(cache)GNU Emacs FAQ

lexical binding

       M-x frobnicate-while-foo <RET>

           install-info --info-dir=dir-path dir-path/file

          * Topic: (relative-pathname).  Short description of topic.

          C-u C-h i ~/info-file <RET>

          C-h i g (~/info-file) <RET>

          (add-to-list 'Info-default-directory-list "~/Info")

          \input texinfo

++
     $ cat terminfo-24bit.src
     
     # Use colon separators.
     xterm-24bit|xterm with 24-bit direct color mode,
       use=xterm-256color,
       setb24=\E[48:2:%p1%{65536}%/%d:%p1%{256}%/%{255}%&%d:%p1%{255}%&%dm,
       setf24=\E[38:2:%p1%{65536}%/%d:%p1%{256}%/%{255}%&%d:%p1%{255}%&%dm,
     # Use semicolon separators.
     xterm-24bits|xterm with 24-bit direct color mode,
       use=xterm-256color,
       setb24=\E[48;2;%p1%{65536}%/%d;%p1%{256}%/%{255}%&%d;%p1%{255}%&%dm,
       setf24=\E[38;2;%p1%{65536}%/%d;%p1%{256}%/%{255}%&%d;%p1%{255}%&%dm,
     
     $ tic -x -o ~/.terminfo terminfo-24bit.src
     
     $ TERM=xterm-24bit emacs -nw

     (setq column-number-mode t)

     (multiple-frames "%b" ("" invocation-name "@" (system-name)))

     (setq frame-title-format "%b")

     (setq-default abbrev-mode t)

     (add-hook 'mymode-mode-hook
               (lambda ()
                (setq abbrev-mode t)))

     (condition-case ()
        (quietly-read-abbrev-file)
       (file-error nil))

     (add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.bar\\'" . foo-mode))

     -*- foo -*-

     (transient-mark-mode 1)

     (delete-selection-mode 1)

     (setq case-fold-search nil) ; make searches case sensitive
     (setq case-fold-search t)   ; make searches case insensitive

     (add-hook 'foo-mode-hook
               (lambda ()
                (setq case-fold-search nil)))

     (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'turn-on-auto-fill)

     (setq-default auto-fill-function 'do-auto-fill)

     (add-to-list 'load-path "/dir/subdir/")

     (add-to-list 'load-path "~/mysubdir/")

          emacs -f server-start

          (if (some conditions are met) (server-start))

          # csh commands:
          setenv EDITOR emacsclient
          
          # using full pathname
          setenv EDITOR /usr/local/emacs/etc/emacsclient
          
          # sh command:
          EDITOR=emacsclient ; export EDITOR

     f()
     {
       switch(x) {
         case A:
           x1;
           break;
         case B:
           x2;
           break;
         default:
           x3;
       }
     }

     (c-set-offset 'case-label '+)

++
          (c-set-offset 'syntactic-symbol offset)

     (defun my-c-mode-hook ()
       (c-set-offset ...)
       (c-set-offset ...))
     (add-hook 'c-mode-hook 'my-c-mode-hook)

++
     ... :vb=: ...

     (setq visible-bell t)

     usage:  xset [-display host:dpy] option ...
       To turn bell off:
           -b                b off               b 0
       To set bell volume, pitch and duration:
            b [vol [pitch [dur]]]          b on

     ** In Text mode, now only blank lines separate paragraphs.  This makes
     it possible to get the full benefit of Adaptive Fill mode in Text mode,
     and other modes derived from it (such as Mail mode).  <TAB> in Text
     mode now runs the command indent-relative; this makes a practical
     difference only when you use indented paragraphs.
     
     If you want spaces at the beginning of a line to start a paragraph, use
     the new mode, Paragraph Indent Text mode.

     (show-paren-mode 1)

          ;; By an unknown contributor
          
          (global-set-key "%" 'match-paren)
          
          (defun match-paren (arg)
            "Go to the matching paren if on a paren; otherwise insert %."
            (interactive "p")
            (cond ((looking-at "\\s(") (forward-list 1) (backward-char 1))
                  ((looking-at "\\s)") (forward-char 1) (backward-list 1))
                  (t (self-insert-command (or arg 1)))))

     (setq-default tab-width 10)

     (add-hook 'dired-load-hook
               (lambda ()
                (require 'dired-x)))

     (add-hook 'dired-mode-hook 'dired-omit-toggle)

     (define-key global-map
       [menu-bar edit forward]
       '("Forward word" . forward-word))

     (define-key global-map [menu-bar words]
       (cons "Words" (make-sparse-keymap "Words")))

     (define-key global-map
       [menu-bar words forward]
       '("Forward word" . forward-word))

     (define-key-after
       (lookup-key global-map [menu-bar edit])
       [forward]
       '("Forward word" . forward-word)
       'undo)

     (define-key global-map [menu-bar words] nil)

     (define-key global-map [menu-bar edit forward] nil)

     (global-font-lock-mode 1)

     (setq font-lock-maximum-decoration t)

     (setq scroll-conservatively most-positive-fixnum)

     (setq sentence-end-double-space nil)

     (add-hook 'emacs-startup-hook 'toggle-frame-maximized)

     (add-hook 'emacs-startup-hook
               (lambda () (w32-send-sys-command ?\xF030)))

     if ($?INSIDE_EMACS && $?tcsh)
         unset edit
         stty -icrnl -onlcr -echo susp ^Z
     endif

     unset edit
     stty -icrnl -onlcr -echo susp ^Z

     (setq explicit-shell-file-name "/bin/csh")

     setenv ESHELL /bin/csh

     (setenv "ESHELL" "/bin/csh")

     (add-hook 'comint-output-filter-functions 'shell-strip-ctrl-m)

     stty -icrnl -onlcr -echo susp ^Z

     emacs:tc=unknown:

     if ("$term" == emacs) set term=dumb

          xhost +

          access control disabled, clients can connect from any host

          xhost -

          access control enabled, only authorized clients can connect

          tar -zxvf emacs-VERSION.tar.gz

          cd emacs-VERSION
          ./configure         # configure Emacs for your particular system
          make                # use Makefile to build components, then Emacs

          make install

     (global-set-key (quote [f1]) (quote help-for-help))

     (add-hook 'tex-mode-hook
       (lambda ()
        (local-set-key (quote [f1]) (quote help-for-help))))

          (global-unset-key [?\e ?{])   ;;   or
          (local-unset-key [?\e ?{])

          (global-set-key [f10] [?\C-x?\e?\e?\C-a?\C-k?\C-g])  ;;  or
          (global-set-key [f10] "\C-x\e\e\C-a\C-k\C-g")

     (global-unset-key [?\e ?[])  ;;  or
     (global-unset-key "\e[")

     (add-hook 'emacs-startup-hook
               (lambda ()
                (when (string-match "\\`vt220" (or (getenv "TERM") ""))
                  ;; Make vt220's "Do" key behave like M-x:
                  (global-set-key [do] 'execute-extended-command))))

     (define-key function-key-map [M-<TAB>] [?\M-\t])

          stty erase '^?'

               (keyboard-translate ?\C-h ?\C-?)

               (keyboard-translate ?\C-? ?\C-d)

               (global-set-key "\C-h" 'delete-backward-char)
               
               ;; overrides mark-whole-buffer
               (global-set-key "\C-xh" 'help-command)

     (keyboard-translate ?\C-h ?\C-?)  ; translate 'C-h' to DEL
     (keyboard-translate ?\C-? ?\C-h)  ; translate DEL to 'C-h'.

     ;; F11 is the documented ESC replacement on DEC terminals.
     (define-key function-key-map [f11] [?\e])

     (global-set-key [?\C-x right] 'forward-page)

     (global-set-key [H-M-right] 'forward-word)

           XTerm*eightBitInput:   false
           XTerm*eightBitOutput:  true

          XTerm.VT100.EightBitInput: false

          XTerm.VT100.Translations: #override \
            Meta<KeyPress>: string(0x1b) insert()

     xmodmap -e 'remove mod1 = Mode_switch'

     (define-key minibuffer-local-filename-completion-map (kbd "SPC")
       'minibuffer-complete-word)
     
     (define-key minibuffer-local-must-match-filename-map (kbd "SPC")
       'minibuffer-complete-word)

       xset +fp /usr/local/share/emacs/fonts
       xset fp rehash

       (add-to-list 'bdf-directory-list "/usr/share/emacs/fonts/bdf")

       (setq ps-multibyte-buffer 'bdf-font-except-latin)

       (setq bdf-directory-list
         '("C:/Intlfonts/Asian"
           "C:/Intlfonts/Chinese" "C:/Intlfonts/Chinese.X"
           "C:/Intlfonts/Chinese.BIG" "C:/Intlfonts/Ethiopic"
           "C:/Intlfonts/European" "C:/Intlfonts/European.BIG"
           "C:/Intlfonts/Japanese" "C:/Intlfonts/Japanese.X"
           "C:/Intlfonts/Japanese.BIG" "C:/Intlfonts/Korean.X"
           "C:/Intlfonts/Misc"))

       (setq w32-bdf-filename-alist
          (w32-find-bdf-fonts bdf-directory-list))

       (create-fontset-from-fontset-spec
        "-*-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-16-*-*-*-c-*-fontset-bdf,
        japanese-jisx0208:-*-*-medium-r-normal-*-16-*-*-*-c-*-jisx0208.1983-*,
        katakana-jisx0201:-*-*-medium-r-normal-*-16-*-*-*-c-*-jisx0201*-*,
        latin-jisx0201:-*-*-medium-r-normal-*-16-*-*-*-c-*-jisx0201*-*,
        japanese-jisx0208-1978:-*-*-medium-r-normal-*-16-*-*-*-c-*-jisx0208.1978-*,
        thai-tis620:-misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--16-160-72-72-m-80-tis620.2529-1,
        lao:-misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--16-160-72-72-m-80-MuleLao-1,
        tibetan-1-column:-TibMdXA-fixed-medium-r-normal--16-160-72-72-m-80-MuleTibetan-1,
        ethiopic:-Admas-Ethiomx16f-Medium-R-Normal--16-150-100-100-M-160-Ethiopic-Unicode,
        tibetan:-TibMdXA-fixed-medium-r-normal--16-160-72-72-m-160-MuleTibetan-0")

       (setq font-encoding-alist
             (append '(("MuleTibetan-0" (tibetan . 0))
                       ("GB2312"        (chinese-gb2312 . 0))
                       ("JISX0208"      (japanese-jisx0208 . 0))
                       ("JISX0212"      (japanese-jisx0212 . 0))
                       ("VISCII"        (vietnamese-viscii-lower . 0))
                       ("KSC5601"       (korean-ksc5601 . 0))
                       ("MuleArabic-0"  (arabic-digit . 0))
                       ("MuleArabic-1"  (arabic-1-column . 0))
                       ("MuleArabic-2"  (arabic-2-column . 0)))
                     font-encoding-alist))

       (set-frame-font "fontset-bdf")

     (setq mail-self-blind t)

     (setq mail-archive-file-name (expand-file-name "~/outgoing"))

          (add-hook 'mail-mode-hook 'mail-abbrevs-setup)

     (defun rmail-reply-t ()
       "Reply only to the sender of the current message. (See rmail-reply.)"
       (interactive)
       (rmail-reply t))
     
     (add-hook 'rmail-mode-hook
       (lambda ()
         (define-key rmail-mode-map "r" 'rmail-reply-t)
         (define-key rmail-mode-map "R" 'rmail-reply)))

     emacs -f gnus

     emacs -f rmail

     alias gnus 'emacs -f gnus'
     gnus

++

FAQ notation
General questions
Getting help
Status of Emacs
Common requests
Bugs and problems
Compiling and installing Emacs
Finding Emacs and related packages
Key bindings
Alternate character sets
Mail and news
Concept index

The GNU Emacs FAQ

1 FAQ notation

1.1 What do these mean: C-h, C-M-a, <RET>, <ESC> a, etc.?

1.2 What does M-x command mean?

1.3 How do I read topic XXX in the Emacs manual?

1.4 What are src/config.h, site-lisp/default.el, etc.?

1.5 What are FSF, LPF, GNU, RMS, FTP, and GPL?

2 General questions

2.1 What is the LPF?

2.2 What is the real legal meaning of the GNU copyleft?

2.3 What are appropriate messages for the various Emacs newsgroups?

2.4 Where can I get old postings to news:gnu.emacs.help and other GNU groups?

2.5 Where should I report bugs and other problems with Emacs?

2.6 How do I unsubscribe from a mailing list?

2.7 How do I contact the FSF?

3 Getting help

3.1 I'm just starting Emacs; how do I do basic editing?

3.2 How do I find out how to do something in Emacs?

3.3 How do I get a printed copy of the Emacs manual?

3.4 Where can I get documentation on Emacs Lisp?

3.5 How do I install a piece of Texinfo documentation?

3.6 How do I print a Texinfo file?

3.7 Can I view Info files without using Emacs?

3.8 What informational files are available for Emacs?

3.9 Where can I get help in installing Emacs?

3.10 Where can I get the latest version of this FAQ?

4 Status of Emacs

4.1 Where does the name “Emacs” come from?

4.2 What is the latest version of Emacs?

4.3 What is different about Emacs 26?

4.4 What is different about Emacs 25?

4.5 What is different about Emacs 24?

4.6 What is different about Emacs 23?

4.7 What is different about Emacs 22?

4.8 What is different about Emacs 21?

4.9 What is different about Emacs 20?

5 Common requests

5.1 How do I set up a .emacs file properly?

5.2 How do I start using Customize?

5.3 How do I get colors and syntax highlighting on a TTY?

5.4 How do I debug a .emacs file?

5.5 How do I make Emacs display the current line (or column) number?

5.6 How can I modify the titlebar to contain the current file name?

5.7 How do I turn on abbrevs by default just in mode mymode?

5.8 How do I make Emacs use a certain major mode for certain files?

5.9 How can I highlight a region of text in Emacs?

5.10 How can I replace highlighted text with what I type?

5.11 How do I control Emacs's case-sensitivity when searching/replacing?

5.12 How do I search for, delete, or replace unprintable (eight-bit or control) characters?

5.13 How do I input a newline character in isearch or query-replace?

5.14 How do I copy text from the kill ring into the search string?

5.15 How do I make Emacs wrap words for me?

5.16 How do I turn on auto-fill-mode by default?

5.17 How do I change load-path?

5.18 How do I use an already running Emacs from another window?

5.19 How do I make Emacs recognize my compiler's funny error messages?

5.20 How do I change the indentation for switch?

5.21 How to customize indentation in C, C++, and Java buffers?

5.22 How can I make Emacs automatically scroll horizontally?

5.23 How do I make Emacs “typeover” or “overwrite” instead of inserting?

5.24 How do I stop Emacs from beeping on a terminal?

5.25 How do I turn down the bell volume in Emacs running under X?

5.26 How do I tell Emacs to automatically indent a new line to the indentation of the previous line?

5.27 How do I show which parenthesis matches the one I'm looking at?

5.28 In C mode, can I show just the lines that will be left after #ifdef commands are handled by the compiler?

5.29 How do I repeat a command as many times as possible?

5.30 What are the valid X resource settings (i.e., stuff in .Xdefaults)?

5.31 How do I execute (“evaluate”) a piece of Emacs Lisp code?

5.32 How do I change Emacs's idea of the <TAB> character's length?

5.33 How do I insert <some text> at the beginning of every line?

5.34 How do I make Emacs behave like this: when I go up or down, the cursor should stay in the same column even if the line is too short?

5.35 How do I tell Emacs to iconify itself?

5.36 How do I use regexps (regular expressions) in Emacs?

5.37 How do I perform a replace operation across more than one file?

5.38 Where is the documentation for etags?

5.39 How do I disable backup files?

5.40 How do I disable auto-save-mode?

5.41 How can I go to a certain line given its number?

5.42 How can I create or modify new pull-down menu options?

5.43 How do I delete menus and menu options?

1.1 What do these mean: `C-h`, `C-M-a`, <RET>, `<ESC> a`, etc.?

1.2 What does `M-x command` mean?

1.4 What are `src/config.h`, `site-lisp/default.el`, etc.?

5.1 How do I set up a `.emacs` file properly?

5.4 How do I debug a `.emacs` file?

5.7 How do I turn on abbrevs by default just in mode `mymode`?

5.16 How do I turn on `auto-fill-mode` by default?

5.17 How do I change `load-path`?

5.20 How do I change the indentation for `switch`?

5.21 How to customize indentation in C, C`++`, and Java buffers?

5.28 In C mode, can I show just the lines that will be left after `#ifdef` commands are handled by the compiler?

5.38 Where is the documentation for `etags`?

5.40 How do I disable `auto-save-mode`?

5.48 Why these strange escape sequences from `ls` from the Shell mode?

6.2 How do I get rid of ‘`^M`’ or echoed commands in my shell buffer?

6.3 Why do I get an error message when I try to run `M-x shell`?

6.4 Where is the termcap/terminfo entry for terminal type ‘`emacs`’?

6.5 Why does Emacs say ‘`Error in init file`’?

6.8 How do I edit a file with a ‘`$`’ in its name?

6.11 Dired says, ‘`no file on this line`’ when I try to do something.

9.2 Why does Emacs say ‘`Key sequence XXX uses invalid prefix characters`’?

9.3 Why doesn't this [terminal or window-system setup] code work in my `.emacs` file, but it works just fine after Emacs starts up?

9.13 Why doesn't my <Meta> key work in an `xterm` window?

11.5 Why does Rmail need to write to `/var/spool/mail`?