annotate man/screen.texi @ 45542:ce9a6609f04f

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author Kim F. Storm <storm@cua.dk>
date Mon, 27 May 2002 12:14:52 +0000
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1 @c This is part of the Emacs manual.
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2 @c Copyright (C) 1985,86,87,93,94,95,1997,2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
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3 @c See file emacs.texi for copying conditions.
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4 @node Screen, User Input, Acknowledgments, Top
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5 @chapter The Organization of the Screen
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6 @cindex screen
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7 @cindex parts of the screen
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8 @c
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9
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10 On a text-only terminal, the Emacs display occupies the whole screen.
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11 On the X Window System, Emacs creates its own X windows to use. We use
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12 the term @dfn{frame} to mean an entire text-only screen or an entire X
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13 window used by Emacs. Emacs uses both kinds of frames in the same way
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14 to display your editing. Emacs normally starts out with just one frame,
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15 but you can create additional frames if you wish. @xref{Frames}.
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16
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17 When you start Emacs, the entire frame except for the top and bottom
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18 is devoted to the text you are editing. This area is called the
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19 @dfn{window}. At the top there is normally a @dfn{menu bar} where you
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20 can access a series of menus; then there may be a @dfn{tool bar}, a
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21 row of icons that perform editing commands if you click on them.
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22 Below this, the window begins. The last line is a special @dfn{echo
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23 area} or @dfn{minibuffer window}, where prompts appear and where you
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24 can enter information when Emacs asks for it. See below for more
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25 information about these special lines.
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26
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27 You can subdivide the large text window horizontally or vertically
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28 into multiple text windows, each of which can be used for a different
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29 file (@pxref{Windows}). In this manual, the word ``window'' always
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30 refers to the subdivisions of a frame within Emacs.
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31
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32 The window that the cursor is in is the @dfn{selected window}, in
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33 which editing takes place. Most Emacs commands implicitly apply to the
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34 text in the selected window (though mouse commands generally operate on
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35 whatever window you click them in, whether selected or not). The other
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36 windows display text for reference only, unless/until you select them.
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37 If you use multiple frames under the X Window System, then giving the
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38 input focus to a particular frame selects a window in that frame.
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39
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40 Each window's last line is a @dfn{mode line}, which describes what
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41 is going on in that window. It appears in inverse video, if the
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42 terminal supports that; its contents normally begin with
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43 @w{@samp{--:-- @ *scratch*}} when Emacs starts. The mode line
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44 displays status information such as what buffer is being displayed
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45 above it in the window, what major and minor modes are in use, and
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46 whether the buffer contains unsaved changes.
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47
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48 @menu
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49 * Point:: The place in the text where editing commands operate.
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50 * Echo Area:: Short messages appear at the bottom of the screen.
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51 * Mode Line:: Interpreting the mode line.
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52 * Menu Bar:: How to use the menu bar.
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53 @end menu
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54
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55 @node Point
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56 @section Point
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57 @cindex point
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58 @cindex cursor
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59
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60 Within Emacs, the terminal's cursor shows the location at which
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61 editing commands will take effect. This location is called @dfn{point}.
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62 Many Emacs commands move point through the text, so that you can edit at
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63 different places in it. You can also place point by clicking mouse
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64 button 1.
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65
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66 While the cursor appears to point @emph{at} a character, you should
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67 think of point as @emph{between} two characters; it points @emph{before}
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68 the character that appears under the cursor. For example, if your text
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69 looks like @samp{frob} with the cursor over the @samp{b}, then point is
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70 between the @samp{o} and the @samp{b}. If you insert the character
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71 @samp{!} at that position, the result is @samp{fro!b}, with point
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72 between the @samp{!} and the @samp{b}. Thus, the cursor remains over
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73 the @samp{b}, as before.
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74
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75 Sometimes people speak of ``the cursor'' when they mean ``point,'' or
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76 speak of commands that move point as ``cursor motion'' commands.
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77
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78 Text-only terminals have only one cursor, and when output is in
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79 progress it must appear where the output is being displayed. This
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80 does not mean that point is moving. It is only that Emacs has no way
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81 to show you the location of point except when the terminal is idle.
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82
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83 If you are editing several files in Emacs, each in its own buffer,
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84 each buffer has its own point location. A buffer that is not currently
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85 displayed remembers where point is in case you display it again later.
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86
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87 When Emacs displays multiple windows, each window has its own point
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88 location. On text-only terminals, the cursor shows the location of
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89 point in the selected window. On graphical terminals, Emacs shows a
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90 cursor in each window; the selected window's cursor is solid, and the
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91 other cursors are hollow. Either way, the cursor or cursors tell you
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92 which window is selected. If the same buffer appears in more than one
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93 window, each window has its own position for point in that buffer, and
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94 (when possible) its own cursor.
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95
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96 @xref{Cursor Display}, for customization options that control display
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97 of the cursor or cursors.
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98
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99 The term ``point'' comes from the character @samp{.}, which was the
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100 command in TECO (the language in which the original Emacs was written)
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101 for accessing the value now called ``point.''
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102
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103 @node Echo Area
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104 @section The Echo Area
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105 @cindex echo area
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106 @c
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107
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108 The line at the bottom of the frame (below the mode line) is the
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109 @dfn{echo area}. It is used to display small amounts of text for
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110 several purposes.
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111
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112 @dfn{Echoing} means displaying the characters that you type. Outside
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113 Emacs, the operating system normally echoes all your input. Emacs
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114 handles echoing differently.
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115
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116 Single-character commands do not echo in Emacs, and multi-character
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117 commands echo only if you pause while typing them. As soon as you pause
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118 for more than a second in the middle of a command, Emacs echoes all the
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119 characters of the command so far. This is to @dfn{prompt} you for the
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120 rest of the command. Once echoing has started, the rest of the command
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121 echoes immediately as you type it. This behavior is designed to give
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122 confident users fast response, while giving hesitant users maximum
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123 feedback. You can change this behavior by setting a variable
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124 (@pxref{Display Custom}).
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125
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126 @cindex error message in the echo area
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127 If a command cannot be executed, it may display an @dfn{error message}
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128 in the echo area. Error messages are accompanied by beeping or by
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129 flashing the screen. The error also discards any input you have typed
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130 ahead.
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131
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132 Some commands display informative messages in the echo area. These
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133 messages look much like error messages, but they are not announced with
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134 a beep and do not throw away input. Sometimes the message tells you
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135 what the command has done, when this is not obvious from looking at the
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136 text being edited. Sometimes the sole purpose of a command is to show
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137 you a message giving you specific information---for example, @kbd{C-x =}
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138 displays a message describing the character position of point in the text
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139 and its current column in the window. Commands that take a long time
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140 often display messages ending in @samp{...} while they are working, and
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141 add @samp{done} at the end when they are finished.
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142
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143 @cindex @samp{*Messages*} buffer
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144 @cindex saved echo area messages
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145 @cindex messages saved from echo area
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146 Echo-area informative messages are saved in an editor buffer named
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147 @samp{*Messages*}. (We have not explained buffers yet; see
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148 @ref{Buffers}, for more information about them.) If you miss a message
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149 that appears briefly on the screen, you can switch to the
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150 @samp{*Messages*} buffer to see it again. (Successive progress messages
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151 are often collapsed into one in that buffer.)
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152
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153 @vindex message-log-max
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154 The size of @samp{*Messages*} is limited to a certain number of lines.
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155 The variable @code{message-log-max} specifies how many lines. Once the
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156 buffer has that many lines, each line added at the end deletes one line
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157 from the beginning. @xref{Variables}, for how to set variables such as
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158 @code{message-log-max}.
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159
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160 The echo area is also used to display the @dfn{minibuffer}, a window that
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161 is used for reading arguments to commands, such as the name of a file to be
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162 edited. When the minibuffer is in use, the echo area begins with a prompt
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163 string that usually ends with a colon; also, the cursor appears in that line
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164 because it is the selected window. You can always get out of the
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165 minibuffer by typing @kbd{C-g}. @xref{Minibuffer}.
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166
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167 @node Mode Line
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168 @section The Mode Line
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169 @cindex mode line
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170 @cindex top level
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171 @c
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172
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173 Each text window's last line is a @dfn{mode line}, which describes
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174 what is going on in that window. When there is only one text window,
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175 the mode line appears right above the echo area; it is the
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176 next-to-last line in the frame. The mode line starts and ends with
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177 dashes. On a text-mode display, the mode line is in inverse video if
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178 the terminal supports that; on a graphics display, the mode line has a
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179 3D box appearance to help it stand out. The mode line of the
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180 selected window has a slightly different appearance than those of
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181 other windows; see @ref{Optional Mode Line}, for more about this.
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182
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183 Normally, the mode line looks like this:
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184
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185 @example
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186 -@var{cs}:@var{ch} @var{buf} (@var{major} @var{minor})--@var{line}--@var{pos}------
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187 @end example
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188
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189 @noindent
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190 This gives information about the buffer being displayed in the window: the
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191 buffer's name, what major and minor modes are in use, whether the buffer's
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192 text has been changed, and how far down the buffer you are currently
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193 looking.
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194
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195 @var{ch} contains two stars @samp{**} if the text in the buffer has
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196 been edited (the buffer is ``modified''), or @samp{--} if the buffer has
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197 not been edited. For a read-only buffer, it is @samp{%*} if the buffer
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198 is modified, and @samp{%%} otherwise.
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199
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200 @var{buf} is the name of the window's @dfn{buffer}. In most cases
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201 this is the same as the name of a file you are editing. @xref{Buffers}.
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202
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203 The buffer displayed in the selected window (the window that the
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204 cursor is in) is also Emacs's current buffer, the one that editing
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205 takes place in. When we speak of what some command does to ``the
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206 buffer,'' we are talking about the current buffer.
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207
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208 @var{line} is @samp{L} followed by the current line number of point.
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209 This is present when Line Number mode is enabled (which it normally is).
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210 You can optionally display the current column number too, by turning on
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211 Column Number mode (which is not enabled by default because it is
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212 somewhat slower). @xref{Optional Mode Line}.
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213
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214 @var{pos} tells you whether there is additional text above the top of
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215 the window, or below the bottom. If your buffer is small and it is all
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216 visible in the window, @var{pos} is @samp{All}. Otherwise, it is
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217 @samp{Top} if you are looking at the beginning of the buffer, @samp{Bot}
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218 if you are looking at the end of the buffer, or @samp{@var{nn}%}, where
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219 @var{nn} is the percentage of the buffer above the top of the
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220 window.@refill
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221
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222 @var{major} is the name of the @dfn{major mode} in effect in the
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223 buffer. At any time, each buffer is in one and only one of the possible
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224 major modes. The major modes available include Fundamental mode (the
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225 least specialized), Text mode, Lisp mode, C mode, Texinfo mode, and many
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226 others. @xref{Major Modes}, for details of how the modes differ and how
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227 to select one.@refill
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228
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229 Some major modes display additional information after the major mode
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230 name. For example, Rmail buffers display the current message number and
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231 the total number of messages. Compilation buffers and Shell buffers
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232 display the status of the subprocess.
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233
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234 @var{minor} is a list of some of the @dfn{minor modes} that are turned
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235 on at the moment in the window's chosen buffer. For example,
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236 @samp{Fill} means that Auto Fill mode is on. @samp{Abbrev} means that
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237 Word Abbrev mode is on. @samp{Ovwrt} means that Overwrite mode is on.
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238 @xref{Minor Modes}, for more information. @samp{Narrow} means that the
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239 buffer being displayed has editing restricted to only a portion of its
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240 text. This is not really a minor mode, but is like one.
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241 @xref{Narrowing}. @samp{Def} means that a keyboard macro is being
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242 defined. @xref{Keyboard Macros}.
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243
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244 In addition, if Emacs is currently inside a recursive editing level,
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245 square brackets (@samp{[@dots{}]}) appear around the parentheses that
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246 surround the modes. If Emacs is in one recursive editing level within
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247 another, double square brackets appear, and so on. Since recursive
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248 editing levels affect Emacs globally, not just one buffer, the square
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249 brackets appear in every window's mode line or not in any of them.
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250 @xref{Recursive Edit}.@refill
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251
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252 Non-windowing terminals can only show a single Emacs frame at a time
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253 (@pxref{Frames}). On such terminals, the mode line displays the name of
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254 the selected frame, after @var{ch}. The initial frame's name is
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255 @samp{F1}.
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256
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257 @var{cs} states the coding system used for the file you are editing.
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258 A dash indicates the default state of affairs: no code conversion,
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259 except for end-of-line translation if the file contents call for that.
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260 @samp{=} means no conversion whatsoever. Nontrivial code conversions
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261 are represented by various letters---for example, @samp{1} refers to ISO
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262 Latin-1. @xref{Coding Systems}, for more information. If you are using
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263 an input method, a string of the form @samp{@var{i}>} is added to the
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264 beginning of @var{cs}; @var{i} identifies the input method. (Some input
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265 methods show @samp{+} or @samp{@@} instead of @samp{>}.) @xref{Input
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266 Methods}.
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267
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268 When you are using a character-only terminal (not a window system),
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269 @var{cs} uses three characters to describe, respectively, the coding
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270 system for keyboard input, the coding system for terminal output, and
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271 the coding system used for the file you are editing.
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272
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273 When multibyte characters are not enabled, @var{cs} does not appear at
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274 all. @xref{Enabling Multibyte}.
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275
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276 @cindex end-of-line conversion, mode-line indication
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277 The colon after @var{cs} can change to another string in certain
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278 circumstances. Emacs uses newline characters to separate lines in the buffer.
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279 Some files use different conventions for separating lines: either
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280 carriage-return linefeed (the MS-DOS convention) or just carriage-return
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281 (the Macintosh convention). If the buffer's file uses carriage-return
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282 linefeed, the colon changes to either a backslash (@samp{\}) or
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283 @samp{(DOS)}, depending on the operating system. If the file uses just
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284 carriage-return, the colon indicator changes to either a forward slash
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285 (@samp{/}) or @samp{(Mac)}. On some systems, Emacs displays
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286 @samp{(Unix)} instead of the colon even for files that use newline to
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287 separate lines.
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288
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289 @vindex eol-mnemonic-unix
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290 @vindex eol-mnemonic-dos
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291 @vindex eol-mnemonic-mac
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292 @vindex eol-mnemonic-undecided
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293 You can customize the mode line display for each of the end-of-line
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294 formats by setting each of the variables @code{eol-mnemonic-unix},
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295 @code{eol-mnemonic-dos}, @code{eol-mnemonic-mac}, and
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296 @code{eol-mnemonic-undecided} to any string you find appropriate.
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297 @xref{Variables}, for an explanation of how to set variables.
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298
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299 @xref{Optional Mode Line}, for features that add other handy
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300 information to the mode line, such as the current column number of
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301 point, the current time, and whether new mail for you has arrived.
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302
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303 The mode line is mouse-sensitive; when you move the mouse across
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304 various parts of it, Emacs displays help text to say what a click in
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305 that place will do. @xref{Mode Line Mouse}.
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306
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307 @node Menu Bar
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308 @section The Menu Bar
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309 @cindex menu bar
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310
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311 Each Emacs frame normally has a @dfn{menu bar} at the top which you
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312 can use to perform certain common operations. There's no need to list
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313 them here, as you can more easily see for yourself.
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314
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315 @kindex M-`
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316 @kindex F10
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317 @findex tmm-menubar
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318 When you are using a window system, you can use the mouse to choose a
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319 command from the menu bar. An arrow pointing right, after the menu
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320 item, indicates that the item leads to a subsidiary menu; @samp{...} at
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321 the end means that the command will read arguments from the keyboard
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322 before it actually does anything.
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323
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324 To view the full command name and documentation for a menu item, type
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325 @kbd{C-h k}, and then select the menu bar with the mouse in the usual
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326 way (@pxref{Key Help}).
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327
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328 On text-only terminals with no mouse, you can use the menu bar by
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329 typing @kbd{M-`} or @key{F10} (these run the command
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330 @code{tmm-menubar}). This command enters a mode in which you can select
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331 a menu item from the keyboard. A provisional choice appears in the echo
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332 area. You can use the left and right arrow keys to move through the
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333 menu to different choices. When you have found the choice you want,
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334 type @key{RET} to select it.
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335
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336 Each menu item also has an assigned letter or digit which designates
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337 that item; it is usually the initial of some word in the item's name.
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338 This letter or digit is separated from the item name by @samp{=>}. You
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339 can type the item's letter or digit to select the item.
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340
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341 Some of the commands in the menu bar have ordinary key bindings as
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342 well; if so, the menu lists one equivalent key binding in parentheses
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343 after the item itself.