book

Learning GNU Emacs, 3rd Edition

by Debra Cameron, James Elliott, Marc Loy, Eric S. Raymond, Bill Rosenblatt

December 2004

Beginner to intermediate

536 pages

19h 28m

English

O'Reilly Media, Inc.

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Keystroke NotationCommand TablesExamplesFont Usage
1.1. Introducing Emacs!
1.5.1. The Toolbar1.5.2. The Menus1.5.3. The Mode Line1.5.4. The Minibuffer
1.7.1. If You Read the Wrong File1.7.2. Letting Emacs Fill in the Blanks1.7.3. Inserting and Appending Files1.7.4. How Emacs Chooses a Default Directory
1.10.1. The Help Menu
1.11.1. Problems You May Encounter
2.1. Moving the Cursor2.1.1. Other Ways to Move the Cursor2.1.2. Moving a Screen (or More) at a Time2.1.3. Repeating Commands2.1.4. Centering the Display2.1.5. Emacs Commands and Your Keyboard
2.2.1. The Kill Ring
2.3.1. Copying Text2.3.2. Recovering Earlier Deletions2.3.3. Selecting and Pasting
2.4.1. Placing Text on the Clipboard2.4.2. Retrieving Text from the Clipboard
2.5.1. Fixing Transpositions2.5.2. Changing Capitalization2.5.3. Overwrite Mode
2.6.1. Canceling Commands2.6.2. Undoing Changes2.6.3. Reverting a Buffer from a File2.6.4. Going Back to a Previous Version: Backup Files2.6.5. Recovering Lost Changes
2.7.1. Hiding the Toolbar2.7.2. Turning On CUA Mode for C-x, C-c, and C-v to Cut, Copy, and Paste2.7.3. Turning On Text Mode and Auto-Fill Mode Automatically2.7.4. Remapping Keys2.7.5. Problems You May Encounter
3.1. Different Kinds of Searches3.1.1. Incremental Search3.1.2. Simple Searches3.1.3. Word Search
3.2.1. Simple Search and Replace Operations3.2.2. Query-Replace3.2.3. Repeating Query-Replaces (and Other Complex Commands)3.2.4. Recursive Editing3.2.5. Are Emacs Searches Case-Sensitive?3.2.6. Regular Expressions for Search and Replacement Operations
3.3.1. Checking a Buffer3.3.2. Checking a Single Word3.3.3. Completing a Word3.3.4. Spellchecking on the Fly with Flyspell
3.4.1. Dynamic Abbreviations3.4.2. Word Abbreviation Mode3.4.2.1. Trying word abbreviations for one session3.4.2.2. Making word abbreviations part of your startup3.4.2.3. Deleting a word abbreviation3.4.2.4. Disabling word abbreviations3.4.2.5. Abbreviations and capitalization3.4.3. Problems You May Encounter
4.1. Understanding Buffers, Windows, and Frames4.1.1. Windows Versus Frames4.1.2. Buffers: Independent of Windows and Frames4.1.3. More About Buffers
4.2.1. Switching Buffers4.2.2. Deleting Buffers
4.3.1. Creating Horizontal Windows4.3.2. Moving Between Windows4.3.3. Getting Rid of Windows
4.4.1. Creating a New Frame4.4.2. Moving Between Frames4.4.3. Deleting and Minimizing Frames
4.5.1. Saving Multiple Buffers4.5.2. Renaming Buffers4.5.3. Read-Only Buffers4.5.4. Getting a List of Buffers4.5.5. Working with the Buffer List
4.6.1. Creating Vertical or Side-by-Side Windows4.6.2. Navigating Windows4.6.3. Enlarging and Shrinking Windows4.6.4. Limits on Window Size4.6.5. Comparing Files Between Windows
4.7.1. Setting Bookmarks4.7.2. Moving to a Bookmark4.7.3. Renaming and Deleting Bookmarks4.7.4. Working with a List of Bookmarks4.7.5. Annotating Bookmarks4.7.6. A Few More Bookmark Commands
5.1. Executing Commands in Shell Buffers5.1.1. Running One Command at a Time5.1.2. Using Shell Mode5.1.2.1. Which shell?5.1.2.2. Making passwords invisible in shell mode
5.2.1. Viewing and Editing Files5.2.2. Deleting, Copying, and Renaming Files5.2.3. Compressing and Uncompressing Files5.2.4. Comparing Files5.2.5. Running Shell Commands on Files5.2.6. Working with Groups of Files5.2.6.1. Selecting files5.2.6.2. Selecting likely candidates for deletion5.2.6.3. Selecting files by type5.2.6.4. Using regular expressions to choose files5.2.6.5. Operating on groups of files5.2.7. Navigating Directories
5.5.1. Displaying the Calendar5.5.1.1. Moving in the calendar5.5.1.2. Displaying holidays5.5.2. Using the Diary5.5.2.1. Creating a diary file5.5.2.2. Adding diary entries5.5.2.3. Displaying diary entries5.5.3. Problems You May Encounter
6.1. Defining a Macro
6.8.1. Pausing a Macro for Keyboard Input6.8.1.1. Example6.8.2. Adding a Query to a Macro6.8.2.1. Example
7.1. Using Tabs7.1.1. How Emacs 21 Handles Tabs by Default7.1.2. Changing Tab Stops7.1.3. What if You Want Literal Tabs?7.1.4. Changing Tab Width7.1.5. Tabs and Spaces7.1.6. Changing Tabs to Spaces (and Vice Versa)
7.2.1. Indenting Paragraphs7.2.2. Indenting the First Line of a Paragraph7.2.3. Filling Indented Paragraphs7.2.3.1. Indenting regions7.2.3.2. Other indentation tricks7.2.4. Changing Margins7.2.5. Using Fill Prefixes
7.4.1. Entering Outline Mode7.4.2. Hiding and Showing Text7.4.3. Editing While Text Is Hidden7.4.4. Marking Sections of the Outline7.4.5. Promoting and Demoting Sections7.4.6. Using Outline Minor Mode
7.5.1. CUA Rectangle Editing
7.6.1. Drawing in Picture Mode7.6.2. Editing in Picture Mode7.6.2.1. Cursor motion in picture mode7.6.2.2. Inserting blank lines7.6.3. Drawing with the Mouse Using Artist7.6.4. Problems You May Encounter
8.1. Comments
8.3.1. Using HTML Mode8.3.1.1. Character encoding in HTML mode8.3.1.1.1. Using ISO accents mode8.3.1.1.2. Using the C-x 8 prefix8.3.2. Using HTML Helper Mode8.3.2.1. Starting HTML helper mode8.3.2.2. A brief tour of HTML helper mode8.3.2.3. Inserting an HTML template8.3.2.4. Putting tags around a region8.3.2.5. Using completion8.3.2.6. Turning on prompting8.3.2.7. Character encoding in HTML helper mode
8.4.1. Writing XML with SGML Mode8.4.2. TEI Emacs: XML Authoring for Linux and Windows8.4.3. Writing XHTML Using nxml Mode8.4.4. Using psgml Mode
8.5.1. Matching Braces8.5.2. Quotation Marks and Paragraphing8.5.3. Command Pairs8.5.4. Processing and Printing Text
9.1. Emacs as an IDE9.1.1. Compiling and Debugging
9.2.1. Language Modes9.2.1.1. Syntax9.2.2. Comments9.2.3. Indenting Code9.2.4. etags9.2.5. Fonts and Font-lock Mode
9.3.1. Motion Commands9.3.2. Customizing Code Indentation Style9.3.3. Additional C and C++ Mode Features9.3.4. C++ Mode Differences
9.4.1. Java Mode
9.5.1. Getting Started9.5.2. Installing CEDET9.5.3. Installing the ELisp Library9.5.4. Installing the JDEE9.5.5. Registering Your Java Tools9.5.5.1. JDK tools.jar problems9.5.6. Editing with the JDEE9.5.7. Compiling and Running with the JDEE9.5.8. Debugging with the JDEE9.5.9. Learning More about the JDEE
9.6.1. Perl Caveats
9.7.1. Prerequisites9.7.2. Modes of Operation9.7.2.1. Interactive mode9.7.2.2. Editing mode
9.8.1. Indentation in Lisp Modes9.8.2. Comments in Lisp Modes9.8.3. Emacs Lisp Mode Differences9.8.4. Lisp Mode Differences9.8.5. Working with Lisp Fragments9.8.5.1. Commands for evaluating a line of Lisp9.8.5.2. Using Lisp interaction mode
10.1. Using Custom10.1.1. Navigating Custom10.1.2. Common Options10.1.3. Customizing with Custom10.1.4. An Abbrev Mode Example10.1.5. The Options Menu10.1.6. A Dired Example10.1.7. But Where Is the Variable I Want?
10.2.1. Custom Versus .emacs10.2.1.1. Will the real .emacs please stand up?10.2.2. Basic .emacs Statements10.2.2.1. Caveat editor10.2.3. A Sample .emacs File10.2.3.1. Editing .emacs10.2.3.2. Saving .emacs
10.3.1. Changing Fonts Interactively10.3.2. Automatic Highlighting and Coloring10.3.2.1. Isearch10.3.2.2. Buffer highlighting10.3.3. Customizing Fonts Through Custom10.3.4. Changing Colors10.3.4.1. Changing the cursor color10.3.5. Saving Font- and Color-Enriched Text10.3.5.1. Saving enriched text
10.4.1. Special Keys10.4.2. Unsetting Key Bindings
11.1. Introduction to Lisp11.1.1. Basic Lisp Entities11.1.2. Defining Functions11.1.3. Turning Lisp Functions into Emacs Commands
11.2.1. Statement Blocks11.2.2. Control Structures
11.3.1. Buffers, Text, and Regions11.3.2. Regular Expressions11.3.2.1. Basic operators11.3.2.2. Grouping and alternation11.3.2.3. Context11.3.2.4. Retrieving portions of matches11.3.2.5. Regular expression operator summary11.3.3. A Treasure Trove of Examples11.3.4. Functions That Use Regular Expressions11.3.5. Finding Other Built-in Functions
11.5.1. Components of a Major Mode11.5.2. More Lisp Basics: Lists11.5.3. The Calculator Mode11.5.4. Lisp Code for the Calculator Mode
11.7.1. Byte-Compiling Lisp Files
12.1. The Uses of Version Control
12.8.1. Working with Groups and Subtrees of Files12.8.2. Difference Reports12.8.3. Retrieving Old Revisions12.8.4. Viewing Change Histories12.8.5. Registering a File12.8.6. Inserting Version Control Headers12.8.7. Making and Retrieving Snapshots12.8.8. Updating ChangeLog Files12.8.9. Renaming Version-Controlled Files12.8.10. When VC Gets Confused
12.13.1. Starting Ediff12.13.2. Using Ediff12.13.3. Making Changes12.13.4. Quitting Ediff12.13.5. Recovering from Confusion12.13.6. Learning More12.13.7. Customizing Ediff12.13.8. Invoking Ediff Automatically
13.1. Emacs and Unix13.1.1. Where to Get Emacs?13.1.1.1. Downloading Emacs from the Web13.1.2. Where to Put Emacs?13.1.3. Uncompressing and Unpacking13.1.4. Downloading Emacs from CVS13.1.5. Building Emacs
13.2.1. "But I Already Have Emacs"13.2.2. Installing Prebuilt Emacs on Mac OS X13.2.2.1. Downloading Alex Rice's application bundle of Emacs 21.3.513.2.3. Building Emacs from Source on Mac OS X13.2.3.1. Before you build13.2.3.1.1. Jaguar (Mac OS X 10.2) preparation13.2.4. Starting Emacs from the Command Line on Mac OS X13.2.5. Mac OS X and the Meta Key13.2.6. Installing Ispell
13.3.1. Installing Emacs13.3.1.1. Installing the latest binaries: Nqmacs13.3.1.2. Installing Emacs from the FSF13.3.2. Where to Put Your .emacs File13.3.3. Starting Emacs from the Command Line13.3.4. Making Emacs Act like Windows: CUA Mode13.3.5. Installing Ispell
14.1. Using the Tutorial
14.2.1. Detail Information14.2.2. Apropos Commands
14.4.1. Using Info to Read Manuals14.4.2. FAQ, News, and Antinews
14.5.1. Customizing Completion

Content preview from Learning GNU Emacs, 3rd Edition

Chapter 1. Emacs Basics

Some of you out there are probably dying to get your hands on the keyboard and start typing. We won't try to stop you; turn to the section called "Starting Emacs" and you can go ahead. But do read the beginning of this chapter later when you're ready for a break. Emacs is much easier to learn if you understand some of the basic concepts involved, which we discuss in the following introduction.

Introducing Emacs!

GNU Emacs is one of the most commonly used text editors in the world today. Many users prefer Emacs to vi (Unix's standard editor) or to other GUI text editors. Why is Emacs so popular? It isn't the newest tool, and it's certainly not the prettiest. But it may well be the most useful tool you'll ever learn. We want to present what you need to know about Emacs to do useful work, in a way that lets you use it effectively. This book is a guide for Emacs users; it tries to satisfy the needs of many readers, ranging from casual users to programmers.

Our approach therefore isn't to tell you absolutely everything that Emacs does. It has many features and commands that this book doesn't describe. We don't think that's a problem; Emacs has a comprehensive online help facility that helps you figure out what these are. We focus our attention on describing how to get useful work done. After covering basic editing in the first three chapters, we describe how to use Emacs as a comprehensive working environment: how to boost productivity with multiple buffers and ...