1 \input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
3 @setfilename ../info/ns-emacs
12 @center @titlefont{Emacs.app}
14 @center (Version 9.0-rc1, April, 2006)
19 @center Christian Limpach
23 @center Christophe de Dinechin
30 @unnumbered Distribution
32 Copyright @copyright{} 1994 Carl Edman.@*
33 Copyright @copyright{} 1997 Christian Limpach.
34 Copyright @copyright{} 1997 Scott Bender.
35 Copyright @copyright{} 2001 Christophe de Dinechin.
36 Copyright @copyright{} 2005-07 Adrian Robert.
38 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
39 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
40 are preserved on all copies.
43 Permission is granted to process this file through Tex and print the
44 results, provided the printed document carries copying permission
45 notice identical to this one except for the removal of this paragraph
46 (this paragraph not being relevant to the printed manual).
49 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
50 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the entire
51 resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a permission
52 notice identical to this one.
54 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
55 into another language, under the same conditions as for modified versions.
68 @node Top, Introduction, (dir), (dir)
71 Emacs.app for GNUstep and MacOS X (http://emacs-app.sf.net) is a version of
72 GNU Emacs CVS unicode-2 branch (currently planned to be released as Emacs 23)
73 which adds support for the GNUstep and MacOS X systems via the OpenStep APIs
74 (referred to as "Cocoa" under OS X). Support for NeXTstep, OpenStep, and
75 Rhapsody systems has been dropped. For those systems, use "Emacs-on-Aqua",
76 available at http://emacs-on-aqua.sf.net.
78 This port leaves most of the core functions of Emacs unchanged and is
79 fully-compatible with all Emacs Lisp packages, however it has a number of
80 step-ish features which do not have any equivalent in Emacs's X11 interface.
81 The design aim was to make it look as similar as possible to an X application
82 to Emacs Lisp programs and to make it look like a normal GNUstep or MacOS X
85 (From here on out we refer to this port as "Emacs.app", and the systems
86 supported by this port as "NeXTstep", "NS", or "OpenStep", because saying
87 GNUstep / MacOS X is too clumsy. Both systems were derived from the NeXTstep
88 libraries developed by NeXT, Inc. for its NeXT computer and operating system,
89 whose APIs were later published as the OpenStep specification. All classes
90 and functions in these APIs start with the letters 'NS' for this historical
93 Comments and bug reports relating to the window system interface are welcome.
94 To report a bug please use the @samp{Help/Report Emacs.app bug...} menu item.
95 This sends messages to the maintainer. (Note, please include your email
96 address if you don't usually send email from this machine.)
98 Problems and bugs which do not relate to the NS support (i.e. which can be
99 reproduced even in a dumb terminal or under the Carbon port or X11) should be
100 reported through the normal Emacs channels.
102 Also, please inspect the ``Known Issues'' contained in the README file you may
103 have received with this distribution or listed at the web site
104 http://emacs-app.sf.net .
106 There is also a developer mailing list for Emacs.app,
107 <emacs-app-dev-@@lists.sourceforge.net>. Sign up through the project page at
108 http://emacs-app.sf.net. A user mailing list will be added in time and if
113 * Introduction:: What you need to know to use and program.
114 * Events:: How NS window system events are handled.
115 * Preferences Panel:: Using the Preferences Panel to customize Emacs.
116 * Customization:: Customization for Emacs.app.
117 * Tips and Tricks:: Collected hints from Emacs users
118 * Thanks:: The people who helped create Emacs.app
121 @node Introduction, Events, Top, Top
122 @section Introduction
124 Despite the size and complexity of GNU Emacs, NeXTstep and the NeXTstep
125 support code, this manual can be kept mercifully short by saying that
126 everything written in the Emacs and the Emacs Lisp manuals about GNU Emacs
127 applies equally to this Emacs except as noted here.
131 The ``right-click'' button (usually the right-hand button on a two-button
132 mouse) is mapped to Mouse-3, instead of Mouse-2 as earlier versions of
133 Emacs.app. This is for compatibility with X versions of emacs. To get some
134 of the old behavior back, you can put in your .emacs:
137 (global-set-key [mouse-3] 'mouse-yank-at-click)
140 The other functionality of mouse-3 in a buffer of extending a selection is
141 available via shift-click as in other NS applications. To pop up a context
145 The Alt or Opt key is bound to the traditional emacs "meta" by default, while
146 the NS "command" key is bound to 'super', for which a set of keybindings are
147 set to mimic other NeXTstep applications. (See @ref{Events}.) You can change
148 either of these bindings using the preferences panel (see @ref{Preferences
152 The standard NeXTstep font and color panels are accessible through the Windows
153 menu, or through the standard Cmd-t and Cmd-C. These are easier to use than
154 Emacs's own methods for setting these items. To use the color panel, drag
155 from it to an emacs frame. The foreground (or background, if shift is held
156 down) of the face at that point will be changed. To finalize settings for
157 either color or font, choose 'Save Preferences' from under the Help menu. To
158 discard these settings, create a new frame and close the altered one.
161 Opening files / directories and 'Save Buffer As' operated from the menus use
162 the standard NS file panels. Likewise if you use Cmd-o or Cmd-S. However,
163 if you use the regular Emacs key combinations Ctrl-x,Ctrl-f and Ctrl-x,w for
164 these functions, the normal Emacs mode of typing filenames into the minibuffer
168 On GNUstep, in an X-windows environment you need to use Cmd-c instead of one
169 of the Ctrl-w or Meta-w commands to transfer text to the X primary selection.
170 (Ordinarily the "clipboard" selection is used, for compatibility with more
171 modern Gnome and KDE programs.) Likewise, Cmd-y (instead of Ctrl-y) will
172 yank/paste in the X primary selection instead of the kill-ring / clipboard.
175 The @code{window-system} variable can now have the value @code{ns} in addition
176 to, e.g., @code{x} or @code{nil}. You can use this in your .emacs file:
178 If you just want to distinguish between cases in which there is a
179 window system and in which there isn't, this construct is useful.
182 ... ;;; evaluate if any window system is running
183 ...) ;;; evaluate only when running on a dumb terminal
186 For more detailed control, use this.
189 ((eq window-system 'ns) ;;; NS specific instructions
191 ((eq window-system 'x) ;;; X specific instructions
193 (t ;;; Instructions for dumb terminal or other window systems
198 Likewise, you can detect whether you are running in emacs-23 or an earlier
202 (if (eq emacs-major-version '23) <emacs-23 code> <emacs-22- code>)
206 Most NS specific functions begin with 'ns-'. Do "C-h f ns-[TAB]" to list
207 these. Many of these replace equivalent 'x-' functions, while others perform
208 uniquely NS things, such as Service invocation.
211 There are also NS variables beginning with 'ns-', however in most cases users
212 need not pay attention to them since the customizability they provide is also
213 available through the defaults system and preferences panel (see
214 @ref{Preferences Panel} and @ref{Customization}).
217 When Emacs is called by a name which ends in @file{-nw} it will always
218 start in terminal mode. For example, a user who needs a terminal only
219 emacs would create a symbolic link from @file{emacs} to @file{emacs-nw}.
220 When he launches @file{emacs-nw} from the command line, the window
221 system will never be involved. (Note, as of rc2, terminal mode is still not
225 @node Events, Preferences Panel, Introduction, Top
228 Under Emacs.app the NeXTstep command key works as the @dfn{super} modifier
229 key. In principle users can bind their command keys to whatever function they
230 want, but to make the transition for NS users easier the default NS startup
231 files bind the most commonly used NS command keys to work just like they do in
232 most other NS applications. Some are shown in the menus. Choose "List
233 Keybindings" from the Help menu and scroll down to the keys labeled starting
234 with 's-' to see all of them.
236 NS applications receive a number of special events which have no X equivalent.
237 These are sent as specially defined ``keys'' (which don't correspond to any
238 keyboard stroke combination). Under Emacs these ``key'' events can be bound
239 to functions just like ordinary keystrokes. Here is a list of these events.
243 This event occurs when another NeXTstep application requests that Emacs
244 open a file. A typical reason for this would be a user double-clicking
245 a file in the Finder. When this event is registered the
246 name of the file to open is found in the variable @code{ns-input-file}.
248 The behaviour of the default binding is controlled by the variable
249 @code{ns-pop-up-frames}. It's default value @code{'fresh} causes Emacs
250 to open the new file in the selected frame if the selected buffer is a
251 scratch buffer. Otherwise Emacs opens a new frame and displays the file
254 To always get a new frame one would change @code{ns-pop-up-frames} to
255 @code{t}. To get the opposite behaviour (i.e. always putting the file into
256 the selected frame), change @code{ns-pop-up-frames} to @code{nil}.
258 @item ns-open-temp-file
259 This event occurs when another application requests that Emacs open a
260 temporary file. The file name is again in @code{ns-input-file}. By
261 default this is handled by just generating a @code{ns-open-file} event
262 (which then causes the @code{ns-open-file} function to be called
263 whatever that may be).
266 (define-key global-map [ns-open-temp-file] [ns-open-file])
269 @item ns-open-file-line
270 Some applications (like e.g. ProjectBuilder or gdb) request not only a
271 particular file, but also a particular line or sequence of lines in the
272 file. The file name is in @code{ns-input-file}, and
273 @code{ns-input-line} is either the line or a cons cell the car of which
274 contains the beginning line and the cdr of which the ending line.
277 (define-key global-map [ns-open-file-line] 'ns-open-file-select-line)
281 When a user drags files from another application into an Emacs frame
282 this event is triggered. Here @code{ns-input-file} is a list of all
283 dragged files. The default binding inserts all the dragged files into
287 (define-key global-map [ns-drag-file] 'ns-insert-files)
291 When a user drags a color from the color well (or some other source)
292 Emacs sees this event and @code{ns-input-color} contains the name of the
293 dragged color. The default bindings alter the foreground color of the
294 area the color was dragged onto (or background color if the color was
298 (define-key global-map [ns-drag-color]
299 'ns-set-foreground-at-mouse)
300 (define-key global-map [S-ns-drag-color]
301 'ns-set-background-at-mouse)
305 Emacs.app allows the user to open a standard NS font panel (by default that
306 function is bound to @kbd{Cmd-t}). When the user selects a font in that
307 panel this event occurs. @code{ns-input-font} will contain the name of
308 the selected font and @code{ns-input-fontsize} is its size. The
309 default binding causes Emacs to adjust the font of the selected frame.
312 (define-key global-map [ns-change-font] 'ns-respond-to-changefont)
316 Finally when the user logs out and Emacs is still running it receives
317 this event so that it has a chance to save its files before it dies.
320 (define-key global-map [ns-power-off]
321 '(lambda () (interactive) (save-buffers-kill-emacs t)))
326 Emacs.app also allows users to make use of NeXTstep services programatically,
327 in addition to via the Services menu. On the most basic level programmers can
328 use the @code{ns-perform-service} to pass arbitrary strings to arbitrary
329 services and receive the results back. However convenience functions are
330 automatically provided for all services so there should be no need to use
331 this. These function names begin with 'ns-service-', and they will either
332 operate on marked text (replacing it with the result) or take a string
333 argument and return the result as a string. Type "M-x ns-service-[TAB][TAB]"
334 to see those currently defined. Note that Emacs may require a restart to
335 access newly available services.
338 @node Preferences Panel, Customization, Events, Top
339 @section Preferences Panel
341 The Preferences Panel can be used to set or change some of the settings for
342 Emacs such as the text appearance, cursor settings, and key bindings.
344 To save any settings changed through the Preferences Panel, hit OK;
345 this has the same effect as if you had explicitly chosen Help > Save
348 To restore Emacs to use its default settings click Reset to Defaults from
349 the Preferences Panel.
351 Additional GNUstep/OS X preferences may be set from the command line using
352 the @command{defaults} command. (See @ref{Customization}.)
355 @section Text Rendering Preferences
357 Font and color settings can be set using the standard NeXTstep font
362 To set the default font used by Emacs click the Default Font... button
363 to launch the Font Panel. Click on a frame before selecting the font
364 family, typeface, and size of the default font from the Font Panel.
366 Note that the default font will not be changed if a frame hasn't been
370 To set the default foreground or background color click the
371 Colors... button to launch the Color Panel. Choose the color you want
372 using any of the color models (color wheel, sliders, palette, image,
373 or crayons) available from the Colors toolbar. To apply the color
374 drag a swatch from the color bar at the top of the panel to text on
375 an Emacs frame. Holding down shift will change the background color
376 instead of the foreground.
379 To use antialiased text check the Smooth Fonts option. Lighter font
380 smoothing can be achieved by checking the Use Quickdraw (lighter)
384 To change the line height that text is displayed at drag the Expand
385 Line Spacing slider. When the slider is set to 0.0 Emacs will use the
386 same line height as other Mac OS X applications. To increase the line
387 height (and decrease the number of lines that can be displayed on the
388 screen) drag the slider towards 1.0. To decrease the line height
389 (increases the number of lines that can be displayed) drag the slider
392 After the line spacing setting has been changed Emacs must be restarted
393 to take account of the change.
397 @section Display Preferences
399 The Display Preferences can be used to change the appearance of the
400 default cursor used by Emacs.
404 The Cursor Type radio buttons can be used to select the style used for the cursor:
408 Box - the cursor is displayed as a box
410 Underscore - the cursor is displayed as a horizontal bar
412 Bar - the cursor is displayed as a vertical bar
414 Hollow - the cursor is displayed as a box with an outline but no fill
418 Use the Cursor Blink Rate slider to set the frequency at which the cursor blinks.
421 Check the Use System Highlight Color option to use the system default
422 color for highlighted text.
426 @section Modifier Interpretation Preferences
428 The Modifier Preferences can be used to change the behaviour of the
429 Alt/Opt and Command keys. By default the Alt or Opt key is bound to
430 the Emacs 'Meta' key, and the Command key is bound to 'super' which
431 allows the Command key to function in a way similar to other
432 NeXTstep/OS X applications.
436 To re-bind the Alt or Opt key select a keybinding from the Alt/Opt Key
439 To re-bind the Command key select a keybinding from the Command Key
444 @node Customization, Tips and Tricks, Preferences Panel, Top
445 @section Customization
447 Under X, resources are used to customize the behavior of Emacs to the needs of
448 the user. These resources are queried programmatically with the
449 @code{x-get-resource} function. Under NS defaults fulfill a similar function.
450 They can be read using the @code{ns-get-resource} function. Calls to
451 @code{x-get-resource} are automatically mapped to @code{ns-get-resource}.
452 From the command line, the command `@code{defaults read Emacs}' will show
453 these resources as of last Emacs quit, and individual resources can be
454 read/written by commands like `@code{defaults read Emacs Foo}' and
455 `@code{defaults write Emacs Foo barvalue}'.
457 Calling the function @code{ns-save-preferences} in lisp, or selecting ``Save
458 Options'' from the 'Options' menu will automatically write out the defaults
459 corresponding to the selected window.
461 In addition, it is also possible to set many of the following customizations
462 by setting the @code{default-frame-alist} in the @file{~/.emacs} file.
464 Many of the preferences relating specifically to the NS windowing system (font
465 rendering, cursor type, etc.) can be set using a @ref{Preferences Panel}
466 accessed in the standard fashion from the menubar or Cmd-,. It is important
467 to note that when you hit 'OK' on this panel, @emph{all} NS settings are saved
468 (including font and colors) just as if you had called
469 @code{ns-save-preferences}.
471 Note that if you use the 'Default Font' button on the Preferences panel, you
472 must click on a frame before selecting a font, otherwise nothing will happen.
473 If you pop up the color panel, you must drag colors to a frame for them to
474 have an effect. (Remember to hold down 'shift' to change background instead
477 This is a listing of some of the more useful defaults (and their default
478 values). Several of these defaults accept the names of colors as values. For
479 a list of all available colors pull up the color panel and look at the color
480 list called ``Emacs''. Emacs also accepts color specifications of the form
481 @samp{ARGBaarrggbb} where @var{aa}, @var{rr}, @var{gg}, and @var{bb} are two
482 hexadecimal digits describing the alpha, red, green, and blue content of the
483 color respectively. @samp{HSBhhssbbaa}, @samp{CMYKccmmyykkaa} and
484 @samp{GRAYggaa} are the equivalents in @samp{HSB}, @samp{CMYK} and gray
488 @item InternalBorderWidth
489 Width in pixels of the internal border of the NS frame. This acts to separate
490 the text area of the window from the fringes, scrollbars, and/or edges.
493 defaults write Emacs InternalBorderWidth 2
496 @item VerticalScrollBars
497 @samp{YES} or @samp{NO} to enable or disable scroll bars, @samp{left} or
498 @samp{right} to explicitly set the side.
501 defaults write Emacs VerticalScrollBars YES
505 Name of the default font to be used for new frames (which can be overriden by
506 various faces). If this font is not set, Emacs.app will use the system
507 wide fixed pitch font. For most users the system fixed pitch font will be
508 @samp{Monaco} which doesn't have any bold or italic versions. (Italic will be
512 Size of the font to be used for new frames. If not set Emacs for NS will use
513 the default size of the system wide fixed pitch font.
516 The default foreground (text) color for new frames.
519 defaults write Emacs Foreground "Black"
523 The default background color for new frames.
526 defaults write Emacs Background "White"
530 Height in rows of the default window.
533 defaults write Emacs Height 48
537 Width in columns of the default window.
540 defaults write Emacs Width 80
544 Name of the default cursor type for Emacs. Allowed values are
545 @samp{box}, @samp{hollow}, @samp{underscore}, @samp{bar}, @samp{line} and @samp{no}.
548 defaults write Emacs CursorType box
551 @item CursorBlinkRate
552 Users who want their cursor to blink can set the rate (in seconds) with
553 this defaults write. Setting it to @samp{NO} disables cursor blinking.
556 defaults write Emacs CursorBlinkRate NO
560 Name of the default cursor color for Emacs. Of a particular use for this
561 setting is the @samp{Highlight} "color". When it is the cursor color,
562 Emacs will draw the cursor using the standard NS highlighting operator.
565 defaults write Emacs CursorColor Highlight
569 Distance in pixels from the top of the screen of the upper left corner
570 of the default window.
573 defaults write Emacs Top 100
577 Distance in pixels from the left edge of the screen to the upper left
578 corner of the default window.
581 defaults write Emacs Left 100
584 @item HideOnAutoLaunch
585 @samp{YES} or @samp{NO} to determine whether Emacs will hide itself when
586 autolaunched from the dock.
589 defaults write Emacs HideOnAutoLaunch NO
593 This lets you expand or shrink the line height used for displaying text. When
594 this is set to 0.0, display should look like other NS apps. If you set it
595 higher than 0, Emacs will spread the text lines apart, less than 0, compress
596 them together. (With settings below zero parts of characters may be chopped
597 off in certain fonts.) When using the @ref{Preferences Panel}, this is
598 controlled by a slider. You must OK the panel and then restart Emacs.app for
599 this default to take effect.
601 When setting this using @code{"defaults write"}, you can either set a floating
602 point value, or @samp{YES}, which is equivalent 0.5, or @samp{NO}, which is
606 defaults write Emacs ExpandSpace -0.125
609 @item GSFontAntiAlias
610 This turns antialiasing on and off on. Note that, on OS X, even if
611 antialiasing is on, Emacs will not antialias text of a size below the system
615 defaults write Emacs GSFontAntiAlias NO
618 @item UseQuickdrawSmoothing
619 On OS X 10.3 and higher, this will render fonts using Quickdraw antialiasing,
620 which is less heavy than the Quartz antialiasing used by default. Whether
621 this is on or off, the system font size threshold for antialiasing (see above)
625 defaults write Emacs UseQuickdrawSmoothing YES
628 @item AlternateModifier
629 This allows you to set the effect of the Alt or Opt key. The default is
630 @samp{meta}, meaning to use as the Emacs 'meta' key. You can also set this to
631 @samp{command}, @samp{hyper}, @samp{alt}, or @samp{none}. The last is useful
632 for Continental users who normally use this key to enter accented and other
636 defaults write Emacs AlternateModifier "none"
639 @item CommandModifier
640 This allows you to set the effect of the Command key. The default is
641 @samp{super}, which is used in a set of keybindings such as @code{s-o} for
642 ``open file'' and @code{s-z} for ``undo'' that are similar to other NeXTstep
643 applications. On the other hand, some people who use the Alt/Opt key for
644 accent entry like to set this to @samp{meta} so they still have easy access to
645 Emacs functionality bound to meta keys. You can also set this, like Alt/Opt,
646 to @samp{hyper} or @samp{alt}, though there are no bindings to combinations
647 using these keys by default. The @samp{none} option is not available for the
651 defaults write Emacs CommandModifier "meta"
655 Position and size to use for the frame named @var{foo} when it is
656 created. The position and size have to be specified as a space
657 separated list: @samp{top}, @samp{left}, @samp{height} and
658 @samp{width}. @samp{top} and @samp{left} are expressed in pixels,
659 @samp{height} is given in rows and @samp{width} is given in columns.
660 Named frames can be created by e.g. @code{(make-frame '((name
664 defaults write Emacs TestFrame "100 200 30 70"
667 Another default previouly used by many Emacs users is this.
670 defaults write Workspace DefaultOpenApp Emacs
673 It caused the NeXTstep Workspace to open files without a registered extension
674 in Emacs instead of as usual Edit. For this default to work, Emacs needed to
675 be in the application search path of the Workspace (which usually includes
676 @file{~/Applications} and @file{~/Applications}). If anyone knows the current
677 way to do this under OS X please contact the authors.
681 @node Tips and Tricks, Thanks, Customization, Top
682 @section Tips and Tricks
684 Emacs is an extremely customizable editor. You can make it conform to
685 virtually any conceivable user idiosyncrasy (and some which are not) by adding
686 a few well-chosen lines of emacs lisp to your @file{~/.emacs}. Unfortunately
687 even many experienced C developers are unfamiliar with Emacs Lisp. For that
688 reason many Emacs.app defaults have been chosen to make it behave as similar
689 to TextEdit as possible. But there are some customizations which a majority
690 of users probably would hate as much as a minority would love them. This
691 section contains a cookbook of such customizations. New contributions by
692 Emacs users are very welcome.
695 * Grabbing environment variables::
696 * Miscellaneous useful variables::
697 * Color adjustments::
698 * Evaling in the minibuffer::
699 * Highlighting matching parentheses::
700 * Dealing with X specific packages::
701 * Rebinding the numeric keypad::
703 * Custom menu items::
704 * Single line scrolling::
705 * Open files by dragging to an Emacs window::
707 * Extended font customization::
711 @node Grabbing environment variables, Miscellaneous useful variables, Tips and Tricks, Tips and Tricks
712 @subsection Grabbing environment variables
714 Many programs which may run under Emacs like latex or man depend on the
715 settings of environment variables. If Emacs is launched from the shell, it
716 will automatically inherit these environment variables and its subprocesses
717 will inherit them from it. But if Emacs.app is launched from the Finder it
718 is not a descendant of any shell, so its environment variables haven't been
719 set which often causes the subprocesses it launches to behave differently than
720 they would when launched from the shell.
722 To solve this problem for Emacs.app, there are two solutions. First is to
723 run, from the command line:
726 .../Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/bin/mac-fix-env
729 This will pick up your environment settings and save them into a special file
730 @file{~/.MacOSX/environment.plist}, which the desktop environment will use to
731 set the environment for all launched applications. The drawback of this
732 method is it needs to be run again whenever something changes.
734 The other approach is to use the @code{ns-grabenv} command inside Emacs. This
735 function will run a subshell and copy its environment variables into Emacs.
737 Adding this line to your @file{~/.emacs} will grab the csh environment
738 whenever emacs runs under a window system.
741 (if window-system (ns-grabenv))
744 If you have a different shell you will have to give @code{ns-grabenv} some
745 arguments. For zsh you would do this.
748 (if window-system (ns-grabenv "/usr/bin/zsh"
753 The reason that @code{ns-grabenv} is not done by default is that it adds up
754 to a second or two to the Emacs startup time.
756 @node Miscellaneous useful variables, Color adjustments, Grabbing environment variables, Tips and Tricks
757 @subsection Miscellaneous useful variables
759 This section describes a few variables you might want to set in your
760 @file{~/.emacs} each of which doesn't warrant its own section.
762 There is a conflict between the way the region behaved in emacs in the
763 pre-GUI days and the way GUI users expect the selection to work. By
764 default that conflict is resolved by having the former adopt the
765 behaviour of the latter which most people prefer. However if you are a
766 die-hard emacs user you may prefer things the other way around and add
767 this line to your @file{~/.emacs}. Experiment with both settings.
770 (setq transient-mark-mode nil)
773 When you try to move beyond the end of a file Emacs used to add newlines as
774 needed, however from Emacs-21 on, this was no longer done. If you prefer the
775 old behavior, this line in your @file{~/.emacs} will restore it.
778 (setq next-line-add-newlines t)
781 By default when you kill a line with text on it, only the text is
782 removed while the line itself remains. You have to kill twice to really
783 get rid of the whole line. When this variable is set and you kill a
784 line while at the beginning of the line it will go at once.
787 (setq kill-whole-line t)
790 Annoyed by the Emacs startup message ? Add this and you start with a
794 (setq inhibit-startup-message t)
797 @node Color adjustments, Evaling in the minibuffer, Miscellaneous useful variables, Tips and Tricks
798 @subsection Color adjustments
800 A non-elisp hint: The easiest way to adjust your emacs color scheme is to
801 bring up a color panel (with @key{Cmd-C}) and drag the color you want over the
802 emacs face you want to change. Normal dragging will alter the foreground
803 color. Shift dragging will alter the background color. To make the changes
804 permanent select the "Save Options" item in the "Options" menu, or run
805 @code{ns-save-preferences}. Useful in this context is the listing of all
806 faces obtained by @key{M-x} @code{list-faces-display}.
808 @node Evaling in the minibuffer, Highlighting matching parentheses, Color adjustments, Tips and Tricks
809 @subsection Evaling in the minibuffer
811 Often you (at least if you are an elisp hacker) want to quickly evaluate
812 an elisp expression. To accomodate this desire Emacs provides the
813 @code{eval-expression} command bound to @key{M-:}. By default it is
814 disabled to protect novice users from themselves. These commands
815 re-enable it and turn on an extremely powerful completion facility.
818 (put 'eval-expression 'disabled nil)
820 (define-key read-expression-map "\t" 'lisp-complete-symbol)
823 @node Highlighting matching parentheses, Dealing with X specific packages, Evaling in the minibuffer, Tips and Tricks
824 @subsection Highlighting matching parentheses
826 I doubt that there is anybody who doesn't use this already, but just in
833 In Emacs.app this is currently enhanced by use of the @code{mic-paren} package
834 from http://www.docs.uu.se/~mic/emacs.html.
836 @node Dealing with X specific packages, Rebinding the numeric keypad, Highlighting matching parentheses, Tips and Tricks
837 @subsection Dealing with X specific packages
839 Some emacs lisp packages explicitly call X specific functions instead of
840 calling generic functions which call the NS or X versions as appropriate.
841 Typically such packages will result in error messages like @samp{Symbol's
842 function definition is void: x-foo-bar}. The proper way of dealing with this
843 is to have the author fix the code to call the generic functions. Generally
844 all that requires is removing the @samp{x-} prefix from all function calls.
846 However, sometimes that is not possible, or it may be a package internal to
847 emacs itself. In this case please report a bug to the Emacs.app maintainers
848 (not the main GNU emacs maintainers).
850 A related problem is font names. For historical reasons, Emacs assumes all
851 font names are given ``X style'', as in ``-adobe-courier-....-iso8859-1''.
852 Emacs.app tries to work around this as well as possible, and the best thing to
853 do is never rely on functions to set font names yourself but to always use the
856 @node Rebinding the numeric keypad, Improving C mode, Dealing with X specific packages, Tips and Tricks
857 @subsection Rebinding the numeric keypad
859 By default in Emacs the numeric keypad keys are bound to the same
860 characters they are in all other NS applications. But it is easy to
861 change these bindings to commands many will find more useful. As an
862 example here is the code which rebinds the numeric keypad for me.
865 (global-set-key [kp-0] 'other-window)
866 (global-set-key [kp-1] 'end-of-buffer)
867 (global-set-key [kp-2] [down])
868 (global-set-key [kp-3] 'scroll-up)
869 (global-set-key [kp-4] [left])
870 (global-set-key [kp-5] 'set-mark-command)
871 (global-set-key [kp-6] [right])
872 (global-set-key [kp-7] 'beginning-of-buffer)
873 (global-set-key [kp-8] [up])
874 (global-set-key [kp-9] 'scroll-down)
875 (global-set-key [kp-decimal] 'yank)
876 (global-set-key [kp-enter] 'set-mark-command)
877 (global-set-key [kp-add] 'copy-region-as-kill)
878 (global-set-key [kp-subtract] 'kill-region)
881 On machines with function keys they can be bound as well. This for example
882 would bind @key{F12} to run gnus.
885 (global-set-key [f12] 'gnus)
888 @node Improving C mode, Custom menu items, Rebinding the numeric keypad, Tips and Tricks
889 @subsection Improving C mode
891 That underscores are considered to break words in C mode has been driving me
892 insane for a long time. This line fixes the problem.
895 (modify-syntax-entry ?_ "w" c-mode-syntax-table)
898 @node Custom menu items, Single line scrolling, Improving C mode, Tips and Tricks
899 @subsection Custom menu items
901 The tools menu is intended for customization. Adding items to it is
902 relatively painless as this example illustrates.
905 (define-key global-map [menu-bar tools www] '("WWW" . w3-use-hotlist))
908 @node Single line scrolling, Open files by dragging to an Emacs window, Custom menu items, Tips and Tricks
909 @subsection Single line scrolling
911 The meta-arrow keys will perform single-line scrolling in Emacs
912 just like they did in the old NeXT/OpenStep Stuart.app.
914 @node Open files by dragging to an Emacs window, , Single line scrolling, Tips and Tricks
915 @subsection Open files by dragging to an Emacs window
917 The default behaviour when a user drags files from another application
918 into an Emacs frame is to insert the contents of all the dragged files
919 into the current buffer. To remap the @code{ns-drag-file} event to
920 open the dragged files in the current frame use the following line:
923 (define-key global-map [ns-drag-file] 'ns-find-file)
927 @node Extended font customization, , Single line scrolling, Tips and Tricks
928 @subsection Extended font customization
930 By default Emacs tries to guess the right font when you ask for a bold,
931 italic or bold-italic face. Unfortunately this fails sometimes, for
932 example Emacs won't guess that it should use @samp{Courier-Bold} as the
933 font for the bold face of @samp{Ohlfs}. As an example here is the code
934 which sets up @samp{Courier-Bold}, @samp{Courier-Oblique} and
935 @samp{Courier-BoldOblique} as the fonts to be used with @samp{Ohlfs}.
938 (setq ns-convert-font-trait-alist
939 '(("Ohlfs" "Courier-Bold" "Courier-Oblique"
940 "Courier-BoldOblique")))
943 You will still have to set the @samp{DefaultFont}, @samp{BoldFont},
944 @samp{ItalicFont} and @samp{Bold-ItalicFont} defaults as Emacs
945 initializes the default faces before it reads your @file{~/.emacs}.
946 Also Emacs initializes @code{ns-convert-font-trait-alist} from these
947 defaults so that normally it's sufficient to set these defaults to get
951 defaults write Emacs DefaultFont Ohlfs
952 defaults write Emacs BoldFont Courier-Bold
953 defaults write Emacs ItalicFont Courier-Oblique
954 defaults write Emacs Bold-ItalicFont Courier-BoldOblique
959 @node Thanks, , Tips and Tricks, Top
961 A signficant number of people have been involved in the creation of Emacs.app.
962 Carl Edman <cedman@@lynx.ps.uci.edu> created and maintained Emacs up to
963 version 4.1 and it's reasonable to say that without his work, Emacs.app
964 wouldn't exist. Michael Brouwer <michael@@thi.nl> wrote the original version
965 (up to and including version 3.x) and was a constant contributor to Emacs.app
966 version 4 and above. Christian Limpach <chris@@nice.ch> took over maintenance
967 and updating at version 4.2, and made substantial contributions in a number of
968 areas. Scott Bender <sbender@@harmony-ds.com> ported the code to OpenStep and
969 Rhapsody for version 6.0. Christophe de Dinechin <ddd@@cup.hp.com> ported the
970 code to MacOS X for version 7.0 and moved the code base to SourceForge. Leigh
971 Smith <leigh@@leighsmith.com> maintained the SourceForge project for a period.
972 Adrian Robert <arobert@@cogsci.ucsd.edu> ported the code to GNUstep
973 (http://gnustep.org), updated it for post-emacs-20, and maintains it for the
976 Also a number of others have contributed code. Steve Nygard
977 <nygard@@telusplanet.net> got emacs to dump under OpenStep. The font panel
978 code was Andrew Athan's <athan@@object.com> work. Joe Reiss
979 <jreiss@@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> both created the beautiful icons you see
980 and wrote the popup menu and dialog box code as well as much else. (Actually,
981 Joe's icon became the one used for the Mac Carbon port..)
983 Finally, suggestions from Darcy Brockbank, Timothy Bissell, Scott Byer, David
984 Griffiths, Scott Hess, Eberhard Mandler, John C. Randolph, and Bradley Taylor
985 all helped things along at one point or another. Axel Seibert
986 <seiberta@@informatik.tu-muenchen.de> and Paul J. Sanchez
987 <paul@@whimsy.umsl.edu> offered their time and machines to make a binary
990 The GNUstep port was made possible through the assistance of Adam Fedor, Fred
991 Kiefer, M. Uli Klusterer, Alexander Malmberg, and Jonas Matton. Gürkan Sengün
992 made it accessible to a wider community.
994 Riccardo Mottola helped with compatibility with MacOS versions 10.1 and 10.2,
995 and GNUstep on platforms other than Linux.
997 Peter Dyballa kept things honest with multilingual support. Rahul Abrol, Adam
998 Ratcliffe, David M. Cooke, and Carsten Bormann provided various small patches.
1000 Then there were a number of people who kept up the constant supply of bug
1001 reports, suggested features and praise (which is the main fuel which the
1002 development of a project like this runs) and so helped ensure that this
1003 program is as bug free (hah !) and feature rich as you see it today. First
1004 among them were Hardy Mayer <hardy@@golem.ps.uci.edu>, Gisli Ottarsson
1005 <gisli@@timoshenko.eecs.umich.edu>, Anthony Heading <ajrh@@signal.dra.hmg.gb>,
1006 David Bau <bau@@cs.cornell.edu>, Jamie Zawinski <jwz@@lucid.com>, Martin
1007 Moncrieffe <moncrief@@mayo.edu>, Simson L. Garfinkel
1008 <simsong@@next.cambridge.ma.us>, Richard Stallman <rms@@gnu.ai.mit.edu>,
1009 Stephen Anderson <anderson@@sapir.cog.jhu.edu>, Ivo Welch
1010 <ivo@@next.agsm.ucla.edu>, Magnus Nordborg <magnus@@fisher.Stanford.EDU>, Tom
1011 Epperly <epperly@@valeron.che.wisc.edu>, Andreas Koenig
1012 <k@@franz.ww.tu-berlin.de>, Yves Arrouye <Yves.Arrouye@@imag.fr>, Anil
1013 Somayaji <soma@@hotspur.mit.edu>, Gregor Hoffleit
1014 <flight@@mathi.uni-heidelberg.DE> and doubtlessly many more.
1016 Finally, let us also thank those few hundred other people on the mailing list
1017 from whom we didn't hear much, but the presence of which assured us that maybe
1018 this project was actually worth doing.