file'), will visit a different file instead of the one visited last. It is similar to `C-c C-f' except that it kills the current buffer (after offering to save it). `C-x 5 C-f' This command will visit a file in another frame (`find-file-other-frame') without changing the current window or frame. The Open in New Frame... from the File menu will do the same thing. It will prompt you for a file name in the echo area. After you type the file name and press RET, the specified file will be read into a new buffer and displayed on a new frame. File: new-users-guide.info, Node: Saving Files, Prev: Visiting, Up: Files Saving Files ============ The changes that you make after visiting a file will not be saved unless you save the buffer. When you save the buffer, Emacs writes the current contents of the buffer into the visited file. Some commands to save buffers are: `C-x C-s' This command will permanently save the current buffer in its visited file (`save-buffer'). You will see the following message in the echo area if you save a file called "myfile.texinfo" : Wrote /usr/workspace/myfile.texinfo Try using this command twice. You will get the above message the first time you use this command, the second time you will get the following message: (No changes need to be saved) This message indicates that you haven't made any changes since the last time you saved the file. `C-x s' This command will save all the buffers in their visited files (`save-some-buffers'). It will prompt you for typing yes or no: Save file /usr/workspace/myfile.texinfo? (y or n) You will get the above message for all the buffers. Type "y" if you want to save the buffer. `C-x C-w' This command will prompt you for a file name and save the current buffer in that file. (`write-file'). You will see the following message in the echo area: Write file: /usr/workspace/ After you type in a file name, press RET. The buffer will be saved in a new file. You can make copies of a particular file using this command. You can also undo all the changes made since the file was visited or saved by reading the text from the file again (called "reverting"). For more information on this option, *Note Reverting: ()Reverting. When you save a file in Emacs, it destroys its old contents. However, if you set the variable MAKE-BACKUP-FILES to non-NIL i.e. `t', Emacs will create a "backup" file. Select the Describe variable option from the Help menu and look at the documentation for this variable. Its default value should be `t'. However, if its not then use `M-x set-variable' to set it to `t' (*note Setting Variables::.). The backup file will contain the contents from the last time you visited the file. Emacs also provides options for creating numbered backups. For more information on backups, *Note Backup: ()Backup. Emacs also saves all the files from time to time so that in case of a system crash you don't lose lot of your work. You will see the message `Auto-saving...' displayed in the echo area when the buffer is being saved automatically. The auto saved files are named by putting the character `#' in front and back. For example a file called "myfile.texinfo" would be named as `#myfile.texinfo#'. For information on controlling auto-saving and recovering data from auto-saving, *Note Auto Save Files: ()Auto Save Files. Emacs provides protection from simultaneous editing which occurs if two users are visiting the same file and trying to save their changes. It will put a lock on a file which is being visited and modified. If any other user tries to modify that file, it will inform the user about the lock and provide some options. For more information on protection against simultaneous editing, *Note Interlocking: ()Interlocking. File: new-users-guide.info, Node: Other Customizations, Next: Select and Move, Prev: Files, Up: Top Other Customizations ******************** You can modify the behavior of Emacs in minor ways permanently by putting your changes in your `.emacs' file. This file contains Lisp function call expressions. Each of these expressions will consist of a function name followed by arguments, all surrounded by parentheses. For example, to turn on the auto-fill-mode (i.e. break lines automatically when they become too long) , put the following line in your `.emacs' file: (add-hook 'text-mode-hook '(lambda() (auto-fill-mode 1))) Emacs has a function named "turn-on-auto-fill" which is defined as "(lambda() (auto-fill-mode 1))". Therefore you can also write the above as: (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'turn-on-auto-fill) Emacs provides a number of hooks for the sake of customization. The hook variables contain list of functions to be called with no arguments. To turn on the auto-fill-mode, add the appropriate hook as shown in the example above. Similarly, to enable the "font-lock mode" which displays your program in different fonts and colors(*note Modes::.), put the following in your `.emacs' file. The comments above the statement explain what the statements do. ;;; enables the font-lock-mode in Lisp Mode (add-hook 'lisp-mode-hook 'turn-on-font-lock) ;;; enables the font-lock-mode in Texinfo Mode (add-hook 'texinfo-mode-hook 'turn-on-font-lock) ;;; enables the font-lock mode in C Mode (add-hook 'c-mode-hook 'turn-on-font-lock) To turn on the font-lock mode in other Major Modes like emacs-lisp, just put the name of the mode with "-hook" appended to it as the middle parameter in the above examples. You can also select the color that the functions, comments or other keywords should be displayed in : ;;; the function names will now be displayed in blue color (set-face-foreground 'font-lock-function-name-face "blue") ;;; the comments will be displayed in forest green (set-face-foreground 'font-lock-comment-face "forest green") For other customizations regarding the font-lock face, look at the file `/usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.11/etc/sample.emacs'. * Menu: * Setting Variables:: Customizing Emacs variables * Init File:: Some examples of Lisp expressions in .emacs file File: new-users-guide.info, Node: Setting Variables, Next: Init File, Prev: Other Customizations, Up: Other Customizations Other Customizations ==================== In XEmacs, "variables" are used for internal record-keeping and customizations. There are some variables called "options" which you can use for customizations. To examine a variable use: ;;; print the value and documentation of the variable, use either of the ;;; following commands C-h v M-x describe variable After you type any of the above commands, you will be prompted for a variable name in the "echo area". Type in the name of the variable, for example, type CASE-FOLD-SEARCH RET Your window will split into two and you will see the following message in that window: case-fold-search's value is t This value is specific to the current buffer. Documentation: *Non-nil if searches should ignore case. Automatically becomes buffer-local when set in any fashion. Since this variable's value is 't' searches will ignore case. If you want case-sensitive-search (i.e. if you are searching for "Foo" and you do not want "foo" to be included in the search, you need to set this variable to "nil". In order to do that, use: M-x set-variable Emacs will prompt you for the variable which you wish to set. Type in "case-fold-search" and hit RET. You will see the following message: Set case-fold-search to value: Type "nil" and hit RET. Now if you again use `M-x describe variable' , you will see that the new value of case-fold-search will be "nil" and your searches will be case-sensitive. This will be effective only for that Emacs session. If you want to change the value of a variable permanently put the following statement in your `.emacs' file : (setq case-fold-search nil) This statement will make searches case-sensitive only in the current buffer which is the `.emacs' file. This will not be very useful. To make searches case-sensitive globally in all buffers, use: (setq-default case-fold-search nil) If you want to change the value of any other variable, use : (setq <variable-name> <new value>) "setq" will assign the "new value" to the "variable-name" . If you want a list of the "options" i.e. the variables available for customization type: ;;; displays a buffer listing names, values and documentation of options M-x list-options ;;; displays options and allows you to edit those list of options M-x edit-options Try these options. If you are using edit-options to edit a variable, just point at the variable you wish to edit and use one of the following commands: 1 Set the value of the variable to t (non-nil). 0 Set the value of the variable to nil. n Move to the next variable. p Move to the previous variable. There are some other options available to make the value of a variable local to a buffer and then to switch to its global value. You can also have a "local variables list" in a file which specifies the values to use for certain Emacs variables when you edit that file. *Note Variables: ()Variables, for information on these options. File: new-users-guide.info, Node: Init File, Prev: Setting Variables, Up: Other Customizations Init File Examples ================== For customizing Emacs, you need to put Lisp expressions in your `.emacs' file. The following are some useful Lisp expressions. If you find any of them useful, just type them in your `.emacs' file: * The following expression will make TAB in C mode insert a real tab character if the cursor or point is in the middle of the line. Now hitting the TAB key will indent a line only if the cursor is at the left margin or in the line's indentation: (setq c-tab-always-indent nil) The value of the variable C-TAB-ALWAYS-INDENT is usually `t' for `true'. When this variable is true, then hitting the TAB key always indents the current line. * This expression will turn on the AUTO-FILL-MODE when you are in text mode: (setq text-mode-hook 'turn-on-auto-fill) This mode will automatically break lines when you type a space so that the lines don't become too long. The length of the lines is controlled by the variable FILL-COLUMN. You can set this variable to a value you wish. Look at the documentation for this variable to see its default value. To change the value to 75 for example, use: (setq-default fill-column 75) This will change the value of this variable globally. * The following expression will enable the use of EVAL-EXPRESSION without confirmation: (put 'eval-expression 'disabled nil) Now when you use EVAL-EXPRESSION, it will print the value of the expression you specify in the "echo area" without confirming with you. * This expression will remove the binding of `C-x C-c', because its easy to hit this key by mistake and you will exit Emacs unintentionally. You can use the Exit Emacs option from the File menu to exit Emacs. (global-set-key "\C-x\C-c" nil) Now if you type `C-x C-c', you won't exit Emacs. * The following expression will make the BACKSPACE and the DEL key work in the same manner: (global-set-key 'backspace [delete]) * This expression will make searches case sensitive: (setq-default case-fold-search nil) If we use "setq" instead of "setq-default" then searches will be case-sensitive only in the current buffer's local value. In this case the buffer would be the `.emacs' file. Since this would not be too helpful and we want to have case-sensitive searches in all buffers, we have to use "setq-default". * This expression will enable the font-lock mode when you are using texinfo mode: (add-hook 'texinfo-mode-hook 'turn-on-font-lock) *Note Minor Modes::, for information on font-lock mode. * Rebinds the key `C-x l' to run the function `make-symbolic-link': (global-set-key "\C-xl" 'make-symbolic-link) We use the single quote before "make-symbolic-link" because its a function name. You can also use the following expression which does the same thing: (define-key global-map "C-xl" 'make-symbolic-link) * The following expression will bind `C-x l' to run the function `make-symbolic-link' in C mode only: (define-key c-mode-map "C-xl" 'make-symbolic-link) Instead of binding `C-xl' to run `make-symbolic-link', you can bind the F1 key to run this function: (define-key c-mode-map 'f1 'make-symbolic-link) Here, you have to use lower case for naming function keys like F1. * You can bind the function `undo' i.e. `C-x u' to any key, for example to F2: (global-set-key 'f2 'undo) * The following statement will display the current time in the modeline of the buffer: (display-time) * This displays the current line number on which the cursor is present in the modeline: (setq line-number-mode t) * If you don't want the text to be highlighted when you use commands for marking regions so as to use the "kill" and "yank" commands later, you can use the following expression in your `.emacs' file: (setq zmacs-regions nil) Now if you use a command like `C-x C-p' (`mark-page'), the text will not be highlighted. * To control the number of buffers listed when you select the Buffers menu, you need to set the variable BUFFERS-MENU-MAX-SIZE to whatever value you wish. For example, if you want 20 buffers to be listed when you select Buffers use: (setq buffers-menu-max-size 20) * If you want the window title area to display the full directory/name of the current buffer's file, and not just the name, use: (setq frame-title-format "%S: %f") * To get rid of the menu, use : (set-menubar nil) * If you want an extensive menu-bar use the following expression in your `.emacs' file. (load "big-menubar") If you want to write your own menus, you can look at some of the examples in `/usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/packages/big-menubar.el' file. For more information on initializing your `.emacs' file, *Note Init File: ()Init File. You should also look at `/usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/etc/sample.emacs', which is a sample `.emacs' file. It contains some of the commonly desired customizations in Emacs. File: new-users-guide.info, Node: Select and Move, Next: Search and Replace, Prev: Other Customizations, Up: Top Selecting and Moving Text ************************* Many Emacs commands operate on an arbitrary contiguous part of the current buffer. You can select some part of the buffer and edit only that part of the buffer. This selected buffer is called a "region". You can select text in two ways: * You use special keys to select text by defining a region between the cursor and "the mark" (which you set). * If you are running XEmacs under X, you can also select text with the mouse. * Menu: * Selecting Text:: Select a region of text by setting the Mark * Mouse:: Selecting Text with Mouse * Region Operation:: Various ways to operate on a selected text * Moving Text:: Moving Text * Accumulating text:: Accumulating Text from several buffers File: new-users-guide.info, Node: Selecting Text, Next: Mouse, Prev: Select and Move, Up: Select and Move Setting the Mark ================ To define a region you need to set "the mark" at one end of it and move the cursor to the other end. Once you set the mark, it remains there until you set it again to some other place. Each buffer has its own "mark ring" (a place where Emacs remembers 16 previous locations of the mark). To set "the mark", you can use the following commands: `C-SPC' This command will set "the mark" at the position of your cursor (`set-mark-command'). You can move your cursor around and "the mark" will stay there. `C-x C-x' Interchange mark and point (`exchange-point-and-mark'). Since Emacs will have only one cursor, after you move the cursor it will be unable to show you where you set the "the mark". In order to see "the mark" you can type the command `C-x C-x' which will put your cursor on the position of your mark and your mark on the position of your cursor. Use the command again to reset the positions of your cursor and mark. `C-<' This command will push the mark at the beginning of the buffer without changing the position of your cursor. `C->' This command will push the mark at the end of the buffer without changing the position of your cursor. You can also give arguments to `C-<' or `C->'. *Note The Mark and the Region: ()The Mark and the Region, for more information. File: new-users-guide.info, Node: Mouse, Next: Region Operation, Prev: Selecting Text, Up: Select and Move Selecting Text with Mouse ========================= If you are using XEmacs under X, you can use the mouse to select text. The selected text will always be highlighted, so just by looking at the text you know what you have selected so far. To select a word just double-click with the left-mouse-button on the word. To select a whole line triple-click anywhere on the line with the left-mouse-button. You can also use the Copy item from the Edit menu on the menu-bar to select text. This kind of selection is called Clipboard selection, *Note X Clipboard Selection: ()X Clipboard Selection, for more information. To select an arbitrary region, follow these steps: 1. Move the mouse cursor over the character at the beginning of the region of text you want to select. 2. Press and hold the left mouse button. 3. While holding the left mouse button down, drag the cursor to the character at the end of the region of text you want to select. 4. Release the left mouse button. The selected region of text is highlighted. *Note Selecting Text with the Mouse: ()Selecting Text with the Mouse, for more information regarding the Mouse and additional mouse operations. File: new-users-guide.info, Node: Region Operation, Next: Moving Text, Prev: Mouse, Up: Select and Move Operating on the Region ======================= Once you have selected a region you can do a lot of things to the text in the region: * Kill the text with `C-w'. For example if you want to kill a paragraph, position the cursor to the beginning of the paragraph and type `C-SPC'. Then go to the end of the paragraph and type `C-w'. The entire paragraph will be deleted. You can also select the text with a mouse and type `C-w' to kill the entire region. *Note Killing: ()Killing, for more information. * Save the text in a buffer or a file (*note Accumulating Text: ()Accumulating Text.). * You can convert the case of the text with `C-x C-l' or `C-x C-u' If you type `C-x C-u' the selected text will become all upper-case. If you type `C-x C-l' the selected text will become all lower-case. * Print hardcopy with `M-x print-region'. *Note Hardcopy: ()Hardcopy, for more information. This command will print a hardcopy of only the selected text. * Indent it with `C-x TAB' or `C-M-\' *Note Indentation: ()Indentation, for more information. File: new-users-guide.info, Node: Moving Text, Next: Accumulating text, Prev: Region Operation, Up: Select and Move Moving Text =========== The most common way to move or copy text in Emacs is through "killing" or `cutting' it and then "yanking" or `pasting' it. You can also use the Cut or Copy option from the Edit menu for killing and copying respectively. *Note Edit menu:: for reviewing the commands for killing text. All the killed text in Emacs is recorded in the "kill ring". Since there is only one kill ring in Emacs, you can kill text in one buffer and yank it in another buffer. To `paste' or `yank' the killed text you can use the following commands: `C-y' This command will yank or paste the last killed text (`yank'). `M-w' Save region as last killed text without actually killing it (`copy-region-as-kill'). You can use this command to copy a selected region and then yank (or paste) it without actually removing it from the buffer. `C-M-w' Append next kill to last batch of killed text (`append-next-kill'). This command will append whatever you killed last to what you kill now. Then later you will be able to yank the entire appended text from the "kill ring". File: new-users-guide.info, Node: Accumulating text, Prev: Moving Text, Up: Select and Move Accumulating Text ================= The following commands can be used for accumulating text from different buffers into one place or for copying one region of text into many buffers: `M-x append-to-buffer' Append region to contents of specified buffer (`append-to-buffer'). After you type in this command and press RET, Emacs will prompt you for a buffer name. You will see a message in the echo area: Append to buffer: (default <buffer name>) After you type in a buffer name, a copy of the region will be inserted at the location of the cursor into that buffer. If there is no buffer with the name given by you, Emacs will create a new buffer with that name. By default the cursor's position in the <buffer name> is at the end. `M-x prepend-to-buffer' Prepend region to contents of specified buffer. This command is similar to the above command except that the cursor in the buffer (by default) is at the beginning rather than at the end. `M-x copy-to-buffer' Copy region into specified buffer, deleting that buffer's old contents. This command will also prompt you for a buffer name. `M-x insert-buffer' Insert contents of specified buffer into current buffer at point. This command will prompt you for a buffername which you want to be copied into the current buffer at the location of the cursor. `M-x append-to-file' This command will prompt you for a filename and append the region to the end of the contents of the specified file. *Note Accumulating Text: ()Accumulating Text, for more information regarding this topic. You can also use "rectangle commands" for operating on rectangular areas of text. *Note Rectangles: ()Rectangles, for more information regarding rectangle commands. Emacs also provides "registers" which serve as temporary storage for text or positions. Each register has a one character name and they can store "regions", a "rectangle", or a "mark" i.e. a cursor position. Whatever you store in register stays there until you store something else in that register. To find out about commands which manipulate registers *Note Registers: ()Registers. File: new-users-guide.info, Node: Search and Replace, Prev: Select and Move, Up: Top Searching and Replacing *********************** Emacs provides commands for searching for occurrences of a particular string. The search is incremental i.e. it begins even before you complete typing the whole string. All searches in Emacs ignore the case of the text they are searching, i.e. if you are searching for "String", then "string" will also be one of the selections. If you want a case sensitive search select the Case Sensitive Search from the Option menu. You can also set the variable CASE-FOLD-SEARCH to NIL for making searches case-sensitive. For information on setting variables, *Note Setting Variables::. The two commands for searching for strings in XEmacs are: `C-s' This command will prompt you for a string to search : I-search: If you type "myname" as the string to be searched, then Emacs will start searching for "m", "my", "myn", etc as you go on typing the whole string in the forward direction. The cursor will be on the matching string which has been found so far. If you find the correct match just hit RET or type `C-f' or `C-b' to set the cursor's position. If you find a matching string "myname" but you were looking for a different occurrence of it, use `C-s' again. If the search is unable to find the string, it will give you an error message. `C-r' This command will perform an incremental search in the backward direction. It will prompt you for a string name: I-search backward: After you start typing the string name, it will search for the string in the same fashion as it does for `C-s' except that it will search in the backward direction. If it cannot find the string name, it will give you an error message. If you make a mistake while typing the string names when you use the above commands, you can use the DEL key to erase characters. Each DEL will erase the last character. At any time if you want to quit the search, just type `C-g'. To do a non-incremental search i.e. to start the search only after you have typed the whole string you can use the following commands: `C-s RET "string" RET' This command will search for the specified string in the forward direction and will give an error message if the string is not found. `C-r RET "string" RET' This command will search for the specified string in the backward direction. For information on how Emacs searches for words and regular expressions, *Note Search: ()Search. To replace all occurrences of a string in Emacs, you can use the following command: M-x replace-string After you type `M-x replace-string', you will be prompted for a string name to replace: Replace string: After you type in a string name, for example "FOO" and press RET, you will see another prompt: Replace string FOO with: Now type the string which you want to replace "FOO" with and press RET. After all the occurrences are replaced you will see the message "Done" in the echo area. If you want only some occurrences of the string to be replaced, use `M-x query-replace RET <string> RET <newstring> RET'. For more information, *Note Query Replace: ()Query Replace. XEmacs also provides a utility for checking spellings. Use `M-x ispell-buffer' to check for spellings in the whole buffer. You can also check the spelling of a word or a region. You can use menus to check for spellings: Evaluate the expression `(load "big-menubar")'. To evaluate this expression you need to hit the META or the ESC key twice and type in the expression in the echo area before hitting RET. You will get an extensive menubar. Select the Spell Check menu item from the Utilities menu for checking spellings. File: new-users-guide.info, Node: Key Index, Next: Command Index, Prev: Intro, Up: Top Key (Character) Index ********************* * Menu: * C-<: Selecting Text. * C->: Selecting Text. * C-a: Cursor Position. * C-b: Cursor Position. * C-d: Erase. * C-e: Cursor Position. * C-fx: Cursor Position. * C-g: The Help Menu. * C-h d: The Help Menu. * C-h k: The Help Menu. * C-h t: Edit. * C-k: Erase. * C-M-\: Region Operation. * C-n: Cursor Position. * C-p: Cursor Position. * C-r: Search and Replace. * C-s: Search and Replace. * C-SPC <1>: Selecting Text. * C-SPC: Region Operation. * C-t: Cursor Position. * C-u: Numeric Argument. * C-v: Cursor Position. * C-w: Region Operation. * C-x 0: XEmacs Window. * C-x 1: XEmacs Window. * C-x 2: XEmacs Window. * C-x 3: XEmacs Window. * C-x 4: XEmacs Window. * C-x 4 b: XEmacs Window. * C-x 4 d: XEmacs Window. * C-x 4 f: XEmacs Window. * C-x 4 m: XEmacs Window. * C-x 5 C-f: Visiting. * C-x C-c: Exiting. * C-x C-f: Visiting. * C-x C-l: Region Operation. * C-x C-s: Saving Files. * C-x C-u: Region Operation. * C-x C-v: Visiting. * C-x C-w: Saving Files. * C-x C-x: Selecting Text. * C-x s: Saving Files. * C-x TAB: Region Operation. * C-x u: Undo. * C-y: Moving Text. * C-z: Exiting. * DEL: Insert. * M-<: Cursor Position. * M->: Cursor Position. * M--: Numeric Argument. * M-C-v: XEmacs Window. * M-d: Erase. * M-DEL: Erase. * M-k: Erase. * M-v: Cursor Position. * M-z: Erase. * RET: Insert.