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6bf7aab6 | 1 | @c This is part of the Emacs manual. |
d621caf7 | 2 | @c Copyright (C) 1985,86,87,93,94,95,97,2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc. |
6bf7aab6 DL |
3 | @c See file emacs.texi for copying conditions. |
4 | @iftex | |
5 | @chapter Killing and Moving Text | |
6 | ||
7 | @dfn{Killing} means erasing text and copying it into the @dfn{kill | |
8 | ring}, from which it can be retrieved by @dfn{yanking} it. Some systems | |
9 | use the terms ``cutting'' and ``pasting'' for these operations. | |
10 | ||
11 | The commonest way of moving or copying text within Emacs is to kill it | |
12 | and later yank it elsewhere in one or more places. This is very safe | |
13 | because Emacs remembers several recent kills, not just the last one. It | |
14 | is versatile, because the many commands for killing syntactic units can | |
15 | also be used for moving those units. But there are other ways of | |
16 | copying text for special purposes. | |
17 | ||
18 | Emacs has only one kill ring for all buffers, so you can kill text in | |
19 | one buffer and yank it in another buffer. | |
20 | ||
21 | @end iftex | |
22 | ||
23 | @node Killing, Yanking, Mark, Top | |
24 | @section Deletion and Killing | |
25 | ||
26 | @cindex killing text | |
27 | @cindex cutting text | |
28 | @cindex deletion | |
29 | Most commands which erase text from the buffer save it in the kill | |
30 | ring so that you can move or copy it to other parts of the buffer. | |
31 | These commands are known as @dfn{kill} commands. The rest of the | |
32 | commands that erase text do not save it in the kill ring; they are known | |
33 | as @dfn{delete} commands. (This distinction is made only for erasure of | |
34 | text in the buffer.) If you do a kill or delete command by mistake, you | |
35 | can use the @kbd{C-x u} (@code{undo}) command to undo it | |
36 | (@pxref{Undo}). | |
37 | ||
38 | The delete commands include @kbd{C-d} (@code{delete-char}) and | |
39 | @key{DEL} (@code{delete-backward-char}), which delete only one character at | |
40 | a time, and those commands that delete only spaces or newlines. Commands | |
41 | that can destroy significant amounts of nontrivial data generally kill. | |
42 | The commands' names and individual descriptions use the words @samp{kill} | |
43 | and @samp{delete} to say which they do. | |
44 | ||
45 | @menu | |
46 | * Deletion:: Commands for deleting small amounts of text and | |
47 | blank areas. | |
48 | * Killing by Lines:: How to kill entire lines of text at one time. | |
49 | * Other Kill Commands:: Commands to kill large regions of text and | |
50 | syntactic units such as words and sentences. | |
51 | @end menu | |
52 | ||
53 | @node Deletion | |
54 | @subsection Deletion | |
55 | @c ??? Should be backward-delete-char | |
56 | @findex delete-backward-char | |
57 | @findex delete-char | |
58 | @kindex DEL | |
59 | @kindex C-d | |
60 | ||
61 | @table @kbd | |
62 | @item C-d | |
63 | Delete next character (@code{delete-char}). | |
64 | @item @key{DEL} | |
65 | Delete previous character (@code{delete-backward-char}). | |
66 | @item M-\ | |
67 | Delete spaces and tabs around point (@code{delete-horizontal-space}). | |
68 | @item M-@key{SPC} | |
69 | Delete spaces and tabs around point, leaving one space | |
70 | (@code{just-one-space}). | |
71 | @item C-x C-o | |
72 | Delete blank lines around the current line (@code{delete-blank-lines}). | |
73 | @item M-^ | |
74 | Join two lines by deleting the intervening newline, along with any | |
75 | indentation following it (@code{delete-indentation}). | |
76 | @end table | |
77 | ||
78 | The most basic delete commands are @kbd{C-d} (@code{delete-char}) and | |
79 | @key{DEL} (@code{delete-backward-char}). @kbd{C-d} deletes the | |
80 | character after point, the one the cursor is ``on top of.'' This | |
81 | doesn't move point. @key{DEL} deletes the character before the cursor, | |
82 | and moves point back. You can delete newlines like any other characters | |
83 | in the buffer; deleting a newline joins two lines. Actually, @kbd{C-d} | |
84 | and @key{DEL} aren't always delete commands; when given arguments, they | |
85 | kill instead, since they can erase more than one character this way. | |
86 | ||
87 | @kindex M-\ | |
88 | @findex delete-horizontal-space | |
89 | @kindex M-SPC | |
90 | @findex just-one-space | |
91 | The other delete commands are those which delete only whitespace | |
92 | characters: spaces, tabs and newlines. @kbd{M-\} | |
93 | (@code{delete-horizontal-space}) deletes all the spaces and tab | |
94 | characters before and after point. @kbd{M-@key{SPC}} | |
95 | (@code{just-one-space}) does likewise but leaves a single space after | |
96 | point, regardless of the number of spaces that existed previously (even | |
97 | zero). | |
98 | ||
99 | @kbd{C-x C-o} (@code{delete-blank-lines}) deletes all blank lines | |
100 | after the current line. If the current line is blank, it deletes all | |
101 | blank lines preceding the current line as well (leaving one blank line, | |
102 | the current line). | |
103 | ||
104 | @kbd{M-^} (@code{delete-indentation}) joins the current line and the | |
105 | previous line, by deleting a newline and all surrounding spaces, usually | |
106 | leaving a single space. @xref{Indentation,M-^}. | |
107 | ||
108 | @node Killing by Lines | |
109 | @subsection Killing by Lines | |
110 | ||
111 | @table @kbd | |
112 | @item C-k | |
113 | Kill rest of line or one or more lines (@code{kill-line}). | |
114 | @end table | |
115 | ||
116 | @kindex C-k | |
117 | @findex kill-line | |
118 | The simplest kill command is @kbd{C-k}. If given at the beginning of | |
119 | a line, it kills all the text on the line, leaving it blank. When used | |
120 | on a blank line, it kills the whole line including its newline. To kill | |
121 | an entire non-blank line, go to the beginning and type @kbd{C-k} twice. | |
122 | ||
123 | More generally, @kbd{C-k} kills from point up to the end of the line, | |
124 | unless it is at the end of a line. In that case it kills the newline | |
125 | following point, thus merging the next line into the current one. | |
126 | Spaces and tabs that you can't see at the end of the line are ignored | |
127 | when deciding which case applies, so if point appears to be at the end | |
128 | of the line, you can be sure @kbd{C-k} will kill the newline. | |
129 | ||
130 | When @kbd{C-k} is given a positive argument, it kills that many lines | |
131 | and the newlines that follow them (however, text on the current line | |
132 | before point is spared). With a negative argument @minus{}@var{n}, it | |
133 | kills @var{n} lines preceding the current line (together with the text | |
134 | on the current line before point). Thus, @kbd{C-u - 2 C-k} at the front | |
135 | of a line kills the two previous lines. | |
136 | ||
137 | @kbd{C-k} with an argument of zero kills the text before point on the | |
138 | current line. | |
139 | ||
140 | @vindex kill-whole-line | |
141 | If the variable @code{kill-whole-line} is non-@code{nil}, @kbd{C-k} at | |
142 | the very beginning of a line kills the entire line including the | |
143 | following newline. This variable is normally @code{nil}. | |
144 | ||
145 | @node Other Kill Commands | |
146 | @subsection Other Kill Commands | |
147 | @findex kill-region | |
148 | @kindex C-w | |
149 | ||
150 | @c DoubleWideCommands | |
151 | @table @kbd | |
152 | @item C-w | |
153 | Kill region (from point to the mark) (@code{kill-region}). | |
154 | @item M-d | |
155 | Kill word (@code{kill-word}). @xref{Words}. | |
156 | @item M-@key{DEL} | |
157 | Kill word backwards (@code{backward-kill-word}). | |
158 | @item C-x @key{DEL} | |
159 | Kill back to beginning of sentence (@code{backward-kill-sentence}). | |
160 | @xref{Sentences}. | |
161 | @item M-k | |
162 | Kill to end of sentence (@code{kill-sentence}). | |
163 | @item C-M-k | |
164 | Kill sexp (@code{kill-sexp}). @xref{Lists}. | |
165 | @item M-z @var{char} | |
166 | Kill through the next occurrence of @var{char} (@code{zap-to-char}). | |
167 | @end table | |
168 | ||
169 | A kill command which is very general is @kbd{C-w} | |
170 | (@code{kill-region}), which kills everything between point and the | |
171 | mark. With this command, you can kill any contiguous sequence of | |
172 | characters, if you first set the region around them. | |
173 | ||
174 | @kindex M-z | |
175 | @findex zap-to-char | |
176 | A convenient way of killing is combined with searching: @kbd{M-z} | |
177 | (@code{zap-to-char}) reads a character and kills from point up to (and | |
178 | including) the next occurrence of that character in the buffer. A | |
179 | numeric argument acts as a repeat count. A negative argument means to | |
180 | search backward and kill text before point. | |
181 | ||
182 | Other syntactic units can be killed: words, with @kbd{M-@key{DEL}} and | |
183 | @kbd{M-d} (@pxref{Words}); sexps, with @kbd{C-M-k} (@pxref{Lists}); and | |
184 | sentences, with @kbd{C-x @key{DEL}} and @kbd{M-k} | |
185 | (@pxref{Sentences}).@refill | |
186 | ||
187 | You can use kill commands in read-only buffers. They don't actually | |
188 | change the buffer, and they beep to warn you of that, but they do copy | |
189 | the text you tried to kill into the kill ring, so you can yank it into | |
190 | other buffers. Most of the kill commands move point across the text | |
191 | they copy in this way, so that successive kill commands build up a | |
192 | single kill ring entry as usual. | |
193 | ||
194 | @node Yanking, Accumulating Text, Killing, Top | |
195 | @section Yanking | |
196 | @cindex moving text | |
197 | @cindex copying text | |
198 | @cindex kill ring | |
199 | @cindex yanking | |
200 | @cindex pasting | |
201 | ||
202 | @dfn{Yanking} means reinserting text previously killed. This is what | |
203 | some systems call ``pasting.'' The usual way to move or copy text is to | |
204 | kill it and then yank it elsewhere one or more times. | |
205 | ||
206 | @table @kbd | |
207 | @item C-y | |
208 | Yank last killed text (@code{yank}). | |
209 | @item M-y | |
210 | Replace text just yanked with an earlier batch of killed text | |
211 | (@code{yank-pop}). | |
212 | @item M-w | |
213 | Save region as last killed text without actually killing it | |
214 | (@code{kill-ring-save}). | |
215 | @item C-M-w | |
216 | Append next kill to last batch of killed text (@code{append-next-kill}). | |
217 | @end table | |
218 | ||
219 | @menu | |
220 | * Kill Ring:: Where killed text is stored. Basic yanking. | |
221 | * Appending Kills:: Several kills in a row all yank together. | |
222 | * Earlier Kills:: Yanking something killed some time ago. | |
223 | @end menu | |
224 | ||
225 | @node Kill Ring | |
226 | @subsection The Kill Ring | |
227 | ||
228 | All killed text is recorded in the @dfn{kill ring}, a list of blocks of | |
229 | text that have been killed. There is only one kill ring, shared by all | |
230 | buffers, so you can kill text in one buffer and yank it in another buffer. | |
231 | This is the usual way to move text from one file to another. | |
232 | (@xref{Accumulating Text}, for some other ways.) | |
233 | ||
234 | @kindex C-y | |
235 | @findex yank | |
236 | The command @kbd{C-y} (@code{yank}) reinserts the text of the most recent | |
237 | kill. It leaves the cursor at the end of the text. It sets the mark at | |
238 | the beginning of the text. @xref{Mark}. | |
239 | ||
240 | @kbd{C-u C-y} leaves the cursor in front of the text, and sets the | |
241 | mark after it. This happens only if the argument is specified with just | |
242 | a @kbd{C-u}, precisely. Any other sort of argument, including @kbd{C-u} | |
243 | and digits, specifies an earlier kill to yank (@pxref{Earlier Kills}). | |
244 | ||
245 | @kindex M-w | |
246 | @findex kill-ring-save | |
247 | To copy a block of text, you can use @kbd{M-w} | |
248 | (@code{kill-ring-save}), which copies the region into the kill ring | |
249 | without removing it from the buffer. This is approximately equivalent | |
250 | to @kbd{C-w} followed by @kbd{C-x u}, except that @kbd{M-w} does not | |
251 | alter the undo history and does not temporarily change the screen. | |
252 | ||
253 | @node Appending Kills | |
254 | @subsection Appending Kills | |
255 | ||
256 | @cindex appending kills in the ring | |
257 | @cindex television | |
258 | Normally, each kill command pushes a new entry onto the kill ring. | |
259 | However, two or more kill commands in a row combine their text into a | |
260 | single entry, so that a single @kbd{C-y} yanks all the text as a unit, | |
261 | just as it was before it was killed. | |
262 | ||
263 | Thus, if you want to yank text as a unit, you need not kill all of it | |
264 | with one command; you can keep killing line after line, or word after | |
265 | word, until you have killed it all, and you can still get it all back at | |
266 | once. | |
267 | ||
268 | Commands that kill forward from point add onto the end of the previous | |
269 | killed text. Commands that kill backward from point add text onto the | |
270 | beginning. This way, any sequence of mixed forward and backward kill | |
271 | commands puts all the killed text into one entry without rearrangement. | |
272 | Numeric arguments do not break the sequence of appending kills. For | |
273 | example, suppose the buffer contains this text: | |
274 | ||
275 | @example | |
276 | This is a line @point{}of sample text. | |
277 | @end example | |
278 | ||
279 | @noindent | |
280 | with point shown by @point{}. If you type @kbd{M-d M-@key{DEL} M-d | |
281 | M-@key{DEL}}, killing alternately forward and backward, you end up with | |
282 | @samp{a line of sample} as one entry in the kill ring, and @samp{This | |
283 | is@ @ text.} in the buffer. (Note the double space, which you can clean | |
284 | up with @kbd{M-@key{SPC}} or @kbd{M-q}.) | |
285 | ||
286 | Another way to kill the same text is to move back two words with | |
287 | @kbd{M-b M-b}, then kill all four words forward with @kbd{C-u M-d}. | |
288 | This produces exactly the same results in the buffer and in the kill | |
289 | ring. @kbd{M-f M-f C-u M-@key{DEL}} kills the same text, all going | |
290 | backward; once again, the result is the same. The text in the kill ring | |
291 | entry always has the same order that it had in the buffer before you | |
292 | killed it. | |
293 | ||
294 | @kindex C-M-w | |
295 | @findex append-next-kill | |
296 | If a kill command is separated from the last kill command by other | |
297 | commands (not just numeric arguments), it starts a new entry on the kill | |
298 | ring. But you can force it to append by first typing the command | |
299 | @kbd{C-M-w} (@code{append-next-kill}) right before it. The @kbd{C-M-w} | |
300 | tells the following command, if it is a kill command, to append the text | |
301 | it kills to the last killed text, instead of starting a new entry. With | |
302 | @kbd{C-M-w}, you can kill several separated pieces of text and | |
303 | accumulate them to be yanked back in one place.@refill | |
304 | ||
305 | A kill command following @kbd{M-w} does not append to the text that | |
306 | @kbd{M-w} copied into the kill ring. | |
307 | ||
308 | @node Earlier Kills | |
309 | @subsection Yanking Earlier Kills | |
310 | ||
311 | @cindex yanking previous kills | |
312 | @kindex M-y | |
313 | @findex yank-pop | |
314 | To recover killed text that is no longer the most recent kill, use the | |
315 | @kbd{M-y} command (@code{yank-pop}). It takes the text previously | |
316 | yanked and replaces it with the text from an earlier kill. So, to | |
317 | recover the text of the next-to-the-last kill, first use @kbd{C-y} to | |
318 | yank the last kill, and then use @kbd{M-y} to replace it with the | |
319 | previous kill. @kbd{M-y} is allowed only after a @kbd{C-y} or another | |
320 | @kbd{M-y}. | |
321 | ||
322 | You can understand @kbd{M-y} in terms of a ``last yank'' pointer which | |
323 | points at an entry in the kill ring. Each time you kill, the ``last | |
324 | yank'' pointer moves to the newly made entry at the front of the ring. | |
325 | @kbd{C-y} yanks the entry which the ``last yank'' pointer points to. | |
326 | @kbd{M-y} moves the ``last yank'' pointer to a different entry, and the | |
327 | text in the buffer changes to match. Enough @kbd{M-y} commands can move | |
328 | the pointer to any entry in the ring, so you can get any entry into the | |
329 | buffer. Eventually the pointer reaches the end of the ring; the next | |
330 | @kbd{M-y} moves it to the first entry again. | |
331 | ||
332 | @kbd{M-y} moves the ``last yank'' pointer around the ring, but it does | |
333 | not change the order of the entries in the ring, which always runs from | |
334 | the most recent kill at the front to the oldest one still remembered. | |
335 | ||
336 | @kbd{M-y} can take a numeric argument, which tells it how many entries | |
337 | to advance the ``last yank'' pointer by. A negative argument moves the | |
338 | pointer toward the front of the ring; from the front of the ring, it | |
339 | moves ``around'' to the last entry and continues forward from there. | |
340 | ||
341 | Once the text you are looking for is brought into the buffer, you can | |
342 | stop doing @kbd{M-y} commands and it will stay there. It's just a copy | |
343 | of the kill ring entry, so editing it in the buffer does not change | |
344 | what's in the ring. As long as no new killing is done, the ``last | |
345 | yank'' pointer remains at the same place in the kill ring, so repeating | |
346 | @kbd{C-y} will yank another copy of the same previous kill. | |
347 | ||
348 | If you know how many @kbd{M-y} commands it would take to find the text | |
349 | you want, you can yank that text in one step using @kbd{C-y} with a | |
350 | numeric argument. @kbd{C-y} with an argument restores the text the | |
351 | specified number of entries back in the kill ring. Thus, @kbd{C-u 2 | |
352 | C-y} gets the next-to-the-last block of killed text. It is equivalent | |
353 | to @kbd{C-y M-y}. @kbd{C-y} with a numeric argument starts counting | |
354 | from the ``last yank'' pointer, and sets the ``last yank'' pointer to | |
355 | the entry that it yanks. | |
356 | ||
357 | @vindex kill-ring-max | |
358 | The length of the kill ring is controlled by the variable | |
359 | @code{kill-ring-max}; no more than that many blocks of killed text are | |
360 | saved. | |
361 | ||
362 | @vindex kill-ring | |
363 | The actual contents of the kill ring are stored in a variable named | |
364 | @code{kill-ring}; you can view the entire contents of the kill ring with | |
365 | the command @kbd{C-h v kill-ring}. | |
366 | ||
367 | @node Accumulating Text, Rectangles, Yanking, Top | |
368 | @section Accumulating Text | |
369 | @findex append-to-buffer | |
370 | @findex prepend-to-buffer | |
371 | @findex copy-to-buffer | |
372 | @findex append-to-file | |
373 | ||
374 | @cindex accumulating scattered text | |
375 | Usually we copy or move text by killing it and yanking it, but there | |
376 | are other methods convenient for copying one block of text in many | |
377 | places, or for copying many scattered blocks of text into one place. To | |
378 | copy one block to many places, store it in a register | |
379 | (@pxref{Registers}). Here we describe the commands to accumulate | |
380 | scattered pieces of text into a buffer or into a file. | |
381 | ||
382 | @table @kbd | |
383 | @item M-x append-to-buffer | |
384 | Append region to contents of specified buffer. | |
385 | @item M-x prepend-to-buffer | |
386 | Prepend region to contents of specified buffer. | |
387 | @item M-x copy-to-buffer | |
388 | Copy region into specified buffer, deleting that buffer's old contents. | |
389 | @item M-x insert-buffer | |
390 | Insert contents of specified buffer into current buffer at point. | |
391 | @item M-x append-to-file | |
392 | Append region to contents of specified file, at the end. | |
393 | @end table | |
394 | ||
395 | To accumulate text into a buffer, use @kbd{M-x append-to-buffer}. | |
396 | This reads a buffer name, then inserts a copy of the region into the | |
397 | buffer specified. If you specify a nonexistent buffer, | |
398 | @code{append-to-buffer} creates the buffer. The text is inserted | |
399 | wherever point is in that buffer. If you have been using the buffer for | |
400 | editing, the copied text goes into the middle of the text of the buffer, | |
401 | wherever point happens to be in it. | |
402 | ||
403 | Point in that buffer is left at the end of the copied text, so | |
404 | successive uses of @code{append-to-buffer} accumulate the text in the | |
405 | specified buffer in the same order as they were copied. Strictly | |
406 | speaking, @code{append-to-buffer} does not always append to the text | |
407 | already in the buffer---it appends only if point in that buffer is at the end. | |
408 | However, if @code{append-to-buffer} is the only command you use to alter | |
409 | a buffer, then point is always at the end. | |
410 | ||
411 | @kbd{M-x prepend-to-buffer} is just like @code{append-to-buffer} | |
412 | except that point in the other buffer is left before the copied text, so | |
413 | successive prependings add text in reverse order. @kbd{M-x | |
414 | copy-to-buffer} is similar except that any existing text in the other | |
415 | buffer is deleted, so the buffer is left containing just the text newly | |
416 | copied into it. | |
417 | ||
418 | To retrieve the accumulated text from another buffer, use the command | |
419 | @kbd{M-x insert-buffer}; this too takes @var{buffername} as an argument. | |
420 | It inserts a copy of the text in buffer @var{buffername} into the | |
421 | selected buffer. You can alternatively select the other buffer for | |
422 | editing, then optionally move text from it by killing. @xref{Buffers}, | |
423 | for background information on buffers. | |
424 | ||
425 | Instead of accumulating text within Emacs, in a buffer, you can append | |
426 | text directly into a file with @kbd{M-x append-to-file}, which takes | |
427 | @var{filename} as an argument. It adds the text of the region to the end | |
428 | of the specified file. The file is changed immediately on disk. | |
429 | ||
430 | You should use @code{append-to-file} only with files that are | |
431 | @emph{not} being visited in Emacs. Using it on a file that you are | |
432 | editing in Emacs would change the file behind Emacs's back, which | |
433 | can lead to losing some of your editing. | |
434 | ||
435 | @node Rectangles, Registers, Accumulating Text, Top | |
436 | @section Rectangles | |
437 | @cindex rectangle | |
438 | @cindex columns (and rectangles) | |
439 | @cindex killing rectangular areas of text | |
440 | ||
441 | The rectangle commands operate on rectangular areas of the text: all | |
442 | the characters between a certain pair of columns, in a certain range of | |
443 | lines. Commands are provided to kill rectangles, yank killed rectangles, | |
444 | clear them out, fill them with blanks or text, or delete them. Rectangle | |
445 | commands are useful with text in multicolumn formats, and for changing | |
446 | text into or out of such formats. | |
447 | ||
448 | When you must specify a rectangle for a command to work on, you do it | |
449 | by putting the mark at one corner and point at the opposite corner. The | |
450 | rectangle thus specified is called the @dfn{region-rectangle} because | |
451 | you control it in about the same way the region is controlled. But | |
452 | remember that a given combination of point and mark values can be | |
453 | interpreted either as a region or as a rectangle, depending on the | |
454 | command that uses them. | |
455 | ||
456 | If point and the mark are in the same column, the rectangle they | |
457 | delimit is empty. If they are in the same line, the rectangle is one | |
458 | line high. This asymmetry between lines and columns comes about | |
459 | because point (and likewise the mark) is between two columns, but within | |
460 | a line. | |
461 | ||
462 | @table @kbd | |
463 | @item C-x r k | |
464 | Kill the text of the region-rectangle, saving its contents as the | |
465 | ``last killed rectangle'' (@code{kill-rectangle}). | |
466 | @item C-x r d | |
467 | Delete the text of the region-rectangle (@code{delete-rectangle}). | |
468 | @item C-x r y | |
469 | Yank the last killed rectangle with its upper left corner at point | |
470 | (@code{yank-rectangle}). | |
471 | @item C-x r o | |
472 | Insert blank space to fill the space of the region-rectangle | |
473 | (@code{open-rectangle}). This pushes the previous contents of the | |
474 | region-rectangle rightward. | |
475 | @item M-x clear-rectangle | |
476 | Clear the region-rectangle by replacing its contents with spaces. | |
477 | @item M-x delete-whitespace-rectangle | |
478 | Delete whitespace in each of the lines on the specified rectangle, | |
479 | starting from the left edge column of the rectangle. | |
d621caf7 | 480 | @item C-x r t @var{string} @key{RET} |
6bf7aab6 DL |
481 | Insert @var{string} on each line of the region-rectangle |
482 | (@code{string-rectangle}). | |
483 | @end table | |
484 | ||
485 | The rectangle operations fall into two classes: commands deleting and | |
486 | inserting rectangles, and commands for blank rectangles. | |
487 | ||
488 | @kindex C-x r k | |
489 | @kindex C-x r d | |
490 | @findex kill-rectangle | |
491 | @findex delete-rectangle | |
492 | There are two ways to get rid of the text in a rectangle: you can | |
493 | discard the text (delete it) or save it as the ``last killed'' | |
494 | rectangle. The commands for these two ways are @kbd{C-x r d} | |
495 | (@code{delete-rectangle}) and @kbd{C-x r k} (@code{kill-rectangle}). In | |
496 | either case, the portion of each line that falls inside the rectangle's | |
497 | boundaries is deleted, causing following text (if any) on the line to | |
498 | move left into the gap. | |
499 | ||
500 | Note that ``killing'' a rectangle is not killing in the usual sense; the | |
501 | rectangle is not stored in the kill ring, but in a special place that | |
502 | can only record the most recent rectangle killed. This is because yanking | |
503 | a rectangle is so different from yanking linear text that different yank | |
504 | commands have to be used and yank-popping is hard to make sense of. | |
505 | ||
506 | @kindex C-x r y | |
507 | @findex yank-rectangle | |
508 | To yank the last killed rectangle, type @kbd{C-x r y} | |
509 | (@code{yank-rectangle}). Yanking a rectangle is the opposite of killing | |
510 | one. Point specifies where to put the rectangle's upper left corner. | |
511 | The rectangle's first line is inserted there, the rectangle's second | |
512 | line is inserted at a position one line vertically down, and so on. The | |
513 | number of lines affected is determined by the height of the saved | |
514 | rectangle. | |
515 | ||
516 | You can convert single-column lists into double-column lists using | |
517 | rectangle killing and yanking; kill the second half of the list as a | |
518 | rectangle and then yank it beside the first line of the list. | |
519 | @xref{Two-Column}, for another way to edit multi-column text. | |
520 | ||
521 | You can also copy rectangles into and out of registers with @kbd{C-x r | |
522 | r @var{r}} and @kbd{C-x r i @var{r}}. @xref{RegRect,,Rectangle | |
523 | Registers}. | |
524 | ||
525 | @kindex C-x r o | |
526 | @findex open-rectangle | |
527 | @findex clear-rectangle | |
528 | There are two commands you can use for making blank rectangles: | |
529 | @kbd{M-x clear-rectangle} which blanks out existing text, and @kbd{C-x r | |
530 | o} (@code{open-rectangle}) which inserts a blank rectangle. Clearing a | |
531 | rectangle is equivalent to deleting it and then inserting a blank | |
532 | rectangle of the same size. | |
533 | ||
534 | @findex delete-whitespace-rectangle | |
535 | The command @kbd{M-x delete-whitespace-rectangle} deletes horizontal | |
536 | whitespace starting from a particular column. This applies to each of | |
537 | the lines in the rectangle, and the column is specified by the left | |
538 | edge of the rectangle. The right edge of the rectangle does not make | |
539 | any difference to this command. | |
540 | ||
541 | @kindex C-x r t | |
542 | @findex string-rectangle | |
543 | The command @kbd{C-x r t} (@code{M-x string-rectangle}) replaces the | |
544 | rectangle with a specified string (inserted once on each line). The | |
545 | string's width need not be the same as the width of the rectangle. If | |
546 | the string's width is less, the text after the rectangle shifts left; if | |
547 | the string is wider than the rectangle, the text after the rectangle | |
548 | shifts right. |