1 You are looking at the Emacs tutorial. See end for copying conditions.
2 Copyright (c) 1985, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2002 Free Software Foundation.
4 Emacs commands generally involve the CONTROL key (sometimes labeled
5 CTRL or CTL) or the META key (sometimes labeled EDIT or ALT). Rather than
6 write that in full each time, we'll use the following abbreviations:
8 C-<chr> means hold the CONTROL key while typing the character <chr>
9 Thus, C-f would be: hold the CONTROL key and type f.
10 M-<chr> means hold the META or EDIT or ALT key down while typing <chr>.
11 If there is no META, EDIT or ALT key, instead press and release the
12 ESC key and then type <chr>. We write <ESC> for the ESC key.
14 Important note: to end the Emacs session, type C-x C-c. (Two characters.)
15 The characters ">>" at the left margin indicate directions for you to
16 try using a command. For instance:
17 <<Blank lines inserted around following line by help-with-tutorial>>
18 [Middle of page left blank for didactic purposes. Text continues below]
19 >> Now type C-v (View next screen) to move to the next screen.
20 (go ahead, do it by holding down the CONTROL key while typing v).
21 From now on, you should do this again whenever you finish
24 Note that there is an overlap of two lines when you move from screen
25 to screen; this provides some continuity so you can continue reading
28 The first thing that you need to know is how to move around from place
29 to place in the text. You already know how to move forward one screen,
30 with C-v. To move backwards one screen, type M-v (hold down the META key
31 and type v, or type <ESC>v if you do not have a META, EDIT, or ALT key).
33 >> Try typing M-v and then C-v, a few times.
39 The following commands are useful for viewing screenfuls:
41 C-v Move forward one screenful
42 M-v Move backward one screenful
43 C-l Clear screen and redisplay all the text,
44 moving the text around the cursor
45 to the center of the screen.
46 (That's CONTROL-L, not CONTROL-1.)
48 >> Find the cursor, and note what text is near it.
50 Find the cursor again and notice that the same text
51 is near the cursor now.
53 You can also use the PageUp and PageDn keys to move by screenfuls, if
54 your terminal has them, but you can edit more efficiently if you use
58 * BASIC CURSOR CONTROL
59 ----------------------
61 Moving from screenful to screenful is useful, but how do you
62 move to a specific place within the text on the screen?
64 There are several ways you can do this. You can use the arrow keys,
65 but it's more efficient to keep your hands in the standard position
66 and use the commands C-p, C-b, C-f, and C-n. These characters
67 are equivalent to the four arrow keys, like this:
72 Backward, C-b .... Current cursor position .... Forward, C-f
77 >> Move the cursor to the line in the middle of that diagram
78 using C-n or C-p. Then type C-l to see the whole diagram
79 centered in the screen.
81 You'll find it easy to remember these letters by words they stand for:
82 P for previous, N for next, B for backward and F for forward. You
83 will be using these basic cursor positioning commands all the time.
85 >> Do a few C-n's to bring the cursor down to this line.
87 >> Move into the line with C-f's and then up with C-p's.
88 See what C-p does when the cursor is in the middle of the line.
90 Each line of text ends with a Newline character, which serves to
91 separate it from the following line. The last line in your file ought
92 to have a Newline at the end (but Emacs does not require it to have
95 >> Try to C-b at the beginning of a line. It should move to
96 the end of the previous line. This is because it moves back
97 across the Newline character.
99 C-f can move across a Newline just like C-b.
101 >> Do a few more C-b's, so you get a feel for where the cursor is.
102 Then do C-f's to return to the end of the line.
103 Then do one more C-f to move to the following line.
105 When you move past the top or bottom of the screen, the text beyond
106 the edge shifts onto the screen. This is called "scrolling". It
107 enables Emacs to move the cursor to the specified place in the text
108 without moving it off the screen.
110 >> Try to move the cursor off the bottom of the screen with C-n, and
113 If moving by characters is too slow, you can move by words. M-f
114 (META-f) moves forward a word and M-b moves back a word.
116 >> Type a few M-f's and M-b's.
118 When you are in the middle of a word, M-f moves to the end of the word.
119 When you are in whitespace between words, M-f moves to the end of the
120 following word. M-b works likewise in the opposite direction.
122 >> Type M-f and M-b a few times, interspersed with C-f's and C-b's
123 so that you can observe the action of M-f and M-b from various
124 places inside and between words.
126 Notice the parallel between C-f and C-b on the one hand, and M-f and
127 M-b on the other hand. Very often Meta characters are used for
128 operations related to the units defined by language (words, sentences,
129 paragraphs), while Control characters operate on basic units that are
130 independent of what you are editing (characters, lines, etc).
132 This parallel applies between lines and sentences: C-a and C-e move to
133 the beginning or end of a line, and M-a and M-e move to the beginning
134 or end of a sentence.
136 >> Try a couple of C-a's, and then a couple of C-e's.
137 Try a couple of M-a's, and then a couple of M-e's.
139 See how repeated C-a's do nothing, but repeated M-a's keep moving one
140 more sentence. Although these are not quite analogous, each one seems
143 The location of the cursor in the text is also called "point". To
144 paraphrase, the cursor shows on the screen where point is located in
147 Here is a summary of simple cursor-moving operations, including the
148 word and sentence moving commands:
150 C-f Move forward a character
151 C-b Move backward a character
153 M-f Move forward a word
154 M-b Move backward a word
156 C-n Move to next line
157 C-p Move to previous line
159 C-a Move to beginning of line
160 C-e Move to end of line
162 M-a Move back to beginning of sentence
163 M-e Move forward to end of sentence
165 >> Try all of these commands now a few times for practice.
166 These are the most often used commands.
168 Two other important cursor motion commands are M-< (META Less-than),
169 which moves to the beginning of the whole text, and M-> (META
170 Greater-than), which moves to the end of the whole text.
172 On most terminals, the "<" is above the comma, so you must use the
173 shift key to type it. On these terminals you must use the shift key
174 to type M-< also; without the shift key, you would be typing M-comma.
176 >> Try M-< now, to move to the beginning of the tutorial.
177 Then use C-v repeatedly to move back here.
179 >> Try M-> now, to move to the end of the tutorial.
180 Then use M-v repeatedly to move back here.
182 You can also move the cursor with the arrow keys, if your terminal has
183 arrow keys. We recommend learning C-b, C-f, C-n and C-p for three
184 reasons. First, they work on all kinds of terminals. Second, once
185 you gain practice at using Emacs, you will find that typing these Control
186 characters is faster than typing the arrow keys (because you do not
187 have to move your hands away from touch-typing position). Third, once
188 you form the habit of using these Control character commands, you can
189 easily learn to use other advanced cursor motion commands as well.
191 Most Emacs commands accept a numeric argument; for most commands, this
192 serves as a repeat-count. The way you give a command a repeat count
193 is by typing C-u and then the digits before you type the command. If
194 you have a META (or EDIT or ALT) key, there is another, alternative way
195 to enter a numeric argument: type the digits while holding down the
196 META key. We recommend learning the C-u method because it works on
197 any terminal. The numeric argument is also called a "prefix argument",
198 because you type the argument before the command it applies to.
200 For instance, C-u 8 C-f moves forward eight characters.
202 >> Try using C-n or C-p with a numeric argument, to move the cursor
203 to a line near this one with just one command.
205 Most commands use the numeric argument as a repeat count, but some
206 commands use it in some other way. Several commands (but none of
207 those you have learned so far) use it as a flag--the presence of a
208 prefix argument, regardless of its value, makes the command do
211 C-v and M-v are another kind of exception. When given an argument,
212 they scroll the screen up or down by that many lines, rather than by a
213 screenful. For example, C-u 8 C-v scrolls the screen by 8 lines.
215 >> Try typing C-u 8 C-v now.
217 This should have scrolled the screen up by 8 lines. If you would like
218 to scroll it down again, you can give an argument to M-v.
220 If you are using a windowed display, such as X11 or MS-Windows, there
221 should be a tall rectangular area called a scroll bar at the left hand
222 side of the Emacs window. You can scroll the text by clicking the
223 mouse in the scroll bar.
225 >> Try pressing the middle button at the top of the highlighted area
226 within the scroll bar. This should scroll the text to a position
227 determined by how high or low you click.
229 >> Try moving the mouse up and down, while holding the middle button
230 pressed down. You'll see that the text scrolls up and down as
237 If Emacs stops responding to your commands, you can stop it safely by
238 typing C-g. You can use C-g to stop a command which is taking too
241 You can also use C-g to discard a numeric argument or the beginning of
242 a command that you do not want to finish.
244 >> Type C-u 100 to make a numeric arg of 100, then type C-g.
245 Now type C-f. It should move just one character,
246 because you canceled the argument with C-g.
248 If you have typed an <ESC> by mistake, you can get rid of it
255 Some Emacs commands are "disabled" so that beginning users cannot use
258 If you type one of the disabled commands, Emacs displays a message
259 saying what the command was, and asking you whether you want to go
260 ahead and execute the command.
262 If you really want to try the command, type Space in answer to the
263 question. Normally, if you do not want to execute the disabled
264 command, answer the question with "n".
266 >> Type C-x C-l (which is a disabled command),
267 then type n to answer the question.
273 Emacs can have several windows, each displaying its own text. We will
274 explain later on how to use multiple windows. Right now we want to
275 explain how to get rid of extra windows and go back to basic
276 one-window editing. It is simple:
278 C-x 1 One window (i.e., kill all other windows).
280 That is CONTROL-x followed by the digit 1. C-x 1 expands the window
281 which contains the cursor, to occupy the full screen. It deletes all
284 >> Move the cursor to this line and type C-u 0 C-l.
285 >> Type CONTROL-h k CONTROL-f.
286 See how this window shrinks, while a new one appears
287 to display documentation on the CONTROL-f command.
289 >> Type C-x 1 and see the documentation listing window disappear.
291 This command is unlike the other commands you have learned in that it
292 consists of two characters. It starts with the character CONTROL-x.
293 There is a whole series of commands that start with CONTROL-x; many of
294 them have to do with windows, files, buffers, and related things.
295 These commands are two, three or four characters long.
298 * INSERTING AND DELETING
299 ------------------------
301 If you want to insert text, just type the text. Characters which you
302 can see, such as A, 7, *, etc. are taken by Emacs as text and inserted
303 immediately. Type <Return> (the carriage-return key) to insert a
306 You can delete the last character you typed by typing <Delback>.
307 <Delback> is a key on the keyboard--the same one you normally use,
308 outside Emacs, for deleting the last character you typed. It is
309 normally a large key a couple of lines up from the <Return> key, and
310 it is usually labeled "Delete", "Del" or "Backspace".
312 If the large key there is labeled "Backspace", then that's the one you
313 use for <Delback>. There may also be another key labeled "Delete"
314 somewhere else, but that's not <Delback>.
316 More generally, <Delback> deletes the character immediately before the
317 current cursor position.
319 >> Do this now--type a few characters, then delete them
320 by typing <Delback> a few times. Don't worry about this file
321 being changed; you will not alter the master tutorial. This is
322 your personal copy of it.
324 When a line of text gets too big for one line on the screen, the line
325 of text is "continued" onto a second screen line. A backslash ("\")
326 (or, if you're using a windowed display, a little curved arrow) at the
327 right margin indicates a line which has been continued.
329 >> Insert text until you reach the right margin, and keep on inserting.
330 You'll see a continuation line appear.
332 >> Use <Delback>s to delete the text until the line fits on one screen
333 line again. The continuation line goes away.
335 You can delete a Newline character just like any other character.
336 Deleting the Newline character between two lines merges them into
337 one line. If the resulting combined line is too long to fit in the
338 screen width, it will be displayed with a continuation line.
340 >> Move the cursor to the beginning of a line and type <Delback>. This
341 merges that line with the previous line.
343 >> Type <Return> to reinsert the Newline you deleted.
345 Remember that most Emacs commands can be given a repeat count;
346 this includes text characters. Repeating a text character inserts
349 >> Try that now -- type C-u 8 * to insert ********.
351 You've now learned the most basic way of typing something in
352 Emacs and correcting errors. You can delete by words or lines
353 as well. Here is a summary of the delete operations:
355 <Delback> delete the character just before the cursor
356 C-d delete the next character after the cursor
358 M-<Delback> kill the word immediately before the cursor
359 M-d kill the next word after the cursor
361 C-k kill from the cursor position to end of line
362 M-k kill to the end of the current sentence
364 Notice that <Delback> and C-d vs M-<Delback> and M-d extend the parallel
365 started by C-f and M-f (well, <Delback> is not really a control
366 character, but let's not worry about that). C-k and M-k are like C-e
367 and M-e, sort of, in that lines are opposite sentences.
369 You can also kill any part of the buffer with one uniform method.
370 Move to one end of that part, and type C-@ or C-SPC (either one).
371 (SPC is the Space bar.) Move to the other end of that part, and type
372 C-w. That kills all the text between the two positions.
374 >> Move the cursor to the Y at the start of the previous paragraph.
375 >> Type C-SPC. Emacs should display a message "Mark set"
376 at the bottom of the screen.
377 >> Move the cursor to the n in "end", on the second line of the
379 >> Type C-w. This will kill the text starting from the Y,
380 and ending just before the n.
382 The difference between "killing" and "deleting" is that "killed" text
383 can be reinserted, whereas "deleted" things cannot be reinserted.
384 Reinsertion of killed text is called "yanking". Generally, the
385 commands that can remove a lot of text kill the text (they set up so
386 that you can yank the text), while the commands that remove just one
387 character, or only remove blank lines and spaces, do deletion (so you
388 cannot yank that text).
390 >> Move the cursor to the beginning of a line which is not empty.
391 Then type C-k to kill the text on that line.
392 >> Type C-k a second time. You'll see that it kills the Newline
393 which follows that line.
395 Note that a single C-k kills the contents of the line, and a second
396 C-k kills the line itself, and makes all the other lines move up. C-k
397 treats a numeric argument specially: it kills that many lines AND
398 their contents. This is not mere repetition. C-u 2 C-k kills two
399 lines and their newlines; typing C-k twice would not do that.
401 Bringing back killed text is called "yanking". (Think of it as
402 yanking back, or pulling back, some text that was taken away.) You
403 can yank the killed text either at the same place where it was killed,
404 or at some other place in the buffer, or even in a different file.
405 You can yank the same text several times; that makes multiple copies
408 The command for yanking is C-y. It reinserts the last killed text,
409 at the current cursor position.
411 >> Try it; type C-y to yank the text back.
413 If you do several C-k's in a row, all of the killed text is saved
414 together, so that one C-y will yank all of the lines at once.
416 >> Do this now, type C-k several times.
418 Now to retrieve that killed text:
420 >> Type C-y. Then move the cursor down a few lines and type C-y
421 again. You now see how to copy some text.
423 What do you do if you have some text you want to yank back, and then
424 you kill something else? C-y would yank the more recent kill. But
425 the previous text is not lost. You can get back to it using the M-y
426 command. After you have done C-y to get the most recent kill, typing
427 M-y replaces that yanked text with the previous kill. Typing M-y
428 again and again brings in earlier and earlier kills. When you have
429 reached the text you are looking for, you do not have to do anything to
430 keep it. Just go on with your editing, leaving the yanked text where
433 If you M-y enough times, you come back to the starting point (the most
436 >> Kill a line, move around, kill another line.
437 Then do C-y to get back the second killed line.
438 Then do M-y and it will be replaced by the first killed line.
439 Do more M-y's and see what you get. Keep doing them until
440 the second kill line comes back, and then a few more.
441 If you like, you can try giving M-y positive and negative
448 If you make a change to the text, and then decide that it was a
449 mistake, you can undo the change with the undo command, C-x u.
451 Normally, C-x u undoes the changes made by one command; if you repeat
452 the C-x u several times in a row, each repetition undoes one
455 But there are two exceptions: commands that do not change the text do
456 not count (this includes cursor motion commands and scrolling
457 command), and self-inserting characters are usually handled in groups
458 of up to 20. (This is to reduce the number of C-x u's you have to
459 type to undo insertion of text.)
461 >> Kill this line with C-k, then type C-x u and it should reappear.
463 C-_ is an alternative undo command; it works just the same as C-x u,
464 but it is easier to type several times in a row. The disadvantage of
465 C-_ is that on some keyboards it is not obvious how to type it. That
466 is why we provide C-x u as well. On some terminals, you can type C-_
467 by typing / while holding down CONTROL.
469 A numeric argument to C-_ or C-x u acts as a repeat count.
471 You can undo deletion of text just as you can undo killing of text.
472 The distinction between killing something and deleting it affects
473 whether you can yank it with C-y; it makes no difference for undo.
479 In order to make the text you edit permanent, you must put it in a
480 file. Otherwise, it will go away when your invocation of Emacs goes
481 away. In order to put your text in a file, you must "find" the file
482 before you enter the text. (This is also called "visiting" the file.)
484 Finding a file means that you see the contents of the file within
485 Emacs. In many ways, it is as if you were editing the file itself.
486 However, the changes you make using Emacs do not become permanent
487 until you "save" the file. This is so you can avoid leaving a
488 half-changed file on the system when you do not want to. Even when
489 you save, Emacs leaves the original file under a changed name in case
490 you later decide that your changes were a mistake.
492 If you look near the bottom of the screen you will see a line that
493 begins and ends with dashes, and starts with "--:-- TUTORIAL" or
494 something like that. This part of the screen normally shows the name
495 of the file that you are visiting. Right now, you are visiting a file
496 called "TUTORIAL" which is your personal scratch copy of the Emacs
497 tutorial. When you find a file with Emacs, that file's name will
498 appear in that precise spot.
500 One special thing about the command for finding a file is that you
501 have to say what file name you want. We say the command "reads an
502 argument from the terminal" (in this case, the argument is the name of
503 the file). After you type the command
507 Emacs asks you to type the file name. The file name you type appears
508 on the bottom line of the screen. The bottom line is called the
509 minibuffer when it is used for this sort of input. You can use
510 ordinary Emacs editing commands to edit the file name.
512 While you are entering the file name (or any minibuffer input),
513 you can cancel the command with C-g.
515 >> Type C-x C-f, then type C-g. This cancels the minibuffer,
516 and also cancels the C-x C-f command that was using the
517 minibuffer. So you do not find any file.
519 When you have finished entering the file name, type <Return> to
520 terminate it. Then C-x C-f command goes to work, and finds the file
521 you chose. The minibuffer disappears when the C-x C-f command is
524 In a little while the file contents appear on the screen, and you can
525 edit the contents. When you wish to make your changes permanent,
528 C-x C-s Save the file
530 This copies the text within Emacs into the file. The first time you
531 do this, Emacs renames the original file to a new name so that it is
532 not lost. The new name is made by adding "~" to the end of the
533 original file's name.
535 When saving is finished, Emacs displays the name of the file written.
536 You should save fairly often, so that you will not lose very much
537 work if the system should crash.
539 >> Type C-x C-s, saving your copy of the tutorial.
540 This should show "Wrote ...TUTORIAL" at the bottom of the screen.
542 NOTE: On some systems, typing C-x C-s will freeze the screen and you
543 will see no further output from Emacs. This indicates that an
544 operating system "feature" called "flow control" is intercepting the
545 C-s and not letting it get through to Emacs. To unfreeze the screen,
546 type C-q. Then see the section "Spontaneous Entry to Incremental
547 Search" in the Emacs manual for advice on dealing with this "feature".
549 You can find an existing file, to view it or edit it. You can also
550 find a file which does not already exist. This is the way to create a
551 file with Emacs: find the file, which will start out empty, and then
552 begin inserting the text for the file. When you ask to "save" the
553 file, Emacs will really create the file with the text that you have
554 inserted. From then on, you can consider yourself to be editing an
555 already existing file.
561 If you find a second file with C-x C-f, the first file remains
562 inside Emacs. You can switch back to it by finding it again with
563 C-x C-f. This way you can get quite a number of files inside Emacs.
565 >> Create a file named "foo" by typing C-x C-f foo <Return>.
566 Then insert some text, edit it, and save "foo" by typing C-x C-s.
567 Finally, type C-x C-f TUTORIAL <Return>
568 to come back to the tutorial.
570 Emacs stores each file's text inside an object called a "buffer".
571 Finding a file makes a new buffer inside Emacs. To see a list of the
572 buffers that currently exist in your Emacs job, type
578 See how each buffer has a name, and it may also have a file name for
579 the file whose contents it holds. ANY text you see in an Emacs window
580 is always part of some buffer.
582 >> Type C-x 1 to get rid of the buffer list.
584 When you have several buffers, only one of them is "current" at any
585 time. That buffer is the one you edit. If you want to edit another
586 buffer, you need to "switch" to it. If you want to switch to a buffer
587 that corresponds to a file, you can do it by visiting the file again
588 with C-x C-f. But there is an easier way: use the C-x b command.
589 In that command, you have to type the buffer's name.
591 >> Type C-x b foo <Return> to go back to the buffer "foo" which holds
592 the text of the file "foo". Then type C-x b TUTORIAL <Return>
593 to come back to this tutorial.
595 Most of the time, the buffer's name is the same as the file name
596 (without the file directory part). However, this is not always true.
597 The buffer list you make with C-x C-b always shows you the name of
600 ANY text you see in an Emacs window is always part of some buffer.
601 Some buffers do not correspond to files. For example, the buffer
602 named "*Buffer List*" does not have any file. It is the buffer which
603 contains the buffer list that you made with C-x C-b. The buffer named
604 "*Messages*" also does not correspond to any file; it contains the
605 messages that have appeared on the bottom line during your Emacs
608 >> Type C-x b *Messages* <Return> to look at the buffer of messages.
609 Then type C-x b TUTORIAL <Return> to come back to this tutorial.
611 If you make changes to the text of one file, then find another file,
612 this does not save the first file. Its changes remain inside Emacs,
613 in that file's buffer. The creation or editing of the second file's
614 buffer has no effect on the first file's buffer. This is very useful,
615 but it also means that you need a convenient way to save the first
616 file's buffer. It would be a nuisance to have to switch back to
617 it with C-x C-f in order to save it with C-x C-s. So we have
619 C-x s Save some buffers
621 C-x s asks you about each buffer which contains changes that you have
622 not saved. It asks you, for each such buffer, whether to save the
625 >> Insert a line of text, then type C-x s.
626 It should ask you whether to save the buffer named TUTORIAL.
627 Answer yes to the question by typing "y".
630 * EXTENDING THE COMMAND SET
631 ---------------------------
633 There are many, many more Emacs commands than could possibly be put
634 on all the control and meta characters. Emacs gets around this with
635 the X (eXtend) command. This comes in two flavors:
637 C-x Character eXtend. Followed by one character.
638 M-x Named command eXtend. Followed by a long name.
640 These are commands that are generally useful but used less than the
641 commands you have already learned about. You have already seen two of
642 them: the file commands C-x C-f to Find and C-x C-s to Save. Another
643 example is the command to end the Emacs session--this is the command
644 C-x C-c. (Do not worry about losing changes you have made; C-x C-c
645 offers to save each changed file before it kills the Emacs.)
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 C-b List buffers.
673 C-x 1 Delete all but one window.
676 Named eXtended commands are commands which are used even less
677 frequently, or commands which are used only in certain modes. An
678 example is the command replace-string, which globally replaces one
679 string with another. When you type M-x, Emacs prompts you at the
680 bottom of the screen with M-x and you should type the name of the
681 command; in this case, "replace-string". Just type "repl s<TAB>" and
682 Emacs will complete the name. (<TAB> is the Tab key, usually found
683 above the CapsLock or Shift key near the left edge of the keyboard.)
684 End the command name with <Return>.
686 The replace-string command requires two arguments--the string to be
687 replaced, and the string to replace it with. You must end each
688 argument with <Return>.
690 >> Move the cursor to the blank line two lines below this one.
691 Then type M-x repl s<Return>changed<Return>altered<Return>.
693 Notice how this line has changed: you've replaced
694 the word c-h-a-n-g-e-d with "altered" wherever it occurred,
695 after the initial position of the cursor.
701 When you have made changes in a file, but you have not saved them yet,
702 they could be lost if your computer crashes. To protect you from
703 this, Emacs periodically writes an "auto save" file for each file that
704 you are editing. The auto save file name has a # at the beginning and
705 the end; for example, if your file is named "hello.c", its auto save
706 file's name is "#hello.c#". When you save the file in the normal way,
707 Emacs deletes its auto save file.
709 If the computer crashes, you can recover your auto-saved editing by
710 finding the file normally (the file you were editing, not the auto
711 save file) and then typing M-x recover file<Return>. When it asks for
712 confirmation, type yes<Return> to go ahead and recover the auto-save
719 If Emacs sees that you are typing multicharacter commands slowly, it
720 shows them to you at the bottom of the screen in an area called the
721 "echo area". The echo area contains the bottom line of the screen.
727 The line immediately above the echo area is called the "mode line".
728 The mode line says something like this:
730 --:** TUTORIAL (Fundamental)--L670--58%----------------
732 This line gives useful information about the status of Emacs and
733 the text you are editing.
735 You already know what the filename means--it is the file you have
736 found. -NN%-- indicates your current position in the text; it means
737 that NN percent of the text is above the top of the screen. If the
738 top of the file is on the screen, it will say --Top-- instead of
739 --00%--. If the bottom of the text is on the screen, it will say
740 --Bot--. If you are looking at text so small that all of it fits on
741 the screen, the mode line says --All--.
743 The L and digits indicate position in another way: they give the
744 current line number of point.
746 The stars near the front mean that you have made changes to the text.
747 Right after you visit or save a file, that part of the mode line shows
748 no stars, just dashes.
750 The part of the mode line inside the parentheses is to tell you what
751 editing modes you are in. The default mode is Fundamental which is
752 what you are using now. It is an example of a "major mode".
754 Emacs has many different major modes. Some of them are meant for
755 editing different languages and/or kinds of text, such as Lisp mode,
756 Text mode, etc. At any time one and only one major mode is active,
757 and its name can always be found in the mode line just where
758 "Fundamental" is now.
760 Each major mode makes a few commands behave differently. For example,
761 there are commands for creating comments in a program, and since each
762 programming language has a different idea of what a comment should
763 look like, each major mode has to insert comments differently. Each
764 major mode is the name of an extended command, which is how you can
765 switch to that mode. For example, M-x fundamental-mode is a command to
766 switch to Fundamental mode.
768 If you are going to be editing human-language text, such as this file, you
769 should probably use Text Mode.
770 >> Type M-x text mode<Return>.
772 Don't worry, none of the Emacs commands you have learned changes in
773 any great way. But you can observe that M-f and M-b now treat
774 apostrophes as part of words. Previously, in Fundamental mode,
775 M-f and M-b treated apostrophes as word-separators.
777 Major modes usually make subtle changes like that one: most commands
778 do "the same job" in each major mode, but they work a little bit
781 To view documentation on your current major mode, type C-h m.
783 >> Use C-u C-v once or more to bring this line near the top of screen.
784 >> Type C-h m, to see how Text mode differs from Fundamental mode.
785 >> Type C-x 1 to remove the documentation from the screen.
787 Major modes are called major because there are also minor modes.
788 Minor modes are not alternatives to the major modes, just minor
789 modifications of them. Each minor mode can be turned on or off by
790 itself, independent of all other minor modes, and independent of your
791 major mode. So you can use no minor modes, or one minor mode, or any
792 combination of several minor modes.
794 One minor mode which is very useful, especially for editing
795 human-language text, is Auto Fill mode. When this mode is on, Emacs
796 breaks the line in between words automatically whenever you insert
797 text and make a line that is too wide.
799 You can turn Auto Fill mode on by doing M-x auto fill mode<Return>.
800 When the mode is on, you can turn it off again by doing M-x
801 auto fill mode<Return>. If the mode is off, this command turns it on,
802 and if the mode is on, this command turns it off. We say that the
803 command "toggles the mode".
805 >> Type M-x auto fill mode<Return> now. Then insert a line of "asdf "
806 over again until you see it divide into two lines. You must put in
807 spaces between them because Auto Fill breaks lines only at spaces.
809 The margin is usually set at 70 characters, but you can change it
810 with the C-x f command. You should give the margin setting you want
811 as a numeric argument.
813 >> Type C-x f with an argument of 20. (C-u 2 0 C-x f).
814 Then type in some text and see Emacs fill lines of 20
815 characters with it. Then set the margin back to 70 using
818 If you make changes in the middle of a paragraph, Auto Fill mode
819 does not re-fill it for you.
820 To re-fill the paragraph, type M-q (META-q) with the cursor inside
823 >> Move the cursor into the previous paragraph and type M-q.
829 Emacs can do searches for strings (these are groups of contiguous
830 characters or words) either forward through the text or backward
831 through it. Searching for a string is a cursor motion command;
832 it moves the cursor to the next place where that string appears.
834 The Emacs search command is different from the search commands
835 of most editors, in that it is "incremental". This means that the
836 search happens while you type in the string to search for.
838 The command to initiate a search is C-s for forward search, and C-r
839 for reverse search. BUT WAIT! Don't try them now.
841 When you type C-s you'll notice that the string "I-search" appears as
842 a prompt in the echo area. This tells you that Emacs is in what is
843 called an incremental search waiting for you to type the thing that
844 you want to search for. <Return> terminates a search.
846 >> Now type C-s to start a search. SLOWLY, one letter at a time,
847 type the word 'cursor', pausing after you type each
848 character to notice what happens to the cursor.
849 Now you have searched for "cursor", once.
850 >> Type C-s again, to search for the next occurrence of "cursor".
851 >> Now type <Delback> four times and see how the cursor moves.
852 >> Type <Return> to terminate the search.
854 Did you see what happened? Emacs, in an incremental search, tries to
855 go to the occurrence of the string that you've typed out so far. To
856 go to the next occurrence of 'cursor' just type C-s again. If no such
857 occurrence exists, Emacs beeps and tells you the search is currently
858 "failing". C-g would also terminate the search.
860 NOTE: On some systems, typing C-s will freeze the screen and you will
861 see no further output from Emacs. This indicates that an operating
862 system "feature" called "flow control" is intercepting the C-s and not
863 letting it get through to Emacs. To unfreeze the screen, type C-q.
864 Then see the section "Spontaneous Entry to Incremental Search" in the
865 Emacs manual for advice on dealing with this "feature".
867 If you are in the middle of an incremental search and type <Delback>,
868 you'll notice that the last character in the search string is erased
869 and the search backs up to the last place of the search. For
870 instance, suppose you have typed "c", to search for the first
871 occurrence of "c". Now if you type "u", the cursor will move
872 to the first occurrence of "cu". Now type <Delback>. This erases
873 the "u" from the search string, and the cursor moves back to
874 the first occurrence of "c".
876 If you are in the middle of a search and type a control or meta
877 character (with a few exceptions--characters that are special in
878 a search, such as C-s and C-r), the search is terminated.
880 The C-s starts a search that looks for any occurrence of the search
881 string AFTER the current cursor position. If you want to search for
882 something earlier in the text, type C-r instead. Everything that we
883 have said about C-s also applies to C-r, except that the direction of
884 the search is reversed.
890 One of the nice features of Emacs is that you can display more than one
891 window on the screen at the same time.
893 >> Move the cursor to this line and type C-u 0 C-l (that's CONTROL-L, not
896 >> Now type C-x 2 which splits the screen into two windows.
897 Both windows display this tutorial. The cursor stays in the top window.
899 >> Type C-M-v to scroll the bottom window.
900 (If you do not have a real META key, type ESC C-v.)
902 >> Type C-x o ("o" for "other") to move the cursor to the bottom window.
903 >> Use C-v and M-v in the bottom window to scroll it.
904 Keep reading these directions in the top window.
906 >> Type C-x o again to move the cursor back to the top window.
907 The cursor in the top window is just where it was before.
909 You can keep using C-x o to switch between the windows. Each
910 window has its own cursor position, but only one window actually
911 shows the cursor. All the ordinary editing commands apply to the
912 window that the cursor is in. We call this the "selected window".
914 The command C-M-v is very useful when you are editing text in one
915 window and using the other window just for reference. You can keep
916 the cursor always in the window where you are editing, and advance
917 through the other window sequentially with C-M-v.
919 C-M-v is an example of a CONTROL-META character. If you have a real
920 META key, you can type C-M-v by holding down both CONTROL and META while
921 typing v. It does not matter whether CONTROL or META "comes first,"
922 because both of these keys act by modifying the characters you type.
924 If you do not have a real META key, and you use ESC instead, the order
925 does matter: you must type ESC followed by CONTROL-v, because
926 CONTROL-ESC v will not work. This is because ESC is a character in
927 its own right, not a modifier key.
929 >> Type C-x 1 (in the top window) to get rid of the bottom window.
931 (If you had typed C-x 1 in the bottom window, that would get rid
932 of the top one. Think of this command as "Keep just one
933 window--the window I am already in.")
935 You do not have to display the same buffer in both windows. If you
936 use C-x C-f to find a file in one window, the other window does not
937 change. You can find a file in each window independently.
939 Here is another way to use two windows to display two different
942 >> Type C-x 4 C-f followed by the name of one of your files.
943 End with <Return>. See the specified file appear in the bottom
944 window. The cursor goes there, too.
946 >> Type C-x o to go back to the top window, and C-x 1 to delete
950 * RECURSIVE EDITING LEVELS
951 --------------------------
953 Sometimes you will get into what is called a "recursive editing
954 level". This is indicated by square brackets in the mode line,
955 surrounding the parentheses around the major mode name. For
956 example, you might see [(Fundamental)] instead of (Fundamental).
958 To get out of the recursive editing level, type ESC ESC ESC. That is
959 an all-purpose "get out" command. You can also use it for eliminating
960 extra windows, and getting out of the minibuffer.
962 >> Type M-x to get into a minibuffer; then type ESC ESC ESC to get out.
964 You cannot use C-g to get out of a recursive editing level. This is
965 because C-g is used for canceling commands and arguments WITHIN the
966 recursive editing level.
972 In this tutorial we have tried to supply just enough information to
973 get you started using Emacs. There is so much available in Emacs that
974 it would be impossible to explain it all here. However, you may want
975 to learn more about Emacs since it has many other useful features.
976 Emacs provides commands for reading documentation about Emacs
977 commands. These "help" commands all start with the character
978 CONTROL-h, which is called "the Help character".
980 To use the Help features, type the C-h character, and then a
981 character saying what kind of help you want. If you are REALLY lost,
982 type C-h ? and Emacs will tell you what kinds of help it can give.
983 If you have typed C-h and decide you do not want any help, just
984 type C-g to cancel it.
986 (Some sites change the meaning of the character C-h. They really
987 should not do this as a blanket measure for all users, so you have
988 grounds to complain to the system administrator. Meanwhile, if C-h
989 does not display a message about help at the bottom of the screen, try
990 typing the F1 key or M-x help <Return> instead.)
992 The most basic HELP feature is C-h c. Type C-h, the character c, and
993 a command character or sequence; then Emacs displays a very brief
994 description of the command.
998 The message should be something like this:
1000 C-p runs the command previous-line
1002 This tells you the "name of the function". Function names are used
1003 mainly for customizing and extending Emacs. But since function names
1004 are chosen to indicate what the command does, they can serve also as
1005 very brief documentation--sufficient to remind you of commands you
1006 have already learned.
1008 Multi-character commands such as C-x C-s and (if you have no META or
1009 EDIT or ALT key) <ESC>v are also allowed after C-h c.
1011 To get more information about a command, use C-h k instead of C-h c.
1015 This displays the documentation of the function, as well as its
1016 name, in an Emacs window. When you are finished reading the
1017 output, type C-x 1 to get rid of the help text. You do not have
1018 to do this right away. You can do some editing while referring
1019 to the help text, and then type C-x 1.
1021 Here are some other useful C-h options:
1023 C-h f Describe a function. You type in the name of the
1026 >> Try typing C-h f previous-line<Return>.
1027 This displays all the information Emacs has about the
1028 function which implements the C-p command.
1030 A similar command C-h v displays the documentation of variables whose
1031 values you can set to customize Emacs behavior. You need to type in
1032 the name of the variable when Emacs prompts for it.
1034 C-h a Command Apropos. Type in a keyword and Emacs will list
1035 all the commands whose names contain that keyword.
1036 These commands can all be invoked with META-x.
1037 For some commands, Command Apropos will also list a one
1038 or two character sequence which runs the same command.
1040 >> Type C-h a file<Return>.
1042 This displays in another window a list of all M-x commands with "file"
1043 in their names. You will see character-commands like C-x C-f listed
1044 beside the corresponding command names such as find-file.
1046 >> Type C-M-v to scroll the help window. Do this a few times.
1048 >> Type C-x 1 to delete the help window.
1050 C-h i Read On-line Manuals (a.k.a. Info). This command puts
1051 you into a special buffer called `*info*' where you
1052 can read on-line manuals for the packages installed on
1053 your system. Type m emacs <Return> to read the Emacs
1054 manual. If you have never before used Info, type ?
1055 and Emacs will take you on a guided tour of Info mode
1056 facilities. Once you are through with this tutorial,
1057 you should consult the Emacs Info manual as your
1058 primary documentation.
1064 You can learn more about Emacs by reading its manual, either as a book
1065 or on-line in Info (use the Help menu or type F10 h r). Two features
1066 that you may like especially are completion, which saves typing, and
1067 dired, which simplifies file handling.
1069 Completion is a way to avoid unnecessary typing. For instance, if you
1070 want to switch to the *Messages* buffer, you can type C-x b *M<Tab>
1071 and Emacs will fill in the rest of the buffer name as far as it can
1072 determine from what you have already typed. Completion is described
1073 in Info in the Emacs manual in the node called "Completion".
1075 Dired enables you to list files in a directory (and optionally its
1076 subdirectories), move around that list, visit, rename, delete and
1077 otherwise operate on the files. Dired is described in Info in the
1078 Emacs manual in the node called "Dired".
1080 The manual also describes many other Emacs features.
1086 Remember, to exit Emacs permanently use C-x C-c. To exit to a shell
1087 temporarily, so that you can come back to Emacs afterward, use C-z.
1089 This tutorial is meant to be understandable to all new users, so if
1090 you found something unclear, don't sit and blame yourself - complain!
1096 This tutorial descends from a long line of Emacs tutorials
1097 starting with the one written by Stuart Cracraft for the original Emacs.
1099 This version of the tutorial, like GNU Emacs, is copyrighted, and
1100 comes with permission to distribute copies on certain conditions:
1102 Copyright (c) 1985, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2002 Free Software Foundation
1104 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
1105 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
1106 copyright notice and permission notice are preserved,
1107 and that the distributor grants the recipient permission
1108 for further redistribution as permitted by this notice.
1110 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
1111 of this document, or of portions of it,
1112 under the above conditions, provided also that they
1113 carry prominent notices stating who last altered them.
1115 The conditions for copying Emacs itself are more complex, but in the
1116 same spirit. Please read the file COPYING and then do give copies of
1117 GNU Emacs to your friends. Help stamp out software obstructionism
1118 ("ownership") by using, writing, and sharing free software!
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