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[bpt/emacs.git] / man / programs.texi
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6bf7aab6 1@c This is part of the Emacs manual.
40279251 2@c Copyright (C) 1985, 1986, 1987, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2000,
8d99e09d 3@c 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
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4@c See file emacs.texi for copying conditions.
5@node Programs, Building, Text, Top
6@chapter Editing Programs
7@cindex Lisp editing
8@cindex C editing
9@cindex program editing
10
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11 Emacs provides many features to facilitate editing programs. Some
12of these features can
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13
14@itemize @bullet
15@item
93da5dff 16Find or move over top-level definitions (@pxref{Defuns}).
6bf7aab6 17@item
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18Apply the usual indentation conventions of the language
19(@pxref{Program Indent}).
6bf7aab6 20@item
93da5dff 21Balance parentheses (@pxref{Parentheses}).
cf1c48d4 22@item
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23Insert, kill or align comments (@pxref{Comments}).
24@item
cf1c48d4 25Highlight program syntax (@pxref{Font Lock}).
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26@end itemize
27
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28 This chapter describes these features and many more.
29
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30@menu
31* Program Modes:: Major modes for editing programs.
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32* Defuns:: Commands to operate on major top-level parts
33 of a program.
6bf7aab6 34* Program Indent:: Adjusting indentation to show the nesting.
93da5dff 35* Parentheses:: Commands that operate on parentheses.
c8b21b5e 36* Comments:: Inserting, killing, and aligning comments.
93da5dff 37* Documentation:: Getting documentation of functions you plan to call.
51ed0ea0 38* Hideshow:: Displaying blocks selectively.
93da5dff 39* Symbol Completion:: Completion on symbol names of your program or language.
3b8b8888 40* Glasses:: Making identifiersLikeThis more readable.
93da5dff 41* Misc for Programs:: Other Emacs features useful for editing programs.
79214ddf 42* C Modes:: Special commands of C, C++, Objective-C,
6bf7aab6 43 Java, and Pike modes.
51ed0ea0 44* Asm Mode:: Asm mode and its special features.
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45@ifnottex
46* Fortran:: Fortran mode and its special features.
47@end ifnottex
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48@end menu
49
50@node Program Modes
51@section Major Modes for Programming Languages
6bf7aab6 52@cindex modes for programming languages
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53
54 Emacs has specialized major modes for various programming languages.
55@xref{Major Modes}. A programming language major mode typically
56specifies the syntax of expressions, the customary rules for
57indentation, how to do syntax highlighting for the language, and how
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58to find the beginning of a function definition. It often customizes
59or provides facilities for compiling and debugging programs as well.
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60
61 Ideally, Emacs should provide a major mode for each programming
62language that you might want to edit; if it doesn't have a mode for
63your favorite language, you can contribute one. But often the mode
64for one language can serve for other syntactically similar languages.
65The major mode for language @var{l} is called @code{@var{l}-mode},
e79c6b89 66and you can select it by typing @kbd{M-x @var{l}-mode @key{RET}}.
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67@xref{Choosing Modes}.
68
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69@cindex Perl mode
70@cindex Icon mode
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71@cindex Makefile mode
72@cindex Tcl mode
73@cindex CPerl mode
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74@cindex DSSSL mode
75@cindex Octave mode
76@cindex Metafont mode
77@cindex Modula2 mode
78@cindex Prolog mode
64e207c0 79@cindex Python mode
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80@cindex Simula mode
81@cindex VHDL mode
82@cindex M4 mode
83@cindex Shell-script mode
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84@cindex Delphi mode
85@cindex PostScript mode
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86@cindex Conf mode
87@cindex DNS mode
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88 The existing programming language major modes include Lisp, Scheme (a
89variant of Lisp) and the Scheme-based DSSSL expression language, Ada,
ea118de1 90ASM, AWK, C, C++, Delphi (Object Pascal), Fortran (free format and fixed
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91format), Icon, IDL (CORBA), IDLWAVE, Java, Metafont (@TeX{}'s
92companion for font creation), Modula2, Objective-C, Octave, Pascal,
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93Perl, Pike, PostScript, Prolog, Python, Simula, Tcl, and VHDL. An
94alternative mode for Perl is called CPerl mode. Modes are available for
95the scripting languages of the common GNU and Unix shells, VMS DCL, and
cf1c48d4 96MS-DOS/MS-Windows @samp{BAT} files. There are also major modes for
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97editing makefiles, DNS master files, and various sorts of configuration
98files.
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99
100@kindex DEL @r{(programming modes)}
4f7666dc 101@findex c-electric-backspace
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102 In most programming languages, indentation should vary from line to
103line to illustrate the structure of the program. So the major modes
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104for programming languages arrange for @key{TAB} to update the
105indentation of the current line. They also rebind @key{DEL} to treat
106a tab as if it were the equivalent number of spaces; this lets you
107delete one column of indentation without worrying whether the
108whitespace consists of spaces or tabs. Use @kbd{C-b C-d} to delete a
109tab character before point, in these modes.
6bf7aab6 110
cf1c48d4 111 Separate manuals are available for the modes for Ada (@pxref{Top, , Ada
7ae8ad94 112Mode, ada-mode, Ada Mode}), C/C++/Objective C/Java/Corba IDL/Pike/AWK
cf1c48d4 113(@pxref{Top, , CC Mode, ccmode, CC Mode}) and the IDLWAVE modes
e0fc8fa2 114(@pxref{Top, , IDLWAVE, idlwave, IDLWAVE User Manual}). For Fortran
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115mode, see
116@iftex
9dc999d3 117@ref{Fortran,,, emacs-xtra, Specialized Emacs Features}.
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118@end iftex
119@ifnottex
120@ref{Fortran}.
121@end ifnottex
122
f9fd7fbc 123
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124@cindex mode hook
125@vindex c-mode-hook
126@vindex lisp-mode-hook
127@vindex emacs-lisp-mode-hook
128@vindex lisp-interaction-mode-hook
129@vindex scheme-mode-hook
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130 Turning on a major mode runs a normal hook called the @dfn{mode
131hook}, which is the value of a Lisp variable. Each major mode has a
132mode hook, and the hook's name is always made from the mode command's
133name by adding @samp{-hook}. For example, turning on C mode runs the
134hook @code{c-mode-hook}, while turning on Lisp mode runs the hook
135@code{lisp-mode-hook}. The purpose of the mode hook is to give you a
136place to set up customizations for that major mode. @xref{Hooks}.
6bf7aab6 137
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138@node Defuns
139@section Top-Level Definitions, or Defuns
6bf7aab6 140
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141 In Emacs, a major definition at the top level in the buffer,
142something like a function, is called a @dfn{defun}. The name comes
143from Lisp, but in Emacs we use it for all languages.
6bf7aab6 144
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145@menu
146* Left Margin Paren:: An open-paren or similar opening delimiter
147 starts a defun if it is at the left margin.
148* Moving by Defuns:: Commands to move over or mark a major definition.
149* Imenu:: Making buffer indexes as menus.
150* Which Function:: Which Function mode shows which function you are in.
151@end menu
6bf7aab6 152
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153@node Left Margin Paren
154@subsection Left Margin Convention
6bf7aab6 155
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156@cindex open-parenthesis in leftmost column
157@cindex ( in leftmost column
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158 Emacs assumes by default that any opening delimiter found at the
159left margin is the start of a top-level definition, or defun. You can
160override this default by setting this user option:
161
162@defvar open-paren-in-column-0-is-defun-start
163If this user option is set to @code{t} (the default), opening
164parentheses or braces at column zero always start defuns. When it's
165@code{nil}, defuns are found by searching for parens or braces at the
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166outermost level. Some major modes, including C and related modes, set
167@code{open-paren-in-column-0-is-defun-start} buffer-locally to
168@code{nil}
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169@end defvar
170
f5eb910a 171 In modes where @code{open-paren-in-column-0-is-defun-start} is
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172@code{t}, @strong{don't put an opening delimiter at the left margin
173unless it is a defun start}. For instance, never put an
93da5dff 174open-parenthesis at the left margin in a Lisp file unless it is the
108262a0 175start of a top-level list.
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176
177 If you don't follow this convention, not only will you have trouble
178when you explicitly use the commands for motion by defuns; other
179features that use them will also give you trouble. This includes
180the indentation commands (@pxref{Program Indent}) and Font Lock
181mode (@pxref{Font Lock}).
182
183 The most likely problem case is when you want an opening delimiter
184at the start of a line inside a string. To avoid trouble, put an
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185escape character (@samp{\}, in Emacs Lisp, @samp{/} in some other Lisp
186dialects) before the opening delimiter. This will not affect the
187contents of the string, but will prevent that opening delimiter from
188starting a defun. Here's an example:
6bf7aab6 189
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190@example
191 (insert "Foo:
192\(bar)
193")
194@end example
6bf7aab6 195
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196 To help you catch violations of this convention, Font Lock mode
197highlights confusing opening delimiters (those that ought to be
198quoted) in bold red.
199
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200 In the earliest days, the original Emacs found defuns by moving
201upward a level of parentheses or braces until there were no more
202levels to go up. This always required scanning all the way back to
203the beginning of the buffer, even for a small function. To speed up
204the operation, we changed Emacs to assume that any opening delimiter
205at the left margin is the start of a defun. This heuristic is nearly
206always right, and avoids the need to scan back to the beginning of the
108262a0 207buffer. However, now that modern computers are so powerful, this
f5eb910a 208scanning is rarely slow enough to annoy, so we've provided a way to
108262a0 209disable the heuristic.
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210
211@node Moving by Defuns
212@subsection Moving by Defuns
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213@cindex defuns
214
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215 These commands move point or set up the region based on top-level
216major definitions, also called @dfn{defuns}.
520c3f4c 217
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218@table @kbd
219@item C-M-a
220Move to beginning of current or preceding defun
221(@code{beginning-of-defun}).
222@item C-M-e
223Move to end of current or following defun (@code{end-of-defun}).
224@item C-M-h
225Put region around whole current or following defun (@code{mark-defun}).
226@end table
227
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228@cindex move to beginning or end of function
229@cindex function, move to beginning or end
230@kindex C-M-a
231@kindex C-M-e
232@kindex C-M-h
233@findex beginning-of-defun
234@findex end-of-defun
235@findex mark-defun
236 The commands to move to the beginning and end of the current defun
237are @kbd{C-M-a} (@code{beginning-of-defun}) and @kbd{C-M-e}
238(@code{end-of-defun}). If you repeat one of these commands, or use a
239positive numeric argument, each repetition moves to the next defun in
240the direction of motion.
241
242 @kbd{C-M-a} with a negative argument @minus{}@var{n} moves forward
243@var{n} times to the next beginning of a defun. This is not exactly
244the same place that @kbd{C-M-e} with argument @var{n} would move to;
245the end of this defun is not usually exactly the same place as the
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246beginning of the following defun. (Whitespace, comments, and perhaps
247declarations can separate them.) Likewise, @kbd{C-M-e} with a
248negative argument moves back to an end of a defun, which is not quite
249the same as @kbd{C-M-a} with a positive argument.
f772775c 250
4946337d 251@kindex C-M-h @r{(C mode)}
6bf7aab6 252@findex c-mark-function
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253 To operate on the current defun, use @kbd{C-M-h} (@code{mark-defun})
254which puts point at the beginning and mark at the end of the current
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255defun. This is the easiest way to get ready to kill the defun in
256order to move it to a different place in the file. If you use the
257command while point is between defuns, it uses the following defun.
64e207c0 258Successive uses of @kbd{C-M-h}, or using it in Transient Mark mode
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259when the mark is active, extends the end of the region to include one
260more defun each time.
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261
262 In C mode, @kbd{C-M-h} runs the function @code{c-mark-function},
263which is almost the same as @code{mark-defun}; the difference is that
264it backs up over the argument declarations, function name and returned
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265data type so that the entire C function is inside the region. This is
266an example of how major modes adjust the standard key bindings so that
267they do their standard jobs in a way better fitting a particular
268language. Other major modes may replace any or all of these key
269bindings for that purpose.
6bf7aab6 270
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271@node Imenu
272@subsection Imenu
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273@cindex index of buffer definitions
274@cindex buffer definitions index
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275@cindex tags
276
269b7745 277 The Imenu facility offers a way to find the major definitions in
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278a file by name. It is also useful in text formatter major modes,
279where it treats each chapter, section, etc., as a definition.
e79c6b89 280(@xref{Tags}, for a more powerful feature that handles multiple files
5e6f9132 281together.)
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282
283@findex imenu
5e6f9132 284 If you type @kbd{M-x imenu}, it reads the name of a definition using
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285the minibuffer, then moves point to that definition. You can use
286completion to specify the name; the command always displays the whole
287list of valid names.
d2fab838 288
5e6f9132 289@findex imenu-add-menubar-index
d2fab838 290 Alternatively, you can bind the command @code{imenu} to a mouse
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291click. Then it displays mouse menus for you to select a definition
292name. You can also add the buffer's index to the menu bar by calling
293@code{imenu-add-menubar-index}. If you want to have this menu bar
294item available for all buffers in a certain major mode, you can do
295this by adding @code{imenu-add-menubar-index} to its mode hook. But
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296if you have done that, you will have to wait a little while each time
297you visit a file in that mode, while Emacs finds all the definitions
298in that buffer.
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299
300@vindex imenu-auto-rescan
301 When you change the contents of a buffer, if you add or delete
e79c6b89 302definitions, you can update the buffer's index based on the
d2fab838 303new contents by invoking the @samp{*Rescan*} item in the menu.
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304Rescanning happens automatically if you set @code{imenu-auto-rescan} to
305a non-@code{nil} value. There is no need to rescan because of small
e79c6b89 306changes in the text.
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307
308@vindex imenu-sort-function
d2fab838 309 You can customize the way the menus are sorted by setting the
e79c6b89 310variable @code{imenu-sort-function}. By default, names are ordered as
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311they occur in the buffer; if you want alphabetic sorting, use the
312symbol @code{imenu--sort-by-name} as the value. You can also
313define your own comparison function by writing Lisp code.
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314
315 Imenu provides the information to guide Which Function mode
316@ifnottex
317(@pxref{Which Function}).
318@end ifnottex
319@iftex
320(see below).
321@end iftex
322The Speedbar can also use it (@pxref{Speedbar}).
323
324@node Which Function
325@subsection Which Function Mode
af056954 326@cindex current function name in mode line
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327
328 Which Function mode is a minor mode that displays the current
329function name in the mode line, updating it as you move around in a
330buffer.
331
332@findex which-function-mode
333@vindex which-func-modes
334 To enable (or disable) Which Function mode, use the command @kbd{M-x
335which-function-mode}. This command is global; it applies to all
ea118de1 336buffers, both existing ones and those yet to be created. However, it
6daf3e15 337takes effect only in certain major modes, those listed in the value of
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338@code{which-func-modes}. If the value is @code{t}, then Which Function
339mode applies to all major modes that know how to support it---in other
340words, all the major modes that support Imenu.
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341
342@node Program Indent
343@section Indentation for Programs
344@cindex indentation for programs
345
346 The best way to keep a program properly indented is to use Emacs to
347reindent it as you change it. Emacs has commands to indent properly
348either a single line, a specified number of lines, or all of the lines
349inside a single parenthetical grouping.
350
351@menu
352* Basic Indent:: Indenting a single line.
353* Multi-line Indent:: Commands to reindent many lines at once.
354* Lisp Indent:: Specifying how each Lisp function should be indented.
355* C Indent:: Extra features for indenting C and related modes.
356* Custom C Indent:: Controlling indentation style for C and related modes.
357@end menu
358
d2fab838 359@cindex pretty-printer
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360 Emacs also provides a Lisp pretty-printer in the library @code{pp}.
361This program reformats a Lisp object with indentation chosen to look nice.
362
363@node Basic Indent
364@subsection Basic Program Indentation Commands
365
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366 The basic indentation commands indent a single line according to the
367usual conventions of the language you are editing.
cf1c48d4 368
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369@table @kbd
370@item @key{TAB}
371Adjust indentation of current line.
372@item C-j
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373Insert a newline, then adjust indentation of following line
374(@code{newline-and-indent}).
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375@end table
376
377@kindex TAB @r{(programming modes)}
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378@findex c-indent-command
379@findex indent-line-function
f772775c 380@findex indent-for-tab-command
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381 The basic indentation command is @key{TAB}, which gives the current line
382the correct indentation as determined from the previous lines. The
cf1c48d4 383function that @key{TAB} runs depends on the major mode; it is
054af0fd 384@code{lisp-indent-line}
4f7666dc 385in Lisp mode, @code{c-indent-command} in C mode, etc. These functions
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386understand the syntax and conventions of different languages, but they all do
387conceptually the same job: @key{TAB} in any programming-language major mode
6bf7aab6 388inserts or deletes whitespace at the beginning of the current line,
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389independent of where point is in the line. If point was inside the
390whitespace at the beginning of the line, @key{TAB} puts it at the end of
391that whitespace; otherwise, @key{TAB} keeps point fixed with respect to
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392the characters around it.
393
64e207c0 394 Use @kbd{C-q @key{TAB}} to insert a tab character at point.
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395
396@kindex C-j
397@findex newline-and-indent
cf1c48d4 398 When entering lines of new code, use @kbd{C-j}
bb63d706 399(@code{newline-and-indent}), which inserts a newline and then adjusts
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400indentation after it. (It also deletes any trailing whitespace which
401remains before the new newline.) Thus, @kbd{C-j} at the end of a line
402creates a blank line with appropriate indentation. In programming
403language modes, it is equivalent to @key{RET} @key{TAB}.
6bf7aab6 404
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405 @key{TAB} indents a line that starts within a parenthetical grouping
406under the preceding line within the grouping, or the text after the
407parenthesis. Therefore, if you manually give one of these lines a
408nonstandard indentation, the lines below will tend to follow it. This
409behavior is convenient in cases where you have overridden the standard
410result of @key{TAB} because you find it unaesthetic for a particular
411line.
6bf7aab6 412
dfec8297 413 In some modes, an open-parenthesis, open-brace or other opening
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414delimiter at the left margin is assumed by Emacs (including the
415indentation routines) to be the start of a function. This speeds up
416indentation commands. If you will be editing text which contains
417opening delimiters in column zero that aren't the beginning of a
418functions, even inside strings or comments, you must set
419@code{open-paren-in-column-0-is-defun-start}. @xref{Left Margin
420Paren}, for more information on this.
6bf7aab6 421
5151db0c 422 Normally, lines are indented with tabs and spaces. If you want Emacs
a100894f 423to use spaces only, set @code{indent-tabs-mode} (@pxref{Just Spaces}).
5151db0c 424
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425@node Multi-line Indent
426@subsection Indenting Several Lines
427
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428 When you wish to reindent several lines of code which have been
429altered or moved to a different level in the parenthesis structure,
430you have several commands available.
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431
432@table @kbd
433@item C-M-q
6daf3e15 434Reindent all the lines within one parenthetical grouping (@code{indent-pp-sexp}).
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435@item C-M-\
436Reindent all lines in the region (@code{indent-region}).
6bf7aab6 437@item C-u @key{TAB}
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438Shift an entire parenthetical grouping rigidly sideways so that its
439first line is properly indented.
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440@item M-x indent-code-rigidly
441Shift all the lines in the region rigidly sideways, but do not alter
442lines that start inside comments and strings.
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443@end table
444
445@kindex C-M-q
6daf3e15 446@findex indent-pp-sexp
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447 You can reindent the contents of a single parenthetical grouping by
448positioning point before the beginning of it and typing @kbd{C-M-q}
054af0fd 449(@code{indent-pp-sexp} in Lisp mode, @code{c-indent-exp} in C mode; also
93da5dff 450bound to other suitable commands in other modes). The indentation of
6daf3e15 451the line where the grouping starts is not changed; therefore this
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452changes only the relative indentation within the grouping, not its
453overall indentation. To correct that as well, type @key{TAB} first.
6bf7aab6 454
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455 Another way to specify the range to be reindented is with the
456region. The command @kbd{C-M-\} (@code{indent-region}) applies
457@key{TAB} to every line whose first character is between point and
458mark.
459
6bf7aab6 460@kindex C-u TAB
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461 If you like the relative indentation within a grouping, but not the
462indentation of its first line, you can type @kbd{C-u @key{TAB}} to
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463reindent the whole grouping as a rigid unit. (This works in Lisp
464modes and C and related modes.) @key{TAB} with a numeric argument
465reindents the current line as usual, then reindents by the same amount
466all the lines in the parenthetical grouping starting on the current
467line. It is clever, though, and does not alter lines that start
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468inside strings. Neither does it alter C preprocessor lines when in C
469mode, but it does reindent any continuation lines that may be attached
470to them.
6bf7aab6 471
5cc06e0b 472@findex indent-code-rigidly
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473 You can also perform this operation on the region, using the command
474@kbd{M-x indent-code-rigidly}. It rigidly shifts all the lines in the
475region sideways, like @code{indent-rigidly} does (@pxref{Indentation
476Commands}). It doesn't alter the indentation of lines that start
7ae8ad94 477inside a string, unless the region also starts inside that string.
054af0fd 478The prefix arg specifies the number of columns to indent.
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479
480@node Lisp Indent
481@subsection Customizing Lisp Indentation
482@cindex customizing Lisp indentation
483
484 The indentation pattern for a Lisp expression can depend on the function
485called by the expression. For each Lisp function, you can choose among
486several predefined patterns of indentation, or define an arbitrary one with
487a Lisp program.
488
489 The standard pattern of indentation is as follows: the second line of the
490expression is indented under the first argument, if that is on the same
491line as the beginning of the expression; otherwise, the second line is
492indented underneath the function name. Each following line is indented
493under the previous line whose nesting depth is the same.
494
495@vindex lisp-indent-offset
496 If the variable @code{lisp-indent-offset} is non-@code{nil}, it overrides
497the usual indentation pattern for the second line of an expression, so that
498such lines are always indented @code{lisp-indent-offset} more columns than
499the containing list.
500
501@vindex lisp-body-indent
d2fab838 502 Certain functions override the standard pattern. Functions whose
269b7745 503names start with @code{def} treat the second lines as the start of
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504a @dfn{body}, by indenting the second line @code{lisp-body-indent}
505additional columns beyond the open-parenthesis that starts the
506expression.
6bf7aab6 507
b771b258 508@cindex @code{lisp-indent-function} property
d2fab838 509 You can override the standard pattern in various ways for individual
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510functions, according to the @code{lisp-indent-function} property of
511the function name. Normally you would use this for macro definitions
512and specify it using the @code{declare} construct (@pxref{Defining
513Macros,,, elisp, the Emacs Lisp Reference Manual}).
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514
515@node C Indent
516@subsection Commands for C Indentation
517
93da5dff 518 Here are special features for indentation in C mode and related modes:
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519
520@table @code
521@item C-c C-q
522@kindex C-c C-q @r{(C mode)}
523@findex c-indent-defun
524Reindent the current top-level function definition or aggregate type
525declaration (@code{c-indent-defun}).
526
527@item C-M-q
528@kindex C-M-q @r{(C mode)}
529@findex c-indent-exp
530Reindent each line in the balanced expression that follows point
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531(@code{c-indent-exp}). A prefix argument inhibits warning messages
532about invalid syntax.
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533
534@item @key{TAB}
535@findex c-indent-command
536Reindent the current line, and/or in some cases insert a tab character
537(@code{c-indent-command}).
538
7ae8ad94 539@vindex c-tab-always-indent
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540If @code{c-tab-always-indent} is @code{t}, this command always reindents
541the current line and does nothing else. This is the default.
542
543If that variable is @code{nil}, this command reindents the current line
544only if point is at the left margin or in the line's indentation;
545otherwise, it inserts a tab (or the equivalent number of spaces,
546if @code{indent-tabs-mode} is @code{nil}).
547
548Any other value (not @code{nil} or @code{t}) means always reindent the
7ae8ad94 549line, and also insert a tab if within a comment or a string.
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550@end table
551
552 To reindent the whole current buffer, type @kbd{C-x h C-M-\}. This
553first selects the whole buffer as the region, then reindents that
554region.
555
556 To reindent the current block, use @kbd{C-M-u C-M-q}. This moves
557to the front of the block and then reindents it all.
558
559@node Custom C Indent
560@subsection Customizing C Indentation
93da5dff 561@cindex style (for indentation)
6bf7aab6 562
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563 C mode and related modes use a flexible mechanism for customizing
564indentation. C mode indents a source line in two steps: first it
565classifies the line syntactically according to its contents and
566context; second, it determines the indentation offset associated by
567your selected @dfn{style} with the syntactic construct and adds this
568onto the indentation of the @dfn{anchor statement}.
6bf7aab6 569
93da5dff 570@table @kbd
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571@item C-c . @key{RET} @var{style} @key{RET}
572Select a predefined style @var{style} (@code{c-set-style}).
93da5dff 573@end table
6bf7aab6 574
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575 A @dfn{style} is a named collection of customizations that can be
576used in C mode and the related modes. @ref{Styles,,, ccmode, The CC
577Mode Manual}, for a complete description. Emacs comes with several
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578predefined styles, including @code{gnu}, @code{k&r}, @code{bsd},
579@code{stroustrup}, @code{linux}, @code{python}, @code{java},
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580@code{whitesmith}, @code{ellemtel}, and @code{awk}. Some of these
581styles are primarily intended for one language, but any of them can be
582used with any of the languages supported by these modes. To find out
583what a style looks like, select it and reindent some code, e.g., by
584typing @key{C-M-q} at the start of a function definition.
6bf7aab6 585
7ae8ad94 586@kindex C-c . @r{(C mode)}
93da5dff 587@findex c-set-style
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588 To choose a style for the current buffer, use the command @w{@kbd{C-c
589.}}. Specify a style name as an argument (case is not significant).
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590This command affects the current buffer only, and it affects only
591future invocations of the indentation commands; it does not reindent
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592the code already in the buffer. To reindent the whole buffer in the
593new style, you can type @kbd{C-x h C-M-\}.
6bf7aab6 594
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595@vindex c-default-style
596 You can also set the variable @code{c-default-style} to specify the
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597default style for various major modes. Its value should be either the
598style's name (a string) or an alist, in which each element specifies
599one major mode and which indentation style to use for it. For
600example,
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601
602@example
93da5dff 603(setq c-default-style
108262a0 604 '((java-mode . "java") (awk-mode . "awk") (other . "gnu")))
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605@end example
606
93da5dff 607@noindent
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608specifies explicit choices for Java and AWK modes, and the default
609@samp{gnu} style for the other C-like modes. (These settings are
610actually the defaults.) This variable takes effect when you select
611one of the C-like major modes; thus, if you specify a new default
612style for Java mode, you can make it take effect in an existing Java
613mode buffer by typing @kbd{M-x java-mode} there.
6bf7aab6 614
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615 The @code{gnu} style specifies the formatting recommended by the GNU
616Project for C; it is the default, so as to encourage use of our
617recommended style.
6bf7aab6 618
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619 @xref{Indentation Engine Basics,,, ccmode, the CC Mode Manual}, and
620@ref{Customizing Indentation,,, ccmode, the CC Mode Manual}, for more
621information on customizing indentation for C and related modes,
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622including how to override parts of an existing style and how to define
623your own styles.
6bf7aab6 624
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625@node Parentheses
626@section Commands for Editing with Parentheses
6bf7aab6 627
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628@findex check-parens
629@cindex unbalanced parentheses and quotes
630 This section describes the commands and features that take advantage
631of the parenthesis structure in a program, or help you keep it
632balanced.
6bf7aab6 633
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634 When talking about these facilities, the term ``parenthesis'' also
635includes braces, brackets, or whatever delimiters are defined to match
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636in pairs. The major mode controls which delimiters are significant,
637through the syntax table (@pxref{Syntax}). In Lisp, only parentheses
638count; in C, these commands apply to braces and brackets too.
6bf7aab6 639
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640 You can use @kbd{M-x check-parens} to find any unbalanced
641parentheses and unbalanced string quotes in the buffer.
6bf7aab6 642
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643@menu
644* Expressions:: Expressions with balanced parentheses.
645* Moving by Parens:: Commands for moving up, down and across
646 in the structure of parentheses.
647* Matching:: Insertion of a close-delimiter flashes matching open.
648@end menu
6bf7aab6 649
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650@node Expressions
651@subsection Expressions with Balanced Parentheses
6bf7aab6 652
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653@cindex sexp
654@cindex expression
655@cindex balanced expression
656 These commands deal with balanced expressions, also called
657@dfn{sexps}@footnote{The word ``sexp'' is used to refer to an
658expression in Lisp.}.
6bf7aab6 659
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660@table @kbd
661@item C-M-f
662Move forward over a balanced expression (@code{forward-sexp}).
663@item C-M-b
ea118de1 664Move backward over a balanced expression (@code{backward-sexp}).
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665@item C-M-k
666Kill balanced expression forward (@code{kill-sexp}).
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667@item C-M-t
668Transpose expressions (@code{transpose-sexps}).
669@item C-M-@@
649d1cbe 670@itemx C-M-@key{SPC}
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671Put mark after following expression (@code{mark-sexp}).
672@end table
6bf7aab6 673
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674 Each programming language major mode customizes the definition of
675balanced expressions to suit that language. Balanced expressions
676typically include symbols, numbers, and string constants, as well as
e79c6b89 677any pair of matching delimiters and their contents. Some languages
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678have obscure forms of expression syntax that nobody has bothered to
679implement in Emacs.
6bf7aab6 680
93da5dff 681@cindex Control-Meta
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682 By convention, the keys for these commands are all Control-Meta
683characters. They usually act on expressions just as the corresponding
684Meta characters act on words. For instance, the command @kbd{C-M-b}
685moves backward over a balanced expression, just as @kbd{M-b} moves
686back over a word.
6bf7aab6 687
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688@kindex C-M-f
689@kindex C-M-b
690@findex forward-sexp
691@findex backward-sexp
692 To move forward over a balanced expression, use @kbd{C-M-f}
693(@code{forward-sexp}). If the first significant character after point
694is an opening delimiter (@samp{(} in Lisp; @samp{(}, @samp{[} or
695@samp{@{} in C), @kbd{C-M-f} moves past the matching closing
696delimiter. If the character begins a symbol, string, or number,
697@kbd{C-M-f} moves over that.
6bf7aab6 698
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699 The command @kbd{C-M-b} (@code{backward-sexp}) moves backward over a
700balanced expression. The detailed rules are like those above for
701@kbd{C-M-f}, but with directions reversed. If there are prefix
702characters (single-quote, backquote and comma, in Lisp) preceding the
703expression, @kbd{C-M-b} moves back over them as well. The balanced
704expression commands move across comments as if they were whitespace,
705in most modes.
6bf7aab6 706
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707 @kbd{C-M-f} or @kbd{C-M-b} with an argument repeats that operation the
708specified number of times; with a negative argument, it moves in the
709opposite direction.
6bf7aab6 710
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711@cindex killing expressions
712@kindex C-M-k
713@findex kill-sexp
93da5dff 714 Killing a whole balanced expression can be done with @kbd{C-M-k}
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715(@code{kill-sexp}). @kbd{C-M-k} kills the characters that @kbd{C-M-f}
716would move over.
6bf7aab6 717
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718@cindex transposition of expressions
719@kindex C-M-t
720@findex transpose-sexps
721 A somewhat random-sounding command which is nevertheless handy is
722@kbd{C-M-t} (@code{transpose-sexps}), which drags the previous
723balanced expression across the next one. An argument serves as a
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724repeat count, moving the previous expression over that many following
725ones. A negative argument drags the previous balanced expression
726backwards across those before it (thus canceling out the effect of
727@kbd{C-M-t} with a positive argument). An argument of zero, rather
728than doing nothing, transposes the balanced expressions ending at or
729after point and the mark.
6bf7aab6 730
93da5dff 731@kindex C-M-@@
649d1cbe 732@kindex C-M-@key{SPC}
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733@findex mark-sexp
734 To set the region around the next balanced expression in the buffer,
735use @kbd{C-M-@@} (@code{mark-sexp}), which sets mark at the same place
736that @kbd{C-M-f} would move to. @kbd{C-M-@@} takes arguments like
737@kbd{C-M-f}. In particular, a negative argument is useful for putting
64e207c0 738the mark at the beginning of the previous balanced expression. The
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739alias @kbd{C-M-@key{SPC}} is equivalent to @kbd{C-M-@@}. When you
740repeat this command, or use it in Transient Mark mode when the mark is
dfec8297 741active, it extends the end of the region by one sexp each time.
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742
743 In languages that use infix operators, such as C, it is not possible
744to recognize all balanced expressions as such because there can be
745multiple possibilities at a given position. For example, C mode does
746not treat @samp{foo + bar} as a single expression, even though it
747@emph{is} one C expression; instead, it recognizes @samp{foo} as one
748expression and @samp{bar} as another, with the @samp{+} as punctuation
749between them. Both @samp{foo + bar} and @samp{foo} are legitimate
750choices for ``the expression following point'' when point is at the
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751@samp{f}, so the expression commands must perforce choose one or the
752other to operate on. Note that @samp{(foo + bar)} is recognized as a
753single expression in C mode, because of the parentheses.
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754
755@node Moving by Parens
756@subsection Moving in the Parenthesis Structure
757
758@cindex parenthetical groupings
759@cindex parentheses, moving across
760@cindex matching parenthesis and braces, moving to
761@cindex braces, moving across
762@cindex list commands
763 The Emacs commands for handling parenthetical groupings see nothing
764except parentheses (or whatever characters must balance in the
765language you are working with), and the escape characters that might
766be used to quote those. They are mainly intended for editing
767programs, but can be useful for editing any text that has parentheses.
768They are sometimes called ``list'' commands because in Lisp these
769groupings are lists.
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770
771@table @kbd
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772@item C-M-n
773Move forward over a parenthetical group (@code{forward-list}).
774@item C-M-p
ea118de1 775Move backward over a parenthetical group (@code{backward-list}).
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776@item C-M-u
777Move up in parenthesis structure (@code{backward-up-list}).
778@item C-M-d
779Move down in parenthesis structure (@code{down-list}).
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780@end table
781
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782@kindex C-M-n
783@kindex C-M-p
784@findex forward-list
785@findex backward-list
786 The ``list'' commands @kbd{C-M-n} (@code{forward-list}) and
787@kbd{C-M-p} (@code{backward-list}) move over one (or @var{n})
788parenthetical groupings, skipping blithely over any amount of text
789that doesn't include meaningful parentheses (symbols, strings, etc.).
6bf7aab6 790
93da5dff 791@kindex C-M-u
93da5dff 792@findex backward-up-list
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793 @kbd{C-M-n} and @kbd{C-M-p} try to stay at the same level in the
794parenthesis structure. To move @emph{up} one (or @var{n}) levels, use
795@kbd{C-M-u} (@code{backward-up-list}). @kbd{C-M-u} moves backward up
796past one unmatched opening delimiter. A positive argument serves as a
797repeat count; a negative argument reverses the direction of motion, so
d2fab838 798that the command moves forward and up one or more levels.
93da5dff 799
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800@kindex C-M-d
801@findex down-list
93da5dff
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802 To move @emph{down} in the parenthesis structure, use @kbd{C-M-d}
803(@code{down-list}). In Lisp mode, where @samp{(} is the only opening
804delimiter, this is nearly the same as searching for a @samp{(}. An
805argument specifies the number of levels to go down.
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806
807@node Matching
93da5dff 808@subsection Automatic Display Of Matching Parentheses
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809@cindex matching parentheses
810@cindex parentheses, displaying matches
811
812 The Emacs parenthesis-matching feature is designed to show
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813automatically how parentheses (and other matching delimiters) match in
814the text. Whenever you type a self-inserting character that is a
815closing delimiter, the cursor moves momentarily to the location of the
816matching opening delimiter, provided that is on the screen. If it is
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817not on the screen, Emacs displays some of the text near it in the echo
818area. Either way, you can tell which grouping you are closing off.
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819
820 If the opening delimiter and closing delimiter are mismatched---such
821as in @samp{[x)}---a warning message is displayed in the echo area.
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822
823@vindex blink-matching-paren
824@vindex blink-matching-paren-distance
825@vindex blink-matching-delay
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826 Three variables control parenthesis match display:
827
828 @code{blink-matching-paren} turns the feature on or off: @code{nil}
93da5dff 829disables it, but the default is @code{t} to enable match display.
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830
831 @code{blink-matching-delay} says how many seconds to leave the
93da5dff 832cursor on the matching opening delimiter, before bringing it back to
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833the real location of point; the default is 1, but on some systems it
834is useful to specify a fraction of a second.
835
836 @code{blink-matching-paren-distance} specifies how many characters
837back to search to find the matching opening delimiter. If the match
8b6f4c0a 838is not found in that distance, scanning stops, and nothing is displayed.
93da5dff 839This is to prevent the scan for the matching delimiter from wasting
f772775c 840lots of time when there is no match. The default is 25600.
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841
842@cindex Show Paren mode
79f9f655 843@cindex highlighting matching parentheses
6bf7aab6 844@findex show-paren-mode
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845 Show Paren mode provides a more powerful kind of automatic matching.
846Whenever point is after a closing delimiter, that delimiter and its
847matching opening delimiter are both highlighted; otherwise, if point
848is before an opening delimiter, the matching closing delimiter is
849highlighted. (There is no need to highlight the opening delimiter in
850that case, because the cursor appears on top of that character.) Use
851the command @kbd{M-x show-paren-mode} to enable or disable this mode.
79f9f655 852
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853 Show Paren mode uses the faces @code{show-paren-match} and
854@code{show-paren-mismatch} to highlight parentheses; you can customize
855them to control how highlighting looks. @xref{Face Customization}.
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856
857@node Comments
858@section Manipulating Comments
859@cindex comments
860
861 Because comments are such an important part of programming, Emacs
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862provides special commands for editing and inserting comments. It can
863also do spell checking on comments with Flyspell Prog mode
864(@pxref{Spelling}).
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865
866@menu
5b31640c 867* Comment Commands:: Inserting, killing, and aligning comments.
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868* Multi-Line Comments:: Commands for adding and editing multi-line comments.
869* Options for Comments::Customizing the comment features.
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870@end menu
871
872@node Comment Commands
873@subsection Comment Commands
6bf7aab6 874@cindex indentation for comments
5b31640c 875@cindex alignment for comments
6bf7aab6 876
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877 The comment commands in this table insert, kill and align comments.
878They are described in this section and following sections.
6bf7aab6 879
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880@table @asis
881@item @kbd{M-;}
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882Insert or realign comment on current line; alternatively, comment or
883uncomment the region (@code{comment-dwim}).
7ae8ad94 884@item @kbd{C-u M-;}
9234c238 885Kill comment on current line (@code{comment-kill}).
7ae8ad94 886@item @kbd{C-x ;}
47c1b5f4 887Set comment column (@code{comment-set-column}).
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888@item @kbd{C-M-j}
889@itemx @kbd{M-j}
6bf7aab6 890Like @key{RET} followed by inserting and aligning a comment
108262a0 891(@code{comment-indent-new-line}). @xref{Multi-Line Comments}.
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892@item @kbd{M-x comment-region}
893@itemx @kbd{C-c C-c} (in C-like modes)
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894Add or remove comment delimiters on all the lines in the region.
895@end table
896
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897@kindex M-;
898@findex comment-dwim
899 The command to create or align a comment is @kbd{M-;}
900(@code{comment-dwim}). The word ``dwim'' is an acronym for ``Do What
901I Mean''; it indicates that this command can be used for many
902different jobs relating to comments, depending on the situation where
903you use it.
904
905 If there is no comment already on the line, @kbd{M-;} inserts a new
906comment, aligned at a specific column called the @dfn{comment column}.
907The new comment begins with the string Emacs thinks comments should
908start with (the value of @code{comment-start}; see below). Point is
909after that string, so you can insert the text of the comment right
910away. If the major mode has specified a string to terminate comments,
dfec8297 911@kbd{M-;} inserts that after point, to keep the syntax valid.
9234c238 912
dfec8297 913 If the text of the line extends past the comment column, this
5b31640c 914command aligns the comment start string to a suitable boundary
dfec8297 915(usually, at least one space is inserted).
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916
917 You can also use @kbd{M-;} to align an existing comment. If a line
5b31640c 918already contains the comment-start string, @kbd{M-;} realigns it to
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919the conventional alignment and moves point after it. (Exception:
920comments starting in column 0 are not moved.) Even when an existing
921comment is properly aligned, @kbd{M-;} is still useful for moving
922directly to the start of the text inside the comment.
923
924@findex comment-kill
925@kindex C-u M-;
926 @kbd{C-u M-;} kills any comment on the current line, along with the
927whitespace before it. To reinsert the comment on another line, move
928to the end of that line, do @kbd{C-y}, and then do @kbd{M-;} to
929realign it.
930
931 Note that @kbd{C-u M-;} is not a distinct key; it is @kbd{M-;}
932(@code{comment-dwim}) with a prefix argument. That command is
933programmed so that when it receives a prefix argument it calls
934@code{comment-kill}. However, @code{comment-kill} is a valid command
935in its own right, and you can bind it directly to a key if you wish.
936
937 @kbd{M-;} does two other jobs when used with an active region in
938Transient Mark mode (@pxref{Transient Mark}). Then it either adds or
939removes comment delimiters on each line of the region. (If every line
940is a comment, it removes comment delimiters from each; otherwise, it
941adds comment delimiters to each.) If you are not using Transient Mark
942mode, then you should use the commands @code{comment-region} and
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943@code{uncomment-region} to do these jobs (@pxref{Multi-Line Comments}),
944or else enable Transient Mark mode momentarily (@pxref{Momentary Mark}).
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945A prefix argument used in these circumstances specifies how many
946comment delimiters to add or how many to delete.
6bf7aab6 947
5b31640c 948 Some major modes have special rules for aligning certain kinds of
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949comments in certain contexts. For example, in Lisp code, comments which
950start with two semicolons are indented as if they were lines of code,
951instead of at the comment column. Comments which start with three
952semicolons are supposed to start at the left margin. Emacs understands
953these conventions by indenting a double-semicolon comment using @key{TAB},
954and by not changing the indentation of a triple-semicolon comment at all.
955
956@example
957;; This function is just an example
958;;; Here either two or three semicolons are appropriate.
959(defun foo (x)
960;;; And now, the first part of the function:
961 ;; The following line adds one.
962 (1+ x)) ; This line adds one.
963@end example
964
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965 For C-like modes, you can configure the exact effect of @kbd{M-;}
966more flexibly than for most buffers by setting the variables
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967@code{c-indent-comment-alist} and
968@code{c-indent-comments-syntactically-p}. For example, on a line
969ending in a closing brace, @kbd{M-;} puts the comment one space after
970the brace rather than at @code{comment-column}. For full details see
971@ref{Comment Commands,,, ccmode, The CC Mode Manual}.
6bf7aab6 972
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DL
973@node Multi-Line Comments
974@subsection Multiple Lines of Comments
975
976@kindex C-M-j
7ae8ad94 977@kindex M-j
6bf7aab6 978@cindex blank lines in programs
47c1b5f4 979@findex comment-indent-new-line
108262a0 980
6bf7aab6 981 If you are typing a comment and wish to continue it on another line,
7ae8ad94 982you can use the command @kbd{C-M-j} or @kbd{M-j}
f5eb910a
RS
983(@code{comment-indent-new-line}). If @code{comment-multi-line}
984(@pxref{Options for Comments}) is non-@code{nil}, it moves to a new
985line within the comment. Otherwise it closes the comment and starts a
986new comment on a new line. When Auto Fill mode is on, going past the
987fill column while typing a comment causes the comment to be continued
988in just this fashion.
7ae8ad94
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989
990@kindex C-c C-c (C mode)
6bf7aab6
DL
991@findex comment-region
992 To turn existing lines into comment lines, use the @kbd{M-x
dfec8297 993comment-region} command (or type @kbd{C-c C-c} in C-like modes). It
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AM
994adds comment delimiters to the lines that start in the region, thus
995commenting them out. With a negative argument, it does the
996opposite---it deletes comment delimiters from the lines in the region.
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997
998 With a positive argument, @code{comment-region} duplicates the last
5b31640c
RS
999character of the comment start sequence it adds; the argument
1000specifies how many copies of the character to insert. Thus, in Lisp
1001mode, @kbd{C-u 2 M-x comment-region} adds @samp{;;} to each line.
1002Duplicating the comment delimiter is a way of calling attention to the
1003comment. It can also affect how the comment is aligned or indented.
1004In Lisp, for proper indentation, you should use an argument of two or
1005three, if between defuns; if within a defun, it must be three.
6bf7aab6 1006
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1007 You can configure C Mode such that when you type a @samp{/} at the
1008start of a line in a multi-line block comment, this closes the
1009comment. Enable the @code{comment-close-slash} clean-up for this.
1010@xref{Clean-ups,,, ccmode, The CC Mode Manual}.
1011
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DL
1012@node Options for Comments
1013@subsection Options Controlling Comments
1014
1015@vindex comment-column
1016@kindex C-x ;
47c1b5f4 1017@findex comment-set-column
7ae8ad94
RS
1018 The @dfn{comment column}, the column at which Emacs tries to place
1019comments, is stored in the variable @code{comment-column}. You can
1020set it to a number explicitly. Alternatively, the command @kbd{C-x ;}
1021(@code{comment-set-column}) sets the comment column to the column
1022point is at. @kbd{C-u C-x ;} sets the comment column to match the
1023last comment before point in the buffer, and then does a @kbd{M-;} to
1024align the current line's comment under the previous one.
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DL
1025
1026 The variable @code{comment-column} is per-buffer: setting the variable
1027in the normal fashion affects only the current buffer, but there is a
1028default value which you can change with @code{setq-default}.
1029@xref{Locals}. Many major modes initialize this variable for the
1030current buffer.
1031
1032@vindex comment-start-skip
1033 The comment commands recognize comments based on the regular
1034expression that is the value of the variable @code{comment-start-skip}.
1035Make sure this regexp does not match the null string. It may match more
1036than the comment starting delimiter in the strictest sense of the word;
47c1b5f4
RS
1037for example, in C mode the value of the variable is
1038@c This stops M-q from breaking the line inside that @code.
7ae8ad94 1039@code{@w{"/\\*+ *\\|//+ *"}}, which matches extra stars and spaces
47c1b5f4 1040after the @samp{/*} itself, and accepts C++ style comments also.
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DL
1041(Note that @samp{\\} is needed in Lisp syntax to include a @samp{\} in
1042the string, which is needed to deny the first star its special meaning
bd428736 1043in regexp syntax. @xref{Regexp Backslash}.)
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DL
1044
1045@vindex comment-start
1046@vindex comment-end
1047 When a comment command makes a new comment, it inserts the value of
1048@code{comment-start} to begin it. The value of @code{comment-end} is
aa2d3478
RS
1049inserted after point, so that it will follow the text that you will
1050insert into the comment. When @code{comment-end} is non-empty, it
1051should start with a space. For example, in C mode,
1052@code{comment-start} has the value @w{@code{"/* "}} and
1053@code{comment-end} has the value @w{@code{" */"}}.
6bf7aab6 1054
9234c238
RS
1055@vindex comment-padding
1056 The variable @code{comment-padding} specifies how many spaces
7ae8ad94
RS
1057@code{comment-region} should insert on each line between the comment
1058delimiter and the line's original text. The default is 1, to insert
1059one space. @code{nil} means 0. Alternatively, @code{comment-padding}
1060can hold the actual string to insert.
9234c238 1061
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1062@vindex comment-multi-line
1063 The variable @code{comment-multi-line} controls how @kbd{C-M-j}
7ae8ad94 1064(@code{indent-new-comment-line}) behaves when used inside a comment.
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1065Specifically, when @code{comment-multi-line} is @code{nil}, the
1066command inserts a comment terminator, begins a new line, and finally
1067inserts a comment starter. Otherwise it does not insert the
1068terminator and starter, so it effectively continues the current
1069comment across multiple lines. In languages that allow multi-line
1070comments, the choice of value for this variable is a matter of taste.
1071The default for this variable depends on the major mode.
6bf7aab6 1072
4190ce5c 1073@vindex comment-indent-function
6bf7aab6 1074 The variable @code{comment-indent-function} should contain a function
5b31640c 1075that will be called to compute the alignment for a newly inserted
6bf7aab6
DL
1076comment or for aligning an existing comment. It is set differently by
1077various major modes. The function is called with no arguments, but with
1078point at the beginning of the comment, or at the end of a line if a new
1079comment is to be inserted. It should return the column in which the
1080comment ought to start. For example, in Lisp mode, the indent hook
1081function bases its decision on how many semicolons begin an existing
1082comment, and on the code in the preceding lines.
1083
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RS
1084@node Documentation
1085@section Documentation Lookup
6bf7aab6 1086
93da5dff
RS
1087 Emacs provides several features you can use to look up the
1088documentation of functions, variables and commands that you plan to
1089use in your program.
6bf7aab6 1090
93da5dff
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1091@menu
1092* Info Lookup:: Looking up library functions and commands
1093 in Info files.
1094* Man Page:: Looking up man pages of library functions and commands.
1095* Lisp Doc:: Looking up Emacs Lisp functions, etc.
1096@end menu
6bf7aab6 1097
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1098@node Info Lookup
1099@subsection Info Documentation Lookup
85750656 1100
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1101@findex info-lookup-symbol
1102@findex info-lookup-file
d2f9ea87 1103@kindex C-h S
dfec8297
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1104 For many major modes, that apply to languages that have
1105documentation in Info, you can use @kbd{C-h S}
1106(@code{info-lookup-symbol}) to view the Info documentation for a
1107symbol used in the program. You specify the symbol with the
1108minibuffer; the default is the symbol appearing in the buffer at
1109point. For example, in C mode this looks for the symbol in the C
1110Library Manual. The command only works if the appropriate manual's
1111Info files are installed.
6bf7aab6 1112
93da5dff
RS
1113 The major mode determines where to look for documentation for the
1114symbol---which Info files to look in, and which indices to search.
1115You can also use @kbd{M-x info-lookup-file} to look for documentation
1116for a file name.
6bf7aab6 1117
dfec8297
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1118 If you use @kbd{C-h S} in a major mode that does not support it,
1119it asks you to specify the ``symbol help mode''. You should enter
1120a command such as @code{c-mode} that would select a major
1121mode which @kbd{C-h S} does support.
6bf7aab6 1122
93da5dff
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1123@node Man Page
1124@subsection Man Page Lookup
6bf7aab6 1125
e79c6b89
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1126@cindex manual page
1127 On Unix, the main form of on-line documentation was the @dfn{manual
dfec8297 1128page} or @dfn{man page}. In the GNU operating system, we aim to
e79c6b89
RS
1129replace man pages with better-organized manuals that you can browse
1130with Info (@pxref{Misc Help}). This process is not finished, so it is
1131still useful to read manual pages.
6bf7aab6 1132
93da5dff 1133@findex manual-entry
e79c6b89 1134 You can read the man page for an operating system command, library
7ae8ad94 1135function, or system call, with the @kbd{M-x man} command. It
e79c6b89
RS
1136runs the @code{man} program to format the man page; if the system
1137permits, it runs @code{man} asynchronously, so that you can keep on
1138editing while the page is being formatted. (On MS-DOS and MS-Windows
11393, you cannot edit while Emacs waits for @code{man} to finish.) The
1140result goes in a buffer named @samp{*Man @var{topic}*}. These buffers
1141use a special major mode, Man mode, that facilitates scrolling and
1142jumping to other manual pages. For details, type @kbd{C-h m} while in
1143a man page buffer.
6bf7aab6 1144
93da5dff 1145@cindex sections of manual pages
e79c6b89
RS
1146 Each man page belongs to one of ten or more @dfn{sections}, each
1147named by a digit or by a digit and a letter. Sometimes there are
1148multiple man pages with the same name in different sections. To read
1149a man page from a specific section, type
93da5dff
RS
1150@samp{@var{topic}(@var{section})} or @samp{@var{section} @var{topic}}
1151when @kbd{M-x manual-entry} prompts for the topic. For example, to
1152read the man page for the C library function @code{chmod} (as opposed
e79c6b89 1153to a command of the same name), type @kbd{M-x manual-entry @key{RET}
dfec8297
RS
1154chmod(2) @key{RET}}. (@code{chmod} is a system call, so it is in
1155section @samp{2}.)
6bf7aab6 1156
08220274 1157@vindex Man-switches
93da5dff 1158 If you do not specify a section, the results depend on how the
08220274 1159@code{man} program works on your system. Some of them display only
93da5dff
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1160the first man page they find. Others display all man pages that have
1161the specified name, so you can move between them with the @kbd{M-n}
08220274
EZ
1162and @kbd{M-p} keys@footnote{On some systems, the @code{man} program
1163accepts a @samp{-a} command-line option which tells it to display all
1164the man pages for the specified topic. If you want this behavior, you
1165can add this option to the value of the variable @code{Man-switches}.}.
1166The mode line shows how many manual pages are present in the Man buffer.
6bf7aab6 1167
93da5dff 1168@vindex Man-fontify-manpage-flag
e79c6b89
RS
1169 By default, Emacs highlights the text in man pages. For a long man
1170page, highlighting can take substantial time. You can turn off
1171highlighting of man pages by setting the variable
1172@code{Man-fontify-manpage-flag} to @code{nil}.
6bf7aab6 1173
93da5dff
RS
1174@findex Man-fontify-manpage
1175 If you insert the text of a man page into an Emacs buffer in some
1176other fashion, you can use the command @kbd{M-x Man-fontify-manpage} to
1177perform the same conversions that @kbd{M-x manual-entry} does.
1178
1179@findex woman
1180@cindex manual pages, on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
1181 An alternative way of reading manual pages is the @kbd{M-x woman}
1182command@footnote{The name of the command, @code{woman}, is an acronym
1183for ``w/o (without) man,'' since it doesn't use the @code{man}
1184program.}. Unlike @kbd{M-x man}, it does not run any external
1185programs to format and display the man pages; instead it does the job
1186in Emacs Lisp, so it works on systems such as MS-Windows, where the
ea118de1 1187@code{man} program (and other programs it uses) are not generally
d2fab838
RS
1188available.
1189
1190 @kbd{M-x woman} prompts for a name of a manual page, and provides
1191completion based on the list of manual pages that are installed on
1192your machine; the list of available manual pages is computed
1193automatically the first time you invoke @code{woman}. The word at
1194point in the current buffer is used to suggest the default for the
1195name the manual page.
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RS
1196
1197 With a numeric argument, @kbd{M-x woman} recomputes the list of the
1198manual pages used for completion. This is useful if you add or delete
1199manual pages.
1200
1201 If you type a name of a manual page and @kbd{M-x woman} finds that
1202several manual pages by the same name exist in different sections, it
1203pops up a window with possible candidates asking you to choose one of
1204them.
1205
93da5dff
RS
1206 For more information about setting up and using @kbd{M-x woman}, see
1207@ref{Top, WoMan, Browse UN*X Manual Pages WithOut Man, woman, The WoMan
1208Manual}.
1209
1210@node Lisp Doc
1211@subsection Emacs Lisp Documentation Lookup
1212
1213 As you edit Lisp code to be run in Emacs, you can use the commands
1214@kbd{C-h f} (@code{describe-function}) and @kbd{C-h v}
1215(@code{describe-variable}) to view documentation of functions and
1216variables that you want to use. These commands use the minibuffer to
1217read the name of a function or variable to document, and display the
1218documentation in a window. Their default arguments are based on the
1219code in the neighborhood of point. For @kbd{C-h f}, the default is
1220the function called in the innermost list containing point. @kbd{C-h
1221v} uses the symbol name around or adjacent to point as its default.
1222
1223@cindex Eldoc mode
1224@findex eldoc-mode
1225 A more automatic but less powerful method is Eldoc mode. This minor
1226mode constantly displays in the echo area the argument list for the
1227function being called at point. (In other words, it finds the
1228function call that point is contained in, and displays the argument
054af0fd 1229list of that function.) If point is over a documented variable, it
ea802fce
LT
1230shows the first line of the variable's docstring. Eldoc mode applies
1231in Emacs Lisp and Lisp Interaction modes, and perhaps a few others
1232that provide special support for looking up doc strings. Use the
1233command @kbd{M-x eldoc-mode} to enable or disable this feature.
6bf7aab6 1234
51ed0ea0
DL
1235@node Hideshow
1236@section Hideshow minor mode
1237
1238@findex hs-minor-mode
9234c238 1239 Hideshow minor mode provides selective display of portions of a
93da5dff
RS
1240program, known as @dfn{blocks}. You can use @kbd{M-x hs-minor-mode}
1241to enable or disable this mode, or add @code{hs-minor-mode} to the
1242mode hook for certain major modes in order to enable it automatically
1243for those modes.
51ed0ea0 1244
9234c238
RS
1245 Just what constitutes a block depends on the major mode. In C mode
1246or C++ mode, they are delimited by braces, while in Lisp mode and
1247similar modes they are delimited by parentheses. Multi-line comments
1248also count as blocks.
51ed0ea0
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1249
1250@findex hs-hide-all
1251@findex hs-hide-block
1252@findex hs-show-all
1253@findex hs-show-block
1254@findex hs-show-region
1255@findex hs-hide-level
1256@findex hs-minor-mode
6401dc86
EZ
1257@kindex C-c @@ C-h
1258@kindex C-c @@ C-s
1259@kindex C-c @@ C-M-h
1260@kindex C-c @@ C-M-s
1261@kindex C-c @@ C-r
1262@kindex C-c @@ C-l
9234c238
RS
1263@kindex S-Mouse-2
1264@table @kbd
6401dc86 1265@item C-c @@ C-h
9234c238 1266Hide the current block (@code{hs-hide-block}).
6401dc86 1267@item C-c @@ C-s
9234c238 1268Show the current block (@code{hs-show-block}).
6401dc86 1269@item C-c @@ C-c
ea118de1 1270Either hide or show the current block (@code{hs-toggle-hiding}).
9234c238 1271@item S-Mouse-2
ea118de1 1272Either hide or show the block you click on (@code{hs-mouse-toggle-hiding}).
6401dc86 1273@item C-c @@ C-M-h
9234c238 1274Hide all top-level blocks (@code{hs-hide-all}).
6401dc86 1275@item C-c @@ C-M-s
9234c238 1276Show everything in the buffer (@code{hs-show-all}).
6401dc86 1277@item C-c @@ C-l
9234c238
RS
1278Hide all blocks @var{n} levels below this block
1279(@code{hs-hide-level}).
1280@end table
51ed0ea0
DL
1281
1282@vindex hs-hide-comments-when-hiding-all
51ed0ea0
DL
1283@vindex hs-isearch-open
1284@vindex hs-special-modes-alist
19b2c4ca 1285 These variables exist for customizing Hideshow mode.
9234c238 1286
51ed0ea0
DL
1287@table @code
1288@item hs-hide-comments-when-hiding-all
9234c238 1289Non-@code{nil} says that @kbd{hs-hide-all} should hide comments too.
d2fab838 1290
51ed0ea0 1291@item hs-isearch-open
dfec8297
RS
1292Specifies what kind of hidden blocks incremental search should make
1293visible. The value should be one of these four symbols:
d2fab838
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1294
1295@table @code
9198a323
RS
1296@item code
1297Open only code blocks.
d2fab838
RS
1298@item comment
1299Open only comments.
1300@item t
9198a323 1301Open both code blocks and comments.
d2fab838 1302@item nil
9198a323 1303Open neither code blocks nor comments.
d2fab838
RS
1304@end table
1305
51ed0ea0 1306@item hs-special-modes-alist
e79c6b89 1307A list of elements, each specifying how to initialize Hideshow
d2fab838
RS
1308variables for one major mode. See the variable's documentation string
1309for more information.
51ed0ea0
DL
1310@end table
1311
93da5dff
RS
1312@node Symbol Completion
1313@section Completion for Symbol Names
1314@cindex completion (symbol names)
3b8b8888 1315
e79c6b89
RS
1316 In Emacs, completion is something you normally do in the minibuffer.
1317But one kind of completion is available in all buffers: completion for
1318symbol names.
3b8b8888 1319
93da5dff 1320@kindex M-TAB
e79c6b89
RS
1321 The character @kbd{M-@key{TAB}} runs a command to complete the
1322partial symbol before point against the set of meaningful symbol
1323names. This command inserts at point any additional characters that
64e207c0 1324it can determine from the partial name. (If your window manager
7fb36547
RS
1325defines @kbd{M-@key{TAB}} to switch windows, you can type
1326@kbd{@key{ESC} @key{TAB}} or @kbd{C-M-i}.)
6bf7aab6 1327
e79c6b89
RS
1328 If the partial name in the buffer has multiple possible completions
1329that differ in the very next character, so that it is impossible to
1330complete even one more character, @kbd{M-@key{TAB}} displays a list of
1331all possible completions in another window.
6bf7aab6 1332
93da5dff
RS
1333@cindex tags-based completion
1334@cindex Info index completion
1335@findex complete-symbol
1336 In most programming language major modes, @kbd{M-@key{TAB}} runs the
1337command @code{complete-symbol}, which provides two kinds of completion.
1338Normally it does completion based on a tags table (@pxref{Tags}); with a
1339numeric argument (regardless of the value), it does completion based on
1340the names listed in the Info file indexes for your language. Thus, to
1341complete the name of a symbol defined in your own program, use
1342@kbd{M-@key{TAB}} with no argument; to complete the name of a standard
1343library function, use @kbd{C-u M-@key{TAB}}. Of course, Info-based
1344completion works only if there is an Info file for the standard library
1345functions of your language, and only if it is installed at your site.
6bf7aab6 1346
93da5dff
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1347@cindex Lisp symbol completion
1348@cindex completion (Lisp symbols)
1349@findex lisp-complete-symbol
1350 In Emacs-Lisp mode, the name space for completion normally consists of
1351nontrivial symbols present in Emacs---those that have function
1352definitions, values or properties. However, if there is an
1353open-parenthesis immediately before the beginning of the partial symbol,
1354only symbols with function definitions are considered as completions.
1355The command which implements this is @code{lisp-complete-symbol}.
6bf7aab6 1356
93da5dff
RS
1357 In Text mode and related modes, @kbd{M-@key{TAB}} completes words
1358based on the spell-checker's dictionary. @xref{Spelling}.
6bf7aab6 1359
93da5dff
RS
1360@node Glasses
1361@section Glasses minor mode
1362@cindex Glasses mode
1363@cindex identifiers, making long ones readable
1364@cindex StudlyCaps, making them readable
1365@findex glasses-mode
6bf7aab6 1366
93da5dff 1367 Glasses minor mode makes @samp{unreadableIdentifiersLikeThis}
e79c6b89
RS
1368readable by altering the way they display. It knows two different
1369ways to do this: by displaying underscores between a lower-case letter
1370and the following capital letter, and by emboldening the capital
1371letters. It does not alter the buffer text, only the way they
1372display, so you can use it even on read-only buffers. You can use the
1373command @kbd{M-x glasses-mode} to enable or disable the mode in the
1374current buffer; you can also add @code{glasses-mode} to the mode hook
1375of the programming language major modes in which you normally want
177c0ea7 1376to use Glasses mode.
6bf7aab6 1377
93da5dff
RS
1378@node Misc for Programs
1379@section Other Features Useful for Editing Programs
6bf7aab6 1380
93da5dff 1381 A number of Emacs commands that aren't designed specifically for
e79c6b89 1382editing programs are useful for that nonetheless.
6bf7aab6 1383
93da5dff
RS
1384 The Emacs commands that operate on words, sentences and paragraphs
1385are useful for editing code. Most symbols names contain words
1386(@pxref{Words}); sentences can be found in strings and comments
e79c6b89 1387(@pxref{Sentences}). Paragraphs in the strict sense can be found in
93da5dff
RS
1388program code (in long comments), but the paragraph commands are useful
1389in other places too, because programming language major modes define
1390paragraphs to begin and end at blank lines (@pxref{Paragraphs}).
1391Judicious use of blank lines to make the program clearer will also
1392provide useful chunks of text for the paragraph commands to work on.
1393Auto Fill mode, if enabled in a programming language major mode,
1394indents the new lines which it creates.
6bf7aab6 1395
93da5dff
RS
1396 The selective display feature is useful for looking at the overall
1397structure of a function (@pxref{Selective Display}). This feature
1398hides the lines that are indented more than a specified amount.
1399Programming modes often support Outline minor mode (@pxref{Outline
1400Mode}). The Foldout package provides folding-editor features
1401(@pxref{Foldout}).
6bf7aab6 1402
93da5dff
RS
1403 The ``automatic typing'' features may be useful for writing programs.
1404@xref{Top,,Autotyping, autotype, Autotyping}.
6bf7aab6
DL
1405
1406@node C Modes
1407@section C and Related Modes
1408@cindex C mode
1409@cindex Java mode
1410@cindex Pike mode
1411@cindex IDL mode
1412@cindex CORBA IDL mode
1413@cindex Objective C mode
1414@cindex C++ mode
7ae8ad94 1415@cindex AWK mode
6bf7aab6
DL
1416@cindex mode, Java
1417@cindex mode, C
7ae8ad94 1418@cindex mode, C++
6bf7aab6
DL
1419@cindex mode, Objective C
1420@cindex mode, CORBA IDL
1421@cindex mode, Pike
7ae8ad94 1422@cindex mode, AWK
6bf7aab6 1423
9234c238 1424 This section gives a brief description of the special features
7ae8ad94 1425available in C, C++, Objective-C, Java, CORBA IDL, Pike and AWK modes.
5d80fe1f
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1426(These are called ``C mode and related modes.'') @xref{Top, , CC Mode,
1427ccmode, CC Mode}, for a more extensive description of these modes
9234c238 1428and their special features.
51ed0ea0 1429
6bf7aab6 1430@menu
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1431* Motion in C:: Commands to move by C statements, etc.
1432* Electric C:: Colon and other chars can automatically reindent.
1433* Hungry Delete:: A more powerful DEL command.
1434* Other C Commands:: Filling comments, viewing expansion of macros,
1435 and other neat features.
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1436@end menu
1437
1438@node Motion in C
1439@subsection C Mode Motion Commands
1440
1441 This section describes commands for moving point, in C mode and
1442related modes.
1443
1444@table @code
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1445@item M-x c-beginning-of-defun
1446@itemx M-x c-end-of-defun
1447@findex c-beginning-of-defun
1448@findex c-end-of-defun
1449Move point to the beginning or end of the current function or
1450top-level definition. These are found by searching for the least
1451enclosing braces. (By contrast, @code{beginning-of-defun} and
1452@code{end-of-defun} search for braces in column zero.) If you are
1453editing code where the opening brace of a function isn't placed in
1454column zero, you may wish to bind @code{C-M-a} and @code{C-M-e} to
1455these commands. @xref{Moving by Defuns}.
1456
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1457@item C-c C-u
1458@kindex C-c C-u @r{(C mode)}
1459@findex c-up-conditional
1460Move point back to the containing preprocessor conditional, leaving the
1461mark behind. A prefix argument acts as a repeat count. With a negative
1462argument, move point forward to the end of the containing
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1463preprocessor conditional.
1464
1465@samp{#elif} is equivalent to @samp{#else} followed by @samp{#if}, so
1466the function will stop at a @samp{#elif} when going backward, but not
1467when going forward.
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1468
1469@item C-c C-p
1470@kindex C-c C-p @r{(C mode)}
1471@findex c-backward-conditional
1472Move point back over a preprocessor conditional, leaving the mark
1473behind. A prefix argument acts as a repeat count. With a negative
1474argument, move forward.
1475
1476@item C-c C-n
1477@kindex C-c C-n @r{(C mode)}
1478@findex c-forward-conditional
1479Move point forward across a preprocessor conditional, leaving the mark
1480behind. A prefix argument acts as a repeat count. With a negative
1481argument, move backward.
1482
1483@item M-a
7ae8ad94 1484@kindex M-a (C mode)
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1485@findex c-beginning-of-statement
1486Move point to the beginning of the innermost C statement
1487(@code{c-beginning-of-statement}). If point is already at the beginning
1488of a statement, move to the beginning of the preceding statement. With
1489prefix argument @var{n}, move back @var{n} @minus{} 1 statements.
1490
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1491In comments or in strings which span more than one line, this command
1492moves by sentences instead of statements.
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1493
1494@item M-e
7ae8ad94 1495@kindex M-e (C mode)
6bf7aab6 1496@findex c-end-of-statement
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1497Move point to the end of the innermost C statement or sentence; like
1498@kbd{M-a} except that it moves in the other direction
1499(@code{c-end-of-statement}).
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1500@end table
1501
1502@node Electric C
1503@subsection Electric C Characters
1504
1505 In C mode and related modes, certain printing characters are
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1506@dfn{electric}---in addition to inserting themselves, they also
1507reindent the current line, and optionally also insert newlines. The
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1508``electric'' characters are @kbd{@{}, @kbd{@}}, @kbd{:}, @kbd{#},
1509@kbd{;}, @kbd{,}, @kbd{<}, @kbd{>}, @kbd{/}, @kbd{*}, @kbd{(}, and
f5eb910a 1510@kbd{)}.
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1511
1512 You might find electric indentation inconvenient if you are editing
1513chaotically indented code. If you are new to CC Mode, you might find
1514it disconcerting. You can toggle electric action with the command
1515@kbd{C-c C-l}; when it is enabled, @samp{/l} appears in the mode line
1516after the mode name:
6bf7aab6 1517
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1518@table @kbd
1519@item C-c C-l
1520@kindex C-c C-l @r{(C mode)}
1521@findex c-toggle-electric-state
1522Toggle electric action (@code{c-toggle-electric-state}). With a
1523prefix argument, this command enables electric action if the argument
1524is positive, disables it if it is negative.
1525@end table
1526
1527 Electric characters insert newlines only when, in addition to the
1528electric state, the @dfn{auto-newline} feature is enabled (indicated
1529by @samp{/la} in the mode line after the mode name). You can turn
1530this feature on or off with the command @kbd{C-c C-a}:
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1531
1532@table @kbd
1533@item C-c C-a
1534@kindex C-c C-a @r{(C mode)}
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1535@findex c-toggle-auto-newline
1536Toggle the auto-newline feature (@code{c-toggle-auto-newline}). With a
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1537prefix argument, this command turns the auto-newline feature on if the
1538argument is positive, and off if it is negative.
1539@end table
1540
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1541 Usually the CC Mode style configures the exact circumstances in
1542which Emacs inserts auto-newlines. You can also configure this
1543directly. @xref{Custom Auto-newlines,,, ccmode, The CC Mode Manual}.
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1544
1545@node Hungry Delete
1546@subsection Hungry Delete Feature in C
7ae8ad94 1547@cindex hungry deletion (C Mode)
6bf7aab6 1548
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1549 If you want to delete an entire block of whitespace at point, you
1550can use @dfn{hungry deletion}. This deletes all the contiguous
1551whitespace either before point or after point in a single operation.
1552@dfn{Whitespace} here includes tabs and newlines, but not comments or
1553preprocessor commands.
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1554
1555@table @kbd
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1556@item C-c C-@key{DEL}
1557@itemx C-c @key{DEL}
108262a0 1558@findex c-hungry-backspace
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1559@kindex C-c C-@key{DEL} (C Mode)
1560@kindex C-c @key{DEL} (C Mode)
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1561@code{c-hungry-backspace}---Delete the entire block of whitespace
1562preceding point.
1563
6bf7aab6 1564@item C-c C-d
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1565@itemx C-c C-@key{DELETE}
1566@itemx C-c @key{DELETE}
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1567@findex c-hungry-delete-forward
1568@kindex C-c C-d (C Mode)
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1569@kindex C-c C-@key{DELETE} (C Mode)
1570@kindex C-c @key{DELETE} (C Mode)
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1571@code{c-hungry-delete-forward}---Delete the entire block of whitespace
1572following point.
1573@end table
1574
1575 As an alternative to the above commands, you can enable @dfn{hungry
1576delete mode}. When this feature is enabled (indicated by @samp{/h} in
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1577the mode line after the mode name), a single @key{DEL} deletes all
1578preceding whitespace, not just one space, and a single @kbd{C-c C-d}
1579(but @emph{not} plain @key{DELETE}) deletes all following whitespace.
6bf7aab6 1580
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1581@table @kbd
1582@item M-x c-toggle-hungry-state
1583@findex c-toggle-hungry-state
1584Toggle the hungry-delete feature
1585(@code{c-toggle-hungry-state})@footnote{This command had the binding
1586@kbd{C-c C-d} in earlier versions of Emacs. @kbd{C-c C-d} is now
1587bound to @code{c-hungry-delete-forward}.}. With a prefix argument,
1588this command turns the hungry-delete feature on if the argument is
1589positive, and off if it is negative.
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1590@end table
1591
1592@vindex c-hungry-delete-key
1593 The variable @code{c-hungry-delete-key} controls whether the
1594hungry-delete feature is enabled.
1595
1596@node Other C Commands
1597@subsection Other Commands for C Mode
1598
1599@table @kbd
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1600@item C-c C-w
1601@itemx M-x c-subword-mode
1602@findex c-subword-mode
f5eb910a 1603Enable (or disable) @dfn{subword mode}. In subword mode, Emacs's word
8a75579f 1604commands recognize upper case letters in
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1605@samp{StudlyCapsIdentifiers} as word boundaries. This is indicated by
1606the flag @samp{/w} on the mode line after the mode name
1607(e.g. @samp{C/law}). You can even use @kbd{M-x c-subword-mode} in
1608non-CC Mode buffers.
108262a0 1609
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1610In the GNU project, we recommend using underscores to separate words
1611within an identifier in C or C++, rather than using case distinctions.
1612
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1613@item M-x c-context-line-break
1614@findex c-context-line-break
1615This command inserts a line break and indents the new line in a manner
1616appropriate to the context. In normal code, it does the work of
1617@kbd{C-j} (@code{newline-and-indent}), in a C preprocessor line it
1618additionally inserts a @samp{\} at the line break, and within comments
1619it's like @kbd{M-j} (@code{c-indent-new-comment-line}).
1620
1621@code{c-context-line-break} isn't bound to a key by default, but it
1622needs a binding to be useful. The following code will bind it to
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1623@kbd{C-j}. We use @code{c-initialization-hook} here to make sure
1624the keymap is loaded before we try to change it.
1625
444246ca 1626@smallexample
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1627(defun my-bind-clb ()
1628 (define-key c-mode-base-map "\C-j" 'c-context-line-break))
1629(add-hook 'c-initialization-hook 'my-bind-clb)
444246ca 1630@end smallexample
7ae8ad94 1631
6bf7aab6 1632@item C-M-h
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1633Put mark at the end of a function definition, and put point at the
1634beginning (@code{c-mark-function}).
1635
1636@item M-q
1637@kindex M-q @r{(C mode)}
1638@findex c-fill-paragraph
1639Fill a paragraph, handling C and C++ comments (@code{c-fill-paragraph}).
1640If any part of the current line is a comment or within a comment, this
1641command fills the comment or the paragraph of it that point is in,
1642preserving the comment indentation and comment delimiters.
1643
1644@item C-c C-e
1645@cindex macro expansion in C
1646@cindex expansion of C macros
1647@findex c-macro-expand
1648@kindex C-c C-e @r{(C mode)}
1649Run the C preprocessor on the text in the region, and show the result,
1650which includes the expansion of all the macro calls
1651(@code{c-macro-expand}). The buffer text before the region is also
1652included in preprocessing, for the sake of macros defined there, but the
1653output from this part isn't shown.
1654
1655When you are debugging C code that uses macros, sometimes it is hard to
1656figure out precisely how the macros expand. With this command, you
1657don't have to figure it out; you can see the expansions.
1658
1659@item C-c C-\
1660@findex c-backslash-region
1661@kindex C-c C-\ @r{(C mode)}
1662Insert or align @samp{\} characters at the ends of the lines of the
1663region (@code{c-backslash-region}). This is useful after writing or
1664editing a C macro definition.
1665
1666If a line already ends in @samp{\}, this command adjusts the amount of
1667whitespace before it. Otherwise, it inserts a new @samp{\}. However,
1668the last line in the region is treated specially; no @samp{\} is
1669inserted on that line, and any @samp{\} there is deleted.
1670
1671@item M-x cpp-highlight-buffer
1672@cindex preprocessor highlighting
1673@findex cpp-highlight-buffer
1674Highlight parts of the text according to its preprocessor conditionals.
1675This command displays another buffer named @samp{*CPP Edit*}, which
1676serves as a graphic menu for selecting how to display particular kinds
1677of conditionals and their contents. After changing various settings,
1678click on @samp{[A]pply these settings} (or go to that buffer and type
1679@kbd{a}) to rehighlight the C mode buffer accordingly.
1680
1681@item C-c C-s
1682@findex c-show-syntactic-information
1683@kindex C-c C-s @r{(C mode)}
1684Display the syntactic information about the current source line
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1685(@code{c-show-syntactic-information}). This information directs how
1686the line is indented.
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1687
1688@item M-x cwarn-mode
1689@itemx M-x global-cwarn-mode
1690@findex cwarn-mode
1691@findex global-cwarn-mode
7ae8ad94 1692@vindex global-cwarn-mode
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1693@cindex CWarn mode
1694@cindex suspicious constructions in C, C++
9234c238 1695CWarn minor mode highlights certain suspicious C and C++ constructions:
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1696
1697@itemize @bullet{}
1698@item
9234c238 1699Assignments inside expressions.
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1700@item
1701Semicolon following immediately after @samp{if}, @samp{for}, and @samp{while}
1702(except after a @samp{do @dots{} while} statement);
1703@item
1704C++ functions with reference parameters.
1705@end itemize
1706
1707@noindent
9234c238
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1708You can enable the mode for one buffer with the command @kbd{M-x
1709cwarn-mode}, or for all suitable buffers with the command @kbd{M-x
1710global-cwarn-mode} or by customizing the variable
1711@code{global-cwarn-mode}. You must also enable Font Lock mode to make
1712it work.
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1713
1714@item M-x hide-ifdef-mode
1715@findex hide-ifdef-mode
1716@cindex Hide-ifdef mode
1717Hide-ifdef minor mode hides selected code within @samp{#if} and
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1718@samp{#ifdef} preprocessor blocks. See the documentation string of
1719@code{hide-ifdef-mode} for more information.
1720
1721@item M-x ff-find-related-file
1722@cindex related files
1723@findex ff-find-related-file
1724@vindex ff-related-file-alist
1725Find a file ``related'' in a special way to the file visited by the
1726current buffer. Typically this will be the header file corresponding
1727to a C/C++ source file, or vice versa. The variable
1728@code{ff-related-file-alist} specifies how to compute related file
1729names.
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1730@end table
1731
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1732@node Asm Mode
1733@section Asm Mode
1734
1735@cindex Asm mode
9234c238 1736@cindex assembler mode
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1737Asm mode is a major mode for editing files of assembler code. It
1738defines these commands:
1739
1740@table @kbd
1741@item @key{TAB}
1742@code{tab-to-tab-stop}.
1743@item C-j
1744Insert a newline and then indent using @code{tab-to-tab-stop}.
1745@item :
1746Insert a colon and then remove the indentation from before the label
1747preceding colon. Then do @code{tab-to-tab-stop}.
1748@item ;
1749Insert or align a comment.
1750@end table
1751
1752 The variable @code{asm-comment-char} specifies which character
1753starts comments in assembler syntax.
ab5796a9 1754
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1755@ifnottex
1756@include fortran-xtra.texi
1757@end ifnottex
1758
ab5796a9
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1759@ignore
1760 arch-tag: c7ee7409-40a4-45c7-bfb7-ae7f2c74d0c0
1761@end ignore