GNU Emacs Manual

Short Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Next:   [Contents][Index]

The Emacs Editor

Emacs is the extensible, customizable, self-documenting real-time display editor. This manual describes how to edit with Emacs and some of the ways to customize it; it corresponds to GNU Emacs version 24.5.

For information on extending Emacs, see Emacs Lisp in The Emacs Lisp Reference Manual.

This is the GNU Emacs Manual, updated for Emacs version 24.5.

Copyright © 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.”

• Distrib  How to get the latest Emacs distribution.
• Intro  An introduction to Emacs concepts. 

Important General Concepts
• Screen  How to interpret what you see on the screen.
• User Input  Kinds of input events (characters, buttons, function keys).
• Keys  Key sequences: what you type to request one editing action.
• Commands  Named functions run by key sequences to do editing.
• Entering Emacs  Starting Emacs from the shell.
• Exiting  Stopping or killing Emacs. 

Fundamental Editing Commands
• Basic  The most basic editing commands.
• Minibuffer  Entering arguments that are prompted for.
• M-x  Invoking commands by their names.
• Help  Commands for asking Emacs about its commands. 

Important Text-Changing Commands
• Mark  The mark: how to delimit a "region" of text.
• Killing  Killing (cutting) and yanking (copying) text.
• Registers  Saving a text string or a location in the buffer.
• Display  Controlling what text is displayed.
• Search  Finding or replacing occurrences of a string.
• Fixit  Commands especially useful for fixing typos.
• Keyboard Macros  Recording a sequence of keystrokes to be replayed. 

Major Structures of Emacs
• Files  All about handling files.
• Buffers  Multiple buffers; editing several files at once.
• Windows  Viewing multiple pieces of text in one frame.
• Frames  Using multiple "windows" on your display.
• International  Using non-ASCII character sets. 

Advanced Features
• Modes  Major and minor modes alter Emacs’s basic behavior.
• Indentation  Editing the white space at the beginnings of lines.
• Text  Commands and modes for editing human languages.
• Programs  Commands and modes for editing programs.
• Building  Compiling, running and debugging programs.
• Maintaining  Features for maintaining large programs.
• Abbrevs  Defining text abbreviations to reduce typing.
• Dired  Directory and file manager.
• Calendar/Diary  Calendar and diary facilities.
• Sending Mail  Sending mail in Emacs.
• Rmail  Reading mail in Emacs.
• Gnus  A flexible mail and news reader.
• Document View  Viewing PDF, PS and DVI files.
• EWW  A web browser in Emacs.
• Shell  Executing shell commands from Emacs.
• Emacs Server  Using Emacs as an editing server.
• Printing  Printing hardcopies of buffers or regions.
• Sorting  Sorting lines, paragraphs or pages within Emacs.
• Picture Mode  Editing pictures made up of text characters.
• Editing Binary Files  Editing binary files with Hexl mode.
• Saving Emacs Sessions  Saving Emacs state from one session to the next.
• Recursive Edit  Performing edits while "within another command".
• Hyperlinking  Following links in buffers.
• Amusements  Various games and hacks.
• Packages  Installing additional features.
• Customization  Modifying the behavior of Emacs. 

Recovery from Problems
• Quitting  Quitting and aborting.
• Lossage  What to do if Emacs is hung or malfunctioning.
• Bugs  How and when to report a bug.
• Contributing  How to contribute improvements to Emacs.
• Service  How to get help for your own Emacs needs. 

Appendices
• Copying  The GNU General Public License gives you permission to redistribute GNU Emacs on certain terms; it also explains that there is no warranty.
• GNU Free Documentation License  The license for this documentation.
• Emacs Invocation  Hairy startup options.
• X Resources  X resources for customizing Emacs.
• Antinews  Information about Emacs version 23.
• Mac OS / GNUstep  Using Emacs under Mac OS and GNUstep.
• Microsoft Windows  Using Emacs on Microsoft Windows and MS-DOS.
• Manifesto  What’s GNU? Gnu’s Not Unix!
• Glossary  Terms used in this manual.
• Acknowledgments  Major contributors to GNU Emacs. 

Indexes (each index contains a large menu)
• Key Index  An item for each standard Emacs key sequence.
• Option Index  An item for every command-line option.
• Command Index  An item for each command name.
• Variable Index  An item for each documented variable.
• Concept Index  An item for each concept. 



 — The Detailed Node Listing —
 ———————————

Here are some other nodes which are really subnodes of the ones
already listed, mentioned here so you can get to them in one step:

The Organization of the Screen
• Point  The place in the text where editing commands operate.
• Echo Area  Short messages appear at the bottom of the screen.
• Mode Line  Interpreting the mode line.
• Menu Bar  How to use the menu bar. 

Basic Editing Commands
• Inserting Text  Inserting text by simply typing it.
• Moving Point  Moving the cursor to the place where you want to change something.
• Erasing  Deleting and killing text.
• Basic Undo  Undoing recent changes in the text.
• Basic Files  Visiting, creating, and saving files.
• Basic Help  Asking what a character does.
• Blank Lines  Making and deleting blank lines.
• Continuation Lines  How Emacs displays lines too wide for the screen.
• Position Info  What line, row, or column is point on?
• Arguments  Numeric arguments for repeating a command N times.
• Repeating  Repeating the previous command quickly. 

The Minibuffer
• Basic Minibuffer  Basic usage of the minibuffer.
• Minibuffer File  Entering file names with the minibuffer.
• Minibuffer Edit  How to edit in the minibuffer.
• Completion  An abbreviation facility for minibuffer input.
• Minibuffer History  Reusing recent minibuffer arguments.
• Repetition  Re-executing commands that used the minibuffer.
• Passwords  Entering passwords in the echo area.
• Yes or No Prompts  Replying yes or no in the echo area. 

Completion
• Completion Example  Examples of using completion.
• Completion Commands  A list of completion commands.
• Completion Exit  Completion and minibuffer text submission.
• Completion Styles  How completion matches are chosen.
• Completion Options  Options for completion. 

Help
• Help Summary  Brief list of all Help commands.
• Key Help  Asking what a key does in Emacs.
• Name Help  Asking about a command, variable or function name.
• Apropos  Asking what pertains to a given topic.
• Help Mode  Special features of Help mode and Help buffers.
• Package Keywords  Finding Lisp libraries by keywords (topics).
• Language Help  Help relating to international language support.
• Misc Help  Other help commands.
• Help Files  Commands to display auxiliary help files.
• Help Echo  Help on active text and tooltips ("balloon help"). 

The Mark and the Region
• Setting Mark  Commands to set the mark.
• Marking Objects  Commands to put region around textual units.
• Using Region  Summary of ways to operate on contents of the region.
• Mark Ring  Previous mark positions saved so you can go back there.
• Global Mark Ring  Previous mark positions in various buffers.
• Shift Selection  Using shifted cursor motion keys.
• Disabled Transient Mark  Leaving regions unhighlighted by default. 

Killing and Moving Text
• Deletion and Killing  Commands that remove text.
• Yanking  Commands that insert text.
• Cut and Paste  Clipboard and selections on graphical displays.
• Accumulating Text  Other methods to add text to the buffer.
• Rectangles  Operating on text in rectangular areas.
• CUA Bindings  Using C-x/C-c/C-v to kill and yank. 

Deletion and Killing
• Deletion  Commands for deleting small amounts of text and blank areas.
• Killing by Lines  How to kill entire lines of text at one time.
• Other Kill Commands  Commands to kill large regions of text and syntactic units such as words and sentences.
• Kill Options  Options that affect killing. 

Yanking
• Kill Ring  Where killed text is stored.
• Earlier Kills  Yanking something killed some time ago.
• Appending Kills  Several kills in a row all yank together. 

"Cut and Paste" Operations on Graphical Displays
• Clipboard  How Emacs uses the system clipboard.
• Primary Selection  The temporarily selected text selection.
• Secondary Selection  Cutting without altering point and mark. 

Registers
• Position Registers  Saving positions in registers.
• Text Registers  Saving text in registers.
• Rectangle Registers  Saving rectangles in registers.
• Configuration Registers  Saving window configurations in registers.
• Number Registers  Numbers in registers.
• File Registers  File names in registers.
• Keyboard Macro Registers  Keyboard macros in registers.
• Bookmarks  Bookmarks are like registers, but persistent. 

Controlling the Display
• Scrolling  Commands to move text up and down in a window.
• Recentering  A scroll command that centers the current line.
• Auto Scrolling  Redisplay scrolls text automatically when needed.
• Horizontal Scrolling  Moving text left and right in a window.
• Narrowing  Restricting display and editing to a portion of the buffer.
• View Mode  Viewing read-only buffers.
• Follow Mode  Follow mode lets two windows scroll as one.
• Faces  How to change the display style using faces.
• Colors  Specifying colors for faces.
• Standard Faces  The main predefined faces.
• Text Scale  Increasing or decreasing text size in a buffer.
• Font Lock  Minor mode for syntactic highlighting using faces.
• Highlight Interactively  Tell Emacs what text to highlight.
• Fringes  Enabling or disabling window fringes.
• Displaying Boundaries  Displaying top and bottom of the buffer.
• Useless Whitespace  Showing possibly spurious trailing whitespace.
• Selective Display  Hiding lines with lots of indentation.
• Optional Mode Line  Optional mode line display features.
• Text Display  How text characters are normally displayed.
• Cursor Display  Features for displaying the cursor.
• Line Truncation  Truncating lines to fit the screen width instead of continuing them to multiple screen lines.
• Visual Line Mode  Word wrap and screen line-based editing.
• Display Custom  Information on variables for customizing display. 

Searching and Replacement
• Incremental Search  Search happens as you type the string.
• Nonincremental Search  Specify entire string and then search.
• Word Search  Search for sequence of words.
• Symbol Search  Search for a source code symbol.
• Regexp Search  Search for match for a regexp.
• Regexps  Syntax of regular expressions.
• Regexp Backslash  Regular expression constructs starting with ‘\’.
• Regexp Example  A complex regular expression explained.
• Search Case  To ignore case while searching, or not.
• Replace  Search, and replace some or all matches.
• Other Repeating Search  Operating on all matches for some regexp. 

Incremental Search
• Basic Isearch  Basic incremental search commands.
• Repeat Isearch  Searching for the same string again.
• Error in Isearch  When your string is not found.
• Special Isearch  Special input in incremental search.
• Isearch Yank  Commands that grab text into the search string or else edit the search string.
• Not Exiting Isearch  Prefix argument and scrolling commands.
• Isearch Minibuffer  Incremental search of the minibuffer history. 

Replacement Commands
• 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. 

Commands for Fixing Typos
• Undo  The Undo commands.
• 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. 

Keyboard Macros
• Basic Keyboard Macro  Defining and running keyboard macros.
• Keyboard Macro Ring  Where previous keyboard macros are saved.
• Keyboard Macro Counter  Inserting incrementing numbers in macros.
• Keyboard Macro Query  Making keyboard macros do different things each time.
• Save Keyboard Macro  Giving keyboard macros names; saving them in files.
• Edit Keyboard Macro  Editing keyboard macros.
• Keyboard Macro Step-Edit  Interactively executing and editing a keyboard macro. 

File Handling
• 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.
• Autorevert  Auto Reverting non-file buffers.
• Auto Save  Auto Save periodically protects against loss of data.
• File Aliases  Handling multiple names for one file.
• Directories  Creating, deleting, and listing file directories.
• Comparing Files  Finding where two files differ.
• Diff Mode  Mode for editing file differences.
• Misc File Ops  Other things you can do on files.
• Compressed Files  Accessing compressed files.
• File Archives  Operating on tar, zip, jar etc. archive files.
• Remote Files  Accessing files on other machines.
• Quoted File Names  Quoting special characters in file names.
• File Name Cache  Completion against a list of files you often use.
• File Conveniences  Convenience Features for Finding Files.
• Filesets  Handling sets of files. 

Saving Files
• Save Commands  Commands for saving files.
• Backup  How Emacs saves the old version of your file.
• Customize Save  Customizing the saving of files.
• Interlocking  How Emacs protects against simultaneous editing of one file by two users.
• File Shadowing  Copying files to "shadows" automatically.
• Time Stamps  Emacs can update time stamps on saved files. 

Backup Files
• Backup Names  How backup files are named.
• Backup Deletion  Emacs deletes excess numbered backups.
• Backup Copying  Backups can be made by copying or renaming. 

Auto Reverting Non-File Buffers
• Auto Reverting the Buffer Menu  Auto Revert of the Buffer Menu.
• Auto Reverting Dired  Auto Revert of Dired buffers.
• Supporting additional buffers  How to add more Auto Revert support. 

Auto-Saving: Protection Against Disasters
• Auto Save Files  The file where auto-saved changes are actually made until you save the file.
• Auto Save Control  Controlling when and how often to auto-save.
• Recover  Recovering text from auto-save files. 

Using Multiple Buffers
• Select Buffer  Creating a new buffer or reselecting an old one.
• List Buffers  Getting a list of buffers that exist.
• Misc Buffer  Renaming; changing read-only status; copying text.
• Kill Buffer  Killing buffers you no longer need.
• Several Buffers  How to go through the list of all buffers and operate variously on several of them.
• Indirect Buffers  An indirect buffer shares the text of another buffer.
• Buffer Convenience  Convenience and customization features for buffer handling. 

Convenience Features and Customization of Buffer Handling
• Uniquify  Making buffer names unique with directory parts.
• Icomplete  Fast minibuffer selection.
• Buffer Menus  Configurable buffer menu. 

Multiple Windows
• Basic Window  Introduction to Emacs windows.
• Split Window  New windows are made by splitting existing windows.
• Other Window  Moving to another window or doing something to it.
• Pop Up Window  Finding a file or buffer in another window.
• Change Window  Deleting windows and changing their sizes.
• Displaying Buffers  How Emacs picks a window for displaying a buffer.
• Window Convenience  Convenience functions for window handling. 

Displaying a Buffer in a Window
• Window Choice  How display-buffer works. 

Frames and Graphical Displays
• Mouse Commands  Moving, cutting, and pasting, with the mouse.
• Word and Line Mouse  Mouse commands for selecting whole words or lines.
• Mouse References  Using the mouse to select an item from a list.
• Menu Mouse Clicks  Mouse clicks that bring up menus.
• Mode Line Mouse  Mouse clicks on the mode line.
• Creating Frames  Creating additional Emacs frames with various contents.
• Frame Commands  Iconifying, deleting, and switching frames.
• Fonts  Changing the frame font.
• Speedbar  How to make and use a speedbar frame.
• Multiple Displays  How one Emacs instance can talk to several displays.
• Frame Parameters  Changing the colors and other modes of frames.
• Scroll Bars  How to enable and disable scroll bars; how to use them.
• Drag and Drop  Using drag and drop to open files and insert text.
• Menu Bars  Enabling and disabling the menu bar.
• Tool Bars  Enabling and disabling the tool bar.
• Dialog Boxes  Controlling use of dialog boxes.
• Tooltips  Displaying information at the current mouse position.
• Mouse Avoidance  Preventing the mouse pointer from obscuring text.
• Non-Window Terminals  Multiple frames on terminals that show only one.
• Text-Only Mouse  Using the mouse in text terminals. 

International Character Set Support
• International Chars  Basic concepts of multibyte characters.
• Language Environments  Setting things up for the language you use.
• Input Methods  Entering text characters not on your keyboard.
• Select Input Method  Specifying your choice of input methods.
• Coding Systems  Character set conversion when you read and write files, and so on.
• Recognize Coding  How Emacs figures out which conversion to use.
• Specify Coding  Specifying a file’s coding system explicitly.
• Output Coding  Choosing coding systems for output.
• Text Coding  Choosing conversion to use for file text.
• Communication Coding  Coding systems for interprocess communication.
• File Name Coding  Coding systems for file names.
• Terminal Coding  Specifying coding systems for converting terminal input and output.
• Fontsets  Fontsets are collections of fonts that cover the whole spectrum of characters.
• Defining Fontsets  Defining a new fontset.
• Modifying Fontsets  Modifying an existing fontset.
• Undisplayable Characters  When characters don’t display.
• Unibyte Mode  You can pick one European character set to use without multibyte characters.
• Charsets  How Emacs groups its internal character codes.
• Bidirectional Editing  Support for right-to-left scripts. 

Major and Minor Modes
• Major Modes  Text mode vs. Lisp mode vs. C mode...
• Minor Modes  Each minor mode is a feature you can turn on independently of any others.
• Choosing Modes  How modes are chosen when visiting files. 

Indentation
• Indentation Commands  More commands for performing indentation.
• Tab Stops  Stop points for indentation in Text modes.
• Just Spaces  Using only space characters for indentation.
• Indent Convenience  Optional indentation features. 

Commands for Human Languages
• Words  Moving over and killing words.
• Sentences  Moving over and killing sentences.
• Paragraphs  Moving over paragraphs.
• Pages  Moving over pages.
• Filling  Filling or justifying text.
• Case  Changing the case of text.
• Text Mode  The major modes for editing text files.
• Outline Mode  Editing outlines.
• Org Mode  The Emacs organizer.
• TeX Mode  Editing TeX and LaTeX files.
• HTML Mode  Editing HTML and SGML files.
• Nroff Mode  Editing input to the nroff formatter.
• Enriched Text  Editing text "enriched" with fonts, colors, etc.
• Text Based Tables  Commands for editing text-based tables.
• Two-Column  Splitting text columns into separate windows. 

Filling Text
• Auto Fill  Auto Fill mode breaks long lines automatically.
• Fill Commands  Commands to refill paragraphs and center lines.
• Fill Prefix  Filling paragraphs that are indented or in a comment, etc.
• Adaptive Fill  How Emacs can determine the fill prefix automatically. 

Outline Mode
• Outline Format  What the text of an outline looks like.
• Outline Motion  Special commands for moving through outlines.
• Outline Visibility  Commands to control what is visible.
• Outline Views  Outlines and multiple views.
• Foldout  Folding means zooming in on outlines. 

Org Mode
• Org Organizer  Managing TODO lists and agendas.
• Org Authoring  Exporting Org buffers to various formats. 

TeX Mode
• TeX Editing  Special commands for editing in TeX mode.
• LaTeX Editing  Additional commands for LaTeX input files.
• TeX Print  Commands for printing part of a file with TeX.
• TeX Misc  Customization of TeX mode, and related features. 

Enriched Text
• Enriched Mode  Entering and exiting Enriched mode.
• Hard and Soft Newlines  There are two different kinds of newlines.
• Editing Format Info  How to edit text properties.
• Enriched Faces  Bold, italic, underline, etc.
• Enriched Indentation  Changing the left and right margins.
• Enriched Justification  Centering, setting text flush with the left or right margin, etc.
• Enriched Properties  The "special" text properties submenu. 


Editing Text-based Tables
• Table Definition  What is a text based table.
• Table Creation  How to create a table.
• Table Recognition  How to activate and deactivate tables.
• Cell Commands  Cell-oriented commands in a table.
• Cell Justification  Justifying cell contents.
• Table Rows and Columns  Inserting and deleting rows and columns.
• Table Conversion  Converting between plain text and tables.
• Table Misc  Table miscellany. 

Editing Programs
• Program Modes  Major modes for editing programs.
• Defuns  Commands to operate on major top-level parts of a program.
• Program Indent  Adjusting indentation to show the nesting.
• Parentheses  Commands that operate on parentheses.
• Comments  Inserting, killing, and aligning comments.
• Documentation  Getting documentation of functions you plan to call.
• Hideshow  Displaying blocks selectively.
• Symbol Completion  Completion on symbol names of your program or language.
• MixedCase Words  Dealing with identifiersLikeThis.
• Semantic  Suite of editing tools based on source code parsing.
• Misc for Programs  Other Emacs features useful for editing programs.
• C Modes  Special commands of C, C++, Objective-C, Java, IDL, Pike and AWK modes.
• Asm Mode  Asm mode and its special features.
• Fortran  Fortran mode and its special features. 

Top-Level Definitions, or Defuns
• Left Margin Paren  An open-paren or similar opening delimiter starts a defun if it is at the left margin.
• Moving by Defuns  Commands to move over or mark a major definition.
• Imenu  Making buffer indexes as menus.
• Which Function  Which Function mode shows which function you are in. 

Indentation for Programs
• Basic Indent  Indenting a single line.
• Multi-line Indent  Commands to reindent many lines at once.
• Lisp Indent  Specifying how each Lisp function should be indented.
• C Indent  Extra features for indenting C and related modes.
• Custom C Indent  Controlling indentation style for C and related modes. 

Commands for Editing with Parentheses
• Expressions  Expressions with balanced parentheses.
• Moving by Parens  Commands for moving up, down and across in the structure of parentheses.
• Matching  Insertion of a close-delimiter flashes matching open. 

Manipulating Comments
• Comment Commands  Inserting, killing, and aligning comments.
• Multi-Line Comments  Commands for adding and editing multi-line comments.
• Options for Comments  Customizing the comment features. 

Documentation Lookup
• Info Lookup  Looking up library functions and commands in Info files.
• Man Page  Looking up man pages of library functions and commands.
• Lisp Doc  Looking up Emacs Lisp functions, etc. 

C and Related Modes
• Motion in C  Commands to move by C statements, etc.
• Electric C  Colon and other chars can automatically reindent.
• Hungry Delete  A more powerful DEL command.
• Other C Commands  Filling comments, viewing expansion of macros, and other neat features. 

Fortran Mode
• Fortran Motion  Moving point by statements or subprograms.
• Fortran Indent  Indentation commands for Fortran.
• Fortran Comments  Inserting and aligning comments.
• Fortran Autofill  Auto fill support for Fortran.
• Fortran Columns  Measuring columns for valid Fortran.
• Fortran Abbrev  Built-in abbrevs for Fortran keywords. 

Fortran Indentation
• ForIndent Commands  Commands for indenting and filling Fortran.
• ForIndent Cont  How continuation lines indent.
• ForIndent Num  How line numbers auto-indent.
• ForIndent Conv  Conventions you must obey to avoid trouble.
• ForIndent Vars  Variables controlling Fortran indent style. 

Compiling and Testing Programs
• Compilation  Compiling programs in languages other than Lisp (C, Pascal, etc.).
• Compilation Mode  The mode for visiting compiler errors.
• Compilation Shell  Customizing your shell properly for use in the compilation buffer.
• Grep Searching  Searching with grep.
• Flymake  Finding syntax errors on the fly.
• Debuggers  Running symbolic debuggers for non-Lisp programs.
• Executing Lisp  Various modes for editing Lisp programs, with different facilities for running the Lisp programs.
• Lisp Libraries  How Lisp programs are loaded into Emacs.
• Lisp Eval  Executing a single Lisp expression in Emacs.
• Lisp Interaction  Executing Lisp in an Emacs buffer.
• External Lisp  Communicating through Emacs with a separate Lisp. 

Running Debuggers Under Emacs
• Starting GUD  How to start a debugger subprocess.
• Debugger Operation  Connection between the debugger and source buffers.
• Commands of GUD  Key bindings for common commands.
• GUD Customization  Defining your own commands for GUD.
• GDB Graphical Interface  An enhanced mode that uses GDB features to implement a graphical debugging environment. 

GDB Graphical Interface
• GDB User Interface Layout  Control the number of displayed buffers.
• Source Buffers  Use the mouse in the fringe/margin to control your program.
• Breakpoints Buffer  A breakpoint control panel.
• Threads Buffer  Displays your threads.
• Stack Buffer  Select a frame from the call stack.
• Other GDB Buffers  Other buffers for controlling the GDB state.
• Watch Expressions  Monitor variable values in the speedbar.
• Multithreaded Debugging  Debugging programs with several threads. 

Maintaining Large Programs
• Version Control  Using version control systems.
• Change Log  Maintaining a change history for your program.
• Tags  Go directly to any function in your program in one command. Tags remembers which file it is in.
• EDE  An integrated development environment for Emacs.
• Emerge  A convenient way of merging two versions of a program. 

Version Control
• Introduction to VC  How version control works in general.
• VC Mode Line  How the mode line shows version control status.
• Basic VC Editing  How to edit a file under version control.
• Log Buffer  Features available in log entry buffers.
• Registering  Putting a file under version control.
• Old Revisions  Examining and comparing old versions.
• VC Change Log  Viewing the VC Change Log.
• VC Undo  Canceling changes before or after committing.
• VC Ignore  Ignore files under version control system.
• VC Directory Mode  Listing files managed by version control.
• Branches  Multiple lines of development.
• Miscellaneous VC  Various other commands and features of VC.
• Customizing VC  Variables that change VC’s behavior. 

Introduction to Version Control
• Why Version Control?  Understanding the problems it addresses.
• Version Control Systems  Supported version control back-end systems.
• VCS Concepts  Words and concepts related to version control.
• VCS Merging  How file conflicts are handled.
• VCS Changesets  How changes are grouped.
• VCS Repositories  Where version control repositories are stored.
• Types of Log File  The VCS log in contrast to the ChangeLog. 

Basic Editing under Version Control
• VC With A Merging VCS  Without locking: default mode for CVS.
• VC With A Locking VCS  RCS in its default mode, SCCS, and optionally CVS.
• Advanced C-x v v  Advanced features available with a prefix argument. 

VC Directory Mode
• VC Directory Buffer  What the buffer looks like and means.
• VC Directory Commands  Commands to use in a VC directory buffer. 

Version Control Branches
• Switching Branches  How to get to another existing branch.
• VC Pull  Updating the contents of a branch.
• Merging  Transferring changes between branches.
• Creating Branches  How to start a new branch. 

Miscellaneous Commands and Features of VC
• Change Logs and VC  Generating a change log file from log entries.
• VC Delete/Rename  Deleting and renaming version-controlled files.
• Revision Tags  Symbolic names for revisions.
• Version Headers  Inserting version control headers into working files. 

Customizing VC
• General VC Options  Options that apply to multiple back ends.
• RCS and SCCS  Options for RCS and SCCS.
• CVS Options  Options for CVS. 

Change Logs
• Change Log Commands  Commands for editing change log files.
• Format of ChangeLog  What the change log file looks like. 

Tags Tables
• Tag Syntax  Tag syntax for various types of code and text files.
• Create Tags Table  Creating a tags table with etags.
• Etags Regexps  Create arbitrary tags using regular expressions.
• Select Tags Table  How to visit a tags table.
• Find Tag  Commands to find the definition of a specific tag.
• Tags Search  Using a tags table for searching and replacing.
• List Tags  Using tags for completion, and listing them. 

Merging Files with Emerge
• Overview of Emerge  How to start Emerge. Basic concepts.
• Submodes of Emerge  Fast mode vs. Edit mode. Skip Prefers mode and Auto Advance mode.
• State of Difference  You do the merge by specifying state A or B for each difference.
• Merge Commands  Commands for selecting a difference, changing states of differences, etc.
• Exiting Emerge  What to do when you’ve finished the merge.
• Combining in Emerge  How to keep both alternatives for a difference.
• Fine Points of Emerge  Miscellaneous issues. 

Abbrevs
• Abbrev Concepts  Fundamentals of defined abbrevs.
• Defining Abbrevs  Defining an abbrev, so it will expand when typed.
• Expanding Abbrevs  Controlling expansion: prefixes, canceling expansion.
• Editing Abbrevs  Viewing or editing the entire list of defined abbrevs.
• Saving Abbrevs  Saving the entire list of abbrevs for another session.
• Dynamic Abbrevs  Abbreviations for words already in the buffer.
• Dabbrev Customization  What is a word, for dynamic abbrevs. Case handling. 

Editing Pictures
• Basic Picture  Basic concepts and simple commands of Picture Mode.
• Insert in Picture  Controlling direction of cursor motion after "self-inserting" characters.
• Tabs in Picture  Various features for tab stops and indentation.
• Rectangles in Picture  Clearing and superimposing rectangles. 

Dired, the Directory Editor
• Dired Enter  How to invoke Dired.
• Dired Navigation  Special motion commands in the Dired buffer.
• Dired Deletion  Deleting files with Dired.
• Flagging Many Files  Flagging files based on their names.
• Dired Visiting  Other file operations through Dired.
• Marks vs Flags  Flagging for deletion vs marking.
• Operating on Files  How to copy, rename, print, compress, etc. either one file or several files.
• Shell Commands in Dired  Running a shell command on the marked files.
• Transforming File Names  Using patterns to rename multiple files.
• Comparison in Dired  Running diff by way of Dired.
• Subdirectories in Dired  Adding subdirectories to the Dired buffer.
• Subdir Switches  Subdirectory switches in Dired.
• Subdirectory Motion  Moving across subdirectories, and up and down.
• Hiding Subdirectories  Making subdirectories visible or invisible.
• Dired Updating  Discarding lines for files of no interest.
• Dired and Find  Using find to choose the files for Dired.
• Wdired  Operating on files by editing the Dired buffer.
• Image-Dired  Viewing image thumbnails in Dired.
• Misc Dired Features  Various other features. 

The Calendar and the Diary
• Calendar Motion  Moving through the calendar; selecting a date.
• Scroll Calendar  Bringing earlier or later months onto the screen.
• Counting Days  How many days are there between two dates?
• General Calendar  Exiting or recomputing the calendar.
• Writing Calendar Files  Writing calendars to files of various formats.
• Holidays  Displaying dates of holidays.
• Sunrise/Sunset  Displaying local times of sunrise and sunset.
• Lunar Phases  Displaying phases of the moon.
• Other Calendars  Converting dates to other calendar systems.
• Diary  Displaying events from your diary.
• Appointments  Reminders when it’s time to do something.
• Importing Diary  Converting diary events to/from other formats.
• Daylight Saving  How to specify when daylight saving time is active.
• Time Intervals  Keeping track of time intervals.
• Advanced Calendar/Diary Usage  Advanced Calendar/Diary customization. 

Movement in the Calendar
• Calendar Unit Motion  Moving by days, weeks, months, and years.
• Move to Beginning or End  Moving to start/end of weeks, months, and years.
• Specified Dates  Moving to the current date or another specific date. 

Conversion To and From Other Calendars
• Calendar Systems  The calendars Emacs understands (aside from Gregorian).
• To Other Calendar  Converting the selected date to various calendars.
• From Other Calendar  Moving to a date specified in another calendar. 

The Diary
• Displaying the Diary  Viewing diary entries and associated calendar dates.
• Format of Diary File  Entering events in your diary.
• Date Formats  Various ways you can specify dates.
• Adding to Diary  Commands to create diary entries.
• Special Diary Entries  Anniversaries, blocks of dates, cyclic entries, etc. 

More advanced features of the Calendar and Diary
• Calendar Customizing  Calendar layout and hooks.
• Holiday Customizing  Defining your own holidays.
• Mayan Calendar  Moving to a date specified in a Mayan calendar.
• Date Display Format  Changing the format.
• Time Display Format  Changing the format.
• Diary Customizing  Defaults you can set.
• Non-Gregorian Diary  Diary entries based on other calendars.
• Diary Display  A choice of ways to display the diary.
• Fancy Diary Display  Sorting diary entries, using included diary files.
• Sexp Diary Entries  More flexible diary entries. 

Sending Mail
• Mail Format  Format of a mail message.
• Mail Headers  Details of some standard mail header fields.
• Mail Aliases  Abbreviating and grouping mail addresses.
• Mail Commands  Special commands for editing mail being composed.
• Mail Signature  Adding a signature to every message.
• Mail Amusements  Distracting the NSA; adding fortune messages.
• Mail Methods  Using alternative mail-composition methods. 

Mail Commands
• Mail Sending  Commands to send the message.
• Header Editing  Commands to move to header fields and edit them.
• Citing Mail  Quoting a message you are replying to.
• Mail Misc  Attachments, spell checking, etc. 

Reading Mail with Rmail
• Rmail Basics  Basic concepts of Rmail, and simple use.
• Rmail Scrolling  Scrolling through a message.
• Rmail Motion  Moving to another message.
• Rmail Deletion  Deleting and expunging messages.
• Rmail Inbox  How mail gets into the Rmail file.
• Rmail Files  Using multiple Rmail files.
• Rmail Output  Copying message out to files.
• Rmail Labels  Classifying messages by labeling them.
• Rmail Attributes  Certain standard labels, called attributes.
• Rmail Reply  Sending replies to messages you are viewing.
• Rmail Summary  Summaries show brief info on many messages.
• Rmail Sorting  Sorting messages in Rmail.
• Rmail Display  How Rmail displays a message; customization.
• Rmail Coding  How Rmail handles decoding character sets.
• Rmail Editing  Editing message text and headers in Rmail.
• Rmail Digest  Extracting the messages from a digest message.
• Rmail Rot13  Reading messages encoded in the rot13 code.
• Movemail  More details of fetching new mail.
• Remote Mailboxes  Retrieving mail from remote mailboxes.
• Other Mailbox Formats  Retrieving mail from local mailboxes in various formats. 

Rmail Summaries
• Rmail Make Summary  Making various sorts of summaries.
• Rmail Summary Edit  Manipulating messages from the summary. 

Gnus
• Buffers of Gnus  The group, summary, and article buffers.
• Gnus Startup  What you should know about starting Gnus.
• Gnus Group Buffer  A short description of Gnus group commands.
• Gnus Summary Buffer  A short description of Gnus summary commands. 

Document Viewing
• DocView Navigation  Navigating DocView buffers.
• DocView Searching  Searching inside documents.
• DocView Slicing  Specifying which part of a page is displayed.
• DocView Conversion  Influencing and triggering conversion. 

Running Shell Commands from Emacs
• Single Shell  How to run one shell command and return.
• Interactive Shell  Permanent shell taking input via Emacs.
• Shell Mode  Special Emacs commands used with permanent shell.
• Shell Prompts  Two ways to recognize shell prompts.
• Shell History  Repeating previous commands in a shell buffer.
• Directory Tracking  Keeping track when the subshell changes directory.
• Shell Options  Options for customizing Shell mode.
• Terminal emulator  An Emacs window as a terminal emulator.
• Term Mode  Special Emacs commands used in Term mode.
• Remote Host  Connecting to another computer.
• Serial Terminal  Connecting to a serial port. 

Shell Command History
• Shell Ring  Fetching commands from the history list.
• Shell History Copying  Moving to a command and then copying it.
• History References  Expanding ‘!’-style history references. 

Using Emacs as a Server
• Invoking emacsclient  Connecting to the Emacs server.
• emacsclient Options  Emacs client startup options. 

Printing Hard Copies
• PostScript  Printing buffers or regions as PostScript.
• PostScript Variables  Customizing the PostScript printing commands.
• Printing Package  An optional advanced printing interface. 

Hyperlinking and Navigation Features
• Browse-URL  Following URLs.
• Goto Address mode  Activating URLs.
• FFAP  Finding files etc. at point. 

Emacs Lisp Packages
• Package Menu  Buffer for viewing and managing packages.
• Package Installation  Options for package installation.
• Package Files  Where packages are installed. 

Customization
• Easy Customization  Convenient way to browse and change settings.
• Variables  Many Emacs commands examine Emacs variables to decide what to do; by setting variables, you can control their functioning.
• Key Bindings  The keymaps say what command each key runs. By changing them, you can "redefine" keys.
• Init File  How to write common customizations in the initialization file. 

Easy Customization Interface
• Customization Groups  How settings are classified.
• Browsing Custom  Browsing and searching for settings.
• Changing a Variable  How to edit an option’s value and set the option.
• Saving Customizations  Saving customizations for future Emacs sessions.
• Face Customization  How to edit the attributes of a face.
• Specific Customization  Customizing specific settings or groups.
• Custom Themes  Collections of customization settings.
• Creating Custom Themes  How to create a new custom theme. 

Variables
• Examining  Examining or setting one variable’s value.
• Hooks  Hook variables let you specify programs for parts of Emacs to run on particular occasions.
• Locals  Per-buffer values of variables.
• File Variables  How files can specify variable values.
• Directory Variables  How variable values can be specified by directory. 

Local Variables in Files
• Specifying File Variables  Specifying file local variables.
• Safe File Variables  Making sure file local variables are safe. 

Customizing Key Bindings
• Keymaps  Generalities. The global keymap.
• Prefix Keymaps  Keymaps for prefix keys.
• Local Keymaps  Major and minor modes have their own keymaps.
• Minibuffer Maps  The minibuffer uses its own local keymaps.
• Rebinding  How to redefine one key’s meaning conveniently.
• Init Rebinding  Rebinding keys with your initialization file.
• Modifier Keys  Using modifier keys in key bindings.
• Function Keys  Rebinding terminal function keys.
• Named ASCII Chars  Distinguishing TAB from C-i, and so on.
• Mouse Buttons  Rebinding mouse buttons in Emacs.
• Disabling  Disabling a command means confirmation is required before it can be executed. This is done to protect beginners from surprises. 

The Emacs Initialization File
• Init Syntax  Syntax of constants in Emacs Lisp.
• Init Examples  How to do some things with an init file.
• Terminal Init  Each terminal type can have an init file.
• Find Init  How Emacs finds the init file.
• Init Non-ASCII  Using non-ASCII characters in an init file. 

Dealing with Emacs Trouble
• DEL Does Not Delete  What to do if DEL doesn’t delete.
• Stuck Recursive  ‘[...]’ in mode line around the parentheses.
• Screen Garbled  Garbage on the screen.
• Text Garbled  Garbage in the text.
• Memory Full  How to cope when you run out of memory.
• Crashing  What Emacs does when it crashes.
• After a Crash  Recovering editing in an Emacs session that crashed.
• Emergency Escape  What to do if Emacs stops responding. 

Reporting Bugs
• Known Problems  How to read about known problems and bugs.
• Bug Criteria  Have you really found a bug?
• Understanding Bug Reporting  How to report a bug effectively.
• Checklist  Steps to follow for a good bug report.
• Sending Patches  How to send a patch for GNU Emacs. 

Command Line Arguments for Emacs Invocation
• Action Arguments  Arguments to visit files, load libraries, and call functions.
• Initial Options  Arguments that take effect while starting Emacs.
• Command Example  Examples of using command line arguments.
• Environment  Environment variables that Emacs uses.
• Display X  Changing the default display and using remote login.
• Font X  Choosing a font for text, under X.
• Colors X  Choosing display colors.
• Window Size X  Start-up window size, under X.
• Borders X  Internal and external borders, under X.
• Title X  Specifying the initial frame’s title.
• Icons X  Choosing what sort of icon to use, under X.
• Misc X  Other display options. 

Environment Variables
• General Variables  Environment variables that all versions of Emacs use.
• Misc Variables  Certain system-specific variables.
• MS-Windows Registry  An alternative to the environment on MS-Windows. 

X Options and Resources
• Resources  Using X resources with Emacs (in general).
• Table of Resources  Table of specific X resources that affect Emacs.
• Lucid Resources  X resources for Lucid menus.
• Motif Resources  X resources for Motif and LessTif menus.
• GTK resources  Resources for GTK widgets. 

GTK resources
• GTK Resource Basics  Basic usage of GTK+ resources.
• GTK Widget Names  How GTK+ widgets are named.
• GTK Names in Emacs  GTK widgets used by Emacs.
• GTK styles  What can be customized in a GTK widget. 

Emacs and Mac OS / GNUstep
• Mac / GNUstep Basics  Basic Emacs usage under GNUstep or Mac OS.
• Mac / GNUstep Customization  Customizations under GNUstep or Mac OS.
• Mac / GNUstep Events  How window system events are handled.
• GNUstep Support  Details on status of GNUstep support. 

Emacs and Microsoft Windows/MS-DOS
• Windows Startup  How to start Emacs on Windows.
• Text and Binary  Text files use CRLF to terminate lines.
• Windows Files  File-name conventions on Windows.
• ls in Lisp  Emulation of ls for Dired.
• Windows HOME  Where Emacs looks for your .emacs and where it starts up.
• Windows Keyboard  Windows-specific keyboard features.
• Windows Mouse  Windows-specific mouse features.
• Windows Processes  Running subprocesses on Windows.
• Windows Printing  How to specify the printer on MS-Windows.
• Windows Fonts  Specifying fonts on MS-Windows.
• Windows Misc  Miscellaneous Windows features.
• MS-DOS  Using Emacs on MS-DOS. 

Emacs and MS-DOS
• MS-DOS Keyboard  Keyboard conventions on MS-DOS.
• MS-DOS Mouse  Mouse conventions on MS-DOS.
• MS-DOS Display  Fonts, frames and display size on MS-DOS.
• MS-DOS File Names  File name conventions on MS-DOS.
• MS-DOS Printing  Printing specifics on MS-DOS.
• MS-DOS and MULE  Support for internationalization on MS-DOS.
• MS-DOS Processes  Running subprocesses on MS-DOS.

Next:   [Contents][Index]