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author | Lute Kamstra <lute@gnu.org> |
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date | Mon, 13 Jun 2005 11:58:35 +0000 |
parents | 56749022baa0 |
children | a2d302267225 08185296b491 |
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@c This is part of the Emacs manual. @c Copyright (C) 1985,86,87,93,94,95,97,2000,2001, 2002, 2004 @c Free Software Foundation, Inc. @c See file emacs.texi for copying conditions. @node Text, Programs, Indentation, Top @chapter Commands for Human Languages @cindex text @cindex manipulating text The term @dfn{text} has two widespread meanings in our area of the computer field. One is data that is a sequence of characters. Any file that you edit with Emacs is text, in this sense of the word. The other meaning is more restrictive: a sequence of characters in a human language for humans to read (possibly after processing by a text formatter), as opposed to a program or commands for a program. Human languages have syntactic/stylistic conventions that can be supported or used to advantage by editor commands: conventions involving words, sentences, paragraphs, and capital letters. This chapter describes Emacs commands for all of these things. There are also commands for @dfn{filling}, which means rearranging the lines of a paragraph to be approximately equal in length. The commands for moving over and killing words, sentences and paragraphs, while intended primarily for editing text, are also often useful for editing programs. Emacs has several major modes for editing human-language text. If the file contains text pure and simple, use Text mode, which customizes Emacs in small ways for the syntactic conventions of text. Outline mode provides special commands for operating on text with an outline structure. @iftex @xref{Outline Mode}. @end iftex For text which contains embedded commands for text formatters, Emacs has other major modes, each for a particular text formatter. Thus, for input to @TeX{}, you would use @TeX{} @iftex mode (@pxref{TeX Mode}). @end iftex @ifinfo mode. @end ifinfo For input to nroff, use Nroff mode. Instead of using a text formatter, you can edit formatted text in WYSIWYG style (``what you see is what you get''), with Enriched mode. Then the formatting appears on the screen in Emacs while you edit. @iftex @xref{Formatted Text}. @end iftex @cindex skeletons @cindex templates @cindex autotyping @cindex automatic typing The ``automatic typing'' features may be useful when writing text. @inforef{Top,, autotype}. @menu * Words:: Moving over and killing words. * Sentences:: Moving over and killing sentences. * Paragraphs:: Moving over paragraphs. * Pages:: Moving over pages. * Filling:: Filling or justifying text. * Case:: Changing the case of text. * Text Mode:: The major modes for editing text files. * Outline Mode:: Editing outlines. * TeX Mode:: Editing input to the formatter TeX. * HTML Mode:: Editing HTML, SGML, and XML files. * Nroff Mode:: Editing input to the formatter nroff. * Formatted Text:: Editing formatted text directly in WYSIWYG fashion. * Text Based Tables:: Editing text-based tables in WYSIWYG fashion. @end menu @node Words @section Words @cindex words @cindex Meta commands and words Emacs has commands for moving over or operating on words. By convention, the keys for them are all Meta characters. @table @kbd @item M-f Move forward over a word (@code{forward-word}). @item M-b Move backward over a word (@code{backward-word}). @item M-d Kill up to the end of a word (@code{kill-word}). @item M-@key{DEL} Kill back to the beginning of a word (@code{backward-kill-word}). @item M-@@ Mark the end of the next word (@code{mark-word}). @item M-t Transpose two words or drag a word across other words (@code{transpose-words}). @end table Notice how these keys form a series that parallels the character-based @kbd{C-f}, @kbd{C-b}, @kbd{C-d}, @key{DEL} and @kbd{C-t}. @kbd{M-@@} is cognate to @kbd{C-@@}, which is an alias for @kbd{C-@key{SPC}}. @kindex M-f @kindex M-b @findex forward-word @findex backward-word The commands @kbd{M-f} (@code{forward-word}) and @kbd{M-b} (@code{backward-word}) move forward and backward over words. These Meta characters are thus analogous to the corresponding control characters, @kbd{C-f} and @kbd{C-b}, which move over single characters in the text. The analogy extends to numeric arguments, which serve as repeat counts. @kbd{M-f} with a negative argument moves backward, and @kbd{M-b} with a negative argument moves forward. Forward motion stops right after the last letter of the word, while backward motion stops right before the first letter.@refill @kindex M-d @findex kill-word @kbd{M-d} (@code{kill-word}) kills the word after point. To be precise, it kills everything from point to the place @kbd{M-f} would move to. Thus, if point is in the middle of a word, @kbd{M-d} kills just the part after point. If some punctuation comes between point and the next word, it is killed along with the word. (If you wish to kill only the next word but not the punctuation before it, simply do @kbd{M-f} to get the end, and kill the word backwards with @kbd{M-@key{DEL}}.) @kbd{M-d} takes arguments just like @kbd{M-f}. @findex backward-kill-word @kindex M-DEL @kbd{M-@key{DEL}} (@code{backward-kill-word}) kills the word before point. It kills everything from point back to where @kbd{M-b} would move to. If point is after the space in @w{@samp{FOO, BAR}}, then @w{@samp{FOO, }} is killed. (If you wish to kill just @samp{FOO}, and not the comma and the space, use @kbd{M-b M-d} instead of @kbd{M-@key{DEL}}.) @c Don't index M-t and transpose-words here, they are indexed in @c fixit.texi, in the node "Transpose". @c @kindex M-t @c @findex transpose-words @kbd{M-t} (@code{transpose-words}) exchanges the word before or containing point with the following word. The delimiter characters between the words do not move. For example, @w{@samp{FOO, BAR}} transposes into @w{@samp{BAR, FOO}} rather than @samp{@w{BAR FOO,}}. @xref{Transpose}, for more on transposition and on arguments to transposition commands. @kindex M-@@ @findex mark-word To operate on the next @var{n} words with an operation which applies between point and mark, you can either set the mark at point and then move over the words, or you can use the command @kbd{M-@@} (@code{mark-word}) which does not move point, but sets the mark where @kbd{M-f} would move to. @kbd{M-@@} accepts a numeric argument that says how many words to scan for the place to put the mark. In Transient Mark mode, this command activates the mark. The word commands' understanding of syntax is completely controlled by the syntax table. Any character can, for example, be declared to be a word delimiter. @xref{Syntax}. @node Sentences @section Sentences @cindex sentences @cindex manipulating sentences The Emacs commands for manipulating sentences and paragraphs are mostly on Meta keys, so as to be like the word-handling commands. @table @kbd @item M-a Move back to the beginning of the sentence (@code{backward-sentence}). @item M-e Move forward to the end of the sentence (@code{forward-sentence}). @item M-k Kill forward to the end of the sentence (@code{kill-sentence}). @item C-x @key{DEL} Kill back to the beginning of the sentence (@code{backward-kill-sentence}). @end table @kindex M-a @kindex M-e @findex backward-sentence @findex forward-sentence The commands @kbd{M-a} and @kbd{M-e} (@code{backward-sentence} and @code{forward-sentence}) move to the beginning and end of the current sentence, respectively. They were chosen to resemble @kbd{C-a} and @kbd{C-e}, which move to the beginning and end of a line. Unlike them, @kbd{M-a} and @kbd{M-e} move over successive sentences if repeated. Moving backward over a sentence places point just before the first character of the sentence; moving forward places point right after the punctuation that ends the sentence. Neither one moves over the whitespace at the sentence boundary. @kindex M-k @kindex C-x DEL @findex kill-sentence @findex backward-kill-sentence Just as @kbd{C-a} and @kbd{C-e} have a kill command, @kbd{C-k}, to go with them, so @kbd{M-a} and @kbd{M-e} have a corresponding kill command @kbd{M-k} (@code{kill-sentence}) which kills from point to the end of the sentence. With minus one as an argument it kills back to the beginning of the sentence. Larger arguments serve as a repeat count. There is also a command, @kbd{C-x @key{DEL}} (@code{backward-kill-sentence}), for killing back to the beginning of a sentence. This command is useful when you change your mind in the middle of composing text.@refill The sentence commands assume that you follow the American typist's convention of putting two spaces at the end of a sentence; they consider a sentence to end wherever there is a @samp{.}, @samp{?} or @samp{!} followed by the end of a line or two spaces, with any number of @samp{)}, @samp{]}, @samp{'}, or @samp{"} characters allowed in between. A sentence also begins or ends wherever a paragraph begins or ends. @vindex sentence-end The variable @code{sentence-end} controls recognition of the end of a sentence. If non-@code{nil}, it is a regexp that matches the last few characters of a sentence, together with the whitespace following the sentence. If the value is @code{nil}, the default, then Emacs computes the regexp according to various criteria. The result is normally similar to the following regexp: @example "[.?!][]\"')]*\\($\\| $\\|\t\\| \\)[ \t\n]*" @end example @noindent This example is explained in the section on regexps. @xref{Regexps}. If you want to use just one space between sentences, you should set @code{sentence-end} to this value: @example "[.?!][]\"')]*\\($\\|\t\\| \\)[ \t\n]*" @end example @noindent This is what setting the variable @code{sentence-end-double-space} to @code{nil} automatically does. But note that this makes it impossible to distinguish between periods that end sentences and those that indicate abbreviations. @node Paragraphs @section Paragraphs @cindex paragraphs @cindex manipulating paragraphs @kindex M-@{ @kindex M-@} @findex backward-paragraph @findex forward-paragraph The Emacs commands for manipulating paragraphs are also Meta keys. @table @kbd @item M-@{ Move back to previous paragraph beginning (@code{backward-paragraph}). @item M-@} Move forward to next paragraph end (@code{forward-paragraph}). @item M-h Put point and mark around this or next paragraph (@code{mark-paragraph}). @end table @kbd{M-@{} moves to the beginning of the current or previous paragraph, while @kbd{M-@}} moves to the end of the current or next paragraph. Blank lines and text-formatter command lines separate paragraphs and are not considered part of any paragraph. In Indented Text mode, but not in Text mode, an indented line also starts a new paragraph. If there is a blank line before the paragraph, @kbd{M-@{} moves to the blank line, because that is convenient in practice. In major modes for programs, paragraphs begin and end only at blank lines. This makes the paragraph commands continue to be useful even though there are no paragraphs per se. When there is a fill prefix, then paragraphs are delimited by all lines which don't start with the fill prefix. @xref{Filling}. @kindex M-h @findex mark-paragraph When you wish to operate on a paragraph, you can use the command @kbd{M-h} (@code{mark-paragraph}) to set the region around it. Thus, for example, @kbd{M-h C-w} kills the paragraph around or after point. The @kbd{M-h} command puts point at the beginning and mark at the end of the paragraph point was in. In Transient Mark mode, it activates the mark. If point is between paragraphs (in a run of blank lines, or at a boundary), the paragraph following point is surrounded by point and mark. If there are blank lines preceding the first line of the paragraph, one of these blank lines is included in the region. @vindex paragraph-start @vindex paragraph-separate The precise definition of a paragraph boundary is controlled by the variables @code{paragraph-separate} and @code{paragraph-start}. The value of @code{paragraph-start} is a regexp that should match any line that either starts or separates paragraphs. The value of @code{paragraph-separate} is another regexp that should match only lines that separate paragraphs without being part of any paragraph (for example, blank lines). Lines that start a new paragraph and are contained in it must match only @code{paragraph-start}, not @code{paragraph-separate}. Each regular expression must match at the left margin. For example, in Fundamental mode, @code{paragraph-start} is @w{@code{"\f\\|[ \t]*$"}}, and @code{paragraph-separate} is @w{@code{"[ \t\f]*$"}}. Normally it is desirable for page boundaries to separate paragraphs. The default values of these variables recognize the usual separator for pages. @node Pages @section Pages @cindex pages @cindex formfeed Files are often thought of as divided into @dfn{pages} by the @dfn{formfeed} character (@acronym{ASCII} control-L, octal code 014). When you print hardcopy for a file, this character forces a page break; thus, each page of the file goes on a separate page on paper. Most Emacs commands treat the page-separator character just like any other character: you can insert it with @kbd{C-q C-l}, and delete it with @key{DEL}. Thus, you are free to paginate your file or not. However, since pages are often meaningful divisions of the file, Emacs provides commands to move over them and operate on them. @table @kbd @item C-x [ Move point to previous page boundary (@code{backward-page}). @item C-x ] Move point to next page boundary (@code{forward-page}). @item C-x C-p Put point and mark around this page (or another page) (@code{mark-page}). @item C-x l Count the lines in this page (@code{count-lines-page}). @end table @kindex C-x [ @kindex C-x ] @findex forward-page @findex backward-page The @kbd{C-x [} (@code{backward-page}) command moves point to immediately after the previous page delimiter. If point is already right after a page delimiter, it skips that one and stops at the previous one. A numeric argument serves as a repeat count. The @kbd{C-x ]} (@code{forward-page}) command moves forward past the next page delimiter. @kindex C-x C-p @findex mark-page The @kbd{C-x C-p} command (@code{mark-page}) puts point at the beginning of the current page and the mark at the end. The page delimiter at the end is included (the mark follows it). The page delimiter at the front is excluded (point follows it). In Transient Mark mode, this command activates the mark. @kbd{C-x C-p C-w} is a handy way to kill a page to move it elsewhere. If you move to another page delimiter with @kbd{C-x [} and @kbd{C-x ]}, then yank the killed page, all the pages will be properly delimited once again. The reason @kbd{C-x C-p} includes only the following page delimiter in the region is to ensure that. A numeric argument to @kbd{C-x C-p} is used to specify which page to go to, relative to the current one. Zero means the current page. One means the next page, and @minus{}1 means the previous one. @kindex C-x l @findex count-lines-page The @kbd{C-x l} command (@code{count-lines-page}) is good for deciding where to break a page in two. It displays in the echo area the total number of lines in the current page, and then divides it up into those preceding the current line and those following, as in @example Page has 96 (72+25) lines @end example @noindent Notice that the sum is off by one; this is correct if point is not at the beginning of a line. @vindex page-delimiter The variable @code{page-delimiter} controls where pages begin. Its value is a regexp that matches the beginning of a line that separates pages. The normal value of this variable is @code{"^\f"}, which matches a formfeed character at the beginning of a line. @node Filling @section Filling Text @cindex filling text @dfn{Filling} text means breaking it up into lines that fit a specified width. Emacs does filling in two ways. In Auto Fill mode, inserting text with self-inserting characters also automatically fills it. There are also explicit fill commands that you can use when editing text leaves it unfilled. When you edit formatted text, you can specify a style of filling for each portion of the text (@pxref{Formatted Text}). @menu * Auto Fill:: Auto Fill mode breaks long lines automatically. * Refill:: Keeping paragraphs filled. * Fill Commands:: Commands to refill paragraphs and center lines. * Fill Prefix:: Filling paragraphs that are indented or in a comment, etc. * Adaptive Fill:: How Emacs can determine the fill prefix automatically. * Longlines:: Editing text with very long lines. @end menu @node Auto Fill @subsection Auto Fill Mode @cindex Auto Fill mode @cindex mode, Auto Fill @dfn{Auto Fill} mode is a minor mode in which lines are broken automatically when they become too wide. Breaking happens only when you type a @key{SPC} or @key{RET}. @table @kbd @item M-x auto-fill-mode Enable or disable Auto Fill mode. @item @key{SPC} @itemx @key{RET} In Auto Fill mode, break lines when appropriate. @end table @findex auto-fill-mode @kbd{M-x auto-fill-mode} turns Auto Fill mode on if it was off, or off if it was on. With a positive numeric argument it always turns Auto Fill mode on, and with a negative argument always turns it off. You can see when Auto Fill mode is in effect by the presence of the word @samp{Fill} in the mode line, inside the parentheses. Auto Fill mode is a minor mode which is enabled or disabled for each buffer individually. @xref{Minor Modes}. In Auto Fill mode, lines are broken automatically at spaces when they get longer than the desired width. Line breaking and rearrangement takes place only when you type @key{SPC} or @key{RET}. If you wish to insert a space or newline without permitting line-breaking, type @kbd{C-q @key{SPC}} or @kbd{C-q C-j} (recall that a newline is really a control-J). Also, @kbd{C-o} inserts a newline without line breaking. Auto Fill mode works well with programming-language modes, because it indents new lines with @key{TAB}. If a line ending in a comment gets too long, the text of the comment is split into two comment lines. Optionally, new comment delimiters are inserted at the end of the first line and the beginning of the second so that each line is a separate comment; the variable @code{comment-multi-line} controls the choice (@pxref{Comments}). Adaptive filling (@pxref{Adaptive Fill}) works for Auto Filling as well as for explicit fill commands. It takes a fill prefix automatically from the second or first line of a paragraph. Auto Fill mode does not refill entire paragraphs; it can break lines but cannot merge lines. So editing in the middle of a paragraph can result in a paragraph that is not correctly filled. The easiest way to make the paragraph properly filled again is usually with the explicit fill commands. @ifinfo @xref{Fill Commands}. @end ifinfo Many users like Auto Fill mode and want to use it in all text files. The section on init files says how to arrange this permanently for yourself. @xref{Init File}. @node Refill @subsection Refill Mode @cindex refilling text, word processor style @cindex modes, Refill @cindex Refill minor mode Refill minor mode provides support for keeping paragraphs filled as you type or modify them in other ways. It provides an effect similar to typical word processor behavior. This works by running a paragraph-filling command at suitable times. To toggle the use of Refill mode in the current buffer, type @kbd{M-x refill-mode}. When you are typing text, only characters which normally trigger auto filling, like the space character, will trigger refilling. This is to avoid making it too slow. Apart from self-inserting characters, other commands which modify the text cause refilling. The current implementation is preliminary and not robust. You can get better ``line wrapping'' behavior using Longlines mode. @xref{Longlines}. However, Longlines mode has an important side-effect: the newlines that it inserts for you are not saved to disk, so the files that you make with Longlines mode will appear to be completely unfilled if you edit them without Longlines mode. @node Fill Commands @subsection Explicit Fill Commands @table @kbd @item M-q Fill current paragraph (@code{fill-paragraph}). @item C-x f Set the fill column (@code{set-fill-column}). @item M-x fill-region Fill each paragraph in the region (@code{fill-region}). @item M-x fill-region-as-paragraph Fill the region, considering it as one paragraph. @item M-s Center a line. @end table @kindex M-q @findex fill-paragraph To refill a paragraph, use the command @kbd{M-q} (@code{fill-paragraph}). This operates on the paragraph that point is inside, or the one after point if point is between paragraphs. Refilling works by removing all the line-breaks, then inserting new ones where necessary. @findex fill-region To refill many paragraphs, use @kbd{M-x fill-region}, which divides the region into paragraphs and fills each of them. @findex fill-region-as-paragraph @kbd{M-q} and @code{fill-region} use the same criteria as @kbd{M-h} for finding paragraph boundaries (@pxref{Paragraphs}). For more control, you can use @kbd{M-x fill-region-as-paragraph}, which refills everything between point and mark. This command deletes any blank lines within the region, so separate blocks of text end up combined into one block.@refill @cindex justification A numeric argument to @kbd{M-q} causes it to @dfn{justify} the text as well as filling it. This means that extra spaces are inserted to make the right margin line up exactly at the fill column. To remove the extra spaces, use @kbd{M-q} with no argument. (Likewise for @code{fill-region}.) Another way to control justification, and choose other styles of filling, is with the @code{justification} text property; see @ref{Format Justification}. @kindex M-s @r{(Text mode)} @cindex centering @findex center-line The command @kbd{M-s} (@code{center-line}) centers the current line within the current fill column. With an argument @var{n}, it centers @var{n} lines individually and moves past them. This binding is made by Text mode and is available only in that and related modes (@pxref{Text Mode}). @vindex fill-column @kindex C-x f @findex set-fill-column The maximum line width for filling is in the variable @code{fill-column}. Altering the value of @code{fill-column} makes it local to the current buffer; until that time, the default value is in effect. The default is initially 70. @xref{Locals}. The easiest way to set @code{fill-column} is to use the command @kbd{C-x f} (@code{set-fill-column}). With a numeric argument, it uses that as the new fill column. With just @kbd{C-u} as argument, it sets @code{fill-column} to the current horizontal position of point. Emacs commands normally consider a period followed by two spaces or by a newline as the end of a sentence; a period followed by just one space indicates an abbreviation and not the end of a sentence. To preserve the distinction between these two ways of using a period, the fill commands do not break a line after a period followed by just one space. @vindex sentence-end-double-space If the variable @code{sentence-end-double-space} is @code{nil}, the fill commands expect and leave just one space at the end of a sentence. Ordinarily this variable is @code{t}, so the fill commands insist on two spaces for the end of a sentence, as explained above. @xref{Sentences}. @vindex colon-double-space If the variable @code{colon-double-space} is non-@code{nil}, the fill commands put two spaces after a colon. @vindex sentence-end-without-period Some languages do not use period to indicate end of sentence. For example, a sentence in Thai text ends with double space but without a period. Set the variable @code{sentence-end-without-period} to @code{t} to tell the sentence commands that a period is not necessary. @vindex fill-nobreak-predicate The variable @code{fill-nobreak-predicate} specifies additional conditions for where line-breaking is allowed. Its value is either @code{nil} or a Lisp function; the function is called with no arguments, and if it returns a non-@code{nil} value, then point is not a good place to break the line. Two standard functions you can use are @code{fill-single-word-nobreak-p} (don't break after the first word of a sentence or before the last) and @code{fill-french-nobreak-p} (don't break after @samp{(} or before @samp{)}, @samp{:} or @samp{?}). @node Fill Prefix @subsection The Fill Prefix @cindex fill prefix To fill a paragraph in which each line starts with a special marker (which might be a few spaces, giving an indented paragraph), you can use the @dfn{fill prefix} feature. The fill prefix is a string that Emacs expects every line to start with, and which is not included in filling. You can specify a fill prefix explicitly; Emacs can also deduce the fill prefix automatically (@pxref{Adaptive Fill}). @table @kbd @item C-x . Set the fill prefix (@code{set-fill-prefix}). @item M-q Fill a paragraph using current fill prefix (@code{fill-paragraph}). @item M-x fill-individual-paragraphs Fill the region, considering each change of indentation as starting a new paragraph. @item M-x fill-nonuniform-paragraphs Fill the region, considering only paragraph-separator lines as starting a new paragraph. @end table @kindex C-x . @findex set-fill-prefix To specify a fill prefix for the current buffer, move to a line that starts with the desired prefix, put point at the end of the prefix, and give the command @w{@kbd{C-x .}}@: (@code{set-fill-prefix}). That's a period after the @kbd{C-x}. To turn off the fill prefix, specify an empty prefix: type @w{@kbd{C-x .}}@: with point at the beginning of a line.@refill When a fill prefix is in effect, the fill commands remove the fill prefix from each line before filling and insert it on each line after filling. (The beginning of the first line is left unchanged, since often that is intentionally different.) Auto Fill mode also inserts the fill prefix automatically when it makes a new line. The @kbd{C-o} command inserts the fill prefix on new lines it creates, when you use it at the beginning of a line (@pxref{Blank Lines}). Conversely, the command @kbd{M-^} deletes the prefix (if it occurs) after the newline that it deletes (@pxref{Indentation}). For example, if @code{fill-column} is 40 and you set the fill prefix to @samp{;; }, then @kbd{M-q} in the following text @example ;; This is an ;; example of a paragraph ;; inside a Lisp-style comment. @end example @noindent produces this: @example ;; This is an example of a paragraph ;; inside a Lisp-style comment. @end example Lines that do not start with the fill prefix are considered to start paragraphs, both in @kbd{M-q} and the paragraph commands; this gives good results for paragraphs with hanging indentation (every line indented except the first one). Lines which are blank or indented once the prefix is removed also separate or start paragraphs; this is what you want if you are writing multi-paragraph comments with a comment delimiter on each line. @findex fill-individual-paragraphs You can use @kbd{M-x fill-individual-paragraphs} to set the fill prefix for each paragraph automatically. This command divides the region into paragraphs, treating every change in the amount of indentation as the start of a new paragraph, and fills each of these paragraphs. Thus, all the lines in one ``paragraph'' have the same amount of indentation. That indentation serves as the fill prefix for that paragraph. @findex fill-nonuniform-paragraphs @kbd{M-x fill-nonuniform-paragraphs} is a similar command that divides the region into paragraphs in a different way. It considers only paragraph-separating lines (as defined by @code{paragraph-separate}) as starting a new paragraph. Since this means that the lines of one paragraph may have different amounts of indentation, the fill prefix used is the smallest amount of indentation of any of the lines of the paragraph. This gives good results with styles that indent a paragraph's first line more or less that the rest of the paragraph. @vindex fill-prefix The fill prefix is stored in the variable @code{fill-prefix}. Its value is a string, or @code{nil} when there is no fill prefix. This is a per-buffer variable; altering the variable affects only the current buffer, but there is a default value which you can change as well. @xref{Locals}. The @code{indentation} text property provides another way to control the amount of indentation paragraphs receive. @xref{Format Indentation}. @node Adaptive Fill @subsection Adaptive Filling @cindex adaptive filling The fill commands can deduce the proper fill prefix for a paragraph automatically in certain cases: either whitespace or certain punctuation characters at the beginning of a line are propagated to all lines of the paragraph. If the paragraph has two or more lines, the fill prefix is taken from the paragraph's second line, but only if it appears on the first line as well. If a paragraph has just one line, fill commands @emph{may} take a prefix from that line. The decision is complicated because there are three reasonable things to do in such a case: @itemize @bullet @item Use the first line's prefix on all the lines of the paragraph. @item Indent subsequent lines with whitespace, so that they line up under the text that follows the prefix on the first line, but don't actually copy the prefix from the first line. @item Don't do anything special with the second and following lines. @end itemize All three of these styles of formatting are commonly used. So the fill commands try to determine what you would like, based on the prefix that appears and on the major mode. Here is how. @vindex adaptive-fill-first-line-regexp If the prefix found on the first line matches @code{adaptive-fill-first-line-regexp}, or if it appears to be a comment-starting sequence (this depends on the major mode), then the prefix found is used for filling the paragraph, provided it would not act as a paragraph starter on subsequent lines. Otherwise, the prefix found is converted to an equivalent number of spaces, and those spaces are used as the fill prefix for the rest of the lines, provided they would not act as a paragraph starter on subsequent lines. In Text mode, and other modes where only blank lines and page delimiters separate paragraphs, the prefix chosen by adaptive filling never acts as a paragraph starter, so it can always be used for filling. @vindex adaptive-fill-mode @vindex adaptive-fill-regexp The variable @code{adaptive-fill-regexp} determines what kinds of line beginnings can serve as a fill prefix: any characters at the start of the line that match this regular expression are used. If you set the variable @code{adaptive-fill-mode} to @code{nil}, the fill prefix is never chosen automatically. @vindex adaptive-fill-function You can specify more complex ways of choosing a fill prefix automatically by setting the variable @code{adaptive-fill-function} to a function. This function is called with point after the left margin of a line, and it should return the appropriate fill prefix based on that line. If it returns @code{nil}, that means it sees no fill prefix in that line. @node Longlines @subsection Long Lines Mode @cindex refilling text, word processor style @cindex modes, Long Lines @cindex word wrap @cindex Long Lines minor mode Long Lines mode is a minor mode for @dfn{word wrapping}; it lets you edit ``unfilled'' text files, which Emacs would normally display as a bunch of extremely long lines. Many text editors, such as those built into many web browsers, normally do word wrapping. @findex longlines-mode To enable Long Lines mode, type @kbd{M-x longlines-mode}. If the text is full of long lines, this will ``wrap'' them immediately---i.e., break up to fit in the window. As you edit the text, Long Lines mode automatically re-wraps lines by inserting or deleting @dfn{soft newlines} as necessary (@pxref{Hard and Soft Newlines}.) These soft newlines won't show up when you save the buffer into a file, or when you copy the text into the kill ring, clipboard, or a register. @findex longlines-auto-wrap Word wrapping is @emph{not} the same as ordinary filling (@pxref{Fill Commands}). It does not contract multiple spaces into a single space, recognize fill prefixes (@pxref{Fill Prefix}), or perform adaptive filling (@pxref{Adaptive Fill}). The reason for this is that a wrapped line is still, conceptually, a single line. Each soft newline is equivalent to exactly one space in that long line, and vice versa. However, you can still call filling functions such as @kbd{M-q}, and these will work as expected, inserting soft newlines that won't show up on disk or when the text is copied. You can even rely entirely on the normal fill commands by turning off automatic line wrapping, with @kbd{C-u M-x longlines-auto-wrap}. To turn automatic line wrapping back on, type @kbd{M-x longlines-auto-wrap}. @findex longlines-show-hard-newlines Whenever you type @kbd{RET}, you are inserting a hard newline. If you want to see where all the hard newlines are, type @kbd{M-x longlines-show-hard-newlines}. This will mark each hard newline with a special symbol. The same command with a prefix argument turns this display off. Long Lines mode does not change normal text files that are already filled, since the existing newlines are considered hard newlines. Before Long Lines can do anything, you need to transform each paragraph into a long line. One way is to set @code{fill-column} to a large number (e.g., @kbd{C-u 9999 C-x f}), re-fill all the paragraphs, and then set @code{fill-column} back to its original value. @node Case @section Case Conversion Commands @cindex case conversion Emacs has commands for converting either a single word or any arbitrary range of text to upper case or to lower case. @table @kbd @item M-l Convert following word to lower case (@code{downcase-word}). @item M-u Convert following word to upper case (@code{upcase-word}). @item M-c Capitalize the following word (@code{capitalize-word}). @item C-x C-l Convert region to lower case (@code{downcase-region}). @item C-x C-u Convert region to upper case (@code{upcase-region}). @end table @kindex M-l @kindex M-u @kindex M-c @cindex words, case conversion @cindex converting text to upper or lower case @cindex capitalizing words @findex downcase-word @findex upcase-word @findex capitalize-word The word conversion commands are the most useful. @kbd{M-l} (@code{downcase-word}) converts the word after point to lower case, moving past it. Thus, repeating @kbd{M-l} converts successive words. @kbd{M-u} (@code{upcase-word}) converts to all capitals instead, while @kbd{M-c} (@code{capitalize-word}) puts the first letter of the word into upper case and the rest into lower case. All these commands convert several words at once if given an argument. They are especially convenient for converting a large amount of text from all upper case to mixed case, because you can move through the text using @kbd{M-l}, @kbd{M-u} or @kbd{M-c} on each word as appropriate, occasionally using @kbd{M-f} instead to skip a word. When given a negative argument, the word case conversion commands apply to the appropriate number of words before point, but do not move point. This is convenient when you have just typed a word in the wrong case: you can give the case conversion command and continue typing. If a word case conversion command is given in the middle of a word, it applies only to the part of the word which follows point. This is just like what @kbd{M-d} (@code{kill-word}) does. With a negative argument, case conversion applies only to the part of the word before point. @kindex C-x C-l @kindex C-x C-u @findex downcase-region @findex upcase-region The other case conversion commands are @kbd{C-x C-u} (@code{upcase-region}) and @kbd{C-x C-l} (@code{downcase-region}), which convert everything between point and mark to the specified case. Point and mark do not move. The region case conversion commands @code{upcase-region} and @code{downcase-region} are normally disabled. This means that they ask for confirmation if you try to use them. When you confirm, you may enable the command, which means it will not ask for confirmation again. @xref{Disabling}. @node Text Mode @section Text Mode @cindex Text mode @cindex mode, Text @findex text-mode When you edit files of text in a human language, it's more convenient to use Text mode rather than Fundamental mode. To enter Text mode, type @kbd{M-x text-mode}. In Text mode, only blank lines and page delimiters separate paragraphs. As a result, paragraphs can be indented, and adaptive filling determines what indentation to use when filling a paragraph. @xref{Adaptive Fill}. @kindex TAB @r{(Text mode)} Text mode defines @key{TAB} to run @code{indent-relative} (@pxref{Indentation}), so that you can conveniently indent a line like the previous line. Text mode turns off the features concerned with comments except when you explicitly invoke them. It changes the syntax table so that single-quotes are considered part of words. However, if a word starts with single-quotes, then these are treated as a prefix for purposes such as capitalization. That is, @kbd{M-c} will convert @samp{'hello'} into @samp{'Hello'}, as expected. @cindex Paragraph-Indent Text mode @cindex mode, Paragraph-Indent Text @findex paragraph-indent-text-mode @findex paragraph-indent-minor-mode If you indent the first lines of paragraphs, then you should use Paragraph-Indent Text mode rather than Text mode. In this mode, you do not need to have blank lines between paragraphs, because the first-line indentation is sufficient to start a paragraph; however paragraphs in which every line is indented are not supported. Use @kbd{M-x paragraph-indent-text-mode} to enter this mode. Use @kbd{M-x paragraph-indent-minor-mode} to enter an equivalent minor mode, for instance during mail composition. @kindex M-TAB @r{(Text mode)} Text mode, and all the modes based on it, define @kbd{M-@key{TAB}} as the command @code{ispell-complete-word}, which performs completion of the partial word in the buffer before point, using the spelling dictionary as the space of possible words. @xref{Spelling}. If your window manager defines @kbd{M-@key{TAB}} to switch windows, you can type @kbd{@key{ESC} @key{TAB}} or @kbd{C-M-i}. @vindex text-mode-hook Entering Text mode runs the hook @code{text-mode-hook}. Other major modes related to Text mode also run this hook, followed by hooks of their own; this includes Paragraph-Indent Text mode, Nroff mode, @TeX{} mode, Outline mode, and Mail mode. Hook functions on @code{text-mode-hook} can look at the value of @code{major-mode} to see which of these modes is actually being entered. @xref{Hooks}. @ifinfo Emacs provides two other modes for editing text that is to be passed through a text formatter to produce fancy formatted printed output. @xref{Nroff Mode}, for editing input to the formatter nroff. @xref{TeX Mode}, for editing input to the formatter TeX. Another mode is used for editing outlines. It allows you to view the text at various levels of detail. You can view either the outline headings alone or both headings and text; you can also hide some of the headings at lower levels from view to make the high level structure more visible. @xref{Outline Mode}. @end ifinfo @node Outline Mode @section Outline Mode @cindex Outline mode @cindex mode, Outline @cindex invisible lines @findex outline-mode @findex outline-minor-mode @vindex outline-minor-mode-prefix Outline mode is a major mode much like Text mode but intended for editing outlines. It allows you to make parts of the text temporarily invisible so that you can see the outline structure. Type @kbd{M-x outline-mode} to switch to Outline mode as the major mode of the current buffer. When Outline mode makes a line invisible, the line does not appear on the screen. The screen appears exactly as if the invisible line were deleted, except that an ellipsis (three periods in a row) appears at the end of the previous visible line. (Multiple consecutive invisible lines produce just one ellipsis.) Editing commands that operate on lines, such as @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p}, treat the text of the invisible line as part of the previous visible line. Killing the ellipsis at the end of a visible line really kills all the following invisible lines. Outline minor mode provides the same commands as the major mode, Outline mode, but you can use it in conjunction with other major modes. Type @kbd{M-x outline-minor-mode} to enable the Outline minor mode in the current buffer. You can also specify this in the text of a file, with a file local variable of the form @samp{mode: outline-minor} (@pxref{File Variables}). @kindex C-c @@ @r{(Outline minor mode)} The major mode, Outline mode, provides special key bindings on the @kbd{C-c} prefix. Outline minor mode provides similar bindings with @kbd{C-c @@} as the prefix; this is to reduce the conflicts with the major mode's special commands. (The variable @code{outline-minor-mode-prefix} controls the prefix used.) @vindex outline-mode-hook Entering Outline mode runs the hook @code{text-mode-hook} followed by the hook @code{outline-mode-hook} (@pxref{Hooks}). @menu * Format: Outline Format. What the text of an outline looks like. * Motion: Outline Motion. Special commands for moving through outlines. * Visibility: Outline Visibility. Commands to control what is visible. * Views: Outline Views. Outlines and multiple views. * Foldout:: Folding means zooming in on outlines. @end menu @node Outline Format @subsection Format of Outlines @cindex heading lines (Outline mode) @cindex body lines (Outline mode) Outline mode assumes that the lines in the buffer are of two types: @dfn{heading lines} and @dfn{body lines}. A heading line represents a topic in the outline. Heading lines start with one or more stars; the number of stars determines the depth of the heading in the outline structure. Thus, a heading line with one star is a major topic; all the heading lines with two stars between it and the next one-star heading are its subtopics; and so on. Any line that is not a heading line is a body line. Body lines belong with the preceding heading line. Here is an example: @example * Food This is the body, which says something about the topic of food. ** Delicious Food This is the body of the second-level header. ** Distasteful Food This could have a body too, with several lines. *** Dormitory Food * Shelter Another first-level topic with its header line. @end example A heading line together with all following body lines is called collectively an @dfn{entry}. A heading line together with all following deeper heading lines and their body lines is called a @dfn{subtree}. @vindex outline-regexp You can customize the criterion for distinguishing heading lines by setting the variable @code{outline-regexp}. Any line whose beginning has a match for this regexp is considered a heading line. Matches that start within a line (not at the left margin) do not count. The length of the matching text determines the level of the heading; longer matches make a more deeply nested level. Thus, for example, if a text formatter has commands @samp{@@chapter}, @samp{@@section} and @samp{@@subsection} to divide the document into chapters and sections, you could make those lines count as heading lines by setting @code{outline-regexp} to @samp{"@@chap\\|@@\\(sub\\)*section"}. Note the trick: the two words @samp{chapter} and @samp{section} are equally long, but by defining the regexp to match only @samp{chap} we ensure that the length of the text matched on a chapter heading is shorter, so that Outline mode will know that sections are contained in chapters. This works as long as no other command starts with @samp{@@chap}. @vindex outline-level You can change the rule for calculating the level of a heading line by setting the variable @code{outline-level}. The value of @code{outline-level} should be a function that takes no arguments and returns the level of the current heading. Some major modes such as C, Nroff, and Emacs Lisp mode set this variable and @code{outline-regexp} in order to work with Outline minor mode. @node Outline Motion @subsection Outline Motion Commands Outline mode provides special motion commands that move backward and forward to heading lines. @table @kbd @item C-c C-n Move point to the next visible heading line (@code{outline-next-visible-heading}). @item C-c C-p Move point to the previous visible heading line (@code{outline-previous-visible-heading}). @item C-c C-f Move point to the next visible heading line at the same level as the one point is on (@code{outline-forward-same-level}). @item C-c C-b Move point to the previous visible heading line at the same level (@code{outline-backward-same-level}). @item C-c C-u Move point up to a lower-level (more inclusive) visible heading line (@code{outline-up-heading}). @end table @findex outline-next-visible-heading @findex outline-previous-visible-heading @kindex C-c C-n @r{(Outline mode)} @kindex C-c C-p @r{(Outline mode)} @kbd{C-c C-n} (@code{outline-next-visible-heading}) moves down to the next heading line. @kbd{C-c C-p} (@code{outline-previous-visible-heading}) moves similarly backward. Both accept numeric arguments as repeat counts. The names emphasize that invisible headings are skipped, but this is not really a special feature. All editing commands that look for lines ignore the invisible lines automatically.@refill @findex outline-up-heading @findex outline-forward-same-level @findex outline-backward-same-level @kindex C-c C-f @r{(Outline mode)} @kindex C-c C-b @r{(Outline mode)} @kindex C-c C-u @r{(Outline mode)} More powerful motion commands understand the level structure of headings. @kbd{C-c C-f} (@code{outline-forward-same-level}) and @kbd{C-c C-b} (@code{outline-backward-same-level}) move from one heading line to another visible heading at the same depth in the outline. @kbd{C-c C-u} (@code{outline-up-heading}) moves backward to another heading that is less deeply nested. @node Outline Visibility @subsection Outline Visibility Commands The other special commands of outline mode are used to make lines visible or invisible. Their names all start with @code{hide} or @code{show}. Most of them fall into pairs of opposites. They are not undoable; instead, you can undo right past them. Making lines visible or invisible is simply not recorded by the undo mechanism. Many of these commands act on the ``current'' heading line. If point is on a heading line, that is the current heading line; if point is on a body line, the current heading line is the nearest preceding header line. @table @kbd @item C-c C-c Make the current heading line's body invisible (@code{hide-entry}). @item C-c C-e Make the current heading line's body visible (@code{show-entry}). @item C-c C-d Make everything under the current heading invisible, not including the heading itself (@code{hide-subtree}). @item C-c C-s Make everything under the current heading visible, including body, subheadings, and their bodies (@code{show-subtree}). @item C-c C-l Make the body of the current heading line, and of all its subheadings, invisible (@code{hide-leaves}). @item C-c C-k Make all subheadings of the current heading line, at all levels, visible (@code{show-branches}). @item C-c C-i Make immediate subheadings (one level down) of the current heading line visible (@code{show-children}). @item C-c C-t Make all body lines in the buffer invisible (@code{hide-body}). @item C-c C-a Make all lines in the buffer visible (@code{show-all}). @item C-c C-q Hide everything except the top @var{n} levels of heading lines (@code{hide-sublevels}). @item C-c C-o Hide everything except for the heading or body that point is in, plus the headings leading up from there to the top level of the outline (@code{hide-other}). @end table @findex hide-entry @findex show-entry @kindex C-c C-c @r{(Outline mode)} @kindex C-c C-e @r{(Outline mode)} Two commands that are exact opposites are @kbd{C-c C-c} (@code{hide-entry}) and @kbd{C-c C-e} (@code{show-entry}). They apply to the body lines directly following the current heading line. Subheadings and their bodies are not affected. @findex hide-subtree @findex show-subtree @kindex C-c C-s @r{(Outline mode)} @kindex C-c C-d @r{(Outline mode)} @cindex subtree (Outline mode) Two more powerful opposites are @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{hide-subtree}) and @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{show-subtree}). Both apply to the current heading line's @dfn{subtree}: its body, all its subheadings, both direct and indirect, and all of their bodies. In other words, the subtree contains everything following the current heading line, up to and not including the next heading of the same or higher rank.@refill @findex hide-leaves @findex show-branches @kindex C-c C-l @r{(Outline mode)} @kindex C-c C-k @r{(Outline mode)} Intermediate between a visible subtree and an invisible one is having all the subheadings visible but none of the body. There are two commands for doing this, depending on whether you want to hide the bodies or make the subheadings visible. They are @kbd{C-c C-l} (@code{hide-leaves}) and @kbd{C-c C-k} (@code{show-branches}). @kindex C-c C-i @r{(Outline mode)} @findex show-children A little weaker than @code{show-branches} is @kbd{C-c C-i} (@code{show-children}). It makes just the direct subheadings visible---those one level down. Deeper subheadings remain invisible, if they were invisible.@refill @findex hide-body @findex show-all @kindex C-c C-t @r{(Outline mode)} @kindex C-c C-a @r{(Outline mode)} Two commands have a blanket effect on the whole file. @kbd{C-c C-t} (@code{hide-body}) makes all body lines invisible, so that you see just the outline structure (as a special exception, it will not hide lines at the top of the file, preceding the first header line, even though these are technically body lines). @kbd{C-c C-a} (@code{show-all}) makes all lines visible. These commands can be thought of as a pair of opposites even though @kbd{C-c C-a} applies to more than just body lines. @findex hide-sublevels @kindex C-c C-q @r{(Outline mode)} The command @kbd{C-c C-q} (@code{hide-sublevels}) hides all but the top level headings. With a numeric argument @var{n}, it hides everything except the top @var{n} levels of heading lines. @findex hide-other @kindex C-c C-o @r{(Outline mode)} The command @kbd{C-c C-o} (@code{hide-other}) hides everything except the heading and body text that point is in, plus its parents (the headers leading up from there to top level in the outline) and the top level headings. @findex reveal-mode When incremental search finds text that is hidden by Outline mode, it makes that part of the buffer visible. If you exit the search at that position, the text remains visible. You can also automatically make text visible as you navigate in it by using @kbd{M-x reveal-mode}. @node Outline Views @subsection Viewing One Outline in Multiple Views @cindex multiple views of outline @cindex views of an outline @cindex outline with multiple views @cindex indirect buffers and outlines You can display two views of a single outline at the same time, in different windows. To do this, you must create an indirect buffer using @kbd{M-x make-indirect-buffer}. The first argument of this command is the existing outline buffer name, and its second argument is the name to use for the new indirect buffer. @xref{Indirect Buffers}. Once the indirect buffer exists, you can display it in a window in the normal fashion, with @kbd{C-x 4 b} or other Emacs commands. The Outline mode commands to show and hide parts of the text operate on each buffer independently; as a result, each buffer can have its own view. If you want more than two views on the same outline, create additional indirect buffers. @node Foldout @subsection Folding Editing @cindex folding editing The Foldout package extends Outline mode and Outline minor mode with ``folding'' commands. The idea of folding is that you zoom in on a nested portion of the outline, while hiding its relatives at higher levels. Consider an Outline mode buffer with all the text and subheadings under level-1 headings hidden. To look at what is hidden under one of these headings, you could use @kbd{C-c C-e} (@kbd{M-x show-entry}) to expose the body, or @kbd{C-c C-i} to expose the child (level-2) headings. @kindex C-c C-z @findex foldout-zoom-subtree With Foldout, you use @kbd{C-c C-z} (@kbd{M-x foldout-zoom-subtree}). This exposes the body and child subheadings, and narrows the buffer so that only the @w{level-1} heading, the body and the level-2 headings are visible. Now to look under one of the level-2 headings, position the cursor on it and use @kbd{C-c C-z} again. This exposes the level-2 body and its level-3 child subheadings and narrows the buffer again. Zooming in on successive subheadings can be done as much as you like. A string in the mode line shows how deep you've gone. When zooming in on a heading, to see only the child subheadings specify a numeric argument: @kbd{C-u C-c C-z}. The number of levels of children can be specified too (compare @kbd{M-x show-children}), e.g.@: @kbd{M-2 C-c C-z} exposes two levels of child subheadings. Alternatively, the body can be specified with a negative argument: @kbd{M-- C-c C-z}. The whole subtree can be expanded, similarly to @kbd{C-c C-s} (@kbd{M-x show-subtree}), by specifying a zero argument: @kbd{M-0 C-c C-z}. While you're zoomed in, you can still use Outline mode's exposure and hiding functions without disturbing Foldout. Also, since the buffer is narrowed, ``global'' editing actions will only affect text under the zoomed-in heading. This is useful for restricting changes to a particular chapter or section of your document. @kindex C-c C-x @findex foldout-exit-fold To unzoom (exit) a fold, use @kbd{C-c C-x} (@kbd{M-x foldout-exit-fold}). This hides all the text and subheadings under the top-level heading and returns you to the previous view of the buffer. Specifying a numeric argument exits that many levels of folds. Specifying a zero argument exits all folds. To cancel the narrowing of a fold without hiding the text and subheadings, specify a negative argument. For example, @kbd{M--2 C-c C-x} exits two folds and leaves the text and subheadings exposed. Foldout mode also provides mouse commands for entering and exiting folds, and for showing and hiding text: @table @asis @item @kbd{C-M-Mouse-1} zooms in on the heading clicked on @itemize @asis @item single click: expose body. @item double click: expose subheadings. @item triple click: expose body and subheadings. @item quad click: expose entire subtree. @end itemize @item @kbd{C-M-Mouse-2} exposes text under the heading clicked on @itemize @asis @item single click: expose body. @item double click: expose subheadings. @item triple click: expose body and subheadings. @item quad click: expose entire subtree. @end itemize @item @kbd{C-M-Mouse-3} hides text under the heading clicked on or exits fold @itemize @asis @item single click: hide subtree. @item double click: exit fold and hide text. @item triple click: exit fold without hiding text. @item quad click: exit all folds and hide text. @end itemize @end table @vindex foldout-mouse-modifiers You can specify different modifier keys (instead of @kbd{Control-Meta-}) by setting @code{foldout-mouse-modifiers}; but if you have already loaded the @file{foldout.el} library, you must reload it in order for this to take effect. To use the Foldout package, you can type @kbd{M-x load-library @key{RET} foldout @key{RET}}; or you can arrange for to do that automatically by putting this in your @file{.emacs} file: @example (eval-after-load "outline" '(require 'foldout)) @end example @node TeX Mode @section @TeX{} Mode @cindex @TeX{} mode @cindex La@TeX{} mode @cindex Sli@TeX{} mode @cindex Doc@TeX{} mode @cindex mode, @TeX{} @cindex mode, La@TeX{} @cindex mode, Sli@TeX{} @cindex mode, Doc@TeX{} @findex tex-mode @findex plain-tex-mode @findex latex-mode @findex slitex-mode @findex doctex-mode @TeX{} is a powerful text formatter written by Donald Knuth; it is also free, like GNU Emacs. La@TeX{} is a simplified input format for @TeX{}, implemented by @TeX{} macros; it comes with @TeX{}. Sli@TeX{} is a special form of La@TeX{}.@footnote{Sli@TeX{} is obsoleted by the @samp{slides} document class in recent La@TeX{} versions.} Doc@TeX{} (@file{.dtx}) is a special file format in which the La@TeX{} sources are written, combining sources with documentation. Emacs has a special @TeX{} mode for editing @TeX{} input files. It provides facilities for checking the balance of delimiters and for invoking @TeX{} on all or part of the file. @vindex tex-default-mode @TeX{} mode has four variants: Plain @TeX{} mode, La@TeX{} mode, Sli@TeX{} mode, and Doc@TeX{} mode (these distinct major modes differ only slightly). They are designed for editing the four different formats. The command @kbd{M-x tex-mode} looks at the contents of the buffer to determine whether the contents appear to be either La@TeX{} input, Sli@TeX{}, or Doc@TeX{} input; if so, it selects the appropriate mode. If the file contents do not appear to be La@TeX{}, Sli@TeX{} or Doc@TeX{}, it selects Plain @TeX{} mode. If the contents are insufficient to determine this, the variable @code{tex-default-mode} controls which mode is used. When @kbd{M-x tex-mode} does not guess right, you can use the commands @kbd{M-x plain-tex-mode}, @kbd{M-x latex-mode}, @kbd{M-x slitex-mode}, and @kbd{doctex-mode} to select explicitly the particular variants of @TeX{} mode. @menu * Editing: TeX Editing. Special commands for editing in TeX mode. * LaTeX: LaTeX Editing. Additional commands for LaTeX input files. * Printing: TeX Print. Commands for printing part of a file with TeX. * Misc: TeX Misc. Customization of TeX mode, and related features. @end menu @node TeX Editing @subsection @TeX{} Editing Commands Here are the special commands provided in @TeX{} mode for editing the text of the file. @table @kbd @item " Insert, according to context, either @samp{``} or @samp{"} or @samp{''} (@code{tex-insert-quote}). @item C-j Insert a paragraph break (two newlines) and check the previous paragraph for unbalanced braces or dollar signs (@code{tex-terminate-paragraph}). @item M-x tex-validate-region Check each paragraph in the region for unbalanced braces or dollar signs. @item C-c @{ Insert @samp{@{@}} and position point between them (@code{tex-insert-braces}). @item C-c @} Move forward past the next unmatched close brace (@code{up-list}). @end table @findex tex-insert-quote @kindex " @r{(@TeX{} mode)} In @TeX{}, the character @samp{"} is not normally used; we use @samp{``} to start a quotation and @samp{''} to end one. To make editing easier under this formatting convention, @TeX{} mode overrides the normal meaning of the key @kbd{"} with a command that inserts a pair of single-quotes or backquotes (@code{tex-insert-quote}). To be precise, this command inserts @samp{``} after whitespace or an open brace, @samp{"} after a backslash, and @samp{''} after any other character. If you need the character @samp{"} itself in unusual contexts, use @kbd{C-q} to insert it. Also, @kbd{"} with a numeric argument always inserts that number of @samp{"} characters. You can turn off the feature of @kbd{"} expansion by eliminating that binding in the local map (@pxref{Key Bindings}). In @TeX{} mode, @samp{$} has a special syntax code which attempts to understand the way @TeX{} math mode delimiters match. When you insert a @samp{$} that is meant to exit math mode, the position of the matching @samp{$} that entered math mode is displayed for a second. This is the same feature that displays the open brace that matches a close brace that is inserted. However, there is no way to tell whether a @samp{$} enters math mode or leaves it; so when you insert a @samp{$} that enters math mode, the previous @samp{$} position is shown as if it were a match, even though they are actually unrelated. @findex tex-insert-braces @kindex C-c @{ @r{(@TeX{} mode)} @findex up-list @kindex C-c @} @r{(@TeX{} mode)} @TeX{} uses braces as delimiters that must match. Some users prefer to keep braces balanced at all times, rather than inserting them singly. Use @kbd{C-c @{} (@code{tex-insert-braces}) to insert a pair of braces. It leaves point between the two braces so you can insert the text that belongs inside. Afterward, use the command @kbd{C-c @}} (@code{up-list}) to move forward past the close brace. @findex tex-validate-region @findex tex-terminate-paragraph @kindex C-j @r{(@TeX{} mode)} There are two commands for checking the matching of braces. @kbd{C-j} (@code{tex-terminate-paragraph}) checks the paragraph before point, and inserts two newlines to start a new paragraph. It outputs a message in the echo area if any mismatch is found. @kbd{M-x tex-validate-region} checks a region, paragraph by paragraph. The errors are listed in the @samp{*Occur*} buffer, and you can use @kbd{C-c C-c} or @kbd{Mouse-2} in that buffer to go to a particular mismatch. Note that Emacs commands count square brackets and parentheses in @TeX{} mode, not just braces. This is not strictly correct for the purpose of checking @TeX{} syntax. However, parentheses and square brackets are likely to be used in text as matching delimiters and it is useful for the various motion commands and automatic match display to work with them. @node LaTeX Editing @subsection La@TeX{} Editing Commands La@TeX{} mode, and its variant, Sli@TeX{} mode, provide a few extra features not applicable to plain @TeX{}. @table @kbd @item C-c C-o Insert @samp{\begin} and @samp{\end} for La@TeX{} block and position point on a line between them (@code{tex-latex-block}). @item C-c C-e Close the innermost La@TeX{} block not yet closed (@code{tex-close-latex-block}). @end table @findex tex-latex-block @kindex C-c C-o @r{(La@TeX{} mode)} @vindex latex-block-names In La@TeX{} input, @samp{\begin} and @samp{\end} commands are used to group blocks of text. To insert a @samp{\begin} and a matching @samp{\end} (on a new line following the @samp{\begin}), use @kbd{C-c C-o} (@code{tex-latex-block}). A blank line is inserted between the two, and point is left there. You can use completion when you enter the block type; to specify additional block type names beyond the standard list, set the variable @code{latex-block-names}. For example, here's how to add @samp{theorem}, @samp{corollary}, and @samp{proof}: @example (setq latex-block-names '("theorem" "corollary" "proof")) @end example @findex tex-close-latex-block @kindex C-c C-e @r{(La@TeX{} mode)} In La@TeX{} input, @samp{\begin} and @samp{\end} commands must balance. You can use @kbd{C-c C-e} (@code{tex-close-latex-block}) to insert automatically a matching @samp{\end} to match the last unmatched @samp{\begin}. It indents the @samp{\end} to match the corresponding @samp{\begin}. It inserts a newline after @samp{\end} if point is at the beginning of a line. @node TeX Print @subsection @TeX{} Printing Commands You can invoke @TeX{} as an inferior of Emacs on either the entire contents of the buffer or just a region at a time. Running @TeX{} in this way on just one chapter is a good way to see what your changes look like without taking the time to format the entire file. @table @kbd @item C-c C-r Invoke @TeX{} on the current region, together with the buffer's header (@code{tex-region}). @item C-c C-b Invoke @TeX{} on the entire current buffer (@code{tex-buffer}). @item C-c @key{TAB} Invoke Bib@TeX{} on the current file (@code{tex-bibtex-file}). @item C-c C-f Invoke @TeX{} on the current file (@code{tex-file}). @item C-c C-l Recenter the window showing output from the inferior @TeX{} so that the last line can be seen (@code{tex-recenter-output-buffer}). @item C-c C-k Kill the @TeX{} subprocess (@code{tex-kill-job}). @item C-c C-p Print the output from the last @kbd{C-c C-r}, @kbd{C-c C-b}, or @kbd{C-c C-f} command (@code{tex-print}). @item C-c C-v Preview the output from the last @kbd{C-c C-r}, @kbd{C-c C-b}, or @kbd{C-c C-f} command (@code{tex-view}). @item C-c C-q Show the printer queue (@code{tex-show-print-queue}). @item C-c C-c Invoke some other compilation command on the entire current buffer (@code{tex-compile}). @end table @findex tex-buffer @kindex C-c C-b @r{(@TeX{} mode)} @findex tex-print @kindex C-c C-p @r{(@TeX{} mode)} @findex tex-view @kindex C-c C-v @r{(@TeX{} mode)} @findex tex-show-print-queue @kindex C-c C-q @r{(@TeX{} mode)} You can pass the current buffer through an inferior @TeX{} by means of @kbd{C-c C-b} (@code{tex-buffer}). The formatted output appears in a temporary file; to print it, type @kbd{C-c C-p} (@code{tex-print}). Afterward, you can use @kbd{C-c C-q} (@code{tex-show-print-queue}) to view the progress of your output towards being printed. If your terminal has the ability to display @TeX{} output files, you can preview the output on the terminal with @kbd{C-c C-v} (@code{tex-view}). @cindex @env{TEXINPUTS} environment variable @vindex tex-directory You can specify the directory to use for running @TeX{} by setting the variable @code{tex-directory}. @code{"."} is the default value. If your environment variable @env{TEXINPUTS} contains relative directory names, or if your files contains @samp{\input} commands with relative file names, then @code{tex-directory} @emph{must} be @code{"."} or you will get the wrong results. Otherwise, it is safe to specify some other directory, such as @code{"/tmp"}. @vindex tex-run-command @vindex latex-run-command @vindex slitex-run-command @vindex tex-dvi-print-command @vindex tex-dvi-view-command @vindex tex-show-queue-command If you want to specify which shell commands are used in the inferior @TeX{}, you can do so by setting the values of the variables @code{tex-run-command}, @code{latex-run-command}, @code{slitex-run-command}, @code{tex-dvi-print-command}, @code{tex-dvi-view-command}, and @code{tex-show-queue-command}. You @emph{must} set the value of @code{tex-dvi-view-command} for your particular terminal; this variable has no default value. The other variables have default values that may (or may not) be appropriate for your system. Normally, the file name given to these commands comes at the end of the command string; for example, @samp{latex @var{filename}}. In some cases, however, the file name needs to be embedded in the command; an example is when you need to provide the file name as an argument to one command whose output is piped to another. You can specify where to put the file name with @samp{*} in the command string. For example, @example (setq tex-dvi-print-command "dvips -f * | lpr") @end example @findex tex-kill-job @kindex C-c C-k @r{(@TeX{} mode)} @findex tex-recenter-output-buffer @kindex C-c C-l @r{(@TeX{} mode)} The terminal output from @TeX{}, including any error messages, appears in a buffer called @samp{*tex-shell*}. If @TeX{} gets an error, you can switch to this buffer and feed it input (this works as in Shell mode; @pxref{Interactive Shell}). Without switching to this buffer you can scroll it so that its last line is visible by typing @kbd{C-c C-l}. Type @kbd{C-c C-k} (@code{tex-kill-job}) to kill the @TeX{} process if you see that its output is no longer useful. Using @kbd{C-c C-b} or @kbd{C-c C-r} also kills any @TeX{} process still running.@refill @findex tex-region @kindex C-c C-r @r{(@TeX{} mode)} You can also pass an arbitrary region through an inferior @TeX{} by typing @kbd{C-c C-r} (@code{tex-region}). This is tricky, however, because most files of @TeX{} input contain commands at the beginning to set parameters and define macros, without which no later part of the file will format correctly. To solve this problem, @kbd{C-c C-r} allows you to designate a part of the file as containing essential commands; it is included before the specified region as part of the input to @TeX{}. The designated part of the file is called the @dfn{header}. @cindex header (@TeX{} mode) To indicate the bounds of the header in Plain @TeX{} mode, you insert two special strings in the file. Insert @samp{%**start of header} before the header, and @samp{%**end of header} after it. Each string must appear entirely on one line, but there may be other text on the line before or after. The lines containing the two strings are included in the header. If @samp{%**start of header} does not appear within the first 100 lines of the buffer, @kbd{C-c C-r} assumes that there is no header. In La@TeX{} mode, the header begins with @samp{\documentclass} or @samp{\documentstyle} and ends with @samp{\begin@{document@}}. These are commands that La@TeX{} requires you to use in any case, so nothing special needs to be done to identify the header. @findex tex-file @kindex C-c C-f @r{(@TeX{} mode)} The commands (@code{tex-buffer}) and (@code{tex-region}) do all of their work in a temporary directory, and do not have available any of the auxiliary files needed by @TeX{} for cross-references; these commands are generally not suitable for running the final copy in which all of the cross-references need to be correct. When you want the auxiliary files for cross references, use @kbd{C-c C-f} (@code{tex-file}) which runs @TeX{} on the current buffer's file, in that file's directory. Before running @TeX{}, it offers to save any modified buffers. Generally, you need to use (@code{tex-file}) twice to get the cross-references right. @vindex tex-start-options The value of the variable @code{tex-start-options} specifies options for the @TeX{} run. @vindex tex-start-commands The value of the variable @code{tex-start-commands} specifies @TeX{} commands for starting @TeX{}. The default value causes @TeX{} to run in nonstop mode. To run @TeX{} interactively, set the variable to @code{""}. @vindex tex-main-file Large @TeX{} documents are often split into several files---one main file, plus subfiles. Running @TeX{} on a subfile typically does not work; you have to run it on the main file. In order to make @code{tex-file} useful when you are editing a subfile, you can set the variable @code{tex-main-file} to the name of the main file. Then @code{tex-file} runs @TeX{} on that file. The most convenient way to use @code{tex-main-file} is to specify it in a local variable list in each of the subfiles. @xref{File Variables}. @findex tex-bibtex-file @kindex C-c TAB @r{(@TeX{} mode)} @vindex tex-bibtex-command For La@TeX{} files, you can use Bib@TeX{} to process the auxiliary file for the current buffer's file. Bib@TeX{} looks up bibliographic citations in a data base and prepares the cited references for the bibliography section. The command @kbd{C-c TAB} (@code{tex-bibtex-file}) runs the shell command (@code{tex-bibtex-command}) to produce a @samp{.bbl} file for the current buffer's file. Generally, you need to do @kbd{C-c C-f} (@code{tex-file}) once to generate the @samp{.aux} file, then do @kbd{C-c TAB} (@code{tex-bibtex-file}), and then repeat @kbd{C-c C-f} (@code{tex-file}) twice more to get the cross-references correct. @findex tex-compile @kindex C-c C-c @r{(@TeX{} mode)} To invoke some other compilation program on the current @TeX{} buffer, type @kbd{C-c C-c} (@code{tex-compile}). This command knows how to pass arguments to many common programs, including @file{pdflatex}, @file{yap}, @file{xdvi}, and @file{dvips}. You can select your desired compilation program using the standard completion keys (@pxref{Completion}). @node TeX Misc @subsection @TeX{} Mode Miscellany @vindex tex-shell-hook @vindex tex-mode-hook @vindex latex-mode-hook @vindex slitex-mode-hook @vindex plain-tex-mode-hook Entering any variant of @TeX{} mode runs the hooks @code{text-mode-hook} and @code{tex-mode-hook}. Then it runs either @code{plain-tex-mode-hook}, @code{latex-mode-hook}, or @code{slitex-mode-hook}, whichever is appropriate. Starting the @TeX{} shell runs the hook @code{tex-shell-hook}. @xref{Hooks}. @findex iso-iso2tex @findex iso-tex2iso @findex iso-iso2gtex @findex iso-gtex2iso @cindex Latin-1 @TeX{} encoding @cindex @TeX{} encoding The commands @kbd{M-x iso-iso2tex}, @kbd{M-x iso-tex2iso}, @kbd{M-x iso-iso2gtex} and @kbd{M-x iso-gtex2iso} can be used to convert between Latin-1 encoded files and @TeX{}-encoded equivalents. @ignore @c Too cryptic to be useful, too cryptic for me to make it better -- rms. They are included by default in the @code{format-alist} variable, so they can be used with @kbd{M-x format-find-file}, for instance. @end ignore @ignore @c Not worth documenting if it is only for Czech -- rms. @findex tildify-buffer @findex tildify-region @cindex ties, @TeX{}, inserting @cindex hard spaces, @TeX{}, inserting The commands @kbd{M-x tildify-buffer} and @kbd{M-x tildify-region} insert @samp{~} (@dfn{tie}) characters where they are conventionally required. This is set up for Czech---customize the group @samp{tildify} for other languages or for other sorts of markup. @end ignore @cindex Ref@TeX{} package @cindex references, La@TeX{} @cindex La@TeX{} references For managing all kinds of references for La@TeX{}, you can use Ref@TeX{}. @inforef{Top,, reftex}. @node HTML Mode @section SGML, XML, and HTML Modes The major modes for SGML and HTML include indentation support and commands to operate on tags. This section describes the special commands of these modes. (HTML mode is a slightly customized variant of SGML mode.) @table @kbd @item C-c C-n @kindex C-c C-n @r{(SGML mode)} @findex sgml-name-char Interactively specify a special character and insert the SGML @samp{&}-command for that character. @item C-c C-t @kindex C-c C-t @r{(SGML mode)} @findex sgml-tag Interactively specify a tag and its attributes (@code{sgml-tag}). This command asks you for a tag name and for the attribute values, then inserts both the opening tag and the closing tag, leaving point between them. With a prefix argument @var{n}, the command puts the tag around the @var{n} words already present in the buffer after point. With @minus{}1 as argument, it puts the tag around the region. (In Transient Mark mode, it does this whenever a region is active.) @item C-c C-a @kindex C-c C-a @r{(SGML mode)} @findex sgml-attributes Interactively insert attribute values for the current tag (@code{sgml-attributes}). @item C-c C-f @kindex C-c C-f @r{(SGML mode)} @findex sgml-skip-tag-forward Skip across a balanced tag group (which extends from an opening tag through its corresponding closing tag) (@code{sgml-skip-tag-forward}). A numeric argument acts as a repeat count. @item C-c C-b @kindex C-c C-b @r{(SGML mode)} @findex sgml-skip-tag-backward Skip backward across a balanced tag group (which extends from an opening tag through its corresponding closing tag) (@code{sgml-skip-tag-forward}). A numeric argument acts as a repeat count. @item C-c C-d @kindex C-c C-d @r{(SGML mode)} @findex sgml-delete-tag Delete the tag at or after point, and delete the matching tag too (@code{sgml-delete-tag}). If the tag at or after point is an opening tag, delete the closing tag too; if it is a closing tag, delete the opening tag too. @item C-c ? @var{tag} @key{RET} @kindex C-c ? @r{(SGML mode)} @findex sgml-tag-help Display a description of the meaning of tag @var{tag} (@code{sgml-tag-help}). If the argument @var{tag} is empty, describe the tag at point. @item C-c / @kindex C-c / @r{(SGML mode)} @findex sgml-close-tag Insert a close tag for the innermost unterminated tag (@code{sgml-close-tag}). If called from within a tag or a comment, close this element instead of inserting a close tag. @item C-c 8 @kindex C-c 8 @r{(SGML mode)} @findex sgml-name-8bit-mode Toggle a minor mode in which Latin-1 characters insert the corresponding SGML commands that stand for them, instead of the characters themselves (@code{sgml-name-8bit-mode}). @item C-c C-v @kindex C-c C-v @r{(SGML mode)} @findex sgml-validate Run a shell command (which you must specify) to validate the current buffer as SGML (@code{sgml-validate}). @item C-x TAB @kindex C-c TAB @r{(SGML mode)} @findex sgml-tags-invisible Toggle the visibility of existing tags in the buffer. This can be used as a cheap preview. @end table @vindex sgml-xml-mode SGML mode and HTML mode support XML also. In XML, every opening tag must have an explicit closing tag. When @code{sgml-xml-mode} is non-@code{nil}, SGML mode (and HTML mode) always insert explicit closing tags. When you visit a file, these modes determine from the file contents whether it is XML or not, and set @code{sgml-xml-mode} accordingly, so that they do the right thing for the file in either case. @node Nroff Mode @section Nroff Mode @cindex nroff @findex nroff-mode Nroff mode is a mode like Text mode but modified to handle nroff commands present in the text. Invoke @kbd{M-x nroff-mode} to enter this mode. It differs from Text mode in only a few ways. All nroff command lines are considered paragraph separators, so that filling will never garble the nroff commands. Pages are separated by @samp{.bp} commands. Comments start with backslash-doublequote. Also, three special commands are provided that are not in Text mode: @findex forward-text-line @findex backward-text-line @findex count-text-lines @kindex M-n @r{(Nroff mode)} @kindex M-p @r{(Nroff mode)} @kindex M-? @r{(Nroff mode)} @table @kbd @item M-n Move to the beginning of the next line that isn't an nroff command (@code{forward-text-line}). An argument is a repeat count. @item M-p Like @kbd{M-n} but move up (@code{backward-text-line}). @item M-? Displays in the echo area the number of text lines (lines that are not nroff commands) in the region (@code{count-text-lines}). @end table @findex electric-nroff-mode The other feature of Nroff mode is that you can turn on Electric Nroff mode. This is a minor mode that you can turn on or off with @kbd{M-x electric-nroff-mode} (@pxref{Minor Modes}). When the mode is on, each time you use @key{RET} to end a line that contains an nroff command that opens a kind of grouping, the matching nroff command to close that grouping is automatically inserted on the following line. For example, if you are at the beginning of a line and type @kbd{.@: ( b @key{RET}}, this inserts the matching command @samp{.)b} on a new line following point. If you use Outline minor mode with Nroff mode (@pxref{Outline Mode}), heading lines are lines of the form @samp{.H} followed by a number (the header level). @vindex nroff-mode-hook Entering Nroff mode runs the hook @code{text-mode-hook}, followed by the hook @code{nroff-mode-hook} (@pxref{Hooks}). @node Formatted Text @section Editing Formatted Text @cindex Enriched mode @cindex mode, Enriched @cindex formatted text @cindex WYSIWYG @cindex word processing @dfn{Enriched mode} is a minor mode for editing files that contain formatted text in WYSIWYG fashion, as in a word processor. Currently, formatted text in Enriched mode can specify fonts, colors, underlining, margins, and types of filling and justification. In the future, we plan to implement other formatting features as well. Enriched mode is a minor mode (@pxref{Minor Modes}). It is typically used in conjunction with Text mode (@pxref{Text Mode}), but you can also use it with other major modes such as Outline mode and Paragraph-Indent Text mode. @cindex text/enriched MIME format Potentially, Emacs can store formatted text files in various file formats. Currently, only one format is implemented: @dfn{text/enriched} format, which is defined by the MIME protocol. @xref{Format Conversion,, Format Conversion, elisp, the Emacs Lisp Reference Manual}, for details of how Emacs recognizes and converts file formats. The Emacs distribution contains a formatted text file that can serve as an example. Its name is @file{etc/enriched.doc}. It contains samples illustrating all the features described in this section. It also contains a list of ideas for future enhancements. @menu * Requesting Formatted Text:: Entering and exiting Enriched mode. * Hard and Soft Newlines:: There are two different kinds of newlines. * Editing Format Info:: How to edit text properties. * Faces: Format Faces. Bold, italic, underline, etc. * Color: Format Colors. Changing the color of text. * Indent: Format Indentation. Changing the left and right margins. * Justification: Format Justification. Centering, setting text flush with the left or right margin, etc. * Other: Format Properties. The "special" text properties submenu. * Forcing Enriched Mode:: How to force use of Enriched mode. @end menu @node Requesting Formatted Text @subsection Requesting to Edit Formatted Text Whenever you visit a file that Emacs saved in the text/enriched format, Emacs automatically converts the formatting information in the file into Emacs's own internal format (known as @dfn{text properties}), and turns on Enriched mode. @findex enriched-mode To create a new file of formatted text, first visit the nonexistent file, then type @kbd{M-x enriched-mode} before you start inserting text. This command turns on Enriched mode. Do this before you begin inserting text, to ensure that the text you insert is handled properly. More generally, the command @code{enriched-mode} turns Enriched mode on if it was off, and off if it was on. With a prefix argument, this command turns Enriched mode on if the argument is positive, and turns the mode off otherwise. When you save a buffer while Enriched mode is enabled in it, Emacs automatically converts the text to text/enriched format while writing it into the file. When you visit the file again, Emacs will automatically recognize the format, reconvert the text, and turn on Enriched mode again. @vindex enriched-translations You can add annotations for saving additional text properties, which Emacs normally does not save, by adding to @code{enriched-translations}. Note that the text/enriched standard requires any non-standard annotations to have names starting with @samp{x-}, as in @samp{x-read-only}. This ensures that they will not conflict with standard annotations that may be added later. @xref{Text Properties,,, elisp, the Emacs Lisp Reference Manual}, for more information about text properties. @node Hard and Soft Newlines @subsection Hard and Soft Newlines @cindex hard newline @cindex soft newline @cindex newlines, hard and soft @cindex use-hard-newlines In formatted text, Emacs distinguishes between two different kinds of newlines, @dfn{hard} newlines and @dfn{soft} newlines. (You can enable or disable this feature separately in any buffer with the command @code{use-hard-newlines}.) Hard newlines are used to separate paragraphs, or items in a list, or anywhere that there should always be a line break regardless of the margins. The @key{RET} command (@code{newline}) and @kbd{C-o} (@code{open-line}) insert hard newlines. Soft newlines are used to make text fit between the margins. All the fill commands, including Auto Fill, insert soft newlines---and they delete only soft newlines. Although hard and soft newlines look the same, it is important to bear the difference in mind. Do not use @key{RET} to break lines in the middle of filled paragraphs, or else you will get hard newlines that are barriers to further filling. Instead, let Auto Fill mode break lines, so that if the text or the margins change, Emacs can refill the lines properly. @xref{Auto Fill}. On the other hand, in tables and lists, where the lines should always remain as you type them, you can use @key{RET} to end lines. For these lines, you may also want to set the justification style to @code{unfilled}. @xref{Format Justification}. @node Editing Format Info @subsection Editing Format Information There are two ways to alter the formatting information for a formatted text file: with keyboard commands, and with the mouse. The easiest way to add properties to your document is with the Text Properties menu. You can get to this menu in two ways: from the Edit menu in the menu bar (use @kbd{@key{F10} e t} if you have no mouse), or with @kbd{C-Mouse-2} (hold the @key{CTRL} key and press the middle mouse button). There are also keyboard commands described in the following section. Most of the items in the Text Properties menu lead to other submenus. These are described in the sections that follow. Some items run commands directly: @table @code @findex facemenu-remove-face-props @item Remove Face Properties Delete from the region all face and color text properties (@code{facemenu-remove-face-props}). @findex facemenu-remove-all @item Remove Text Properties Delete @emph{all} text properties from the region (@code{facemenu-remove-all}). @findex describe-text-properties @cindex text properties of characters @cindex overlays at character position @cindex widgets at buffer position @cindex buttons at buffer position @item Describe Properties List all the text properties, widgets, buttons, and overlays of the character following point (@code{describe-text-properties}). @item Display Faces Display a list of all the defined faces (@code{list-faces-display}). @item Display Colors Display a list of all the defined colors (@code{list-colors-display}). @end table @node Format Faces @subsection Faces in Formatted Text The Faces submenu lists various Emacs faces including @code{bold}, @code{italic}, and @code{underline}. Selecting one of these adds the chosen face to the region. @xref{Faces}. You can also specify a face with these keyboard commands: @table @kbd @kindex M-o d @r{(Enriched mode)} @findex facemenu-set-default @item M-o d Set the region, or the next inserted character, to the @code{default} face (@code{facemenu-set-default}). @kindex M-o b @r{(Enriched mode)} @findex facemenu-set-bold @item M-o b Set the region, or the next inserted character, to the @code{bold} face (@code{facemenu-set-bold}). @kindex M-o i @r{(Enriched mode)} @findex facemenu-set-italic @item M-o i Set the region, or the next inserted character, to the @code{italic} face (@code{facemenu-set-italic}). @kindex M-o l @r{(Enriched mode)} @findex facemenu-set-bold-italic @item M-o l Set the region, or the next inserted character, to the @code{bold-italic} face (@code{facemenu-set-bold-italic}). @kindex M-o u @r{(Enriched mode)} @findex facemenu-set-underline @item M-o u Set the region, or the next inserted character, to the @code{underline} face (@code{facemenu-set-underline}). @kindex M-o o @r{(Enriched mode)} @findex facemenu-set-face @item M-o o @var{face} @key{RET} Set the region, or the next inserted character, to the face @var{face} (@code{facemenu-set-face}). @end table If you use these commands with a prefix argument---or, in Transient Mark mode, if the region is not active---then these commands specify a face to use for any immediately following self-inserting input. @xref{Transient Mark}. This applies to both the keyboard commands and the menu commands. Specifying the @code{default} face also resets foreground and background color to their defaults.(@pxref{Format Colors}). Any self-inserting character you type inherits, by default, the face properties (as well as most other text properties) of the preceding character. Specifying any face property, including foreground or background color, for your next self-inserting character will prevent it from inheriting any face properties from the preceding character, although it will still inherit other text properties. Characters inserted by yanking do not inherit text properties. Enriched mode defines two additional faces: @code{excerpt} and @code{fixed}. These correspond to codes used in the text/enriched file format. The @code{excerpt} face is intended for quotations. This face is the same as @code{italic} unless you customize it (@pxref{Face Customization}). The @code{fixed} face means, ``Use a fixed-width font for this part of the text.'' Applying the @code{fixed} face to a part of the text will cause that part of the text to appear in a fixed-width font, even if the default font is variable-width. This applies to Emacs and to other systems that display text/enriched format. So if you specifically want a certain part of the text to use a fixed-width font, you should specify the @code{fixed} face for that part. By default, the @code{fixed} face looks the same as @code{bold}. This is an attempt to distinguish it from @code{default}. You may wish to customize @code{fixed} to some other fixed-width medium font. @xref{Face Customization}. If your terminal cannot display different faces, you will not be able to see them, but you can still edit documents containing faces, and even add faces and colors to documents. The faces you specify will be visible when the file is viewed on a terminal that can display them. @node Format Colors @subsection Colors in Formatted Text You can specify foreground and background colors for portions of the text. There is a menu for specifying the foreground color and a menu for specifying the background color. Each color menu lists all the colors that you have used in Enriched mode in the current Emacs session. If you specify a color with a prefix argument---or, in Transient Mark mode, if the region is not active---then it applies to any immediately following self-inserting input. @xref{Transient Mark}. Otherwise, the command applies to the region. Each color menu contains one additional item: @samp{Other}. You can use this item to specify a color that is not listed in the menu; it reads the color name with the minibuffer. To display a list of available colors and their names, use the @samp{Display Colors} menu item in the Text Properties menu (@pxref{Editing Format Info}). Any color that you specify in this way, or that is mentioned in a formatted text file that you read in, is added to the corresponding color menu for the duration of the Emacs session. @findex facemenu-set-foreground @findex facemenu-set-background There are no key bindings for specifying colors, but you can do so with the extended commands @kbd{M-x facemenu-set-foreground} and @kbd{M-x facemenu-set-background}. Both of these commands read the name of the color with the minibuffer. @node Format Indentation @subsection Indentation in Formatted Text When editing formatted text, you can specify different amounts of indentation for the right or left margin of an entire paragraph or a part of a paragraph. The margins you specify automatically affect the Emacs fill commands (@pxref{Filling}) and line-breaking commands. The Indentation submenu provides a convenient interface for specifying these properties. The submenu contains four items: @table @code @kindex C-x TAB @r{(Enriched mode)} @findex increase-left-margin @item Indent More Indent the region by 4 columns (@code{increase-left-margin}). In Enriched mode, this command is also available on @kbd{C-x @key{TAB}}; if you supply a numeric argument, that says how many columns to add to the margin (a negative argument reduces the number of columns). @item Indent Less Remove 4 columns of indentation from the region. @item Indent Right More Make the text narrower by indenting 4 columns at the right margin. @item Indent Right Less Remove 4 columns of indentation from the right margin. @end table You can use these commands repeatedly to increase or decrease the indentation. The most common way to use them is to change the indentation of an entire paragraph. For other uses, the effects of refilling can be hard to predict, except in some special cases like the one described next. The most common other use is to format paragraphs with @dfn{hanging indents}, which means that the first line is indented less than subsequent lines. To set up a hanging indent, increase the indentation of the region starting after the first word of the paragraph and running until the end of the paragraph. Indenting the first line of a paragraph is easier. Set the margin for the whole paragraph where you want it to be for the body of the paragraph, then indent the first line by inserting extra spaces or tabs. @vindex standard-indent The variable @code{standard-indent} specifies how many columns these commands should add to or subtract from the indentation. The default value is 4. The overall default right margin for Enriched mode is controlled by the variable @code{fill-column}, as usual. @kindex C-c [ @r{(Enriched mode)} @kindex C-c ] @r{(Enriched mode)} @findex set-left-margin @findex set-right-margin There are also two commands for setting the left or right margin of the region absolutely: @code{set-left-margin} and @code{set-right-margin}. Enriched mode binds these commands to @kbd{C-c [} and @kbd{C-c ]}, respectively. You can specify the margin width either with a numeric argument or in the minibuffer. Sometimes, as a result of editing, the filling of a paragraph becomes messed up---parts of the paragraph may extend past the left or right margins. When this happens, use @kbd{M-q} (@code{fill-paragraph}) to refill the paragraph. The fill prefix, if any, works in addition to the specified paragraph indentation: @kbd{C-x .} does not include the specified indentation's whitespace in the new value for the fill prefix, and the fill commands look for the fill prefix after the indentation on each line. @xref{Fill Prefix}. @node Format Justification @subsection Justification in Formatted Text When editing formatted text, you can specify various styles of justification for a paragraph. The style you specify automatically affects the Emacs fill commands. The Justification submenu provides a convenient interface for specifying the style. The submenu contains five items: @table @code @item Left This is the most common style of justification (at least for English). Lines are aligned at the left margin but left uneven at the right. @item Right This aligns each line with the right margin. Spaces and tabs are added on the left, if necessary, to make lines line up on the right. @item Full This justifies the text, aligning both edges of each line. Justified text looks very nice in a printed book, where the spaces can all be adjusted equally, but it does not look as nice with a fixed-width font on the screen. Perhaps a future version of Emacs will be able to adjust the width of spaces in a line to achieve elegant justification. @item Center This centers every line between the current margins. @item Unfilled This turns off filling entirely. Each line will remain as you wrote it; the fill and auto-fill functions will have no effect on text which has this setting. You can, however, still indent the left margin. In unfilled regions, all newlines are treated as hard newlines (@pxref{Hard and Soft Newlines}) . @end table In Enriched mode, you can also specify justification from the keyboard using the @kbd{M-j} prefix character: @table @kbd @kindex M-j l @r{(Enriched mode)} @findex set-justification-left @item M-j l Make the region left-filled (@code{set-justification-left}). @kindex M-j r @r{(Enriched mode)} @findex set-justification-right @item M-j r Make the region right-filled (@code{set-justification-right}). @kindex M-j b @r{(Enriched mode)} @findex set-justification-full @item M-j b Make the region fully justified (@code{set-justification-full}). @kindex M-j c @r{(Enriched mode)} @kindex M-S @r{(Enriched mode)} @findex set-justification-center @item M-j c @itemx M-S Make the region centered (@code{set-justification-center}). @kindex M-j u @r{(Enriched mode)} @findex set-justification-none @item M-j u Make the region unfilled (@code{set-justification-none}). @end table Justification styles apply to entire paragraphs. All the justification-changing commands operate on the paragraph containing point, or, if the region is active, on all paragraphs which overlap the region. @vindex default-justification The default justification style is specified by the variable @code{default-justification}. Its value should be one of the symbols @code{left}, @code{right}, @code{full}, @code{center}, or @code{none}. This is a per-buffer variable. Setting the variable directly affects only the current buffer. However, customizing it in a Custom buffer sets (as always) the default value for buffers that do not override it. @xref{Locals}, and @ref{Easy Customization}. @node Format Properties @subsection Setting Other Text Properties The Special Properties menu lets you add or remove three other useful text properties: @code{read-only}, @code{invisible} and @code{intangible}. The @code{intangible} property disallows moving point within the text, the @code{invisible} text property hides text from display, and the @code{read-only} property disallows alteration of the text. Each of these special properties has a menu item to add it to the region. The last menu item, @samp{Remove Special}, removes all of these special properties from the text in the region. Currently, the @code{invisible} and @code{intangible} properties are @emph{not} saved in the text/enriched format. The @code{read-only} property is saved, but it is not a standard part of the text/enriched format, so other editors may not respect it. @node Forcing Enriched Mode @subsection Forcing Enriched Mode Normally, Emacs knows when you are editing formatted text because it recognizes the special annotations used in the file that you visited. However, there are situations in which you must take special actions to convert file contents or turn on Enriched mode: @itemize @bullet @item When you visit a file that was created with some other editor, Emacs may not recognize the file as being in the text/enriched format. In this case, when you visit the file you will see the formatting commands rather than the formatted text. Type @kbd{M-x format-decode-buffer} to translate it. This also automatically turns on Enriched mode. @item When you @emph{insert} a file into a buffer, rather than visiting it, Emacs does the necessary conversions on the text which you insert, but it does not enable Enriched mode. If you wish to do that, type @kbd{M-x enriched-mode}. @end itemize The command @code{format-decode-buffer} translates text in various formats into Emacs's internal format. It asks you to specify the format to translate from; however, normally you can type just @key{RET}, which tells Emacs to guess the format. @findex format-find-file If you wish to look at a text/enriched file in its raw form, as a sequence of characters rather than as formatted text, use the @kbd{M-x find-file-literally} command. This visits a file, like @code{find-file}, but does not do format conversion. It also inhibits character code conversion (@pxref{Coding Systems}) and automatic uncompression (@pxref{Compressed Files}). To disable format conversion but allow character code conversion and/or automatic uncompression if appropriate, use @code{format-find-file} with suitable arguments. @node Text Based Tables @section Editing Text-based Tables @cindex table mode @cindex text-based tables Table Mode provides an easy and intuitive way to create and edit WYSIWYG text-based tables. Here is an example of such a table: @smallexample +-----------------+--------------------------------+-----------------+ | Command | Description | Key Binding | +-----------------+--------------------------------+-----------------+ | forward-char |Move point right N characters | C-f | | |(left if N is negative). | | | | | | | |On reaching end of buffer, stop | | | |and signal error. | | +-----------------+--------------------------------+-----------------+ | backward-char |Move point left N characters | C-b | | |(right if N is negative). | | | | | | | |On attempt to pass beginning or | | | |end of buffer, stop and signal | | | |error. | | +-----------------+--------------------------------+-----------------+ @end smallexample Table Mode allows the contents of the table such as this one to be easily manipulated by inserting or deleting characters inside a cell. A cell is effectively a localized rectangular edit region and edits to a cell do not affect the contents of the surrounding cells. If the contents do not fit into a cell, then the cell is automatically expanded in the vertical and/or horizontal directions and the rest of the table is restructured and reformatted in accordance with the growth of the cell. @menu * Table Definition:: What is a text based table. * Table Creation:: How to create a table. * Table Recognition:: How to activate and deactivate tables. * Cell Commands:: Cell-oriented commands in a table. * Cell Justification:: Justifying cell contents. * Row Commands:: Manipulating rows of table cell. * Column Commands:: Manipulating columns of table cell. * Fixed Width Mode:: Fixing cell width. * Table Conversion:: Converting between plain text and tables. * Measuring Tables:: Analyzing table dimension. * Table Misc:: Table miscellany. @end menu @node Table Definition @subsection What is a Text-based Table? Look at the following examples of valid tables as a reference while you read this section: @example +--+----+---+ +-+ +--+-----+ | | | | | | | | | +--+----+---+ +-+ | +--+--+ | | | | | | | | +--+----+---+ +--+--+ | | | | +-----+--+ @end example A table consists of a rectangular frame and the contents inside the frame. A table's cells must be at least one character wide and one character high with two adjacent cells sharing a boarder line. A cell can be subdivided into multiple rectangular cells but cannot nest or overlap. Both the table frame and cell border lines must consist of one of three special characters. The variables that hold these characters are described below: @table @code @vindex table-cell-vertical-char @item table-cell-vertical-char Holds the character used for vertical lines. The default value is @samp{|}. @vindex table-cell-horizontal-char @item table-cell-horizontal-char Holds the character used for horizontal lines. The default value is @samp{-}. @vindex table-cell-intersection-char @item table-cell-intersection-char Holds the character used at where horizontal line and vertical line meet. The default value is @samp{+}. @end table @noindent Based on this definition, the following five tables are examples of invalid tables: @example +-----+ +-----+ +--+ +-++--+ ++ | | | | | | | || | ++ | +-+ | | | | | | || | | | | | +--+ | +--+--+ +-++--+ | +-+ | | | | | | | +-++--+ | | | | | | | | | || | +-----+ +--+--+ +--+--+ +-++--+ a b c d e @end example From left to right: @enumerate a @item Nested cells are not allowed. @item Overlapped cells or non-rectangular cells are not allowed. @item The border must be rectangular. @item Cells must have a minimum width/height of one character. @item Same as d. @end enumerate @node Table Creation @subsection How to Create a Table? @cindex create a text-based table @cindex table creation @findex table-insert The command to create a table is @code{table-insert}. When called interactively, it asks for the number of columns, number of rows, cell width and cell height. The number of columns is a number of cells within the table's width. The number of rows is the number of cells within the table's height. The cell width is a number of characters that fit within a cell width. The cell height is a number of lines within cell height. While the number of columns and number of rows must be an integer number, the cell width and the cell height can be either an integer number (when the value is constant across the table) or a series of integer numbers, separated by spaces or commas, where each number corresponds to each cell width within a row from left to right or each cell height within a column from top to bottom. @node Table Recognition @subsection Table Recognition @cindex table recognition @findex table-recognize @findex table-unrecognize Table Mode maintains special text properties in the buffer to allow editing in a convenient fashion. When a buffer with tables is saved to its file, these text properties are lost, so when you visit this file again later, Emacs does not see a table, but just formatted text. To resurrect the table text properties, issue the @kbd{M-x table-recognize} command. It scans the current buffer, recognizes valid table cells, and attaches appropriate text properties to allow for table editing. The converse command, @code{table-unrecognize}, is used to remove the special text properties and revert the buffer back to plain text. An optional numeric prefix argument can precede the @code{table-recognize} command. If the argument is negative, tables in the buffer become inactive. This is equivalent to invoking @code{table-unrecognize}. Similar functions exist to enable or disable tables within a region, enable or disable individual tables, and enable/disable individual cells. These commands are: @table @kbd @findex table-recognize-region @item M-x table-recognize-region Recognize tables within the current region and activate them. @findex table-unrecognize-region @item M-x table-unrecognize-region Deactivate tables within the current region. @findex table-recognize-table @item M-x table-recognize-table Recognize the table under point and activate it. @findex table-unrecognize-table @item M-x table-unrecognize-table Deactivate the table under point. @findex table-recognize-cell @item M-x table-recognize-cell Recognize the cell under point and activate it. @findex table-unrecognize-cell @item M-x table-unrecognize-cell Deactivate the cell under point. @end table For another way of converting text into tables, see @ref{Table Conversion}. @node Cell Commands @subsection Commands for Table Cells @findex table-forward-cell @findex table-backward-cell The commands @code{table-forward-cell} and @code{table-backward-cell} move point from the current cell to an adjacent cell forward and backward respectively. The order of the cell is wrapped. When point is positioned in the last cell of a table, typing @kbd{M-x table-forward-cell} moves point to the first cell in the table. Likewise @kbd{M-x table-backward-cell} from the first cell in a table moves point to the last cell in the table. @findex table-span-cell The command @code{table-span-cell} spans the current cell into one of the four directions---right, left, above or below---and merges the current cell with the adjacent cell. It does not allow directions to which spanning does not produce a legitimate cell. @findex table-split-cell @cindex text-based tables, split a cell @cindex split table cell The command @code{table-split-cell} splits the current cell vertically or horizontally. This command is a wrapper to the direction specific commands @code{table-split-cell-vertically} and @code{table-split-cell-horizontally}. @findex table-split-cell-vertically The command @code{table-split-cell-vertically} splits the current cell vertically and creates a pair of cells above and below where point is located. The content in the original cell is split as well. @findex table-split-cell-horizontally The command @code{table-split-cell-horizontally} splits the current cell horizontally and creates a pair of cells right and left of where point is located. If the subject cell to split is not empty the user is asked how to handle the cell contents. The three options are: @code{split}, @code{left}, or @code{right}. @code{split} splits the contents at point literally while the @code{left} and @code{right} options move the entire contents into the left or right cell respectively. @cindex enlarge a table cell @cindex shrink a table cell The next four commands enlarge or shrink a cell. These commands accept numeric arguments (@pxref{Arguments}) to specify how many columns or rows to enlarge or shrink a particular table. @table @kbd @findex table-heighten-cell @item M-x table-heighten-cell Enlarge the current cell vertically. @findex table-shorten-cell @item M-x table-shorten-cell Shrink the current cell vertically. @findex table-widen-cell @item M-x table-widen-cell Enlarge the current cell horizontally. @findex table-narrow-cell @item M-x table-narrow-cell Shrink the current cell horizontally. @end table @node Cell Justification @subsection Cell Justification @cindex cell text justification You can specify text justification for each cell. The justification is remembered independently for each cell and the subsequent editing of cell contents is subject to the specified justification. @findex table-justify The command @code{table-justify} requests the user to specify what to justify: a cell,a column, or a row. If you select cell justification, this command sets the justification only to the current cell. Selecting column or row justification set the justification to all the cells within a column or row respectively. The command then requests the user to enter which justification to apply: @code{left}, @code{center}, @code{right}, @code{top}, @code{middle}, @code{bottom}, or @code{none}. The options @code{left}, @code{center}, and @code{right} specify horizontal justification while the options @code{top}, @code{middle}, @code{bottom}, and @code{none} specify vertical justification. The vertical justification @code{none} effectively removes vertical justification while horizontal justification must be one of @code{left}, @code{center}, or @code{right}. Horizontal justification and vertical justification are specified independently. @vindex table-detect-cell-alignment Justification information is stored in the buffer as a part of text property. Therefore, this information is ephemeral and does not survive through the loss of the buffer (closing the buffer and revisiting the buffer erase any previous text properties). To countermand for this, the command @code{table-recognize} and other recognition commands (@pxref{Table Recognition}) are equipped with a convenience feature (turned on by default). During table recognition, the contents of a cell are examined to determine which justification was originally applied to the cell and then applies this justification to the the cell. This is a speculative algorithm and is therefore not perfect, however, the justification is deduced correctly most of the time. If you desire to disable this feature, customize the variable @code{table-detect-cell-alignment} to set it to @code{nil}. @node Row Commands @subsection Commands for Table Rows @cindex table row commands @cindex insert row in table @findex table-insert-row The command @code{table-insert-row} inserts a row of cells before the current row in a table. The current row where point is located is pushed down after the newly inserted row. A numeric prefix argument specifies the number of rows to insert. Note that in order to insert rows @emph{after} the last row at the bottom of a table, you must place point below the table, i.e.@: outside the table, prior to invoking this command. @cindex delete row in table @findex table-delete-row The command @code{table-delete-row} deletes a row of cells at point. A numeric prefix argument specifies the number of rows to delete. @node Column Commands @subsection Commands for Table Columns @cindex table column commands @cindex insert column in table @findex table-insert-column The command @code{table-insert-column} inserts a column of cells to the left of the current row in a table. The current column where point is located at is pushed right of the newly inserted column. To insert a column to the right side of the right most column, place point to the right of the rightmost column, which is outside of the table, prior to invoking this command. A numeric prefix argument specifies the number of columns to insert. @cindex delete column in table A command @code{table-delete-column} deletes a column of cells at point. A numeric prefix argument specifies the number of columns to delete. @node Fixed Width Mode @subsection Fix Width of Cells @cindex fix width of table cells @findex table-fixed-width-mode The command @code{table-fixed-width-mode} toggles fixed width mode on and off. When the fixed width mode is turned on, editing inside a cell never changes the cell width; when it is off, the cell width expands automatically in order to prevent a word from being folded into multiple lines. By default, the fixed width mode is turned off. @node Table Conversion @subsection Conversion Between Plain Text and Tables @cindex text to table @cindex table to text @findex table-capture The command @code{table-capture} captures plain text in a region and turns it into a table. Unlike @code{table-recognize} (@pxref{Table Recognition}), the original text does not have a table appearance but may hold a logical table structure. For example, some elements separated by known patterns form a two dimensional structure which can be turned into a table. Look at the numbers below. The numbers are horizontally separated by a comma and vertically separated by a newline character. @example 1, 2, 3, 4 5, 6, 7, 8 , 9, 10 @end example @noindent When you invoke @kbd{M-x table-capture} on the above three-line region, the region can be turned into the next table: @example +-----+-----+-----+-----+ |1 |2 |3 |4 | +-----+-----+-----+-----+ |5 |6 |7 |8 | +-----+-----+-----+-----+ | |9 |10 | | +-----+-----+-----+-----+ @end example @noindent where @samp{,} is used for a column delimiter regexp, a newline is used for a row delimiter regexp, cells are left justified, and minimum cell width is 5. @findex table-release The command @code{table-release} does the opposite of @code{table-capture}. It releases a table by removing the table frame and cell borders. This leaves the table contents as plain text. One of the useful applications of @code{table-capture} and @code{table-release} is to edit a text in layout. Look at the following three paragraphs (the latter two are indented with header lines): @example @samp{table-capture} is a powerful command however mastering its power requires some practice. Here is a list of items what it can do. Parse Cell Items By using column delimiter regular expression and raw delimiter regular expression, it parses the specified text area and extracts cell items from non-table text and then forms a table out of them. Capture Text Area When no delimiters are specified it creates a single cell table. The text in the specified region is placed in that cell. @end example @noindent Applying @code{table-capture} to a region containing the above three paragraphs, with empty strings for column delimiter regexp and row delimiter regexp, creates a table with a single cell like the following one. @c The first line's right-hand frame in the following two examples @c sticks out to accommodate for the removal of @samp in the @c produced output!! @example +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ |@samp{table-capture} is a powerful command however mastering its | |power requires some practice. Here is a list of items what it | |can do. | | | |Parse Cell Items By using column delimiter regular | | expression and raw delimiter regular | | expression, it parses the specified text | | area and extracts cell items from | | non-table text and then forms a table out | | of them. | | | |Capture Text Area When no delimiters are specified it | | creates a single cell table. The text in | | the specified region is placed in that | | cell. | +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ @end example @noindent By splitting the cell appropriately we now have a table consisting of paragraphs occupying its own cell. Each cell can now be edited independently without affecting the layout of other cells. @example +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ |@samp{table-capture} is a powerful command however mastering its | |power requires some practice. Here is a list of items what it | |can do. | +---------------------+-------------------------------------------+ |Parse Cell Items |By using column delimiter regular | | |expression and raw delimiter regular | | |expression, it parses the specified text | | |area and extracts cell items from | | |non-table text and then forms a table out | | |of them. | +---------------------+-------------------------------------------+ |Capture Text Area |When no delimiters are specified it | | |creates a single cell table. The text in | | |the specified region is placed in that | | |cell. | +---------------------+-------------------------------------------+ @end example @noindent By applying @code{table-release}, which does the opposite process, the contents become once again plain text. @code{table-release} works as a companion command to @code{table-capture}. @node Measuring Tables @subsection Analyzing Table Dimensions @cindex table dimensions @findex table-query-dimension The command @code{table-query-dimension} analyzes a table structure and reports information regarding its dimensions. In case of the above example table, the @code{table-query-dimension} command displays in echo area: @smallexample Cell: (21w, 6h), Table: (67w, 16h), Dim: (2c, 3r), Total Cells: 5 @end smallexample @noindent This indicates that the current cell is 21 character wide and 6 lines high, the entire table is 67 characters wide and 16 lines high. The table has 2 columns and 3 rows. It has a total of 5 cells, since the first row has a spanned cell. @node Table Misc @subsection Table Miscellany @cindex insert string into table cells @findex table-insert-sequence The command @code{table-insert-sequence} inserts a string into each cell. Each string is a part of a sequence i.e.@: a series of increasing integer numbers. @cindex table in language format @cindex table for HTML and LaTeX @findex table-generate-source The command @code{table-generate-source} generates a table formatted for a specific markup language. It asks for a language (which must be one of @code{html}, @code{latex}, or @code{cals}), a destination buffer where to put the result, and the table caption (a string), and then inserts the generated table in the proper syntax into the destination buffer. The default destination buffer is @code{table.@var{lang}}, where @var{lang} is the language you specified. @ignore arch-tag: 8db54ed8-2036-49ca-b0df-23811d03dc70 @end ignore