1 Emacs tutorial. See end for copying conditions.
3 Emacs commands generally involve the CONTROL key (sometimes labeled
4 CTRL or CTL) or the META key (sometimes labeled EDIT or ALT). Rather than
5 write that in full each time, we'll use the following abbreviations:
7 C-<chr> means hold the CONTROL key while typing the character <chr>
8 Thus, C-f would be: hold the CONTROL key and type f.
9 M-<chr> means hold the META or EDIT or ALT key down while typing <chr>.
10 If there is no META, EDIT or ALT key, instead press and release the
11 ESC key and then type <chr>. We write <ESC> for the ESC key.
13 Important note: to end the Emacs session, type C-x C-c. (Two characters.)
14 The characters ">>" at the left margin indicate directions for you to
15 try using a command. For instance:
16 <<Blank lines inserted around following line by help-with-tutorial>>
17 [Middle of page left blank for didactic purposes. Text continues below]
18 >> Now type C-v (View next screen) to move to the next screen.
19 (go ahead, do it by holding down the CONTROL key while typing v).
20 From now on, you should do this again whenever you finish
23 Note that there is an overlap of two lines when you move from screen
24 to screen; this provides some continuity so you can continue reading
27 The first thing that you need to know is how to move around from place
28 to place in the text. You already know how to move forward one screen,
29 with C-v. To move backwards one screen, type M-v (hold down the META key
30 and type v, or type <ESC>v if you do not have a META, EDIT, or ALT key).
32 >> Try typing M-v and then C-v, a few times.
38 The following commands are useful for viewing screenfuls:
40 C-v Move forward one screenful
41 M-v Move backward one screenful
42 C-l Clear screen and redisplay all the text,
43 moving the text around the cursor
44 to the center of the screen.
45 (That's CONTROL-L, not CONTROL-1.)
47 >> Find the cursor, and note what text is near it.
49 Find the cursor again and notice that the same text
50 is near the cursor now.
52 You can also use the PageUp and PageDn keys to move by screenfuls, if
53 your terminal has them, but you can edit more efficiently if you use
57 * BASIC CURSOR CONTROL
58 ----------------------
60 Moving from screenful to screenful is useful, but how do you
61 move to a specific place within the text on the screen?
63 There are several ways you can do this. You can use the arrow keys,
64 but it's more efficient to keep your hands in the standard position
65 and use the commands C-p, C-b, C-f, and C-n. These characters
66 are equivalent to the four arrow keys, like this:
71 Backward, C-b .... Current cursor position .... Forward, C-f
76 >> Move the cursor to the line in the middle of that diagram
77 using C-n or C-p. Then type C-l to see the whole diagram
78 centered in the screen.
80 You'll find it easy to remember these letters by words they stand for:
81 P for previous, N for next, B for backward and F for forward. You
82 will be using these basic cursor positioning commands all the time.
84 >> Do a few C-n's to bring the cursor down to this line.
86 >> Move into the line with C-f's and then up with C-p's.
87 See what C-p does when the cursor is in the middle of the line.
89 Each line of text ends with a Newline character, which serves to
90 separate it from the following line. The last line in your file ought
91 to have a Newline at the end (but Emacs does not require it to have
94 >> Try to C-b at the beginning of a line. It should move to
95 the end of the previous line. This is because it moves back
96 across the Newline character.
98 C-f can move across a Newline just like C-b.
100 >> Do a few more C-b's, so you get a feel for where the cursor is.
101 Then do C-f's to return to the end of the line.
102 Then do one more C-f to move to the following line.
104 When you move past the top or bottom of the screen, the text beyond
105 the edge shifts onto the screen. This is called "scrolling". It
106 enables Emacs to move the cursor to the specified place in the text
107 without moving it off the screen.
109 >> Try to move the cursor off the bottom of the screen with C-n, and
112 If moving by characters is too slow, you can move by words. M-f
113 (META-f) moves forward a word and M-b moves back a word.
115 >> Type a few M-f's and M-b's.
117 When you are in the middle of a word, M-f moves to the end of the word.
118 When you are in whitespace between words, M-f moves to the end of the
119 following word. M-b works likewise in the opposite direction.
121 >> Type M-f and M-b a few times, interspersed with C-f's and C-b's
122 so that you can observe the action of M-f and M-b from various
123 places inside and between words.
125 Notice the parallel between C-f and C-b on the one hand, and M-f and
126 M-b on the other hand. Very often Meta characters are used for
127 operations related to the units defined by language (words, sentences,
128 paragraphs), while Control characters operate on basic units that are
129 independent of what you are editing (characters, lines, etc).
131 This parallel applies between lines and sentences: C-a and C-e move to
132 the beginning or end of a line, and M-a and M-e move to the beginning
133 or end of a sentence.
135 >> Try a couple of C-a's, and then a couple of C-e's.
136 Try a couple of M-a's, and then a couple of M-e's.
138 See how repeated C-a's do nothing, but repeated M-a's keep moving one
139 more sentence. Although these are not quite analogous, each one seems
142 The location of the cursor in the text is also called "point". To
143 paraphrase, the cursor shows on the screen where point is located in
146 Here is a summary of simple cursor-moving operations, including the
147 word and sentence moving commands:
149 C-f Move forward a character
150 C-b Move backward a character
152 M-f Move forward a word
153 M-b Move backward a word
155 C-n Move to next line
156 C-p Move to previous line
158 C-a Move to beginning of line
159 C-e Move to end of line
161 M-a Move back to beginning of sentence
162 M-e Move forward to end of sentence
164 >> Try all of these commands now a few times for practice.
165 These are the most often used commands.
167 Two other important cursor motion commands are M-< (META Less-than),
168 which moves to the beginning of the whole text, and M-> (META
169 Greater-than), which moves to the end of the whole text.
171 On most terminals, the "<" is above the comma, so you must use the
172 shift key to type it. On these terminals you must use the shift key
173 to type M-< also; without the shift key, you would be typing M-comma.
175 >> Try M-< now, to move to the beginning of the tutorial.
176 Then use C-v repeatedly to move back here.
178 >> Try M-> now, to move to the end of the tutorial.
179 Then use M-v repeatedly to move back here.
181 You can also move the cursor with the arrow keys, if your terminal has
182 arrow keys. We recommend learning C-b, C-f, C-n and C-p for three
183 reasons. First, they work on all kinds of terminals. Second, once
184 you gain practice at using Emacs, you will find that typing these Control
185 characters is faster than typing the arrow keys (because you do not
186 have to move your hands away from touch-typing position). Third, once
187 you form the habit of using these Control character commands, you can
188 easily learn to use other advanced cursor motion commands as well.
190 Most Emacs commands accept a numeric argument; for most commands, this
191 serves as a repeat-count. The way you give a command a repeat count
192 is by typing C-u and then the digits before you type the command. If
193 you have a META (or EDIT or ALT) key, there is another, alternative way
194 to enter a numeric argument: type the digits while holding down the
195 META key. We recommend learning the C-u method because it works on
196 any terminal. The numeric argument is also called a "prefix argument",
197 because you type the argument before the command it applies to.
199 For instance, C-u 8 C-f moves forward eight characters.
201 >> Try using C-n or C-p with a numeric argument, to move the cursor
202 to a line near this one with just one command.
204 Most commands use the numeric argument as a repeat count, but some
205 commands use it in some other way. Several commands (but none of
206 those you have learned so far) use it as a flag--the presence of a
207 prefix argument, regardless of its value, makes the command do
210 C-v and M-v are another kind of exception. When given an argument,
211 they scroll the screen up or down by that many lines, rather than by a
212 screenful. For example, C-u 8 C-v scrolls the screen by 8 lines.
214 >> Try typing C-u 8 C-v now.
216 This should have scrolled the screen up by 8 lines. If you would like
217 to scroll it down again, you can give an argument to M-v.
219 If you are using a windowed display, such as X11 or MS-Windows, there
220 should be a tall rectangular area called a scroll bar at the left hand
221 side of the Emacs window. You can scroll the text by clicking the
222 mouse in the scroll bar.
224 >> Try pressing the middle button at the top of the highlighted area
225 within the scroll bar. This should scroll the text to a position
226 determined by how high or low you click.
228 >> Try moving the mouse up and down, while holding the middle button
229 pressed down. You'll see that the text scrolls up and down as
236 If Emacs stops responding to your commands, you can stop it safely by
237 typing C-g. You can use C-g to stop a command which is taking too
240 You can also use C-g to discard a numeric argument or the beginning of
241 a command that you do not want to finish.
243 >> Type C-u 100 to make a numeric arg of 100, then type C-g.
244 Now type C-f. It should move just one character,
245 because you canceled the argument with C-g.
247 If you have typed an <ESC> by mistake, you can get rid of it
254 Some Emacs commands are "disabled" so that beginning users cannot use
257 If you type one of the disabled commands, Emacs displays a message
258 saying what the command was, and asking you whether you want to go
259 ahead and execute the command.
261 If you really want to try the command, type <SPC> (the Space bar) in
262 answer to the question. Normally, if you do not want to execute the
263 disabled command, answer the question with "n".
265 >> Type C-x C-l (which is a disabled command),
266 then type n to answer the question.
272 Emacs can have several windows, each displaying its own text. We will
273 explain later on how to use multiple windows. Right now we want to
274 explain how to get rid of extra windows and go back to basic
275 one-window editing. It is simple:
277 C-x 1 One window (i.e., kill all other windows).
279 That is CONTROL-x followed by the digit 1. C-x 1 expands the window
280 which contains the cursor, to occupy the full screen. It deletes all
283 >> Move the cursor to this line and type C-u 0 C-l.
284 >> Type CONTROL-h k CONTROL-f.
285 See how this window shrinks, while a new one appears
286 to display documentation on the CONTROL-f command.
288 >> Type C-x 1 and see the documentation listing window disappear.
290 This command is unlike the other commands you have learned in that it
291 consists of two characters. It starts with the character CONTROL-x.
292 There is a whole series of commands that start with CONTROL-x; many of
293 them have to do with windows, files, buffers, and related things.
294 These commands are two, three or four characters long.
297 * INSERTING AND DELETING
298 ------------------------
300 If you want to insert text, just type the text. Characters which you
301 can see, such as A, 7, *, etc. are taken by Emacs as text and inserted
302 immediately. Type <Return> (the carriage-return key) to insert a
305 You can delete the last character you typed by typing <Delback>.
306 <Delback> is a key on the keyboard--the same one you normally use,
307 outside Emacs, for deleting the last character you typed. It is
308 normally a large key a couple of lines up from the <Return> key, and
309 it is usually labeled "Delete", "Del" or "Backspace".
311 If the large key there is labeled "Backspace", then that's the one you
312 use for <Delback>. There may also be another key labeled "Delete"
313 somewhere else, but that's not <Delback>.
315 More generally, <Delback> deletes the character immediately before the
316 current cursor position.
318 >> Do this now--type a few characters, then delete them
319 by typing <Delback> a few times. Don't worry about this file
320 being changed; you will not alter the master tutorial. This is
321 your personal copy of it.
323 When a line of text gets too big for one line on the screen, the line
324 of text is "continued" onto a second screen line. A backslash ("\")
325 (or, if you're using a windowed display, a little curved arrow) at the
326 right margin indicates a line which has been continued.
328 >> Insert text until you reach the right margin, and keep on inserting.
329 You'll see a continuation line appear.
331 >> Use <Delback>s to delete the text until the line fits on one screen
332 line again. The continuation line goes away.
334 You can delete a Newline character just like any other character.
335 Deleting the Newline character between two lines merges them into
336 one line. If the resulting combined line is too long to fit in the
337 screen width, it will be displayed with a continuation line.
339 >> Move the cursor to the beginning of a line and type <Delback>. This
340 merges that line with the previous line.
342 >> Type <Return> to reinsert the Newline you deleted.
344 Remember that most Emacs commands can be given a repeat count;
345 this includes text characters. Repeating a text character inserts
348 >> Try that now -- type C-u 8 * to insert ********.
350 You've now learned the most basic way of typing something in
351 Emacs and correcting errors. You can delete by words or lines
352 as well. Here is a summary of the delete operations:
354 <Delback> Delete the character just before the cursor
355 C-d Delete the next character after the cursor
357 M-<Delback> Kill the word immediately before the cursor
358 M-d Kill the next word after the cursor
360 C-k Kill from the cursor position to end of line
361 M-k Kill to the end of the current sentence
363 Notice that <Delback> and C-d vs M-<Delback> and M-d extend the parallel
364 started by C-f and M-f (well, <Delback> is not really a control
365 character, but let's not worry about that). C-k and M-k are like C-e
366 and M-e, sort of, in that lines are opposite sentences.
368 You can also kill any part of the text with one uniform method. Move
369 to one end of that part, and type C-@ or C-<SPC> (either one). (<SPC>
370 is the Space bar.) Move to the other end of that part, and type C-w.
371 That kills all the text between the two positions.
373 >> Move the cursor to the Y at the start of the previous paragraph.
374 >> Type C-<SPC>. Emacs should display a message "Mark set"
375 at the bottom of the screen.
376 >> Move the cursor to the n in "end", on the second line of the
378 >> Type C-w. This will kill the text starting from the Y,
379 and ending just before the n.
381 The difference between "killing" and "deleting" is that "killed" text
382 can be reinserted, whereas "deleted" things cannot be reinserted.
383 Reinsertion of killed text is called "yanking". Generally, the
384 commands that can remove a lot of text kill the text (they set up so
385 that you can yank the text), while the commands that remove just one
386 character, or only remove blank lines and spaces, do deletion (so you
387 cannot yank that text).
389 >> Move the cursor to the beginning of a line which is not empty.
390 Then type C-k to kill the text on that line.
391 >> Type C-k a second time. You'll see that it kills the Newline
392 which follows that line.
394 Note that a single C-k kills the contents of the line, and a second
395 C-k kills the line itself, and makes all the other lines move up. C-k
396 treats a numeric argument specially: it kills that many lines AND
397 their contents. This is not mere repetition. C-u 2 C-k kills two
398 lines and their newlines; typing C-k twice would not do that.
400 Bringing back killed text is called "yanking". (Think of it as
401 yanking back, or pulling back, some text that was taken away.) You
402 can yank the killed text either at the same place where it was killed,
403 or at some other place in the text you are editing, or even in a
404 different file. You can yank the same text several times; that makes
405 multiple copies of it.
407 The command for yanking is C-y. It reinserts the last killed text,
408 at the current cursor position.
410 >> Try it; type C-y to yank the text back.
412 If you do several C-k's in a row, all of the killed text is saved
413 together, so that one C-y will yank all of the lines at once.
415 >> Do this now, type C-k several times.
417 Now to retrieve that killed text:
419 >> Type C-y. Then move the cursor down a few lines and type C-y
420 again. You now see how to copy some text.
422 What do you do if you have some text you want to yank back, and then
423 you kill something else? C-y would yank the more recent kill. But
424 the previous text is not lost. You can get back to it using the M-y
425 command. After you have done C-y to get the most recent kill, typing
426 M-y replaces that yanked text with the previous kill. Typing M-y
427 again and again brings in earlier and earlier kills. When you have
428 reached the text you are looking for, you do not have to do anything to
429 keep it. Just go on with your editing, leaving the yanked text where
432 If you M-y enough times, you come back to the starting point (the most
435 >> Kill a line, move around, kill another line.
436 Then do C-y to get back the second killed line.
437 Then do M-y and it will be replaced by the first killed line.
438 Do more M-y's and see what you get. Keep doing them until
439 the second kill line comes back, and then a few more.
440 If you like, you can try giving M-y positive and negative
447 If you make a change to the text, and then decide that it was a
448 mistake, you can undo the change with the undo command, C-x u.
450 Normally, C-x u undoes the changes made by one command; if you repeat
451 the C-x u several times in a row, each repetition undoes one
454 But there are two exceptions: commands that do not change the text do
455 not count (this includes cursor motion commands and scrolling
456 command), and self-inserting characters are usually handled in groups
457 of up to 20. (This is to reduce the number of C-x u's you have to
458 type to undo insertion of text.)
460 >> Kill this line with C-k, then type C-x u and it should reappear.
462 C-_ is an alternative undo command; it works just the same as C-x u,
463 but it is easier to type several times in a row. The disadvantage of
464 C-_ is that on some keyboards it is not obvious how to type it. That
465 is why we provide C-x u as well. On some terminals, you can type C-_
466 by typing / while holding down CONTROL.
468 A numeric argument to C-_ or C-x u acts as a repeat count.
470 You can undo deletion of text just as you can undo killing of text.
471 The distinction between killing something and deleting it affects
472 whether you can yank it with C-y; it makes no difference for undo.
478 In order to make the text you edit permanent, you must put it in a
479 file. Otherwise, it will go away when your invocation of Emacs goes
480 away. In order to put your text in a file, you must "find" the file
481 before you enter the text. (This is also called "visiting" the file.)
483 Finding a file means that you see the contents of the file within
484 Emacs. In many ways, it is as if you were editing the file itself.
485 However, the changes you make using Emacs do not become permanent
486 until you "save" the file. This is so you can avoid leaving a
487 half-changed file on the system when you do not want to. Even when
488 you save, Emacs leaves the original file under a changed name in case
489 you later decide that your changes were a mistake.
491 If you look near the bottom of the screen you will see a line that
492 begins and ends with dashes, and starts with "--:-- TUTORIAL" or
493 something like that. This part of the screen normally shows the name
494 of the file that you are visiting. Right now, you are visiting a file
495 called "TUTORIAL" which is your personal scratch copy of the Emacs
496 tutorial. When you find a file with Emacs, that file's name will
497 appear in that precise spot.
499 One special thing about the command for finding a file is that you
500 have to say what file name you want. We say the command "reads an
501 argument from the terminal" (in this case, the argument is the name of
502 the file). After you type the command
506 Emacs asks you to type the file name. The file name you type appears
507 on the bottom line of the screen. The bottom line is called the
508 minibuffer when it is used for this sort of input. You can use
509 ordinary Emacs editing commands to edit the file name.
511 While you are entering the file name (or any minibuffer input),
512 you can cancel the command with C-g.
514 >> Type C-x C-f, then type C-g. This cancels the minibuffer,
515 and also cancels the C-x C-f command that was using the
516 minibuffer. So you do not find any file.
518 When you have finished entering the file name, type <Return> to
519 terminate it. Then C-x C-f command goes to work, and finds the file
520 you chose. The minibuffer disappears when the C-x C-f command is
523 In a little while the file contents appear on the screen, and you can
524 edit the contents. When you wish to make your changes permanent,
527 C-x C-s Save the file
529 This copies the text within Emacs into the file. The first time you
530 do this, Emacs renames the original file to a new name so that it is
531 not lost. The new name is made by adding "~" to the end of the
532 original file's name.
534 When saving is finished, Emacs displays the name of the file written.
535 You should save fairly often, so that you will not lose very much
536 work if the system should crash.
538 >> Type C-x C-s, saving your copy of the tutorial.
539 This should show "Wrote ...TUTORIAL" at the bottom of the screen.
541 NOTE: On some systems, typing C-x C-s will freeze the screen and you
542 will see no further output from Emacs. This indicates that an
543 operating system "feature" called "flow control" is intercepting the
544 C-s and not letting it get through to Emacs. To unfreeze the screen,
545 type C-q. Then see the section "Spontaneous Entry to Incremental
546 Search" in the Emacs manual for advice on dealing with this "feature".
548 You can find an existing file, to view it or edit it. You can also
549 find a file which does not already exist. This is the way to create a
550 file with Emacs: find the file, which will start out empty, and then
551 begin inserting the text for the file. When you ask to "save" the
552 file, Emacs will really create the file with the text that you have
553 inserted. From then on, you can consider yourself to be editing an
554 already existing file.
560 If you find a second file with C-x C-f, the first file remains
561 inside Emacs. You can switch back to it by finding it again with
562 C-x C-f. This way you can get quite a number of files inside Emacs.
564 >> Create a file named "foo" by typing C-x C-f foo <Return>.
565 Then insert some text, edit it, and save "foo" by typing C-x C-s.
566 Finally, type C-x C-f TUTORIAL <Return>
567 to come back to the tutorial.
569 Emacs stores each file's text inside an object called a "buffer".
570 Finding a file makes a new buffer inside Emacs. To see a list of the
571 buffers that currently exist in your Emacs job, type
577 See how each buffer has a name, and it may also have a file name for
578 the file whose contents it holds. ANY text you see in an Emacs window
579 is always part of some buffer.
581 >> Type C-x 1 to get rid of the buffer list.
583 When you have several buffers, only one of them is "current" at any
584 time. That buffer is the one you edit. If you want to edit another
585 buffer, you need to "switch" to it. If you want to switch to a buffer
586 that corresponds to a file, you can do it by visiting the file again
587 with C-x C-f. But there is an easier way: use the C-x b command.
588 In that command, you have to type the buffer's name.
590 >> Type C-x b foo <Return> to go back to the buffer "foo" which holds
591 the text of the file "foo". Then type C-x b TUTORIAL <Return>
592 to come back to this tutorial.
594 Most of the time, the buffer's name is the same as the file name
595 (without the file directory part). However, this is not always true.
596 The buffer list you make with C-x C-b always shows you the name of
599 ANY text you see in an Emacs window is always part of some buffer.
600 Some buffers do not correspond to files. For example, the buffer
601 named "*Buffer List*" does not have any file. It is the buffer which
602 contains the buffer list that you made with C-x C-b. The buffer named
603 "*Messages*" also does not correspond to any file; it contains the
604 messages that have appeared on the bottom line during your Emacs
607 >> Type C-x b *Messages* <Return> to look at the buffer of messages.
608 Then type C-x b TUTORIAL <Return> to come back to this tutorial.
610 If you make changes to the text of one file, then find another file,
611 this does not save the first file. Its changes remain inside Emacs,
612 in that file's buffer. The creation or editing of the second file's
613 buffer has no effect on the first file's buffer. This is very useful,
614 but it also means that you need a convenient way to save the first
615 file's buffer. It would be a nuisance to have to switch back to
616 it with C-x C-f in order to save it with C-x C-s. So we have
618 C-x s Save some buffers
620 C-x s asks you about each buffer which contains changes that you have
621 not saved. It asks you, for each such buffer, whether to save the
624 >> Insert a line of text, then type C-x s.
625 It should ask you whether to save the buffer named TUTORIAL.
626 Answer yes to the question by typing "y".
629 * EXTENDING THE COMMAND SET
630 ---------------------------
632 There are many, many more Emacs commands than could possibly be put
633 on all the control and meta characters. Emacs gets around this with
634 the X (eXtend) command. This comes in two flavors:
636 C-x Character eXtend. Followed by one character.
637 M-x Named command eXtend. Followed by a long name.
639 These are commands that are generally useful but used less than the
640 commands you have already learned about. You have already seen a few
641 of them: the file commands C-x C-f to Find and C-x C-s to Save, for
642 example. Another example is the command to end the Emacs
643 session--this is the command C-x C-c. (Do not worry about losing
644 changes you have made; C-x C-c offers to save each changed file before
647 C-z is the command to exit Emacs *temporarily*--so that you can go
648 back to the same Emacs session afterward.
650 On systems which allow it, C-z "suspends" Emacs; that is, it returns
651 to the shell but does not destroy the Emacs. In the most common
652 shells, you can resume Emacs with the `fg' command or with `%emacs'.
654 On systems which do not implement suspending, C-z creates a subshell
655 running under Emacs to give you the chance to run other programs and
656 return to Emacs afterward; it does not truly "exit" from Emacs. In
657 this case, the shell command `exit' is the usual way to get back to
658 Emacs from the subshell.
660 The time to use C-x C-c is when you are about to log out. It's also
661 the right thing to use to exit an Emacs invoked under mail handling
662 programs and other miscellaneous utilities, since they may not know
663 how to cope with suspension of Emacs. In ordinary circumstances,
664 though, if you are not about to log out, it is better to suspend Emacs
665 with C-z instead of exiting Emacs.
667 There are many C-x commands. Here is a list of the ones you have learned:
671 C-x s Save some buffers
675 C-x 1 Delete all but one window
678 Named eXtended commands are commands which are used even less
679 frequently, or commands which are used only in certain modes. An
680 example is the command replace-string, which globally replaces one
681 string with another. When you type M-x, Emacs prompts you at the
682 bottom of the screen with M-x and you should type the name of the
683 command; in this case, "replace-string". Just type "repl s<TAB>" and
684 Emacs will complete the name. (<TAB> is the Tab key, usually found
685 above the CapsLock or Shift key near the left edge of the keyboard.)
686 End the command name with <Return>.
688 The replace-string command requires two arguments--the string to be
689 replaced, and the string to replace it with. You must end each
690 argument with <Return>.
692 >> Move the cursor to the blank line two lines below this one.
693 Then type M-x repl s<Return>changed<Return>altered<Return>.
695 Notice how this line has changed: you've replaced
696 the word c-h-a-n-g-e-d with "altered" wherever it occurred,
697 after the initial position of the cursor.
703 When you have made changes in a file, but you have not saved them yet,
704 they could be lost if your computer crashes. To protect you from
705 this, Emacs periodically writes an "auto save" file for each file that
706 you are editing. The auto save file name has a # at the beginning and
707 the end; for example, if your file is named "hello.c", its auto save
708 file's name is "#hello.c#". When you save the file in the normal way,
709 Emacs deletes its auto save file.
711 If the computer crashes, you can recover your auto-saved editing by
712 finding the file normally (the file you were editing, not the auto
713 save file) and then typing M-x recover file<Return>. When it asks for
714 confirmation, type yes<Return> to go ahead and recover the auto-save
721 If Emacs sees that you are typing multicharacter commands slowly, it
722 shows them to you at the bottom of the screen in an area called the
723 "echo area". The echo area contains the bottom line of the screen.
729 The line immediately above the echo area is called the "mode line".
730 The mode line says something like this:
732 --:** TUTORIAL 63% L749 (Fundamental)-----------------------
734 This line gives useful information about the status of Emacs and
735 the text you are editing.
737 You already know what the filename means--it is the file you have
738 found. NN% indicates your current position in the text; it means that
739 NN percent of the text is above the top of the screen. If the top of
740 the file is on the screen, it will say "Top" instead of " 0%". If the
741 bottom of the text is on the screen, it will say "Bot". If you are
742 looking at text so small that all of it fits on the screen, the mode
745 The L and digits indicate position in another way: they give the
746 current line number of point.
748 The stars near the front mean that you have made changes to the text.
749 Right after you visit or save a file, that part of the mode line shows
750 no stars, just dashes.
752 The part of the mode line inside the parentheses is to tell you what
753 editing modes you are in. The default mode is Fundamental which is
754 what you are using now. It is an example of a "major mode".
756 Emacs has many different major modes. Some of them are meant for
757 editing different languages and/or kinds of text, such as Lisp mode,
758 Text mode, etc. At any time one and only one major mode is active,
759 and its name can always be found in the mode line just where
760 "Fundamental" is now.
762 Each major mode makes a few commands behave differently. For example,
763 there are commands for creating comments in a program, and since each
764 programming language has a different idea of what a comment should
765 look like, each major mode has to insert comments differently. Each
766 major mode is the name of an extended command, which is how you can
767 switch to that mode. For example, M-x fundamental-mode is a command to
768 switch to Fundamental mode.
770 If you are going to be editing human-language text, such as this file, you
771 should probably use Text Mode.
773 >> Type M-x text mode<Return>.
775 Don't worry, none of the Emacs commands you have learned changes in
776 any great way. But you can observe that M-f and M-b now treat
777 apostrophes as part of words. Previously, in Fundamental mode,
778 M-f and M-b treated apostrophes as word-separators.
780 Major modes usually make subtle changes like that one: most commands
781 do "the same job" in each major mode, but they work a little bit
784 To view documentation on your current major mode, type C-h m.
786 >> Use C-u C-v once or more to bring this line near the top of screen.
787 >> Type C-h m, to see how Text mode differs from Fundamental mode.
788 >> Type C-x 1 to remove the documentation from the screen.
790 Major modes are called major because there are also minor modes.
791 Minor modes are not alternatives to the major modes, just minor
792 modifications of them. Each minor mode can be turned on or off by
793 itself, independent of all other minor modes, and independent of your
794 major mode. So you can use no minor modes, or one minor mode, or any
795 combination of several minor modes.
797 One minor mode which is very useful, especially for editing
798 human-language text, is Auto Fill mode. When this mode is on, Emacs
799 breaks the line in between words automatically whenever you insert
800 text and make a line that is too wide.
802 You can turn Auto Fill mode on by doing M-x auto fill mode<Return>.
803 When the mode is on, you can turn it off again by doing M-x
804 auto fill mode<Return>. If the mode is off, this command turns it on,
805 and if the mode is on, this command turns it off. We say that the
806 command "toggles the mode".
808 >> Type M-x auto fill mode<Return> now. Then insert a line of "asdf "
809 over again until you see it divide into two lines. You must put in
810 spaces between them because Auto Fill breaks lines only at spaces.
812 The margin is usually set at 70 characters, but you can change it
813 with the C-x f command. You should give the margin setting you want
814 as a numeric argument.
816 >> Type C-x f with an argument of 20. (C-u 2 0 C-x f).
817 Then type in some text and see Emacs fill lines of 20
818 characters with it. Then set the margin back to 70 using
821 If you make changes in the middle of a paragraph, Auto Fill mode
822 does not re-fill it for you.
823 To re-fill the paragraph, type M-q (META-q) with the cursor inside
826 >> Move the cursor into the previous paragraph and type M-q.
832 Emacs can do searches for strings (these are groups of contiguous
833 characters or words) either forward through the text or backward
834 through it. Searching for a string is a cursor motion command;
835 it moves the cursor to the next place where that string appears.
837 The Emacs search command is different from the search commands
838 of most editors, in that it is "incremental". This means that the
839 search happens while you type in the string to search for.
841 The command to initiate a search is C-s for forward search, and C-r
842 for reverse search. BUT WAIT! Don't try them now.
844 When you type C-s you'll notice that the string "I-search" appears as
845 a prompt in the echo area. This tells you that Emacs is in what is
846 called an incremental search waiting for you to type the thing that
847 you want to search for. <Return> terminates a search.
849 >> Now type C-s to start a search. SLOWLY, one letter at a time,
850 type the word 'cursor', pausing after you type each
851 character to notice what happens to the cursor.
852 Now you have searched for "cursor", once.
853 >> Type C-s again, to search for the next occurrence of "cursor".
854 >> Now type <Delback> four times and see how the cursor moves.
855 >> Type <Return> to terminate the search.
857 Did you see what happened? Emacs, in an incremental search, tries to
858 go to the occurrence of the string that you've typed out so far. To
859 go to the next occurrence of 'cursor' just type C-s again. If no such
860 occurrence exists, Emacs beeps and tells you the search is currently
861 "failing". C-g would also terminate the search.
863 NOTE: On some systems, typing C-s will freeze the screen and you will
864 see no further output from Emacs. This indicates that an operating
865 system "feature" called "flow control" is intercepting the C-s and not
866 letting it get through to Emacs. To unfreeze the screen, type C-q.
867 Then see the section "Spontaneous Entry to Incremental Search" in the
868 Emacs manual for advice on dealing with this "feature".
870 If you are in the middle of an incremental search and type <Delback>,
871 you'll notice that the last character in the search string is erased
872 and the search backs up to the last place of the search. For
873 instance, suppose you have typed "c", to search for the first
874 occurrence of "c". Now if you type "u", the cursor will move
875 to the first occurrence of "cu". Now type <Delback>. This erases
876 the "u" from the search string, and the cursor moves back to
877 the first occurrence of "c".
879 If you are in the middle of a search and type a control or meta
880 character (with a few exceptions--characters that are special in
881 a search, such as C-s and C-r), the search is terminated.
883 The C-s starts a search that looks for any occurrence of the search
884 string AFTER the current cursor position. If you want to search for
885 something earlier in the text, type C-r instead. Everything that we
886 have said about C-s also applies to C-r, except that the direction of
887 the search is reversed.
893 One of the nice features of Emacs is that you can display more than one
894 window on the screen at the same time.
896 >> Move the cursor to this line and type C-u 0 C-l (that's CONTROL-L, not
899 >> Now type C-x 2 which splits the screen into two windows.
900 Both windows display this tutorial. The cursor stays in the top window.
902 >> Type C-M-v to scroll the bottom window.
903 (If you do not have a real META key, type <ESC> C-v.)
905 >> Type C-x o ("o" for "other") to move the cursor to the bottom window.
906 >> Use C-v and M-v in the bottom window to scroll it.
907 Keep reading these directions in the top window.
909 >> Type C-x o again to move the cursor back to the top window.
910 The cursor in the top window is just where it was before.
912 You can keep using C-x o to switch between the windows. Each
913 window has its own cursor position, but only one window actually
914 shows the cursor. All the ordinary editing commands apply to the
915 window that the cursor is in. We call this the "selected window".
917 The command C-M-v is very useful when you are editing text in one
918 window and using the other window just for reference. You can keep
919 the cursor always in the window where you are editing, and advance
920 through the other window sequentially with C-M-v.
922 C-M-v is an example of a CONTROL-META character. If you have a real
923 META key, you can type C-M-v by holding down both CONTROL and META while
924 typing v. It does not matter whether CONTROL or META "comes first,"
925 because both of these keys act by modifying the characters you type.
927 If you do not have a real META key, and you use <ESC> instead, the
928 order does matter: you must type <ESC> followed by CONTROL-v, because
929 CONTROL-<ESC> v will not work. This is because <ESC> is a character
930 in its own right, not a modifier key.
932 >> Type C-x 1 (in the top window) to get rid of the bottom window.
934 (If you had typed C-x 1 in the bottom window, that would get rid
935 of the top one. Think of this command as "Keep just one
936 window--the window I am already in.")
938 You do not have to display the same buffer in both windows. If you
939 use C-x C-f to find a file in one window, the other window does not
940 change. You can find a file in each window independently.
942 Here is another way to use two windows to display two different
945 >> Type C-x 4 C-f followed by the name of one of your files.
946 End with <Return>. See the specified file appear in the bottom
947 window. The cursor goes there, too.
949 >> Type C-x o to go back to the top window, and C-x 1 to delete
953 * RECURSIVE EDITING LEVELS
954 --------------------------
956 Sometimes you will get into what is called a "recursive editing
957 level". This is indicated by square brackets in the mode line,
958 surrounding the parentheses around the major mode name. For
959 example, you might see [(Fundamental)] instead of (Fundamental).
961 To get out of the recursive editing level, type <ESC> <ESC> <ESC>.
962 That is an all-purpose "get out" command. You can also use it for
963 eliminating extra windows, and getting out of the minibuffer.
965 >> Type M-x to get into a minibuffer; then type <ESC> <ESC> <ESC> to
968 You cannot use C-g to get out of a recursive editing level. This is
969 because C-g is used for canceling commands and arguments WITHIN the
970 recursive editing level.
976 In this tutorial we have tried to supply just enough information to
977 get you started using Emacs. There is so much available in Emacs that
978 it would be impossible to explain it all here. However, you may want
979 to learn more about Emacs since it has many other useful features.
980 Emacs provides commands for reading documentation about Emacs
981 commands. These "help" commands all start with the character
982 CONTROL-h, which is called "the Help character".
984 To use the Help features, type the C-h character, and then a
985 character saying what kind of help you want. If you are REALLY lost,
986 type C-h ? and Emacs will tell you what kinds of help it can give.
987 If you have typed C-h and decide you do not want any help, just
988 type C-g to cancel it.
990 (Some sites change the meaning of the character C-h. They really
991 should not do this as a blanket measure for all users, so you have
992 grounds to complain to the system administrator. Meanwhile, if C-h
993 does not display a message about help at the bottom of the screen, try
994 typing the F1 key or M-x help <Return> instead.)
996 The most basic HELP feature is C-h c. Type C-h, the character c, and
997 a command character or sequence; then Emacs displays a very brief
998 description of the command.
1002 The message should be something like this:
1004 C-p runs the command previous-line
1006 This tells you the "name of the function". Function names are used
1007 mainly for customizing and extending Emacs. But since function names
1008 are chosen to indicate what the command does, they can serve also as
1009 very brief documentation--sufficient to remind you of commands you
1010 have already learned.
1012 Multi-character commands such as C-x C-s and (if you have no META or
1013 EDIT or ALT key) <ESC>v are also allowed after C-h c.
1015 To get more information about a command, use C-h k instead of C-h c.
1019 This displays the documentation of the function, as well as its
1020 name, in an Emacs window. When you are finished reading the
1021 output, type C-x 1 to get rid of the help text. You do not have
1022 to do this right away. You can do some editing while referring
1023 to the help text, and then type C-x 1.
1025 Here are some other useful C-h options:
1027 C-h f Describe a function. You type in the name of the
1030 >> Try typing C-h f previous-line<Return>.
1031 This displays all the information Emacs has about the
1032 function which implements the C-p command.
1034 A similar command C-h v displays the documentation of variables whose
1035 values you can set to customize Emacs behavior. You need to type in
1036 the name of the variable when Emacs prompts for it.
1038 C-h a Command Apropos. Type in a keyword and Emacs will list
1039 all the commands whose names contain that keyword.
1040 These commands can all be invoked with META-x.
1041 For some commands, Command Apropos will also list a one
1042 or two character sequence which runs the same command.
1044 >> Type C-h a file<Return>.
1046 This displays in another window a list of all M-x commands with "file"
1047 in their names. You will see character-commands like C-x C-f listed
1048 beside the corresponding command names such as find-file.
1050 >> Type C-M-v to scroll the help window. Do this a few times.
1052 >> Type C-x 1 to delete the help window.
1054 C-h i Read On-line Manuals (a.k.a. Info). This command puts
1055 you into a special buffer called `*info*' where you
1056 can read on-line manuals for the packages installed on
1057 your system. Type m emacs <Return> to read the Emacs
1058 manual. If you have never before used Info, type ?
1059 and Emacs will take you on a guided tour of Info mode
1060 facilities. Once you are through with this tutorial,
1061 you should consult the Emacs Info manual as your
1062 primary documentation.
1068 You can learn more about Emacs by reading its manual, either as a book
1069 or on-line in Info (use the Help menu or type F10 h r). Two features
1070 that you may like especially are completion, which saves typing, and
1071 dired, which simplifies file handling.
1073 Completion is a way to avoid unnecessary typing. For instance, if you
1074 want to switch to the *Messages* buffer, you can type C-x b *M<Tab>
1075 and Emacs will fill in the rest of the buffer name as far as it can
1076 determine from what you have already typed. Completion is described
1077 in Info in the Emacs manual in the node called "Completion".
1079 Dired enables you to list files in a directory (and optionally its
1080 subdirectories), move around that list, visit, rename, delete and
1081 otherwise operate on the files. Dired is described in Info in the
1082 Emacs manual in the node called "Dired".
1084 The manual also describes many other Emacs features.
1090 Remember, to exit Emacs permanently use C-x C-c. To exit to a shell
1091 temporarily, so that you can come back to Emacs afterward, use C-z.
1093 This tutorial is meant to be understandable to all new users, so if
1094 you found something unclear, don't sit and blame yourself - complain!
1100 This tutorial descends from a long line of Emacs tutorials
1101 starting with the one written by Stuart Cracraft for the original Emacs.
1103 This version of the tutorial, like GNU Emacs, is copyrighted, and
1104 comes with permission to distribute copies on certain conditions:
1106 Copyright (C) 1985, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004,
1107 2005, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1109 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
1110 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
1111 copyright notice and permission notice are preserved,
1112 and that the distributor grants the recipient permission
1113 for further redistribution as permitted by this notice.
1115 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
1116 of this document, or of portions of it,
1117 under the above conditions, provided also that they
1118 carry prominent notices stating who last altered them.
1120 The conditions for copying Emacs itself are more complex, but in the
1121 same spirit. Please read the file COPYING and then do give copies of
1122 GNU Emacs to your friends. Help stamp out software obstructionism
1123 ("ownership") by using, writing, and sharing free software!
1125 ;;; arch-tag: a0f84628-777f-4238-8865-451a73167f55