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annotate man/major.texi @ 38013:fa8e496e2af1
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author | Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> |
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date | Sun, 10 Jun 2001 16:26:00 +0000 |
parents | e11682cc1516 |
children | 23f63206a867 |
rev | line source |
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25829 | 1 @c This is part of the Emacs manual. |
28550 | 2 @c Copyright (C) 1985, 86, 87, 93, 94, 95, 97, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc. |
25829 | 3 @c See file emacs.texi for copying conditions. |
4 @node Major Modes, Indentation, International, Top | |
5 @chapter Major Modes | |
6 @cindex major modes | |
7 @cindex mode, major | |
8 @kindex TAB @r{(and major modes)} | |
9 @kindex DEL @r{(and major modes)} | |
10 @kindex C-j @r{(and major modes)} | |
11 | |
12 Emacs provides many alternative @dfn{major modes}, each of which | |
13 customizes Emacs for editing text of a particular sort. The major modes | |
14 are mutually exclusive, and each buffer has one major mode at any time. | |
15 The mode line normally shows the name of the current major mode, in | |
16 parentheses (@pxref{Mode Line}). | |
17 | |
18 The least specialized major mode is called @dfn{Fundamental mode}. | |
19 This mode has no mode-specific redefinitions or variable settings, so | |
20 that each Emacs command behaves in its most general manner, and each | |
21 option is in its default state. For editing text of a specific type | |
22 that Emacs knows about, such as Lisp code or English text, you should | |
23 switch to the appropriate major mode, such as Lisp mode or Text mode. | |
24 | |
25 Selecting a major mode changes the meanings of a few keys to become | |
26 more specifically adapted to the language being edited. The ones that | |
27 are changed frequently are @key{TAB}, @key{DEL}, and @kbd{C-j}. The | |
28 prefix key @kbd{C-c} normally contains mode-specific commands. In | |
29 addition, the commands which handle comments use the mode to determine | |
30 how comments are to be delimited. Many major modes redefine the | |
31 syntactical properties of characters appearing in the buffer. | |
32 @xref{Syntax}. | |
33 | |
34 The major modes fall into three major groups. Lisp mode (which has | |
35 several variants), C mode, Fortran mode and others are for specific | |
28550 | 36 programming languages. Text mode, Nroff mode, SGML mode, @TeX{} mode |
37 and Outline mode are for normal text, plain or marked up. The remaining | |
38 major modes are not intended for use on users' files; they are used in | |
39 buffers created for specific purposes by Emacs, such as Dired mode for | |
40 buffers made by Dired (@pxref{Dired}), Mail mode for buffers made by | |
41 @kbd{C-x m} (@pxref{Sending Mail}), and Shell mode for buffers used for | |
25829 | 42 communicating with an inferior shell process (@pxref{Interactive |
43 Shell}). | |
44 | |
45 Most programming-language major modes specify that only blank lines | |
46 separate paragraphs. This is to make the paragraph commands useful. | |
47 (@xref{Paragraphs}.) They also cause Auto Fill mode to use the | |
48 definition of @key{TAB} to indent the new lines it creates. This is | |
28550 | 49 because most lines in a program are usually indented |
50 (@pxref{Indentation}). | |
25829 | 51 |
52 @menu | |
53 * Choosing Modes:: How major modes are specified or chosen. | |
54 @end menu | |
55 | |
56 @node Choosing Modes,,Major Modes,Major Modes | |
57 @section How Major Modes are Chosen | |
58 | |
59 @cindex choosing a major mode | |
60 You can select a major mode explicitly for the current buffer, but | |
61 most of the time Emacs determines which mode to use based on the file | |
62 name or on special text in the file. | |
63 | |
64 Explicit selection of a new major mode is done with a @kbd{M-x} command. | |
65 From the name of a major mode, add @code{-mode} to get the name of a | |
66 command to select that mode. Thus, you can enter Lisp mode by executing | |
67 @kbd{M-x lisp-mode}. | |
68 | |
69 @vindex auto-mode-alist | |
70 When you visit a file, Emacs usually chooses the right major mode based | |
71 on the file's name. For example, files whose names end in @samp{.c} are | |
72 edited in C mode. The correspondence between file names and major modes is | |
73 controlled by the variable @code{auto-mode-alist}. Its value is a list in | |
74 which each element has this form, | |
75 | |
76 @example | |
77 (@var{regexp} . @var{mode-function}) | |
78 @end example | |
79 | |
80 @noindent | |
81 or this form, | |
82 | |
83 @example | |
84 (@var{regexp} @var{mode-function} @var{flag}) | |
85 @end example | |
86 | |
87 @noindent | |
88 For example, one element normally found in the list has the form | |
89 @code{(@t{"\\.c\\'"} . c-mode)}, and it is responsible for selecting C | |
90 mode for files whose names end in @file{.c}. (Note that @samp{\\} is | |
91 needed in Lisp syntax to include a @samp{\} in the string, which is | |
92 needed to suppress the special meaning of @samp{.} in regexps.) If the | |
93 element has the form @code{(@var{regexp} @var{mode-function} | |
94 @var{flag})} and @var{flag} is non-@code{nil}, then after calling | |
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Richard M. Stallman <rms@gnu.org>
parents:
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95 @var{mode-function}, the suffix that matched @var{regexp} is discarded |
04f11a4bb597
Minor fix, @var{function} -> @var{mode-function}.
Richard M. Stallman <rms@gnu.org>
parents:
28550
diff
changeset
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96 and the list is searched again for another match. |
25829 | 97 |
98 You can specify which major mode should be used for editing a certain | |
99 file by a special sort of text in the first nonblank line of the file. The | |
100 mode name should appear in this line both preceded and followed by | |
101 @samp{-*-}. Other text may appear on the line as well. For example, | |
102 | |
103 @example | |
104 ;-*-Lisp-*- | |
105 @end example | |
106 | |
107 @noindent | |
108 tells Emacs to use Lisp mode. Such an explicit specification overrides | |
109 any defaulting based on the file name. Note how the semicolon is used | |
110 to make Lisp treat this line as a comment. | |
111 | |
112 Another format of mode specification is | |
113 | |
114 @example | |
115 -*- mode: @var{modename};-*- | |
116 @end example | |
117 | |
118 @noindent | |
119 which allows you to specify local variables as well, like this: | |
120 | |
121 @example | |
122 -*- mode: @var{modename}; @var{var}: @var{value}; @dots{} -*- | |
123 @end example | |
124 | |
125 @noindent | |
126 @xref{File Variables}, for more information about this. | |
127 | |
128 @vindex interpreter-mode-alist | |
129 When a file's contents begin with @samp{#!}, it can serve as an | |
130 executable shell command, which works by running an interpreter named on | |
131 the file's first line. The rest of the file is used as input to the | |
132 interpreter. | |
133 | |
134 When you visit such a file in Emacs, if the file's name does not | |
135 specify a major mode, Emacs uses the interpreter name on the first line | |
136 to choose a mode. If the first line is the name of a recognized | |
137 interpreter program, such as @samp{perl} or @samp{tcl}, Emacs uses a | |
138 mode appropriate for programs for that interpreter. The variable | |
139 @code{interpreter-mode-alist} specifies the correspondence between | |
140 interpreter program names and major modes. | |
141 | |
142 When the first line starts with @samp{#!}, you cannot (on many | |
143 systems) use the @samp{-*-} feature on the first line, because the | |
144 system would get confused when running the interpreter. So Emacs looks | |
145 for @samp{-*-} on the second line in such files as well as on the | |
146 first line. | |
147 | |
148 @vindex default-major-mode | |
149 When you visit a file that does not specify a major mode to use, or | |
150 when you create a new buffer with @kbd{C-x b}, the variable | |
151 @code{default-major-mode} specifies which major mode to use. Normally | |
152 its value is the symbol @code{fundamental-mode}, which specifies | |
153 Fundamental mode. If @code{default-major-mode} is @code{nil}, the major | |
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154 mode is taken from the previously current buffer. |
25829 | 155 |
156 @findex normal-mode | |
157 If you change the major mode of a buffer, you can go back to the major | |
158 mode Emacs would choose automatically: use the command @kbd{M-x | |
159 normal-mode} to do this. This is the same function that | |
160 @code{find-file} calls to choose the major mode. It also processes | |
161 the file's local variables list if any. | |
162 | |
163 @vindex change-major-mode-with-file-name | |
164 The commands @kbd{C-x C-w} and @code{set-visited-file-name} change to | |
165 a new major mode if the new file name implies a mode (@pxref{Saving}). | |
166 However, this does not happen if the buffer contents specify a major | |
167 mode, and certain ``special'' major modes do not allow the mode to | |
168 change. You can turn off this mode-changing feature by setting | |
169 @code{change-major-mode-with-file-name} to @code{nil}. |