Mercurial > hg > xemacs-beta
comparison etc/TUTORIAL @ 428:3ecd8885ac67 r21-2-22
Import from CVS: tag r21-2-22
author | cvs |
---|---|
date | Mon, 13 Aug 2007 11:28:15 +0200 |
parents | |
children | abac34c62a39 |
comparison
equal
deleted
inserted
replaced
427:0a0253eac470 | 428:3ecd8885ac67 |
---|---|
1 Copyright (c) 1985, 1996 Free Software Foundation, Inc. See end for conditions. | |
2 | |
3 You are looking at the Emacs tutorial. | |
4 | |
5 Emacs commands generally involve the CONTROL key (sometimes labelled | |
6 CTRL or CTL) or the META key. On some keyboards, the META key is | |
7 labelled ALT or EDIT or something else (for example, on Sun keyboards, | |
8 the diamond key to the left of the spacebar is META). If you have no | |
9 META key, you can use ESC instead. Rather than write out META or | |
10 CONTROL each time we want you to prefix a character, we'll use the | |
11 following abbreviations: | |
12 | |
13 C-<chr> means hold the CONTROL key while typing the character <chr> | |
14 Thus, C-f would be: hold the CONTROL key and type f. | |
15 M-<chr> means hold the META key down while typing <chr>. If there | |
16 is no META key, type <ESC>, release it, then type the | |
17 character <chr>. | |
18 | |
19 Important note: to end the Emacs session, type C-x C-c. (Two characters.) | |
20 The characters ">>" at the left margin indicate directions for you to | |
21 try using a command. For instance: | |
22 <<Middle of page left blank for didactic purposes. Text continues below.>> | |
23 >> Now type C-v (View next screen) to move to the next screen. | |
24 (go ahead, do it by holding down the control key while typing v). | |
25 From now on, you should do this again whenever you finish | |
26 reading the screen. | |
27 | |
28 Note that there is an overlap of two lines when you move from screen | |
29 to screen; this provides some continuity so you can continue reading | |
30 the text. | |
31 | |
32 The first thing that you need to know is how to move around from place | |
33 to place in the text. You already know how to move forward one screen, | |
34 with C-v. To move backwards one screen, type M-v (hold down the META key | |
35 and type v, or type <ESC>v if you do not have a META, EDIT, or ALT key). | |
36 | |
37 >> Try typing M-v and then C-v, a few times. | |
38 | |
39 | |
40 * SUMMARY | |
41 --------- | |
42 | |
43 The following commands are useful for viewing screenfuls: | |
44 | |
45 C-v Move forward one screenful | |
46 M-v Move backward one screenful | |
47 C-l Clear screen and redisplay everything | |
48 putting the text near the cursor at the center. | |
49 (That's control-L, not control-1.) | |
50 | |
51 >> Find the cursor, and note what text is near it. | |
52 Then type C-l. | |
53 Find the cursor again and notice that the same text | |
54 is near the cursor now. | |
55 | |
56 | |
57 * BASIC CURSOR CONTROL | |
58 ---------------------- | |
59 | |
60 Moving from screenful to screenful is useful, but how do you | |
61 move to a specific place within the text on the screen? | |
62 | |
63 There are several ways you can do this. The most basic way is to use | |
64 the commands C-p, C-b, C-f, and C-n. Each of these commands moves the | |
65 cursor one row or column in a particular direction on the screen. | |
66 Here is a table showing these four commands and shows the directions | |
67 they move: | |
68 | |
69 Previous line, C-p | |
70 : | |
71 : | |
72 Backward, C-b .... Current cursor position .... Forward, C-f | |
73 : | |
74 : | |
75 Next line, C-n | |
76 | |
77 >> Move the cursor to the line in the middle of that diagram | |
78 using C-n or C-p. Then type C-l to see the whole diagram | |
79 centered in the screen. | |
80 | |
81 You'll probably find it easy to think of these by letter: P for | |
82 previous, N for next, B for backward and F for forward. These are the | |
83 basic cursor positioning commands, and you'll be using them ALL the | |
84 time, so it would be of great benefit if you learn them now. | |
85 | |
86 >> Do a few C-n's to bring the cursor down to this line. | |
87 | |
88 >> Move into the line with C-f's and then up with C-p's. | |
89 See what C-p does when the cursor is in the middle of the line. | |
90 | |
91 Each of text line ends with a Newline character, which serves to | |
92 separate it from the following line. The last line in your file ought | |
93 to have a Newline at the end (but Emacs does not require it to have | |
94 one). | |
95 | |
96 >> Try to C-b at the beginning of a line. It should move to | |
97 the end of the previous line. This is because it moves back | |
98 across the Newline character. | |
99 | |
100 C-f can move across a Newline just like C-b. | |
101 | |
102 >> Do a few more C-b's, so you get a feel for where the cursor is. | |
103 Then do C-f's to return to the end of the line. | |
104 Then do one more C-f to move to the following line. | |
105 | |
106 When you move past the top or bottom of the screen, the text beyond | |
107 the edge shifts onto the screen. This is called "scrolling". It | |
108 enables Emacs to move the cursor to the specified place in the text | |
109 without moving it off the screen. | |
110 | |
111 >> Try to move the cursor off the bottom of the screen with C-n, and | |
112 see what happens. | |
113 | |
114 If moving by characters is too slow, you can move by words. M-f | |
115 (Meta-f) moves forward a word and M-b moves back a word. | |
116 | |
117 >> Type a few M-f's and M-b's. | |
118 | |
119 When you are in the middle of a word, M-f moves to the end of the word. | |
120 When you are in whitespace between words, M-f moves to the end of the | |
121 following word. M-b works likewise in the opposite direction. | |
122 | |
123 >> Type M-f and M-b a few times, interspersed with C-f's and C-b's | |
124 so that you can observe the action of M-f and M-b from various | |
125 places inside and between words. | |
126 | |
127 Notice the parallel between C-f and C-b on the one hand, and M-f and | |
128 M-b on the other hand. Very often Meta characters are used for | |
129 operations related to the units defined by language (words, sentences, | |
130 paragraphs), while Control characters operate on basic units that are | |
131 independent of what you are editing (characters, lines, etc). | |
132 | |
133 This parallel applies between lines and sentences: C-a and C-e move to | |
134 the beginning or end of a line, and M-a and M-e move to the beginning | |
135 or end of a sentence. | |
136 | |
137 >> Try a couple of C-a's, and then a couple of C-e's. | |
138 Try a couple of M-a's, and then a couple of M-e's. | |
139 | |
140 See how repeated C-a's do nothing, but repeated M-a's keep moving one | |
141 more sentence. Although these are not quite analogous, each one seems | |
142 natural. | |
143 | |
144 The location of the cursor in the text is also called "point". To | |
145 paraphrase, the cursor shows on the screen where point is located in | |
146 the text. | |
147 | |
148 Here is a summary of simple cursor-moving operations, including the | |
149 word and sentence moving commands: | |
150 | |
151 C-f Move forward a character | |
152 C-b Move backward a character | |
153 | |
154 M-f Move forward a word | |
155 M-b Move backward a word | |
156 | |
157 C-n Move to next line | |
158 C-p Move to previous line | |
159 | |
160 C-a Move to beginning of line | |
161 C-e Move to end of line | |
162 | |
163 M-a Move back to beginning of sentence | |
164 M-e Move forward to end of sentence | |
165 | |
166 >> Try all of these commands now a few times for practice. | |
167 These are the most often used commands. | |
168 | |
169 Two other important cursor motion commands are M-< (Meta Less-than), | |
170 which moves to the beginning of the whole text, and M-> (Meta | |
171 Greater-than), which moves to the end of the whole text. | |
172 | |
173 On most terminals, the "<" is above the comma, so you must use the | |
174 shift key to type it. On these terminals you must use the shift key | |
175 to type M-< also; without the shift key, you would be typing M-comma. | |
176 | |
177 >> Try M-< now, to move to the beginning of the tutorial. | |
178 Then use C-v repeatedly to move back here. | |
179 | |
180 >> Try M-> now, to move to the end of the tutorial. | |
181 Then use M-v repeatedly to move back here. | |
182 | |
183 You can also move the cursor with the arrow keys, if your terminal has | |
184 arrow keys. We recommend learning C-b, C-f, C-n and C-p for three | |
185 reasons. First, they work on all kinds of terminals. Second, once | |
186 you gain practice at using Emacs, you will find that typing these CTRL | |
187 characters is faster than typing the arrow keys (because you do not | |
188 have to move your hands away from touch-typing position). Third, once | |
189 you form the habit of using these CTRL character commands, you can | |
190 easily learn to use other advanced cursor motion commands as well. | |
191 | |
192 Most Emacs commands accept a numeric argument; for most commands, this | |
193 serves as a repeat-count. The way you give a command a repeat count | |
194 is by typing C-u and then the digits before you type the command. If | |
195 you have a META (or EDIT or ALT) key, there is another alternative way | |
196 to enter a numeric argument: type the digits while holding down the | |
197 META key. We recommend learning the C-u method because it works on | |
198 any terminal. | |
199 | |
200 For instance, C-u 8 C-f moves forward eight characters. | |
201 | |
202 >> Try using C-n or C-p with a numeric argument, to move the cursor | |
203 to a line near this one with just one command. | |
204 | |
205 Most commands use the numeric argument as a repeat count. Certain | |
206 exceptional commands use it differently. C-v and M-v are among the | |
207 exceptions. When given an argument, they scroll the screen up or down | |
208 by that many lines, rather than by a screenfuls. For example, C-u 4 | |
209 C-v scrolls the screen by 4 lines. | |
210 | |
211 >> Try typing C-u 8 C-v now. | |
212 | |
213 This should have scrolled the screen up by 8 lines. If you would like | |
214 to scroll it down again, you can give an argument to M-v. | |
215 | |
216 If you are using the X Window system, there is probably a rectangular | |
217 area called a scroll bar at the right hand side of the Emacs window. | |
218 You can scroll the text by manipulating the scroll bar with the mouse. | |
219 | |
220 >> Try pressing the middle button at the top of the highlighted area | |
221 within the scroll bar. This should scroll the text to a position | |
222 determined by how high or low you click. | |
223 | |
224 >> Move the mouse to a point in the scroll bar about three lines from | |
225 the top, and click the left button a couple of times. | |
226 | |
227 | |
228 * CURSOR CONTROL WITH AN X TERMINAL | |
229 ----------------------------------- | |
230 | |
231 If you have an X terminal, you will probably find it easier to use | |
232 the keys on the keypad to control the cursor. The left, right, up, | |
233 and down arrow keys move in the expected direction; they function | |
234 exactly like C-b, C-f, C-p, and C-n, but are easier to type and to | |
235 remember. You can also use C-left and C-right to move by words, and | |
236 C-up and C-down to move by blocks (e.g. paragraphs, if you're | |
237 editing text). If you have keys labelled HOME (or BEGIN) and END, | |
238 they will take you to the beginning and end of a line, respectively, | |
239 and C-home and C-end will move to the beginning and end of the file. | |
240 If your keyboard has PgUp and PgDn keys, you can use them to move up | |
241 and down a screenful at a time, like M-v and C-v. | |
242 | |
243 All of these commands can take numeric arguments, as described above. | |
244 You can use a shortcut to enter these arguments: just hold down the | |
245 CONTROL or META key and type the number. For example, to move 12 | |
246 words to the right, type C-1 C-2 C-right. Note that it is very easy | |
247 to type this because you do not have to release the CONTROL key | |
248 between keystrokes. | |
249 | |
250 | |
251 * WHEN EMACS IS HUNG | |
252 -------------------- | |
253 | |
254 If Emacs stops responding to your commands, you can stop it safely by | |
255 typing C-g. You can use C-g to stop a command which is taking too | |
256 long to execute. | |
257 | |
258 You can also use C-g to discard a numeric argument or the beginning of | |
259 a command that you do not want to finish. | |
260 | |
261 >> Type C-u 100 to make a numeric arg of 100, then type C-g. | |
262 Now type C-f. It should move just one character, | |
263 because you canceled the argument with C-g. | |
264 | |
265 If you have typed an <ESC> by mistake, you can get rid of it | |
266 with a C-g. | |
267 | |
268 | |
269 * DISABLED COMMANDS | |
270 ------------------- | |
271 | |
272 Some Emacs commands are "disabled" so that beginning users cannot use | |
273 them by accident. | |
274 | |
275 If you type one of the disabled commands, Emacs displays a message | |
276 saying what the command was, and asking you whether you want to go | |
277 ahead and execute the command. | |
278 | |
279 If you really want to try the command, type Space in answer to the | |
280 question. Normally, if you do not want to execute the disabled | |
281 command, answer the question with "n". | |
282 | |
283 >> Type `C-x n p' (which is a disabled command), | |
284 then type n to answer the question. | |
285 | |
286 | |
287 * WINDOWS | |
288 --------- | |
289 | |
290 Emacs can have several windows, each displaying its own text. | |
291 Note that "window" as used by Emacs does not refer to separate | |
292 overlapping windows in the window system, but to separate panes | |
293 within a single X window. (Emacs can also have multiple X | |
294 windows, or "frames" in Emacs terminology. This is described | |
295 later.) | |
296 | |
297 At this stage it is better not to go into the techniques of | |
298 using multiple windows. But you do need to know how to get | |
299 rid of extra windows that may appear to display help or | |
300 output from certain commands. It is simple: | |
301 | |
302 C-x 1 One window (i.e., kill all other windows). | |
303 | |
304 That is Control-x followed by the digit 1. C-x 1 expands the window | |
305 which contains the cursor, to occupy the full screen. It deletes all | |
306 other windows. | |
307 | |
308 >> Move the cursor to this line and type C-u 0 C-l. | |
309 | |
310 (Remember that C-l redraws the screen. If you give a | |
311 numeric argument to this command, it means "redraw the | |
312 screen and put the current line that many lines from the | |
313 top of the screen." So C-u 0 C-l means "redraw the | |
314 screen, putting the current line at the top.") | |
315 | |
316 >> Type Control-x 2 | |
317 See how this window shrinks, while a new one appears | |
318 to display contents of this buffer. | |
319 | |
320 >> Type C-x 1 and see the new window disappear. | |
321 | |
322 | |
323 * INSERTING AND DELETING | |
324 ------------------------ | |
325 | |
326 If you want to insert text, just type the text. Characters which you | |
327 can see, such as A, 7, *, etc. are taken by Emacs as text and inserted | |
328 immediately. Type <Return> (the carriage-return key) to insert a | |
329 Newline character. | |
330 | |
331 You can delete the last character you typed by typing <Delete>. | |
332 <Delete> is a key on the keyboard, which may be labeled "Del". In | |
333 some cases, the "Backspace" key serves as <Delete>, but not always! | |
334 | |
335 More generally, <Delete> deletes the character immediately before the | |
336 current cursor position. | |
337 | |
338 >> Do this now--type a few characters, then delete them | |
339 by typing <Delete> a few times. Don't worry about this file | |
340 being changed; you will not alter the master tutorial. This is | |
341 your personal copy of it. | |
342 | |
343 When a line of text gets too big for one line on the screen, the line | |
344 of text is "continued" onto a second screen line. A backslash ("\") | |
345 at the right margin indicates a line which has been continued. | |
346 | |
347 >> Insert text until you reach the right margin, and keep on inserting. | |
348 You'll see a continuation line appear. | |
349 | |
350 >> Use <Delete>s to delete the text until the line fits on one screen | |
351 line again. The continuation line goes away. | |
352 | |
353 You can delete a Newline character just like any other character. | |
354 Deleting the Newline character between two lines merges them into | |
355 one line. If the resulting combined line is too long to fit in the | |
356 screen width, it will be displayed with a continuation line. | |
357 | |
358 >> Move the cursor to the beginning of a line and type <Delete>. This | |
359 merges that line with the previous line. | |
360 | |
361 >> Type <Return> to reinsert the Newline you deleted. | |
362 | |
363 Remember that most Emacs commands can be given a repeat count; | |
364 this includes text characters. Repeating a text character inserts | |
365 it several times. | |
366 | |
367 >> Try that now -- type C-u 8 * to insert ********. | |
368 | |
369 You've now learned the most basic way of typing something in | |
370 Emacs and correcting errors. You can delete by words or lines | |
371 as well. Here is a summary of the delete operations: | |
372 | |
373 <Delete> delete the character just before the cursor | |
374 C-d delete the next character after the cursor | |
375 | |
376 M-<Delete> kill the word immediately before the cursor | |
377 M-d kill the next word after the cursor | |
378 | |
379 C-k kill from the cursor position to end of line | |
380 M-k kill to the end of the current sentence | |
381 | |
382 Notice that <Delete> and C-d vs M-<Delete> and M-d extend the parallel | |
383 started by C-f and M-f (well, <Delete> is not really a control | |
384 character, but let's not worry about that). C-k and M-k are like C-e | |
385 and M-e, sort of, in that lines are opposite sentences. | |
386 | |
387 When you delete more than one character at a time, Emacs saves the | |
388 deleted text so that you can bring it back. Bringing back killed text | |
389 is called "yanking". You can yank the killed text either at the same | |
390 place where it was killed, or at some other place in the text. You | |
391 can yank the text several times in order to make multiple copies of | |
392 it. The command to yank is C-y. | |
393 | |
394 Note that the difference between "Killing" and "Deleting" something is | |
395 that "Killed" things can be yanked back, and "Deleted" things cannot. | |
396 Generally, the commands that can remove a lot of text save the text, | |
397 while the commands that delete just one character, or just blank lines | |
398 and spaces, do not save the deleted text. | |
399 | |
400 >> Move the cursor to the beginning of a line which is not empty. | |
401 Then type C-k to kill the text on that line. | |
402 >> Type C-k a second time. You'll see that it kills the Newline | |
403 which follows that line. | |
404 | |
405 Note that a single C-k kills the contents of the line, and a second | |
406 C-k kills the line itself, and make all the other lines move up. C-k | |
407 treats a numeric argument specially: it kills that many lines AND | |
408 their contents. This is not mere repetition. C-u 2 C-k kills two | |
409 lines and their newlines; typing C-k twice would not do that. | |
410 | |
411 To retrieve the last killed text and put it where the cursor currently | |
412 is, type C-y. | |
413 | |
414 >> Try it; type C-y to yank the text back. | |
415 | |
416 Think of C-y as if you were yanking something back that someone took | |
417 away from you. Notice that if you do several C-k's in a row, all of | |
418 the killed text is saved together, so that one C-y will yank all of | |
419 the lines. | |
420 | |
421 >> Do this now, type C-k several times. | |
422 | |
423 Now to retrieve that killed text: | |
424 | |
425 >> Type C-y. Then move the cursor down a few lines and type C-y | |
426 again. You now see how to copy some text. | |
427 | |
428 What do you do if you have some text you want to yank back, and then | |
429 you kill something else? C-y would yank the more recent kill. But | |
430 the previous text is not lost. You can get back to it using the M-y | |
431 command. After you have done C-y to get the most recent kill, typing | |
432 M-y replaces that yanked text with the previous kill. Typing M-y | |
433 again and again brings in earlier and earlier kills. When you have | |
434 reached the text you are looking for, you do not have to do anything to | |
435 keep it. Just go on with your editing, leaving the yanked text where | |
436 it is. | |
437 | |
438 If you M-y enough times, you come back to the starting point (the most | |
439 recent kill). | |
440 | |
441 >> Kill a line, move around, kill another line. | |
442 Then do C-y to get back the second killed line. | |
443 Then do M-y and it will be replaced by the first killed line. | |
444 Do more M-y's and see what you get. Keep doing them until | |
445 the second kill line comes back, and then a few more. | |
446 If you like, you can try giving M-y positive and negative | |
447 arguments. | |
448 | |
449 | |
450 * UNDO | |
451 ------ | |
452 | |
453 If you make a change to the text, and then decide that it was a | |
454 mistake, you can undo the change with the undo command, C-x u. | |
455 | |
456 Normally, C-x u undoes the changes made by one command; if you repeat | |
457 the C-x u several times in a row, each repetition undoes one | |
458 additional command. | |
459 | |
460 But there are two exceptions: commands that do not change the text do | |
461 not count (this includes cursor motion commands and scrolling | |
462 command), and self-inserting characters are usually handled in groups | |
463 of up to 20. (This is to reduce the number of C-x u's you have to | |
464 type to undo insertion of text.) | |
465 | |
466 >> Kill this line with C-k, then type C-x u and it should reappear. | |
467 | |
468 C-_ is an alternative undo command; it works just the same as C-x u, | |
469 but it is easier to type several times in a row. The disadvantage of | |
470 C-_ is that on some keyboards it is not obvious how to type it. That | |
471 is why we provide C-x u as well. On some terminals, you can type C-_ | |
472 by typing / while holding down CTRL. | |
473 | |
474 A numeric argument to C-_ or C-x u acts as a repeat count. | |
475 | |
476 | |
477 * FILES | |
478 ------- | |
479 | |
480 In order to make the text you edit permanent, you must put it in a | |
481 file. Otherwise, it will go away when your invocation of Emacs goes | |
482 away. You put your editing in a file by "finding" the file. (This is | |
483 also called "visiting" the file.) | |
484 | |
485 Finding a file means that you see the contents of the file within | |
486 Emacs. In many ways, it is as if you were editing the file itself. | |
487 However, the changes you make using Emacs do not become permanent | |
488 until you "save" the file. This is so you can avoid leaving a | |
489 half-changed file on the system when you do not want to. Even when | |
490 you save, Emacs leaves the original file under a changed name in case | |
491 you later decide that your changes were a mistake. | |
492 | |
493 If you look near the bottom of the screen you will see a line that | |
494 begins and ends with dashes, and contains the string "Emacs: | |
495 TUTORIAL". This part of the screen always shows the name of the file | |
496 that you are visiting. Right now, you are visiting a file called | |
497 "TUTORIAL" which is your personal scratch copy of the Emacs tutorial. | |
498 Whatever file you find, that file's name will appear in that precise | |
499 spot. | |
500 | |
501 The commands for finding and saving files are unlike the other | |
502 commands you have learned in that they consist of two characters. | |
503 They both start with the character Control-x. There is a whole series | |
504 of commands that start with Control-x; many of them have to do with | |
505 files, buffers, and related things. These commands are two, three or | |
506 four characters long. | |
507 | |
508 Another thing about the command for finding a file is that you have | |
509 to say what file name you want. We say the command "reads an argument | |
510 from the terminal" (in this case, the argument is the name of the | |
511 file). After you type the command | |
512 | |
513 C-x C-f Find a file | |
514 | |
515 Emacs asks you to type the file name. The file name you type appears | |
516 on the bottom line of the screen. The bottom line is called the | |
517 minibuffer when it is used for this sort of input. You can use | |
518 ordinary Emacs editing commands to edit the file name. | |
519 | |
520 While you are entering the file name (or any minibuffer input), | |
521 you can cancel the command with C-g. | |
522 | |
523 >> Type C-x C-f, then type C-g. This cancels the minibuffer, | |
524 and also cancels the C-x C-f command that was using the | |
525 minibuffer. So you do not find any file. | |
526 | |
527 When you have finished entering the file name, type <Return> to | |
528 terminate it. Then C-x C-f command goes to work, and finds the file | |
529 you chose. The minibuffer disappears when the C-x C-f command is | |
530 finished. | |
531 | |
532 In a little while the file contents appear on the screen, and you can | |
533 edit the contents. When you wish to make your changes permanent, | |
534 type the command | |
535 | |
536 C-x C-s Save the file | |
537 | |
538 This copies the text within Emacs into the file. The first time you | |
539 do this, Emacs renames the original file to a new name so that it is | |
540 not lost. The new name is made by adding "~" to the end of the | |
541 original file's name. | |
542 | |
543 When saving is finished, Emacs prints the name of the file written. | |
544 You should save fairly often, so that you will not lose very much | |
545 work if the system should crash. | |
546 | |
547 >> Type C-x C-s, saving your copy of the tutorial. | |
548 This should print "Wrote ...TUTORIAL" at the bottom of the screen. | |
549 | |
550 NOTE: On some systems, typing C-x C-s will freeze the screen and you | |
551 will see no further output from Emacs. This indicates that an | |
552 operating system "feature" called "flow control" is intercepting the | |
553 C-s and not letting it get through to Emacs. To unfreeze the screen, | |
554 type C-q. Then see the section "Spontaneous Entry to Incremental | |
555 Search" in the Emacs manual for advice on dealing with this "feature". | |
556 | |
557 You can find an existing file, to view it or edit it. You can also | |
558 find a file which does not already exist. This is the way to create a | |
559 file with Emacs: find the file, which will start out empty, and then | |
560 begin inserting the text for the file. When you ask to "save" the | |
561 file, Emacs will really create the file with the text that you have | |
562 inserted. From then on, you can consider yourself to be editing an | |
563 already existing file. | |
564 | |
565 | |
566 * BUFFERS | |
567 --------- | |
568 | |
569 If you find a second file with C-x C-f, the first file remains | |
570 inside Emacs. You can switch back to it by finding it again with | |
571 C-x C-f. This way you can get quite a number of files inside Emacs. | |
572 | |
573 >> Create a file named "foo" by typing C-x C-f foo <Return>. | |
574 Then insert some text, edit it, and save "foo" by typing C-x C-s. | |
575 Finally, type C-x C-f TUTORIAL <Return> | |
576 to come back to the tutorial. | |
577 | |
578 Emacs stores each file's text inside an object called a "buffer." | |
579 Finding a file makes a new buffer inside Emacs. To see a list of the | |
580 buffers that current exist in your Emacs job, type | |
581 | |
582 C-x C-b List buffers | |
583 | |
584 >> Try C-x C-b now. | |
585 | |
586 See how each buffer has a name, and it may also have a file name | |
587 for the file whose contents it holds. Some buffers do not correspond | |
588 to files. For example, the buffer named "*Buffer List*" does | |
589 not have any file. It is the buffer which contains the buffer | |
590 list that was made by C-x C-b. ANY text you see in an Emacs window | |
591 is always part of some buffer. | |
592 | |
593 >> Type C-x 1 to get rid of the buffer list. | |
594 | |
595 If you make changes to the text of one file, then find another file, | |
596 this does not save the first file. Its changes remain inside Emacs, | |
597 in that file's buffer. The creation or editing of the second file's | |
598 buffer has no effect on the first file's buffer. This is very useful, | |
599 but it also means that you need a convenient way to save the first | |
600 file's buffer. It would be a nuisance to have to switch back to | |
601 it with C-x C-f in order to save it with C-x C-s. So we have | |
602 | |
603 C-x s Save some buffers | |
604 | |
605 C-x s asks you about each buffer which contains changes that you have | |
606 not saved. It asks you, for each such buffer, whether to save the | |
607 buffer. | |
608 | |
609 >> Insert a line of text, then type C-x s. | |
610 It should ask you whether to save the buffer named TUTORIAL. | |
611 Answer yes to the question by typing "y". | |
612 | |
613 * USING THE MENU | |
614 ---------------- | |
615 | |
616 If you are on an X terminal, you will notice a menubar at the | |
617 top of the Emacs screen. You can use this menubar to access all | |
618 the most common Emacs commands, such as "find file". You will | |
619 find this easier at first, because you don't need to remember | |
620 the keystrokes necessary to access any particular command. Once | |
621 you are comfortable with Emacs, it will be easy to begin using | |
622 the keyboard commands because each menu item with a | |
623 corresponding keyboard command has the command listed next to | |
624 it. | |
625 | |
626 Note that there are many items in the menubar that have no exact | |
627 keyboard equivalents. For example, the Buffers menu lists all | |
628 of the available buffers in most-recently used order. You can | |
629 switch to any buffer by simply findings its name in the Buffers | |
630 menu and selecting it. | |
631 | |
632 | |
633 * USING THE MOUSE | |
634 ----------------- | |
635 | |
636 When running under X, Emacs is fully integrated with the mouse. | |
637 You can position the text cursor by clicking the left button at | |
638 the desired location, and you can select text by dragging the | |
639 left mouse button across the text you want to select. (Or | |
640 alternatively, click the left mouse button at one end of the | |
641 text, then move to the other end and use Shift-click to select | |
642 the text.) | |
643 | |
644 To kill some selected text, you can use C-w or choose the Cut | |
645 item from the Edit menu. Note that these are *not* equivalent: | |
646 C-w only saves the text internally within Emacs (similar to C-k | |
647 as described above), whereas Cut does this and also puts the | |
648 text into the X clipboard, where it can be accessed by other | |
649 applications. | |
650 | |
651 To retrieve text from the X clipboard, use the Paste item from | |
652 the Edit menu. | |
653 | |
654 The middle mouse button is commonly used to choose items that | |
655 are visible on the screen. For example, if you enter Info (the | |
656 on-line Emacs documentation) using C-h i or the Help menu, you | |
657 can follow a highlighted link by clicking the middle mouse | |
658 button on it. Similarly, if you are typing a file name in | |
659 (e.g. when prompted by "Find File") and you hit TAB to show the | |
660 possible completions, you can click the middle mouse button on | |
661 one of the completions to select it. | |
662 | |
663 The right mouse button brings up a popup menu. The contents of | |
664 this menu vary depending on what mode you're in, and usually | |
665 contain a few commonly used commands, so they're easier to | |
666 access. | |
667 | |
668 >> Press the right mouse button now. | |
669 | |
670 You will have to hold the button down in order to keep the | |
671 menu up. | |
672 | |
673 | |
674 * EXTENDING THE COMMAND SET | |
675 --------------------------- | |
676 | |
677 There are many, many more Emacs commands than could possibly be put | |
678 on all the control and meta characters. Emacs gets around this with | |
679 the X (eXtend) command. This comes in two flavors: | |
680 | |
681 C-x Character eXtend. Followed by one character. | |
682 M-x Named command eXtend. Followed by a long name. | |
683 | |
684 These are commands that are generally useful but used less than the | |
685 commands you have already learned about. You have already seen two of | |
686 them: the file commands C-x C-f to Find and C-x C-s to Save. Another | |
687 example is the command to end the Emacs session--this is the command | |
688 C-x C-c. (Do not worry about losing changes you have made; C-x C-c | |
689 offers to save each changed file before it kills the Emacs.) | |
690 | |
691 C-z is the command to exit Emacs *temporarily*--so that you can go | |
692 back to the same Emacs session afterward. | |
693 | |
694 On systems which allow it, C-z "suspends" Emacs; that is, it returns | |
695 to the shell but does not destroy the Emacs. In the most common | |
696 shells, you can resume Emacs with the `fg' command or with `%emacs'. | |
697 | |
698 On systems which do not implement suspending, C-z creates a subshell | |
699 running under Emacs to give you the chance to run other programs and | |
700 return to Emacs afterward; it does not truly "exit" from Emacs. In | |
701 this case, the shell command `exit' is the usual way to get back to | |
702 Emacs from the subshell. | |
703 | |
704 The time to use C-x C-c is when you are about to log out. It's also | |
705 the right thing to use to exit an Emacs invoked under mail handling | |
706 programs and other miscellaneous utilities, since they may not know | |
707 how to cope with suspension of Emacs. In ordinary circumstances, | |
708 though, if you are not about to log out, it is better to suspend Emacs | |
709 with C-z instead of exiting Emacs. | |
710 | |
711 There are many C-x commands. Here is a list of the ones you have learned: | |
712 | |
713 C-x C-f Find file. | |
714 C-x C-s Save file. | |
715 C-x C-b List buffers. | |
716 C-x C-c Quit Emacs. | |
717 C-x u Undo. | |
718 | |
719 Named eXtended commands are commands which are used even less | |
720 frequently, or commands which are used only in certain modes. An | |
721 example is the command replace-string, which globally replaces one | |
722 string with another. When you type M-x, Emacs prompts you at the | |
723 bottom of the screen with M-x and you should type the name of the | |
724 command; in this case, "replace-string". Just type "repl s<TAB>" and | |
725 Emacs will complete the name. End the command name with <Return>. | |
726 | |
727 The replace-string command requires two arguments--the string to be | |
728 replaced, and the string to replace it with. You must end each | |
729 argument with <Return>. | |
730 | |
731 >> Move the cursor to the blank line two lines below this one. | |
732 Then type M-x repl s<Return>changed<Return>altered<Return>. | |
733 | |
734 Notice how this line has changed: you've replaced | |
735 the word c-h-a-n-g-e-d with "altered" wherever it occurred, | |
736 after the initial position of the cursor. | |
737 | |
738 | |
739 * AUTO SAVE | |
740 ----------- | |
741 | |
742 When you have made changes in a file, but you have not saved them yet, | |
743 they could be lost if your computer crashes. To protect you from | |
744 this, Emacs periodically writes an "auto save" file for each file that | |
745 you are editing. The auto save file name has a # at the beginning and | |
746 the end; for example, if your file is named "hello.c", its auto save | |
747 file's name is "#hello.c#". When you save the file in the normal way, | |
748 Emacs deletes its auto save file. | |
749 | |
750 If the computer crashes, you can recover your auto-saved editing by | |
751 finding the file normally (the file you were editing, not the auto | |
752 save file) and then typing M-x recover file<return>. When it asks for | |
753 confirmation, type yes<return> to go ahead and recover the auto-save | |
754 data. | |
755 | |
756 | |
757 * ECHO AREA | |
758 ----------- | |
759 | |
760 If Emacs sees that you are typing commands slowly it shows them to you | |
761 at the bottom of the screen in an area called the "echo area." The echo | |
762 area contains the bottom line of the screen. | |
763 | |
764 | |
765 * MODELINE | |
766 ----------- | |
767 | |
768 The line immediately above the echo area it is called the "modeline". | |
769 The mode line says something like this: | |
770 | |
771 --**-XEmacs: TUTORIAL (Fundamental)--L670--58%---------------- | |
772 | |
773 This line gives useful information about the status of Emacs and | |
774 the text you are editing. | |
775 | |
776 You already know what the filename means--it is the file you have | |
777 found. -NN%-- indicates your current position in the text; it means | |
778 that NN percent of the text is above the top of the screen. If the | |
779 top of the file is on the screen, it will say --Top-- instead of | |
780 --00%--. If the bottom of the text is on the screen, it will say | |
781 --Bot--. If you are looking at text so small that all of it fits on | |
782 the screen, the mode line says --All--. | |
783 | |
784 The stars near the front mean that you have made changes to the text. | |
785 Right after you visit or save a file, that part of the mode line shows | |
786 no stars, just dashes. | |
787 | |
788 The part of the mode line inside the parentheses is to tell you what | |
789 editing modes you are in. The default mode is Fundamental which is | |
790 what you are using now. It is an example of a "major mode". | |
791 | |
792 Emacs has many different major modes. Some of them are meant for | |
793 editing different languages and/or kinds of text, such as Lisp mode, | |
794 Text mode, etc. At any time one and only one major mode is active, | |
795 and its name can always be found in the mode line just where | |
796 "Fundamental" is now. | |
797 | |
798 Each major mode makes a few commands behave differently. For example, | |
799 there are commands for creating comments in a program, and since each | |
800 programming language has a different idea of what a comment should | |
801 look like, each major mode has to insert comments differently. Each | |
802 major mode is the name of an extended command, which is how you can | |
803 switch to that mode. For example, M-x fundamental-mode is a command to | |
804 switch to Fundamental mode. | |
805 | |
806 If you are going to be editing English text, such as this file, you | |
807 should probably use Text Mode. | |
808 >> Type M-x text-mode<Return>. | |
809 | |
810 Don't worry, none of the commands you have learned changes Emacs in | |
811 any great way. But you can observe that M-f and M-b now treat | |
812 apostrophes as part of words. Previously, in Fundamental mode, | |
813 M-f and M-b treated apostrophes as word-separators. | |
814 | |
815 Major modes usually make subtle changes like that one: most commands | |
816 do "the same job" in each major mode, but they work a little bit | |
817 differently. | |
818 | |
819 To view documentation on your current major mode, type C-h m. | |
820 | |
821 >> Use C-u C-v once or more to bring this line near the top of screen. | |
822 >> Type C-h m, to see how Text mode differs from Fundamental mode. | |
823 >> Type q to remove the documentation from the screen. | |
824 | |
825 Major modes are called major because there are also minor modes. | |
826 Minor modes are alternatives not to the major modes, just minor | |
827 modifications of them. Each minor mode can be turned on or off by | |
828 itself, independent of all other minor modes, and independent of your | |
829 major mode. So you can use no minor modes, or one minor mode, or any | |
830 combination of several minor modes. | |
831 | |
832 One minor mode which is very useful, especially for editing English | |
833 text, is Auto Fill mode. When this mode is on, Emacs breaks the line | |
834 in between words automatically whenever you insert text and make a | |
835 line that is too wide. | |
836 | |
837 You can turn Auto Fill mode on by doing M-x auto-fill-mode<Return>. | |
838 When the mode is on, you can turn it off by doing M-x | |
839 auto-fill-mode<Return>. If the mode is off, this command turns it on, | |
840 and if the mode is on, this command turns it off. We say that the | |
841 command "toggles the mode". | |
842 | |
843 >> Type M-x auto-fill-mode<Return> now. Then insert a line of "asdf " | |
844 over again until you see it divide into two lines. You must put in | |
845 spaces between them because Auto Fill breaks lines only at spaces. | |
846 | |
847 The margin is usually set at 70 characters, but you can change it | |
848 with the C-x f command. You should give the margin setting you want | |
849 as a numeric argument. | |
850 | |
851 >> Type C-x f with an argument of 20. (C-u 2 0 C-x f). | |
852 Then type in some text and see Emacs fill lines of 20 | |
853 characters with it. Then set the margin back to 70 using | |
854 C-x f again. | |
855 | |
856 If you makes changes in the middle of a paragraph, Auto Fill mode | |
857 does not re-fill it for you. | |
858 To re-fill the paragraph, type M-q (Meta-q) with the cursor inside | |
859 that paragraph. | |
860 | |
861 >> Move the cursor into the previous paragraph and type M-q. | |
862 | |
863 | |
864 * SEARCHING | |
865 ----------- | |
866 | |
867 Emacs can do searches for strings (these are groups of contiguous | |
868 characters or words) either forward through the text or backward | |
869 through it. Searching for a string is a cursor motion command; | |
870 it moves the cursor to the next place where that string appears. | |
871 | |
872 The Emacs search command is different from the search commands | |
873 of most editors, in that it is "incremental". This means that the | |
874 search happens while you type in the string to search for. | |
875 | |
876 The command to initiate a search is C-s for forward search, and C-r | |
877 for reverse search. BUT WAIT! Don't try them now. | |
878 | |
879 When you type C-s you'll notice that the string "I-search" appears as | |
880 a prompt in the echo area. This tells you that Emacs is in what is | |
881 called an incremental search waiting for you to type the thing that | |
882 you want to search for. <Return> terminates a search. | |
883 | |
884 >> Now type C-s to start a search. SLOWLY, one letter at a time, | |
885 type the word 'cursor', pausing after you type each | |
886 character to notice what happens to the cursor. | |
887 Now you have searched for "cursor", once. | |
888 >> Type C-s again, to search for the next occurrence of "cursor". | |
889 >> Now type <Delete> four times and see how the cursor moves. | |
890 >> Type <RET> to terminate the search. | |
891 | |
892 Did you see what happened? Emacs, in an incremental search, tries to | |
893 go to the occurrence of the string that you've typed out so far, | |
894 highlighting it for your convenience. To go to the next occurrence of | |
895 'cursor' just type C-s again. If no such occurrence exists Emacs | |
896 beeps and tells you the search is currently "failing", C-g would also | |
897 terminate the search. | |
898 | |
899 NOTE: On some systems, typing C-s will freeze the screen and you will | |
900 see no further output from Emacs. This indicates that an operating | |
901 system "feature" called "flow control" is intercepting the C-s and not | |
902 letting it get through to Emacs. To unfreeze the screen, type C-q. | |
903 Then see the section "Spontaneous Entry to Incremental Search" in the | |
904 Emacs manual for advice on dealing with this "feature". | |
905 | |
906 If you are in the middle of an incremental search and type <Delete>, | |
907 you'll notice that the last character in the search string is erased | |
908 and the search backs up to the last place of the search. For | |
909 instance, suppose you have typed "c", to search for the first | |
910 occurrence of "c". Now if you type "u", the cursor will move | |
911 to the first occurrence of "cu". Now type <Delete>. This erases | |
912 the "u" from the search string, and the cursor moves back to | |
913 the first occurrence of "c". | |
914 | |
915 If you are in the middle of a search and type a control or meta | |
916 character (with a few exceptions--characters that are special in | |
917 a search, such as C-s and C-r), the search is terminated. | |
918 | |
919 The C-s starts a search that looks for any occurrence of the search | |
920 string AFTER the current cursor position. If you want to search for | |
921 something earlier in the text, type C-r instead. Everything that we | |
922 have said about C-s also applies to C-r, except that the direction of | |
923 the search is reversed. | |
924 | |
925 | |
926 * MULTIPLE WINDOWS | |
927 ------------------ | |
928 | |
929 One of the nice features of Emacs is that you can display more than one | |
930 window on the screen at the same time. | |
931 | |
932 >> Move the cursor to this line and type C-u 0 C-l. | |
933 | |
934 >> Now type C-x 2 which splits the screen into two windows. | |
935 Both windows display this tutorial. The cursor stays in the top window. | |
936 | |
937 >> Type C-M-v to scroll the bottom window. | |
938 (If you do not have a real Meta key, type ESC C-v.) | |
939 | |
940 >> Type C-x o ("o" for "other") to move the cursor to the bottom window. | |
941 >> Use C-v and M-v in the bottom window to scroll it. | |
942 Keep reading these directions in the top window. | |
943 | |
944 >> Type C-x o again to move the cursor back to the top window. | |
945 The cursor in the top window is just where it was before. | |
946 | |
947 You can keep using C-x o to switch between the windows. Each | |
948 window has its own cursor position, but only one window actually | |
949 shows the cursor. All the ordinary editing commands apply to the | |
950 window that the cursor is in. We call this the "selected window". | |
951 | |
952 The command C-M-v is very useful when you are editing text in one | |
953 window and using the other window just for reference. You can keep | |
954 the cursor always in the window where you are editing, and advance | |
955 through the other window sequentially with C-M-v. | |
956 | |
957 C-M-v is an example of a CONTROL-META character. If you have a real | |
958 META key, you can type C-M-v by holding down both CTRL and META while | |
959 typing v. It does not matter whether CTRL or META "comes first," | |
960 because both of these keys act by modifying the characters you type. | |
961 | |
962 If you do not have a real META key, and you use ESC instead, the order | |
963 does matter: you must type ESC followed by CTRL-v; CTRL-ESC v will not | |
964 work. This is because ESC is a character in its own right, not a | |
965 modifier key. | |
966 | |
967 >> Type C-x 1 (in the top window) to get rid of the bottom window. | |
968 | |
969 (If you had typed C-x 1 in the bottom window, that would get rid | |
970 of the top one. Think of this command as "Keep just one | |
971 window--the window I am already in.") | |
972 | |
973 You do not have to display the same buffer in both windows. If you | |
974 use C-x C-f to find a file in one window, the other window does not | |
975 change. You can find a file in each window independently. | |
976 | |
977 Here is another way to use two windows to display two different | |
978 things: | |
979 | |
980 >> Type C-x 4 C-f followed by the name of one of your files. | |
981 End with <Return>. See the specified file appear in the bottom | |
982 window. The cursor goes there, too. | |
983 | |
984 >> Type C-x o to go back to the top window, and C-x 1 to delete | |
985 the bottom window. | |
986 | |
987 | |
988 * RECURSIVE EDITING LEVELS | |
989 -------------------------- | |
990 | |
991 Sometimes you will get into what is called a "recursive editing | |
992 level". This is indicated by square brackets in the mode line, | |
993 surrounding the parentheses around the major mode name. For | |
994 example, you might see [(Fundamental)] instead of (Fundamental). | |
995 | |
996 To get out of the recursive editing level, type ESC ESC ESC. That is | |
997 an all-purpose "get out" command. You can also use it for eliminating | |
998 extra windows, and getting out of the minibuffer. | |
999 | |
1000 >> Type M-x to get into a minibuffer; then type ESC ESC ESC to get out. | |
1001 | |
1002 You cannot use C-g to get out of a recursive editing level. This is | |
1003 because C-g is used for canceling commands and arguments WITHIN the | |
1004 recursive editing level. | |
1005 | |
1006 | |
1007 * GETTING MORE HELP | |
1008 ------------------- | |
1009 | |
1010 In this tutorial we have tried to supply just enough information to | |
1011 get you started using Emacs. There is so much available in Emacs that | |
1012 it would be impossible to explain it all here. However, you may want | |
1013 to learn more about Emacs since it has many other useful features. | |
1014 Emacs provides commands for reading documentation about Emacs | |
1015 commands. These "help" commands all start with the character | |
1016 Control-h, which is called "the Help character". | |
1017 | |
1018 To use the Help features, type the C-h character, and then a | |
1019 character saying what kind of help you want. If you are REALLY lost, | |
1020 type C-h ? and Emacs will tell you what kinds of help it can give. | |
1021 If you have typed C-h and decide you do not want any help, just | |
1022 type C-g to cancel it. | |
1023 | |
1024 (Some sites rebind the character C-h. They really should not do this | |
1025 as a blanket measure, so complain to the system administrator. | |
1026 Meanwhile, if C-h does not display a message about help at the bottom | |
1027 of the screen, try typing M-x help RET instead.) | |
1028 | |
1029 The most basic HELP feature is C-h c. Type C-h, a c, and a | |
1030 command character or sequence, and Emacs displays a very brief | |
1031 description of the command. | |
1032 | |
1033 >> Type C-h c Control-p. | |
1034 The message should be something like | |
1035 | |
1036 C-p runs the command previous-line | |
1037 | |
1038 This tells you the "name of the function". Function names are used | |
1039 mainly for customizing and extending Emacs. But since function names | |
1040 are chosen to indicate what the command does, they can serve also as | |
1041 very brief documentation--sufficient to remind you of commands you | |
1042 have already learned. | |
1043 | |
1044 Multi-character commands such as C-x C-s and (if you have no META or | |
1045 EDIT or ALT key) <ESC>v are also allowed after C-h c. | |
1046 | |
1047 To get more information about a command, use C-h k instead of C-h c. | |
1048 | |
1049 >> Type C-h k Control-p. | |
1050 | |
1051 This displays the documentation of the function, as well as its | |
1052 name, in an Emacs window. When you are finished reading the | |
1053 output, type q to get rid of the help text. | |
1054 | |
1055 Here are some other useful C-h options: | |
1056 | |
1057 C-h f Describe a function. You type in the name of the | |
1058 function. | |
1059 | |
1060 >> Try typing C-h f previous-line<Return>. | |
1061 This prints all the information Emacs has about the | |
1062 function which implements the C-p command. | |
1063 | |
1064 C-h a Hyper Apropos. Type in a keyword and Emacs will list | |
1065 all the functions and variables whose names contain | |
1066 that keyword. The commands that can be invoked with | |
1067 Meta-x, an asterisk will be displayed to the left. | |
1068 | |
1069 >> Type C-h a newline<Return>. | |
1070 | |
1071 This displays a list of all functions and variables with "newline" in | |
1072 their names. Press <Return> or click the middle mouse button to find | |
1073 out more about a function or variable. Type `q' to exit hyper-apropos. | |
1074 | |
1075 | |
1076 * CONCLUSION | |
1077 ------------ | |
1078 | |
1079 Remember, to exit Emacs permanently use C-x C-c. To exit to a shell | |
1080 temporarily, so that you can come back in, use C-z. (under X, this | |
1081 iconifies the current Emacs frame.) | |
1082 | |
1083 This tutorial is meant to be understandable to all new users, so if | |
1084 you found something unclear, don't sit and blame yourself - complain! | |
1085 | |
1086 | |
1087 COPYING | |
1088 ------- | |
1089 | |
1090 This tutorial descends from a long line of Emacs tutorials | |
1091 starting with the one written by Stuart Cracraft for the original Emacs. | |
1092 Ben Wing updated the tutorial for X Windows. Martin Buchholz and | |
1093 Hrvoje Niksic added more corrections for XEmacs. | |
1094 | |
1095 This version of the tutorial, like GNU Emacs, is copyrighted, and | |
1096 comes with permission to distribute copies on certain conditions: | |
1097 | |
1098 Copyright (c) 1985, 1996 Free Software Foundation | |
1099 | |
1100 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies | |
1101 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the | |
1102 copyright notice and permission notice are preserved, | |
1103 and that the distributor grants the recipient permission | |
1104 for further redistribution as permitted by this notice. | |
1105 | |
1106 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions | |
1107 of this document, or of portions of it, | |
1108 under the above conditions, provided also that they | |
1109 carry prominent notices stating who last altered them. | |
1110 | |
1111 The conditions for copying Emacs itself are more complex, but in the | |
1112 same spirit. Please read the file COPYING and then do give copies of | |
1113 GNU Emacs to your friends. Help stamp out software obstructionism | |
1114 ("ownership") by using, writing, and sharing free software! |