Mercurial > emacs
annotate etc/TUTORIAL @ 13027:48358e0fa98e
(call_mod_hooks): Moved from intevals.c
(verify_interval_modification): Moved from intervals.c.
(interval_insert_behind_hooks, interval_insert_in_front_hooks): New variables.
(report_interval_modification): New function.
author | Richard M. Stallman <rms@gnu.org> |
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date | Tue, 12 Sep 1995 17:37:32 +0000 |
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13 | 1 Copyright (c) 1985 Free Software Foundation, Inc; See end for conditions. |
2 | |
3 You are looking at the Emacs tutorial. | |
4 | |
5 Emacs commands generally involve the CONTROL key (sometimes labelled | |
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6 CTRL or CTL) or the META key (sometimes labelled EDIT or ALT). Rather than |
13 | 7 write out META or CONTROL each time we want you to prefix a character, |
8 we'll use the following abbreviations: | |
9 | |
10 C-<chr> means hold the CONTROL key while typing the character <chr> | |
11 Thus, C-f would be: hold the CONTROL key and type f. | |
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12 M-<chr> means hold the META or EDIT or ALT key down while typing <chr>. |
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13 If there is no META key or equivalent, type <ESC>, release it, |
13 | 14 then type the character <chr>. "<ESC>" stands for the |
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15 key labelled "ESC". |
13 | 16 |
17 Important note: to end the Emacs session, type C-x C-c. (Two characters.) | |
18 The characters ">>" at the left margin indicate directions for you to | |
19 try using a command. For instance: | |
20 <<Blank lines inserted here by startup of help-with-tutorial>> | |
21 >> Now type C-v (View next screen) to move to the next screen. | |
22 (go ahead, do it by depressing the control key and v together). | |
23 From now on, you'll be expected to do this whenever you finish | |
24 reading the screen. | |
25 | |
26 Note that there is an overlap when going from screen to screen; this | |
27 provides some continuity when moving through the file. | |
28 | |
29 The first thing that you need to know is how to move around from | |
30 place to place in the file. You already know how to move forward a | |
31 screen, with C-v. To move backwards a screen, type M-v (depress the | |
32 META key and type v, or type <ESC>v if you don't have a META or EDIT | |
33 key). | |
34 | |
35 >> Try typing M-v and then C-v to move back and forth a few times. | |
36 | |
37 | |
1375 | 38 * SUMMARY |
39 --------- | |
13 | 40 |
41 The following commands are useful for viewing screenfuls: | |
42 | |
43 C-v Move forward one screenful | |
44 M-v Move backward one screenful | |
45 C-l Clear screen and redisplay everything | |
46 putting the text near the cursor at the center. | |
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47 (That's control-L, not control-1.) |
13 | 48 |
49 >> Find the cursor and remember what text is near it. | |
50 Then type a C-l. | |
51 Find the cursor again and see what text is near it now. | |
52 | |
53 | |
1375 | 54 * BASIC CURSOR CONTROL |
55 ---------------------- | |
13 | 56 |
57 Getting from screenful to screenful is useful, but how do you | |
58 reposition yourself within a given screen to a specific place? | |
59 There are several ways you can do this. One way (not the best, but | |
60 the most basic) is to use the commands previous, backward, forward | |
61 and next. As you can imagine these commands (which are given to | |
62 Emacs as C-p, C-b, C-f, and C-n respectively) move the cursor from | |
63 where it currently is to a new place in the given direction. Here, | |
64 in a more graphical form are the commands: | |
65 | |
66 Previous line, C-p | |
67 : | |
68 : | |
69 Backward, C-b .... Current cursor position .... Forward, C-f | |
70 : | |
71 : | |
72 Next line, C-n | |
73 | |
74 >> Move the cursor to the line in the middle of that diagram | |
75 and type C-l to see the whole diagram centered in the screen. | |
76 | |
77 You'll probably find it easy to think of these by letter. P for | |
78 previous, N for next, B for backward and F for forward. These are | |
79 the basic cursor positioning commands and you'll be using them ALL | |
80 the time so it would be of great benefit if you learn them now. | |
81 | |
82 >> Do a few C-n's to bring the cursor down to this line. | |
83 | |
84 >> Move into the line with C-f's and then up with C-p's. | |
85 See what C-p does when the cursor is in the middle of the line. | |
86 | |
87 Lines are separated by Newline characters. For most applications | |
88 there should normally be a Newline character at the end of the text, | |
89 as well, but it is up to you to make sure of this. A file can | |
90 validly exist without a Newline at the end. | |
91 | |
92 >> Try to C-b at the beginning of a line. Do a few more C-b's. | |
93 Then do C-f's back to the end of the line and beyond. | |
94 | |
95 When you go off the top or bottom of the screen, the text beyond | |
96 the edge is shifted onto the screen so that your instructions can | |
97 be carried out while keeping the cursor on the screen. | |
98 | |
99 >> Try to move the cursor off the bottom of the screen with C-n and | |
100 see what happens. | |
101 | |
102 If moving by characters is too slow, you can move by words. M-f | |
103 (Meta-f) moves forward a word and M-b moves back a word. | |
104 | |
105 >> Type a few M-f's and M-b's. Intersperse them with C-f's and C-b's. | |
106 | |
107 Notice the parallel between C-f and C-b on the one hand, and M-f and | |
108 M-b on the other hand. Very often Meta characters are used for | |
109 operations related to English text whereas Control characters operate | |
110 on the basic textual units that are independent of what you are | |
111 editing (characters, lines, etc). There is a similar parallel between | |
112 lines and sentences: C-a and C-e move to the beginning or end of a | |
113 line, and M-a and M-e move to the beginning or end of a sentence. | |
114 | |
115 >> Try a couple of C-a's, and then a couple of C-e's. | |
116 Try a couple of M-a's, and then a couple of M-e's. | |
117 | |
118 See how repeated C-a's do nothing, but repeated M-a's keep moving | |
119 farther. Do you think that this is right? | |
120 | |
121 Two other simple cursor motion commands are M-< (Meta Less-than), | |
122 which moves to the beginning of the file, and M-> (Meta Greater-than), | |
123 which moves to the end of the file. You probably don't need to try | |
124 them, since finding this spot again will be boring. On most terminals | |
125 the "<" is above the comma and you must use the shift key to type it. | |
126 On these terminals you must use the shift key to type M-< also; | |
127 without the shift key, you would be typing M-comma. | |
128 | |
129 The location of the cursor in the text is also called "point". To | |
130 paraphrase, the cursor shows on the screen where point is located in | |
131 the text. | |
132 | |
133 Here is a summary of simple moving operations including the word and | |
134 sentence moving commands: | |
135 | |
136 C-f Move forward a character | |
137 C-b Move backward a character | |
138 | |
139 M-f Move forward a word | |
140 M-b Move backward a word | |
141 | |
142 C-n Move to next line | |
143 C-p Move to previous line | |
144 | |
145 C-a Move to beginning of line | |
146 C-e Move to end of line | |
147 | |
148 M-a Move back to beginning of sentence | |
149 M-e Move forward to end of sentence | |
150 | |
151 M-< Go to beginning of file | |
152 M-> Go to end of file | |
153 | |
154 >> Try all of these commands now a few times for practice. | |
155 Since the last two will take you away from this screen, | |
156 you can come back here with M-v's and C-v's. These are | |
157 the most often used commands. | |
158 | |
159 Like all other commands in Emacs, these commands can be given | |
160 arguments which cause them to be executed repeatedly. The way you | |
161 give a command a repeat count is by typing C-u and then the digits | |
162 before you type the command. If you have a META or EDIT key, you can | |
163 omit the C-u if you hold down the META or EDIT key while you type the | |
164 digits. This is easier, but we recommend the C-u method because it | |
165 works on any terminal. | |
166 | |
167 For instance, C-u 8 C-f moves forward eight characters. | |
168 | |
169 >> Try giving a suitable argument to C-n or C-p to come as close | |
170 as you can to this line in one jump. | |
171 | |
172 The only apparent exception to this is the screen moving commands, | |
173 C-v and M-v. When given an argument, they scroll the screen up or | |
174 down by that many lines, rather than screenfuls. This proves to be | |
175 much more useful. | |
176 | |
177 >> Try typing C-u 8 C-v now. | |
178 | |
179 Did it scroll the screen up by 8 lines? If you would like to | |
180 scroll it down you can give an argument to M-v. | |
181 | |
2863 | 182 If you are using X Windows, there is probably a rectangular area |
183 called a scroll bar at the right hand side of the Emacs window. You | |
184 can scroll the text by clicking the mouse in the scroll bar. | |
185 | |
186 >> Try pressing the middle button at the top of the highlighted area | |
187 within the scroll bar, then moving the mouse while holding that button | |
188 down. | |
189 | |
190 >> Move the mouse to a point in the scroll bar about three lines from | |
191 the top, and click the left button a couple of times. Then try the | |
192 right button a couple of times. | |
193 | |
13 | 194 |
1375 | 195 * WHEN EMACS IS HUNG |
196 -------------------- | |
13 | 197 |
198 If Emacs gets into an infinite (or simply very long) computation which | |
199 you don't want to finish, you can stop it safely by typing C-g. | |
200 You can also use C-g to discard a numeric argument or the beginning of | |
201 a command that you don't want to finish. | |
202 | |
203 >> Type C-u 100 to make a numeric arg of 100, then type C-g. | |
204 Now type C-f. How many characters does it move? | |
205 If you have typed an <ESC> by mistake, you can get rid of it | |
206 with a C-g. | |
207 | |
12609 | 208 If you type <ESC> : then you get a new window appearing on the screen, |
209 telling you that M-: is a "disabled command" and asking whether you | |
210 really want to execute it. The command M-: is marked as disabled | |
211 because we expect it would confuse beginners and you probably don't | |
212 want to use it until you know more about Emacs. If you really want to | |
213 try the M-: command, you could type a Space in answer to the question, | |
214 and M-: would go ahead. Normally, if you do not want to execute M-:, | |
215 you would type "n" to answer the question. | |
13 | 216 |
12609 | 217 >> Type <ESC> :, then type n. |
13 | 218 |
219 | |
1375 | 220 * WINDOWS |
221 --------- | |
13 | 222 |
223 Emacs can have several windows, each displaying its own text. | |
224 At this stage it is better not to go into the techniques of | |
225 using multiple windows. But you do need to know how to get | |
226 rid of extra windows that may appear to display help or | |
227 output from certain commands. It is simple: | |
228 | |
229 C-x 1 One window (i.e., kill all other windows). | |
230 | |
231 That is Control-x followed by the digit 1. | |
232 C-x 1 makes the window which the cursor is in become | |
233 the full screen, by getting rid of any other windows. | |
234 | |
235 >> Move the cursor to this line and type C-u 0 C-l. | |
236 >> Type Control-h k Control-f. | |
237 See how this window shrinks, while a new one appears | |
238 to display documentation on the Control-f command. | |
239 | |
240 >> Type C-x 1 and see the documentation listing window disappear. | |
241 | |
242 | |
1375 | 243 * INSERTING AND DELETING |
244 ------------------------ | |
13 | 245 |
246 If you want to insert text, just type it. Characters which you can | |
247 see, such as A, 7, *, etc. are taken by Emacs as text and inserted | |
248 immediately. Type <Return> (the carriage-return key) to insert a | |
249 Newline character. | |
250 | |
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251 You can delete the last character you typed by typing <Delete>. |
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252 <Delete> is a key on the keyboard, which may be labeled "Del". In |
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253 some cases, the "Backspace" key serves as <Delete>, but not always! |
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254 |
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255 More generally, <Delete> deletes the character immediately before the |
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256 current cursor position. |
13 | 257 |
258 >> Do this now, type a few characters and then delete them | |
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259 by typing <Delete> a few times. Don't worry about this file |
13 | 260 being changed; you won't affect the master tutorial. This is just |
261 a copy of it. | |
262 | |
263 >> Now start typing text until you reach the right margin, and keep | |
264 typing. When a line of text gets too big for one line on the | |
265 screen, the line of text is "continued" onto a second screen line. | |
266 The backslash at the right margin indicates a line which has | |
267 been continued. | |
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268 >> Use <Delete>s to delete the text until the line fits on one screen |
13 | 269 line again. The continuation line goes away. |
270 | |
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271 >> Move the cursor to the beginning of a line and type <Delete>. This |
13 | 272 deletes the newline before the line and merges the line onto |
273 the previous line. The resulting line may be too long to fit, in | |
274 which case it has a continuation line. | |
275 >> Type <Return> to reinsert the Newline you deleted. | |
276 | |
277 Remember that most Emacs commands can be given a repeat count; | |
278 this includes characters which insert themselves. | |
279 | |
280 >> Try that now -- type C-u 8 * and see what happens. | |
281 | |
282 You've now learned the most basic way of typing something in | |
283 Emacs and correcting errors. You can delete by words or lines | |
284 as well. Here is a summary of the delete operations: | |
285 | |
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286 <Delete> delete the character just before the cursor |
13 | 287 C-d delete the next character after the cursor |
288 | |
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289 M-<Delete> kill the word immediately before the cursor |
13 | 290 M-d kill the next word after the cursor |
291 | |
292 C-k kill from the cursor position to end of line | |
293 M-k kill to the end of the current sentence | |
294 | |
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295 Notice that <Delete> and C-d vs M-<Delete> and M-d extend the parallel |
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296 started by C-f and M-f (well, <Delete> isn't really a control |
13 | 297 character, but let's not worry about that). C-k and M-k are like C-e |
298 and M-e, sort of, in that lines are opposite sentences. | |
299 | |
300 Now suppose you kill something, and then you decide that you want to | |
301 get it back? Well, whenever you kill something bigger than a | |
302 character, Emacs saves it for you. To yank it back, use C-y. You | |
303 can kill text in one place, move elsewhere, and then do C-y; this is | |
304 a good way to move text around. Note that the difference | |
305 between "Killing" and "Deleting" something is that "Killed" things | |
306 can be yanked back, and "Deleted" things cannot. Generally, the | |
307 commands that can destroy a lot of text save it, while the ones that | |
308 attack only one character, or nothing but blank lines and spaces, do | |
309 not save. | |
310 | |
34 | 311 For instance, type C-n a couple times to position the cursor |
13 | 312 at some line on this screen. |
313 | |
314 >> Do this now, move the cursor and kill that line with C-k. | |
315 | |
316 Note that a single C-k kills the contents of the line, and a second | |
317 C-k kills the line itself, and make all the other lines move up. If | |
318 you give C-k a repeat count, it kills that many lines AND their | |
319 contents. | |
320 | |
321 The text that has just disappeared is saved so that you can | |
322 retrieve it. To retrieve the last killed text and put it where | |
323 the cursor currently is, type C-y. | |
324 | |
325 >> Try it; type C-y to yank the text back. | |
326 | |
327 Think of C-y as if you were yanking something back that someone | |
328 took away from you. Notice that if you do several C-k's in a row | |
329 the text that is killed is all saved together so that one C-y will | |
330 yank all of the lines. | |
331 | |
332 >> Do this now, type C-k several times. | |
333 | |
334 Now to retrieve that killed text: | |
335 | |
336 >> Type C-y. Then move the cursor down a few lines and type C-y | |
337 again. You now see how to copy some text. | |
338 | |
339 What do you do if you have some text you want to yank back, and then | |
340 you kill something else? C-y would yank the more recent kill. But | |
341 the previous text is not lost. You can get back to it using the M-y | |
342 command. After you have done C-y to get the most recent kill, typing | |
343 M-Y replaces that yanked text with the previous kill. Typing M-y | |
344 again and again brings in earlier and earlier kills. When you | |
345 have reached the text you are looking for, you can just go away and | |
346 leave it there. If you M-y enough times, you come back to the | |
347 starting point (the most recent kill). | |
348 | |
349 >> Kill a line, move around, kill another line. | |
350 Then do C-y to get back the second killed line. | |
351 Then do M-y and it will be replaced by the first killed line. | |
352 Do more M-y's and see what you get. Keep doing them until | |
353 the second kill line comes back, and then a few more. | |
354 If you like, you can try giving M-y positive and negative | |
355 arguments. | |
356 | |
357 | |
1375 | 358 * UNDO |
359 ------ | |
13 | 360 |
361 Any time you make a change to the text and wish you had not done so, | |
362 you can undo the change (return the text to its previous state) | |
363 with the undo command, C-x u. Normally, C-x u undoes one command's | |
364 worth of changes; if you repeat the C-x u several times in a row, | |
365 each time undoes one more command. There are two exceptions: | |
366 commands that made no change (just moved the cursor) do not count, | |
367 and self-inserting characters are often lumped together in groups | |
368 of up to 20. This is to reduce the number of C-x u's you have to type. | |
369 | |
370 >> Kill this line with C-k, then type C-x u and it should reappear. | |
371 | |
372 C-_ is another command for undoing; it is just the same as C-x u | |
373 but easier to type several times in a row. The problem with C-_ is | |
374 that on some keyboards it is not obvious how to type it. That is | |
375 why C-x u is provided as well. On some DEC terminals, you can type | |
376 C-_ by typing / while holding down CTRL. Illogical, but what can | |
377 you expect from DEC? | |
378 | |
379 Giving a numeric argument to C-_ or C-x u is equivalent to repeating | |
380 it as many times as the argument says. | |
381 | |
382 | |
1375 | 383 * FILES |
384 ------- | |
13 | 385 |
386 In order to make the text you edit permanent, you must put it in a | |
387 file. Otherwise, it will go away when your invocation of Emacs goes | |
388 away. You put your editing in a file by "finding" the file. What | |
389 finding means is that you see the contents of the file in your Emacs; | |
390 and, loosely speaking, what you are editing is the file itself. | |
391 However, the changes still don't become permanent until you "save" the | |
392 file. This is so you can have control to avoid leaving a half-changed | |
393 file around when you don't want to. Even then, Emacs leaves the | |
394 original file under a changed name in case your changes turn out | |
395 to be a mistake. | |
396 | |
397 If you look near the bottom of the screen you will see a line that | |
398 begins and ends with dashes, and contains the string "Emacs: TUTORIAL". | |
399 Your copy of the Emacs tutorial is called "TUTORIAL". Whatever | |
400 file you find, that file's name will appear in that precise | |
401 spot. | |
402 | |
403 The commands for finding and saving files are unlike the other | |
404 commands you have learned in that they consist of two characters. | |
405 They both start with the character Control-x. There is a whole series | |
406 of commands that start with Control-x; many of them have to do with | |
407 files, buffers, and related things, and all of them consist of | |
408 Control-x followed by some other character. | |
409 | |
410 Another thing about the command for finding a file is that you have | |
411 to say what file name you want. We say the command "reads an argument | |
412 from the terminal" (in this case, the argument is the name of the | |
413 file). After you type the command | |
414 | |
415 C-x C-f Find a file | |
416 | |
417 Emacs asks you to type the file name. It echoes on the bottom | |
418 line of the screen. You are using the minibuffer now! this is | |
419 what the minibuffer is for. When you type <Return> to end the | |
420 file name, the minibuffer is no longer needed, so it disappears. | |
421 | |
422 >> Type C-x C-f, then type C-g. This cancels the minibuffer, | |
423 and also cancels the C-x C-f command that was using the | |
424 minibuffer. So you do not find any file. | |
425 | |
426 In a little while the file contents appear on the screen. You can | |
427 edit the contents. When you wish to make the changes permanent, | |
428 issue the command | |
429 | |
430 C-x C-s Save the file | |
431 | |
432 The contents of Emacs are written into the file. The first time you | |
433 do this, the original file is renamed to a new name so that it | |
434 is not lost. The new name is made by appending "~" to the end | |
435 of the original file's name. | |
436 | |
437 When saving is finished, Emacs prints the name of the file written. | |
438 You should save fairly often, so that you will not lose very much | |
439 work if the system should crash. | |
440 | |
441 >> Type C-x C-s, saving your copy of the tutorial. | |
442 This should print "Wrote .../TUTORIAL" at the bottom of the screen. | |
443 On VMS it will print "Wrote ...[...]TUTORIAL." | |
444 | |
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445 NOTE: On some systems, typing C-x C-s will freeze the screen and you |
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446 will see no further output from Emacs. This indicates that an |
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447 operating system "feature" called "flow control" is intercepting the |
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448 C-s and not letting it get through to Emacs. To unfreeze the screen, |
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449 type C-q. Then see the section "Spontaneous Entry to Incremental |
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450 Search" in the Emacs manual for advice on dealing with this "feature". |
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451 |
13 | 452 To make a new file, just find it "as if" it already existed. Then |
453 start typing in the text. When you ask to "save" the file, Emacs | |
454 will really create the file with the text that you have inserted. | |
455 From then on, you can consider yourself to be editing an already | |
456 existing file. | |
457 | |
458 | |
1375 | 459 * BUFFERS |
460 --------- | |
13 | 461 |
462 If you find a second file with C-x C-f, the first file remains | |
463 inside Emacs. You can switch back to it by finding it again with | |
464 C-x C-f. This way you can get quite a number of files inside Emacs. | |
465 | |
466 The object inside Emacs which holds the text read from one file | |
467 is called a "buffer." Finding a file makes a new buffer inside Emacs. | |
468 To see a list of the buffers that exist in Emacs, type | |
469 | |
470 C-x C-b List buffers | |
471 | |
472 >> Try C-x C-b now. | |
473 | |
474 See how each buffer has a name, and it may also have a file name | |
475 for the file whose contents it holds. Some buffers do not correspond | |
476 to files. For example, the buffer named "*Buffer List*" does | |
477 not have any file. It is the buffer which contains the buffer | |
478 list that was made by C-x C-b. ANY text you see in an Emacs window | |
479 has to be in some buffer. | |
480 | |
481 >> Type C-x 1 to get rid of the buffer list. | |
482 | |
483 If you make changes to the text of one file, then find another file, | |
484 this does not save the first file. Its changes remain inside Emacs, | |
485 in that file's buffer. The creation or editing of the second file's | |
486 buffer has no effect on the first file's buffer. This is very useful, | |
487 but it also means that you need a convenient way to save the first | |
488 file's buffer. It would be a nuisance to have to switch back to | |
489 it with C-x C-f in order to save it with C-x C-s. So we have | |
490 | |
491 C-x s Save some buffers | |
492 | |
493 C-x s goes through the list of all the buffers you have | |
494 and finds the ones that contain files you have changed. | |
495 For each such buffer, C-x s asks you whether to save it. | |
496 | |
497 | |
1375 | 498 * EXTENDING THE COMMAND SET |
499 --------------------------- | |
13 | 500 |
501 There are many, many more Emacs commands than could possibly be put | |
502 on all the control and meta characters. Emacs gets around this with | |
503 the X (eXtend) command. This comes in two flavors: | |
504 | |
505 C-x Character eXtend. Followed by one character. | |
506 M-x Named command eXtend. Followed by a long name. | |
507 | |
508 These are commands that are generally useful but used less than the | |
509 commands you have already learned about. You have already seen two | |
510 of them: the file commands C-x C-f to Find and C-x C-s to Save. | |
511 Another example is the command to tell Emacs that you'd like to stop | |
512 editing and get rid of Emacs. The command to do this is C-x C-c. | |
513 (Don't worry; it offers to save each changed file before it kills the | |
514 Emacs.) | |
515 | |
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516 C-z is the command to exit Emacs *temporarily*--so that you can go |
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517 back to the same Emacs session afterward. |
13 | 518 |
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519 On systems which allow it, C-z exits from Emacs to the shell but does |
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520 not destroy the Emacs; if you use the C shell, you can resume Emacs |
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521 with the `fg' command (or, more generally, with `%emacs', which works |
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522 even if your most recent job was some other). On systems which don't |
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523 implement suspending, C-z creates a subshell running under Emacs to |
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524 give you the chance to run other programs and return to Emacs |
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525 afterward; it does not truly "exit" from Emacs. In this case, the |
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526 shell command `exit' is the usual way to get back to Emacs from the |
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527 subshell. |
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528 |
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529 The time to use C-x C-c is when you are about to log out. It's also |
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530 the right thing to use to exit an Emacs invoked under mail handling |
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531 programs and other random utilities, since they may not know how to |
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532 cope with suspension of Emacs. On other occasions, use C-z, and |
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533 resume the Emacs when you have more editing to do. |
13 | 534 |
535 There are many C-x commands. The ones you know are: | |
536 | |
537 C-x C-f Find file. | |
538 C-x C-s Save file. | |
539 C-x C-b List buffers. | |
540 C-x C-c Quit Emacs. | |
541 C-x u Undo. | |
542 | |
543 Named eXtended commands are commands which are used even less | |
544 frequently, or commands which are used only in certain modes. These | |
545 commands are usually called "functions". An example is the function | |
546 replace-string, which globally replaces one string with another. When | |
547 you type M-x, Emacs prompts you at the bottom of the screen with | |
548 M-x and you should type the name of the function you wish to call; in | |
549 this case, "replace-string". Just type "repl s<TAB>" and Emacs will | |
550 complete the name. End the command name with <Return>. | |
551 Then type the two "arguments"--the string to be replaced, and the string | |
552 to replace it with--each one ended with a Return. | |
553 | |
554 >> Move the cursor to the blank line two lines below this one. | |
555 Then type M-x repl s<Return>changed<Return>altered<Return>. | |
556 | |
557 Notice how this line has changed: you've replaced | |
34 | 558 the word c-h-a-n-g-e-d with "altered" wherever it occurred |
13 | 559 after the cursor. |
560 | |
561 | |
10698 | 562 * AUTO SAVE |
563 ----------- | |
564 | |
565 When you have made changes in a file, but you have not saved them yet, | |
566 they could be lost if your computer crashes. To protect you from | |
567 this, Emacs writes "auto save" files periodically. The auto save file | |
10699 | 568 name has a # at the beginning and the end; for example, if your file |
569 is named "hello.c", its auto save file's name is "#hello.c#". When | |
570 you save the file in the normal way, its auto save file is no longer | |
10698 | 571 necessary so Emacs deletes it. |
572 | |
573 If the computer crashes, you can recover your auto-saved editing by | |
574 finding the file normally (the file you were editing, not the auto | |
575 save file) and then typing M-x recover file<return>. When it asks for | |
576 confirmation, type yes<return> to go ahead and recover the auto-save | |
577 data. | |
578 | |
579 | |
1375 | 580 * MODE LINE |
581 ----------- | |
13 | 582 |
583 If Emacs sees that you are typing commands slowly it shows them to you | |
584 at the bottom of the screen in an area called the "echo area." The echo | |
585 area contains the bottom line of the screen. The line immediately above | |
586 it is called the MODE LINE. The mode line says something like | |
587 | |
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588 --**-Emacs: TUTORIAL (Fundamental)--58%---------------------- |
13 | 589 |
590 This is a very useful "information" line. | |
591 | |
592 You already know what the filename means--it is the file you have | |
593 found. What the --NN%-- means is that NN percent of the file is | |
594 above the top of the screen. If the top of the file is on the screen, | |
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595 it will say --Top-- instead of --00%--. If the bottom of the file is |
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596 on the screen, it will say --Bot--. If you are looking at a file so |
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597 small it all fits on the screen, it says --All--. |
13 | 598 |
599 The stars near the front mean that you have made changes to the text. | |
600 Right after you visit or save a file, there are no stars, just dashes. | |
601 | |
602 The part of the mode line inside the parentheses is to tell you what | |
603 modes you are in. The default mode is Fundamental which is what you | |
604 are in now. It is an example of a "major mode". There are several | |
605 major modes in Emacs for editing different languages and text, such as | |
606 Lisp mode, Text mode, etc. At any time one and only one major mode is | |
607 active, and its name can always be found in the mode line just where | |
608 "Fundamental" is now. Each major mode makes a few commands behave | |
609 differently. For example, there are commands for creating comments in | |
610 a program, and since each programming language has a different idea of | |
611 what a comment should look like, each major mode has to insert | |
612 comments differently. Each major mode is the name of an extended | |
613 command, which is how you get into the mode. For example, | |
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614 M-x fundamental-mode is how to get into Fundamental mode. |
13 | 615 |
616 If you are going to be editing English text, such as this file, you | |
617 should probably use Text Mode. | |
618 >> Type M-x text-mode<Return>. | |
619 | |
620 Don't worry, none of the commands you have learned changes Emacs in | |
2619 | 621 any great way. But you can observe that apostrophes are now part of |
622 words when you do M-f or M-b. Major modes are usually like that: | |
623 commands don't change into completely unrelated things, but they work | |
624 a little bit differently. | |
13 | 625 |
626 To get documentation on your current major mode, type C-h m. | |
627 | |
628 >> Use C-u C-v once or more to bring this line near the top of screen. | |
629 >> Type C-h m, to see how Text mode differs from Fundamental mode. | |
630 >> Type C-x 1 to remove the documentation from the screen. | |
631 | |
632 Major modes are called major because there are also minor modes. | |
633 They are called minor because they aren't alternatives to the major | |
634 modes, just minor modifications of them. Each minor mode can be | |
635 turned on or off by itself, regardless of what major mode you are in, | |
636 and regardless of the other minor modes. So you can use no minor | |
637 modes, or one minor mode, or any combination of several minor modes. | |
638 | |
639 One minor mode which is very useful, especially for editing English | |
640 text, is Auto Fill mode. When this mode is on, Emacs breaks the line | |
641 in between words automatically whenever the line gets too long. You | |
642 can turn this mode on by doing M-x auto-fill-mode<Return>. When the | |
643 mode is on, you can turn it off by doing M-x auto-fill-mode<Return>. | |
644 If the mode is off, this function turns it on, and if the mode is on, | |
645 this function turns it off. This is called "toggling". | |
646 | |
647 >> Type M-x auto-fill-mode<Return> now. Then insert a line of "asdf " | |
648 over again until you see it divide into two lines. You must put in | |
649 spaces between them because Auto Fill breaks lines only at spaces. | |
650 | |
651 The margin is usually set at 70 characters, but you can change it | |
652 with the C-x f command. You should give the margin setting you want | |
653 as a numeric argument. | |
654 | |
655 >> Type C-x f with an argument of 20. (C-u 2 0 C-x f). | |
656 Then type in some text and see Emacs fill lines of 20 | |
657 characters with it. Then set the margin back to 70 using | |
658 C-x f again. | |
659 | |
660 If you makes changes in the middle of a paragraph, Auto Fill mode | |
661 does not re-fill it for you. | |
662 To re-fill the paragraph, type M-q (Meta-q) with the cursor inside | |
663 that paragraph. | |
664 | |
665 >> Move the cursor into the previous paragraph and type M-q. | |
666 | |
1375 | 667 * SEARCHING |
668 ----------- | |
13 | 669 |
670 Emacs can do searches for strings (these are groups of contiguous | |
671 characters or words) either forward through the file or backward | |
672 through it. To search for the string means that you are trying to | |
673 locate it somewhere in the file and have Emacs show you where the | |
674 occurrences of the string exist. This type of search is somewhat | |
675 different from what you may be familiar with. It is a search that is | |
676 performed as you type in the thing to search for. The command to | |
677 initiate a search is C-s for forward search, and C-r for reverse | |
678 search. BUT WAIT! Don't do them now. When you type C-s you'll | |
679 notice that the string "I-search" appears as a prompt in the echo | |
680 area. This tells you that Emacs is in what is called an incremental | |
681 search waiting for you to type the thing that you want to search for. | |
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682 <RET> terminates a search. |
13 | 683 |
684 >> Now type C-s to start a search. SLOWLY, one letter at a time, | |
685 type the word 'cursor', pausing after you type each | |
686 character to notice what happens to the cursor. | |
687 >> Type C-s to find the next occurrence of "cursor". | |
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688 >> Now type <Delete> four times and see how the cursor moves. |
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689 >> Type <RET> to terminate the search. |
13 | 690 |
691 Did you see what happened? Emacs, in an incremental search, tries to | |
692 go to the occurrence of the string that you've typed out so far. To go | |
693 to the next occurrence of 'cursor' just type C-s again. If no such | |
694 occurrence exists Emacs beeps and tells you that it is a failing | |
695 search. C-g would also terminate the search. | |
696 | |
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697 NOTE: On some systems, typing C-s will freeze the screen and you will |
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698 see no further output from Emacs. This indicates that an operating |
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699 system "feature" called "flow control" is intercepting the C-s and not |
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700 letting it get through to Emacs. To unfreeze the screen, type C-q. |
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701 Then see the section "Spontaneous Entry to Incremental Search" in the |
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702 Emacs manual for advice on dealing with this "feature". |
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703 |
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704 If you are in the middle of an incremental search and type <Delete>, |
13 | 705 you'll notice that the last character in the search string is erased |
706 and the search backs up to the last place of the search. For | |
707 instance, suppose you currently have typed 'cu' and you see that your | |
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708 cursor is at the first occurrence of 'cu'. If you now type <Delete>, |
13 | 709 the 'u' on the search line is erased and you'll be repositioned in the |
710 text to the occurrence of 'c' where the search took you before you | |
711 typed the 'u'. This provides a useful means for backing up while you | |
712 are searching. | |
713 | |
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714 If you are in the middle of a search and type a control or meta |
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715 character (with a few exceptions--characters that are special in |
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716 a search, such as C-s and C-r), the search is terminated. |
13 | 717 |
718 The C-s starts a search that looks for any occurrence of the search | |
719 string AFTER the current cursor position. But what if you want to | |
720 search for something earlier in the text? To do this, type C-r for | |
721 Reverse search. Everything that applies to C-s applies to C-r except | |
722 that the direction of the search is reversed. | |
723 | |
724 | |
1375 | 725 * MULTIPLE WINDOWS |
726 ------------------ | |
476 | 727 |
728 One of the nice features of Emacs is that you can display more than one | |
729 window on the screen at the same time. | |
730 | |
731 >> Move the cursor to this line and type C-u 0 C-l. | |
732 | |
733 >> Now type C-x 2 which splits the screen into two windows. | |
734 Both windows display this tutorial. The cursor stays in the top window. | |
735 | |
736 >> Type C-M-v to scroll the bottom window. | |
6276 | 737 (If you don't have a real Meta key, type ESC C-v.) |
476 | 738 |
739 >> Type C-x o ("o" for "other") to move the cursor to the bottom window. | |
740 >> Use C-v and M-v in the bottom window to scroll it. | |
741 Keep reading these directions in the top window. | |
742 | |
743 >> Type C-x o again to move the cursor back to the top window. | |
744 The cursor is still just where it was in the top window before. | |
745 | |
746 You can keep using C-x o to switch between the windows. Each | |
747 window has its own cursor position, but only one window actually | |
748 shows the cursor. All the ordinary editing commands apply to the | |
749 window that the cursor is in. | |
750 | |
751 The command C-M-v is very useful when you are editing text in one | |
752 window and using the other window just for reference. You can keep | |
753 the cursor always in the window where you are editing, and edit | |
754 there as you advance through the other window. | |
755 | |
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756 C-M-v is an example of a CONTROL-META character. If you have a real |
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757 META key, you can type C-M-v by holding down both CTRL and META while |
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758 typing v. |
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759 |
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760 It doesn't matter whether CTRL or META "comes first," because both of |
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761 these keys act by modifying the characters you type. But if you don't |
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762 have a real META key, and you use ESC instead, the order does matter: |
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763 you must type ESC followed by CTRL-v; CTRL-ESC v will not work. This |
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764 is because ESC is a character in its own right, not a modifier key. |
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765 |
476 | 766 >> Type C-x 1 (in the top window) to get rid of the bottom window. |
767 | |
768 (If you had typed C-x 1 in the bottom window, that would get rid | |
769 of the top one. Think of this command as "Keep just one | |
770 window--the window I am already in.") | |
771 | |
772 You don't have to display the same buffer in both windows. If | |
773 you use C-x C-f to find a file in one window, the other window | |
774 doesn't change. You can pick a file in each window | |
775 independently. | |
776 | |
777 Here is another way to use two windows to display two different | |
778 things: | |
779 | |
780 >> Type C-x 4 C-f followed by the name of one of your files. | |
781 End with <RETURN>. See the specified file appear in the bottom | |
782 window. The cursor goes there, too. | |
783 | |
784 >> Type C-x o to go back to the top window, and C-x 1 to delete | |
785 the bottom window. | |
786 | |
787 | |
1375 | 788 * RECURSIVE EDITING LEVELS |
789 -------------------------- | |
13 | 790 |
791 Sometimes you will get into what is called a "recursive editing | |
792 level". This is indicated by square brackets in the mode line, | |
793 surrounding the parentheses around the major mode name. For | |
794 example, you might see [(Fundamental)] instead of (Fundamental). | |
795 | |
796 To get out of the recursive editing level, type | |
797 M-x top-level<Return>. | |
798 | |
799 >> Try that now; it should display "Back to top level" | |
800 at the bottom of the screen. | |
801 | |
802 In fact, you were ALREADY at top level (not inside a recursive editing | |
803 level) if you have obeyed instructions. M-x top-level does not care; | |
804 it gets out of any number of recursive editing levels, perhaps zero, | |
805 to get back to top level. | |
806 | |
807 You can't use C-g to get out of a recursive editing level because C-g | |
808 is used for discarding numeric arguments and partially typed commands | |
809 WITHIN the recursive editing level. | |
810 | |
811 | |
1375 | 812 * GETTING MORE HELP |
813 ------------------- | |
13 | 814 |
815 In this tutorial we have tried to supply just enough information to | |
816 get you started using Emacs. There is so much available in Emacs that | |
817 it would be impossible to explain it all here. However, you may want | |
818 to learn more about Emacs since it has numerous desirable features | |
819 that you don't know about yet. Emacs has a great deal of internal | |
820 documentation. All of these commands can be accessed through | |
821 the character Control-h, which we call "the Help character" | |
822 because of the function it serves. | |
823 | |
824 To use the HELP features, type the C-h character, and then a | |
825 character saying what kind of help you want. If you are REALLY lost, | |
826 type C-h ? and Emacs will tell you what kinds of help it can give. | |
827 If you have typed C-h and decide you don't want any help, just | |
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828 type C-g to cancel it. |
13 | 829 |
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830 (Some sites rebind the character C-h. They really shouldn't do this |
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831 as a blanket measure, so complain to the operator. Meanwhile, if C-h |
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832 does not display a message about help at the bottom of the screen, try |
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833 typing M-x help RET instead.) |
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834 |
13 | 835 The most basic HELP feature is C-h c. Type C-h, a c, and a |
836 command character or sequence, and Emacs displays a very brief | |
837 description of the command. | |
838 | |
839 >> Type C-h c Control-p. | |
840 The message should be something like | |
841 | |
842 C-p runs the command previous-line | |
843 | |
844 This tells you the "name of the function". That is important in | |
845 writing Lisp code to extend Emacs; it also is enough to remind | |
846 you of what the command does if you have seen it before but did | |
847 not remember. | |
848 | |
849 Multi-character commands such as C-x C-s and (if you have no META or | |
850 EDIT key) <ESC>v are also allowed after C-h c. | |
851 | |
852 To get more information on the command, use C-h k instead of C-h c. | |
853 | |
854 >> Type C-h k Control-p. | |
855 | |
477 | 856 This displays the documentation of the function, as well as its |
857 name, in an Emacs window. When you are finished reading the | |
858 output, type C-x 1 to get rid of the help text. You do not have | |
859 to do this right away. You can do some editing while referring | |
860 to the help text and then type C-x 1. | |
13 | 861 |
862 Here are some other useful C-h options: | |
863 | |
864 C-h f Describe a function. You type in the name of the | |
865 function. | |
866 | |
867 >> Try typing C-h f previous-line<Return>. | |
868 This prints all the information Emacs has about the | |
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869 function which implements the C-p command. |
13 | 870 |
871 C-h a Command Apropos. Type in a keyword and Emacs will list | |
872 all the commands whose names contain that keyword. | |
873 These commands can all be invoked with Meta-x. | |
874 For some commands, Command Apropos will also list a one | |
875 or two character sequence which has the same effect. | |
876 | |
477 | 877 >> Type C-h a file<Return>. |
878 | |
879 This displays in another window a list of all M-x commands with | |
880 "file" in their names. You will also see commands like C-x C-f | |
881 and C-x C-w, listed beside the command names find-file and | |
882 write-file. | |
883 | |
884 >> Type C-M-v to scroll the help window. Do this a few times. | |
885 | |
886 >> Type C-x 1 to delete the help window. | |
13 | 887 |
888 | |
1375 | 889 * CONCLUSION |
890 ------------ | |
13 | 891 |
892 Remember, to exit Emacs permanently use C-x C-c. To exit to a shell | |
893 temporarily, so that you can come back in, use C-z. | |
894 | |
895 This tutorial is meant to be understandable to all new users, so if | |
896 you found something unclear, don't sit and blame yourself - complain! | |
897 | |
898 | |
899 COPYING | |
900 ------- | |
901 | |
902 This tutorial descends from a long line of Emacs tutorials | |
903 starting with the one written by Stuart Cracraft for the original Emacs. | |
904 | |
905 This version of the tutorial, like GNU Emacs, is copyrighted, and | |
906 comes with permission to distribute copies on certain conditions: | |
907 | |
908 Copyright (c) 1985 Free Software Foundation | |
909 | |
910 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies | |
911 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the | |
912 copyright notice and permission notice are preserved, | |
913 and that the distributor grants the recipient permission | |
914 for further redistribution as permitted by this notice. | |
915 | |
916 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions | |
917 of this document, or of portions of it, | |
918 under the above conditions, provided also that they | |
919 carry prominent notices stating who last altered them. | |
920 | |
921 The conditions for copying Emacs itself are slightly different | |
922 but in the same spirit. Please read the file COPYING and then | |
923 do give copies of GNU Emacs to your friends. | |
924 Help stamp out software obstructionism ("ownership") by using, | |
925 writing, and sharing free software! |