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Chapter 1
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTON
INTRODUCTON
MicroEMACS, henceforth called EMACS, is a full screen editor (not a word
processor) which is available on a variety of computers (both micro and
mini/main frame). As a general characteristic, EMACS is a function driven
program wherein every keystroke is a "function" call; hence, there is no
notion of input versus edit modes. Thus, for example, the keystroke 'a'
invokes the function "insert-character 'a'". All visible ASCII (8-bit)
characters are self-inserting while the non-visible (control) characters are
used as commands.
There is a tutorial file called emacs.tut on the distribution disk. It
might be useful if you read this documentation after going through the
tutorial. To do this, type emacs emacs.tut when you get the DOS prompt. This
emacs emacs.tut
will start emacs, instructing it to read in the file emacs.tut from the
default disk into a standard buffer and put you into it. You can then follow
the instructions in it. In case of trouble, you can always abort a command
__ ____ __ ________ ___ ___ ______ _____ _ _______
with CTRL-G or abort emacs with CTRL-X CTRL-C.
____ ______ __ _____ _____ ____ ______ _______
The command structure of EMACS is simple: commands are single keystroke,
double keystroke, or full command-spec. For efficiency, single keystroke
commands are the most used, followed by 2-keystroke, and so on.
Every command (where it makes sense) in EMACS allows for a numeric argument
in pre-fix notation. Since decimal digits are also self-inserting, arguments
are passed to the command (including self-insert commands) through two
mechanisms. First, an arbitrary numeric argument can be passed by ESC
character (control-[ or the ESC on your keyboard). Thus, the sequence "esc 7
a" results in aaaaaaaa. Second, numeric arguments of powers of 4 can be
passed by prefixing a command with control-U's. Each control-U increases the
power by 1. Hence control-U means 4, control-Ucontrol-U means 16, control-
Ucontrol-Ucontrol-U means 64 and so on. Thus, "control-Ucontrol-Ua"
yields:aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. If an explicit numeric argument is not given, EMACS
uses 1. Note also that negative numeric arguments can also be given and EMACS
tries to behave intelligently about them.
The structure of this document is functional: i.e., each section is devoted
to a set of common activities such as moving around, deleting, copying etc.
Chapter 2
Chapter 2
PRELIMINARIES
PRELIMINARIES
2.1 REGION or POINT and MARK
2.1 REGION or POINT and MARK
A region is a block of text to be acted upon by some EMACS commands. It is
demarcated by the POINT on one end and the MARK at the other. The point is
the primary location identifier where most of the action takes place and is
always between two characters. The point is indicated by the cursor position
_______
in that it is just behind the cursor. The point is also significant in that
it defines one end of the region. The mark, on the other hand, is invisible,
and is used to demarcate the other end of the region( see section 4.4 or, to
peek ahead, one denotes the mark by escape .).
2.2 BUFFERS
2.2 BUFFERS
Buffers are regions of memory which are the primary units internal to EMACS
and where EMACS does its work. Thus, a file being edited is located in a
buffer. One can have multiple buffers, each with a unique name, each of which
can contain a file to be worked upon. The KILL buffer is a very special
buffer that is always around and which holds large pieces of deleted text.
While you cannot directly work with the buffer, you use it indirectly in
copying/moving text segments.
2.3 MODE
2.3 MODE
An EMACS mode specifies the general fashion in which EMACS deals with user
input. For example, how should EMACS deal with long lines (> 79 characters)?
The mode is associated with the buffer and not the file. Hence, the mode has
to be explicitly set (or removed) each time the file is to be edited.
However, since the mode is associated with the buffer, a new file read into
the buffer will be edited with the previously specified mode. Also, standard
(default) modes can be set for all buffers when EMACS is first started. (See
9.1 for more information of modes.)
2.4 WINDOWS
2.4 WINDOWS
Windows are the visible portions of buffers. EMACS allows as many windows on
the screen as can fit. Since windows are screen objects, the relationship of
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windows to buffers can be many-to-one. That is, one can have many windows per
buffer or a each window could be into a different buffer.
2.5 SCREEN
2.5 SCREEN
The screen is usually the 24 row by 80 column section of the physical screen
that is available to EMACS. The format is as follows. The 24th row (the
bottom line) is generally clear. It is used for EMACS prompts, user
responses, and EMACS messages. The remainder of the screen (23 rows) is left
for text display. For each window that is open on the screen, the bottom line
is used to provide information to the user. Starting with the program's name
and version number, it contains the buffer mode(s) in parenthesis, the buffer
name and, finally, the file name associated with theref buffer if there is one
so associated.
2.6 OBJECTS
2.6 OBJECTS
Objects are the entities upon which commands will operate. The most common
object is the character. Other objects are: words, lines, sentences,
paragraphs, screens, regions, and files.
2.7 NOTATION
2.7 NOTATION
Standard visible characters are shown normally. Control charactes (the so-
called non-printing characters) are shown prefixed by a ^ e.g., control-A as
^
^A. NOTE: in 8-bit ASCII there are 32 non-printing characters:
^ ^A..^Z ^[ ^\ ^] ^^ ^_
Control characters are case independent; i.e., ^A is the same as ^a.
Further, the escape key which, technically, is ^[ is denoted by ESC; most
keyboards have a special key marked ESC. In two-keystroke commands, the
intervening blank space shown is for clarity and should not be typed.
Parameters to be supplied by you are indicated as [parameter-type]. Finally,
special keys are denoted by
2.8 GETTING STARTED
2.8 GETTING STARTED
To start using EMACS, just type EMACS [filename] (where [filename] is the
EMACS [filename]
name of the file you wish to edit) from your operating system's command
prompt. This will bring up EMACS and read in the file you wish to edit. (If
__
you are using EMACS for the first time one your machine, read to learn how to
___ ___ _____ _____ ___ ___ _____ ____ ___ ____ ________ ____ __ _____ ___ __
install EMACS on your machine).
_______ _____ __ ____ _______
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Chapter 3
Chapter 3
INSERTING TEXT
INSERTING TEXT
All standard "printable" ASCII characters are self-inserting. This means
for those of you who have "extended" characters (ASCII 128-255) you can type
these in just as you any other character. For example, on the IBM-PC, keeping
the
the "extended" character. With the following exceptions, all other non-
printing characters are commands:
^I (or
the currently set tab distance (see 11.3). When you first
start EMACS, this character inserts itself and while you
"see" spaces, there is just one character there. However,
if you use the set-tab distance command (by ESC [number]
^I) then the required tab distance is obtained by inserting
the requisite number of spaces and now the spaces that you
___
see are indeed spaces.
^M (or
this is a character like any other and can be deleted or
inserted at any place. However it looks different because
it acts like the carriage-return line feed pair.
^J (or
NewLine-Indent: like above but indent to previous line's
indentation Hence, a ^J actually inserts a new-line and as
many spaces as required to move under the first character
on the previous line.
^O (oh) Open-Line: insert an open line at cursor for entering text.
This is a very useful command when you are going to be
inserting more than a few characters in between existing
characters. By using ^O you will not be forcing EMACS to
shift other text around as you type and things will both go
faster and look cleaner on the screen. If you are going to
insert a lot of new text, use a numeric argument to get a
lot of blank lines after point. You can use ^X ^O to clean
up the buffer after you finish adding your text (see 5.3).
^Q Quote-Next-Character. If you wish certain control
characters (non-printing) to appear in your text, you can
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do so by "quoting" them with a ^Q. Hence the sequence: ^Q
[char] will insert the [char] into the text.
^C Insert-Space. This command inserts a space after point.
While not particularly useful in general (since the space-
bar "key" does the same thing and more easily) it is very
useful when you are in "insert mode (see 9.1).
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Chapter 4
Chapter 4
MOVING AROUND
MOVING AROUND
In this chapter, we cover ways of moving around in a variety of contexts:
the screen, region, and file.
4.1 SCREEN
4.1 SCREEN
Movement commands work on pieces of text called objects. Three objects are
involved in moving around the screen: character, word and paragraph.
4.1.1 Character Moving
4.1.1 Character Moving
^F Forward-Charcter. The point moves forward by one character
hence the cursor also moves since the cursor is just after
point. Again note that since the new-line character is a
character, you can "move" over it just as you would any
other character. On the screen this appears as a jump to
the beginning of the next line.
^B Backward-Character. Just like Forward-Character but in the
reverse direction.
4.1.2 Line Moving
4.1.2 Line Moving
^P Previous-Line. The point moves to the same column in the
previous line if that is possible. If there is no text for
it to move to it moves to the end of the line. However, it
"remembers" the column it was in and moves to it when you
return to the starting line. If the point is on the top
line of the screen, the screen scrolls backward so that the
previous line of the text is centered on the new screen.
^N Next-Line. Like ^P but point moves to the next line.
^E End-Of-Line. The point moves after the last character
on the line and stays between it and the
character. Hence another ^F (Forward-Character) would put
you past the new-line, i.e., at the beginning of the next
line.
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^A Start-Of-Line. The point moves to the beginning of the
line and is between the first character on the line and the
new-line character of the previous line. A ^B (or
Backward-Character), then, would put you at the end of the
previous line.
ESC G To-Numbered-Line. The cursor moves to the line specifed by
the numeric argument. If none is given, EMACS, as usual,
would assume 1 and move you to the top of the buffer. Use
ESC
is 1. Hence, for example, if you wished to go to the 83
line you would type ESC 83 ESC G.
4.2 Word Moving
4.2 Word Moving
ESC F Forward-Word. The point is moved from its current location
to the beginning of the next word. A word is defined to be
contiguous characters separated by spaces or punctuation
marks. Hence if the point is currently in middle of two
words (i.e., in front of the space or the punctuation) it
__ _____ __ ___ _____ __ ___ ___________
is moved to the beginning of the next word.
ESC B Backward-Word. Like forward word but in the reverse
direction.
4.3 Paragraph Moving
4.3 Paragraph Moving
ESC N Forward-Paragraph. Move to the beginning of the next
paragraph.
NOTE: A paragraph is defined as a section of text separated
from other text by 1) blank lines, 2) a line starting with
blanks, or 3) a line starting with a tab character (^I).
ESC N Backward-Paragraph. Like forward-paragraph but in the
reverse direction.
4.4 Region Moving
4.4 Region Moving
^X ^X Exchange-Point-And-Mark. There is only one region
available at a time. Hence, moving by regions is restricted
to moving from one end of the region to the other. To
reiterate, the region is defined by the point (behind the
cursor) at one end and the mark (set by ESC . or ESC space)
at the other. Recall that this end of the region is where
____
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the cursor is. Hence exchanging point and mark effectively
moves you from one end of the region to the other.
4.5 Screen Moving
4.5 Screen Moving
^V or
set of lines can be shown in the window. EMACS retains an
overlap of two lines for continuity -- i.e., you do not get
a new screen starting with the first previously invisible
line but rather the new screen will start with two lines
from the bottom of the previous screen. The point is left
at the home position (top left hand corner).
ESC V or CTRL Z or
Previous-Screen. Like above except that the previous set
of screen lines is displayed.
4.6 Window Moving
4.6 Window Moving
^X O (oh) Next-Window. Moves point to the the next window on the
screen. EMACS cycles through windows. Thus, if you are in
the bottom window, you are moved to the top window.
^X P Previous-Window. Like above but in the opposite direction.
For addtional information on windows, see 8.
4.7 Buffer Moving
4.7 Buffer Moving
ESC < or
buffer.
ESC >or
Bottom-Of-Buffer. Moves point to the very end of the
buffer.
ESC B To-Named-Buffer. You will be prompted for a buffer name
(see 5.6 on how to find out about your buffers) and will be
switched to it. If the buffer does not exits, EMACS will
create one and put you into it.
^X X Next-Buffer. You will be put into the next buffer in the
buffer list. Like with windows, EMACS cycles through the
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buffer list and hence if you are in the last buffer, you
will be put into the first one.
For additional information on buffers, see 9.
4.8 File Moving
4.8 File Moving
A file is a named collection of text and is associated with a buffer in EMACS.
EMACS allows full filenames; hence the full path can be specifed. In all cases
of moving between files, you will be prompted for a filename Type it in and
hit
^X ^R Read-File. The file, if found, is read into the current
buffer overwriting any text already in it. If the buffer
has been changed and you have not saved your changes, you
will be asked to confirm the overwrite. If the file is not
found where specified, it is assumed that you wish to
create a new file with that name and your current buffer is
merely emptied.
^X ^F Find-File. EMACS attempts first to find the specified file
within one of the existing buffers. If it finds the file
it merely switches you to that buffer. If it does not, it
will create a new buffer, read the specified file if found
into it, and switch you to the new buffer. If the file is
not found, a new buffer is created and you will be put into
it.
^X ^V View-File. Like find-a-file above except that the VIEW
mode is automatically added to the buffer. In this mode
you are only allowed to move around the buffer and cannot
make any changes.
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Chapter 5
Chapter 5
DELETING
DELETING
Like moving around, deleting is an action that can work with a variety of
objects: characters, words, lines, paragraphs, regions, windows, and buffers.
It is worth reiterating that the object is defined relative to the point and
not the object as a whole. Hence, if you are in the middle of a word and
issue a delete-forward-word command, the text deleted is actually from the
point to the end of the word.
5.1 Character
5.1 Character
CTRL-D Delete-Forward-Character. Since the point is always just
before the cursor, the character under the cursor is
deleted. When you are at the end of a line, the point is
just before the
Delete-Forward-Character "eats" up the
effect this joins the next line to the current one.
CTRL-H or
Delete-Backward-Character. This deletes the character
before point. At the beginning of a line, it deletes the
previous
line to the previous one.
5.2 Word
5.2 Word
ESC D Delete-Forward-Word. Deletes the text from the point to
the beginning of the next word. Hence, any punctuation
_________
separating the words is also deleted.
ESC
Delete-Backward-Word. Like above but in the reversse
direction.
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5.3 Line
5.3 Line
CTRL-K Delete-To-End-Of-Line (Kill line). All characters from
point to the end of the line are deleted. The
___ __________
character is NOT deleted.
_________ __ ___ ________
To delete a line completely from the buffer you would have
to do the following: CTRL-A (Start-Of-Line) CTRL-K (Delete-
To-End-Of-Line) CTRL-D (Delete-Forward-Character to delete
the
As with all major deletes (i.e., when more than a few characters are deleted
EMACS places the deleted text in a KILLS buffer. Hence,
the deletion can be undone by "yanking" the text back at
point (using CTRL-Y).
CTRL-X CTRL-O (oh)
Delete-Blank-Lines. This command deletes all blank lines
_____
around the current line. If there is only blank line after
the current line it is not deleted. However, if there are
___
more than 1 blank lines after the current line, all of them
___
are deleted.
5.4 Region
5.4 Region
The region is an arbitrary area of the buffer demarcated by the point (just
before the cursor!) and the mark. The mark is invisible and is set using ESC .
or ESC
And-Mark (CTRL-X XTRL-X) command. Since the region has no direction
associated with it, this effectively shows you the mark and all region
commands work correctly. Furthermore, since the region is completely
arbitrary in size you could demarcate any sized object from a single character
all the way to the entire buffer.
CTRL-W Delete-Region (kill World!). Deletes the region (between
point and mark) and places the killed text in the KILLS
buffer to be "yanked" back (with CTRL-Y) at the point.
Hence if you ever accidentally type CTRL-W simply undo it
with an immediate CTRL-Y (strictly speaking this does not
have to be done immediately since the KILLS buffer is
overwritten only with the next big delete).
5.5 Windows
5.5 Windows
CTRL-X 1 (one) Close-All-Other-Windows. This will close all windows on
the screen except for the one you are in (issued the
command from).
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5.6 Buffers
5.6 Buffers
CTRL-X K Delete-Buffer. You will be prompted for the name of a
buffer If the buffer has been changed, you will be asked to
confirm the deletion since killing the buffer would
eliminated your changes. To find out which buffers you
have, use the CTRL-X CTRL-B command (see ). As always
CTRL-G aborts the pending command -- which means before you
______
hit return after typing in the buffer name.
5.7 Files
5.7 Files
Files within EMACS are dealt with by dealing with the associated buffers. If
you really want to deal with the disk based versions of files, escape to
MSDOS, manage your files and return to EMACS (see 14 for a discussion on using
MSDOS from within EMACS).
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Chapter 6
Chapter 6
MOVING/COPYING TEXT
MOVING/COPYING TEXT
Transposing single characters is easy in EMACS. CTRL-T does it. Larger
entities are dealt with via the KILLS buffer (see 5.3). Moving or copying
text in EMACS is fundamentally identical. The general procedure is as
follows:
1. If pre-defined areas of text are the desired areas to move or copy use
the appropriate delete command (delete-line, delete para etc.) to get a
copy of the area into the KILLS buffer. An immediate "yank" (CTRL-Y)
results in an unchanged buffer.
2. If arbitrary areas of text are desired, the region is used. Demarcate
the region to be moved/copied (to repeat: at one end of the region use
the set-mark command (with ESC . or ESC
the other end. Delete (CTRL-W for move) or copy (ESC W) the region into
the KILLS buffer.
3. Once the desired text is in the KILLS buffer, it can be inserted into
any buffer by moving the point into the desired buffer at the desired
___
location and "yanking" (CTRL-Y) the text from the KILLS buffer.
CTRL-W Kill-Region. Delete text between point and mark and copy
it into the KILLS buffer.
ESC W Copy-Region. Copy text between point and mark into the
KILLS buffer.
CTRL-Y Yank-Text. Insert a copy of the KILLS buffer into current
buffer at point. If you accidently typed CTRL-W (the kill
__ ___ __________ _____ ______ ____ ____
region command), immediately recover by typing in CTRL-Y
______ _________ ___________ _______ __ ______ __ ______
(the yank text command).
____ ____ ____ _________
Since the KILLS buffer is an independent buffer, you can move text between
files by moving text between buffers. Further, "yanking" is a read-only
_____ _______
operation; hence the text can be inserted as many times as desired with
repeated yanks. However, the KILLS buffer gets overwritten with each major
delete (i.e., deletion of more than a few characters at a time). Consequently
you cannot (as yet) accumulate text in the KILLS buffer with a sequence of
kills. If you need to accumulate text use a regular buffer (one that you ask
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for, see 9) to hold copies of the deleted (or copied) text. If you are doing
a lot of accumulation, you might want to use a keyboard macro (see 13).
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Chapter 7
Chapter 7
SEARCH/REPLACE
SEARCH/REPLACE
Searching and replacing occurs from the current cursor position towards the
end of the buffers. When either (forward or backward) search type is asked
for, you will be prompted for the search string on the prompt line. Type in
the string (including carraige returns, control characters etc.) and finish by
hitting the ESC key which marks the end of the string. Unfortunately, this
means that ESC itself cannot be part of the string. The seach behaviour of
EMACS depends upon the setting of the exact mode of the buffer (see 9 for
details on modes). If exact mode is on, then the search is done on a case
sensitive basis. Otherwise, the case of the target is ignored. Note that the
default for every buffer is for the exact mode to be off (unless the global
mode is set to have exact on for each buffer, see 9.1. Obviously, no such
constraint exists for the replacement string since the replacement is always
______
exact. EMACS remembers the search and replace strings and always shows you the
current stored string when it prompts you for a string . This string is used
if you respond to the prompt with a null string (i.e., if you simply hit ESC
when prompted).
There are two ways to replace strings in EMACS: unconditional or query
replace. In the first, EMACS moves from point to the end of the buffer
replacing every occurrence of the search string with the replacement string
_____
without pause. In the second, EMACS pauses at every search string found and
prompts you for an action command which allows you to control exactly which
occurrences of the search string will be replaced. Because of the lack of
control over the regular replace, it is strongly recommended that you be very
sure of your changes before you use it. In general, the query replace command
should be used. Procedurally, replacing strings with other strings (including
the null string) is done as follows: first you are prompted for the search
string and then for the replacement string. EMACS then moves from the current
position to the end of the buffer replacing (or querying) as it goes along.
Note that there is no control over the direction of the replacement -- EMACS
always moves foward. Hence, to work on the entire buffer, you need first to
move to the top of the buffer and issue the replace command.
CTRL-S Search-Forward. Search for input string (stored string if
input string is null) from point towards the end of the
buffer. The point is moved from the current location to
the end of the found string.
CTRL-R Search-Backward. Like forward except in the opposite
direction i.e., towards the beginning of the buffer. Note
that there is no distinction made between forward and
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backward stored search strings. Finally if the search
string is found, the point is moved to the beginning of the
string.
ESC R Replace. Replace ALL occurrences of the search string with
___
the null string from point to end-of-buffer.
ESC CTRL-R Query-Replace. Like above, but pause at each search string
found and query for action. The response expected from you
and their effects are as follows:
Y(es) or
Make this replacement
N(o) Do not make this replacement but continue
! Do the rest of the replacements with no
queries
CTRL-G Abort the replacement command. NOTE: This
does not undo any previous replacement that
you had authorized.
. Exactly like CTRL-G except that the cursor
returns to the point at which the replacement
command was given.
? Help for query replacement
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Chapter 8
Chapter 8
DEALING WITH WINDOWS
DEALING WITH WINDOWS
First of all, note that windows are literally that: they are areas of text
in a buffer that you can see on the screen. On the other hand, by moving
between windows and visiting different buffers in each, you can effectively
edit several files at the same time. When you ask for additional windows,
EMACS splits the current window into two and leaves you in the window created
_______
over the current pointer. Thus you can get multiple windows on the screen.
What is less obvious is that you are always in a window which means that all
window commands operate even when you are in a single window. Each window is
similar in that it has a text area and the mode line. However the
information/prompt line is common to all windows (and buffers). Further the
new window will be into the same buffer as the one from which the create
window command was given. To move the window to another buffer, you will have
to "visit" the desired buffer from the desired window. Since files are
associated with buffers, this lets you simultaneously edit several files.
Which leads us to the final point: all commands issued to EMACS are executed
on the current buffer in the current window.
CTRL-X O(oh) To-Next-Window. The current point is moved into the next
(i.e., towards the end of the screen) window. Note that
the editor cycles through windows which means that if the
command is issued from the bottommost window you are put
into the top window.
CTRL-XP To-Previous-Window. Like above but works on the previous
window.
CTRL-X 2 Open-Window. The current window is split into two windows
-- IF there is enough space on the screen (a minimum of 1
__
line of text and 1 mode line per window are required).
CTRL-X 1 Close-Windows. This closes all windows except the one from
___
which you issued the command.
CTRL-X CTRL-N Scroll-Current-Window-Down. This scrolls the current
window down one line; i.e., the top line of the window
dissappears and the hitherto invisible "next" line becomes
visible. Hence the scroll window commands work counter-
intuitively in that ordinarily one moves ones head with a
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"real" window or one moves the paper while here one is
literally moving the window on to the buffer.
CTRL-X CTRL-P Scroll-Current-Window-Up. Like above except in the
opposite direction; i.e., the previously invisible line
towards the beginning of the buffer is made visible and the
bottom line dissappears from the window.
ECS ! or ESC CTRL-L
Center-Cursor. The window is moved such that the line with
the point (with the cursor) is at the center of the window.
CTRL-X ^ or CTRL-X Z
Enlarge-Window. The window with the pointer is enlarged by
one line and the nearest window is shrunk by one line.
CTRL-X CTRL-Z Shrink-Window. Like above but the current window is shrunk
and the nearest window is enlarged.
CTRL-L Refresh-Screen. The screen is blanked and redrawn. Useful
if the screen updates are out of sync with your commands.
- 19 -
Chapter 9
Chapter 9
DEALING WITH BUFFERS
DEALING WITH BUFFERS
Buffers are the major internal entities in EMACS and are characterized by
three things: their names, their modes, and the file with which they are
associated. Furthermore, each buffer has its own remembered mark and point
which makes it easy to "visit" other buffers and return to the original
location in the "current" buffer. Dealing with them requires the following
commands:
ESC < or
buffer.
ESC >or
Bottom-Of-Buffer. Moves point to the very end of the
buffer.
ESC B To-Named-Buffer. You will be prompted for a buffer name
(see 5.6 on how to find out about your buffers) and will be
switched to it. If the buffer does not exits, EMACS will
create one and put you into it.
CTRL-X X Next-Buffer. You will be put into the next buffer in the
buffer list. Like with windows, EMACS cycles through the
buffer list and hence if you are in the last buffer, you
will be put into the first one.
CTRL-X CTRL-B List-Buffers. A new window is created into the "List"
buffer which contains details about all the buffers
currently known to EMACS. You are left in the original
buffer. To close the new window issue the close-windows
command (CTRL-X 1). The "List" buffer contains information
about the set global modes, the "buffer changed" indicator
(an asterisk in the 2nd column), the buffer specific modes,
the buffer size, the buffer name, and the associated
filename.
CTRL-X K Delete-Buffer. The specified buffer (as above) is deleted
if found. Since this is a destructive operation, you will
asked for confirmation if the buffer was changed and not
- 20 -
saved. Answer Y(es) or N(o). As usual, CTRL-G cancels the
command.
9.1 Modes
9.1 Modes
Modes are associated with buffers and govern the way EMACS reacts to certain
commands (to be described below). Each buffer starts with no modes set and
this is indicated on the information line in parentheses However, you can set
"global" modes which means that each new buffer starts off in the set global
modes. Alternatively, you can add and delete modes for each buffer
separately.
Currently, EMACS has the following modes: normal, wrap, view, overwrite,
exact, and C. Note that the default for all buffers is to be placed with no
modes unless global modes are set. In this normal case, long lines are not
folded and the line shifts to the left to enable you to view lines longer than
79 characters. A dollar sign in the last column indicates a line that is
longer than 79 characters. Furthermore, any text typed after the 79th
character is inserted exactly as is thus enabling you to enter very long lines
into your buffer. Also no other modes are set and hence you have no wrapping,
insert mode, and inexact match.
Wrap When wrap mode is set, EMACS tries to fold (break) lines at
the currently defined right margin. See for more details
on wrapping text.
View View mode essentially puts you into a read only buffer to
prevent accidental damage to files. Some special files,
such as the help file, are automatically put into view mode
buffer.
Over In over(write) mode, the normal "insert" mode is toggled
off which means anything you type in that would normally
have inserted itself would now overwrite the existing text.
The Insert-Space command (currently bound to CTRL-C) is
very useful in this mode since it is self-inserting.
Exact The exact mode controls the manner in which string searches
are done: if exact mode is set, the search is case
sensitive; if it is off, the case of the target is
ignored. C
This mode is automatically set if the file extension is .c
or .h and does useful things for you when you are writing
programs in C.
- 21 -
The commands required to deal with modes are as follows:
CTRL-X M Add-Mode. You will be prompted for the mode to add. Type
it in and hit return. The mode line will change to reflect
the addition. As always, CTRL-G gets you out. NOTE: To set
the right margin when in wrap mode, use the set right
margin command with the appropriate numerical prefix
argument with ESC
set the right margin at column 68 you would type: ESC 68
CTRL-X F. (See 11.1).
CTRL-X CTRL-M Delete-Mode. Like above but to remove a mode for the
current buffer.
ESC M Add-Global-Mode. The specified global mode is marked as
to-be-added to any new buffer. Hence, the modes for
existing buffers do not change.
ESC CTRL-M Delete-Global-Mode. The specified global mode is removed
from the modes to be added to new buffers. Once again,
existing buffers and their modes are not effected.
- 22 -
Chapter 10
Chapter 10
DEALING WITH FILES
DEALING WITH FILES
Text files are usually thought of as named collections of text residing on
disk (or some other storage medium). In EMACS the disk based versions of
files come into play only when reading into or writing out buffers. The link
between the physical file and the buffer is through the associated filename.
EMACS permits full filenames; i.e., you can specify:
disk:\directories\filename.extension. If the disk and directories are not
specified, the default disk is used. Because of the way EMACS deals with
files, several points ought to be noted. First, without explicitly saving the
buffer into a files, all your edits would be gone upon leaving EMACS (you are
asked to confirm whenever you are about to lose edits). Second, EMACS (at
least currently) has no mechanism for "protecting" your diskbased files from
overwriting when it saves files. When instructed to save a file, it merrily
proceeds to dump the file to disk. If it didn't previously exist it is now
created. If it did, it is overwritten and the previous version is lost for
ever. Hence, if you are unsure of your edits or for any other reason wish to
keep older versions of files around, the safe procedure is to read the file
into a buffer (with CTRL-X R), immediately change the associated file name
(with CTRL-X N), and then start your edits. However, if you do not wish to do
any edits but merely peruse the file, add the view mode (see 9.1) to the
buffer or ask for the file to be read in for viewing only (with CTRL-X V). The
following are the file related commands in EMACS.
CTRL-X CTRL-S SAve-Buffer-Under-Current-Filename. Saves the contents of
the current buffer with the associated filename on the
default disk/directory (if not specified). Note that
CTRL-X S also works.
CTRL-X CTRL-W Save-Buffer-Under-New-Name. You will be prompted for a
file name. Type it in and hit
contents will be saved under the given name.
CTRL-X N Change-Associated-Filename. The associated filename is
changed (or associated if not previously specified) as
specified.
CTRL-X CTRL-F Find-A-File. You will be prompted for a filename. If the
file has already been read into a buffer, you will be
switch to it. If not, it will be read into a new buffer
and you will be put into that buffer.
- 23 -
CTRL-X CTRL-R Read-In-A-File. You will be prompted for a filename. If
the file has already been read into another buffer, you
will be switched to it. If not, it will be read into the
CURRENT buffer thus overwriting the buffer contents. As
always, you will be asked for confirmation of the overwrite
if the buffer has been changed since the last save.
CTRL-X CTRL-V View-A-File. Exactly like the above except that the buffer
will automatically be put into view mode thus not allowing
you to make any changes to it.
- 24 -
Chapter 11
Chapter 11
FORMATTING
FORMATTING
While, as said before, EMACS is not a word-processor, some formatting
facilities are available. In no particular order they are:
11.1 WRAPPING TEXT
11.1 WRAPPING TEXT
Normally, EMACS allows you to type in long lines (longer than the screen
width). However, if you wish it to automatically wrap lines longer than a
given width, you can do so by setting the WRAP mode.
CTRL-X M [WRAP] Add-Wrap-Mode. Add wrap mode to current buffer. Note that
[WRAP] means that you respong with WRAP when prompted.
CTRL-X CTRL-M [WRAP]
Delete-Wrap-Mode. Removes wrap mode from current buffer.
Wrap mode does not set the column (margin) at which wrapping is supposed to
occur. Hence, it is very important that along with adding wrap mode to the
buffer, you set the desired margin. If you don't, the usual default value of
1 is used and the editor will behave very strangely since any text beyond the
first column will be wrapped.
CTRL-X F Set-Wrap-Margin. Sets the wrap margin to the given numeric
argument If you do not precede this command with a numeric
argument (with ESC
column 1 which is the default numeric argument.
When in wrap mode, you can re-format a paragraph after extensive editing as
follows:
ESC Q Fill-Current-Paragraph. See 4.3 for a discussion of what
is considered to be a paragraph in EMACS.
11.2 Changing Case
11.2 Changing Case
Changing the case of the text in EMACS is also easy:
- 25 -
ESC U Upper-Case-Word. The text from point to the end of the
word is changed to all uppercase.
ESC L Lower-Case-Word. Like above except that text is changed to
lower case.
ESC C Capitalize-Word. The first word after point is capitalized
(that is the first letter only is uppercased). This means
that if you issued the command from within a word, the
character after point is capitalized resulting in some
wierd looking text.
ESC CTRL-U Upper-Case-Region. All of the text between point and mark
(i.e. in the region) is capitalized.
ESC CTRL-L Lower-Case-Region. All of the text in the region (between
point and mark) is lower-cased.
11.3 Miscellaneous
11.3 Miscellaneous
Setting tabs to arbitray widths is possible in EMACS but you must be aware of
a subtle difference that it makes to your file and hence to your editing.
When you start EMACS, the tab width is set to the default (usually every 8th
column) for the tab character (CTRL-I). As long as you stay with the default,
every time you insert the tab character, a CTRL-I get inserted. Hence, you
logically have a single character which might appear to be several spaces on
the screen (or the output) depending upon the column location of the tab
character. This means that to remove the spacing you have to delete a single
______
character -- the tab character.
On the other hand, the moment you explicitly set the tab interval (even if
it is to the default value), EMACS handles the tab character by expanding the
character into the required number of spaces to move you to the appropriate
column. In this case, to remove the spacing you have to delete the appropriate
number of spaces inserted by EMACS to get you to the right column.
CTRL-I Set-Tab-Interval. The tab interval is set to the given
numeric argument. As always, the numeric argument preceeds
the command. Hence to get tabs every 4 spaces you would
type in
ESC 4 CTRL-I
or more generally: ESC [number] CTRL-I.
- 26 -
Chapter 12
Chapter 12
GETTING OUT OF THINGS
GETTING OUT OF THINGS
Any pending commands can be aborted with CTRL-G. All this does is cancel the
command at its current level. Hence, for example, part of the way through a
query replace, the abort will not undo the changes you have already allowed
but will cancel the remainder.
Getting out of EMACS itself is possible in several ways:
CTRL-X CTRL-C. Hard-Abort. This gets you out of EMACS and back to DOS.
However if there are changed buffers which have not been
saved, you will be queried.
ESC Z Quick-Exit. This gets you out of EMACS but only after all
_____
changed buffers with legal filenames have been saved under
the current associated filenames. Hence this could be a
very dangerous command if there are changed buffers which
will overwrite files you wished left unchanged. In general
avoid this command.
*********************************************************** ***
W A R N I N G ***
*** ***
*** AGAIN, PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL CHANGED BUFFERS WITH ***
*** FILENAMES WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE SAVED WITH ESC Z ***
***********************************************************
- 27 -
Chapter 13
Chapter 13
Keyboard Macros
Keyboard Macros
A keyboard macro is a short hand way to repeat a series of commands. In
effect, a "recording" is started, with CTRL-X (, of the sequence of keys that
you hit when defining a keyboard macro. The recording is then repeated when
you execute the keyboard macro. Hence, you could record any combination of
character input and commands you like. Once you stop recording your
keystrokes(with CTRL-X ) ), the entire sequence is available to you to be
repeated starting at the point at which the keyboard macro is invoked. You
could, therefore start recording at some location, move to another point, and
repeat the entire sequence at that location by invoking the recorded macro
(with CTRL-X E). Since it is keystrokes that are being saved, you can freely
intermix commands and text to be inserted into the buffer. Unfortunately,
you cannot save a keyborad macro for later. If you start another keyboard
macro recording session, the previously defined macro is lost. So make sure
that you are done with the current keyboard macro before defining another one.
If you have a series of commands that you would like to "record" for later
use, use the execute-file or execute-buffer commands (see 15 and/or 15).
CTRL-X ( Start-Recording. All keystrokes, commands and input are
All
recorded till the end-recording command is given.
CTRL-X ) End-Recording. Stop recording keystrokes for
macro.
CTRL-X e
Execute-Macro. The entire sequence of recorded keystrokes
is repeated starting at the current point. The result is
exactly as if you we retyping the sequence all over again.
A numeric argument prefixing the Execute-Macro command
repeats the stored keystrokes that many times.
- 28 -
Chapter 14
Chapter 14
Msdos And Emacs
Msdos And Emacs
There are two commands which will allow you to use MSDOS while within EMACS.
Procedurally, you will need to make sure that the "current" directory contains
COMMAND.COM before you issue any internal commands (see the MSDOS manual).
Also, external commands or program may be run with some restrictions depending
upon the degree to which the program "takes over" the computer or the amount
of memory you have and the program size. When you use either of the commands,
EMACS pops you into MSDOS. The key difference between the two commands is in
how they act after the first MSDOS command has finished executing. If you use
the Run-DOS-Command command a
you were before. The Run-CLI (run the Command Line Interpretor), on the other
hand, leaves you at the DOS command level (usually the A> prompt) so that you
can continue issuing other commands; to return to EMACS, you need to type in
EXIT to leave the command line interpretor. NOTE: since EMACS is callable from
the command line, you could easily have several EMACS images in memory! In
general, this is a practice to be avoided
CTRL-X ! Run-DOS-Command. Suspends EMACS and, if the file
COMMAND.COM is on the default drive, allows one DOS
command to be executed. After finishing with that command,
a
CTRL-X C Run-CLI. Like above execpt that multiple commands are
permitted. To return to EMACS, type in EXIT at the DOS
prompt.
SUGGESTION: If you are going to run a program (or external MSDOS command)
from within EMACS for the first time, save your changed buffers (if you so
desire) before you start. Once you are sure that the program will not damage
EMACS, you need not take such precautions. As a favor to the user community,
please inform the Computing Center of program that do and do not work and we
will try to disseminate the information.
PROGRAMS AND EXTERNAL COMMANDS TESTED SO FAR: XDIR
KERMIT
FINALWORD
ALL "INTERNAL" COMMANDS
- 29 -
Chapter 15
Chapter 15
Unbound Commands
Unbound Commands
In this chapter we mention several commands that are not currently bound to
any keys. If you find that you are using some of these consistently, you
might want to bind them yourself either permanently or temporarily (see 16).
To execute an unbound (or for that matter a bound command) use the command:
Execute-Named-Command which is currently bound to ESC-X.
ESC-X Execute-Named-Command. You will be prompted (with a colon)
on the prompt line for the named command to be executed.
Appendix A contains a list of the named comands that you
could execute. EMACS attempts to complete the command if
you hit the
have typed in so far is sufficient to identify the command
uniquely, EMACS finishes typing it in for you and then
waits for the
Unbound commands are:
Hunt-Forward Repeat the last forward search command. Thus this is
identical to you typing in CTRL-S (search-forward) and then
defaulting the search string (by simply giving an ESC at
the prompt line).
Hunt-Backward Repeat the last reverse search command. Thus this is
identical to you typing in CTRL-R (search-reverse) and then
defaulting the search string (by simply giving an ESC at
the prompt line).
Execute-Buffer You will be prompted for a buffer name. If the buffer
exists, EMACS will assume that its contents are commands to
be executed by it before returning control to you. If any
of the commands are incorrect in the buffer, EMACS aborts
the command and returns control to you immediately. The
syntax of commands in the buffer is as follows:
[numeric argument] named-command [string argument] [string
argument]
where the only required parameter is the named-command itself.
Execute-File Very similar to the Execute-Buffer command except that you
will be prompted for a file containing commands to be
executed by EMACS. As in the above case, error will cause
- 31 -
an immediate abort and the syntax of the commands is the
same.
Execute-Command-Line
????
- 32 -
Chapter 16
Chapter 16
Customization
Customization
EMACS is extensively customizable in that the keystroke used to invoke a
command can be changed to suit your needs at will. The connection of a
keystroke to a command is called key-binding. Keybinding can be done
temporarily or permanently -- by which we mean that the changed keybinding
will last only during one editing session or will always be effective.
Furthermore, any keybinding can be removed permanently or during an editing
session. We will cover temporary bindings and unbindings first.
ESC K Bind-To-Key. The Bind-To-Key command, currently bound to
ESC K, will prompt you for the named command and the key to
which it is to be bound. The set of named commands is in
Appendix A. The key(s) to which the command is to be bound
are simply typed in exactly. That is, to bind a command
to, say ESC D, type in the named command, a space, and then
the keys ESC and D.
ESC CTRL-K Unbind-Key. This command undoes the effect of the previous
command or any built-in bindings. As above you will be
prompted for the required information -- in this case the
information is simply the key to be unbound which is to be
typed in exactly as above.
NOTE: be very careful in binding and unbinding keys since you could get into
NOTE: be very careful in binding and unbinding keys since you could get into
_____ __ ____ _______ __ _______ ___ _________ ____ _____ ___ _____ ___ ____
some very peculiar situations such as being unable to abort our of a command
some very peculiar situations such as being unable to abort our of a command
____ ____ ________ __________ ____ __ _____ ______ __ _____ ___ __ _ _______
(if you unbind CTRL-G or bind it to something else) or recover from the bad
(if you unbind CTRL-G or bind it to something else) or recover from the bad
___ ___ ______ ______ __ ____ __ __ _________ _____ __ _______ ____ ___ ___
binding/unbinding if you unbind Execute-Named-Command or the Unbind-Key
binding/unbinding if you unbind Execute-Named-Command or the Unbind-Key
_________________ __ ___ ______ _____________________ __ ___ __________
command. As long as you leave yourself the opportunity to do either of the
command. As long as you leave yourself the opportunity to do either of the
________ __ ____ __ ___ _____ ________ ___ ___________ __ __ ______ __ ___
last two commands, youc an recover from disasterous bindings/unbindings.
last two commands, youc an recover from disasterous bindings/unbindings.
____ ___ _________ ____ __ _______ ____ ___________ ____________________
Permanent changes are done indirectly through the EMACS.RC file. This is a
file that EMACS reads and executes (see 15) before startup and hence results
______
in the appearance of a permanent change in the keybindings. The syntax of
commands in the EMACS.RC file is described under the Execute-File command
(15). Of principal concern here are the two commands Bind-To-Key and Unbind-
Key. The primary difference between the way parameters are passed to these
commands in the EMACS.RC file is that the keys are not typed in directly (as
in the control-I key when you want CTRL-I) but symbolically using the
following symbols:
- 33 -
^ for control keys. For example to indicate control-I, you
would type ^I.
M for the escape key. For example, to indicate ESC CTRL-K,
you would type in M^I.
FN for "function" keys. The reason for the quotes is that for
the HP150 the term function is expanded to include all of
the special keys such as the
- 34 -
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 INTRODUCTON 1
Chapter 2 PRELIMINARIES 2
2.1 REGION or POINT and MARK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.2 BUFFERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.3 MODE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.4 WINDOWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.5 SCREEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.6 OBJECTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.7 NOTATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.8 GETTING STARTED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Chapter 3 INSERTING TEXT 4
Chapter 4 MOVING AROUND 6
4.1 SCREEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4.1.1 Character Moving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4.1.2 Line Moving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4.2 Word Moving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4.3 Paragraph Moving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4.4 Region Moving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4.5 Screen Moving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4.6 Window Moving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4.7 Buffer Moving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4.8 File Moving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Chapter 5 DELETING 10
5.1 Character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
5.2 Word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
5.3 Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
5.4 Region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.5 Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.6 Buffers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
5.7 Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Chapter 6 MOVING/COPYING TEXT 13
Chapter 7 SEARCH/REPLACE 16
Chapter 8 DEALING WITH WINDOWS 18
Chapter 9 DEALING WITH BUFFERS 20
9.1 Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
i
Chapter 10 DEALING WITH FILES 23
Chapter 11 FORMATTING 25
11.1 WRAPPING TEXT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
11.2 Changing Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
11.3 Miscellaneous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Chapter 12 GETTING OUT OF THINGS 27
Chapter 13 Keyboard Macros 28
Chapter 14 Msdos And Emacs 29
Chapter 15 Unbound Commands 31
Chapter 16 Customization 33
ii
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