doc/emacs/entering.texi

   1 @c This is part of the Emacs manual.
   2 @c Copyright (C) 1985, 1986, 1987, 1993, 1994, 1995, 2001, 2002, 2003,
   3 @c   2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008  Free Software Foundation, Inc.
   4 @c See file emacs.texi for copying conditions.
   5 @iftex
   6 @chapter Entering and Exiting Emacs
   7
   8   This chapter explains how to enter Emacs, and how to exit it.
   9 @end iftex
  10
  11 @ifnottex
  12 @raisesections
  13 @end ifnottex
  14
  15 @node Entering Emacs, Exiting, Commands, Top
  16 @section Entering Emacs
  17 @cindex entering Emacs
  18 @cindex starting Emacs
  19
  20   The usual way to invoke Emacs is with the shell command
  21 @command{emacs}.  From a terminal window running in the X Window
  22 System, you can also run Emacs in the background with
  23 @command{emacs&}; this way, Emacs won't tie up the terminal window, so
  24 you can use it to run other shell commands.
  25
  26 @cindex startup screen
  27   When Emacs starts up, the initial frame displays a special buffer
  28 named @samp{*GNU Emacs*}.  This buffer contains @dfn{links} to common
  29 tasks that might be useful to beginning users.  For instance,
  30 activating the @samp{Emacs Tutorial} link opens the Emacs tutorial;
  31 this does the same thing as the command @kbd{C-h t}
  32 (@code{help-with-tutorial}).  To activate a link, either move point
  33 onto it and type @kbd{@key{RET}}, or click on it with @kbd{mouse-1}
  34 (the left mouse button).
  35
  36   Using a command line argument, you can tell Emacs to visit one or
  37 more specific files as soon as it starts up.  For example,
  38 @command{emacs foo.txt} starts Emacs with a buffer displaying the
  39 contents of the file @samp{foo.txt}.  This feature exists mainly for
  40 compatibility with other editors, which are designed to edit one file
  41 at a time: once you are done with that file, you exit the editor, and
  42 start it again the next time you need it.
  43
  44   Using Emacs in this way---starting it afresh each time you want to
  45 edit a file---is unnecessary and wasteful.  Emacs can visit more than
  46 one file in a single editing session, and exiting the Emacs session
  47 loses valuable accumulated context, such as the kill ring, registers,
  48 undo history, and mark ring.  These features, described later in the
  49 manual, are useful for performing edits across multiple files, or
  50 continuing edits to a single file.
  51
  52   The recommended way to use Emacs is to start it only once, just
  53 after you log in, and do all your editing in the same Emacs session.
  54 Each time you edit a file, visit it with the existing Emacs, which
  55 eventually has many files in it ready for editing.  @xref{Files}, for
  56 more information on visiting more than one file.
  57
  58   To edit a file from another program while Emacs is running, you can
  59 use the @command{emacsclient} helper program to open a file in the
  60 already running Emacs.  @xref{Emacs Server}.
  61
  62   Emacs accepts other command line arguments that tell it to load
  63 certain Lisp files, call certain functions, and so forth.  These
  64 features exist mainly for advanced users.  @xref{Emacs Invocation}.
  65
  66 @node Exiting, Basic, Entering Emacs, Top
  67 @section Exiting Emacs
  68 @cindex exiting
  69 @cindex killing Emacs
  70 @cindex leaving Emacs
  71 @cindex quitting Emacs
  72
  73 @table @kbd
  74 @item C-x C-c
  75 Kill Emacs (@code{save-buffers-kill-emacs}).
  76 @item C-z
  77 Suspend Emacs (@code{suspend-emacs}) or iconify a frame
  78 (@code{iconify-or-deiconify-frame}).
  79 @end table
  80
  81 @kindex C-x C-c
  82 @findex save-buffers-kill-emacs
  83   @dfn{Killing} Emacs means terminating the Emacs program.  To do
  84 this, type @kbd{C-x C-c} (@code{save-buffers-kill-emacs}).  A
  85 two-character key is used to make it harder to type by accident.  If
  86 there are any modified file-visiting buffers when you type @kbd{C-x
  87 C-c}, Emacs first offers to save these buffers.  If you do not save
  88 them all, it asks for confirmation again, since the unsaved changes
  89 will be lost.  Emacs also asks for confirmation if any subprocesses
  90 are still running, since killing Emacs will also kill the subprocesses
  91 (@pxref{Shell}).
  92
  93   Emacs can, optionally, record certain session information when you
  94 kill it, such as the files you were visiting at the time.  This
  95 information is then available the next time you start Emacs.
  96 @xref{Saving Emacs Sessions}.
  97
  98 @vindex confirm-kill-emacs
  99   If the value of the variable @code{confirm-kill-emacs} is
 100 non-@code{nil}, @kbd{C-x C-c} assumes that its value is a predicate
 101 function, and calls that function.  If the result of the function call
 102 is non-@code{nil}, the session is killed, otherwise Emacs continues to
 103 run.  One convenient function to use as the value of
 104 @code{confirm-kill-emacs} is the function @code{yes-or-no-p}.  The
 105 default value of @code{confirm-kill-emacs} is @code{nil}.
 106
 107 @cindex minimizing a frame
 108 @cindex iconifying
 109 @cindex suspending
 110   You can ``exit'' Emacs in two other ways.  On a graphical display,
 111 you can @dfn{iconify} (or @dfn{minimize}) an Emacs frame; depending on
 112 the window system, this either replaces the Emacs frame with a tiny
 113 ``icon'' or conceals the frame entirely (@pxref{Frames}).  On a
 114 text-only terminal, you can @dfn{suspend} Emacs; this means stopping
 115 the Emacs program temporarily, returning control to its parent process
 116 (usually a shell).
 117
 118 @kindex C-z
 119 @findex iconify-or-deiconify-frame
 120 @findex suspend-emacs
 121   On a graphical display, @kbd{C-z} runs the command
 122 @code{iconify-or-deiconify-frame}, which iconifies the selected Emacs
 123 frame.  On a text terminal, @kbd{C-z} runs the command
 124 @code{suspend-emacs}, which suspends Emacs.
 125
 126   After iconifying or suspending Emacs, you can return to it and
 127 continue editing wherever you left off.  The way to do this depends on
 128 the window system or shell.  In most common shells, you can resume
 129 Emacs after suspending it with the shell command @command{%emacs}.
 130
 131 @vindex cannot-suspend
 132   On very old systems that don't support suspending programs,
 133 @kbd{C-z} starts an inferior shell that communicates directly with the
 134 terminal, and Emacs waits until you exit the subshell.  (The way to
 135 exit the subshell is usually @kbd{C-d} or @command{exit}.)  On these
 136 systems, you can only get back to the shell from which Emacs was run
 137 (to log out, for example) when you kill Emacs.  Suspending can also
 138 fail if you run Emacs under a shell that doesn't support suspending
 139 jobs, even if the system itself does support it.  In this case, you
 140 can set the variable @code{cannot-suspend} to a non-@code{nil} value
 141 to force @kbd{C-z} to start an inferior shell.
 142
 143   Text-only terminals usually listen for certain special characters
 144 whose meaning is to kill or suspend the program you are running.
 145 @b{This terminal feature is turned off while you are in Emacs.}  The
 146 meanings of @kbd{C-z} and @kbd{C-x C-c} as keys in Emacs were inspired
 147 by the use of @kbd{C-z} and @kbd{C-c} on several operating systems as
 148 the characters for stopping or killing a program, but that is their
 149 only relationship with the operating system.  You can customize these
 150 keys to run any commands of your choice (@pxref{Keymaps}).
 151
 152 @ifnottex
 153 @lowersections
 154 @end ifnottex
 155
 156 @ignore
 157    arch-tag: df798d8b-f253-4113-b585-f528f078a944
 158 @end ignore