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Info file ../info/emacs, produced by Makeinfo, -*- Text -*- from input file lemacs.tex. This file documents the GNU Emacs editor. Copyright (C) 1985, 1986, 1988 Richard M. Stallman. Copyright (C) 1991, 1992 Lucid, 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. Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided also that the sections entitled "The GNU Manifesto", "Distribution" and "GNU General Public License" are included exactly as in the original, and provided that the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a permission notice identical to this one. Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions, except that the sections entitled "The GNU Manifesto", "Distribution" and "GNU General Public License" may be included in a translation approved by the author instead of in the original English. File: emacs, Node: Incremental Search, Next: Non-Incremental Search, Prev: Search, Up: Search Incremental Search ================== An incremental search begins searching as soon as you type the first character of the search string. As you type in the search string, Emacs shows you where the string (as you have typed it so far) is found. When you have typed enough characters to identify the place you want, you can stop. Depending on what you do next, you may or may not need to terminate the search explicitly with a RET. `C-s' Incremental search forward (`isearch-forward'). `C-r' Incremental search backward (`isearch-backward'). `C-s' starts an incremental search. `C-s' reads characters from the keyboard and positions the cursor at the first occurrence of the characters that you have typed. If you type `C-s' and then `F', the cursor moves right after the first `F'. Type an `O', and see the cursor move to after the first `FO'. After another `O', the cursor is after the first `FOO' after the place where you started the search. Meanwhile, the search string `FOO' has been echoed in the echo area. The echo area display ends with three dots when actual searching is going on. When search is waiting for more input, the three dots are removed. (On slow terminals, the three dots are not displayed.) If you make a mistake in typing the search string, you can erase characters with DEL. Each DEL cancels the last character of the search string. This does not happen until Emacs is ready to read another input character; first it must either find, or fail to find, the character you want to erase. If you do not want to wait for this to happen, use `C-g' as described below. When you are satisfied with the place you have reached, you can type RET (or C-m), which stops searching, leaving the cursor where the search brought it. Any command not specially meaningful in searches also stops the search and is then executed. Thus, typing `C-a' exits the search and then moves to the beginning of the line. RET is necessary only if the next command you want to type is a printing character, DEL, ESC, or another control character that is special within searches (`C-q', `C-w', `C-r', `C-s' or `C-y'). Sometimes you search for `FOO' and find it, but were actually looking for a different occurance of it. To move to the next occurrence of the search string, type another `C-s'. Do this as often as necessary. If you overshoot, you can cancel some `C-s' characters with DEL. After you exit a search, you can search for the same string again by typing just `C-s C-s': the first `C-s' is the key that invokes incremental search, and the second `C-s' means "search again". If the specified string is not found at all, the echo area displays the text `Failing I-Search'. The cursor is after the place where Emacs found as much of your string as it could. Thus, if you search for `FOOT', and there is no `FOOT', the cursor may be after the `FOO' in `FOOL'. At this point there are several things you can do. If you mistyped the search string, correct it. If you like the place you have found, you can type RET or some other Emacs command to "accept what the search offered". Or you can type `C-g', which removes from the search string the characters that could not be found (the `T' in `FOOT'), leaving those that were found (the `FOO' in `FOOT'). A second `C-g' at that point cancels the search entirely, returning point to where it was when the search started. If a search is failing and you ask to repeat it by typing another `C-s', it starts again from the beginning of the buffer. Repeating a failing reverse search with `C-r' starts again from the end. This is called "wrapping around". `Wrapped' appears in the search prompt once this has happened. The `C-g' "quit" character does special things during searches; just what it does depends on the status of the search. If the search has found what you specified and is waiting for input, `C-g' cancels the entire search. The cursor moves back to where you started the search. If `C-g' is typed when there are characters in the search string that have not been found--because Emacs is still searching for them, or because it has failed to find them--then the search string characters which have not been found are discarded from the search string. The search is now successful and waiting for more input, so a second `C-g' cancels the entire search. To search for a control character such as `C-s' or DEL or ESC, you must quote it by typing `C-q' first. This function of `C-q' is analogous to its meaning as an Emacs command: it causes the following character to be treated the way a graphic character would normally be treated in the same context. To search backwards, you can use `C-r' instead of `C-s' to start the search; `C-r' is the key that runs the command (`isearch-backward') to search backward. You can also use `C-r' to change from searching forward to searching backwards. Do this if a search fails because the place you started was too far down in the file. Repeated `C-r' keeps looking for more occurrences backwards. `C-s' starts going forward again. You can cancel `C-r' in a search with DEL. The characters `C-y' and `C-w' can be used in incremental search to grab text from the buffer into the search string. This makes it convenient to search for another occurrence of text at point. `C-w' copies the word after point as part of the search string, advancing point over that word. Another `C-s' to repeat the search will then search for a string including that word. `C-y' is similar to `C-w' but copies the rest of the current line into the search string. The characters `M-p' and `M-n' can be used in an incremental search to recall things which you have searched for in the past. A list of the last 16 things you have searched for is retained, and `M-p' and `M-n' let you cycle through that ring. The character `M-TAB' does completion on the elements in the search history ring. For example, if you know that you have recently searched for the string `POTATOE', you could type `C-s P O M-TAB'. If you had searched for other strings beginning with `PO' then you would be shown a list of them, and would need to type more to select one. You can change any of the special characters in incremental search via the normal keybinding mechanism: simply add a binding to the `isearch-mode-map'. For example, to make the character `C-b' mean "search backwards" while in isearch-mode, do this: (define-key isearch-mode-map "\C-b" 'isearch-repeat-backward) These are the default bindings of isearch-mode: `DEL' (`isearch-delete-char') Delete a character from the incremental search string. `RET' (`isearch-exit') Exit incremental search. `C-q' (`isearch-quote-char') Quote special characters for incremental search. `C-s' (`isearch-repeat-forward') Repeat incremental search forward. `C-r' (`isearch-repeat-reverse') Repeat incremental search backward. `C-y' (`isearch-yank-line') Pull rest of line from buffer into search string. `C-w' (`isearch-yank-word') Pull next word from buffer into search string. `C-g' (`isearch-abort') Cancels input back to what has been found successfully, or aborts the isearch. `M-p' (`isearch-ring-retreat') Recall the previous element in the isearch history ring. `M-n' (`isearch-ring-advance') Recall the next element in the isearch history ring. `M-TAB' (`isearch-complete') Do completion on the elements in the isearch history ring. Any other character which is normally inserted into a buffer when typed is automatically added to the search string in isearch-mode. Slow Terminal Incremental Search -------------------------------- Incremental search on a slow terminal uses a modified style of display that is designed to take less time. Instead of redisplaying the buffer at each place the search gets to, it creates a new single-line window and uses that to display the line the search has found. The single-line window appears as soon as point gets outside of the text that is already on the screen. When the search is terminated, the single-line window is removed. Only at this time the window in which the search was done is redisplayed to show its new value of point. The three dots at the end of the search string, normally used to indicate that searching is going on, are not displayed in slow style display. The slow terminal style of display is used when the terminal baud rate is less than or equal to the value of the variable `search-slow-speed', initially 1200. The number of lines to use in slow terminal search display is controlled by the variable `search-slow-window-lines'. Its normal value is 1. File: emacs, Node: Non-Incremental Search, Next: Word Search, Prev: Incremental Search, Up: Search Non-Incremental Search ====================== Emacs also has conventional non-incremental search commands, which require you type the entire search string before searching begins. `C-s RET STRING RET' Search for STRING. `C-r RET STRING RET' Search backward for STRING. To do a non-incremental search, first type `C-s RET' (or `C-s C-m'. This enters the minibuffer to read the search string. Terminate the string with RET to start the search. If the string is not found the search command gets an error. By default, `C-s' invokes incremental search, but if you give it an empty argument, which would otherwise be useless, it invokes non-incremental search. Therefore, `C-s RET' invokes non-incremental search. `C-r RET' also works this way. Forward and backward non-incremental searches are implemented by the commands `search-forward' and `search-backward'. You can bind these commands to keys. The reason that incremental search is programmed to invoke them as well is that `C-s RET' is the traditional sequence of characters used in Emacs to invoke non-incremental search. Non-Incremental searches performed using `C-s RET' do not call `search-forward' right away. They first check if the next character is `C-w', which requests a word search. *Note Word Search::. File: emacs, Node: Word Search, Next: Regexp Search, Prev: Non-Incremental Search, Up: Search Word Search =========== Word search looks for a sequence of words without regard to how the words are separated. More precisely, you type a string of many words, using single spaces to separate them, and the string is found even if there are multiple spaces, newlines or other punctuation between the words. Word search is useful in editing documents formatted by text formatters. If you edit while looking at the printed, formatted version, you can't tell where the line breaks are in the source file. Word search, allows you to search without having to know the line breaks. `C-s RET C-w WORDS RET' Search for WORDS, ignoring differences in punctuation. `C-r RET C-w WORDS RET' Search backward for WORDS, ignoring differences in punctuation. Word search is a special case of non-incremental search. It is invoked with `C-s RET C-w' followed by the search string, which must always be terminated with another RET. Being non-incremental, this search does not start until the argument is terminated. It works by constructing a regular expression and searching for that. *Note Regexp Search::. You can do a backward word search with `C-r RET C-w'. Forward and backward word searches are implemented by the commands `word-search-forward' and `word-search-backward'. You can bind these commands to keys. The reason that incremental search is programmed to invoke them as well is that `C-s RET C-w' is the traditional Emacs sequence of keys for word search. File: emacs, Node: Regexp Search, Next: Regexps, Prev: Word Search, Up: Search Regular Expression Search ========================= A "regular expression" ("regexp", for short) is a pattern that denotes a set of strings, possibly an infinite set. Searching for matches for a regexp is a powerful operation that editors on Unix systems have traditionally offered. In GNU Emacs, you can search for the next match for a regexp either incrementally or not. Incremental search for a regexp is done by typing `C-M-s' (`isearch-forward-regexp'). This command reads a search string incrementally just like `C-s', but it treats the search string as a regexp rather than looking for an exact match against the text in the buffer. Each time you add text to the search string, you make the regexp longer, and the new regexp is searched for. A reverse regexp search command `isearch-backward-regexp' also exists but no key runs it. All of the control characters that do special things within an ordinary incremental search have the same functionality in incremental regexp search. Typing `C-s' or `C-r' immediately after starting a search retrieves the last incremental search regexp used: incremental regexp and non-regexp searches have independent defaults. Non-Incremental search for a regexp is done by the functions `re-search-forward' and `re-search-backward'. You can invoke them with `M-x' or bind them to keys. You can also call `re-search-forward' by way of incremental regexp search with `C-M-s RET'. File: emacs, Node: Regexps, Next: Search Case, Prev: Regexp Search, Up: Search Syntax of Regular Expressions ============================= Regular expressions have a syntax in which a few characters are special constructs and the rest are "ordinary". An ordinary character is a simple regular expression which matches that character and nothing else. The special characters are `$', `^', `.', `*', `+', `?', `[', `]' and `\'; no new special characters will be defined. Any other character appearing in a regular expression is ordinary, unless a `\' precedes it. For example, `f' is not a special character, so it is ordinary, and therefore `f' is a regular expression that matches the string `f' and no other string. (It does not match the string `ff'.) Likewise, `o' is a regular expression that matches only `o'. Any two regular expressions A and B can be concatenated. The result is a regular expression which matches a string if A matches some amount of the beginning of that string and B matches the rest of the string. As a simple example, you can concatenate the regular expressions `f' and `o' to get the regular expression `fo', which matches only the string `fo'. To do something nontrivial, you need to use one of the following special characters: `. (Period)' is a special character that matches any single character except a newline. Using concatenation, you can make regular expressions like `a.b' which matches any three-character string which begins with `a' and ends with `b'. `*' is not a construct by itself; it is a suffix, which means the preceding regular expression is to be repeated as many times as possible. In `fo*', the `*' applies to the `o', so `fo*' matches one `f' followed by any number of `o's. The case of zero `o's is allowed: `fo*' does match `f'. `*' always applies to the smallest possible preceding expression. Thus, `fo*' has a repeating `o', not a repeating `fo'. The matcher processes a `*' construct by matching, immediately, as many repetitions as it can find. Then it continues with the rest of the pattern. If that fails, backtracking occurs, discarding some of the matches of the `*'-modified construct in case that makes it possible to match the rest of the pattern. For example, matching `ca*ar' against the string `caaar', the `a*' first tries to match all three `a's; but the rest of the pattern is `ar' and there is only `r' left to match, so this try fails. The next alternative is for `a*' to match only two `a's. With this choice, the rest of the regexp matches successfully. `+' Is a suffix character similar to `*' except that it requires that the preceding expression be matched at least once. For example, `ca+r' will match the strings `car' and `caaaar' but not the string `cr', whereas `ca*r' would match all three strings. `?' Is a suffix character similar to `*' except that it can match the preceding expression either once or not at all. For example, `ca?r' will match `car' or `cr'; nothing else. `[ ... ]' `[' begins a "character set", which is terminated by a `]'. In the simplest case, the characters between the two form the set. Thus, `[ad]' matches either one `a' or one `d', and `[ad]*' matches any string composed of just `a's and `d's (including the empty string), from which it follows that `c[ad]*r' matches `cr', `car', `cdr', `caddaar', etc. You can include character ranges in a character set by writing two characters with a `-' between them. Thus, `[a-z]' matches any lower-case letter. Ranges may be intermixed freely with individual characters, as in `[a-z$%.]', which matches any lower case letter or `$', `%' or period. Note that inside a character set the usual special characters are not special any more. A completely different set of special characters exists inside character sets: `]', `-' and `^'. To include a `]' in a character set, you must make it the first character. For example, `[]a]' matches `]' or `a'. To include a `-', write `--', which is a range containing only `-'. To include `^', make it other than the first character in the set. `[^ ... ]' `[^' begins a "complement character set", which matches any character except the ones specified. Thus, `[^a-z0-9A-Z]' matches all characters except letters and digits. `^' is not special in a character set unless it is the first character. The character following the `^' is treated as if it were first (`-' and `]' are not special there). Note that a complement character set can match a newline, unless newline is mentioned as one of the characters not to match. `^' is a special character that matches the empty string, but only if at the beginning of a line in the text being matched. Otherwise, it fails to match anything. Thus, `^foo' matches a `foo' that occurs at the beginning of a line. `$' is similar to `^' but matches only at the end of a line. Thus, `xx*$' matches a string of one `x' or more at the end of a line. `\' does two things: it quotes the special characters (including `\'), and it introduces additional special constructs. Because `\' quotes special characters, `\$' is a regular expression that matches only `$', and `\[' is a regular expression that matches only `[', and so on. Note: for historical compatibility, special characters are treated as ordinary ones if they are in contexts where their special meanings make no sense. For example, `*foo' treats `*' as ordinary since there is no preceding expression on which the `*' can act. It is poor practice to depend on this behavior; better to quote the special character anyway, regardless of where is appears. Usually, `\' followed by any character matches only that character. However, there are several exceptions: characters which, when preceded by `\', are special constructs. Such characters are always ordinary when encountered on their own. Here is a table of `\' constructs. `\|' specifies an alternative. Two regular expressions A and B with `\|' in between form an expression that matches anything A or B matches. Thus, `foo\|bar' matches either `foo' or `bar' but no other string. `\|' applies to the largest possible surrounding expressions. Only a surrounding `$ ... $' grouping can limit the grouping power of `\|'. Full backtracking capability exists to handle multiple uses of `\|'. `$ ... $' is a grouping construct that serves three purposes: 1. To enclose a set of `\|' alternatives for other operations. Thus, `$foo\|bar$x' matches either `foox' or `barx'. 2. To enclose a complicated expression for the postfix `*' to operate on. Thus, `ba$na$*' matches `bananana', etc., with any (zero or more) number of `na' strings. 3. To mark a matched substring for future reference. This last application is not a consequence of the idea of a parenthetical grouping; it is a separate feature which happens to be assigned as a second meaning to the same `$ ... $' construct because in practice there is no conflict between the two meanings. Here is an explanation: `\DIGIT' after the end of a `$ ... $' construct, the matcher remembers the beginning and end of the text matched by that construct. Then, later on in the regular expression, you can use `\' followed by DIGIT to mean "match the same text matched the DIGIT'th time by the `$ ... $' construct." The strings matching the first nine `$ ... $' constructs appearing in a regular expression are assigned numbers 1 through 9 in order that the open-parentheses appear in the regular expression. `\1' through `\9' may be used to refer to the text matched by the corresponding `$ ... $' construct. For example, `$.*$\1' matches any newline-free string that is composed of two identical halves. The `$.*$' matches the first half, which may be anything, but the `\1' that follows must match the same exact text. `\`' matches the empty string, provided it is at the beginning of the buffer. `\'' matches the empty string, provided it is at the end of the buffer. `\b' matches the empty string, provided it is at the beginning or end of a word. Thus, `\bfoo\b' matches any occurrence of `foo' as a separate word. `\bballs?\b' matches `ball' or `balls' as a separate word. `\B' matches the empty string, provided it is not at the beginning or end of a word. `\<' matches the empty string, provided it is at the beginning of a word. `\>' matches the empty string, provided it is at the end of a word. `\w' matches any word-constituent character. The editor syntax table determines which characters these are. `\W' matches any character that is not a word-constituent. `\sCODE' matches any character whose syntax is CODE. CODE is a character which represents a syntax code: thus, `w' for word constituent, `-' for whitespace, `(' for open-parenthesis, etc. *Note Syntax::. `\SCODE' matches any character whose syntax is not CODE. Here is a complicated regexp, used by Emacs to recognize the end of a sentence together with any whitespace that follows. It is given in Lisp syntax to enable you to distinguish the spaces from the tab characters. In Lisp syntax, the string constant begins and ends with a double-quote. `\"' stands for a double-quote as part of the regexp, `\\' for a backslash as part of the regexp, `\t' for a tab and `\n' for a newline. "[.?!][]\"')]*\$$\\|\t\\| \$[ \t\n]*" This regexp contains four parts: a character set matching period, `?' or `!'; a character set matching close-brackets, quotes or parentheses, repeated any number of times; an alternative in backslash-parentheses that matches end-of-line, a tab or two spaces; and a character set matching whitespace characters, repeated any number of times. File: emacs, Node: Search Case, Next: Replace, Prev: Regexps, Up: Search Searching and Case ================== All searches in Emacs normally ignore the case of the text they are searching through; if you specify searching for `FOO', `Foo' and `foo' are also considered a match. Regexps, and in particular character sets, are included: `[aB]' matches `a' or `A' or `b' or `B'. If you want a case-sensitive search, set the variable `case-fold-search' to `nil'. Then all letters must match exactly, including case. `case-fold-search' is a per-buffer variable; altering it affects only the current buffer, but there is a default value which you can change as well. *Note Locals::. File: emacs, Node: Replace, Next: Other Repeating Search, Prev: Search Case, Up: Search Replacement Commands ==================== Global search-and-replace operations are not needed as often in Emacs as they are in other editors, but they are available. In addition to the simple `replace-string' command which is like that found in most editors, there is a `query-replace' command which asks you, for each occurrence of a pattern, whether to replace it. The replace commands all replace one string (or regexp) with one replacement string. It is possible to perform several replacements in parallel using the command `expand-region-abbrevs'. *Note Expanding Abbrevs::. * Menu: * Unconditional Replace:: Replacing all matches for a string. * Regexp Replace:: Replacing all matches for a regexp. * Replacement and Case:: How replacements preserve case of letters. * Query Replace:: How to use querying. File: emacs, Node: Unconditional Replace, Next: Regexp Replace, Prev: Replace, Up: Replace Unconditional Replacement ------------------------- `M-x replace-string RET STRING RET NEWSTRING RET' Replace every occurrence of STRING with NEWSTRING. `M-x replace-regexp RET REGEXP RET NEWSTRING RET' Replace every match for REGEXP with NEWSTRING. To replace every instance of `foo' after point with `bar', use the command `M-x replace-string' with the two arguments `foo' and `bar'. Replacement occurs only after point: if you want to cover the whole buffer you must go to the beginning first. By default, all occurrences up to the end of the buffer are replaced. To limit replacement to part of the buffer, narrow to that part of the buffer before doing the replacement (*note Narrowing::.). When `replace-string' exits, point is left at the last occurrence replaced. The value of point when the `replace-string' command was issued is remembered on the mark ring; `C-u C-SPC' moves back there. A numeric argument restricts replacement to matches that are surrounded by word boundaries. File: emacs, Node: Regexp Replace, Next: Replacement and Case, Prev: Unconditional Replace, Up: Replace Regexp Replacement ------------------ `replace-string' replaces exact matches for a single string. The similar command `replace-regexp' replaces any match for a specified pattern. In `replace-regexp', the NEWSTRING need not be constant. It can refer to all or part of what is matched by the REGEXP. `\&' in NEWSTRING stands for the entire text being replaced. `\D' in NEWSTRING, where D is a digit, stands for whatever matched the D'th parenthesized grouping in REGEXP. For example, M-x replace-regexp RET c[ad]+r RET \&-safe RET would replace (for example) `cadr' with `cadr-safe' and `cddr' with `cddr-safe'. M-x replace-regexp RET $c[ad]+r$-safe RET \1 RET would perform exactly the opposite replacements. To include a `\' in the text to replace with, you must give `\\'. File: emacs, Node: Replacement and Case, Next: Query Replace, Prev: Regexp Replace, Up: Replace Replace Commands and Case ------------------------- If the arguments to a replace command are in lower case, the command preserves case when it makes a replacement. Thus, the command M-x replace-string RET foo RET bar RET replaces a lower case `foo' with a lower case `bar', `FOO' with `BAR', and `Foo' with `Bar'. If upper case letters are used in the second argument, they remain upper case every time that argument is inserted. If upper case letters are used in the first argument, the second argument is always substituted exactly as given, with no case conversion. Likewise, if the variable `case-replace' is set to `nil', replacement is done without case conversion. If `case-fold-search' is set to `nil', case is significant in matching occurrences of `foo' to replace; also, case conversion of the replacement string is not done. File: emacs, Node: Query Replace, Prev: Replacement and Case, Up: Replace Query Replace ------------- `M-% STRING RET NEWSTRING RET' `M-x query-replace RET STRING RET NEWSTRING RET' Replace some occurrences of STRING with NEWSTRING. `M-x query-replace-regexp RET REGEXP RET NEWSTRING RET' Replace some matches for REGEXP with NEWSTRING. If you want to change only some of the occurrences of `foo' to `bar', not all of them, you can (`query-replace') instead of `M-%'. This command finds occurrences of `foo' one by one, displays each occurrence, and asks you whether to replace it. A numeric argument to `query-replace' tells it to consider only occurrences that are bounded by word-delimiter characters. Aside from querying, `query-replace' works just like `replace-string', and `query-replace-regexp' works just like `replace-regexp'. The things you can type when you are shown an occurrence of STRING or a match for REGEXP are: `SPC' to replace the occurrence with NEWSTRING. This preserves case, just like `replace-string', provided `case-replace' is non-`nil', as it normally is. `DEL' to skip to the next occurrence without replacing this one. `, (Comma)' to replace this occurrence and display the result. You are then prompted for another input character, however, since the replacement has already been made, DEL and SPC are equivalent. At this point, you can type `C-r' (see below) to alter the replaced text. To undo the replacement, you can type `C-x u'. This exits the `query-replace'. If you want to do further replacement you must use `C-x ESC' to restart (*note Repetition::.). `ESC' to exit without doing any more replacements. `. (Period)' to replace this occurrence and then exit. `!' to replace all remaining occurrences without asking again. `^' to go back to the location of the previous occurrence (or what used to be an occurrence), in case you changed it by mistake. This works by popping the mark ring. Only one `^' in a row is allowed, because only one previous replacement location is kept during `query-replace'. `C-r' to enter a recursive editing level, in case the occurrence needs to be edited rather than just replaced with NEWSTRING. When you are done, exit the recursive editing level with `C-M-c' and the next occurrence will be displayed. *Note Recursive Edit::. `C-w' to delete the occurrence, and then enter a recursive editing level as in `C-r'. Use the recursive edit to insert text to replace the deleted occurrence of STRING. When done, exit the recursive editing level with `C-M-c' and the next occurrence will be displayed. `C-l' to redisplay the screen and then give another answer. `C-h' to display a message summarizing these options, then give another answer. If you type any other character, Emacs exits the `query-replace', and executes the character as a command. To restart the `query-replace', use `C-x ESC', which repeats the `query-replace' because it used the minibuffer to read its arguments. *Note C-x ESC: Repetition. File: emacs, Node: Other Repeating Search, Prev: Replace, Up: Search Other Search-and-Loop Commands ============================== Here are some other commands that find matches for a regular expression. They all operate from point to the end of the buffer. `M-x occur' Print each line that follows point and contains a match for the specified regexp. A numeric argument specifies the number of context lines to print before and after each matching line; the default is none. The buffer `*Occur*' containing the output serves as a menu for finding occurrences in their original context. Find an occurrence as listed in `*Occur*', position point there, and type `C-c C-c'; this switches to the buffer that was searched and moves point to the original of the same occurrence. `M-x list-matching-lines' Synonym for `M-x occur'. `M-x count-matches' Print the number of matches following point for the specified regexp. `M-x delete-non-matching-lines' Delete each line that follows point and does not contain a match for the specified regexp. `M-x delete-matching-lines' Delete each line that follows point and contains a match for the specified regexp. File: emacs, Node: Fixit, Next: Files, Prev: Search, Up: Top Commands for Fixing Typos ************************* This chapter describes commands that are especially useful when you catch a mistake in your text just after you have made it, or change your mind while composing text on line. * Menu: * Kill Errors:: Commands to kill a batch of recently entered text. * Transpose:: Exchanging two characters, words, lines, lists... * Fixing Case:: Correcting case of last word entered. * Spelling:: Apply spelling checker to a word, or a whole file. File: emacs, Node: Kill Errors, Next: Transpose, Prev: Fixit, Up: Fixit Killing Your Mistakes ===================== `DEL' Delete last character (`delete-backward-char'). `M-DEL' Kill last word (`backward-kill-word'). `C-x DEL' Kill to beginning of sentence (`backward-kill-sentence'). The DEL character (`delete-backward-char') is the most important correction command. When used among graphic (self-inserting) characters, it can be thought of as canceling the last character typed. When your mistake is longer than a couple of characters, it might be more convenient to use `M-DEL' or `C-x DEL'. `M-DEL' kills back to the start of the last word, and `C-x DEL' kills back to the start of the last sentence. `C-x DEL' is particularly useful when you are thinking of what to write as you type it, in case you change your mind about phrasing. `M-DEL' and `C-x DEL' save the killed text for `C-y' and `M-y' to retrieve. *Note Yanking::. `M-DEL' is often useful even when you have typed only a few characters wrong, if you know you are confused in your typing and aren't sure exactly what you typed. At such a time, you cannot correct with DEL except by looking at the screen to see what you did. It requires less thought to kill the whole word and start over. File: emacs, Node: Transpose, Next: Fixing Case, Prev: Kill Errors, Up: Fixit Transposing Text ================ `C-t' Transpose two characters (`transpose-chars'). `M-t' Transpose two words (`transpose-words'). `C-M-t' Transpose two balanced expressions (`transpose-sexps'). `C-x C-t' Transpose two lines (`transpose-lines'). The common error of transposing two adjacent characters can be fixed with the `C-t' command (`transpose-chars'). Normally, `C-t' transposes the two characters on either side of point. When given at the end of a line, `C-t' transposes the last two characters on the line, rather than transposing the last character of the line with the newline, which would be useless. If you catch a transposition error right away, you can fix it with just `C-t'. If you catch the error later, move the cursor back to between the two transposed characters. If you transposed a space with the last character of the word before it, the word motion commands are a good way of getting there. Otherwise, a reverse search (`C-r') is often the best way. *Note Search::. `Meta-t' (`transpose-words') transposes the word before point with the word after point. It moves point forward over a word, dragging the word preceding or containing point forward as well. The punctuation characters between the words do not move. For example, `FOO, BAR' transposes into `BAR, FOO' rather than `BAR FOO,'. `C-M-t' (`transpose-sexps') is a similar command for transposing two expressions (*note Lists::.), and `C-x C-t' (`transpose-lines') exchanges lines. It works like `M-t' but in determins the division of the text into syntactic units differently. A numeric argument to a transpose command serves as a repeat count: it tells the transpose command to move the character (word, sexp, line) before or containing point across several other characters (words, sexps, lines). For example, `C-u 3 C-t' moves the character before point forward across three other characters. This is equivalent to repeating `C-t' three times. `C-u - 4 M-t' moves the word before point backward across four words. `C-u - C-M-t' would cancel the effect of plain `C-M-t'. A numeric argument of zero transposes the character (word, sexp, line) ending after point with the one ending after the mark (otherwise a command with a repeat count of zero would do nothing). File: emacs, Node: Fixing Case, Next: Spelling, Prev: Transpose, Up: Fixit Case Conversion =============== `M-- M-l' Convert last word to lower case. Note `Meta--' is Meta-minus. `M-- M-u' Convert last word to all upper case. `M-- M-c' Convert last word to lower case with capital initial. A common error is to type words in the wrong case. Because of this, the word case-conversion commands `M-l', `M-u' and `M-c' do not move the cursor when used with a negative argument. As soon as you see you have mistyped the last word, you can simply case-convert it and continue typing. *Note Case::. File: emacs, Node: Spelling, Prev: Fixing Case, Up: Fixit Checking and Correcting Spelling ================================ `M-$' Check and correct spelling of word (`spell-word'). `M-x spell-buffer' Check and correct spelling of each word in the buffer. `M-x spell-region' Check and correct spelling of each word in the region. `M-x spell-string' Check spelling of specified word. To check the spelling of the word before point, and optionally correct it, use the command `M-$' (`spell-word'). This command runs an inferior process containing the `spell' program to see whether the word is correct English. If it is not, it asks you to edit the word (in the minibuffer) into a corrected spelling, and then performs a `query-replace' to substitute the corrected spelling for the old one throughout the buffer. If you exit the minibuffer without altering the original spelling, it means you do not want to do anything to that word. In that case, the `query-replace' is not done. `M-x spell-buffer' checks each word in the buffer the same way that `spell-word' does, doing a `query-replace' for every incorrect word if appropriate. `M-x spell-region' is similar to `spell-buffer' but operates only on the region, not the entire buffer. `M-x spell-string' reads a string as an argument and checks whether that is a correctly spelled English word. It prints a message giving the answer in the echo area. File: emacs, Node: Files, Next: Buffers, Prev: Fixit, Up: Top File Handling ************* The basic unit of stored data in Unix is the "file". To edit a file, you must tell Emacs to examine the file and prepare a buffer containing a copy of the file's text. This is called "visiting" the file. Editing commands apply directly to text in the buffer; that is, to the copy inside Emacs. Your changes appear in the file itself only when you "save" the buffer back into 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:: Saving makes your changes permanent. * Reverting:: Reverting cancels all the changes not saved. * Auto Save:: Auto Save periodically protects against loss of data. * ListDir:: Listing the contents of a file directory. * Dired:: "Editing" a directory to delete, rename, etc. the files in it. * Misc File Ops:: Other things you can do on files. File: emacs, Node: File Names, Next: Visiting, Prev: Files, Up: Files File Names ========== Most Emacs commands that operate on a file require you to specify the file name. (Saving and reverting are exceptions; the buffer knows which file name to use for them.) File names are specified in the minibuffer (*note Minibuffer::.). "Completion" is available, to make it easier to specify long file names. *Note Completion::. There is always a "default file name" which is used if you enter an empty argument by typing just RET. Normally the default file name is the name of the file visited in the current buffer; this makes it easy to operate on that file with any of the Emacs file commands. Each buffer has a default directory, normally the same as the directory of the file visited in that buffer. When Emacs reads a file name, the default directory is used if you do not specify a directory. If you specify a directory in a relative fashion, with a name that does not start with a slash, it is interpreted with respect to the default directory. The default directory of the current buffer is kept in the variable `default-directory', which has a separate value in every buffer. The value of the variable should end with a slash. For example, if the default file name is `/u/rms/gnu/gnu.tasks' then the default directory is `/u/rms/gnu/'. If you type just `foo', which does not specify a directory, it is short for `/u/rms/gnu/foo'. `../.login' would stand for `/u/rms/.login'. `new/foo' would stand for the filename `/u/rms/gnu/new/foo'. The variable `default-directory-alist' takes an alist of major modes and their opinions on `default-directory' as a Lisp expression to evaluate. A resulting value of `nil' is ignored in favor of `default-directory'. You can create a new directory with the function `make-directory', which takes as an argument a file name string. The current directory is displayed in the minibuffer when the function is called; you can delete the old directory name and supply a new directory name. For example, if the current directory is `/u/rms/gnu', you can delete `gnu' and type `oryx' and RET to create `/u/rms/oryx'. Removing a directory is similar to creating one. To remove a directory, use `remove-directory'; it takes one argument a file name string. The command `M-x pwd' prints the current buffer's default directory, and the command `M-x cd' sets it (to a value read using the minibuffer). A buffer's default directory changes only when the `cd' command is used. A file-visiting buffer's default directory is initialized to the directory of the file that is visited there. If a buffer is created with `C-x b', its default directory is copied from that of the buffer that was current at the time. The default directory name actually appears in the minibuffer when the minibuffer becomes active to read a file name. This serves two purposes: it shows you what the default is, so that you can type a relative file name and know with certainty what it will mean, and it allows you to edit the default to specify a different directory. To inhibit the insertion of the default directory, set the variable `insert-default-directory' to `nil'. Note that it is legitimate to type an absolute file name after you enter the minibuffer, ignoring the presence of the default directory name. The final minibuffer contents may look invalid, but that is not so. *Note Minibuffer File::. `$' in a file name is used to substitute environment variables. For example, if you have used the shell command `setenv FOO rms/hacks' to set up an environment variable named `FOO', then you can use `/u/$FOO/test.c' or `/u/${FOO}/test.c' as an abbreviation for `/u/rms/hacks/test.c'. The environment variable name consists of all the alphanumeric characters after the `$'; alternatively, it may be enclosed in braces after the `$'. Note that the `setenv' command affects Emacs only if done before Emacs is started. To access a file with `$' in its name, type `$$'. This pair is converted to a single `$' at the same time variable substitution is performed for single `$'. The Lisp function that performs the substitution is called `substitute-in-file-name'. The substitution is performed only on filenames read as such using the minibuffer.