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annotate etc/TUTORIAL @ 16103:4962e89ec8ef
(set_properties, add_properties, remove_properties):
Call modify_region with ints.
author | Richard M. Stallman <rms@gnu.org> |
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date | Wed, 04 Sep 1996 03:35:53 +0000 |
parents | 7a3398850d94 |
children | 6cb6d2fe6999 |
rev | line source |
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13 | 1 Copyright (c) 1985 Free Software Foundation, Inc; See end for conditions. |
2 You are looking at the Emacs tutorial. | |
3 | |
14019 | 4 Emacs commands generally involve the CONTROL key (sometimes labeled |
5 CTRL or CTL) or the META key (sometimes labeled EDIT or ALT). Rather than | |
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6 write that in full each time, we'll use the following abbreviations: |
13 | 7 |
8 C-<chr> means hold the CONTROL key while typing the character <chr> | |
9 Thus, C-f would be: hold the CONTROL key and type f. | |
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10 M-<chr> means hold the META or EDIT or ALT key down while typing <chr>. |
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11 If there is no META, EDIT or ALT key, instead press and release the |
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12 ESC key and then type <chr>. We write <ESC> for the ESC key. |
13 | 13 |
14 Important note: to end the Emacs session, type C-x C-c. (Two characters.) | |
15 The characters ">>" at the left margin indicate directions for you to | |
16 try using a command. For instance: | |
17 <<Blank lines inserted here by startup of help-with-tutorial>> | |
18 >> Now type C-v (View next screen) to move to the next screen. | |
19 (go ahead, do it by depressing the control key and v together). | |
20 From now on, you'll be expected to do this whenever you finish | |
21 reading the screen. | |
22 | |
23 Note that there is an overlap when going from screen to screen; this | |
24 provides some continuity when moving through the file. | |
25 | |
26 The first thing that you need to know is how to move around from | |
27 place to place in the file. You already know how to move forward a | |
28 screen, with C-v. To move backwards a screen, type M-v (depress the | |
29 META key and type v, or type <ESC>v if you don't have a META or EDIT | |
30 key). | |
31 | |
32 >> Try typing M-v and then C-v to move back and forth a few times. | |
33 | |
34 | |
1375 | 35 * SUMMARY |
36 --------- | |
13 | 37 |
38 The following commands are useful for viewing screenfuls: | |
39 | |
40 C-v Move forward one screenful | |
41 M-v Move backward one screenful | |
42 C-l Clear screen and redisplay everything | |
43 putting the text near the cursor at the center. | |
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44 (That's control-L, not control-1.) |
13 | 45 |
46 >> Find the cursor and remember what text is near it. | |
47 Then type a C-l. | |
48 Find the cursor again and see what text is near it now. | |
49 | |
50 | |
1375 | 51 * BASIC CURSOR CONTROL |
52 ---------------------- | |
13 | 53 |
54 Getting from screenful to screenful is useful, but how do you | |
55 reposition yourself within a given screen to a specific place? | |
56 There are several ways you can do this. One way (not the best, but | |
57 the most basic) is to use the commands previous, backward, forward | |
58 and next. As you can imagine these commands (which are given to | |
59 Emacs as C-p, C-b, C-f, and C-n respectively) move the cursor from | |
60 where it currently is to a new place in the given direction. Here, | |
61 in a more graphical form are the commands: | |
62 | |
63 Previous line, C-p | |
64 : | |
65 : | |
66 Backward, C-b .... Current cursor position .... Forward, C-f | |
67 : | |
68 : | |
69 Next line, C-n | |
70 | |
71 >> Move the cursor to the line in the middle of that diagram | |
72 and type C-l to see the whole diagram centered in the screen. | |
73 | |
74 You'll probably find it easy to think of these by letter. P for | |
75 previous, N for next, B for backward and F for forward. These are | |
76 the basic cursor positioning commands and you'll be using them ALL | |
77 the time so it would be of great benefit if you learn them now. | |
78 | |
79 >> Do a few C-n's to bring the cursor down to this line. | |
80 | |
81 >> Move into the line with C-f's and then up with C-p's. | |
82 See what C-p does when the cursor is in the middle of the line. | |
83 | |
84 Lines are separated by Newline characters. For most applications | |
85 there should normally be a Newline character at the end of the text, | |
86 as well, but it is up to you to make sure of this. A file can | |
87 validly exist without a Newline at the end. | |
88 | |
89 >> Try to C-b at the beginning of a line. Do a few more C-b's. | |
90 Then do C-f's back to the end of the line and beyond. | |
91 | |
92 When you go off the top or bottom of the screen, the text beyond | |
93 the edge is shifted onto the screen so that your instructions can | |
94 be carried out while keeping the cursor on the screen. | |
95 | |
96 >> Try to move the cursor off the bottom of the screen with C-n and | |
97 see what happens. | |
98 | |
99 If moving by characters is too slow, you can move by words. M-f | |
100 (Meta-f) moves forward a word and M-b moves back a word. | |
101 | |
102 >> Type a few M-f's and M-b's. Intersperse them with C-f's and C-b's. | |
103 | |
104 Notice the parallel between C-f and C-b on the one hand, and M-f and | |
105 M-b on the other hand. Very often Meta characters are used for | |
106 operations related to English text whereas Control characters operate | |
107 on the basic textual units that are independent of what you are | |
108 editing (characters, lines, etc). There is a similar parallel between | |
109 lines and sentences: C-a and C-e move to the beginning or end of a | |
110 line, and M-a and M-e move to the beginning or end of a sentence. | |
111 | |
112 >> Try a couple of C-a's, and then a couple of C-e's. | |
113 Try a couple of M-a's, and then a couple of M-e's. | |
114 | |
115 See how repeated C-a's do nothing, but repeated M-a's keep moving | |
116 farther. Do you think that this is right? | |
117 | |
118 Two other simple cursor motion commands are M-< (Meta Less-than), | |
119 which moves to the beginning of the file, and M-> (Meta Greater-than), | |
120 which moves to the end of the file. You probably don't need to try | |
121 them, since finding this spot again will be boring. On most terminals | |
122 the "<" is above the comma and you must use the shift key to type it. | |
123 On these terminals you must use the shift key to type M-< also; | |
124 without the shift key, you would be typing M-comma. | |
125 | |
126 The location of the cursor in the text is also called "point". To | |
127 paraphrase, the cursor shows on the screen where point is located in | |
128 the text. | |
129 | |
130 Here is a summary of simple moving operations including the word and | |
131 sentence moving commands: | |
132 | |
133 C-f Move forward a character | |
134 C-b Move backward a character | |
135 | |
136 M-f Move forward a word | |
137 M-b Move backward a word | |
138 | |
139 C-n Move to next line | |
140 C-p Move to previous line | |
141 | |
142 C-a Move to beginning of line | |
143 C-e Move to end of line | |
144 | |
145 M-a Move back to beginning of sentence | |
146 M-e Move forward to end of sentence | |
147 | |
148 M-< Go to beginning of file | |
149 M-> Go to end of file | |
150 | |
151 >> Try all of these commands now a few times for practice. | |
152 Since the last two will take you away from this screen, | |
153 you can come back here with M-v's and C-v's. These are | |
154 the most often used commands. | |
155 | |
156 Like all other commands in Emacs, these commands can be given | |
157 arguments which cause them to be executed repeatedly. The way you | |
158 give a command a repeat count is by typing C-u and then the digits | |
159 before you type the command. If you have a META or EDIT key, you can | |
160 omit the C-u if you hold down the META or EDIT key while you type the | |
161 digits. This is easier, but we recommend the C-u method because it | |
162 works on any terminal. | |
163 | |
164 For instance, C-u 8 C-f moves forward eight characters. | |
165 | |
166 >> Try giving a suitable argument to C-n or C-p to come as close | |
167 as you can to this line in one jump. | |
168 | |
169 The only apparent exception to this is the screen moving commands, | |
170 C-v and M-v. When given an argument, they scroll the screen up or | |
171 down by that many lines, rather than screenfuls. This proves to be | |
172 much more useful. | |
173 | |
174 >> Try typing C-u 8 C-v now. | |
175 | |
176 Did it scroll the screen up by 8 lines? If you would like to | |
177 scroll it down you can give an argument to M-v. | |
178 | |
2863 | 179 If you are using X Windows, there is probably a rectangular area |
180 called a scroll bar at the right hand side of the Emacs window. You | |
181 can scroll the text by clicking the mouse in the scroll bar. | |
182 | |
183 >> Try pressing the middle button at the top of the highlighted area | |
184 within the scroll bar, then moving the mouse while holding that button | |
185 down. | |
186 | |
187 >> Move the mouse to a point in the scroll bar about three lines from | |
188 the top, and click the left button a couple of times. Then try the | |
189 right button a couple of times. | |
190 | |
13 | 191 |
1375 | 192 * WHEN EMACS IS HUNG |
193 -------------------- | |
13 | 194 |
195 If Emacs gets into an infinite (or simply very long) computation which | |
196 you don't want to finish, you can stop it safely by typing C-g. | |
197 You can also use C-g to discard a numeric argument or the beginning of | |
198 a command that you don't want to finish. | |
199 | |
200 >> Type C-u 100 to make a numeric arg of 100, then type C-g. | |
201 Now type C-f. How many characters does it move? | |
202 If you have typed an <ESC> by mistake, you can get rid of it | |
203 with a C-g. | |
204 | |
12609 | 205 If you type <ESC> : then you get a new window appearing on the screen, |
206 telling you that M-: is a "disabled command" and asking whether you | |
207 really want to execute it. The command M-: is marked as disabled | |
208 because we expect it would confuse beginners and you probably don't | |
209 want to use it until you know more about Emacs. If you really want to | |
210 try the M-: command, you could type a Space in answer to the question, | |
211 and M-: would go ahead. Normally, if you do not want to execute M-:, | |
212 you would type "n" to answer the question. | |
13 | 213 |
12609 | 214 >> Type <ESC> :, then type n. |
13 | 215 |
216 | |
1375 | 217 * WINDOWS |
218 --------- | |
13 | 219 |
220 Emacs can have several windows, each displaying its own text. | |
221 At this stage it is better not to go into the techniques of | |
222 using multiple windows. But you do need to know how to get | |
223 rid of extra windows that may appear to display help or | |
224 output from certain commands. It is simple: | |
225 | |
226 C-x 1 One window (i.e., kill all other windows). | |
227 | |
228 That is Control-x followed by the digit 1. | |
229 C-x 1 makes the window which the cursor is in become | |
230 the full screen, by getting rid of any other windows. | |
231 | |
232 >> Move the cursor to this line and type C-u 0 C-l. | |
233 >> Type Control-h k Control-f. | |
234 See how this window shrinks, while a new one appears | |
235 to display documentation on the Control-f command. | |
236 | |
237 >> Type C-x 1 and see the documentation listing window disappear. | |
238 | |
239 | |
1375 | 240 * INSERTING AND DELETING |
241 ------------------------ | |
13 | 242 |
243 If you want to insert text, just type it. Characters which you can | |
244 see, such as A, 7, *, etc. are taken by Emacs as text and inserted | |
245 immediately. Type <Return> (the carriage-return key) to insert a | |
246 Newline character. | |
247 | |
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248 You can delete the last character you typed by typing <Delete>. |
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249 <Delete> is a key on the keyboard, which may be labeled "Del". In |
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250 some cases, the "Backspace" key serves as <Delete>, but not always! |
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251 |
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252 More generally, <Delete> deletes the character immediately before the |
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253 current cursor position. |
13 | 254 |
255 >> Do this now, type a few characters and then delete them | |
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256 by typing <Delete> a few times. Don't worry about this file |
13 | 257 being changed; you won't affect the master tutorial. This is just |
258 a copy of it. | |
259 | |
260 >> Now start typing text until you reach the right margin, and keep | |
261 typing. When a line of text gets too big for one line on the | |
262 screen, the line of text is "continued" onto a second screen line. | |
263 The backslash at the right margin indicates a line which has | |
264 been continued. | |
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265 >> Use <Delete>s to delete the text until the line fits on one screen |
13 | 266 line again. The continuation line goes away. |
267 | |
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268 >> Move the cursor to the beginning of a line and type <Delete>. This |
13 | 269 deletes the newline before the line and merges the line onto |
270 the previous line. The resulting line may be too long to fit, in | |
271 which case it has a continuation line. | |
272 >> Type <Return> to reinsert the Newline you deleted. | |
273 | |
274 Remember that most Emacs commands can be given a repeat count; | |
275 this includes characters which insert themselves. | |
276 | |
277 >> Try that now -- type C-u 8 * and see what happens. | |
278 | |
279 You've now learned the most basic way of typing something in | |
280 Emacs and correcting errors. You can delete by words or lines | |
281 as well. Here is a summary of the delete operations: | |
282 | |
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283 <Delete> delete the character just before the cursor |
13 | 284 C-d delete the next character after the cursor |
285 | |
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286 M-<Delete> kill the word immediately before the cursor |
13 | 287 M-d kill the next word after the cursor |
288 | |
289 C-k kill from the cursor position to end of line | |
290 M-k kill to the end of the current sentence | |
291 | |
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292 Notice that <Delete> and C-d vs M-<Delete> and M-d extend the parallel |
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293 started by C-f and M-f (well, <Delete> isn't really a control |
13 | 294 character, but let's not worry about that). C-k and M-k are like C-e |
295 and M-e, sort of, in that lines are opposite sentences. | |
296 | |
297 Now suppose you kill something, and then you decide that you want to | |
298 get it back? Well, whenever you kill something bigger than a | |
299 character, Emacs saves it for you. To yank it back, use C-y. You | |
300 can kill text in one place, move elsewhere, and then do C-y; this is | |
301 a good way to move text around. Note that the difference | |
302 between "Killing" and "Deleting" something is that "Killed" things | |
303 can be yanked back, and "Deleted" things cannot. Generally, the | |
304 commands that can destroy a lot of text save it, while the ones that | |
305 attack only one character, or nothing but blank lines and spaces, do | |
306 not save. | |
307 | |
34 | 308 For instance, type C-n a couple times to position the cursor |
13 | 309 at some line on this screen. |
310 | |
311 >> Do this now, move the cursor and kill that line with C-k. | |
312 | |
313 Note that a single C-k kills the contents of the line, and a second | |
314 C-k kills the line itself, and make all the other lines move up. If | |
315 you give C-k a repeat count, it kills that many lines AND their | |
316 contents. | |
317 | |
318 The text that has just disappeared is saved so that you can | |
319 retrieve it. To retrieve the last killed text and put it where | |
320 the cursor currently is, type C-y. | |
321 | |
322 >> Try it; type C-y to yank the text back. | |
323 | |
324 Think of C-y as if you were yanking something back that someone | |
325 took away from you. Notice that if you do several C-k's in a row | |
326 the text that is killed is all saved together so that one C-y will | |
327 yank all of the lines. | |
328 | |
329 >> Do this now, type C-k several times. | |
330 | |
331 Now to retrieve that killed text: | |
332 | |
333 >> Type C-y. Then move the cursor down a few lines and type C-y | |
334 again. You now see how to copy some text. | |
335 | |
336 What do you do if you have some text you want to yank back, and then | |
337 you kill something else? C-y would yank the more recent kill. But | |
338 the previous text is not lost. You can get back to it using the M-y | |
339 command. After you have done C-y to get the most recent kill, typing | |
340 M-Y replaces that yanked text with the previous kill. Typing M-y | |
341 again and again brings in earlier and earlier kills. When you | |
342 have reached the text you are looking for, you can just go away and | |
343 leave it there. If you M-y enough times, you come back to the | |
344 starting point (the most recent kill). | |
345 | |
346 >> Kill a line, move around, kill another line. | |
347 Then do C-y to get back the second killed line. | |
348 Then do M-y and it will be replaced by the first killed line. | |
349 Do more M-y's and see what you get. Keep doing them until | |
350 the second kill line comes back, and then a few more. | |
351 If you like, you can try giving M-y positive and negative | |
352 arguments. | |
353 | |
354 | |
1375 | 355 * UNDO |
356 ------ | |
13 | 357 |
358 Any time you make a change to the text and wish you had not done so, | |
359 you can undo the change (return the text to its previous state) | |
360 with the undo command, C-x u. Normally, C-x u undoes one command's | |
361 worth of changes; if you repeat the C-x u several times in a row, | |
362 each time undoes one more command. There are two exceptions: | |
363 commands that made no change (just moved the cursor) do not count, | |
364 and self-inserting characters are often lumped together in groups | |
365 of up to 20. This is to reduce the number of C-x u's you have to type. | |
366 | |
367 >> Kill this line with C-k, then type C-x u and it should reappear. | |
368 | |
369 C-_ is another command for undoing; it is just the same as C-x u | |
370 but easier to type several times in a row. The problem with C-_ is | |
371 that on some keyboards it is not obvious how to type it. That is | |
372 why C-x u is provided as well. On some DEC terminals, you can type | |
373 C-_ by typing / while holding down CTRL. Illogical, but what can | |
374 you expect from DEC? | |
375 | |
376 Giving a numeric argument to C-_ or C-x u is equivalent to repeating | |
377 it as many times as the argument says. | |
378 | |
379 | |
1375 | 380 * FILES |
381 ------- | |
13 | 382 |
383 In order to make the text you edit permanent, you must put it in a | |
384 file. Otherwise, it will go away when your invocation of Emacs goes | |
385 away. You put your editing in a file by "finding" the file. What | |
386 finding means is that you see the contents of the file in your Emacs; | |
387 and, loosely speaking, what you are editing is the file itself. | |
388 However, the changes still don't become permanent until you "save" the | |
389 file. This is so you can have control to avoid leaving a half-changed | |
390 file around when you don't want to. Even then, Emacs leaves the | |
391 original file under a changed name in case your changes turn out | |
392 to be a mistake. | |
393 | |
394 If you look near the bottom of the screen you will see a line that | |
395 begins and ends with dashes, and contains the string "Emacs: TUTORIAL". | |
396 Your copy of the Emacs tutorial is called "TUTORIAL". Whatever | |
397 file you find, that file's name will appear in that precise | |
398 spot. | |
399 | |
400 The commands for finding and saving files are unlike the other | |
401 commands you have learned in that they consist of two characters. | |
402 They both start with the character Control-x. There is a whole series | |
403 of commands that start with Control-x; many of them have to do with | |
404 files, buffers, and related things, and all of them consist of | |
405 Control-x followed by some other character. | |
406 | |
407 Another thing about the command for finding a file is that you have | |
408 to say what file name you want. We say the command "reads an argument | |
409 from the terminal" (in this case, the argument is the name of the | |
410 file). After you type the command | |
411 | |
412 C-x C-f Find a file | |
413 | |
414 Emacs asks you to type the file name. It echoes on the bottom | |
415 line of the screen. You are using the minibuffer now! this is | |
416 what the minibuffer is for. When you type <Return> to end the | |
417 file name, the minibuffer is no longer needed, so it disappears. | |
418 | |
419 >> Type C-x C-f, then type C-g. This cancels the minibuffer, | |
420 and also cancels the C-x C-f command that was using the | |
421 minibuffer. So you do not find any file. | |
422 | |
423 In a little while the file contents appear on the screen. You can | |
424 edit the contents. When you wish to make the changes permanent, | |
425 issue the command | |
426 | |
427 C-x C-s Save the file | |
428 | |
429 The contents of Emacs are written into the file. The first time you | |
430 do this, the original file is renamed to a new name so that it | |
431 is not lost. The new name is made by appending "~" to the end | |
432 of the original file's name. | |
433 | |
434 When saving is finished, Emacs prints the name of the file written. | |
435 You should save fairly often, so that you will not lose very much | |
436 work if the system should crash. | |
437 | |
438 >> Type C-x C-s, saving your copy of the tutorial. | |
439 This should print "Wrote .../TUTORIAL" at the bottom of the screen. | |
440 On VMS it will print "Wrote ...[...]TUTORIAL." | |
441 | |
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442 NOTE: On some systems, typing C-x C-s will freeze the screen and you |
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443 will see no further output from Emacs. This indicates that an |
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444 operating system "feature" called "flow control" is intercepting the |
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445 C-s and not letting it get through to Emacs. To unfreeze the screen, |
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446 type C-q. Then see the section "Spontaneous Entry to Incremental |
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447 Search" in the Emacs manual for advice on dealing with this "feature". |
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448 |
13 | 449 To make a new file, just find it "as if" it already existed. Then |
450 start typing in the text. When you ask to "save" the file, Emacs | |
451 will really create the file with the text that you have inserted. | |
452 From then on, you can consider yourself to be editing an already | |
453 existing file. | |
454 | |
455 | |
1375 | 456 * BUFFERS |
457 --------- | |
13 | 458 |
459 If you find a second file with C-x C-f, the first file remains | |
460 inside Emacs. You can switch back to it by finding it again with | |
461 C-x C-f. This way you can get quite a number of files inside Emacs. | |
462 | |
463 The object inside Emacs which holds the text read from one file | |
464 is called a "buffer." Finding a file makes a new buffer inside Emacs. | |
465 To see a list of the buffers that exist in Emacs, type | |
466 | |
467 C-x C-b List buffers | |
468 | |
469 >> Try C-x C-b now. | |
470 | |
471 See how each buffer has a name, and it may also have a file name | |
472 for the file whose contents it holds. Some buffers do not correspond | |
473 to files. For example, the buffer named "*Buffer List*" does | |
474 not have any file. It is the buffer which contains the buffer | |
475 list that was made by C-x C-b. ANY text you see in an Emacs window | |
476 has to be in some buffer. | |
477 | |
478 >> Type C-x 1 to get rid of the buffer list. | |
479 | |
480 If you make changes to the text of one file, then find another file, | |
481 this does not save the first file. Its changes remain inside Emacs, | |
482 in that file's buffer. The creation or editing of the second file's | |
483 buffer has no effect on the first file's buffer. This is very useful, | |
484 but it also means that you need a convenient way to save the first | |
485 file's buffer. It would be a nuisance to have to switch back to | |
486 it with C-x C-f in order to save it with C-x C-s. So we have | |
487 | |
488 C-x s Save some buffers | |
489 | |
490 C-x s goes through the list of all the buffers you have | |
491 and finds the ones that contain files you have changed. | |
492 For each such buffer, C-x s asks you whether to save it. | |
493 | |
494 | |
1375 | 495 * EXTENDING THE COMMAND SET |
496 --------------------------- | |
13 | 497 |
498 There are many, many more Emacs commands than could possibly be put | |
499 on all the control and meta characters. Emacs gets around this with | |
500 the X (eXtend) command. This comes in two flavors: | |
501 | |
502 C-x Character eXtend. Followed by one character. | |
503 M-x Named command eXtend. Followed by a long name. | |
504 | |
505 These are commands that are generally useful but used less than the | |
506 commands you have already learned about. You have already seen two | |
507 of them: the file commands C-x C-f to Find and C-x C-s to Save. | |
508 Another example is the command to tell Emacs that you'd like to stop | |
509 editing and get rid of Emacs. The command to do this is C-x C-c. | |
510 (Don't worry; it offers to save each changed file before it kills the | |
511 Emacs.) | |
512 | |
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513 C-z is the command to exit Emacs *temporarily*--so that you can go |
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514 back to the same Emacs session afterward. |
13 | 515 |
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516 On systems which allow it, C-z exits from Emacs to the shell but does |
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517 not destroy the Emacs; if you use the C shell, you can resume Emacs |
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518 with the `fg' command (or, more generally, with `%emacs', which works |
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519 even if your most recent job was some other). On systems which don't |
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520 implement suspending, C-z creates a subshell running under Emacs to |
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521 give you the chance to run other programs and return to Emacs |
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522 afterward; it does not truly "exit" from Emacs. In this case, the |
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523 shell command `exit' is the usual way to get back to Emacs from the |
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524 subshell. |
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525 |
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526 The time to use C-x C-c is when you are about to log out. It's also |
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527 the right thing to use to exit an Emacs invoked under mail handling |
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528 programs and other random utilities, since they may not know how to |
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529 cope with suspension of Emacs. On other occasions, use C-z, and |
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530 resume the Emacs when you have more editing to do. |
13 | 531 |
532 There are many C-x commands. The ones you know are: | |
533 | |
534 C-x C-f Find file. | |
535 C-x C-s Save file. | |
536 C-x C-b List buffers. | |
537 C-x C-c Quit Emacs. | |
538 C-x u Undo. | |
539 | |
540 Named eXtended commands are commands which are used even less | |
541 frequently, or commands which are used only in certain modes. These | |
542 commands are usually called "functions". An example is the function | |
543 replace-string, which globally replaces one string with another. When | |
544 you type M-x, Emacs prompts you at the bottom of the screen with | |
545 M-x and you should type the name of the function you wish to call; in | |
546 this case, "replace-string". Just type "repl s<TAB>" and Emacs will | |
547 complete the name. End the command name with <Return>. | |
548 Then type the two "arguments"--the string to be replaced, and the string | |
549 to replace it with--each one ended with a Return. | |
550 | |
551 >> Move the cursor to the blank line two lines below this one. | |
552 Then type M-x repl s<Return>changed<Return>altered<Return>. | |
553 | |
554 Notice how this line has changed: you've replaced | |
34 | 555 the word c-h-a-n-g-e-d with "altered" wherever it occurred |
13 | 556 after the cursor. |
557 | |
558 | |
10698 | 559 * AUTO SAVE |
560 ----------- | |
561 | |
562 When you have made changes in a file, but you have not saved them yet, | |
563 they could be lost if your computer crashes. To protect you from | |
564 this, Emacs writes "auto save" files periodically. The auto save file | |
10699 | 565 name has a # at the beginning and the end; for example, if your file |
566 is named "hello.c", its auto save file's name is "#hello.c#". When | |
567 you save the file in the normal way, its auto save file is no longer | |
10698 | 568 necessary so Emacs deletes it. |
569 | |
570 If the computer crashes, you can recover your auto-saved editing by | |
571 finding the file normally (the file you were editing, not the auto | |
572 save file) and then typing M-x recover file<return>. When it asks for | |
573 confirmation, type yes<return> to go ahead and recover the auto-save | |
574 data. | |
575 | |
576 | |
1375 | 577 * MODE LINE |
578 ----------- | |
13 | 579 |
580 If Emacs sees that you are typing commands slowly it shows them to you | |
581 at the bottom of the screen in an area called the "echo area." The echo | |
582 area contains the bottom line of the screen. The line immediately above | |
583 it is called the MODE LINE. The mode line says something like | |
584 | |
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585 --**-Emacs: TUTORIAL (Fundamental)--58%---------------------- |
13 | 586 |
587 This is a very useful "information" line. | |
588 | |
589 You already know what the filename means--it is the file you have | |
590 found. What the --NN%-- means is that NN percent of the file is | |
591 above the top of the screen. If the top of the file is on the screen, | |
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592 it will say --Top-- instead of --00%--. If the bottom of the file is |
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593 on the screen, it will say --Bot--. If you are looking at a file so |
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594 small it all fits on the screen, it says --All--. |
13 | 595 |
596 The stars near the front mean that you have made changes to the text. | |
597 Right after you visit or save a file, there are no stars, just dashes. | |
598 | |
599 The part of the mode line inside the parentheses is to tell you what | |
600 modes you are in. The default mode is Fundamental which is what you | |
601 are in now. It is an example of a "major mode". There are several | |
602 major modes in Emacs for editing different languages and text, such as | |
603 Lisp mode, Text mode, etc. At any time one and only one major mode is | |
604 active, and its name can always be found in the mode line just where | |
605 "Fundamental" is now. Each major mode makes a few commands behave | |
606 differently. For example, there are commands for creating comments in | |
607 a program, and since each programming language has a different idea of | |
608 what a comment should look like, each major mode has to insert | |
609 comments differently. Each major mode is the name of an extended | |
610 command, which is how you get into the mode. For example, | |
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611 M-x fundamental-mode is how to get into Fundamental mode. |
13 | 612 |
613 If you are going to be editing English text, such as this file, you | |
614 should probably use Text Mode. | |
615 >> Type M-x text-mode<Return>. | |
616 | |
617 Don't worry, none of the commands you have learned changes Emacs in | |
2619 | 618 any great way. But you can observe that apostrophes are now part of |
619 words when you do M-f or M-b. Major modes are usually like that: | |
620 commands don't change into completely unrelated things, but they work | |
621 a little bit differently. | |
13 | 622 |
623 To get documentation on your current major mode, type C-h m. | |
624 | |
625 >> Use C-u C-v once or more to bring this line near the top of screen. | |
626 >> Type C-h m, to see how Text mode differs from Fundamental mode. | |
627 >> Type C-x 1 to remove the documentation from the screen. | |
628 | |
629 Major modes are called major because there are also minor modes. | |
630 They are called minor because they aren't alternatives to the major | |
631 modes, just minor modifications of them. Each minor mode can be | |
632 turned on or off by itself, regardless of what major mode you are in, | |
633 and regardless of the other minor modes. So you can use no minor | |
634 modes, or one minor mode, or any combination of several minor modes. | |
635 | |
636 One minor mode which is very useful, especially for editing English | |
637 text, is Auto Fill mode. When this mode is on, Emacs breaks the line | |
638 in between words automatically whenever the line gets too long. You | |
639 can turn this mode on by doing M-x auto-fill-mode<Return>. When the | |
640 mode is on, you can turn it off by doing M-x auto-fill-mode<Return>. | |
641 If the mode is off, this function turns it on, and if the mode is on, | |
642 this function turns it off. This is called "toggling". | |
643 | |
644 >> Type M-x auto-fill-mode<Return> now. Then insert a line of "asdf " | |
645 over again until you see it divide into two lines. You must put in | |
646 spaces between them because Auto Fill breaks lines only at spaces. | |
647 | |
648 The margin is usually set at 70 characters, but you can change it | |
649 with the C-x f command. You should give the margin setting you want | |
650 as a numeric argument. | |
651 | |
652 >> Type C-x f with an argument of 20. (C-u 2 0 C-x f). | |
653 Then type in some text and see Emacs fill lines of 20 | |
654 characters with it. Then set the margin back to 70 using | |
655 C-x f again. | |
656 | |
657 If you makes changes in the middle of a paragraph, Auto Fill mode | |
658 does not re-fill it for you. | |
659 To re-fill the paragraph, type M-q (Meta-q) with the cursor inside | |
660 that paragraph. | |
661 | |
662 >> Move the cursor into the previous paragraph and type M-q. | |
663 | |
1375 | 664 * SEARCHING |
665 ----------- | |
13 | 666 |
667 Emacs can do searches for strings (these are groups of contiguous | |
668 characters or words) either forward through the file or backward | |
669 through it. To search for the string means that you are trying to | |
670 locate it somewhere in the file and have Emacs show you where the | |
671 occurrences of the string exist. This type of search is somewhat | |
672 different from what you may be familiar with. It is a search that is | |
673 performed as you type in the thing to search for. The command to | |
674 initiate a search is C-s for forward search, and C-r for reverse | |
675 search. BUT WAIT! Don't do them now. When you type C-s you'll | |
676 notice that the string "I-search" appears as a prompt in the echo | |
677 area. This tells you that Emacs is in what is called an incremental | |
678 search waiting for you to type the thing that you want to search for. | |
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679 <RET> terminates a search. |
13 | 680 |
681 >> Now type C-s to start a search. SLOWLY, one letter at a time, | |
682 type the word 'cursor', pausing after you type each | |
683 character to notice what happens to the cursor. | |
684 >> Type C-s to find the next occurrence of "cursor". | |
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685 >> Now type <Delete> four times and see how the cursor moves. |
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686 >> Type <RET> to terminate the search. |
13 | 687 |
688 Did you see what happened? Emacs, in an incremental search, tries to | |
689 go to the occurrence of the string that you've typed out so far. To go | |
690 to the next occurrence of 'cursor' just type C-s again. If no such | |
691 occurrence exists Emacs beeps and tells you that it is a failing | |
692 search. C-g would also terminate the search. | |
693 | |
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694 NOTE: On some systems, typing C-s will freeze the screen and you will |
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695 see no further output from Emacs. This indicates that an operating |
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696 system "feature" called "flow control" is intercepting the C-s and not |
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697 letting it get through to Emacs. To unfreeze the screen, type C-q. |
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698 Then see the section "Spontaneous Entry to Incremental Search" in the |
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699 Emacs manual for advice on dealing with this "feature". |
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700 |
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701 If you are in the middle of an incremental search and type <Delete>, |
13 | 702 you'll notice that the last character in the search string is erased |
703 and the search backs up to the last place of the search. For | |
704 instance, suppose you currently have typed 'cu' and you see that your | |
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705 cursor is at the first occurrence of 'cu'. If you now type <Delete>, |
13 | 706 the 'u' on the search line is erased and you'll be repositioned in the |
707 text to the occurrence of 'c' where the search took you before you | |
708 typed the 'u'. This provides a useful means for backing up while you | |
709 are searching. | |
710 | |
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711 If you are in the middle of a search and type a control or meta |
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712 character (with a few exceptions--characters that are special in |
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713 a search, such as C-s and C-r), the search is terminated. |
13 | 714 |
715 The C-s starts a search that looks for any occurrence of the search | |
716 string AFTER the current cursor position. But what if you want to | |
717 search for something earlier in the text? To do this, type C-r for | |
718 Reverse search. Everything that applies to C-s applies to C-r except | |
719 that the direction of the search is reversed. | |
720 | |
721 | |
1375 | 722 * MULTIPLE WINDOWS |
723 ------------------ | |
476 | 724 |
725 One of the nice features of Emacs is that you can display more than one | |
726 window on the screen at the same time. | |
727 | |
728 >> Move the cursor to this line and type C-u 0 C-l. | |
729 | |
730 >> Now type C-x 2 which splits the screen into two windows. | |
731 Both windows display this tutorial. The cursor stays in the top window. | |
732 | |
733 >> Type C-M-v to scroll the bottom window. | |
6276 | 734 (If you don't have a real Meta key, type ESC C-v.) |
476 | 735 |
736 >> Type C-x o ("o" for "other") to move the cursor to the bottom window. | |
737 >> Use C-v and M-v in the bottom window to scroll it. | |
738 Keep reading these directions in the top window. | |
739 | |
740 >> Type C-x o again to move the cursor back to the top window. | |
741 The cursor is still just where it was in the top window before. | |
742 | |
743 You can keep using C-x o to switch between the windows. Each | |
744 window has its own cursor position, but only one window actually | |
745 shows the cursor. All the ordinary editing commands apply to the | |
746 window that the cursor is in. | |
747 | |
748 The command C-M-v is very useful when you are editing text in one | |
749 window and using the other window just for reference. You can keep | |
750 the cursor always in the window where you are editing, and edit | |
751 there as you advance through the other window. | |
752 | |
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753 C-M-v is an example of a CONTROL-META character. If you have a real |
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754 META key, you can type C-M-v by holding down both CTRL and META while |
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755 typing v. |
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756 |
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757 It doesn't matter whether CTRL or META "comes first," because both of |
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758 these keys act by modifying the characters you type. But if you don't |
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759 have a real META key, and you use ESC instead, the order does matter: |
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760 you must type ESC followed by CTRL-v; CTRL-ESC v will not work. This |
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761 is because ESC is a character in its own right, not a modifier key. |
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762 |
476 | 763 >> Type C-x 1 (in the top window) to get rid of the bottom window. |
764 | |
765 (If you had typed C-x 1 in the bottom window, that would get rid | |
766 of the top one. Think of this command as "Keep just one | |
767 window--the window I am already in.") | |
768 | |
769 You don't have to display the same buffer in both windows. If | |
770 you use C-x C-f to find a file in one window, the other window | |
771 doesn't change. You can pick a file in each window | |
772 independently. | |
773 | |
774 Here is another way to use two windows to display two different | |
775 things: | |
776 | |
777 >> Type C-x 4 C-f followed by the name of one of your files. | |
778 End with <RETURN>. See the specified file appear in the bottom | |
779 window. The cursor goes there, too. | |
780 | |
781 >> Type C-x o to go back to the top window, and C-x 1 to delete | |
782 the bottom window. | |
783 | |
784 | |
1375 | 785 * RECURSIVE EDITING LEVELS |
786 -------------------------- | |
13 | 787 |
788 Sometimes you will get into what is called a "recursive editing | |
789 level". This is indicated by square brackets in the mode line, | |
790 surrounding the parentheses around the major mode name. For | |
791 example, you might see [(Fundamental)] instead of (Fundamental). | |
792 | |
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793 To get out of the recursive editing level, type ESC ESC ESC. That is |
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794 an all-purpose "get out" command. You can also use it for eliminating |
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795 extra windows, and getting out of the minibuffer. |
13 | 796 |
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797 >> Type M-x to get into a minibuffer; then type ESC ESC ESC to get out. |
13 | 798 |
799 You can't use C-g to get out of a recursive editing level because C-g | |
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800 is used for canceling commands and arguments WITHIN the recursive |
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801 editing level. |
13 | 802 |
803 | |
1375 | 804 * GETTING MORE HELP |
805 ------------------- | |
13 | 806 |
807 In this tutorial we have tried to supply just enough information to | |
808 get you started using Emacs. There is so much available in Emacs that | |
809 it would be impossible to explain it all here. However, you may want | |
810 to learn more about Emacs since it has numerous desirable features | |
811 that you don't know about yet. Emacs has a great deal of internal | |
812 documentation. All of these commands can be accessed through | |
813 the character Control-h, which we call "the Help character" | |
814 because of the function it serves. | |
815 | |
816 To use the HELP features, type the C-h character, and then a | |
817 character saying what kind of help you want. If you are REALLY lost, | |
818 type C-h ? and Emacs will tell you what kinds of help it can give. | |
819 If you have typed C-h and decide you don't want any help, just | |
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820 type C-g to cancel it. |
13 | 821 |
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822 (Some sites rebind the character C-h. They really shouldn't do this |
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823 as a blanket measure, so complain to the operator. Meanwhile, if C-h |
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824 does not display a message about help at the bottom of the screen, try |
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825 typing M-x help RET instead.) |
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826 |
13 | 827 The most basic HELP feature is C-h c. Type C-h, a c, and a |
828 command character or sequence, and Emacs displays a very brief | |
829 description of the command. | |
830 | |
831 >> Type C-h c Control-p. | |
832 The message should be something like | |
833 | |
834 C-p runs the command previous-line | |
835 | |
836 This tells you the "name of the function". That is important in | |
837 writing Lisp code to extend Emacs; it also is enough to remind | |
838 you of what the command does if you have seen it before but did | |
839 not remember. | |
840 | |
841 Multi-character commands such as C-x C-s and (if you have no META or | |
842 EDIT key) <ESC>v are also allowed after C-h c. | |
843 | |
844 To get more information on the command, use C-h k instead of C-h c. | |
845 | |
846 >> Type C-h k Control-p. | |
847 | |
477 | 848 This displays the documentation of the function, as well as its |
849 name, in an Emacs window. When you are finished reading the | |
850 output, type C-x 1 to get rid of the help text. You do not have | |
851 to do this right away. You can do some editing while referring | |
852 to the help text and then type C-x 1. | |
13 | 853 |
854 Here are some other useful C-h options: | |
855 | |
856 C-h f Describe a function. You type in the name of the | |
857 function. | |
858 | |
859 >> Try typing C-h f previous-line<Return>. | |
860 This prints all the information Emacs has about the | |
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861 function which implements the C-p command. |
13 | 862 |
863 C-h a Command Apropos. Type in a keyword and Emacs will list | |
864 all the commands whose names contain that keyword. | |
865 These commands can all be invoked with Meta-x. | |
866 For some commands, Command Apropos will also list a one | |
867 or two character sequence which has the same effect. | |
868 | |
477 | 869 >> Type C-h a file<Return>. |
870 | |
871 This displays in another window a list of all M-x commands with | |
872 "file" in their names. You will also see commands like C-x C-f | |
873 and C-x C-w, listed beside the command names find-file and | |
874 write-file. | |
875 | |
876 >> Type C-M-v to scroll the help window. Do this a few times. | |
877 | |
878 >> Type C-x 1 to delete the help window. | |
13 | 879 |
880 | |
1375 | 881 * CONCLUSION |
882 ------------ | |
13 | 883 |
884 Remember, to exit Emacs permanently use C-x C-c. To exit to a shell | |
885 temporarily, so that you can come back in, use C-z. | |
886 | |
887 This tutorial is meant to be understandable to all new users, so if | |
888 you found something unclear, don't sit and blame yourself - complain! | |
889 | |
890 | |
891 COPYING | |
892 ------- | |
893 | |
894 This tutorial descends from a long line of Emacs tutorials | |
895 starting with the one written by Stuart Cracraft for the original Emacs. | |
896 | |
897 This version of the tutorial, like GNU Emacs, is copyrighted, and | |
898 comes with permission to distribute copies on certain conditions: | |
899 | |
900 Copyright (c) 1985 Free Software Foundation | |
901 | |
902 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies | |
903 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the | |
904 copyright notice and permission notice are preserved, | |
905 and that the distributor grants the recipient permission | |
906 for further redistribution as permitted by this notice. | |
907 | |
908 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions | |
909 of this document, or of portions of it, | |
910 under the above conditions, provided also that they | |
911 carry prominent notices stating who last altered them. | |
912 | |
913 The conditions for copying Emacs itself are slightly different | |
914 but in the same spirit. Please read the file COPYING and then | |
915 do give copies of GNU Emacs to your friends. | |
916 Help stamp out software obstructionism ("ownership") by using, | |
917 writing, and sharing free software! |