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annotate etc/TUTORIAL @ 10029:fdc1155b891c
(sort_args): New function.
(main): Call sort_args.
Check for -d/-display after -nw, -batch, -help.
Accept --display, with arg attached or separate.
author | Richard M. Stallman <rms@gnu.org> |
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date | Sat, 19 Nov 1994 20:45:17 +0000 |
parents | 4217123670e2 |
children | 9dc3f4fc6b7f |
rev | line source |
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13 | 1 Copyright (c) 1985 Free Software Foundation, Inc; See end for conditions. |
2 | |
3 You are looking at the Emacs tutorial. | |
4 | |
5 Emacs commands generally involve the CONTROL key (sometimes labelled | |
6 CTRL or CTL) or the META key (sometimes labelled EDIT). Rather than | |
7 write out META or CONTROL each time we want you to prefix a character, | |
8 we'll use the following abbreviations: | |
9 | |
10 C-<chr> means hold the CONTROL key while typing the character <chr> | |
11 Thus, C-f would be: hold the CONTROL key and type f. | |
12 M-<chr> means hold the META or EDIT key down while typing <chr>. | |
13 If there is no META or EDIT key, type <ESC>, release it, | |
14 then type the character <chr>. "<ESC>" stands for the | |
15 key labelled "ALT" or "ESC". | |
16 | |
17 Important note: to end the Emacs session, type C-x C-c. (Two characters.) | |
18 The characters ">>" at the left margin indicate directions for you to | |
19 try using a command. For instance: | |
20 <<Blank lines inserted here by startup of help-with-tutorial>> | |
21 >> Now type C-v (View next screen) to move to the next screen. | |
22 (go ahead, do it by depressing the control key and v together). | |
23 From now on, you'll be expected to do this whenever you finish | |
24 reading the screen. | |
25 | |
26 Note that there is an overlap when going from screen to screen; this | |
27 provides some continuity when moving through the file. | |
28 | |
29 The first thing that you need to know is how to move around from | |
30 place to place in the file. You already know how to move forward a | |
31 screen, with C-v. To move backwards a screen, type M-v (depress the | |
32 META key and type v, or type <ESC>v if you don't have a META or EDIT | |
33 key). | |
34 | |
35 >> Try typing M-v and then C-v to move back and forth a few times. | |
36 | |
37 | |
1375 | 38 * SUMMARY |
39 --------- | |
13 | 40 |
41 The following commands are useful for viewing screenfuls: | |
42 | |
43 C-v Move forward one screenful | |
44 M-v Move backward one screenful | |
45 C-l Clear screen and redisplay everything | |
46 putting the text near the cursor at the center. | |
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47 (That's control-L, not control-1.) |
13 | 48 |
49 >> Find the cursor and remember what text is near it. | |
50 Then type a C-l. | |
51 Find the cursor again and see what text is near it now. | |
52 | |
53 | |
1375 | 54 * BASIC CURSOR CONTROL |
55 ---------------------- | |
13 | 56 |
57 Getting from screenful to screenful is useful, but how do you | |
58 reposition yourself within a given screen to a specific place? | |
59 There are several ways you can do this. One way (not the best, but | |
60 the most basic) is to use the commands previous, backward, forward | |
61 and next. As you can imagine these commands (which are given to | |
62 Emacs as C-p, C-b, C-f, and C-n respectively) move the cursor from | |
63 where it currently is to a new place in the given direction. Here, | |
64 in a more graphical form are the commands: | |
65 | |
66 Previous line, C-p | |
67 : | |
68 : | |
69 Backward, C-b .... Current cursor position .... Forward, C-f | |
70 : | |
71 : | |
72 Next line, C-n | |
73 | |
74 >> Move the cursor to the line in the middle of that diagram | |
75 and type C-l to see the whole diagram centered in the screen. | |
76 | |
77 You'll probably find it easy to think of these by letter. P for | |
78 previous, N for next, B for backward and F for forward. These are | |
79 the basic cursor positioning commands and you'll be using them ALL | |
80 the time so it would be of great benefit if you learn them now. | |
81 | |
82 >> Do a few C-n's to bring the cursor down to this line. | |
83 | |
84 >> Move into the line with C-f's and then up with C-p's. | |
85 See what C-p does when the cursor is in the middle of the line. | |
86 | |
87 Lines are separated by Newline characters. For most applications | |
88 there should normally be a Newline character at the end of the text, | |
89 as well, but it is up to you to make sure of this. A file can | |
90 validly exist without a Newline at the end. | |
91 | |
92 >> Try to C-b at the beginning of a line. Do a few more C-b's. | |
93 Then do C-f's back to the end of the line and beyond. | |
94 | |
95 When you go off the top or bottom of the screen, the text beyond | |
96 the edge is shifted onto the screen so that your instructions can | |
97 be carried out while keeping the cursor on the screen. | |
98 | |
99 >> Try to move the cursor off the bottom of the screen with C-n and | |
100 see what happens. | |
101 | |
102 If moving by characters is too slow, you can move by words. M-f | |
103 (Meta-f) moves forward a word and M-b moves back a word. | |
104 | |
105 >> Type a few M-f's and M-b's. Intersperse them with C-f's and C-b's. | |
106 | |
107 Notice the parallel between C-f and C-b on the one hand, and M-f and | |
108 M-b on the other hand. Very often Meta characters are used for | |
109 operations related to English text whereas Control characters operate | |
110 on the basic textual units that are independent of what you are | |
111 editing (characters, lines, etc). There is a similar parallel between | |
112 lines and sentences: C-a and C-e move to the beginning or end of a | |
113 line, and M-a and M-e move to the beginning or end of a sentence. | |
114 | |
115 >> Try a couple of C-a's, and then a couple of C-e's. | |
116 Try a couple of M-a's, and then a couple of M-e's. | |
117 | |
118 See how repeated C-a's do nothing, but repeated M-a's keep moving | |
119 farther. Do you think that this is right? | |
120 | |
121 Two other simple cursor motion commands are M-< (Meta Less-than), | |
122 which moves to the beginning of the file, and M-> (Meta Greater-than), | |
123 which moves to the end of the file. You probably don't need to try | |
124 them, since finding this spot again will be boring. On most terminals | |
125 the "<" is above the comma and you must use the shift key to type it. | |
126 On these terminals you must use the shift key to type M-< also; | |
127 without the shift key, you would be typing M-comma. | |
128 | |
129 The location of the cursor in the text is also called "point". To | |
130 paraphrase, the cursor shows on the screen where point is located in | |
131 the text. | |
132 | |
133 Here is a summary of simple moving operations including the word and | |
134 sentence moving commands: | |
135 | |
136 C-f Move forward a character | |
137 C-b Move backward a character | |
138 | |
139 M-f Move forward a word | |
140 M-b Move backward a word | |
141 | |
142 C-n Move to next line | |
143 C-p Move to previous line | |
144 | |
145 C-a Move to beginning of line | |
146 C-e Move to end of line | |
147 | |
148 M-a Move back to beginning of sentence | |
149 M-e Move forward to end of sentence | |
150 | |
151 M-< Go to beginning of file | |
152 M-> Go to end of file | |
153 | |
154 >> Try all of these commands now a few times for practice. | |
155 Since the last two will take you away from this screen, | |
156 you can come back here with M-v's and C-v's. These are | |
157 the most often used commands. | |
158 | |
159 Like all other commands in Emacs, these commands can be given | |
160 arguments which cause them to be executed repeatedly. The way you | |
161 give a command a repeat count is by typing C-u and then the digits | |
162 before you type the command. If you have a META or EDIT key, you can | |
163 omit the C-u if you hold down the META or EDIT key while you type the | |
164 digits. This is easier, but we recommend the C-u method because it | |
165 works on any terminal. | |
166 | |
167 For instance, C-u 8 C-f moves forward eight characters. | |
168 | |
169 >> Try giving a suitable argument to C-n or C-p to come as close | |
170 as you can to this line in one jump. | |
171 | |
172 The only apparent exception to this is the screen moving commands, | |
173 C-v and M-v. When given an argument, they scroll the screen up or | |
174 down by that many lines, rather than screenfuls. This proves to be | |
175 much more useful. | |
176 | |
177 >> Try typing C-u 8 C-v now. | |
178 | |
179 Did it scroll the screen up by 8 lines? If you would like to | |
180 scroll it down you can give an argument to M-v. | |
181 | |
2863 | 182 If you are using X Windows, there is probably a rectangular area |
183 called a scroll bar at the right hand side of the Emacs window. You | |
184 can scroll the text by clicking the mouse in the scroll bar. | |
185 | |
186 >> Try pressing the middle button at the top of the highlighted area | |
187 within the scroll bar, then moving the mouse while holding that button | |
188 down. | |
189 | |
190 >> Move the mouse to a point in the scroll bar about three lines from | |
191 the top, and click the left button a couple of times. Then try the | |
192 right button a couple of times. | |
193 | |
13 | 194 |
1375 | 195 * WHEN EMACS IS HUNG |
196 -------------------- | |
13 | 197 |
198 If Emacs gets into an infinite (or simply very long) computation which | |
199 you don't want to finish, you can stop it safely by typing C-g. | |
200 You can also use C-g to discard a numeric argument or the beginning of | |
201 a command that you don't want to finish. | |
202 | |
203 >> Type C-u 100 to make a numeric arg of 100, then type C-g. | |
204 Now type C-f. How many characters does it move? | |
205 If you have typed an <ESC> by mistake, you can get rid of it | |
206 with a C-g. | |
207 | |
208 If you type <ESC> <ESC>, you get a new window appearing on | |
209 the screen, telling you that M-ESC is a "disabled command" | |
210 and asking whether you really want to execute it. The command | |
211 M-ESC is marked as disabled because you probably don't want to | |
212 use it until you know more about Emacs, and we expect it would | |
213 confuse you if it were allowed to go ahead and run. If you really | |
214 want to try the M-ESC command, you could type a Space in answer | |
215 to the question and M-ESC would go ahead. Normally, if you do | |
216 not want to execute M-ESC, you would type "n" to answer the question. | |
217 | |
218 >> Type <ESC> <ESC>, then type n. | |
219 | |
220 | |
1375 | 221 * WINDOWS |
222 --------- | |
13 | 223 |
224 Emacs can have several windows, each displaying its own text. | |
225 At this stage it is better not to go into the techniques of | |
226 using multiple windows. But you do need to know how to get | |
227 rid of extra windows that may appear to display help or | |
228 output from certain commands. It is simple: | |
229 | |
230 C-x 1 One window (i.e., kill all other windows). | |
231 | |
232 That is Control-x followed by the digit 1. | |
233 C-x 1 makes the window which the cursor is in become | |
234 the full screen, by getting rid of any other windows. | |
235 | |
236 >> Move the cursor to this line and type C-u 0 C-l. | |
237 >> Type Control-h k Control-f. | |
238 See how this window shrinks, while a new one appears | |
239 to display documentation on the Control-f command. | |
240 | |
241 >> Type C-x 1 and see the documentation listing window disappear. | |
242 | |
243 | |
1375 | 244 * INSERTING AND DELETING |
245 ------------------------ | |
13 | 246 |
247 If you want to insert text, just type it. Characters which you can | |
248 see, such as A, 7, *, etc. are taken by Emacs as text and inserted | |
249 immediately. Type <Return> (the carriage-return key) to insert a | |
250 Newline character. | |
251 | |
252 You can delete the last character you typed by typing <Rubout>. | |
253 <Rubout> is a key on the keyboard, which might be labelled "Delete" | |
254 instead of "Rubout" on some terminals. More generally, <Rubout> | |
255 deletes the character immediately before the current cursor position. | |
256 | |
257 >> Do this now, type a few characters and then delete them | |
258 by typing <Rubout> a few times. Don't worry about this file | |
259 being changed; you won't affect the master tutorial. This is just | |
260 a copy of it. | |
261 | |
262 >> Now start typing text until you reach the right margin, and keep | |
263 typing. When a line of text gets too big for one line on the | |
264 screen, the line of text is "continued" onto a second screen line. | |
265 The backslash at the right margin indicates a line which has | |
266 been continued. | |
267 >> Use <Rubout>s to delete the text until the line fits on one screen | |
268 line again. The continuation line goes away. | |
269 | |
270 >> Move the cursor to the beginning of a line and type <Rubout>. This | |
271 deletes the newline before the line and merges the line onto | |
272 the previous line. The resulting line may be too long to fit, in | |
273 which case it has a continuation line. | |
274 >> Type <Return> to reinsert the Newline you deleted. | |
275 | |
276 Remember that most Emacs commands can be given a repeat count; | |
277 this includes characters which insert themselves. | |
278 | |
279 >> Try that now -- type C-u 8 * and see what happens. | |
280 | |
281 You've now learned the most basic way of typing something in | |
282 Emacs and correcting errors. You can delete by words or lines | |
283 as well. Here is a summary of the delete operations: | |
284 | |
285 <Rubout> delete the character just before the cursor | |
286 C-d delete the next character after the cursor | |
287 | |
288 M-<Rubout> kill the word immediately before the cursor | |
289 M-d kill the next word after the cursor | |
290 | |
291 C-k kill from the cursor position to end of line | |
292 M-k kill to the end of the current sentence | |
293 | |
294 Notice that <Rubout> and C-d vs M-<Rubout> and M-d extend the parallel | |
295 started by C-f and M-f (well, <Rubout> isn't really a control | |
296 character, but let's not worry about that). C-k and M-k are like C-e | |
297 and M-e, sort of, in that lines are opposite sentences. | |
298 | |
299 Now suppose you kill something, and then you decide that you want to | |
300 get it back? Well, whenever you kill something bigger than a | |
301 character, Emacs saves it for you. To yank it back, use C-y. You | |
302 can kill text in one place, move elsewhere, and then do C-y; this is | |
303 a good way to move text around. Note that the difference | |
304 between "Killing" and "Deleting" something is that "Killed" things | |
305 can be yanked back, and "Deleted" things cannot. Generally, the | |
306 commands that can destroy a lot of text save it, while the ones that | |
307 attack only one character, or nothing but blank lines and spaces, do | |
308 not save. | |
309 | |
34 | 310 For instance, type C-n a couple times to position the cursor |
13 | 311 at some line on this screen. |
312 | |
313 >> Do this now, move the cursor and kill that line with C-k. | |
314 | |
315 Note that a single C-k kills the contents of the line, and a second | |
316 C-k kills the line itself, and make all the other lines move up. If | |
317 you give C-k a repeat count, it kills that many lines AND their | |
318 contents. | |
319 | |
320 The text that has just disappeared is saved so that you can | |
321 retrieve it. To retrieve the last killed text and put it where | |
322 the cursor currently is, type C-y. | |
323 | |
324 >> Try it; type C-y to yank the text back. | |
325 | |
326 Think of C-y as if you were yanking something back that someone | |
327 took away from you. Notice that if you do several C-k's in a row | |
328 the text that is killed is all saved together so that one C-y will | |
329 yank all of the lines. | |
330 | |
331 >> Do this now, type C-k several times. | |
332 | |
333 Now to retrieve that killed text: | |
334 | |
335 >> Type C-y. Then move the cursor down a few lines and type C-y | |
336 again. You now see how to copy some text. | |
337 | |
338 What do you do if you have some text you want to yank back, and then | |
339 you kill something else? C-y would yank the more recent kill. But | |
340 the previous text is not lost. You can get back to it using the M-y | |
341 command. After you have done C-y to get the most recent kill, typing | |
342 M-Y replaces that yanked text with the previous kill. Typing M-y | |
343 again and again brings in earlier and earlier kills. When you | |
344 have reached the text you are looking for, you can just go away and | |
345 leave it there. If you M-y enough times, you come back to the | |
346 starting point (the most recent kill). | |
347 | |
348 >> Kill a line, move around, kill another line. | |
349 Then do C-y to get back the second killed line. | |
350 Then do M-y and it will be replaced by the first killed line. | |
351 Do more M-y's and see what you get. Keep doing them until | |
352 the second kill line comes back, and then a few more. | |
353 If you like, you can try giving M-y positive and negative | |
354 arguments. | |
355 | |
356 | |
1375 | 357 * UNDO |
358 ------ | |
13 | 359 |
360 Any time you make a change to the text and wish you had not done so, | |
361 you can undo the change (return the text to its previous state) | |
362 with the undo command, C-x u. Normally, C-x u undoes one command's | |
363 worth of changes; if you repeat the C-x u several times in a row, | |
364 each time undoes one more command. There are two exceptions: | |
365 commands that made no change (just moved the cursor) do not count, | |
366 and self-inserting characters are often lumped together in groups | |
367 of up to 20. This is to reduce the number of C-x u's you have to type. | |
368 | |
369 >> Kill this line with C-k, then type C-x u and it should reappear. | |
370 | |
371 C-_ is another command for undoing; it is just the same as C-x u | |
372 but easier to type several times in a row. The problem with C-_ is | |
373 that on some keyboards it is not obvious how to type it. That is | |
374 why C-x u is provided as well. On some DEC terminals, you can type | |
375 C-_ by typing / while holding down CTRL. Illogical, but what can | |
376 you expect from DEC? | |
377 | |
378 Giving a numeric argument to C-_ or C-x u is equivalent to repeating | |
379 it as many times as the argument says. | |
380 | |
381 | |
1375 | 382 * FILES |
383 ------- | |
13 | 384 |
385 In order to make the text you edit permanent, you must put it in a | |
386 file. Otherwise, it will go away when your invocation of Emacs goes | |
387 away. You put your editing in a file by "finding" the file. What | |
388 finding means is that you see the contents of the file in your Emacs; | |
389 and, loosely speaking, what you are editing is the file itself. | |
390 However, the changes still don't become permanent until you "save" the | |
391 file. This is so you can have control to avoid leaving a half-changed | |
392 file around when you don't want to. Even then, Emacs leaves the | |
393 original file under a changed name in case your changes turn out | |
394 to be a mistake. | |
395 | |
396 If you look near the bottom of the screen you will see a line that | |
397 begins and ends with dashes, and contains the string "Emacs: TUTORIAL". | |
398 Your copy of the Emacs tutorial is called "TUTORIAL". Whatever | |
399 file you find, that file's name will appear in that precise | |
400 spot. | |
401 | |
402 The commands for finding and saving files are unlike the other | |
403 commands you have learned in that they consist of two characters. | |
404 They both start with the character Control-x. There is a whole series | |
405 of commands that start with Control-x; many of them have to do with | |
406 files, buffers, and related things, and all of them consist of | |
407 Control-x followed by some other character. | |
408 | |
409 Another thing about the command for finding a file is that you have | |
410 to say what file name you want. We say the command "reads an argument | |
411 from the terminal" (in this case, the argument is the name of the | |
412 file). After you type the command | |
413 | |
414 C-x C-f Find a file | |
415 | |
416 Emacs asks you to type the file name. It echoes on the bottom | |
417 line of the screen. You are using the minibuffer now! this is | |
418 what the minibuffer is for. When you type <Return> to end the | |
419 file name, the minibuffer is no longer needed, so it disappears. | |
420 | |
421 >> Type C-x C-f, then type C-g. This cancels the minibuffer, | |
422 and also cancels the C-x C-f command that was using the | |
423 minibuffer. So you do not find any file. | |
424 | |
425 In a little while the file contents appear on the screen. You can | |
426 edit the contents. When you wish to make the changes permanent, | |
427 issue the command | |
428 | |
429 C-x C-s Save the file | |
430 | |
431 The contents of Emacs are written into the file. The first time you | |
432 do this, the original file is renamed to a new name so that it | |
433 is not lost. The new name is made by appending "~" to the end | |
434 of the original file's name. | |
435 | |
436 When saving is finished, Emacs prints the name of the file written. | |
437 You should save fairly often, so that you will not lose very much | |
438 work if the system should crash. | |
439 | |
440 >> Type C-x C-s, saving your copy of the tutorial. | |
441 This should print "Wrote .../TUTORIAL" at the bottom of the screen. | |
442 On VMS it will print "Wrote ...[...]TUTORIAL." | |
443 | |
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444 NOTE: On some systems, typing C-x C-s will freeze the screen and you |
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445 will see no further output from Emacs. This indicates that an |
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446 operating system "feature" called "flow control" is intercepting the |
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447 C-s and not letting it get through to Emacs. To unfreeze the screen, |
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448 type C-q. Then see the section "Spontaneous Entry to Incremental |
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449 Search" in the Emacs manual for advice on dealing with this "feature". |
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450 |
13 | 451 To make a new file, just find it "as if" it already existed. Then |
452 start typing in the text. When you ask to "save" the file, Emacs | |
453 will really create the file with the text that you have inserted. | |
454 From then on, you can consider yourself to be editing an already | |
455 existing file. | |
456 | |
457 | |
1375 | 458 * BUFFERS |
459 --------- | |
13 | 460 |
461 If you find a second file with C-x C-f, the first file remains | |
462 inside Emacs. You can switch back to it by finding it again with | |
463 C-x C-f. This way you can get quite a number of files inside Emacs. | |
464 | |
465 The object inside Emacs which holds the text read from one file | |
466 is called a "buffer." Finding a file makes a new buffer inside Emacs. | |
467 To see a list of the buffers that exist in Emacs, type | |
468 | |
469 C-x C-b List buffers | |
470 | |
471 >> Try C-x C-b now. | |
472 | |
473 See how each buffer has a name, and it may also have a file name | |
474 for the file whose contents it holds. Some buffers do not correspond | |
475 to files. For example, the buffer named "*Buffer List*" does | |
476 not have any file. It is the buffer which contains the buffer | |
477 list that was made by C-x C-b. ANY text you see in an Emacs window | |
478 has to be in some buffer. | |
479 | |
480 >> Type C-x 1 to get rid of the buffer list. | |
481 | |
482 If you make changes to the text of one file, then find another file, | |
483 this does not save the first file. Its changes remain inside Emacs, | |
484 in that file's buffer. The creation or editing of the second file's | |
485 buffer has no effect on the first file's buffer. This is very useful, | |
486 but it also means that you need a convenient way to save the first | |
487 file's buffer. It would be a nuisance to have to switch back to | |
488 it with C-x C-f in order to save it with C-x C-s. So we have | |
489 | |
490 C-x s Save some buffers | |
491 | |
492 C-x s goes through the list of all the buffers you have | |
493 and finds the ones that contain files you have changed. | |
494 For each such buffer, C-x s asks you whether to save it. | |
495 | |
496 | |
1375 | 497 * EXTENDING THE COMMAND SET |
498 --------------------------- | |
13 | 499 |
500 There are many, many more Emacs commands than could possibly be put | |
501 on all the control and meta characters. Emacs gets around this with | |
502 the X (eXtend) command. This comes in two flavors: | |
503 | |
504 C-x Character eXtend. Followed by one character. | |
505 M-x Named command eXtend. Followed by a long name. | |
506 | |
507 These are commands that are generally useful but used less than the | |
508 commands you have already learned about. You have already seen two | |
509 of them: the file commands C-x C-f to Find and C-x C-s to Save. | |
510 Another example is the command to tell Emacs that you'd like to stop | |
511 editing and get rid of Emacs. The command to do this is C-x C-c. | |
512 (Don't worry; it offers to save each changed file before it kills the | |
513 Emacs.) | |
514 | |
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515 C-z is the command to exit Emacs *temporarily*--so that you can go |
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516 back to the same Emacs session afterward. |
13 | 517 |
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518 On systems which allow it, C-z exits from Emacs to the shell but does |
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519 not destroy the Emacs; if you use the C shell, you can resume Emacs |
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520 with the `fg' command (or, more generally, with `%emacs', which works |
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521 even if your most recent job was some other). On systems which don't |
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522 implement suspending, C-z creates a subshell running under Emacs to |
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523 give you the chance to run other programs and return to Emacs |
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524 afterward; it does not truly "exit" from Emacs. In this case, the |
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525 shell command `exit' is the usual way to get back to Emacs from the |
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526 subshell. |
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527 |
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528 The time to use C-x C-c is when you are about to log out. It's also |
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529 the right thing to use to exit an Emacs invoked under mail handling |
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530 programs and other random utilities, since they may not know how to |
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531 cope with suspension of Emacs. On other occasions, use C-z, and |
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532 resume the Emacs when you have more editing to do. |
13 | 533 |
534 There are many C-x commands. The ones you know are: | |
535 | |
536 C-x C-f Find file. | |
537 C-x C-s Save file. | |
538 C-x C-b List buffers. | |
539 C-x C-c Quit Emacs. | |
540 C-x u Undo. | |
541 | |
542 Named eXtended commands are commands which are used even less | |
543 frequently, or commands which are used only in certain modes. These | |
544 commands are usually called "functions". An example is the function | |
545 replace-string, which globally replaces one string with another. When | |
546 you type M-x, Emacs prompts you at the bottom of the screen with | |
547 M-x and you should type the name of the function you wish to call; in | |
548 this case, "replace-string". Just type "repl s<TAB>" and Emacs will | |
549 complete the name. End the command name with <Return>. | |
550 Then type the two "arguments"--the string to be replaced, and the string | |
551 to replace it with--each one ended with a Return. | |
552 | |
553 >> Move the cursor to the blank line two lines below this one. | |
554 Then type M-x repl s<Return>changed<Return>altered<Return>. | |
555 | |
556 Notice how this line has changed: you've replaced | |
34 | 557 the word c-h-a-n-g-e-d with "altered" wherever it occurred |
13 | 558 after the cursor. |
559 | |
560 | |
1375 | 561 * MODE LINE |
562 ----------- | |
13 | 563 |
564 If Emacs sees that you are typing commands slowly it shows them to you | |
565 at the bottom of the screen in an area called the "echo area." The echo | |
566 area contains the bottom line of the screen. The line immediately above | |
567 it is called the MODE LINE. The mode line says something like | |
568 | |
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569 --**-Emacs: TUTORIAL (Fundamental)--58%---------------------- |
13 | 570 |
571 This is a very useful "information" line. | |
572 | |
573 You already know what the filename means--it is the file you have | |
574 found. What the --NN%-- means is that NN percent of the file is | |
575 above the top of the screen. If the top of the file is on the screen, | |
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576 it will say --Top-- instead of --00%--. If the bottom of the file is |
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577 on the screen, it will say --Bot--. If you are looking at a file so |
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578 small it all fits on the screen, it says --All--. |
13 | 579 |
580 The stars near the front mean that you have made changes to the text. | |
581 Right after you visit or save a file, there are no stars, just dashes. | |
582 | |
583 The part of the mode line inside the parentheses is to tell you what | |
584 modes you are in. The default mode is Fundamental which is what you | |
585 are in now. It is an example of a "major mode". There are several | |
586 major modes in Emacs for editing different languages and text, such as | |
587 Lisp mode, Text mode, etc. At any time one and only one major mode is | |
588 active, and its name can always be found in the mode line just where | |
589 "Fundamental" is now. Each major mode makes a few commands behave | |
590 differently. For example, there are commands for creating comments in | |
591 a program, and since each programming language has a different idea of | |
592 what a comment should look like, each major mode has to insert | |
593 comments differently. Each major mode is the name of an extended | |
594 command, which is how you get into the mode. For example, | |
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595 M-x fundamental-mode is how to get into Fundamental mode. |
13 | 596 |
597 If you are going to be editing English text, such as this file, you | |
598 should probably use Text Mode. | |
599 >> Type M-x text-mode<Return>. | |
600 | |
601 Don't worry, none of the commands you have learned changes Emacs in | |
2619 | 602 any great way. But you can observe that apostrophes are now part of |
603 words when you do M-f or M-b. Major modes are usually like that: | |
604 commands don't change into completely unrelated things, but they work | |
605 a little bit differently. | |
13 | 606 |
607 To get documentation on your current major mode, type C-h m. | |
608 | |
609 >> Use C-u C-v once or more to bring this line near the top of screen. | |
610 >> Type C-h m, to see how Text mode differs from Fundamental mode. | |
611 >> Type C-x 1 to remove the documentation from the screen. | |
612 | |
613 Major modes are called major because there are also minor modes. | |
614 They are called minor because they aren't alternatives to the major | |
615 modes, just minor modifications of them. Each minor mode can be | |
616 turned on or off by itself, regardless of what major mode you are in, | |
617 and regardless of the other minor modes. So you can use no minor | |
618 modes, or one minor mode, or any combination of several minor modes. | |
619 | |
620 One minor mode which is very useful, especially for editing English | |
621 text, is Auto Fill mode. When this mode is on, Emacs breaks the line | |
622 in between words automatically whenever the line gets too long. You | |
623 can turn this mode on by doing M-x auto-fill-mode<Return>. When the | |
624 mode is on, you can turn it off by doing M-x auto-fill-mode<Return>. | |
625 If the mode is off, this function turns it on, and if the mode is on, | |
626 this function turns it off. This is called "toggling". | |
627 | |
628 >> Type M-x auto-fill-mode<Return> now. Then insert a line of "asdf " | |
629 over again until you see it divide into two lines. You must put in | |
630 spaces between them because Auto Fill breaks lines only at spaces. | |
631 | |
632 The margin is usually set at 70 characters, but you can change it | |
633 with the C-x f command. You should give the margin setting you want | |
634 as a numeric argument. | |
635 | |
636 >> Type C-x f with an argument of 20. (C-u 2 0 C-x f). | |
637 Then type in some text and see Emacs fill lines of 20 | |
638 characters with it. Then set the margin back to 70 using | |
639 C-x f again. | |
640 | |
641 If you makes changes in the middle of a paragraph, Auto Fill mode | |
642 does not re-fill it for you. | |
643 To re-fill the paragraph, type M-q (Meta-q) with the cursor inside | |
644 that paragraph. | |
645 | |
646 >> Move the cursor into the previous paragraph and type M-q. | |
647 | |
1375 | 648 * SEARCHING |
649 ----------- | |
13 | 650 |
651 Emacs can do searches for strings (these are groups of contiguous | |
652 characters or words) either forward through the file or backward | |
653 through it. To search for the string means that you are trying to | |
654 locate it somewhere in the file and have Emacs show you where the | |
655 occurrences of the string exist. This type of search is somewhat | |
656 different from what you may be familiar with. It is a search that is | |
657 performed as you type in the thing to search for. The command to | |
658 initiate a search is C-s for forward search, and C-r for reverse | |
659 search. BUT WAIT! Don't do them now. When you type C-s you'll | |
660 notice that the string "I-search" appears as a prompt in the echo | |
661 area. This tells you that Emacs is in what is called an incremental | |
662 search waiting for you to type the thing that you want to search for. | |
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663 <RET> terminates a search. |
13 | 664 |
665 >> Now type C-s to start a search. SLOWLY, one letter at a time, | |
666 type the word 'cursor', pausing after you type each | |
667 character to notice what happens to the cursor. | |
668 >> Type C-s to find the next occurrence of "cursor". | |
669 >> Now type <Rubout> four times and see how the cursor moves. | |
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670 >> Type <RET> to terminate the search. |
13 | 671 |
672 Did you see what happened? Emacs, in an incremental search, tries to | |
673 go to the occurrence of the string that you've typed out so far. To go | |
674 to the next occurrence of 'cursor' just type C-s again. If no such | |
675 occurrence exists Emacs beeps and tells you that it is a failing | |
676 search. C-g would also terminate the search. | |
677 | |
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678 NOTE: On some systems, typing C-s will freeze the screen and you will |
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679 see no further output from Emacs. This indicates that an operating |
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680 system "feature" called "flow control" is intercepting the C-s and not |
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681 letting it get through to Emacs. To unfreeze the screen, type C-q. |
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682 Then see the section "Spontaneous Entry to Incremental Search" in the |
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683 Emacs manual for advice on dealing with this "feature". |
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684 |
13 | 685 If you are in the middle of an incremental search and type <Rubout>, |
686 you'll notice that the last character in the search string is erased | |
687 and the search backs up to the last place of the search. For | |
688 instance, suppose you currently have typed 'cu' and you see that your | |
689 cursor is at the first occurrence of 'cu'. If you now type <Rubout>, | |
690 the 'u' on the search line is erased and you'll be repositioned in the | |
691 text to the occurrence of 'c' where the search took you before you | |
692 typed the 'u'. This provides a useful means for backing up while you | |
693 are searching. | |
694 | |
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695 If you are in the middle of a search and type a control or meta |
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696 character (with a few exceptions--characters that are special in |
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697 a search, such as C-s and C-r), the search is terminated. |
13 | 698 |
699 The C-s starts a search that looks for any occurrence of the search | |
700 string AFTER the current cursor position. But what if you want to | |
701 search for something earlier in the text? To do this, type C-r for | |
702 Reverse search. Everything that applies to C-s applies to C-r except | |
703 that the direction of the search is reversed. | |
704 | |
705 | |
1375 | 706 * MULTIPLE WINDOWS |
707 ------------------ | |
476 | 708 |
709 One of the nice features of Emacs is that you can display more than one | |
710 window on the screen at the same time. | |
711 | |
712 >> Move the cursor to this line and type C-u 0 C-l. | |
713 | |
714 >> Now type C-x 2 which splits the screen into two windows. | |
715 Both windows display this tutorial. The cursor stays in the top window. | |
716 | |
717 >> Type C-M-v to scroll the bottom window. | |
6276 | 718 (If you don't have a real Meta key, type ESC C-v.) |
476 | 719 |
720 >> Type C-x o ("o" for "other") to move the cursor to the bottom window. | |
721 >> Use C-v and M-v in the bottom window to scroll it. | |
722 Keep reading these directions in the top window. | |
723 | |
724 >> Type C-x o again to move the cursor back to the top window. | |
725 The cursor is still just where it was in the top window before. | |
726 | |
727 You can keep using C-x o to switch between the windows. Each | |
728 window has its own cursor position, but only one window actually | |
729 shows the cursor. All the ordinary editing commands apply to the | |
730 window that the cursor is in. | |
731 | |
732 The command C-M-v is very useful when you are editing text in one | |
733 window and using the other window just for reference. You can keep | |
734 the cursor always in the window where you are editing, and edit | |
735 there as you advance through the other window. | |
736 | |
737 >> Type C-x 1 (in the top window) to get rid of the bottom window. | |
738 | |
739 (If you had typed C-x 1 in the bottom window, that would get rid | |
740 of the top one. Think of this command as "Keep just one | |
741 window--the window I am already in.") | |
742 | |
743 You don't have to display the same buffer in both windows. If | |
744 you use C-x C-f to find a file in one window, the other window | |
745 doesn't change. You can pick a file in each window | |
746 independently. | |
747 | |
748 Here is another way to use two windows to display two different | |
749 things: | |
750 | |
751 >> Type C-x 4 C-f followed by the name of one of your files. | |
752 End with <RETURN>. See the specified file appear in the bottom | |
753 window. The cursor goes there, too. | |
754 | |
755 >> Type C-x o to go back to the top window, and C-x 1 to delete | |
756 the bottom window. | |
757 | |
758 | |
1375 | 759 * RECURSIVE EDITING LEVELS |
760 -------------------------- | |
13 | 761 |
762 Sometimes you will get into what is called a "recursive editing | |
763 level". This is indicated by square brackets in the mode line, | |
764 surrounding the parentheses around the major mode name. For | |
765 example, you might see [(Fundamental)] instead of (Fundamental). | |
766 | |
767 To get out of the recursive editing level, type | |
768 M-x top-level<Return>. | |
769 | |
770 >> Try that now; it should display "Back to top level" | |
771 at the bottom of the screen. | |
772 | |
773 In fact, you were ALREADY at top level (not inside a recursive editing | |
774 level) if you have obeyed instructions. M-x top-level does not care; | |
775 it gets out of any number of recursive editing levels, perhaps zero, | |
776 to get back to top level. | |
777 | |
778 You can't use C-g to get out of a recursive editing level because C-g | |
779 is used for discarding numeric arguments and partially typed commands | |
780 WITHIN the recursive editing level. | |
781 | |
782 | |
1375 | 783 * GETTING MORE HELP |
784 ------------------- | |
13 | 785 |
786 In this tutorial we have tried to supply just enough information to | |
787 get you started using Emacs. There is so much available in Emacs that | |
788 it would be impossible to explain it all here. However, you may want | |
789 to learn more about Emacs since it has numerous desirable features | |
790 that you don't know about yet. Emacs has a great deal of internal | |
791 documentation. All of these commands can be accessed through | |
792 the character Control-h, which we call "the Help character" | |
793 because of the function it serves. | |
794 | |
795 To use the HELP features, type the C-h character, and then a | |
796 character saying what kind of help you want. If you are REALLY lost, | |
797 type C-h ? and Emacs will tell you what kinds of help it can give. | |
798 If you have typed C-h and decide you don't want any help, just | |
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799 type C-g to cancel it. |
13 | 800 |
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801 (Some sites rebind the character C-h. They really shouldn't do this |
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802 as a blanket measure, so complain to the operator. Meanwhile, if C-h |
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804 typing M-x help RET instead.) |
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805 |
13 | 806 The most basic HELP feature is C-h c. Type C-h, a c, and a |
807 command character or sequence, and Emacs displays a very brief | |
808 description of the command. | |
809 | |
810 >> Type C-h c Control-p. | |
811 The message should be something like | |
812 | |
813 C-p runs the command previous-line | |
814 | |
815 This tells you the "name of the function". That is important in | |
816 writing Lisp code to extend Emacs; it also is enough to remind | |
817 you of what the command does if you have seen it before but did | |
818 not remember. | |
819 | |
820 Multi-character commands such as C-x C-s and (if you have no META or | |
821 EDIT key) <ESC>v are also allowed after C-h c. | |
822 | |
823 To get more information on the command, use C-h k instead of C-h c. | |
824 | |
825 >> Type C-h k Control-p. | |
826 | |
477 | 827 This displays the documentation of the function, as well as its |
828 name, in an Emacs window. When you are finished reading the | |
829 output, type C-x 1 to get rid of the help text. You do not have | |
830 to do this right away. You can do some editing while referring | |
831 to the help text and then type C-x 1. | |
13 | 832 |
833 Here are some other useful C-h options: | |
834 | |
835 C-h f Describe a function. You type in the name of the | |
836 function. | |
837 | |
838 >> Try typing C-h f previous-line<Return>. | |
839 This prints all the information Emacs has about the | |
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840 function which implements the C-p command. |
13 | 841 |
842 C-h a Command Apropos. Type in a keyword and Emacs will list | |
843 all the commands whose names contain that keyword. | |
844 These commands can all be invoked with Meta-x. | |
845 For some commands, Command Apropos will also list a one | |
846 or two character sequence which has the same effect. | |
847 | |
477 | 848 >> Type C-h a file<Return>. |
849 | |
850 This displays in another window a list of all M-x commands with | |
851 "file" in their names. You will also see commands like C-x C-f | |
852 and C-x C-w, listed beside the command names find-file and | |
853 write-file. | |
854 | |
855 >> Type C-M-v to scroll the help window. Do this a few times. | |
856 | |
857 >> Type C-x 1 to delete the help window. | |
13 | 858 |
859 | |
1375 | 860 * CONCLUSION |
861 ------------ | |
13 | 862 |
863 Remember, to exit Emacs permanently use C-x C-c. To exit to a shell | |
864 temporarily, so that you can come back in, use C-z. | |
865 | |
866 This tutorial is meant to be understandable to all new users, so if | |
867 you found something unclear, don't sit and blame yourself - complain! | |
868 | |
869 | |
870 COPYING | |
871 ------- | |
872 | |
873 This tutorial descends from a long line of Emacs tutorials | |
874 starting with the one written by Stuart Cracraft for the original Emacs. | |
875 | |
876 This version of the tutorial, like GNU Emacs, is copyrighted, and | |
877 comes with permission to distribute copies on certain conditions: | |
878 | |
879 Copyright (c) 1985 Free Software Foundation | |
880 | |
881 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies | |
882 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the | |
883 copyright notice and permission notice are preserved, | |
884 and that the distributor grants the recipient permission | |
885 for further redistribution as permitted by this notice. | |
886 | |
887 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions | |
888 of this document, or of portions of it, | |
889 under the above conditions, provided also that they | |
890 carry prominent notices stating who last altered them. | |
891 | |
892 The conditions for copying Emacs itself are slightly different | |
893 but in the same spirit. Please read the file COPYING and then | |
894 do give copies of GNU Emacs to your friends. | |
895 Help stamp out software obstructionism ("ownership") by using, | |
896 writing, and sharing free software! |