Copyright (C) 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 Free Software Foundation, Inc. Copyright 1994,1995,1996,1997,1998,1999,2000 Reuven M. Lerner

Copyright 1992,1993 Steven Byrnes

Copyright 1990,1991,1992 Joseph Brian Wells

     This list of frequently asked questions about GNU Emacs with answers (``FAQ'') may be translated into other languages, transformed into other formats (e.g. Texinfo, Info, WWW, WAIS), and updated with new information.

     The same conditions apply to any derivative of the FAQ as apply to the FAQ itself.  Every copy of the FAQ must include this notice or an approved translation, information on who is currently maintaining the FAQ and how to contact them (including their e-mail address), and information on where the latest version of the FAQ is archived (including FTP information).

     The FAQ may be copied and redistributed under these conditions, except that the FAQ may not be embedded in a larger literary work unless that work itself allows free copying and redistribution.

     [This version has been somewhat edited from the last-posted version (as of August 1999) for inclusion in the Emacs distribution.]

This is the GNU Emacs FAQ, last updated on .

The FAQ is maintained as a Texinfo document, allowing us to create HTML, Info, and TeX documents from a single source file, and is slowly but surely being improved.  Please bear with us as we improve on this format.  This FAQ is maintained as a part of GNU Emacs.  If you find any errors, or have any suggestions, please use M-x report-emacs-bug to report them.

FAQ notation
************

This chapter describes notation used in the GNU Emacs FAQ, as well as in the Emacs documentation.  Consult this section if this is the first time you are reading the FAQ, or if you are confused by notation or terms used in the FAQ.

What do these mean: C-h, C-M-a, RET, ESC a, etc.?
=================================================

  * C-x: press the x key while holding down the Control key

  * M-x: press the x key while holding down the Meta key (if your computer doesn't have a Meta key, see No Meta key)

  * M-C-x: press the x key while holding down both Control and Meta

  * C-M-x: a synonym for the above

  * LFD: Linefeed or Newline; same as C-j

  * RET: Return, sometimes marked Enter; same as C-m

  * DEL: Delete, usually not the same as Backspace; same as C-? (see Backspace invokes help, if deleting invokes Emacs help)

  * ESC: Escape; same as C-[

  * TAB: Tab; same as C-i

  * SPC: Space bar

Key sequences longer than one key (and some single-key sequences) are written inside quotes or on lines by themselves, like this:

       M-x frobnicate-while-foo RET

Any real spaces in such a key sequence should be ignored; only SPC really means press the space key.

The ASCII code sent by C-x (except for C-?) is the value that would be sent by pressing just x minus 96 (or 64 for upper-case X) and will be from 0 to 31.  On Unix and GNU/Linux terminals, the ASCII code sent by M-x is the sum of 128 and the ASCII code that would be sent by pressing just x.  Essentially, Control turns off bits 5 and 6 and Meta turns on bit 7 (DOS and Windows terminals don't set bit 7 when the Meta key is pressed.).

C-? (aka DEL) is ASCII code 127.  It is a misnomer to call C-?  a ``control'' key, since 127 has both bits 5 and 6 turned ON. Also, on very few keyboards does C-? generate ASCII code 127.

See Text Characters (emacs), and see Keys (emacs), for more information.  (see On-line manual, for more information about Info.)

What does M-x COMMAND mean?
===========================

M-x COMMAND means type M-x, then type the name of the command, then type RET.  (see Basic keys, if you're not sure what M-x and RET mean.)

M-x (by default) invokes the command execute-extended-command.  This command allows you to run any Emacs command if you can remember the command's name.  If you can't remember the command's name, you can type TAB and SPC for completion, ? for a list of possibilities, and M-p and M-n (or up-arrow and down-arrow on terminals that have these editing keys) to see previous commands entered.  An Emacs command is an interactive Emacs function.

Your system administrator may have bound other key sequences to invoke execute-extended-command.  A function key labeled Do is a good candidate for this, on keyboards that have such a key.

If you need to run non-interactive Emacs functions, see Evaluating Emacs Lisp code.

How do I read topic XXX in the on-line manual?
==============================================

When we refer you to some TOPIC in the on-line manual, you can read this manual node inside Emacs (assuming nothing is broken) by typing C-h i m emacs RET m TOPIC RET.

This invokes Info, the GNU hypertext documentation browser.  If you don't already know how to use Info, type ? from within Info.

If we refer to TOPIC:SUBTOPIC, type C-h i m emacs RET m TOPIC RET m SUBTOPIC RET.

If these commands don't work as expected, your system administrator may not have installed the Info files, or may have installed them improperly.  In this case you should complain.

See Getting a printed manual, if you would like a paper copy of the Emacs manual.

What are etc/SERVICE, src/config.h, and lisp/default.el?
========================================================

These are files that come with Emacs.  The Emacs distribution is divided into subdirectories; the important ones are etc, lisp, and src.

If you use Emacs, but don't know where it is kept on your system, start Emacs, then type C-h v data-directory RET.  The directory name displayed by this will be the full pathname of the installed etc directory.  (This full path is recorded in the Emacs variable data-directory, and C-h v displays the value and the documentation of a variable.)

The location of your Info directory (i.e., where on-line documentation is stored) is kept in the variable Info-default-directory-list.  Use C-h v Info-default-directory-list RET to see the value of this variable, which will be a list of directory names.  The last directory in that list is probably where most Info files are stored.  By default, Info documentation is placed in /usr/local/info.

Some of these files are available individually via FTP or e-mail; see Informational files for Emacs.  They all are available in the source distribution.  Many of the files in the etc directory are also available via the Emacs Help menu, or by typing C-h ? (M-x help-for-help).

Your system administrator may have removed the src directory and many files from the etc directory.

What are FSF, LPF, OSF, GNU, RMS, FTP, and GPL?
===============================================

FSF
     Free Software Foundation

LPF
     League for Programming Freedom

OSF
     Open Software Foundation

GNU
     GNU's Not Unix

RMS
     Richard Matthew Stallman

FTP
     File Transfer Protocol

GPL
     GNU General Public License

Avoid confusing the FSF, the LPF, and the OSF.  The LPF opposes look-and-feel copyrights and software patents.  The FSF aims to make high quality free software available for everyone.  The OSF is a consortium of computer vendors which develops commercial software for Unix systems.

The word ``free'' in the title of the Free Software Foundation refers to ``freedom,'' not ``zero dollars.''  Anyone can charge any price for GPL-covered software that they want to.  However, in practice, the freedom enforced by the GPL leads to low prices, because you can always get the software for less money from someone else, since everyone has the right to resell or give away GPL-covered software.

General questions
*****************

This chapter contains general questions having to do with Emacs, the Free Software Foundation, and related organizations.

What is the LPF?
================

The LPF opposes the expanding danger of software patents and look-and-feel copyrights.  To get more information, feel free to contact the LPF via e-mail or otherwise.  You may also contact Joe Wells; he will be happy to talk to you about the LPF.

You can find more information about the LPF in the file etc/LPF. More papers describing the LPF's views are available on the Internet and also from the LPF home page (http://lpf.ai.mit.edu/).

What is the real legal meaning of the GNU copyleft?
===================================================

The real legal meaning of the GNU General Public License (copyleft) will only be known if and when a judge rules on its validity and scope. There has never been a copyright infringement case involving the GPL to set any precedents.  Please take any discussion regarding this issue to the newsgroup news:gnu.misc.discuss, which was created to hold the extensive flame wars on the subject.

RMS writes:

     The legal meaning of the GNU copyleft is less important than the spirit, which is that Emacs is a free software project and that work pertaining to Emacs should also be free software.  ``Free'' means that all users have the freedom to study, share, change and improve Emacs.  To make sure everyone has this freedom, pass along source code when you distribute any version of Emacs or a related program, and give the recipients the same freedom that you enjoyed.

What are appropriate messages for news:gnu.emacs.help, news:gnu.emacs.bug, news:comp.emacs, etc.?
=================================================================================================

The file etc/MAILINGLISTS describes the purpose of each GNU mailing list.  (see Informational files for Emacs, if you want a copy of the file.)  For those lists which are gatewayed with newsgroups, it lists both the newsgroup name and the mailing list address.

The newsgroup news:comp.emacs is for discussion of Emacs programs in general.  This includes Emacs along with various other implementations, such as XEmacs, JOVE, MicroEmacs, Freemacs, MG, Unipress, CCA, and Epsilon.

Many people post Emacs questions to news:comp.emacs because they don't receive any of the gnu.* newsgroups.  Arguments have been made both for and against posting GNU-Emacs-specific material to news:comp.emacs.  You have to decide for yourself.

Messages advocating ``non-free'' software are considered unacceptable on any of the gnu.* newsgroups except for news:gnu.misc.discuss, which was created to hold the extensive flame-wars on the subject. ``Non-free'' software includes any software for which the end user can't freely modify the source code and exchange enhancements.  Be careful to remove the gnu.* groups from the Newsgroups: line when posting a followup that recommends such software.

news:gnu.emacs.bug is a place where bug reports appear, but avoid posting bug reports to this newsgroup directly (see Reporting bugs).

Where can I get old postings to news:gnu.emacs.help and other GNU groups?
=========================================================================

The FSF has maintained archives of all of the GNU mailing lists for many years, although there may be some unintentional gaps in coverage.  The archive is not particularly well organized or easy to retrieve individual postings from, but pretty much everything is there.

The archive is at ftp://ftp-mailing-list-archives.gnu.org.

The archive can be browsed over the web at the GNU mail archive (http://mail.gnu.org/archive/html/).

Web-based Usenet search services, such as Google (http://groups.google.com), also archive the gnu.* groups.

Where should I report bugs and other problems with Emacs?
=========================================================

The correct way to report Emacs bugs is by e-mail to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.  Anything sent here also appears in the newsgroup news:gnu.emacs.bug, but please use e-mail instead of news to submit the bug report.  This ensures a reliable return address so you can be contacted for further details.

Be sure to read the ``Bugs'' section of the Emacs manual before reporting a bug to bug-gnu-emacs!  The manual describes in detail how to submit a useful bug report.  (see On-line manual, if you don't know how to read the manual.)

RMS says:

     Sending bug reports to help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org (which has the effect of posting on news:gnu.emacs.help) is undesirable because it takes the time of an unnecessarily large group of people, most of whom are just users and have no idea how to fix these problem. bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org reaches a much smaller group of people who are more likely to know what to do and have expressed a wish to receive more messages about Emacs than the others.

RMS says it is sometimes fine to post to news:gnu.emacs.help:

     If you have reported a bug and you don't hear about a possible fix, then after a suitable delay (such as a week) it is okay to post on gnu.emacs.help asking if anyone can help you.

If you are unsure whether you have found a bug, consider the following non-exhaustive list, courtesy of RMS:

     If Emacs crashes, that is a bug.  If Emacs gets compilation errors while building, that is a bug.  If Emacs crashes while building, that is a bug.  If Lisp code does not do what the documentation says it does, that is a bug.

How do I unsubscribe from this mailing list?
============================================

If you are receiving a GNU mailing list named LIST, you might be able to unsubscribe from it by sending a request to the address LIST-request@gnu.org.  However, this will not work if you are not listed on the main mailing list, but instead receive the mail from a distribution point.  In that case, you will have to track down at which distribution point you are listed.  Inspecting the Received headers on the mail messages may help, along with liberal use of the EXPN or VRFY sendmail commands through telnet SITE-ADDRESS smtp.  Ask your postmaster for help, if you cannot figure out these details.

What is the current address of the FSF?
=======================================

E-mail
     gnu@gnu.org

Telephone
     +1-617-542-5942

Fax
     +1-617-542-2652

World Wide Web
     http://www.gnu.org/

Postal address
     Free Software Foundation

     51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor

     Boston, MA 02110-1301

     USA

For details on how to order items directly from the FSF, see the GNU Web site (http://www.gnu.org/order/order.html).

Getting help
************

This chapter tells you how to get help with Emacs

I'm just starting Emacs; how do I do basic editing?
===================================================

Type C-h t to invoke the self-paced tutorial.  Just typing C-h enters the help system.

Your system administrator may have changed C-h to act like DEL to deal with local keyboards.  You can use M-x help-for-help instead to invoke help.  To discover what key (if any) invokes help on your system, type M-x where-is RET help-for-help RET.  This will print a comma-separated list of key sequences in the echo area.  Ignore the last character in each key sequence listed.  Each of the resulting key sequences invokes help.

Emacs help works best if it is invoked by a single key whose value should be stored in the variable help-char.

There is also a WWW-based tutorial for Emacs 18, much of which is also relevant for later versions of Emacs, available at

http://kufacts.cc.ukans.edu/cwis/writeups/misc/emacsguide.html

How do I find out how to do something in Emacs?
===============================================

There are several methods for finding out how to do things in Emacs.

  * The complete text of the Emacs manual is available on-line via the Info hypertext reader.  Type C-h i to invoke Info.  Typing h immediately after entering Info will provide a short tutorial on how to use it.

  * To quickly locate the section of the manual which discusses a certain issue, or describes a command or a variable, type C-h i m emacs RET i TOPIC RET, where TOPIC is the name of the topic, the command, or the variable which you are looking for.  If this does not land you on the right place in the manual, press , (comma) repeatedly until you find what you need.  (The i and , keys invoke the index-searching functions, which look for the TOPIC you type in all the indices of the Emacs manual.)

  * You can list all of the commands whose names contain a certain word (actually which match a regular expression) using C-h a (M-x command-apropos).

  * The command C-h F (Info-goto-emacs-command-node) prompts for the name of a command, and then attempts to find the section in the Emacs manual where that command is described.

  * You can list all of the functions and variables whose names contain a certain word using M-x apropos.

  * You can list all of the functions and variables whose documentation matches a regular expression or a string, using M-x apropos-documentation.

  * You can order a hardcopy of the manual from the FSF.  See Getting a printed manual.

  * You can get a printed reference card listing commands and keys to invoke them.  You can order one from the FSF for $1 (or 10 for $5), or you can print your own from the etc/refcard.tex or etc/refcard.ps files in the Emacs distribution.  Beginning with version 21.1, the Emacs distribution comes with translations of the reference card into several languages; look for files named etc/LANG-refcard.*, where LANG is a two-letter code of the language.  For example, the German version of the reference card is in the files etc/de-refcard.tex and etc/de-refcard.ps.

  * There are many other commands in Emacs for getting help and information.  To get a list of these commands, type ? after C-h.

How do I get a printed copy of the Emacs manual?
================================================

You can order a printed copy of the Emacs manual from the FSF.  For details see the GNU Web site (http://www.gnu.org/order/order.html).

The full Texinfo source for the manual also comes in the man directory of the Emacs distribution, if you're daring enough to try to print out this 620-page manual yourself (see Printing a Texinfo file).

If you absolutely have to print your own copy, and you don't have TeX, you can get a PostScript version from

http://www.gnu.org/manual/emacs/ps/emacs.ps.gz

An HTML version of the manual is at

www.gnu.org/manual/emacs/index.html

See Learning how to do something, for how to view the manual on-line.

Where can I get documentation on Emacs Lisp?
============================================

Within Emacs, you can type C-h f to get the documentation for a function, C-h v for a variable.

For more information, obtain the Emacs Lisp Reference Manual.  Details on ordering it from FSF are on the GNU Web site (http://www.gnu.org/order/order.html).

The Emacs Lisp Reference Manual is also available on-line, in Info format.  Texinfo source for the manual (along with pregenerated Info files) is available at

ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/emacs/elisp-manual-21-2.6.tar.gz

and all mirrors of ftp.gnu.org (for a list, see Current GNU distributions).  See Installing Texinfo documentation, if you want to install the Info files, or Printing a Texinfo file, if you want to use the Texinfo source to print the manual yourself.

An HTML version of the Emacs Lisp Reference Manual is available at

http://www.gnu.org/manual/elisp-manual-21-2.6/elisp.html

How do I install a piece of Texinfo documentation?
==================================================

First, you must turn the Texinfo files into Info files.  You may do this using the stand-alone makeinfo program, available as part of the latest Texinfo package at

ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/texinfo/texinfo-4.0.tar.gz

and all mirrors of ftp.gnu.org (for a list, see Current GNU distributions).

For information about the Texinfo format, read the Texinfo manual which comes with the Texinfo package.  This manual also comes installed in Info format, so you can read it on-line; type C-h i m texinfo RET.

Alternatively, you could use the Emacs command M-x texinfo-format-buffer, after visiting the Texinfo source file of the manual you want to convert.

Neither texinfo-format-buffer nor makeinfo installs the resulting Info files in Emacs's Info tree.  To install Info files, perform these steps:

 1. Move the files to the info directory in the installed Emacs distribution.  See File-name conventions, if you don't know where that is.

 2. Run the install-info command, which is part of the Texinfo distribution, to update the main Info directory menu, like this:

           install-info --info-dir=DIR-PATH DIR-PATH/FILE

     where DIR-PATH is the full path to the directory where you copied the produced Info file(s), and FILE is the name of the Info file you produced and want to install.

     If you don't have the install-info command installed, you can edit the file info/dir in the installed Emacs distribution, and add a line for the top level node in the Info package that you are installing.  Follow the examples already in this file.  The format is:

          * Topic: (relative-pathname).  Short description of topic.

If you want to install Info files and you don't have the necessary privileges, you have several options:

  * Info files don't actually need to be installed before being used.  You can feed a file name to the Info-goto-node command (invoked by pressing g in Info mode) by typing the name of the file in parentheses.  This goes to the node named ``Top'' in that file.  For example, to view a Info file named INFO-FILE in your home directory, you can type this:

          C-h i g (~/INFO-FILE) RET

  * You can create your own Info directory.  You can tell Emacs where that Info directory is by adding its pathname to the value of the variable Info-default-directory-list.  For example, to use a private Info directory which is a subdirectory of your home directory named Info, you could put this in your .emacs file:

          (setq Info-default-directory-list
                (cons "~/Info" Info-default-directory-list))

     You will need a top-level Info file named dir in this directory which has everything the system dir file has in it, except it should list only entries for Info files in that directory.  You might not need it if all files in this directory were referenced by other dir files.  The node lists from all dir files in Info-default-directory-list are merged by the Info system.

How do I print a Texinfo file?
==============================

You can't get nicely printed output from Info files; you must still have the original Texinfo source file for the manual you want to print.

Assuming you have TeX installed on your system, follow these steps:

 1. Make sure the first line of the Texinfo file looks like this:

          \input texinfo

     You may need to change texinfo to the full pathname of the texinfo.tex file, which comes with Emacs as man/texinfo.tex (or copy or link it into the current directory).

 2. Type texi2dvi TEXINFO-SOURCE, where TEXINFO-SOURCE is the name of the Texinfo source file for which you want to produce a printed copy.

     The texi2dvi script is part of the GNU Texinfo distribution (see Installing Texinfo documentation).

 3. Print the DVI file TEXINFO-SOURCE.dvi in the normal way for printing DVI files at your site.  For example, if you have a PostScript printer, run the dvips program to print the DVI file on that printer.

To get more general instructions, retrieve the latest Texinfo package (see Installing Texinfo documentation).

Can I view Info files without using Emacs?
==========================================

Yes.  Here are some alternative programs:

  * info, a stand-alone version of the Info program, comes as part of the Texinfo package.  See Installing Texinfo documentation, for details.

  * Xinfo, a stand-alone version of the Info program that runs under X Window system.  You can get it at ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/xinfo/xinfo-1.01.01.tar.gz and all mirrors of ftp.gnu.org (see Current GNU distributions, for a list of mirrors).

  * Tkinfo, an Info viewer that runs under X Window system and uses Tcl/Tk. You can get Tkinfo at http://math-www.uni-paderborn.de/~axel/tkinfo/.

What informational files are available for Emacs?
=================================================

This isn't a frequently asked question, but it should be!  A variety of informational files about Emacs and relevant aspects of the GNU project are available for you to read.

The following files are available in the etc directory of the Emacs distribution (see File-name conventions, if you're not sure where that is).

COPYING
     Emacs General Public License

DISTRIB
     Emacs Availability Information, including the popular Free Software Foundation Order Form

FTP
     How to get GNU Software by Internet FTP or by UUCP

GNU
     The GNU Manifesto

INTERVIEW
     Richard Stallman discusses his public-domain UNIX-compatible software system with BYTE editors

LPF
     Why you should join the League for Programming Freedom

MACHINES
     Status of Emacs on Various Machines and Systems

MAILINGLISTS
     GNU Project Electronic Mailing Lists

NEWS
     Emacs news, a history of recent user-visible changes

SERVICE
     GNU Service Directory

SUN-SUPPORT
     including ``Using Emacstool with GNU Emacs''

Latest versions of the above files also available at

ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/GNUinfo/

More GNU information, including back issues of the GNU's Bulletin, are at

http://www.gnu.org/bulletins/bulletins.html and

http://www.cs.pdx.edu/~trent/gnu/gnu.html

Where can I get help in installing Emacs?
=========================================

See Installing Emacs, for some basic installation hints, and see Problems building Emacs, or Linking with -lX11 fails, if you have problems with the installation.

The file etc/SERVICE (see File-name conventions, if you're not sure where that is) lists companies and individuals willing to sell you help in installing or using Emacs.  An up-to-date version this file is available on ftp.gnu.org (see Informational files for Emacs).

Where can I get the latest version of this FAQ?
===============================================

The Emacs FAQ is available in several ways:

  * Inside of Emacs itself.  You can get it from selecting the Emacs FAQ option from the Help menu of the Emacs menu bar at the top of any Emacs frame, or by typing C-h C-f (M-x view-emacs-FAQ).

  * Via USENET.  If you can read news, the FAQ should be available in your news spool, in both the news:gnu.emacs.help and news:comp.emacs newsgroups.  Every news reader should allow you to read any news article that is still in the news spool, even if you have read the article before.  You may need to read the instructions for your news reader to discover how to do this.  In rn, this command will do this for you at the article selection level:

          ?GNU Emacs Frequently Asked Questions?rc:m

     In Gnus, you should type C-u C-x C-s from the *Summary* buffer or C-u SPC from the *Newsgroup* buffer to view all articles in a newsgroup.

     If the FAQ articles have expired and have been deleted from your news spool, it might (or might not) do some good to complain to your news administrator, because the most recent FAQ should not expire for a while.

  * Via HTTP or FTP.  You can always fetch the latest FAQ from

     http://www.lerner.co.il/emacs/ and

     ftp://ftp.lerner.co.il/pub/emacs/

  * In the Emacs distribution.  Since Emacs 18.56, the FAQ at the time of release has been part of the Emacs distribution as either etc/FAQ or man/faq.texi (see File-name conventions).

  * Via the World Wide Web.  A hypertext version is available at

     http://www.lerner.co.il/emacs/

  * Via anonymous ftp and e-mail from rtfm.mit.edu (and its mirror in Europe), the main repository for FAQs and other items posted to news.answers.  The Emacs FAQs are available at

     ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/comp.emacs/ and

     ftp://ftp.uni-paderborn.de/pub/doc/FAQ/comp/emacs/

     If you do not have access to anonymous FTP, you can access the archives using the rtfm.mit.edu mail server.  The Emacs FAQ can be retrieved by sending mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with a blank subject and containing

          send usenet/news.answers/GNU-Emacs-FAQ/diffs
          send usenet/news.answers/GNU-Emacs-FAQ/part1
          send usenet/news.answers/GNU-Emacs-FAQ/part2
          send usenet/news.answers/GNU-Emacs-FAQ/part3
          send usenet/news.answers/GNU-Emacs-FAQ/part4
          send usenet/news.answers/GNU-Emacs-FAQ/part5

     For more information, send email to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with help and index in the body on separate lines.

  * As the very last resort, you can e-mail a request to emacs-faq@lerner.co.il.  Don't do this unless you have made a good-faith effort to obtain the FAQ list via one of the methods listed above.

Status of Emacs
***************

This chapter gives you basic information about Emacs, including its latest version status.

Where does the name ``Emacs'' come from?
========================================

Emacs originally was an acronym for Editor MACroS.  RMS says he ``picked the name Emacs because E was not in use as an abbreviation on ITS at the time.''  The first Emacs was a set of macros written in 1976 at MIT by RMS for the editor TECO (Text Editor and COrrector, originally Tape Editor and COrrector) under ITS on a PDP-10.  RMS had already extended TECO with a ``real-time'' full-screen mode with reprogrammable keys. Emacs was started by Guy Steele as a project to unify the many divergent TECO command sets and key bindings at MIT, and completed by RMS.

Many people have said that TECO code looks a lot like line noise; you can read more at news:alt.lang.teco.  Someone has written a TECO implementation in Emacs Lisp (to find it, see Packages that do not come with Emacs); it would be an interesting project to run the original TECO Emacs inside of Emacs.

For some not-so-serious alternative reasons for Emacs to have that name, check out the file etc/JOKES (see File-name conventions).

What is the latest version of Emacs?
====================================

Emacs 21.3 is the current version as of this writing.

What is different about Emacs 20?
=================================

To find out what has changed in recent versions, type C-h C-n (M-x view-emacs-news).  The oldest changes are at the bottom of the file, so you might want to read it starting there, rather than at the top.

The differences between Emacs versions 18 and 19 was rather dramatic; the introduction of frames, faces, and colors on windowing systems was obvious to even the most casual user.

There are differences between Emacs versions 19 and 20 as well, but many are more subtle or harder to find.  Among the changes are the inclusion of MULE code for languages that use non-Latin characters and for mixing several languages in the same document; the ``Customize'' facility for modifying variables without having to use Lisp; and automatic conversion of files from Macintosh, Microsoft, and Unix platforms.

A number of older Lisp packages, such as Gnus, Supercite and the calendar/diary, have been updated and enhanced to work with Emacs 20, and are now included with the standard distribution.

What is different about Emacs 21?
=================================

Emacs 21 features a thorough rewrite of the display engine.  The new display engine supports variable-size fonts, images, and can play sounds on platforms which support that.  As a result, the visual appearance of Emacs, when it runs on a windowed display, is much more reminiscent of modern GUI programs, and includes 3D widgets (used for the mode line and the scroll bars), a configurable and extensible toolbar, tooltips (a.k.a. balloon help), and other niceties.

In addition, Emacs 21 supports faces on text-only terminals.  This means that you can now have colors when you run Emacs on a GNU/Linux console and on xterm with emacs -nw.

Common requests
***************

How do I set up a .emacs file properly?
=======================================

See Init File (emacs).

In general, new Emacs users should not have .emacs files, because it causes confusing non-standard behavior.  Then they send questions to help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org asking why Emacs isn't behaving as documented.

Beginning with version 20.1, Emacs includes the new Customize facility, which can be invoked using M-x customize RET. This allows users who are unfamiliar with Emacs Lisp to modify their .emacs files in a relatively straightforward way, using menus rather than Lisp code.  Not all packages support Customize as of this writing, but the number is growing fairly steadily.

While Customize might indeed make it easier to configure Emacs, consider taking a bit of time to learn Emacs Lisp and modifying your .emacs directly.  Simple configuration options are described rather completely in see Init File (emacs), for users interested in performing frequently requested, basic tasks.

Sometimes users are unsure as to where their .emacs file should be found.  Visiting the file as ~/.emacs from Emacs will find the correct file.

How do I get colors and syntax highlighting on a TTY?
=====================================================

In Emacs 21.1 and later, colors and faces are supported in non-windowed mode, i.e. on Unix and GNU/Linux text-only terminals and consoles, and when invoked as emacs -nw on X and MS-Windows.  (Colors and faces were supported in the MS-DOS port since Emacs 19.29.)  Emacs automatically detects color support at startup and uses it if available.  If you think that your terminal supports colors, but Emacs won't use them, check the termcap entry for your display type for color-related capabilities.

The command M-x list-colors-display pops up a window which exhibits all the colors Emacs knows about on the current display.

Syntax highlighting is usually turned off by default; see Turning on syntax highlighting, for instructions how to turn it on.

How do I debug a .emacs file?
=============================

Start Emacs with the -debug-init command-line option.  This enables the Emacs Lisp debugger before evaluating your .emacs file, and places you in the debugger if something goes wrong.  The top line in the trace-back buffer will be the error message, and the second or third line of that buffer will display the Lisp code from your .emacs file that caused the problem.

You can also evaluate an individual function or argument to a function in your .emacs file by moving the cursor to the end of the function or argument and typing C-x C-e (M-x eval-last-sexp).

Use C-h v (M-x describe-variable) to check the value of variables which you are trying to set or use.

How do I make Emacs display the current line (or column) number?
================================================================

To have Emacs automatically display the current line number of the point in the mode line, do M-x line-number-mode.  You can also put the form

     (setq line-number-mode t)

in your .emacs file to achieve this whenever you start Emacs. (Line number display is on by default, unless your site-specific initialization disables it.) Note that Emacs will not display the line number if the buffer's size in bytes is larger than the value of the variable line-number-display-limit.

As of Emacs 20, you can similarly display the current column with M-x column-number-mode, or by putting the form

     (setq column-number-mode t)

in your .emacs file.

The "%c" format specifier in the variable mode-line-format will insert the current column's value into the mode line.  See the documentation for mode-line-format (using C-h v mode-line-format RET) for more information on how to set and use this variable.

Users of all Emacs versions can display the current column using the column package written by Per Abrahamsen.  See Packages that do not come with Emacs, for instructions on how to get it.

None of the vi emulation modes provide the ``set number'' capability of vi (as far as we know).  The setnu package written by Kyle Jones provides this feature.  So too does wb-line-number, written by Naoki Nakamura.

How can I modify the titlebar to contain the current file name?
===============================================================

The contents of an Emacs frame's titlebar is controlled by the variable frame-title-format, which has the same structure as the variable mode-line-format.  (Use C-h v or M-x describe-variable to get information about one or both of these variables.)

By default, the titlebar for a frame does contain the name of the buffer currently being visited, except if there is a single frame.  In such a case, the titlebar contains Emacs invocation name and the name of the machine at which Emacs was invoked.  This is done by setting frame-title-format to the default value of

     (multiple-frames "%b" ("" invocation-name "@" system-name))

To modify the behavior such that frame titlebars contain the buffer's name regardless of the number of existing frames, include the following in your .emacs:

     (setq frame-title-format "%b")

How do I turn on abbrevs by default just in mode MYMODE?
========================================================

Put this in your .emacs file:

     (condition-case ()
        (quietly-read-abbrev-file)
       (file-error nil))

     (add-hook 'MYMODE-mode-hook
               (lambda ()
                (setq abbrev-mode t)))

How do I turn on auto-fill-mode by default?
===========================================

To turn on auto-fill-mode just once for one buffer, use M-x auto-fill-mode.

To turn it on for every buffer in a certain mode, you must use the hook for that mode.  For example, to turn on auto-fill mode for all text buffers, including the following in your .emacs file:

     (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'turn-on-auto-fill)

If you want auto-fill mode on in all major modes, do this:

     (setq-default auto-fill-function 'do-auto-fill)

How do I make Emacs use a certain major mode for certain files?
===============================================================

If you want to use a certain mode FOO for all files whose names end with the extension .BAR, this will do it for you:

     (setq auto-mode-alist (cons '("\\.BAR\\'" . FOO-mode) auto-mode-alist))

Otherwise put this somewhere in the first line of any file you want to edit in the mode FOO (in the second line, if the first line begins with #!):

     -*- FOO -*-

Beginning with Emacs 19, the variable interpreter-mode-alist specifies which mode to use when loading a shell script.  (Emacs determines which interpreter you're using by examining the first line of the script.)  This feature only applies when the file name doesn't indicate which mode to use.  Use C-h v (or M-x describe-variable) on interpreter-mode-alist to learn more.

How do I search for, delete, or replace unprintable (eight-bit or control) characters?
======================================================================================

To search for a single character that appears in the buffer as, for example, \237, you can type C-s C-q 2 3 7.  (This assumes the value of search-quote-char is 17 (i.e., C-q).) Searching for all unprintable characters is best done with a regular expression (regexp) search.  The easiest regexp to use for the unprintable chars is the complement of the regexp for the printable chars.

  * Regexp for the printable chars: [\t\n\r\f -~]

  * Regexp for the unprintable chars: [^\t\n\r\f -~]

To type these special characters in an interactive argument to isearch-forward-regexp or re-search-forward, you need to use C-q.  (\t, \n, \r, and \f stand respectively for TAB, LFD, RET, and C-l.)  So, to search for unprintable characters using re-search-forward:

M-x re-search-forward RET [^ TAB C-q LFD C-q RET C-q C-l SPC -~] RET

Using isearch-forward-regexp:

C-M-s [^ TAB LFD C-q RET C-q C-l SPC -~]

To delete all unprintable characters, simply use replace-regexp:

M-x replace-regexp RET [^ TAB C-q LFD C-q RET C-q C-l SPC -~] RET RET

Replacing is similar to the above.  To replace all unprintable characters with a colon, use:

M-x replace-regexp RET [^ TAB C-q LFD C-q RET C-q C-l SPC -~] RET : RET

  * You don't need to quote TAB with either isearch or typing something in the minibuffer.

How can I highlight a region of text in Emacs?
==============================================

You can cause the region to be highlighted when the mark is active by including

     (transient-mark-mode t)

in your .emacs file.  (Also see Turning on syntax highlighting.)

How do I control Emacs's case-sensitivity when searching/replacing?
===================================================================

For searching, the value of the variable case-fold-search determines whether they are case sensitive:

     (setq case-fold-search nil) ; make searches case sensitive
     (setq case-fold-search t)   ; make searches case insensitive

Similarly, for replacing, the variable case-replace determines whether replacements preserve case.

To change the case sensitivity just for one major mode, use the major mode's hook.  For example:

     (add-hook 'FOO-mode-hook
               (lambda ()
                (setq case-fold-search nil)))

How do I make Emacs wrap words for me?
======================================

Use auto-fill-mode, activated by typing M-x auto-fill-mode. The default maximum line width is 70, determined by the variable fill-column.  To learn how to turn this on automatically, see Turning on auto-fill by default.

Where can I get a better spelling checker for Emacs?
====================================================

Use Ispell.  See Ispell.

How can I spell-check TeX or *roff documents?
=============================================

Use Ispell.  Ispell can handle TeX and *roff documents. See Ispell.

How do I change load-path?
==========================

In general, you should only add to the load-path.  You can add directory /DIR/SUBDIR to the load path like this:

     (setq load-path (cons "/dir/subdir/" load-path))

To do this relative to your home directory:

     (setq load-path (cons "~/mysubdir/" load-path))

How do I use an already running Emacs from another window?
==========================================================

emacsclient, which comes with Emacs, is for editing a file using an already running Emacs rather than starting up a new Emacs.  It does this by sending a request to the already running Emacs, which must be expecting the request.

  * Setup:

     Emacs must have executed the server-start function for emacsclient to work.  This can be done either by a command line option:

          emacs -f server-start

     or by invoking server-start from .emacs:

          (if (SOME CONDITIONS ARE MET) (server-start))

     When this is done, Emacs creates a Unix domain socket. The socket is either named .emacs_server, in the user's home directory, or esrv-USERID-SYSTEMNAME, in the /tmp directory, depending on your system.  See server-socket-name.

     To get your news reader, mail reader, etc., to invoke emacsclient, try setting the environment variable EDITOR (or sometimes VISUAL) to the value emacsclient.  You may have to specify the full pathname of the emacsclient program instead.  Examples:

          # csh commands:
          setenv EDITOR emacsclient

          # using full pathname
          setenv EDITOR /usr/local/emacs/etc/emacsclient

          # sh command:
          EDITOR=emacsclient ; export EDITOR

  * Normal use:

     When emacsclient is run, it connects to the .emacs_server socket and passes its command line options to server.  When server receives these requests, it sends this information to the the Emacs process, which at the next opportunity will visit the files specified.  (Line numbers can be specified just like with Emacs.)  The user will have to switch to the Emacs window by hand.  When the user is done editing a file, the user can type C-x # (or M-x server-edit) to indicate this.  If there is another buffer requested by emacsclient, Emacs will switch to it; otherwise emacsclient will exit, signaling the calling program to continue.

     emacsclient and server must be running on machines which share the same filesystem for this to work.  The pathnames that emacsclient specifies should be correct for the filesystem that the Emacs process sees.  The Emacs process should not be suspended at the time emacsclient is invoked.  On Unix and GNU/Linux systems, emacsclient should either be invoked from another X window, or from a shell window inside Emacs itself, or from another interactive session, e.g., by means of a screen program.

     There is an enhanced version of emacsclient/server called gnuserv, written by Andy Norman (see Packages that do not come with Emacs).  gnuserv uses Internet domain sockets, so it can work across most network connections. It also supports the execution of arbitrary Emacs Lisp forms and does not require the client program to wait for completion.

     The alpha version of an enhanced gnuserv is available at

     ftp://ftp.wellfleet.com/netman/psmith/emacs/gnuserv-2.1alpha.tar.gz

     The version available from http://meltin.net/hacks/emacs/ is more recent, and has been tested with Emacs 21.2.

How do I make Emacs recognize my compiler's funny error messages?
=================================================================

The variable compilation-error-regexp-alist helps control how Emacs parses your compiler output.  It is a list of triplets of the form: (REGEXP FILE-IDX LINE-IDX), where REGEXP, FILE-IDX and LINE-IDX are strings.  To help determine what the constituent elements should be, load compile.el and then type C-h v compilation-error-regexp-alist RET to see the current value.  A good idea is to look at compile.el itself as the comments included for this variable are quite useful---the regular expressions required for your compiler's output may be very close to one already provided.  Once you have determined the proper regexps, use the following to inform Emacs of your changes:

     (setq compilation-error-regexp-alist
           (cons '(REGEXP FILE-IDX LINE-IDX)
              compilation-error-regexp-alist))

How do I change the indentation for switch?
===========================================

Many people want to indent their switch statements like this:

     f()
     {
       switch(x) {
         case A:
           x1;
           break;
         case B:
           x2;
           break;
         default:
           x3;
       }
     }

The solution at first appears to be: set c-indent-level to 4 and c-label-offset to -2.  However, this will give you an indentation spacing of four instead of two.

The real solution is to use cc-mode (the default mode for C programming in Emacs 20 and later) and add the following line to yoyr .emacs:

     (c-set-offset 'case-label '+)

There appears to be no way to do this with the old c-mode.

How to customize indentation in C, C++, and Java buffers?
=========================================================

The Emacs cc-mode features an interactive procedure for customizing the indentation style, which is fully explained in the CC Mode manual that is part of the Emacs distribution, see Customization Indentation (The CC Mode Manual).  Here's a short summary of the procedure:

 1. Go to the beginning of the first line where you don't like the indentation and type C-c C-o.  Emacs will prompt you for the syntactic symbol; type RET to accept the default it suggests.

 2. Emacs now prompts for the offset of this syntactic symbol, showing the default (the current definition) inside parentheses.  You can choose one of these:

     0
          No extra indentation.

     +
          Indent one basic offset.

     -
          Outdent one basic offset.

     ++
          Indent two basic offsets

     --
          Outdent two basic offsets.

     *
          Indent half basic offset.

     /
          Outdent half basic offset.

 3. After choosing one of these symbols, type C-c C-q to reindent the line or the block according to what you just specified.

 4. If you don't like the result, go back to step 1.  Otherwise, add the following line to your .emacs:

          (c-set-offset 'SYNTACTIC-SYMBOL OFFSET)

     where SYNTACTIC-SYMBOL is the name Emacs shows in the minibuffer when you type C-c C-o at the beginning of the line, and OFFSET is one of the indentation symbols listed above (+, /, 0, etc.) that you've chosen during the interactive procedure.

 5. Go to the next line whose indentation is not to your liking and repeat the process there.

It is recommended to put all the resulting (c-set-offset ...) customizations inside a C mode hook, like this:

     (defun my-c-mode-hook ()
       (c-set-offset ...)
       (c-set-offset ...))
     (add-hook 'c-mode-hook 'my-c-mode-hook)

Using c-mode-hook avoids the need to put a (require 'cc-mode) into your .emacs file, because c-set-offset might be unavailable when cc-mode is not loaded.

Note that c-mode-hook runs for C source files only; use c++-mode-hook for C++ sources, java-mode-hook for Java sources, etc.  If you want the same customizations to be in effect in all languages supported by cc-mode, use c-mode-common-hook.

How can I make Emacs automatically scroll horizontally?
=======================================================

In Emacs 21 and later, this is on by default: if the variable truncate-lines is non-nil in the current buffer, Emacs automatically scrolls the display horizontally when point moves off the left or right edge of the window.

In Emacs 20, use the hscroll-mode.  Here is some information from the documentation, available by typing C-h f hscroll-mode RET:

Automatically scroll horizontally when the point moves off the left or right edge of the window.

  - Type M-x hscroll-mode to enable it in the current buffer.

  - Type M-x hscroll-global-mode to enable it in every buffer.

  - turn-on-hscroll is useful in mode hooks as in:

          (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'turn-on-hscroll)

  - hscroll-margin controls how close the cursor can get to the edge of the window.

  - hscroll-step-percent controls how far to jump once we decide to do so.

How do I make Emacs ``typeover'' or ``overwrite'' instead of inserting?
=======================================================================

M-x overwrite-mode (a minor mode).  This toggles overwrite-mode on and off, so exiting from overwrite-mode is as easy as another M-x overwrite-mode.

On some systems, Insert toggles overwrite-mode on and off.

How do I stop Emacs from beeping on a terminal?
===============================================

Martin R. Frank writes:

Tell Emacs to use the visible bell instead of the audible bell, and set the visible bell to nothing.

That is, put the following in your TERMCAP environment variable (assuming you have one):

     ... :vb=: ...

And evaluate the following Lisp form:

     (setq visible-bell t)

How do I turn down the bell volume in Emacs running under X?
============================================================

On X Window system, you can adjust the bell volume and duration for all programs with the shell command xset.

Invoking xset without any arguments produces some basic information, including the following:

     usage:  xset [-display host:dpy] option ...
       To turn bell off:
           -b                b off               b 0
       To set bell volume, pitch and duration:
            b [vol [pitch [dur]]]          b on

How do I tell Emacs to automatically indent a new line to the indentation of the previous line?
===============================================================================================

Such behavior is automatic in Emacs 20 and later.  From the etc/NEWS file for Emacs 20.2:

     ** In Text mode, now only blank lines separate paragraphs.  This makes
     it possible to get the full benefit of Adaptive Fill mode in Text mode,
     and other modes derived from it (such as Mail mode).  TAB in Text
     mode now runs the command indent-relative; this makes a practical
     difference only when you use indented paragraphs.

     As a result, the old Indented Text mode is now identical to Text mode,
     and is an alias for it.

     If you want spaces at the beginning of a line to start a paragraph, use
     the new mode, Paragraph Indent Text mode.

If you have auto-fill-mode turned on (see Turning on auto-fill by default), you can tell Emacs to prefix every line with a certain character sequence, the fill prefix.  Type the prefix at the beginning of a line, position point after it, and then type C-x . (set-fill-prefix) to set the fill prefix.  Thereafter, auto-filling will automatically put the fill prefix at the beginning of new lines, and M-q (fill-paragraph) will maintain any fill prefix when refilling the paragraph.

If you have paragraphs with different levels of indentation, you will have to set the fill prefix to the correct value each time you move to a new paragraph.  There are many packages available to deal with this (see Packages that do not come with Emacs).  Look for ``fill'' and ``indent'' keywords for guidance.

How do I show which parenthesis matches the one I'm looking at?
===============================================================

As of version 19, Emacs comes with paren.el, which (when loaded) will automatically highlight matching parentheses whenever point (i.e., the cursor) is located over one.  To load paren.el automatically, include the line

     (require 'paren)

in your .emacs file.  Alan Shutko reports that as of version 20.1, you must also call show-paren-mode in your .emacs file:

     (show-paren-mode 1)

Customize will let you turn on show-paren-mode.  Use M-x customize-group RET paren-showing RET.  From within Customize, you can also go directly to the ``paren-showing'' group.

Alternatives to paren include:

  * If you're looking at a right parenthesis (or brace or bracket) you can delete it and reinsert it.  Emacs will momentarily move the cursor to the matching parenthesis.

  * C-M-f (forward-sexp) and C-M-b (backward-sexp) will skip over one set of balanced parentheses, so you can see which parentheses match.  (You can train it to skip over balanced brackets and braces at the same time by modifying the syntax table.)

  * Here is some Emacs Lisp that will make the % key show the matching parenthesis, like in vi.  In addition, if the cursor isn't over a parenthesis, it simply inserts a % like normal.

          ;; By an unknown contributor

          (global-set-key "%" 'match-paren)

          (defun match-paren (arg)
            "Go to the matching paren if on a paren; otherwise insert %."
            (interactive "p")
            (cond ((looking-at "\\s\(") (forward-list 1) (backward-char 1))
                  ((looking-at "\\s\)") (forward-char 1) (backward-list 1))
                  (t (self-insert-command (or arg 1)))))

In C mode, can I show just the lines that will be left after #ifdef commands are handled by the compiler?
=========================================================================================================

M-x hide-ifdef-mode.  (This is a minor mode.)  You might also want to investigate cpp.el, which is distributed with Emacs.

Is there an equivalent to the . (dot) command of vi?
====================================================

(. is the redo command in vi.  It redoes the last insertion/deletion.)

As of Emacs 20.3, there is indeed a repeat command (C-x z) that repeats the last command.  If you preface it with a prefix argument, the prefix arg is applied to the command.

You can also type C-x ESC ESC (repeat-complex-command) to reinvoke commands that used the minibuffer to get arguments.  In repeat-complex-command you can type M-p and M-n (and also up-arrow and down-arrow, if your keyboard has these keys) to scan through all the different complex commands you've typed.

To repeat a set of commands, use keyboard macros.  (see Keyboard Macros (emacs).)

If you're really desperate for the . command, use VIPER, a vi emulation mode which comes with Emacs, and which appears to support it.  (see VIPER.)

What are the valid X resource settings (i.e., stuff in .Xdefaults)?
===================================================================

See X Resources (emacs).

You can also use a resource editor, such as editres (for X11R5 and onwards), to look at the resource names for the menu bar, assuming Emacs was compiled with the X toolkit.

How do I execute (``evaluate'') a piece of Emacs Lisp code?
===========================================================

There are a number of ways to execute (evaluate, in Lisp lingo) an Emacs Lisp form:

  * If you want it evaluated every time you run Emacs, put it in a file named .emacs in your home directory.  This is known as ``your .emacs file,'' and contains all of your personal customizations.

  * You can type the form in the *scratch* buffer, and then type LFD (or C-j) after it.  The result of evaluating the form will be inserted in the buffer.

  * In emacs-lisp-mode, typing C-M-x evaluates a top-level form before or around point.

  * Typing C-x C-e in any buffer evaluates the Lisp form immediately before point and prints its value in the echo area.

  * Typing M-: or M-x eval-expression allows you to type a Lisp form in the minibuffer which will be evaluated once you press RET.

  * You can use M-x load-file to have Emacs evaluate all the Lisp forms in a file.  (To do this from Lisp use the function load instead.)

     The functions load-library, eval-region, eval-current-buffer, require, and autoload are also useful; see Emacs Lisp documentation, if you want to learn more about them.

How do I change Emacs's idea of the TAB character's length?
===========================================================

Set the variable default-tab-width.  For example, to set TAB stops every 10 characters, insert the following in your .emacs file:

     (setq default-tab-width 10)

Do not confuse variable tab-width with variable tab-stop-list.  The former is used for the display of literal TAB characters.  The latter controls what characters are inserted when you press the TAB character in certain modes.

How do I insert > at the beginning of every line?
=================================================

To do this to an entire buffer, type M-< M-x replace-regexp RET ^ RET > RET.

To do this to a region, use string-insert-rectangle. Set the mark (C-SPC) at the beginning of the first line you want to prefix, move the cursor to last line to be prefixed, and type M-x string-insert-rectangle RET.  To do this for the whole buffer, type C-x h M-x string-insert-rectangle RET.

If you are trying to prefix a yanked mail message with >, you might want to set the variable mail-yank-prefix.  Better yet, use the Supercite package (see Supercite), which provides flexible citation for yanked mail and news messages; it is included in Emacs since version 19.20.  See Changing the included text prefix, for additional information.

How do I insert _^H before each character in a region to get an underlined paragraph?
=====================================================================================

Mark the region and then type M-x underline-region RET.

How do I repeat a command as many times as possible?
====================================================

Use C-x ( and C-x ) to make a keyboard macro that invokes the command and then type M-0 C-x e.

Any messages your command prints in the echo area will be suppressed.

If you need to repeat a command a small number of times, you can use C-x z, see Repeating commands.

How do I make Emacs behave like this: when I go up or down, the cursor should stay in the same column even if the line is too short?
====================================================================================================================================

M-x picture-mode.

How do I tell Emacs to iconify itself?
======================================

C-z iconifies Emacs when running under X and suspends Emacs otherwise.  See Frame Commands (emacs).

How do I use regexps (regular expressions) in Emacs?
====================================================

See Regexp Backslash (emacs).

The or operator is \|, not |, and the grouping operators are \( and \).  Also, the string syntax for a backslash is \\.  To specify a regular expression like xxx\(foo\|bar\) in a Lisp string, use xxx\\(foo\\|bar\\).

Note the doubled backslashes!

  * Unlike in Unix grep, sed, etc., a complement character set ([^...])  can match a newline character (LFD a.k.a. C-j a.k.a. \n), unless newline is mentioned as one of the characters not to match.

  * The character syntax regexps (e.g., \sw) are not meaningful inside character set regexps (e.g., [aeiou]).  (This is actually typical for regexp syntax.)

How do I perform a replace operation across more than one file?
===============================================================

The ``tags'' feature of Emacs includes the command tags-query-replace which performs a query-replace across all the files mentioned in the TAGS file.  See Tags Search (emacs).

As of Emacs 19.29, Dired mode (M-x dired RET, or C-x d) supports the command dired-do-query-replace, which allows users to replace regular expressions in multiple files.

Where is the documentation for etags?
=====================================

The etags man page should be in the same place as the emacs man page.

Quick command-line switch descriptions are also available.  For example, etags -H.

How do I disable backup files?
==============================

You probably don't want to do this, since backups are useful, especially when something goes wrong.

To avoid seeing backup files (and other ``uninteresting'' files) in Dired, load dired-x by adding the following to your .emacs file:

     (add-hook 'dired-load-hook
               (lambda ()
                (load "dired-x")))

With dired-x loaded, M-o toggles omitting in each dired buffer. You can make omitting the default for new dired buffers by putting the following in your .emacs:

     (add-hook 'dired-mode-hook 'dired-omit-toggle)

If you're tired of seeing backup files whenever you do an ls at the Unix shell, try GNU ls with the -B option.  GNU ls is part of the GNU Fileutils package, available from ftp.gnu.org and its mirrors (see Current GNU distributions).

To disable or change the way backups are made, see Backup Names (emacs).

Beginning with Emacs 21.1, you can control where Emacs puts backup files by customizing the variable backup-directory-alist.  This variable's value specifies that files whose names match specific patters should have their backups put in certain directories.  A typical use is to add the element ("." . DIR) to force Emacs to put all backup files in the directory dir.

How do I disable auto-save-mode?
================================

You probably don't want to do this, since auto-saving is useful, especially when Emacs or your computer crashes while you are editing a document.

Instead, you might want to change the variable auto-save-interval, which specifies how many keystrokes Emacs waits before auto-saving.  Increasing this value forces Emacs to wait longer between auto-saves, which might annoy you less.

You might also want to look into Sebastian Kremer's auto-save package (see Packages that do not come with Emacs).  This package also allows you to place all auto-save files in one directory, such as /tmp.

To disable or change how auto-save-mode works, see Auto Save (emacs).

How can I go to a certain line given its number?
================================================

Are you sure you indeed need to go to a line by its number?  Perhaps all you want is to display a line in your source file for which a compiler printed an error message?  If so, compiling from within Emacs using the M-x compile and M-x recompile commands is a much more effective way of doing that.  Emacs automatically intercepts the compile error messages, inserts them into a special buffer called *compilation*, and lets you visit the locus of each message in the source.  Type C-x ` to step through the offending lines one by one.  Click Mouse-2 or press RET on a message text in the *compilation* buffer to go to the line whose number is mentioned in that message.

But if you indeed need to go to a certain text line, type M-x goto-line RET.  Emacs will prompt you for the number of the line and go to that line.

You can do this faster by invoking goto-line with a numeric argument that is the line's number.  For example, C-u 286 M-x goto-line RET will jump to line number 286 in the current buffer.

If you need to use this command frequently, you might consider binding it to a key.  The following snippet, if added to your ~/.emacs file, will bind the sequence C-x g to goto-line:

      (global-set-key "\C-xg" 'goto-line)

How can I create or modify new pull-down menu options?
======================================================

Each menu title (e.g., File, Edit, Buffers) represents a local or global keymap.  Selecting a menu title with the mouse displays that keymap's non-nil contents in the form of a menu.

So to add a menu option to an existing menu, all you have to do is add a new definition to the appropriate keymap.  Adding a Forward Word item to the Edit menu thus requires the following Lisp code:

     (define-key global-map
       [menu-bar edit forward]
       '("Forward word" . forward-word))

The first line adds the entry to the global keymap, which includes global menu bar entries.  Replacing the reference to global-map with a local keymap would add this menu option only within a particular mode.

The second line describes the path from the menu-bar to the new entry. Placing this menu entry underneath the File menu would mean changing the word edit in the second line to file.

The third line is a cons cell whose first element is the title that will be displayed, and whose second element is the function that will be called when that menu option is invoked.

To add a new menu, rather than a new option to an existing menu, we must define an entirely new keymap:

     (define-key global-map [menu-bar words]
       (cons "Words" (make-sparse-keymap "Words")))

The above code creates a new sparse keymap, gives it the name Words, and attaches it to the global menu bar.  Adding the Forward Word item to this new menu would thus require the following code:

     (define-key global-map
       [menu-bar words forward]
       '("Forward word" . forward-word))

Note that because of the way keymaps work, menu options are displayed with the more recently defined items at the top.  Thus if you were to define menu options foo, bar, and baz (in that order), the menu option baz would appear at the top, and foo would be at the bottom.

One way to avoid this problem is to use the function define-key-after, which works the same as define-key, but lets you modify where items appear.  The following Lisp code would insert the Forward Word item in the Edit menu immediately following the Undo item:

     (define-key-after
       (lookup-key global-map [menu-bar edit])
       [forward]
       '("Forward word" . forward-word)
       'undo)

Note how the second and third arguments to define-key-after are different from those of define-key, and that we have added a new (final) argument, the function after which our new key should be defined.

To move a menu option from one position to another, simply evaluate define-key-after with the appropriate final argument.

More detailed information---and more examples of how to create and modify menu options---are in the Emacs Lisp Reference Manual, under ``Menu Keymaps''.  (see Emacs Lisp documentation, for information on this manual.)

How do I delete menus and menu options?
=======================================

The simplest way to remove a menu is to set its keymap to nil. For example, to delete the Words menu (see Modifying pull-down menus), use:

     (define-key global-map [menu-bar words] nil)

Similarly, removing a menu option requires redefining a keymap entry to nil.  For example, to delete the Forward word menu option from the Edit menu (we added it in Modifying pull-down menus), use:

     (define-key global-map [menu-bar edit forward] nil)

How do I turn on syntax highlighting?
=====================================

font-lock-mode is the standard way to have Emacs perform syntax highlighting in the current buffer.  With font-lock-mode turned on, different types of text will appear in different colors.  For instance, if you turn on font-lock-mode in a programming mode, variables will appear in one face, keywords in a second, and comments in a third.

Earlier versions of Emacs supported hilit19, a similar package.  Use of hilit19 is now considered non-standard, although hilit19.el comes with the stock Emacs distribution.  It is no longer maintained.

To turn font-lock-mode on within an existing buffer, use M-x font-lock-mode RET.

To automatically invoke font-lock-mode when a particular major mode is invoked, set the major mode's hook.  For example, to fontify all c-mode buffers, add the following to your .emacs file:

     (add-hook 'c-mode-hook 'turn-on-font-lock)

To automatically invoke font-lock-mode for all major modes, you can turn on global-font-lock-mode by including the following line in your .emacs file:

     (global-font-lock-mode 1)

This instructs Emacs to turn on font-lock mode in those buffers for which a font-lock mode definition has been provided (in the variable font-lock-global-modes).  If you edit a file in pie-ala-mode, and no font-lock definitions have been provided for pie-ala files, then the above setting will have no effect on that particular buffer.

Highlighting a buffer with font-lock-mode can take quite a while, and cause an annoying delay in display, so several features exist to work around this.

In Emacs 21 and later, turning on font-lock-mode automatically activates the new Just-In-Time fontification provided by jit-lock-mode.  jit-lock-mode defers the fontification of portions of buffer until you actually need to see them, and can also fontify while Emacs is idle.  This makes display of the visible portion of a buffer almost instantaneous.  For details about customizing jit-lock-mode, type C-h f jit-lock-mode RET.

In versions of Emacs before 21, different levels of decoration are available, from slight to gaudy.  More decoration means you need to wait more time for a buffer to be fontified (or a faster machine).  To control how decorated your buffers should become, set the value of font-lock-maximum-decoration in your .emacs file, with a nil value indicating default (usually minimum) decoration, and a t value indicating the maximum decoration.  For the gaudiest possible look, then, include the line

     (setq font-lock-maximum-decoration t)

in your .emacs file.  You can also set this variable such that different modes are highlighted in a different ways; for more information, see the documentation for font-lock-maximum-decoration with C-h v (or M-x describe-variable RET).

Also see the documentation for the function font-lock-mode, available by typing C-h f font-lock-mode (M-x describe-function RET font-lock-mode RET).

For more information on font-lock mode, take a look at the font-lock-mode FAQ, maintained by Jari Aalto at

ftp://cs.uta.fi/pub/ssjaaa/ema-font.gui

To print buffers with the faces (i.e., colors and fonts) intact, use M-x ps-print-buffer-with-faces or M-x ps-print-region-with-faces.  You will need a way to send text to a PostScript printer, or a PostScript interpreter such as Ghostscript; consult the documentation of the variables ps-printer-name, ps-lpr-command, and ps-lpr-switches for more details.

How can I force Emacs to scroll only one line when I move past the bottom of the screen?
========================================================================================

Place the following Lisp form in your .emacs file:

     (setq scroll-step 1)

See Scrolling (emacs).

How can I replace highlighted text with what I type?
====================================================

Use delete-selection-mode, which you can start automatically by placing the following Lisp form in your .emacs file:

     (delete-selection-mode t)

According to the documentation string for delete-selection-mode (which you can read using M-x describe-function RET delete-selection-mode RET):

     When ON, typed text replaces the selection if the selection is active. When OFF, typed text is just inserted at point.

This mode also allows you to delete (not kill) the highlighted region by pressing DEL.

How can I edit MS-DOS files using Emacs?
========================================

As of Emacs 20, detection and handling of MS-DOS (and Windows) files is performed transparently.  You can open MS-DOS files on a Unix system, edit it, and save it without having to worry about the file format.

When editing an MS-DOS style file, the mode line will indicate that it is a DOS file.  On Unix and GNU/Linux systems, and also on a Macintosh, the string (DOS) will appear near the left edge of the mode line; on DOS and Windows, where the DOS end-of-line (EOL) format is the default, a backslash (\) will appear in the mode line.

If you are running a version of Emacs before 20.1, get crypt++ (see Packages that do not come with Emacs).  Among other things, crypt++ transparently modifies MS-DOS files as they are loaded and saved, allowing you to ignore the different conventions that Unix and MS-DOS have for delineating the end of a line.

How can I tell Emacs to fill paragraphs with a single space after each period?
==============================================================================

Ulrich Mueller suggests adding the following two lines to your .emacs file:

     (setq sentence-end "[.?!][]\"')}]*\\($\\|[ \t]\\)[ \t\n]*")
     (setq sentence-end-double-space nil)

Why these strange escape sequences from ls from the Shell mode?
===============================================================

This happens because ls is aliased to ls --color in your shell init file.  You have two alternatives to solve this:

  * Make the alias conditioned on the EMACS variable in the environment.  When Emacs runs a subsidiary shell, it exports the EMACS variable with the value t to that shell.  You can unalias ls when that happens, thus limiting the alias to your interactive sessions.

  * Install the ansi-color package (bundled with Emacs 21.1 and later), which converts these ANSI escape sequences into colors.

Bugs and problems
*****************

The Emacs manual lists some common kinds of trouble users could get into, see Dealing with Emacs Trouble (The GNU Emacs Manual), so you might look there if the problem you encounter isn't described in this chapter.  If you decide you've discovered a bug, see Reporting Bugs (The GNU Emacs Manual), for instructions how to do that.

The file etc/PROBLEMS in the Emacs distribution lists various known problems with building and using Emacs on specific platforms; type C-h C-e to read it.

Does Emacs have problems with files larger than 8 megabytes?
============================================================

Old versions (i.e., anything before 19.29) of Emacs had problems editing files larger than 8 megabytes.  As of version 19.29, the maximum buffer size is at least 2^27-1, or 134,217,727 bytes, or 132 MBytes.  Emacs 20 can be compiled on some 64-bit systems in a way that enlarges the buffer size up to 576,460,752,303,423,487 bytes, or 549,755,813 GBytes.

If you are using a version of Emacs older than 19.29 and cannot upgrade, you will have to recompile. Leonard N. Zubkoff suggests putting the following two lines in src/config.h before compiling Emacs to allow for 26-bit integers and pointers (and thus file sizes of up to 33,554,431 bytes):

     #define VALBITS 26
     #define GCTYPEBITS 5

This method may result in ``ILLEGAL DATATYPE'' and other random errors on some machines.

David Gillespie explains how this problems crops up; while his numbers are true only for pre-19.29 versions of Emacs, the theory remains the same with current versions.

     Emacs is largely written in a dialect of Lisp; Lisp is a freely-typed language in the sense that you can put any value of any type into any variable, or return it from a function, and so on.  So each value must carry a tag along with it identifying what kind of thing it is, e.g., integer, pointer to a list, pointer to an editing buffer, and so on.  Emacs uses standard 32-bit integers for data objects, taking the top 8 bits for the tag and the bottom 24 bits for the value.  So integers (and pointers) are somewhat restricted compared to true C integers and pointers.

How do I get rid of ^M or echoed commands in my shell buffer?
=============================================================

Try typing M-x shell-strip-ctrl-m RET while in shell-mode to make them go away.  If that doesn't work, you have several options:

For tcsh, put this in your .cshrc (or .tcshrc) file:

     if ($?EMACS) then
         if ("$EMACS" == t) then
             if ($?tcsh) unset edit
             stty nl
         endif
     endif

Or put this in your .emacs_tcsh file:

     unset edit
     stty nl

Alternatively, use csh in your shell buffers instead of tcsh.  One way is:

     (setq explicit-shell-file-name "/bin/csh")

and another is to do this in your .cshrc (or .tcshrc) file:

     setenv ESHELL /bin/csh

(You must start Emacs over again with the environment variable properly set for this to take effect.)

You can also set the ESHELL environment variable in Emacs Lisp with the following Lisp form,

     (setenv "ESHELL" "/bin/csh")

The above solutions try to prevent the shell from producing the ^M characters in the first place.  If this is not possible (e.g., if you use a Windows shell), you can get Emacs to remove these characters from the buffer by adding this to your .emacs init file:

     (add-hook 'comint-output-filter-functions 'shell-strip-ctrl-m)

On a related note: If your shell is echoing your input line in the shell buffer, you might want to try the following command in your shell start-up file:

     stty -icrnl -onlcr -echo susp ^Z

Why do I get ``Process shell exited abnormally with code 1''?
=============================================================

The most likely reason for this message is that the env program is not properly installed.  Compile this program for your architecture, and install it with a+x permission in the architecture-dependent Emacs program directory.  (You can find what this directory is at your site by inspecting the value of the variable exec-directory by typing C-h v exec-directory RET.)

You should also check for other programs named env in your path (e.g., SunOS has a program named /usr/bin/env).  We don't understand why this can cause a failure and don't know a general solution for working around the problem in this case.

The make clean command will remove env and other vital programs, so be careful when using it.

It has been reported that this sometimes happened when Emacs was started as an X client from an xterm window (i.e., had a controlling tty) but the xterm was later terminated.

See also PROBLEMS (in the etc subdirectory of the top-level directory when you unpack the Emacs source) for other possible causes of this message.

Why do I get an error message when I try to run M-x shell?
==========================================================

On MS-Windows, this might happen because Emacs tries to look for the shell in a wrong place.  The default file name /bin/sh is usually incorrect for non-Unix systems.  If you know where your shell executable is, set the variable explicit-shell-file-name in your .emacs file to point to its full file name, like this:

     (setq explicit-shell-file-name "d:/shells/bash.exe")

If you don't know what shell does Emacs use, try the M-! command; if that works, put the following line into your .emacs:

     (setq explicit-shell-file-name shell-file-name)

Some people have trouble with Shell Mode because of intrusive antivirus software; disabling the resident antivirus program solves the problems in those cases.

Where is the termcap/terminfo entry for terminal type emacs?
============================================================

The termcap entry for terminal type emacs is ordinarily put in the TERMCAP environment variable of subshells.  It may help in certain situations (e.g., using rlogin from shell buffer) to add an entry for emacs to the system-wide termcap file.  Here is a correct termcap entry for emacs:

     emacs:tc=unknown:

To make a terminfo entry for emacs, use tic or captoinfo.  You need to generate /usr/lib/terminfo/e/emacs.  It may work to simply copy /usr/lib/terminfo/d/dumb to /usr/lib/terminfo/e/emacs.

Having a termcap/terminfo entry will not enable the use of full screen programs in shell buffers.  Use M-x terminal-emulator for that instead.

A workaround to the problem of missing termcap/terminfo entries is to change terminal type emacs to type dumb or unknown in your shell start up file.  csh users could put this in their .cshrc files:

     if ("$term" == emacs) set term=dumb

Why does Emacs spontaneously start displaying I-search: and beeping?
====================================================================

Your terminal (or something between your terminal and the computer) is sending C-s and C-q for flow control, and Emacs is receiving these characters and interpreting them as commands.  (The C-s character normally invokes the isearch-forward command.)  For possible solutions, see Handling C-s and C-q with flow control.

Why can't Emacs talk to certain hosts (or certain hostnames)?
=============================================================

The problem may be that Emacs is linked with a wimpier version of gethostbyname than the rest of the programs on the machine.  This is often manifested as a message on startup of ``X server not responding. Check your DISPLAY environment variable.'' or a message of ``Unknown host'' from open-network-stream.

On a Sun, this may be because Emacs had to be linked with the static C library.  The version of gethostbyname in the static C library may only look in /etc/hosts and the NIS (YP) maps, while the version in the dynamic C library may be smart enough to check DNS in addition to or instead of NIS.  On a Motorola Delta running System V R3.6, the version of gethostbyname in the standard library works, but the one that works with NIS doesn't (the one you get with -linet). Other operating systems have similar problems.

Try these options:

  * Explicitly add the host you want to communicate with to /etc/hosts.

  * Relink Emacs with this line in src/config.h:

          #define LIBS_SYSTEM -lresolv

  * Replace gethostbyname and friends in libc.a with more useful versions such as the ones in libresolv.a.  Then relink Emacs.

  * If you are actually running NIS, make sure that ypbind is properly told to do DNS lookups with the correct command line switch.

Why does Emacs say Error in init file?
======================================

An error occurred while loading either your .emacs file or the system-wide file lisp/default.el.  Emacs 21.1 and later pops the *Messages* buffer, and puts there some additional information about the error, to provide some hints for debugging.

For information on how to debug your .emacs file, see Debugging a customization file.

It may be the case that you need to load some package first, or use a hook that will be evaluated after the package is loaded.  A common case of this is explained in Terminal setup code works after Emacs has begun.

Why does Emacs ignore my X resources (my .Xdefaults file)?
==========================================================

As of version 19, Emacs searches for X resources in the files specified by the following environment variables:

  * XFILESEARCHPATH

  * XUSERFILESEARCHPATH

  * XAPPLRESDIR

This emulates the functionality provided by programs written using the Xt toolkit.

XFILESEARCHPATH and XUSERFILESEARCHPATH should be a list of file names separated by colons.  XAPPLRESDIR should be a list of directory names separated by colons.

Emacs searches for X resources:

 1. specified on the command line, with the -xrm RESOURCESTRING option,

 2. then in the value of the XENVIRONMENT environment variable,

       - or if that is unset, in the file named ~/.Xdefaults-HOSTNAME if it exists (where HOSTNAME is the name of the machine Emacs is running on),

 3. then in the screen-specific and server-wide resource properties provided by the server,

       - or if those properties are unset, in the file named ~/.Xdefaults if it exists,

 4. then in the files listed in XUSERFILESEARCHPATH,

       - or in files named LANG/Emacs in directories listed in XAPPLRESDIR (where LANG is the value of the LANG environment variable), if the LANG environment variable is set,

       - or in files named Emacs in the directories listed in XAPPLRESDIR

       - or in ~/LANG/Emacs (if the LANG environment variable is set),

       - or in ~/Emacs,

 5. then in the files listed in  XFILESEARCHPATH.

Why don't my customizations of the frame parameters work?
=========================================================

This probably happens because you have set the frame parameters in the variable initial-frame-alist.  That variable holds parameters used only for the first frame created when Emacs starts.  To customize the parameters of all frames, change the variable default-frame-alist instead.

These two variables exist because many users customize the initial frame in a special way.  For example, you could determine the position and size of the initial frame, but would like to control the geometry of the other frames by individually positioning each one of them.

Why does Emacs take 20 seconds to visit a file?
===============================================

Old versions of Emacs (i.e., versions before Emacs 20.x) often encountered this when the master lock file, !!!SuperLock!!!, has been left in the lock directory somehow.  Delete it.

Mark Meuer says that NeXT NFS has a bug where an exclusive create succeeds but returns an error status.  This can cause the same problem.  Since Emacs's file locking doesn't work over NFS anyway, the best solution is to recompile Emacs with CLASH_DETECTION undefined.

How do I edit a file with a $ in its name?
==========================================

When entering a file name in the minibuffer, Emacs will attempt to expand a $ followed by a word as an environment variable.  To suppress this behavior, type $$ instead.

Why does shell mode lose track of the shell's current directory?
================================================================

Emacs has no way of knowing when the shell actually changes its directory.  This is an intrinsic limitation of Unix.  So it tries to guess by recognizing cd commands.  If you type cd followed by a directory name with a variable reference (cd $HOME/bin) or with a shell metacharacter (cd ../lib*), Emacs will fail to correctly guess the shell's new current directory.  A huge variety of fixes and enhancements to shell mode for this problem have been written to handle this problem (see Finding a package with particular functionality).

You can tell Emacs the shell's current directory with the command M-x dirs.

Are there any security risks in Emacs?
======================================

  * The movemail incident.  (No, this is not a risk.)

     In his book The Cuckoo's Egg, Cliff Stoll describes this in chapter 4.  The site at LBL had installed the /etc/movemail program setuid root.  (As of version 19, movemail is in your architecture-specific directory; type C-h v exec-directory RET to see what it is.)  Since movemail had not been designed for this situation, a security hole was created and users could get root privileges.

     movemail has since been changed so that this security hole will not exist, even if it is installed setuid root.  However, movemail no longer needs to be installed setuid root, which should eliminate this particular risk.

     We have heard unverified reports that the 1988 Internet worm took advantage of this configuration problem.

  * The file-local-variable feature.  (Yes, a risk, but easy to change.)

     There is an Emacs feature that allows the setting of local values for variables when editing a file by including specially formatted text near the end of the file.  This feature also includes the ability to have arbitrary Emacs Lisp code evaluated when the file is visited. Obviously, there is a potential for Trojan horses to exploit this feature.

     Emacs 18 allowed this feature by default; users could disable it by setting the variable inhibit-local-variables to a non-nil value.

     As of Emacs 19, Emacs has a list of local variables that create a security risk.  If a file tries to set one of them, it asks the user to confirm whether the variables should be set.  You can also tell Emacs whether to allow the evaluation of Emacs Lisp code found at the bottom of files by setting the variable enable-local-eval.

     For more information, see File Variables (emacs).

  * Synthetic X events.  (Yes, a risk; use MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 or better.)

     Emacs accepts synthetic X events generated by the SendEvent request as though they were regular events.  As a result, if you are using the trivial host-based authentication, other users who can open X connections to your X workstation can make your Emacs process do anything, including run other processes with your privileges.

     The only fix for this is to prevent other users from being able to open X connections.  The standard way to prevent this is to use a real authentication mechanism, such as MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1.  If using the xauth program has any effect, then you are probably using MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1.  Your site may be using a superior authentication method; ask your system administrator.

     If real authentication is not a possibility, you may be satisfied by just allowing hosts access for brief intervals while you start your X programs, then removing the access.  This reduces the risk somewhat by narrowing the time window when hostile users would have access, but does not eliminate the risk.

     On most computers running Unix and X, you enable and disable access using the xhost command.  To allow all hosts access to your X server, use

          xhost +

     at the shell prompt, which (on an HP machine, at least) produces the following message:

          access control disabled, clients can connect from any host

     To deny all hosts access to your X server (except those explicitly allowed by name), use

          xhost -

     On the test HP computer, this command generated the following message:

          access control enabled, only authorized clients can connect

Dired says, no file on this line when I try to do something.
============================================================

Chances are you're using a localized version of Unix that doesn't use US date format in dired listings.  You can check this by looking at dired listings or by typing ls -l to a shell and looking at the dates that come out.

Dired uses a regular expression to find the beginning of a file name. In a long Unix-style directory listing (ls -l), the file name starts after the date.  The regexp has thus been written to look for the date, the format of which can vary on non-US systems.

There are two approaches to solving this.  The first one involves setting things up so that ls -l outputs US date format.  This can be done by setting the locale.  See your OS manual for more information.

The second approach involves changing the regular expression used by dired, dired-move-to-filename-regexp.

Compiling and installing Emacs
******************************

How do I install Emacs?
=======================

This answer is meant for users of Unix and Unix-like systems.  Users of other operating systems should see the series of questions beginning with Emacs for MS-DOS, which describe where to get non-Unix source and binaries, and how to install Emacs on those systems.

For Unix and Unix-like systems, the easiest way is often to compile it from scratch.  You will need:

  * Emacs sources.  See Current GNU distributions, for a list of ftp sites that make them available.  On ftp.gnu.org, the main GNU distribution site, sources are available as

     ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/emacs/emacs-21.3.tar.gz

     The above will obviously change as new versions of Emacs come out.  For instance, when Emacs 22.42 is released, it will most probably be available as

     ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/emacs/emacs-22.42.tar.gz

     Again, you should use one of the GNU mirror sites (see Current GNU distributions, and adjust the URL accordingly) so as to reduce load on ftp.gnu.org.

  * gzip, the GNU compression utility.  You can get gzip via anonymous ftp at mirrors of ftp.gnu.org sites; it should compile and install without much trouble on most systems.  Once you have retrieved the Emacs sources, you will probably be able to uncompress them with the command

          gunzip --verbose emacs-21.3.tar.gz

     changing the Emacs version (21.3), as necessary.  Once gunzip has finished doing its job, a file by the name of emacs-21.3.tar should be in your build directory.

  * tar, the tape archiving program, which moves multiple files into and out of archive files, or tarfiles.  All of the files comprising the Emacs source come in a single tarfile, and must be extracted using tar before you can build Emacs.  Typically, the extraction command would look like

          tar -xvvf emacs-21.3.tar

     The x indicates that we want to extract files from this tarfile, the two vs force verbose output, and the f tells tar to use a disk file, rather than one on the tape drive.

     If you're using GNU tar (available at mirrors of ftp.gnu.org), you can combine this step and the previous one by using the command

          tar -zxvvf emacs-21.3.tar.gz

     The additional z at the beginning of the options list tells GNU tar to uncompress the file with gunzip before extracting the tarfile's components.

At this point, the Emacs sources (all 70+ megabytes of them) should be sitting in a directory called emacs-21.3.  On most common Unix and Unix-like systems, you should be able to compile Emacs (with X Window system support) with the following commands:

     cd emacs-21.3       # change directory to emacs-21.3
     ./configure         # configure Emacs for your particular system
     make                # use Makefile to build components, then Emacs

If the make completes successfully, the odds are fairly good that the build has gone well.  (see Problems building Emacs, if you weren't successful.)

By default, Emacs is installed in the following directories:

/usr/local/bin
     binaries.

/usr/local/share/emacs/21.3
     Lisp code and support files.

/usr/local/info
     Info documentation.

To install files in those default directories, become the superuser and type

     make install

Note that make install will overwrite /usr/local/bin/emacs and any Emacs Info files that might be in /usr/local/info.

Much more verbose instructions (with many more hints and suggestions) come with the Emacs sources, in the file INSTALL.

How do I update Emacs to the latest version?
============================================

See Installing Emacs, and follow the instructions there for installation.

Most files are placed in version-specific directories.  Emacs 21.3, for instance, places files in /usr/local/share/emacs/21.3.

Upgrading should overwrite only, /usr/local/bin/emacs (the Emacs binary) and documentation in /usr/local/info.  Back up these files before you upgrade, and you shouldn't have too much trouble.

What should I do if I have trouble building Emacs?
==================================================

First look in the file etc/PROBLEMS (where you unpack the Emacs source) to see if there is already a solution for your problem.  Next, look for other questions in this FAQ that have to do with Emacs installation and compilation problems.

If you'd like to have someone look at your problem and help solve it, see Help installing Emacs.

If you cannot find a solution in the documentation, send a message to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.

Please don't post it to news:gnu.emacs.help or send e-mail to help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.  For further guidelines, see Guidelines for newsgroup postings and Reporting bugs.

Why does linking Emacs with -lX11 fail?
=======================================

Emacs needs to be linked with the static version of the X11 library, libX11.a.  This may be missing.

On OpenWindows, you may need to use add_services to add the ``OpenWindows Programmers'' optional software category from the CD-ROM.

On HP-UX 8.0, you may need to run update again to load the X11-PRG ``fileset''.  This may be missing even if you specified ``all filesets'' the first time.  If libcurses.a is missing, you may need to load the ``Berkeley Development Option.''

David Zuhn says that MIT X builds shared libraries by default, and only shared libraries, on those platforms that support them.  These shared libraries can't be used when undumping temacs (the last stage of the Emacs build process).  To get regular libraries in addition to shared libraries, add this to site.cf:

     #define ForceNormalLib YES

Other systems may have similar problems.  You can always define CANNOT_DUMP and link with the shared libraries instead.

To get the Xmenu stuff to work, you need to find a copy of MIT's liboldX.a.

Finding Emacs and related packages
**********************************

Where can I get Emacs on the net (or by snail mail)?
====================================================

Look in the files etc/DISTRIB and etc/FTP for information on nearby archive sites.  If you don't already have Emacs, see Informational files for Emacs, for how to get these files.

See Installing Emacs, for information on how to obtain and build the latest version of Emacs, and see Current GNU distributions, for a list of archive sites that make GNU software available.

How do I find a Emacs Lisp package that does XXX?
=================================================

First of all, you should check to make sure that the package isn't already available.  For example, typing M-x apropos RET wordstar RET lists all functions and variables containing the string wordstar.

It is also possible that the package is on your system, but has not been loaded.  To see which packages are available for loading, look through your computer's lisp directory (see File-name conventions).  The Lisp source to most packages contains a short description of how they should be loaded, invoked, and configured---so before you use or modify a Lisp package, see if the author has provided any hints in the source code.

The command C-h p (finder-by-keyword) allows you to browse the constituent Emacs packages.

For advice on how to find extra packages that are not part of Emacs, see Packages that do not come with Emacs.

Where can I get Emacs Lisp packages that don't come with Emacs?
===============================================================

The Emacs Lisp List (ELL) (http://www.anc.ed.ac.uk/~stephen/emacs/ell.html), maintained by Stephen Eglen, aims to provide one compact list with links to all of the current Emacs Lisp files on the internet.  The ELL can be browsed over the web, or from Emacs with the ell package (http://www.anc.ed.ac.uk/~stephen/emacs/ell.el).

Many authors post their packages to the Emacs sources newsgroup (news:gnu.emacs.sources).  You can search the archives of this group with Google (http://groups.google.com), for example.

Several packages are stored in the Lisp area of the Emacs Wiki (http://emacswiki.org/elisp/).

For a long time, the Emacs Lisp Archive provided a central repository for Emacs packages.  Sadly, it has not been active for some time, although you can still access the old files at

ftp://ftp.cis.ohio-state.edu/pub/emacs-lisp/WWW/index.html

Where can I get other up-to-date GNU stuff?
===========================================

The most up-to-date official GNU software is normally kept at

ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu

Read the files etc/DISTRIB and etc/FTP for more information.

A list of sites mirroring ftp.gnu.org can be found at

http://www.gnu.org/order/ftp.html

What is the difference between Emacs and XEmacs (formerly Lucid Emacs)?
=======================================================================

XEmacs is a branch version of Emacs.  It was first called Lucid Emacs, and was initially derived from a prerelease version of Emacs 19.  In this FAQ, we use the name ``Emacs'' only for the official version.

Emacs and XEmacs each come with Lisp packages that are lacking in the other.  The two versions have some significant differences at the Lisp programming level.  Their current features are roughly comparable, though the support for some operating systems, character sets and specific packages might be quite different.

Some XEmacs code has been contributed to Emacs, and we would like to use other parts, but the earlier XEmacs maintainers did not always keep track of the authors of contributed code, which makes it impossible for the FSF to get copyright papers signed for that code. (The FSF requires these papers for all the code included in the Emacs release, aside from generic C support packages that retain their separate identity and are not integrated into the code of Emacs proper.)

If you want to talk about these two versions and distinguish them, please call them ``Emacs'' and ``XEmacs.''  To contrast ``XEmacs'' with ``GNU Emacs'' would be misleading, since XEmacs too has its origin in the work of the GNU Project.  Terms such as ``Emacsen'' and ``(X)Emacs'' are not wrong, but they are not very clear, so it is better to write ``Emacs and XEmacs.''

Where can I get Emacs for my PC running MS-DOS?
===============================================

A pre-built binary distribution of Emacs is available from the SimTel.NET archives.  This version apparently works under MS-DOS and Windows (3.X, 9X, ME, NT, and 2000) and supports long file names under Windows 9X, Windows ME, and Windows 2000.  More information is available from

ftp://ftp.delorie.com/pub/djgpp/current/v2gnu/emacs.README

The binary itself is available in the files em*.zip in the directory

ftp://ftp.delorie.com/pub/djgpp/current/v2gnu/

If you prefer to compile Emacs for yourself, you can do so with the current distribution directly.  You will need a 386 (or better) processor, and to be running MS-DOS 3.0 or later.  According to Eli Zaretskii and Darrel Hankerson, you will need the following:

Compiler
     DJGPP version 1.12 maint 1 or later.  Djgpp 2.0 or later is recommended, since 1.x is very old an unmaintained.  Djgpp 2 supports long file names on Windows 9X/ME/2K.

     You can get the latest release of DJGPP by retrieving all of the files in

     ftp://ftp.delorie.com/pub/djgpp/current/v2*

Unpacking program
     The easiest way is to use djtar which comes with DJGPP v2.x, because it can open gzip'ed tarfiles (i.e., those ending with .tar.gz) in one step.  Djtar comes in djdevNNN.zip archive (where NNN is the DJGPP version number), from the URL mentioned above.

     Warning!  Do not use the popular WinZip program to unpack the Emacs distribution!  WinZip is known to corrupt some of the files by converting them to the DOS CR-LF format, it doesn't always preserve the directory structure recorded in the compressed Emacs archive, and commits other atrocities.  Some of these problems could actually prevent Emacs from building successfully!

make, mv, sed, and rm
     All of these utilities are available at

     ftp://ftp.delorie.com/pub/djgpp/current/v2gnu

     16-bit utilities can be found in GNUish, at

     http://www.simtel.net/pub/gnuish/

     (mv and rm are in the Fileutils package, sed and make are each one in a separate package named after them.)

The files INSTALL (near its end) and etc/PROBLEMS in the directory of the Emacs sources contains some additional information regarding Emacs under MS-DOS.

For a list of other MS-DOS implementations of Emacs (and Emacs look-alikes), consult the list of ``Emacs implementations and literature,'' available at

ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/comp.emacs/

Note that while many of these programs look similar to Emacs, they often lack certain features, such as the Emacs Lisp extension language.

Where can I get Emacs for Microsoft Windows
===========================================

For information on Emacs for Windows 95 and NT, read the FAQ produced by Geoff Voelker, available at

http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/windows/ntemacs.html

See Emacs for MS-DOS, for Windows 3.1.

A port of Emacs 20.7 for Windows CE, based on NTEmacs, is available at

http://www.rainer-keuchel.de/software.html

This port was done by Rainer Keuchel, and supports all Emacs features except async subprocesses and menus. You will need MSVC 6.0 and a Windows CE SDK to build this port.

Where can I get Emacs for my PC running OS/2?
=============================================

Emacs 20.6 is ported for emx on OS/2 2.0 or 2.1, and is available at

ftp://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/os2/apps/editors/emacs/e206*.zip

and also at

http://archiv.leo.org/pub/comp/os/os2/leo/gnu/emacs%2d20/

Instructions for installation, basic setup, and other useful information for OS/2 users of Emacs can be found at

http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~oheiabbd/emacs/emacs206-os2.html

Where can I get Emacs for my Atari ST?
======================================

Roland Schäuble reports that Emacs 18.58 running on plain TOS and MiNT is available at ftp://atari.archive.umich.edu/Editors/Emacs-18-58/1858b-d3.zoo.

Where can I get Emacs for my Amiga?
===================================

The files you need are available at

ftp://ftp.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/util/gnu/

David Gilbert has released a beta version of Emacs 19.25 for the Amiga.  You can get the binary at

ftp://ftp.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/util/gnu/a2.0bEmacs-bin.lha

Where can I get Emacs for NeXTSTEP?
===================================

Emacs.app is a NeXTSTEP version of Emacs 19.34 which supports colors, menus, and multiple frames.  You can get it from

ftp://next-ftp.peak.org/pub/next/apps/emacs/Emacs_for_NeXTstep.4.20a1.NIHS.b.tar.gz

Where can I get Emacs for my Apple computer?
============================================

Beginning with version 21.1, the Macintosh is supported in the official Emacs distribution; see the files mac/README and mac/INSTALL in the Emacs distribution for build instructions.

Apple's ``OS X'' is based largely on NeXTSTEP and OpenStep. See Emacs for NeXTSTEP, for more details about that version.

Where do I get Emacs that runs on VMS under DECwindows?
=======================================================

Up-to-date information about GNU software (including Emacs) for VMS is available at http://vms.gnu.org/.

Where can I get modes for Lex, Yacc/Bison, Bourne shell, csh, C++, Objective-C, Pascal, Java, and Awk?
======================================================================================================

Most of these modes are now available in standard Emacs distribution. To get additional modes, see Finding a package with particular functionality.

Barry Warsaw's cc-mode now works for C, C++, Objective-C, and Java code.  It is distributed with Emacs, but has its own homepage (http://cc-mode.sourceforge.net/).

What is the IP address of XXX.YYY.ZZZ?
======================================

If you are on a Unix machine, try using the nslookup command, included in the Berkeley BIND package.  For example, to find the IP address of ftp.gnu.org, you would type nslookup ftp.gnu.org.

Your computer should then provide the IP address of that machine.

If your site's nameserver is deficient, you can use IP addresses to FTP files.  You can get this information by e-mail:

     To: dns@[134.214.84.25]    (to grasp.insa-lyon.fr)
     Body: ip XXX.YYY.ZZZ        (or "help" for more information
                                  and options - no quotes)

or:

     To: resolve@[147.31.254.130]         (to laverne.cs.widener.edu)
     Body: site XXX.YYY.ZZZ

Major packages and programs
***************************

VM (View Mail) --- another mail reader within Emacs, with MIME support
======================================================================

Author
     Kyle Jones

Latest version
     7.15

Distribution
     ftp://ftp.wonderworks.com/pub/vm/vm.tar.gz

Informational newsgroup
     news:gnu.emacs.vm.info

Bug reports newsgroup
     news:gnu.emacs.vm.bug

     Or send reports to bug-vm@wonderworks.com

VM 7 works well with Emacs 21. Older versions of VM suitable for use with older versions of Emacs are available from the same FTP site (ftp://ftp.wonderworks.com/pub/vm/).

Supercite --- mail and news citation package within Emacs
=========================================================

Author
     Barry Warsaw

Latest version
     3.54 (comes bundled with Emacs since version 20)

Distribution
     http://www.python.org/emacs/supercite.tar.gz

Mailing list
     Subscription requests to supercite-request@python.org

     Submissions supercite@python.org

Superyank is an old version of Supercite.

Calc --- poor man's Mathematica within Emacs
============================================

Author
     Dave Gillespie

Latest version
     2.02g (part of Emacs since version 22.1)

Distribution
     No separate distribution outside of Emacs.  Older versions are available at ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/calc/.

Note that Calc 2.02f needs patching to work with Emacs 21 and later.

Emacs 21.1 and later comes with a package called calculator.el. It doesn't support all the mathematical wizardry offered by Calc, such as matrices, special functions, and statistics, but is more than adequate as a replacement for xcalc and similar programs.

VIPER --- vi emulation for Emacs
================================

Since Emacs 19.29, the preferred vi emulation in Emacs is VIPER (M-x viper-mode RET), which comes with Emacs.  It extends and supersedes VIP (including VIP 4.3) and provides vi emulation at several levels, from one that closely follows vi to one that departs from vi in several significant ways.

For Emacs 19.28 and earlier, the following version of VIP is generally better than the one distributed with Emacs:

Author
     Aamod Sane

Latest version
     4.3

Distribution
     ftp://archive.cis.ohio-state.edu/pub/emacs-lisp/old-archive/modes/vip-mode.tar.Z

AUCTeX --- enhanced TeX modes with debugging facilities
=======================================================

AUCTeX is a set of sophisticated major modes for TeX, LaTeX, ConTeXt, and Texinfo offering context-sensitive syntax highlighting, indentation, formatting and folding, macro completion, TeX shell functionality, and debugging.  Some important supplemental packages are described in Introduction (RefTeX User Manual), and preview-latex (http://preview-latex.sourceforge.net).

Authors
     Kresten Krab Thorup,

     Per Abrahamsen,
      and others.

Maintainer
     David Kastrup

Latest version
     11.54

Distribution
     ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/auctex/

Web site
     http://www.gnu.org/software/auctex/

Mailing list:
     Subscription requests to auc-tex-subscribe@sunsite.dk

     Submissions to auc-tex@sunsite.dk

BBDB --- personal Info Rolodex integrated with mail/news readers
================================================================

Maintainer
     Ronan Waide

Latest version
     2.34

Distribution
     http://bbdb.sourceforge.net/

Mailing lists
     Subscription requests to bbdb-info-request@lists.sourceforge.net

     Submissions to bbdb-info@lists.sourceforge.net

     Release announcements: bbdb-announce-request@lists.sourceforge.net

Ispell --- spell checker in C with interface for Emacs
======================================================

Author
     Geoff Kuenning

Latest version
     3.1.20

Distribution
     ftp://ftp.cs.ucla.edu/pub/ispell/ispell-3.1.20.tar.gz

Web site
     http://fmg-www.cs.ucla.edu/geoff/ispell.html

  * Do not ask Geoff to send you the latest version of Ispell. He does not have free e-mail.

  * This Ispell program is distinct from GNU Ispell 4.0. GNU Ispell 4.0 is no longer a supported product.

w3-mode --- A World Wide Web browser inside of Emacs
====================================================

Author
     Bill Perry

Latest version
     4.0pre.39

Distribution
     ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/elisp/w3/w3.tar.gz

Mailing lists
     Receive announcements from w3-announce-request@indiana.edu

     Become a beta tester at w3-beta-request@indiana.edu

     Help to develop w3-mode at w3-dev@indiana.edu

EDB --- Database program for Emacs; replaces forms editing modes
================================================================

Author
     Michael Ernst

Latest version
     1.21

Distribution
     ftp://theory.lcs.mit.edu/pub/emacs/edb

Mailcrypt --- PGP interface within Emacs mail and news
======================================================

Authors
     Patrick J. LoPresti and Jin S. Choi

Maintainer
     Brian Warner

Latest version
     3.5.8

Distribution
     http://dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/mailcrypt/mailcrypt-3.5.8.tar.gz

Web site
     http://mailcrypt.sourceforge.net/

JDE --- Integrated development environment for Java
===================================================

Author
     Paul Kinnucan

Mailing list
     jde-subscribe@sunsite.auc.dk

Latest version
     2.1.1

Web site
     http://sunsite.auc.dk/jde/

Patch --- program to apply ``diffs'' for updating files
=======================================================

Author
     Larry Wall (with GNU modifications)

Latest version
     2.5.4

Distribution
     See Current GNU distributions.

Key bindings
************

How do I bind keys (including function keys) to commands?
=========================================================

Keys can be bound to commands either interactively or in your .emacs file.  To interactively bind keys for all modes, type M-x global-set-key RET KEY CMD RET.

To bind a key just in the current major mode, type M-x local-set-key RET KEY CMD RET.

See Key Bindings (emacs), for further details.

To make the process of binding keys interactively eaiser, use the following ``trick'': First bind the key interactively, then immediately type C-x ESC ESC C-a C-k C-g.  Now, the command needed to bind the key is in the kill ring, and can be yanked into your .emacs file.  If the key binding is global, no changes to the command are required.  For example,

     (global-set-key (quote [f1]) (quote help-for-help))

can be placed directly into the .emacs file.  If the key binding is local, the command is used in conjunction with the add-hook function. For example, in TeX mode, a local binding might be

     (add-hook 'tex-mode-hook
       (lambda ()
        (local-set-key (quote [f1]) (quote help-for-help))))

  * Control characters in key sequences, in the form yanked from the kill ring are given in their graphic form---i.e., CTRL is shown as ^, TAB as a set of spaces (usually 8), etc.  You may want to convert these into their vector or string forms.

  * If a prefix key of the character sequence to be bound is already bound as a complete key, then you must unbind it before the new binding.  For example, if ESC { is previously bound:

          (global-unset-key [?\e ?{])   ;;   or
          (local-unset-key [?\e ?{])

  * Aside from commands and ``lambda lists,'' a vector or string also can be bound to a key and thus treated as a macro.  For example:

          (global-set-key [f10] [?\C-x?\e?\e?\C-a?\C-k?\C-g])  ;;  or
          (global-set-key [f10] "\C-x\e\e\C-a\C-k\C-g")

Why does Emacs say Key sequence XXX uses invalid prefix characters?
===================================================================

Usually, one of two things has happened.  In one case, the control character in the key sequence has been misspecified (e.g. C-f used instead of \C-f within a Lisp expression).  In the other case, a prefix key in the keystroke sequence you were trying to bind was already bound as a complete key.  Historically, the ESC [ prefix was usually the problem, in which case you should evaluate either of these forms before attempting to bind the key sequence:

     (global-unset-key [?\e ?[])  ;;  or
     (global-unset-key "\e[")

Why doesn't this [terminal or window-system setup] code work in my .emacs file, but it works just fine after Emacs starts up?
=============================================================================================================================

During startup, Emacs initializes itself according to a given code/file order.  If some of the code executed in your .emacs file needs to be postponed until the initial terminal or window-system setup code has been executed but is not, then you will experience this problem (this code/file execution order is not enforced after startup).

To postpone the execution of Emacs Lisp code until after terminal or window-system setup, treat the code as a lambda list and set the value of either the term-setup-hook or window-setup-hook variable to this lambda function.  For example,

     (add-hook 'term-setup-hook
               (lambda ()
                (when (string-match "\\`vt220" (or (getenv "TERM") ""))
                  ;; Make vt220's "Do" key behave like M-x:
                  (global-set-key [do] 'execute-extended-command))))

For information on what Emacs does every time it is started, see the lisp/startup.el file.

How do I use function keys under X?
===================================

With Emacs 19, functions keys under X are bound like any other key.  See Binding keys to commands, for details.

How do I tell what characters or symbols my function or arrow keys emit?
========================================================================

Type C-h c then the function or arrow keys.  The command will return either a function key symbol or character sequence (see the Emacs on-line documentation for an explanation).  This works for other keys as well.

How do I set the X key ``translations'' for Emacs?
==================================================

Emacs is not written using the Xt library by default, so there are no ``translations'' to be set.  (We aren't sure how to set such translations if you do build Emacs with Xt; please let us know if you've done this!)

The only way to affect the behavior of keys within Emacs is through xmodmap (outside Emacs) or define-key (inside Emacs).  The define-key command should be used in conjunction with the function-key-map map.  For instance,

     (define-key function-key-map [M-TAB] [?\M-\t])

defines the M-TAB key sequence.

How do I handle C-s and C-q being used for flow control?
========================================================

C-s and C-q are used in the XON/XOFF flow control protocol. This messes things up when you're using Emacs over a serial line, because Emacs binds these keys to commands by default.  Because Emacs won't honor them as flow control characters, too many of these characters are not passed on and overwhelm output buffers.  Sometimes, intermediate software using XON/XOFF flow control will prevent Emacs from ever seeing C-s and C-q.

Possible solutions:

  * Disable the use of C-s and C-q for flow control.

     You need to determine the cause of the flow control.

       - your terminal

          Your terminal may use XON/XOFF flow control to have time to display all the characters it receives.  For example, VT series terminals do this.  It may be possible to turn this off from a setup menu.  For example, on a VT220 you may select ``No XOFF'' in the setup menu.  This is also true for some terminal emulation programs on PCs.

          When you turn off flow control at the terminal, you will also need to turn it off at the other end, which might be at the computer you are logged in to or at some terminal server in between.

          If you turn off flow control, characters may be lost; using a printer connected to the terminal may fail.  You may be able to get around this problem by modifying the termcap entry for your terminal to include extra NUL padding characters.

       - a modem

          If you are using a dialup connection, the modems may be using XON/XOFF flow control.  It's not clear how to get around this.

       - a router or terminal server

          Some network box between the terminal and your computer may be using XON/XOFF flow control.  It may be possible to make it use some other kind of flow control.  You will probably have to ask your local network experts for help with this.

       - tty and/or pty devices

          If your connection to Emacs goes through multiple tty and/or pty devices, they may be using XON/XOFF flow control even when it is not necessary.

          Eirik Fuller writes:

               Some versions of rlogin (and possibly telnet) do not pass flow control characters to the remote system to which they connect.  On such systems, Emacs on the remote system cannot disable flow control on the local system.  Sometimes rlogin -8 will avoid this problem.

               One way to cure this is to disable flow control on the local host (the one running rlogin, not the one running rlogind) using the stty command, before starting the rlogin process.  On many systems, stty start u stop u will do this.

               Some versions of tcsh will prevent even this from working.  One way around this is to start another shell before starting rlogin, and issue the stty command to disable flow control from that shell.

          Use stty -ixon instead of stty start u stop u on some systems.

  * Make Emacs speak the XON/XOFF flow control protocol.

     You can make Emacs treat C-s and C-q as flow control characters by evaluating the form

          (enable-flow-control)

     to unconditionally enable flow control or

          (enable-flow-control-on "vt100" "h19")

     (using your terminal names instead of vt100 or h19) to enable selectively.  These commands will automatically swap C-s and C-q to C-\ and C-^.  Variables can be used to change the default swap keys (flow-control-c-s-replacement and flow-control-c-q-replacement).

     If you are fixing this for yourself, simply put the form in your .emacs file.  If you are fixing this for your entire site, the best place to put it is in the site-lisp/site-start.el file. (Here site-lisp is actually a subdirectory of your Emacs installation directory, typically /usr/local/share/emacs.) Putting this form in site-lisp/default.el has the problem that if the user's .emacs file has an error, this will prevent default.el from being loaded and Emacs may be unusable for the user, even for correcting their .emacs file (unless they're smart enough to move it to another name).

     enable-flow-control can be invoked interactively as well: M-x enable-flow-control RET.

For further discussion of this issue, read the file etc/PROBLEMS (in the Emacs source directory when you unpack the Emacs distribution).

How do I bind C-s and C-q (or any key) if these keys are filtered out?
======================================================================

To bind C-s and C-q, use either enable-flow-control or enable-flow-control-on.  See Handling C-s and C-q with flow control, for usage and implementation details.

To bind other keys, use keyboard-translate.  See Swapping keys, for usage details.  To do this for an entire site, you should swap the keys in site-lisp/site-start.el.  See Handling C-s and C-q with flow control, for an explanation of why site-lisp/default.el should not be used.

  * If you do this for an entire site, the users will be confused by the disparity between what the documentation says and how Emacs actually behaves.

Why does the Backspace key invoke help?
=======================================

The Backspace key (on most keyboards) generates ASCII code 8. C-h sends the same code.  In Emacs by default C-h invokes help-command.  This is intended to be easy to remember since the first letter of help is h.  The easiest solution to this problem is to use C-h (and Backspace) for help and DEL (the Delete key) for deleting the previous character.

For many people this solution may be problematic:

  * They normally use Backspace outside of Emacs for deleting the previous character.  This can be solved by making DEL the command for deleting the previous character outside of Emacs.  On many Unix systems, this command will remap DEL:

          stty erase `^?'

  * The user may prefer the Backspace key for deleting the previous character because it is more conveniently located on their keyboard or because they don't even have a separate Delete key. In this case, the Backspace key should be made to behave like Delete.  There are several methods.

       - Some terminals (e.g., VT3## terminals) and terminal emulators (e.g., TeraTerm) allow the character generated by the Backspace key to be changed from a setup menu.

       - You may be able to get a keyboard that is completely programmable, or a terminal emulator that supports remapping of any key to any other key.

       - With Emacs 21.1 and later, you can control the effect of the Backspace and Delete keys, on both dumb terminals and a windowed displays, by customizing the option normal-erase-is-backspace-mode, or by invoking M-x normal-erase-is-backspace.  See the documentation of these symbols (see Emacs Lisp documentation) for more info.

       - It is possible to swap the Backspace and DEL keys inside Emacs:

               (keyboard-translate ?\C-h ?\C-?)

          This is the recommended method of forcing Backspace to act as DEL, because it works even in modes which bind DEL to something other than delete-backward-char.

          Similarly, you could remap DEL to act as C-d, which by default deletes forward:

               (keyboard-translate ?\C-? ?\C-d)

          See Swapping keys, for further details about keyboard-translate.

       - Another approach is to switch key bindings and put help on C-x h instead:

               (global-set-key "\C-h" 'delete-backward-char)

               ;;; overrides mark-whole-buffer
               (global-set-key "\C-xh" 'help-command)

          This method is not recommended, though: it only solves the problem for those modes which bind DEL to delete-backward-char.  Modes which bind DEL to something else, such as view-mode, will not work as you expect when you press the Backspace key.  For this reason, we recommend the keyboard-translate method, shown above.

          Other popular key bindings for help are M-? and C-x ?.

     Don't try to bind DEL to help-command, because there are many modes that have local bindings of DEL that will interfere.

When Emacs 21 or later runs on a windowed display, it binds the Delete key to a command which deletes the character at point, to make Emacs more consistent with keyboard operation on these systems.

For more information about troubleshooting this problem, see If DEL Fails to Delete (The GNU Emacs Manual).

Why doesn't Emacs look at the stty settings for Backspace vs. Delete?
=====================================================================

Good question!

How do I swap two keys?
=======================

You can swap two keys (or key sequences) by using the keyboard-translate function.  For example, to turn C-h into DEL and DEL to C-h, use

     (keyboard-translate ?\C-h ?\C-?)  ; translate `C-h' to DEL
     (keyboard-translate ?\C-? ?\C-h)  ; translate DEL to `C-h'.

The first key sequence of the pair after the function identifies what is produced by the keyboard; the second, what is matched for in the keymaps.

However, in the specific case of C-h and DEL, you should toggle normal-erase-is-backspace-mode instead of calling keyboard-translate.  See DEL Does Not Delete (emacs).

Keyboard translations are not the same as key bindings in keymaps. Emacs contains numerous keymaps that apply in different situations, but there is only one set of keyboard translations, and it applies to every character that Emacs reads from the terminal.  Keyboard translations take place at the lowest level of input processing; the keys that are looked up in keymaps contain the characters that result from keyboard translation.

How do I produce C-XXX with my keyboard?
========================================

On terminals (but not under X), some common ``aliases'' are:

C-2  or  C-SPC
     C-@

C-6
     C-^

C-7  or  C-S--
     C-_

C-4
     C-\

C-5
     C-]

C-/
     C-?

Often other aliases exist; use the C-h c command and try CTRL with all of the digits on your keyboard to see what gets generated.  You can also try the C-h w command if you know the name of the command.

What if I don't have a Meta key?
================================

On many keyboards, the Alt key acts as Meta, so try it.

Instead of typing M-a, you can type ESC a.  In fact, Emacs converts M-a internally into ESC a anyway (depending on the value of meta-prefix-char).  Note that you press Meta and a together, but with ESC, you press ESC, release it, and then press a.

What if I don't have an Escape key?
===================================

Type C-[ instead.  This should send ASCII code 27 just like an Escape key would.  C-3 may also work on some terminal (but not under X).  For many terminals (notably DEC terminals) F11 generates ESC.  If not, the following form can be used to bind it:

     ;;; F11 is the documented ESC replacement on DEC terminals.
     (define-key function-key-map [f11] [?\e])

Can I make my Compose Character key behave like a Meta key?
===========================================================

On a dumb terminal such as a VT220, no.  It is rumored that certain VT220 clones could have their Compose key configured this way.  If you're using X, you might be able to do this with the xmodmap command.

How do I bind a combination of modifier key and function key?
=============================================================

With Emacs 19 and later, you can represent modified function keys in vector format by adding prefixes to the function key symbol.  For example (from the on-line documentation):

     (global-set-key [?\C-x right] 'forward-page)

where ?\C-x is the Lisp character constant for the character C-x.

You can use the modifier keys Control, Meta, Hyper, Super, Alt, and Shift with function keys.  To represent these modifiers, prepend the strings C-, M-, H-, s-, A-, and S- to the symbol name.  Here is how to make H-M-RIGHT move forward a word:

     (global-set-key [H-M-right] 'forward-word)

  * Not all modifiers are permitted in all situations.  Hyper, Super, and Alt are not available on Unix character terminals.  Non-ASCII keys and mouse events (e.g. C-= and Mouse-1) also fall under this category.

See Binding keys to commands, for general key binding instructions.

Why doesn't my Meta key work in an xterm window?
================================================

See Single-Byte Character Set Support (emacs).

If the advice in the Emacs manual fails, try all of these methods before asking for further help:

  * You may have big problems using mwm as your window manager. (Does anyone know a good generic solution to allow the use of the Meta key in Emacs with mwm?)

  * For X11: Make sure it really is a Meta key.  Use xev to find out what keysym your Meta key generates.  It should be either Meta_L or Meta_R.  If it isn't, use xmodmap to fix the situation.  If Meta does generate Meta_L or Meta_R, but M-x produces a non-ASCII character, put this in your ~/.Xdefaults file:

           XTerm*eightBitInput:   false
           XTerm*eightBitOutput:  true

  * Make sure the pty the xterm is using is passing 8 bit characters.  stty -a (or stty everything) should show cs8 somewhere.  If it shows cs7 instead, use stty cs8 -istrip (or stty pass8) to fix it.

  * If there is an rlogin connection between xterm and Emacs, the -8 argument may need to be given to rlogin to make it pass all 8 bits of every character.

  * If Emacs is running on Ultrix, it is reported that evaluating (set-input-mode t nil) helps.

  * If all else fails, you can make xterm generate ESC W when you type M-W, which is the same conversion Emacs would make if it got the M-W anyway.  In X11R4, the following resource specification will do this:

          XTerm.VT100.EightBitInput: false

     (This changes the behavior of the insert-eight-bit action.)

     With older xterms, you can specify this behavior with a translation:

          XTerm.VT100.Translations: #override \
            Meta<KeyPress>: string(0x1b) insert()

     You might have to replace Meta with Alt.

Why doesn't my ExtendChar key work as a Meta key under HP-UX 8.0 and 9.x?
=========================================================================

This is a result of an internationalization extension in X11R4 and the fact that HP is now using this extension.  Emacs assumes that the XLookupString function returns the same result regardless of the Meta key state which is no longer necessarily true.  Until Emacs is fixed, the temporary kludge is to run this command after each time the X server is started but preferably before any xterm clients are:

     xmodmap -e 'remove mod1 = Mode_switch'

This will disable the use of the extra keysyms systemwide, which may be undesirable if you actually intend to use them.

Alternate character sets
************************

How do I make Emacs display 8-bit characters?
=============================================

See Single-byte Character Set Support (emacs).  On a Unix, when Emacs runs on a text-only terminal display or is invoked with emacs -nw, you typically need to use set-terminal-coding-system to tell Emacs what the terminal can display, even after setting the language environment; otherwise non-ASCII characters will display as ?.  On other operating systems, such as MS-DOS and MS-Windows, Emacs queries the OS about the character set supported by the display, and sets up the required terminal coding system automatically.

How do I input eight-bit characters?
====================================

Various methods are available for input of eight-bit characters.  See Single-byte Character Set Support (emacs).  For more sophisticated methods, see Input Methods (emacs).

Where can I get an Emacs that handles kanji, Chinese, or other Far-Eastern character sets?
==========================================================================================

Emacs 20 and later includes many of the features of MULE, the MULtilingual Enhancement to Emacs.  See Installing Emacs, for information on where to find and download the latest version of Emacs.

Where is an Emacs that can handle Semitic (right-to-left) alphabets?
====================================================================

Emacs 20 and later supports Hebrew characters (ISO 8859-8), but does not yet support right-to-left character entry and display.

Joel M. Hoffman has written a Lisp package called hebrew.el that allows right-to-left editing of Hebrew.  It reportedly works out of the box with Emacs 19, but requires patches for Emacs 18.  Write to Joel if you want the patches or package.

hebrew.el requires a Hebrew screen font, but no other hardware support. Joel has a screen font for PCs running MS-DOS or GNU/Linux.

You might also try to query archie for files named with hebrew; several ftp sites in Israel may also have the necessary files.

Mail and news
*************

How do I change the included text prefix in mail/news followups?
================================================================

If you read mail with Rmail or news with Gnus, set the variable mail-yank-prefix.  For VM, set vm-included-text-prefix. For mh-e, set mh-ins-buf-prefix.

For fancier control of citations, use Supercite.  See Supercite.

To prevent Emacs from including various headers of the replied-to message, set the value of mail-yank-ignored-headers to an appropriate regexp.

How do I save a copy of outgoing mail?
======================================

You can either mail yourself a copy by including a BCC header in the mail message, or store a copy of the message directly to a file by including an FCC header.

If you use standard mail, you can automatically create a BCC to yourself by putting

     (setq mail-self-blind t)

in your .emacs file.  You can automatically include an FCC field by putting something like the following in your .emacs file:

     (setq mail-archive-file-name (expand-file-name "~/outgoing"))

The output file will be in Unix mail format, which can be read directly by VM, but not always by Rmail.  See Learning how to do something.

If you use mh-e, add an FCC or BCC field to your components file.

It does not work to put set record filename in the .mailrc file.

Why doesn't Emacs expand my aliases when sending mail?
======================================================

  * You must separate multiple addresses in the headers of the mail buffer with commas.  This is because Emacs supports RFC822 standard addresses like this one:

          To: Willy Smith <wks@xpnsv.lwyrs.com>

     However, you do not need to---and probably should not, unless your system's version of /usr/ucb/mail (a.k.a. mailx) supports RFC822---separate addresses with commas in your ~/.mailrc file.

  * Emacs normally only reads the .mailrc file once per session, when you start to compose your first mail message.  If you edit .mailrc, you can type M-x rebuild-mail-abbrevs RET to make Emacs reread ~/.mailrc.

  * If you like, you can expand mail aliases as abbrevs, as soon as you type them in.  To enable this feature, execute the following:

          (add-hook 'mail-mode-hook 'mail-abbrevs-setup)

     Note that the aliases are expanded automatically only after you type RET or a punctuation character (e.g. ,).  You can force their expansion by moving point to the end of the alias and typing C-x a e (M-x expand-abbrev).

Why does Rmail think all my saved messages are one big message?
===============================================================

A file created through the FCC field in a message is in Unix mail format, not the format that Rmail uses (BABYL format).  Rmail will try to convert a Unix mail file into BABYL format on input, but sometimes it makes errors.  For guaranteed safety, you can make the saved-messages file be an inbox for your Rmail file by using the function set-rmail-inbox-list.

How can I sort the messages in my Rmail folder?
===============================================

In Rmail, type C-c C-s C-h to get a list of sorting functions and their key bindings.

Why does Rmail need to write to /usr/spool/mail?
================================================

This is the behavior of the movemail program which Rmail uses. This indicates that movemail is configured to use lock files.

RMS writes:

     Certain systems require lock files to interlock access to mail files. On these systems, movemail must write lock files, or you risk losing mail.  You simply must arrange to let movemail write them.

     Other systems use the flock system call to interlock access.  On these systems, you should configure movemail to use flock.

How do I recover my mail files after Rmail munges their format?
===============================================================

If you have just done M-x rmail-input on a file and you don't want to save it in Rmail's format (called BABYL), just kill the buffer (with C-x k).

If you typed M-x rmail and it read some messages out of your inbox and you want to put them in a Unix mail file, use C-o on each message.

If you want to convert an existing file from BABYL format to Unix mail format, use the command M-x unrmail: it will prompt you for the input and output file names.

Alternatively, you could use the b2m program supplied with Emacs.  b2m is a filter, and is used like this:

      b2m < BABYL-FILE > MBOX-FILE

where BABYL-FILE is the name of the BABYL file, and MBOX-FILE is the name of the file where the converted mail will be written.

How can I force Rmail to reply to the sender of a message, but not the other recipients?
========================================================================================

Ron Isaacson says: When you hit r to reply in Rmail, by default it CCs all of the original recipients (everyone on the original To and CC lists). With a prefix argument (i.e., typing C-u before r), it replies only to the sender.  However, going through the whole C-u business every time you want to reply is a pain.  This is the best fix I've been able to come up with:

     (defun rmail-reply-t ()
       "Reply only to the sender of the current message. (See rmail-reply.)"
       (interactive)
       (rmail-reply t))

     (add-hook 'rmail-mode-hook
       (lambda ()
         (define-key rmail-mode-map "r" 'rmail-reply-t)
         (define-key rmail-mode-map "R" 'rmail-reply)))

How can I get my favorite Emacs mail package to support MIME?
=============================================================

Read the Emacs MIME FAQ, maintained by MacDonald Hall Jackson at

http://bmrc.berkeley.edu/~trey/emacs/mime.html

Version 6.x of VM supports MIME.  See VM.  Gnus supports MIME in mail and news messages as of version 5.8.1 (Pterodactyl).  Rmail has limited support for single-part MIME messages beginning with Emacs 20.3.

How do I make Emacs automatically start my mail/news reader?
============================================================

To start Emacs in Gnus:

     emacs -f gnus

in Rmail:

     emacs -f rmail

A more convenient way to start with Gnus:

     alias gnus 'emacs -f gnus'
     gnus

It is probably unwise to automatically start your mail or news reader from your .emacs file.  This would cause problems if you needed to run two copies of Emacs at the same time.  Also, this would make it difficult for you to start Emacs quickly when you needed to.

How do I read news under Emacs?
===============================

Use M-x gnus.  It is documented in Info (see Learning how to do something).

Why doesn't Gnus work via NNTP?
===============================

There is a bug in NNTP version 1.5.10, such that when multiple requests are sent to the NNTP server, the server only handles the first one before blocking waiting for more input which never comes.  NNTP version 1.5.11 claims to fix this.

You can work around the bug inside Emacs like this:

     (setq nntp-maximum-request 1)

You can find out what version of NNTP your news server is running by telnetting to the NNTP port (usually 119) on the news server machine (i.e., telnet server-machine 119).  The server should give its version number in the welcome message.  Type quit to get out.

See Spontaneous entry into isearch-mode, for some additional ideas.

How do I view news articles with embedded underlining (e.g., ClariNews)?
========================================================================

Underlining appears like this:

     _^Hu_^Hn_^Hd_^He_^Hr_^Hl_^Hi_^Hn_^Hi_^Hn_^Hg

Per Abrahamsen suggests using the following code, which uses the underline face to turn such text into true underlining, inconjunction with Gnus:

     (defun gnus-article-prepare-overstrike ()
       ;; Prepare article for overstrike commands.
       (save-excursion
         (set-buffer gnus-article-buffer)
         (let ((buffer-read-only nil))
         (goto-char (point-min))
           (while (search-forward "\b" nil t)
             (let ((next (following-char))
                   (previous (char-after (- (point) 2))))
               (cond ((eq next previous)
                      (delete-region (- (point) 2) (point))
                      (put-text-property (point) (1+ (point))
                                         'face 'bold))
                     ((eq next ?_)
                      (delete-region (1- (point)) (1+ (point)))
                      (put-text-property (1- (point)) (point)
                                         'face 'underline))
                     ((eq previous ?_)
                      (delete-region (- (point) 2) (point))
                      (put-text-property (point) (1+ (point))
                                         'face 'underline))))))))

     (add-hook 'gnus-article-prepare-hook 'gnus-article-prepare-overstrike)

Latest versions of Gnus do such a conversion automatically.

If you prefer to do away with underlining altogether, you can destructively remove it with M-x ununderline-region; do this automatically via

     (add-hook 'gnus-article-prepare-hook
       (lambda () (ununderline-region (point-min) (point-max))))

How do I save all the items of a multi-part posting in Gnus?
============================================================

Use gnus-uu.  Type C-c C-v C-h in the Gnus summary buffer to see a list of available commands.

How do I make Gnus start up faster?
===================================

From the Gnus FAQ (see Learning more about Gnus):

     Pranav Kumar Tiwari writes: I posted the same query recently and I got an answer to it. I am going to repeat the answer. What you need is a newer version of gnus, version 5.0.4+. I am using 5.0.12 and it works fine with me with the following settings:

          (setq gnus-check-new-newsgroups nil
                gnus-read-active-file 'some
                gnus-nov-is-evil nil
                gnus-select-method '(nntp gnus-nntp-server))

How do I catch up all newsgroups in Gnus?
=========================================

In the *Newsgroup* buffer, type M-< C-x ( c y C-x ) M-0 C-x e

Leave off the initial M-< if you only want to catch up from point to the end of the *Newsgroup* buffer.

Why can't I kill in Gnus based on the Newsgroups/Keywords/Control headers?
==========================================================================

Gnus will complain that the Newsgroups, Keywords, and Control headers are ``Unknown header'' fields.

For the Newsgroups header, there is an easy workaround: kill on the Xref header instead, which will be present on any cross-posted article (as long as your site carries the cross-post group).

If you really want to kill on one of these headers, you can do it like this:

     (gnus-kill nil "^Newsgroups: .*\\(bad\\.group\\|worse\\.group\\)")

How do I get rid of flashing messages in Gnus for slow connections?
===================================================================

Set nntp-debug-read to nil.

Why is catch up slow in Gnus?
=============================

Because Gnus is marking crosspostings read.  You can control this with the variable gnus-use-cross-reference.

Why does Gnus hang for a long time when posting?
================================================

David Lawrence explains:

     The problem is almost always interaction between NNTP and C News.  NNTP POST asks C News's inews to not background itself but rather hang around and give its exit status so it knows whether the post was successful. (That wait will on some systems not return the exit status of the waited for job is a different sort of problem.)  It ends up taking a long time because inews is calling relaynews, which often waits for another relaynews to free the lock on the news system so it can file the article.

     My preferred solution is to change inews to not call relaynews, but rather use newsspool.  This loses some error-catching functionality, but is for the most part safe as inews will detect a lot of the errors on its own.  The C News folks have sped up inews, too, so speed should look better to most folks as that update propagates around.

Where can I find out more about Gnus?
=====================================

For more information on Gnus, consult the Gnus manual and FAQ, which are part of the Gnus distribution.