1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 2003-05-21
2 Copyright (C) 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005
3 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 See the end for copying conditions.
6 Please send Emacs bug reports to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.
7 For older news, see the file ONEWS
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9 `view-emacs-news' with a prefix argument or by typing C-u C-h C-n.
12 +++ indicates that the appropriate manual has already been updated.
13 --- means no change in the manuals is called for.
14 When you add a new item, please add it without either +++ or ---
15 so we will look at it and add it to the manual.
18 * Installation Changes in Emacs 22.1
21 ** Emacs now supports new configure options `--program-prefix',
22 `--program-suffix' and `--program-transform-name' that affect the names of
26 ** Emacs can now be built without sound support.
29 ** You can build Emacs with Gtk+ widgets by specifying `--with-x-toolkit=gtk'
30 when you run configure. This requires Gtk+ 2.0 or newer. This port
31 provides a way to display multilingual text in menus (with some caveats).
34 ** The `emacsserver' program has been removed, replaced with Lisp code.
37 ** By default, Emacs now uses a setgid helper program to update game
38 scores. The directory ${localstatedir}/games/emacs is the normal
39 place for game scores to be stored. You can control this with the
40 configure option `--with-game-dir'. The specific user that Emacs uses
41 to own the game scores is controlled by `--with-game-user'. If access
42 to a game user is not available, then scores will be stored separately
43 in each user's home directory.
46 ** Leim is now part of the Emacs distribution.
47 You no longer need to download a separate tarball in order to build
51 ** The Emacs Lisp Reference Manual is now part of the distribution.
53 The Emacs Lisp Reference Manual in Info format is built as part of the
54 Emacs build procedure and installed together with the Emacs User
55 Manual. A menu item was added to the menu bar that makes it easy
56 accessible (Help->More Manuals->Emacs Lisp Reference).
59 ** The Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp manual is now part of
62 This manual is now part of the standard distribution and is installed,
63 together with the Emacs User Manual, into the Info directory. A menu
64 item was added to the menu bar that makes it easy accessible
65 (Help->More Manuals->Introduction to Emacs Lisp).
68 ** New translations of the Emacs Tutorial are available in the
69 following languages: Brasilian Portuguese, Bulgarian, Chinese (both
70 with simplified and traditional characters), French, and Italian.
71 Type `C-u C-h t' to choose one of them in case your language setup
72 doesn't automatically select the right one.
75 ** A French translation of the `Emacs Survival Guide' is available.
78 ** Emacs now includes support for loading image libraries on demand.
79 (Currently this feature is only used on MS Windows.) You can configure
80 the supported image types and their associated dynamic libraries by
81 setting the variable `image-library-alist'.
84 ** Support for Cygwin was added.
87 ** Support for FreeBSD/Alpha has been added.
90 ** Support for GNU/Linux systems on S390 machines was added.
93 ** Support for MacOS X was added.
94 See the files mac/README and mac/INSTALL for build instructions.
97 ** Support for GNU/Linux systems on X86-64 machines was added.
100 ** Mac OS 9 port now uses the Carbon API by default. You can also
101 create non-Carbon build by specifying `NonCarbon' as a target. See
102 the files mac/README and mac/INSTALL for build instructions.
105 ** Building with -DENABLE_CHECKING does not automatically build with union
106 types any more. Add -DUSE_LISP_UNION_TYPE if you want union types.
109 ** When pure storage overflows while dumping, Emacs now prints how
110 much pure storage it will approximately need.
112 ** The script etc/emacs-buffer.gdb can be used with gdb to retrieve the
113 contents of buffers from a core dump and save them to files easily, should
117 * Startup Changes in Emacs 22.1
120 ** New command line option -Q or --quick.
121 This is like using -q --no-site-file, but in addition it also disables
122 the fancy startup screen.
125 ** New command line option -D or --basic-display.
126 Disables the menu-bar, the tool-bar, the scroll-bars, tool tips, and
130 ** New command line option -nbc or --no-blinking-cursor disables
131 the blinking cursor on graphical terminals.
134 ** The option --script FILE runs Emacs in batch mode and loads FILE.
135 It is useful for writing Emacs Lisp shell script files, because they
136 can start with this line:
138 #!/usr/bin/emacs --script
141 ** The option --directory DIR now modifies `load-path' immediately.
142 Directories are added to the front of `load-path' in the order they
143 appear on the command line. For example, with this command line:
145 emacs -batch -L .. -L /tmp --eval "(require 'foo)"
147 Emacs looks for library `foo' in the parent directory, then in /tmp, then
148 in the other directories in `load-path'. (-L is short for --directory.)
151 ** The command line option --no-windows has been changed to
152 --no-window-system. The old one still works, but is deprecated.
155 ** The -f option, used from the command line to call a function,
156 now reads arguments for the function interactively if it is
157 an interactively callable function.
160 ** When you specify a frame size with --geometry, the size applies to
161 all frames you create. A position specified with --geometry only
162 affects the initial frame.
165 ** Emacs can now be invoked in full-screen mode on a windowed display.
166 When Emacs is invoked on a window system, the new command-line options
167 `--fullwidth', `--fullheight', and `--fullscreen' produce a frame
168 whose width, height, or both width and height take up the entire
169 screen size. (For now, this does not work with some window managers.)
172 ** Emacs now displays a splash screen by default even if command-line
173 arguments were given. The new command-line option --no-splash
174 disables the splash screen; see also the variable
175 `inhibit-startup-message' (which is also aliased as
176 `inhibit-splash-screen').
179 ** New user option `inhibit-startup-buffer-menu'.
180 When loading many files, for instance with `emacs *', Emacs normally
181 displays a buffer menu. This option turns the buffer menu off.
185 You can now put the init files .emacs and .emacs_SHELL under
186 ~/.emacs.d or directly under ~. Emacs will find them in either place.
189 ** Emacs now reads the standard abbrevs file ~/.abbrev_defs
190 automatically at startup, if it exists. When Emacs offers to save
191 modified buffers, it saves the abbrevs too if they have changed. It
192 can do this either silently or asking for confirmation first,
193 according to the value of `save-abbrevs'.
195 * Incompatible Editing Changes in Emacs 22.1
198 ** M-g is now a prefix key.
199 M-g g and M-g M-g run goto-line.
200 M-g n and M-g M-n run next-error (like C-x `).
201 M-g p and M-g M-p run previous-error.
204 ** C-u M-g M-g switches to the most recent previous buffer,
205 and goes to the specified line in that buffer.
207 When goto-line starts to execute, if there's a number in the buffer at
208 point then it acts as the default argument for the minibuffer.
211 ** The old bindings C-M-delete and C-M-backspace have been deleted,
212 since there are situations where one or the other will shut down
213 the operating system or your X server.
216 ** line-move-ignore-invisible now defaults to t.
219 ** When the undo information of the current command gets really large
220 (beyond the value of `undo-outer-limit'), Emacs discards it and warns
224 ** `apply-macro-to-region-lines' now operates on all lines that begin
225 in the region, rather than on all complete lines in the region.
228 ** A prefix argument is no longer required to repeat a jump to a
229 previous mark, i.e. C-u C-SPC C-SPC C-SPC ... cycles through the
230 mark ring. Use C-u C-u C-SPC to set the mark immediately after a jump.
233 ** The info-search bindings on C-h C-f, C-h C-k and C-h C-i
234 have been moved to C-h F, C-h K and C-h S.
237 ** In incremental search, C-w is changed. M-%, C-M-w and C-M-y are special.
239 See below under "incremental search changes".
242 ** C-x C-f RET, typing nothing in the minibuffer, is no longer a special case.
244 Since the default input is the current directory, this has the effect
245 of specifying the current directory. Normally that means to visit the
246 directory with Dired.
249 ** The completion commands TAB, SPC and ? in the minibuffer apply only
250 to the text before point. If there is text in the buffer after point,
251 it remains unchanged.
254 ** M-o now is the prefix key for setting text properties;
255 M-o M-o requests refontification.
258 ** You can now follow links by clicking Mouse-1 on the link.
260 See below for more details.
263 ** In Dired's ! command (dired-do-shell-command), `*' and `?' now
264 control substitution of the file names only when they are surrounded
265 by whitespace. This means you can now use them as shell wildcards
266 too. If you want to use just plain `*' as a wildcard, type `*""'; the
267 doublequotes make no difference in the shell, but they prevent
268 special treatment in `dired-do-shell-command'.
270 * Editing Changes in Emacs 22.1
273 ** The max size of buffers and integers has been doubled.
274 On 32bit machines, it is now 256M (i.e. 268435455).
277 ** M-g is now a prefix key.
278 M-g g and M-g M-g run goto-line.
279 M-g n and M-g M-n run next-error (like C-x `).
280 M-g p and M-g M-p run previous-error.
283 ** C-u M-g M-g switches to the most recent previous buffer,
284 and goes to the specified line in that buffer.
286 When goto-line starts to execute, if there's a number in the buffer at
287 point then it acts as the default argument for the minibuffer.
290 ** The old bindings C-M-delete and C-M-backspace have been deleted,
291 since there are situations where one or the other will shut down
292 the operating system or your X server.
295 ** line-move-ignore-invisible now defaults to t.
298 ** When the undo information of the current command gets really large
299 (beyond the value of `undo-outer-limit'), Emacs discards it and warns
303 ** `apply-macro-to-region-lines' now operates on all lines that begin
304 in the region, rather than on all complete lines in the region.
307 ** You can now switch buffers in a cyclic order with C-x C-left and
308 (prev-buffer) and C-x C-right (next-buffer). C-x left and C-x right
312 ** `undo-only' does an undo which does not redo any previous undo.
315 ** M-SPC (just-one-space) when given a numeric argument N
316 converts whitespace around point to N spaces.
319 ** New commands to operate on pairs of open and close characters:
320 `insert-pair', `delete-pair', `raise-sexp'.
323 ** New command `kill-whole-line' kills an entire line at once.
324 By default, it is bound to C-S-<backspace>.
327 ** Yanking text now discards certain text properties that can
328 be inconvenient when you did not expect them. The variable
329 `yank-excluded-properties' specifies which ones. Insertion
330 of register contents and rectangles also discards these properties.
333 ** The default values of paragraph-start and indent-line-function have
334 been changed to reflect those used in Text mode rather than those used
335 in Indented-Text mode.
338 ** M-x setenv now expands environment variable references.
340 Substrings of the form `$foo' and `${foo}' in the specified new value
341 now refer to the value of environment variable foo. To include a `$'
342 in the value, use `$$'.
345 ** `special-display-buffer-names' and `special-display-regexps' now
346 understand two new boolean pseudo-frame-parameters `same-frame' and
350 ** The default for the paper size (variable ps-paper-type) is taken
353 ** The command `list-faces-display' now accepts a prefix arg.
354 When passed, the function prompts for a regular expression and lists
355 only faces matching this regexp.
357 ** Mark command changes:
360 *** A prefix argument is no longer required to repeat a jump to a
361 previous mark, i.e. C-u C-SPC C-SPC C-SPC ... cycles through the
362 mark ring. Use C-u C-u C-SPC to set the mark immediately after a jump.
365 *** Marking commands extend the region when invoked multiple times.
367 If you type C-M-SPC (mark-sexp), M-@ (mark-word), M-h
368 (mark-paragraph), or C-M-h (mark-defun) repeatedly, the marked region
369 extends each time, so you can mark the next two sexps with M-C-SPC
370 M-C-SPC, for example. This feature also works for
371 mark-end-of-sentence, if you bind that to a key. It also extends the
372 region when the mark is active in Transient Mark mode, regardless of
373 the last command. To start a new region with one of marking commands
374 in Transient Mark mode, you can deactivate the active region with C-g,
375 or set the new mark with C-SPC.
378 *** M-h (mark-paragraph) now accepts a prefix arg.
380 With positive arg, M-h marks the current and the following paragraphs;
381 if the arg is negative, it marks the current and the preceding
385 *** Some commands do something special in Transient Mark mode when the
386 mark is active--for instance, they limit their operation to the
387 region. Even if you don't normally use Transient Mark mode, you might
388 want to get this behavior from a particular command. There are two
389 ways you can enable Transient Mark mode and activate the mark, for one
392 One method is to type C-SPC C-SPC; this enables Transient Mark mode
393 and sets the mark at point. The other method is to type C-u C-x C-x.
394 This enables Transient Mark mode temporarily but does not alter the
397 After these commands, Transient Mark mode remains enabled until you
398 deactivate the mark. That typically happens when you type a command
399 that alters the buffer, but you can also deactivate the mark by typing
403 *** Movement commands `beginning-of-buffer', `end-of-buffer',
404 `beginning-of-defun', `end-of-defun' do not set the mark if the mark
405 is already active in Transient Mark mode.
407 ** Help command changes:
410 *** Changes in C-h bindings:
412 C-h e displays the *Messages* buffer.
414 C-h followed by a control character is used for displaying files
417 C-h C-f displays the FAQ.
418 C-h C-e displays the PROBLEMS file.
420 The info-search bindings on C-h C-f, C-h C-k and C-h C-i
421 have been moved to C-h F, C-h K and C-h S.
423 C-h c, C-h k, C-h w, and C-h f now handle remapped interactive commands.
425 - C-h c and C-h k report the actual command (after possible remapping)
426 run by the key sequence.
428 - C-h w and C-h f on a command which has been remapped now report the
429 command it is remapped to, and the keys which can be used to run
432 For example, if C-k is bound to kill-line, and kill-line is remapped
433 to new-kill-line, these commands now report:
435 - C-h c and C-h k C-k reports:
436 C-k runs the command new-kill-line
438 - C-h w and C-h f kill-line reports:
439 kill-line is remapped to new-kill-line which is on C-k, <deleteline>
441 - C-h w and C-h f new-kill-line reports:
442 new-kill-line is on C-k
445 *** Help commands `describe-function' and `describe-key' now show function
446 arguments in lowercase italics on displays that support it. To change the
447 default, customize face `help-argument-name' or redefine the function
448 `help-default-arg-highlight'.
451 *** C-h v and C-h f commands now include a hyperlink to the C source for
452 variables and functions defined in C (if the C source is available).
455 *** Help mode now only makes hyperlinks for faces when the face name is
456 preceded or followed by the word `face'. It no longer makes
457 hyperlinks for variables without variable documentation, unless
458 preceded by one of the words `variable' or `option'. It now makes
459 hyperlinks to Info anchors (or nodes) if the anchor (or node) name is
460 enclosed in single quotes and preceded by `info anchor' or `Info
461 anchor' (in addition to earlier `info node' and `Info node').
464 *** The new command `describe-char' (C-u C-x =) pops up a buffer with
465 description various information about a character, including its
466 encodings and syntax, its text properties, how to input, overlays, and
467 widgets at point. You can get more information about some of them, by
468 clicking on mouse-sensitive areas or moving there and pressing RET.
471 *** The command `list-text-properties-at' has been deleted because
472 C-u C-x = gives the same information and more.
475 *** New command `display-local-help' displays any local help at point
476 in the echo area. It is bound to `C-h .'. It normally displays the
477 same string that would be displayed on mouse-over using the
478 `help-echo' property, but, in certain cases, it can display a more
479 keyboard oriented alternative.
482 *** New user option `help-at-pt-display-when-idle' allows to
483 automatically show the help provided by `display-local-help' on
484 point-over, after suitable idle time. The amount of idle time is
485 determined by the user option `help-at-pt-timer-delay' and defaults
486 to one second. This feature is turned off by default.
489 *** The apropos commands now accept a list of words to match.
490 When more than one word is specified, at least two of those words must
491 be present for an item to match. Regular expression matching is still
495 *** The new option `apropos-sort-by-scores' causes the matching items
496 to be sorted according to their score. The score for an item is a
497 number calculated to indicate how well the item matches the words or
498 regular expression that you entered to the apropos command. The best
499 match is listed first, and the calculated score is shown for each
502 ** Incremental Search changes:
505 *** Vertical scrolling is now possible within incremental search.
506 To enable this feature, customize the new user option
507 `isearch-allow-scroll'. User written commands which satisfy stringent
508 constraints can be marked as "scrolling commands". See the Emacs manual
512 *** C-w in incremental search now grabs either a character or a word,
513 making the decision in a heuristic way. This new job is done by the
514 command `isearch-yank-word-or-char'. To restore the old behavior,
515 bind C-w to `isearch-yank-word' in `isearch-mode-map'.
518 *** C-y in incremental search now grabs the next line if point is already
519 at the end of a line.
522 *** C-M-w deletes and C-M-y grabs a character in isearch mode.
523 Another method to grab a character is to enter the minibuffer by `M-e'
524 and to type `C-f' at the end of the search string in the minibuffer.
527 *** M-% typed in isearch mode invokes `query-replace' or
528 `query-replace-regexp' (depending on search mode) with the current
529 search string used as the string to replace.
532 *** Isearch no longer adds `isearch-resume' commands to the command
533 history by default. To enable this feature, customize the new
534 user option `isearch-resume-in-command-history'.
536 ** Replace command changes:
539 *** New user option `query-replace-skip-read-only': when non-nil,
540 `query-replace' and related functions simply ignore
541 a match if part of it has a read-only property.
544 *** When used interactively, the commands `query-replace-regexp' and
545 `replace-regexp' allow \,expr to be used in a replacement string,
546 where expr is an arbitrary Lisp expression evaluated at replacement
547 time. In many cases, this will be more convenient than using
548 `query-replace-regexp-eval'. `\#' in a replacement string now refers
549 to the count of replacements already made by the replacement command.
550 All regular expression replacement commands now allow `\?' in the
551 replacement string to specify a position where the replacement string
552 can be edited for each replacement.
555 *** query-replace uses isearch lazy highlighting when the new user option
556 `query-replace-lazy-highlight' is non-nil.
559 *** The current match in query-replace is highlighted in new face
560 `query-replace' which by default inherits from isearch face.
562 ** File operation changes:
565 *** Unquoted `$' in file names do not signal an error any more when
566 the corresponding environment variable does not exist.
567 Instead, the `$ENVVAR' text is left as is, so that `$$' quoting
568 is only rarely needed.
571 *** In processing a local variables list, Emacs strips the prefix and
572 suffix are from every line before processing all the lines.
575 *** find-file-read-only visits multiple files in read-only mode,
576 when the file name contains wildcard characters.
579 *** find-alternate-file replaces the current file with multiple files,
580 when the file name contains wildcard characters.
583 *** Auto Compression mode is now enabled by default.
586 *** C-x C-f RET, typing nothing in the minibuffer, is no longer a special case.
588 Since the default input is the current directory, this has the effect
589 of specifying the current directory. Normally that means to visit the
590 directory with Dired.
593 *** When you are root, and you visit a file whose modes specify
594 read-only, the Emacs buffer is now read-only too. Type C-x C-q if you
595 want to make the buffer writable. (As root, you can in fact alter the
599 *** C-x s (save-some-buffers) now offers an option `d' to diff a buffer
600 against its file, so you can see what changes you would be saving.
603 *** The commands copy-file, rename-file, make-symbolic-link and
604 add-name-to-file, when given a directory as the "new name" argument,
605 convert it to a file name by merging in the within-directory part of
606 the existing file's name. (This is the same convention that shell
607 commands cp, mv, and ln follow.) Thus, M-x copy-file RET ~/foo RET
608 /tmp RET copies ~/foo to /tmp/foo.
611 *** When used interactively, `format-write-file' now asks for confirmation
612 before overwriting an existing file, unless a prefix argument is
613 supplied. This behavior is analogous to `write-file'.
616 *** The variable `auto-save-file-name-transforms' now has a third element that
617 controls whether or not the function `make-auto-save-file-name' will
618 attempt to construct a unique auto-save name (e.g. for remote files).
621 *** If the user visits a file larger than `large-file-warning-threshold',
622 Emacs asks for confirmation.
625 *** require-final-newline now has two new possible values:
627 `visit' means add a newline (as an undoable change) if it's needed
628 when visiting the file.
630 `visit-save' means add a newline (as an undoable change) if it's
631 needed when visiting the file, and also add a newline if it's needed
632 when saving the file.
635 *** The new option mode-require-final-newline controls how certain
636 major modes enable require-final-newline. Any major mode that's
637 designed for a kind of file that should normally end in a newline
638 sets require-final-newline based on mode-require-final-newline.
639 So you can customize mode-require-final-newline to control what these
642 ** Minibuffer changes:
645 *** There's a new face `minibuffer-prompt'.
646 Emacs adds this face to the list of text properties stored in the
647 variable `minibuffer-prompt-properties', which is used to display the
651 *** Enhanced visual feedback in `*Completions*' buffer.
653 Completions lists use faces to highlight what all completions
654 have in common and where they begin to differ.
656 The common prefix shared by all possible completions uses the face
657 `completions-common-part', while the first character that isn't the
658 same uses the face `completions-first-difference'. By default,
659 `completions-common-part' inherits from `default', and
660 `completions-first-difference' inherits from `bold'. The idea of
661 `completions-common-part' is that you can use it to make the common
662 parts less visible than normal, so that the rest of the differing
663 parts is, by contrast, slightly highlighted.
666 *** File-name completion can now ignore specified directories.
667 If an element of the list in `completion-ignored-extensions' ends in a
668 slash `/', it indicates a subdirectory that should be ignored when
669 completing file names. Elements of `completion-ignored-extensions'
670 which do not end in a slash are never considered when a completion
671 candidate is a directory.
674 *** The completion commands TAB, SPC and ? in the minibuffer apply only
675 to the text before point. If there is text in the buffer after point,
676 it remains unchanged.
679 *** New user option `history-delete-duplicates'.
680 If set to t when adding a new history element, all previous identical
681 elements are deleted.
683 ** Redisplay changes:
686 *** The mode line position information now comes before the major mode.
687 When the file is maintained under version control, that information
688 appears between the position information and the major mode.
691 *** New face `escape-glyph' highlights control characters and escape glyphs.
694 *** Non-breaking space and hyphens are now displayed with a special
695 face, either nobreak-space or escape-glyph. You can turn this off or
696 specify a different mode by setting the variable `nobreak-char-display'.
699 *** The parameters of automatic hscrolling can now be customized.
700 The variable `hscroll-margin' determines how many columns away from
701 the window edge point is allowed to get before automatic hscrolling
702 will horizontally scroll the window. The default value is 5.
704 The variable `hscroll-step' determines how many columns automatic
705 hscrolling scrolls the window when point gets too close to the
706 window edge. If its value is zero, the default, Emacs scrolls the
707 window so as to center point. If its value is an integer, it says how
708 many columns to scroll. If the value is a floating-point number, it
709 gives the fraction of the window's width to scroll the window.
711 The variable `automatic-hscrolling' was renamed to
712 `auto-hscroll-mode'. The old name is still available as an alias.
715 *** Moving or scrolling through images (and other lines) taller that
716 the window now works sensibly, by automatically adjusting the window's
720 *** The new face `mode-line-inactive' is used to display the mode line
721 of non-selected windows. The `mode-line' face is now used to display
722 the mode line of the currently selected window.
724 The new variable `mode-line-in-non-selected-windows' controls whether
725 the `mode-line-inactive' face is used.
728 *** You can now customize the use of window fringes. To control this
729 for all frames, use M-x fringe-mode or the Show/Hide submenu of the
730 top-level Options menu, or customize the `fringe-mode' variable. To
731 control this for a specific frame, use the command M-x
735 *** Angle icons in the fringes can indicate the buffer boundaries. In
736 addition, up and down arrow bitmaps in the fringe indicate which ways
737 the window can be scrolled.
739 This behavior is activated by setting the buffer-local variable
740 `indicate-buffer-boundaries' to a non-nil value. The default value of
741 this variable is found in `default-indicate-buffer-boundaries'.
743 If value is `left' or `right', both angle and arrow bitmaps are
744 displayed in the left or right fringe, resp.
746 The value can also be an alist which specifies the presence and
747 position of each bitmap individually.
749 For example, ((top . left) (t . right)) places the top angle bitmap
750 in left fringe, the bottom angle bitmap in right fringe, and both
751 arrow bitmaps in right fringe. To show just the angle bitmaps in the
752 left fringe, but no arrow bitmaps, use ((top . left) (bottom . left)).
755 *** On window systems, lines which are exactly as wide as the window
756 (not counting the final newline character) are no longer broken into
757 two lines on the display (with just the newline on the second line).
758 Instead, the newline now "overflows" into the right fringe, and the
759 cursor will be displayed in the fringe when positioned on that newline.
761 The new user option 'overflow-newline-into-fringe' can be set to nil to
762 revert to the old behavior of continuing such lines.
765 *** When a window has display margin areas, the fringes are now
766 displayed between the margins and the buffer's text area, rather than
767 outside those margins.
770 *** A window can now have individual fringe and scroll-bar settings,
771 in addition to the individual display margin settings.
773 Such individual settings are now preserved when windows are split
774 horizontally or vertically, a saved window configuration is restored,
775 or when the frame is resized.
777 ** Cursor display changes:
780 *** On X, MS Windows, and Mac OS, the blinking cursor's "off" state is
781 now controlled by the variable `blink-cursor-alist'.
784 *** The X resource cursorBlink can be used to turn off cursor blinking.
787 *** Emacs can produce an underscore-like (horizontal bar) cursor.
788 The underscore cursor is set by putting `(cursor-type . hbar)' in
789 default-frame-alist. It supports variable heights, like the `bar'
793 *** Display of hollow cursors now obeys the buffer-local value (if any)
794 of `cursor-in-non-selected-windows' in the buffer that the cursor
798 *** The variable `cursor-in-non-selected-windows' can now be set to any
799 of the recognized cursor types.
804 *** `mode-line-highlight' is the standard face indicating mouse sensitive
805 elements on mode-line (and header-line) like `highlight' face on text
809 *** `shadow' face defines the appearance of the "shadowed" text, i.e.
810 the text which should be less noticeable than the surrounding text.
811 This can be achieved by using shades of grey in contrast with either
812 black or white default foreground color. This generic shadow face
813 allows customization of the appearance of shadowed text in one place,
814 so package-specific faces can inherit from it.
817 *** `vertical-border' face is used for the vertical divider between windows.
819 ** Font-Lock changes:
822 *** M-o now is the prefix key for setting text properties;
823 M-o M-o requests refontification.
826 *** All modes now support using M-x font-lock-mode to toggle
827 fontification, even those such as Occur, Info, and comint-derived
828 modes that do their own fontification in a special way.
830 The variable `Info-fontify' is no longer applicable; to disable
831 fontification in Info, remove `turn-on-font-lock' from
835 *** font-lock-lines-before specifies a number of lines before the
836 current line that should be refontified when you change the buffer.
837 The default value is 1.
840 *** font-lock: in modes like C and Lisp where the fontification assumes that
841 an open-paren in column 0 is always outside of any string or comment,
842 font-lock now highlights any such open-paren-in-column-zero in bold-red
843 if it is inside a string or a comment, to indicate that it can cause
844 trouble with fontification and/or indentation.
847 *** New standard font-lock face `font-lock-preprocessor-face'.
850 *** New standard font-lock face `font-lock-comment-delimiter-face'.
853 *** Easy to overlook single character negation can now be font-locked.
854 You can use the new variable `font-lock-negation-char-face' and the face of
855 the same name to customize this. Currently the cc-modes, sh-script-mode,
856 cperl-mode and make-mode support this.
859 *** The default settings for JIT stealth lock parameters are changed.
860 The default value for the user option jit-lock-stealth-time is now 16
861 instead of 3, and the default value of jit-lock-stealth-nice is now
862 0.5 instead of 0.125. The new defaults should lower the CPU usage
863 when Emacs is fontifying in the background.
866 *** jit-lock can now be delayed with `jit-lock-defer-time'.
868 If this variable is non-nil, its value should be the amount of Emacs
869 idle time in seconds to wait before starting fontification. For
870 example, if you set `jit-lock-defer-time' to 0.25, fontification will
871 only happen after 0.25s of idle time.
874 *** contextual refontification is now separate from stealth fontification.
876 jit-lock-defer-contextually is renamed jit-lock-contextually and
877 jit-lock-context-time determines the delay after which contextual
878 refontification takes place.
883 *** A menu item "Show/Hide" was added to the top-level menu "Options".
884 This menu allows you to turn various display features on and off (such
885 as the fringes, the tool bar, the speedbar, and the menu bar itself).
886 You can also move the vertical scroll bar to either side here or turn
887 it off completely. There is also a menu-item to toggle displaying of
888 current date and time, current line and column number in the mode-line.
891 *** Speedbar has moved from the "Tools" top level menu to "Show/Hide".
894 *** You can exit dialog windows and menus by typing C-g.
897 *** The menu item "Open File..." has been split into two items, "New File..."
898 and "Open File...". "Open File..." now opens only existing files. This is
899 to support existing GUI file selection dialogs better.
902 *** The file selection dialog for Gtk+, Mac, W32 and Motif/Lesstif can be
903 disabled by customizing the variable `use-file-dialog'.
906 *** The pop up menus for Lucid now stay up if you do a fast click and can
907 be navigated with the arrow keys (like Gtk+, Mac and W32).
910 *** The Lucid menus can display multilingual text in your locale. You have
911 to explicitly specify a fontSet resource for this to work, for example
912 `-xrm "Emacs*fontSet: -*-helvetica-medium-r-*--*-120-*-*-*-*-*-*,*"'.
915 *** Dialogs for Lucid/Athena and Lesstif/Motif now pops down when pressing
916 ESC, like they do for Gtk+, Mac and W32.
919 *** For Gtk+ version 2.4, you can make Emacs use the old file dialog
920 by setting the variable `x-use-old-gtk-file-dialog' to t. Default is to use
926 *** If you set the new variable `mouse-autoselect-window' to a non-nil
927 value, windows are automatically selected as you move the mouse from
928 one Emacs window to another, even within a frame. A minibuffer window
929 can be selected only when it is active.
932 *** On X, when the window manager requires that you click on a frame to
933 select it (give it focus), the selected window and cursor position
934 normally changes according to the mouse click position. If you set
935 the variable x-mouse-click-focus-ignore-position to t, the selected
936 window and cursor position do not change when you click on a frame
940 *** You can now follow links by clicking Mouse-1 on the link.
942 Traditionally, Emacs uses a Mouse-1 click to set point and a Mouse-2
943 click to follow a link, whereas most other applications use a Mouse-1
944 click for both purposes, depending on whether you click outside or
945 inside a link. Now the behavior of a Mouse-1 click has been changed
946 to match this context-sentitive dual behavior. (If you prefer the old
947 behavior, set the user option `mouse-1-click-follows-link' to nil.)
949 Depending on the current mode, a Mouse-2 click in Emacs can do much
950 more than just follow a link, so the new Mouse-1 behavior is only
951 activated for modes which explicitly mark a clickable text as a "link"
952 (see the new function `mouse-on-link-p' for details). The Lisp
953 packages that are included in release 22.1 have been adapted to do
954 this, but external packages may not yet support this. However, there
955 is no risk in using such packages, as the worst thing that could
956 happen is that you get the original Mouse-1 behavior when you click
957 on a link, which typically means that you set point where you click.
959 If you want to get the original Mouse-1 action also inside a link, you
960 just need to press the Mouse-1 button a little longer than a normal
961 click (i.e. press and hold the Mouse-1 button for half a second before
964 Dragging the Mouse-1 inside a link still performs the original
965 drag-mouse-1 action, typically copy the text.
967 You can customize the new Mouse-1 behavior via the new user options
968 `mouse-1-click-follows-link' and `mouse-1-click-in-non-selected-windows'.
971 *** Emacs normally highlights mouse sensitive text whenever the mouse
972 is over the text. By setting the new variable `mouse-highlight', you
973 can optionally enable mouse highlighting only after you move the
974 mouse, so that highlighting disappears when you press a key. You can
975 also disable mouse highlighting.
978 *** You can now customize if selecting a region by dragging the mouse
979 shall not copy the selected text to the kill-ring by setting the new
980 variable mouse-drag-copy-region to nil.
983 *** mouse-wheels can now scroll a specific fraction of the window
984 (rather than a fixed number of lines) and the scrolling is `progressive'.
987 *** Emacs ignores mouse-2 clicks while the mouse wheel is being moved.
989 People tend to push the mouse wheel (which counts as a mouse-2 click)
990 unintentionally while turning the wheel, so these clicks are now
991 ignored. You can customize this with the mouse-wheel-click-event and
992 mouse-wheel-inhibit-click-time variables.
995 *** Under X, mouse-wheel-mode is turned on by default.
997 ** Multilingual Environment (Mule) changes:
1000 *** Language environment and various default coding systems are setup
1001 more correctly according to the current locale name. If the locale
1002 name doesn't specify a charset, the default is what glibc defines.
1003 This change can result in using the different coding systems as
1004 default in some locale (e.g. vi_VN).
1007 *** The keyboard-coding-system is now automatically set based on your
1008 current locale settings if you are not using a window system. This
1009 can mean that the META key doesn't work but generates non-ASCII
1010 characters instead, depending on how the terminal (or terminal
1011 emulator) works. Use `set-keyboard-coding-system' (or customize
1012 keyboard-coding-system) if you prefer META to work (the old default)
1013 or if the locale doesn't describe the character set actually generated
1014 by the keyboard. See Info node `Single-Byte Character Support'.
1017 *** The new command `revert-buffer-with-coding-system' (C-x RET r)
1018 revisits the current file using a coding system that you specify.
1021 *** New command `recode-region' decodes the region again by a specified
1025 *** The new command `recode-file-name' changes the encoding of the name
1029 *** New command `ucs-insert' inserts a character specified by its
1033 *** The new command `set-file-name-coding-system' (C-x RET F) sets
1034 coding system for encoding and decoding file names. A new menu item
1035 (Options->Mule->Set Coding Systems->For File Name) invokes this
1039 *** New command quail-show-key shows what key (or key sequence) to type
1040 in the current input method to input a character at point.
1043 *** Limited support for character `unification' has been added.
1044 Emacs now knows how to translate between different representations of
1045 the same characters in various Emacs charsets according to standard
1046 Unicode mappings. This applies mainly to characters in the ISO 8859
1047 sets plus some other 8-bit sets, but can be extended. For instance,
1048 translation works amongst the Emacs ...-iso8859-... charsets and the
1049 mule-unicode-... ones.
1051 By default this translation happens automatically on encoding.
1052 Self-inserting characters are translated to make the input conformant
1053 with the encoding of the buffer in which it's being used, where
1056 You can force a more complete unification with the user option
1057 unify-8859-on-decoding-mode. That maps all the Latin-N character sets
1058 into Unicode characters (from the latin-iso8859-1 and
1059 mule-unicode-0100-24ff charsets) on decoding. Note that this mode
1060 will often effectively clobber data with an iso-2022 encoding.
1063 *** There is support for decoding Greek and Cyrillic characters into
1064 either Unicode (the mule-unicode charsets) or the iso-8859 charsets,
1065 when possible. The latter are more space-efficient. This is
1066 controlled by user option utf-fragment-on-decoding.
1069 *** New language environments: French, Ukrainian, Tajik,
1070 Bulgarian, Belarusian, Ukrainian, UTF-8, Windows-1255, Welsh, Latin-6,
1071 Latin-7, Lithuanian, Latvian, Swedish, Slovenian, Croatian, Georgian,
1072 Italian, Russian, Malayalam, Tamil, Russian, Chinese-EUC-TW. (Set up
1073 automatically according to the locale.)
1076 *** New input methods: latin-alt-postfix, latin-postfix, latin-prefix,
1077 ukrainian-computer, belarusian, bulgarian-bds, russian-computer,
1078 vietnamese-telex, lithuanian-numeric, lithuanian-keyboard,
1079 latvian-keyboard, welsh, georgian, rfc1345, ucs, sgml,
1080 bulgarian-phonetic, dutch, slovenian, croatian, malayalam-inscript,
1084 *** New input method chinese-sisheng for inputting Chinese Pinyin
1088 *** Improved Thai support. A new minor mode `thai-word-mode' (which is
1089 automatically activated if you select Thai as a language
1090 environment) changes key bindings of most word-oriented commands to
1091 versions which recognize Thai words. Affected commands are
1095 M-DEL (backward-kill-word)
1096 M-t (transpose-words)
1097 M-q (fill-paragraph)
1100 *** Indian support has been updated.
1101 The in-is13194 coding system is now Unicode-based. CDAC fonts are
1102 assumed. There is a framework for supporting various
1103 Indian scripts, but currently only Devanagari, Malayalam and Tamil are
1107 *** A UTF-7 coding system is available in the library `utf-7'.
1110 *** The utf-8/16 coding systems have been enhanced.
1111 By default, untranslatable utf-8 sequences are simply composed into
1112 single quasi-characters. User option `utf-translate-cjk-mode' (it is
1113 turned on by default) arranges to translate many utf-8 CJK character
1114 sequences into real Emacs characters in a similar way to the Mule-UCS
1115 system. As this loads a fairly big data on demand, people who are not
1116 interested in CJK characters may want to customize it to nil.
1117 You can augment/amend the CJK translation via hash tables
1118 `ucs-mule-cjk-to-unicode' and `ucs-unicode-to-mule-cjk'. The utf-8
1119 coding system now also encodes characters from most of Emacs's
1120 one-dimensional internal charsets, specifically the ISO-8859 ones.
1121 The utf-16 coding system is affected similarly.
1124 *** A new coding system `euc-tw' has been added for traditional Chinese
1125 in CNS encoding; it accepts both Big 5 and CNS as input; on saving,
1126 Big 5 is then converted to CNS.
1129 *** Many new coding systems are available in the `code-pages' library.
1130 These include complete versions of most of those in codepage.el, based
1131 on Unicode mappings. `codepage-setup' is now obsolete and is used
1132 only in the MS-DOS port of Emacs. All coding systems defined in
1133 `code-pages' are auto-loaded.
1136 *** New variable `utf-translate-cjk-unicode-range' controls which
1137 Unicode characters to translate in `utf-translate-cjk-mode'.
1140 *** iso-10646-1 (`Unicode') fonts can be used to display any range of
1141 characters encodable by the utf-8 coding system. Just specify the
1142 fontset appropriately.
1144 ** Customize changes:
1147 *** Custom themes are collections of customize options. Create a
1148 custom theme with M-x customize-create-theme. Use M-x load-theme to
1149 load and enable a theme, and M-x disable-theme to disable it. Use M-x
1150 enable-theme to renable a disabled theme.
1153 *** The commands M-x customize-face and M-x customize-face-other-window
1154 now look at the character after point. If a face or faces are
1155 specified for that character, the commands by default customize those
1159 *** The face-customization widget has been reworked to be less confusing.
1160 In particular, when you enable a face attribute using the corresponding
1161 check-box, there's no longer a redundant `*' option in value selection
1162 for that attribute; the values you can choose are only those which make
1163 sense for the attribute. When an attribute is de-selected by unchecking
1164 its check-box, then the (now ignored, but still present temporarily in
1165 case you re-select the attribute) value is hidden.
1168 *** When you set or reset a variable's value in a Customize buffer,
1169 the previous value becomes the "backup value" of the variable.
1170 You can go back to that backup value by selecting "Use Backup Value"
1171 under the "[State]" button.
1173 ** Buffer Menu changes:
1176 *** New command `Buffer-menu-toggle-files-only' toggles display of file
1177 buffers only in the Buffer Menu. It is bound to `T' in Buffer Menu
1181 *** `buffer-menu' and `list-buffers' now list buffers whose names begin
1182 with a space, when those buffers are visiting files. Normally buffers
1183 whose names begin with space are omitted.
1186 *** The new options `buffers-menu-show-directories' and
1187 `buffers-menu-show-status' let you control how buffers are displayed
1188 in the menu dropped down when you click "Buffers" from the menu bar.
1190 `buffers-menu-show-directories' controls whether the menu displays
1191 leading directories as part of the file name visited by the buffer.
1192 If its value is `unless-uniquify', the default, directories are
1193 shown unless uniquify-buffer-name-style' is non-nil. The value of nil
1194 and t turn the display of directories off and on, respectively.
1196 `buffers-menu-show-status' controls whether the Buffers menu includes
1197 the modified and read-only status of the buffers. By default it is
1198 t, and the status is shown.
1200 Setting these variables directly does not take effect until next time
1201 the Buffers menu is regenerated.
1206 *** New faces dired-header, dired-mark, dired-marked, dired-flagged,
1207 dired-ignored, dired-directory, dired-symlink, dired-warning
1208 introduced for Dired mode instead of font-lock faces.
1211 *** New Dired command `dired-compare-directories' marks files
1212 with different file attributes in two dired buffers.
1215 *** New Dired command `dired-do-touch' (bound to T) changes timestamps
1216 of marked files with the value entered in the minibuffer.
1219 *** In Dired's ! command (dired-do-shell-command), `*' and `?' now
1220 control substitution of the file names only when they are surrounded
1221 by whitespace. This means you can now use them as shell wildcards
1222 too. If you want to use just plain `*' as a wildcard, type `*""'; the
1223 doublequotes make no difference in the shell, but they prevent
1224 special treatment in `dired-do-shell-command'.
1227 *** In Dired, the w command now copies the current line's file name
1228 into the kill ring. With a zero prefix arg, copies absolute file names.
1231 *** In Dired-x, Omitting files is now a minor mode, dired-omit-mode.
1233 The mode toggling command is bound to M-o. A new command
1234 dired-mark-omitted, bound to * O, marks omitted files. The variable
1235 dired-omit-files-p is obsoleted, use the mode toggling function
1239 *** The variables dired-free-space-program and dired-free-space-args
1240 have been renamed to directory-free-space-program and
1241 directory-free-space-args, and they now apply whenever Emacs puts a
1242 directory listing into a buffer.
1247 *** The comint prompt can now be made read-only, using the new user
1248 option `comint-prompt-read-only'. This is not enabled by default,
1249 except in IELM buffers. The read-only status of IELM prompts can be
1250 controlled with the new user option `ielm-prompt-read-only', which
1251 overrides `comint-prompt-read-only'.
1253 The new commands `comint-kill-whole-line' and `comint-kill-region'
1254 support editing comint buffers with read-only prompts.
1256 `comint-kill-whole-line' is like `kill-whole-line', but ignores both
1257 read-only and field properties. Hence, it always kill entire
1258 lines, including any prompts.
1260 `comint-kill-region' is like `kill-region', except that it ignores
1261 read-only properties, if it is safe to do so. This means that if any
1262 part of a prompt is deleted, then the entire prompt must be deleted
1263 and that all prompts must stay at the beginning of a line. If this is
1264 not the case, then `comint-kill-region' behaves just like
1265 `kill-region' if read-only are involved: it copies the text to the
1266 kill-ring, but does not delete it.
1269 *** The new command `comint-insert-previous-argument' in comint-derived
1270 modes (shell-mode etc) inserts arguments from previous command lines,
1271 like bash's `ESC .' binding. It is bound by default to `C-c .', but
1272 otherwise behaves quite similarly to the bash version.
1275 *** `comint-use-prompt-regexp-instead-of-fields' has been renamed
1276 `comint-use-prompt-regexp'. The old name has been kept as an alias,
1277 but declared obsolete.
1279 ** M-x Compile changes:
1282 *** M-x compile has become more robust and reliable
1284 Quite a few more kinds of messages are recognized. Messages that are
1285 recognized as warnings or informational come in orange or green, instead of
1286 red. Informational messages are by default skipped with `next-error'
1287 (controlled by `compilation-skip-threshold').
1289 Location data is collected on the fly as the *compilation* buffer changes.
1290 This means you could modify messages to make them point to different files.
1291 This also means you can not go to locations of messages you may have deleted.
1293 The variable `compilation-error-regexp-alist' has now become customizable. If
1294 you had added your own regexps to this, you'll probably need to include a
1295 leading `^', otherwise they'll match anywhere on a line. There is now also a
1296 `compilation-mode-font-lock-keywords' and it nicely handles all the checks
1297 that configure outputs and -o options so you see at a glance where you are.
1299 The new file etc/compilation.txt gives examples of each type of message.
1302 *** New user option `compilation-environment'.
1303 This option allows you to specify environment variables for inferior
1304 compilation processes without affecting the environment that all
1305 subprocesses inherit.
1308 *** New user option `compilation-disable-input'.
1309 If this is non-nil, send end-of-file as compilation process input.
1312 *** New options `next-error-highlight' and `next-error-highlight-no-select'
1313 specify the method of highlighting of the corresponding source line
1314 in new face `next-error'.
1317 *** A new minor mode `next-error-follow-minor-mode' can be used in
1318 compilation-mode, grep-mode, occur-mode, and diff-mode (i.e. all the
1319 modes that can use `next-error'). In this mode, cursor motion in the
1320 buffer causes automatic display in another window of the corresponding
1321 matches, compilation errors, etc. This minor mode can be toggled with
1325 *** When the left fringe is displayed, an arrow points to current message in
1326 the compilation buffer.
1329 *** The new variable `compilation-context-lines' controls lines of leading
1330 context before the current message. If nil and the left fringe is displayed,
1331 it doesn't scroll the compilation output window. If there is no left fringe,
1332 no arrow is displayed and a value of nil means display the message at the top
1335 ** Occur mode changes:
1338 *** In the *Occur* buffer, `o' switches to it in another window, and
1339 C-o displays the current line's occurrence in another window without
1343 *** You can now use next-error (C-x `) and previous-error to advance to
1344 the next/previous matching line found by M-x occur.
1347 *** The new command `multi-occur' is just like `occur', except it can
1348 search multiple buffers. There is also a new command
1349 `multi-occur-by-filename-regexp' which allows you to specify the
1350 buffers to search by their filename. Internally, Occur mode has been
1351 rewritten, and now uses font-lock, among other changes.
1356 *** Grep has been decoupled from compilation mode setup.
1358 There's a new separate package grep.el, with its own submenu and
1359 customization group.
1362 *** M-x grep provides highlighting support.
1364 Hits are fontified in green, and hits in binary files in orange. Grep buffers
1365 can be saved and automatically revisited.
1368 *** `grep-find' is now also available under the name `find-grep' where
1369 people knowing `find-grep-dired' would probably expect it.
1372 *** The new variables `grep-window-height', `grep-auto-highlight', and
1373 `grep-scroll-output' override the corresponding compilation mode
1374 settings, for grep commands only.
1377 *** New option `grep-highlight-matches' highlightes matches in *grep*
1378 buffer. It uses a special feature of some grep programs which accept
1379 --color option to output markers around matches. When going to the next
1380 match with `next-error' the exact match is highlighted in the source
1381 buffer. Otherwise, if `grep-highlight-matches' is nil, the whole
1382 source line is highlighted.
1385 *** New key bindings in grep output window:
1386 SPC and DEL scrolls window up and down. C-n and C-p moves to next and
1387 previous match in the grep window. RET jumps to the source line of
1388 the current match. `n' and `p' shows next and previous match in
1389 other window, but does not switch buffer. `{' and `}' jumps to the
1390 previous or next file in the grep output. TAB also jumps to the next
1394 *** M-x grep now tries to avoid appending `/dev/null' to the command line
1395 by using GNU grep `-H' option instead. M-x grep automatically
1396 detects whether this is possible or not the first time it is invoked.
1397 When `-H' is used, the grep command line supplied by the user is passed
1398 unchanged to the system to execute, which allows more complicated
1399 command lines to be used than was possible before.
1401 ** X Windows Support:
1404 *** Emacs now supports drag and drop for X. Dropping a file on a window
1405 opens it, dropping text inserts the text. Dropping a file on a dired
1406 buffer copies or moves the file to that directory.
1409 *** Under X11, it is possible to swap Alt and Meta (and Super and Hyper).
1410 The new variables `x-alt-keysym', `x-hyper-keysym', `x-meta-keysym',
1411 and `x-super-keysym' can be used to choose which keysyms Emacs should
1412 use for the modifiers. For example, the following two lines swap
1414 (setq x-alt-keysym 'meta)
1415 (setq x-meta-keysym 'alt)
1418 *** The X resource useXIM can be used to turn off use of XIM, which can
1419 speed up Emacs with slow networking to the X server.
1421 If the configure option `--without-xim' was used to turn off use of
1422 XIM by default, the X resource useXIM can be used to turn it on.
1425 *** The new variable `x-select-request-type' controls how Emacs
1426 requests X selection. The default value is nil, which means that
1427 Emacs requests X selection with types COMPOUND_TEXT and UTF8_STRING,
1428 and use the more appropriately result.
1431 *** The scrollbar under LessTif or Motif has a smoother drag-scrolling.
1432 On the other hand, the size of the thumb does not represent the actual
1433 amount of text shown any more (only a crude approximation of it).
1438 *** Emacs now responds to mouse-clicks on the mode-line, header-line and
1439 display margin, when run in an xterm.
1442 *** Improved key bindings support when running in an xterm.
1443 When emacs is running in an xterm more key bindings are available. The
1444 following should work:
1445 {C,S,C-S,A}-{right,left,up,down,prior,next,delete,insert,F1-12}.
1446 These key bindings work on xterm from X.org 6.8, they might not work on
1447 some older versions of xterm, or on some proprietary versions.
1449 ** Character terminal color support changes:
1452 *** The new command-line option --color=MODE lets you specify a standard
1453 mode for a tty color support. It is meant to be used on character
1454 terminals whose capabilities are not set correctly in the terminal
1455 database, or with terminal emulators which support colors, but don't
1456 set the TERM environment variable to a name of a color-capable
1457 terminal. "emacs --color" uses the same color commands as GNU `ls'
1458 when invoked with "ls --color", so if your terminal can support colors
1459 in "ls --color", it will support "emacs --color" as well. See the
1460 user manual for the possible values of the MODE parameter.
1463 *** Emacs now supports several character terminals which provide more
1464 than 8 colors. For example, for `xterm', 16-color, 88-color, and
1465 256-color modes are supported. Emacs automatically notes at startup
1466 the extended number of colors, and defines the appropriate entries for
1467 all of these colors.
1470 *** Emacs now uses the full range of available colors for the default
1471 faces when running on a color terminal, including 16-, 88-, and
1472 256-color xterms. This means that when you run "emacs -nw" on an
1473 88-color or 256-color xterm, you will see essentially the same face
1477 *** There's a new support for colors on `rxvt' terminal emulator.
1479 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 22.1
1482 ** Filesets are collections of files. You can define a fileset in
1483 various ways, such as based on a directory tree or based on
1484 program files that include other program files.
1486 Once you have defined a fileset, you can perform various operations on
1487 all the files in it, such as visiting them or searching and replacing
1491 ** Calc is now part of the Emacs distribution.
1493 Calc is an advanced desk calculator and mathematical tool written in
1494 Emacs Lisp. Its documentation is in a separate manual; within Emacs,
1495 type "C-h i m calc RET" to read that manual. A reference card is
1496 available in `etc/calccard.tex' and `etc/calccard.ps'.
1499 ** The new package ibuffer provides a powerful, completely
1500 customizable replacement for buff-menu.el.
1503 ** Ido mode is now part of the Emacs distribution.
1505 The ido (interactively do) package is an extension of the iswitchb
1506 package to do interactive opening of files and directories in addition
1507 to interactive buffer switching. Ido is a superset of iswitchb (with
1508 a few exceptions), so don't enable both packages.
1511 ** Image files are normally visited in Image mode, which lets you toggle
1512 between viewing the image and viewing the text using C-c C-c.
1515 ** CUA mode is now part of the Emacs distribution.
1517 The new cua package provides CUA-like keybindings using C-x for
1518 cut (kill), C-c for copy, C-v for paste (yank), and C-z for undo.
1519 With cua, the region can be set and extended using shifted movement
1520 keys (like pc-selection-mode) and typed text replaces the active
1521 region (like delete-selection-mode). Do not enable these modes with
1522 cua-mode. Customize the variable `cua-mode' to enable cua.
1524 In addition, cua provides unified rectangle support with visible
1525 rectangle highlighting: Use C-return to start a rectangle, extend it
1526 using the movement commands (or mouse-3), and cut or copy it using C-x
1527 or C-c (using C-w and M-w also works).
1529 Use M-o and M-c to `open' or `close' the rectangle, use M-b or M-f, to
1530 fill it with blanks or another character, use M-u or M-l to upcase or
1531 downcase the rectangle, use M-i to increment the numbers in the
1532 rectangle, use M-n to fill the rectangle with a numeric sequence (such
1533 as 10 20 30...), use M-r to replace a regexp in the rectangle, and use
1534 M-' or M-/ to restrict command on the rectangle to a subset of the
1535 rows. See the commentary in cua-base.el for more rectangle commands.
1537 Cua also provides unified support for registers: Use a numeric
1538 prefix argument between 0 and 9, i.e. M-0 .. M-9, for C-x, C-c, and
1539 C-v to cut or copy into register 0-9, or paste from register 0-9.
1541 The last text deleted (not killed) is automatically stored in
1542 register 0. This includes text deleted by typing text.
1544 Finally, cua provides a global mark which is set using S-C-space.
1545 When the global mark is active, any text which is cut or copied is
1546 automatically inserted at the global mark position. See the
1547 commentary in cua-base.el for more global mark related commands.
1549 The features of cua also works with the standard emacs bindings for
1550 kill, copy, yank, and undo. If you want to use cua mode, but don't
1551 want the C-x, C-c, C-v, and C-z bindings, you can customize the
1552 `cua-enable-cua-keys' variable.
1554 Note: This version of cua mode is not backwards compatible with older
1555 versions of cua.el and cua-mode.el. To ensure proper operation, you
1556 must remove older versions of cua.el or cua-mode.el as well as the
1557 loading and customization of those packages from the .emacs file.
1560 ** Org mode is now part of the Emacs distribution
1562 Org mode is a mode for keeping notes, maintaining ToDo lists, and
1563 doing project planning with a fast and effective plain-text system.
1564 It also contains a plain-text table editor with spreadsheet-like
1567 The Org mode table editor can be integrated into any major mode by
1568 activating the minor Orgtbl-mode.
1570 The documentation for org-mode is in a separate manual; within Emacs,
1571 type "C-h i m org RET" to read that manual. A reference card is
1572 available in `etc/orgcard.tex' and `etc/orgcard.ps'.
1575 ** The new package dns-mode.el add syntax highlight of DNS master files.
1576 The key binding C-c C-s (`dns-mode-soa-increment-serial') can be used
1577 to increment the SOA serial.
1580 ** The new global minor mode `file-name-shadow-mode' modifies the way
1581 filenames being entered by the user in the minibuffer are displayed, so
1582 that it's clear when part of the entered filename will be ignored due to
1583 emacs' filename parsing rules. The ignored portion can be made dim,
1584 invisible, or otherwise less visually noticable. The display method can
1585 be displayed by customizing the variable `file-name-shadow-properties'.
1588 ** The new package flymake.el does on-the-fly syntax checking of program
1589 source files. See the Flymake's Info manual for more details.
1592 ** The new keypad setup package provides several common bindings for
1593 the numeric keypad which is available on most keyboards. The numeric
1594 keypad typically has the digits 0 to 9, a decimal point, keys marked
1595 +, -, /, and *, an Enter key, and a NumLock toggle key. The keypad
1596 package only controls the use of the digit and decimal keys.
1598 By customizing the variables `keypad-setup', `keypad-shifted-setup',
1599 `keypad-numlock-setup', and `keypad-numlock-shifted-setup', or by
1600 using the function `keypad-setup', you can rebind all digit keys and
1601 the decimal key of the keypad in one step for each of the four
1602 possible combinations of the Shift key state (not pressed/pressed) and
1603 the NumLock toggle state (off/on).
1605 The choices for the keypad keys in each of the above states are:
1606 `Plain numeric keypad' where the keys generates plain digits,
1607 `Numeric keypad with decimal key' where the character produced by the
1608 decimal key can be customized individually (for internationalization),
1609 `Numeric Prefix Arg' where the keypad keys produce numeric prefix args
1610 for emacs editing commands, `Cursor keys' and `Shifted Cursor keys'
1611 where the keys work like (shifted) arrow keys, home/end, etc., and
1612 `Unspecified/User-defined' where the keypad keys (kp-0, kp-1, etc.)
1613 are left unspecified and can be bound individually through the global
1617 ** The new kmacro package provides a simpler user interface to
1618 emacs' keyboard macro facilities.
1620 Basically, it uses two function keys (default F3 and F4) like this:
1621 F3 starts a macro, F4 ends the macro, and pressing F4 again executes
1622 the last macro. While defining the macro, F3 inserts a counter value
1623 which automatically increments every time the macro is executed.
1625 There is now a keyboard macro ring which stores the most recently
1628 The C-x C-k sequence is now a prefix for the kmacro keymap which
1629 defines bindings for moving through the keyboard macro ring,
1630 C-x C-k C-p and C-x C-k C-n, editing the last macro C-x C-k C-e,
1631 manipulating the macro counter and format via C-x C-k C-c,
1632 C-x C-k C-a, and C-x C-k C-f. See the commentary in kmacro.el
1635 The normal macro bindings C-x (, C-x ), and C-x e now interfaces to
1636 the keyboard macro ring.
1638 The C-x e command now automatically terminates the current macro
1639 before calling it, if used while defining a macro.
1641 In addition, when ending or calling a macro with C-x e, the macro can
1642 be repeated immediately by typing just the `e'. You can customize
1643 this behavior via the variables kmacro-call-repeat-key and
1644 kmacro-call-repeat-with-arg.
1646 Keyboard macros can now be debugged and edited interactively.
1647 C-x C-k SPC steps through the last keyboard macro one key sequence
1648 at a time, prompting for the actions to take.
1651 ** New minor mode, Visible mode, toggles invisibility in the current buffer.
1652 When enabled, it makes all invisible text visible. When disabled, it
1653 restores the previous value of `buffer-invisibility-spec'.
1656 ** The wdired.el package allows you to use normal editing commands on Dired
1657 buffers to change filenames, permissions, etc...
1660 ** The new package longlines.el provides a minor mode for editing text
1661 files composed of long lines, based on the `use-hard-newlines'
1662 mechanism. The long lines are broken up by inserting soft newlines,
1663 which are automatically removed when saving the file to disk or
1664 copying into the kill ring, clipboard, etc. By default, Longlines
1665 mode inserts soft newlines automatically during editing, a behavior
1666 referred to as "soft word wrap" in other text editors. This is
1667 similar to Refill mode, but more reliable. To turn the word wrap
1668 feature off, set `longlines-auto-wrap' to nil.
1671 ** The printing package is now part of the Emacs distribution.
1673 If you enable the printing package by including (require 'printing) in
1674 the .emacs file, the normal Print item on the File menu is replaced
1675 with a Print sub-menu which allows you to preview output through
1676 ghostview, use ghostscript to print (if you don't have a PostScript
1677 printer) or send directly to printer a PostScript code generated by
1678 `ps-print' package. Use M-x pr-help for more information.
1681 ** The minor mode Reveal mode makes text visible on the fly as you
1682 move your cursor into hidden regions of the buffer.
1683 It should work with any package that uses overlays to hide parts
1684 of a buffer, such as outline-minor-mode, hs-minor-mode, hide-ifdef-mode, ...
1686 There is also Global Reveal mode which affects all buffers.
1689 ** The ruler-mode.el library provides a minor mode for displaying an
1690 "active" ruler in the header line. You can use the mouse to visually
1691 change the `fill-column', `window-margins' and `tab-stop-list'
1695 ** SES mode (ses-mode) is a new major mode for creating and editing
1696 spreadsheet files. Besides the usual Emacs features (intuitive command
1697 letters, undo, cell formulas in Lisp, plaintext files, etc.) it also offers
1698 viral immunity and import/export of tab-separated values.
1701 ** The new global minor mode `size-indication-mode' (off by default)
1702 shows the size of accessible part of the buffer on the mode line.
1705 ** The new package table.el implements editable, WYSIWYG, embedded
1706 `text tables' in Emacs buffers. It simulates the effect of putting
1707 these tables in a special major mode. The package emulates WYSIWYG
1708 table editing available in modern word processors. The package also
1709 can generate a table source in typesetting and markup languages such
1710 as latex and html from the visually laid out text table.
1713 ** The thumbs.el package allows you to preview image files as thumbnails
1714 and can be invoked from a Dired buffer.
1717 ** Tramp is now part of the distribution.
1719 This package is similar to Ange-FTP: it allows you to edit remote
1720 files. But whereas Ange-FTP uses FTP to access the remote host,
1721 Tramp uses a shell connection. The shell connection is always used
1722 for filename completion and directory listings and suchlike, but for
1723 the actual file transfer, you can choose between the so-called
1724 `inline' methods (which transfer the files through the shell
1725 connection using base64 or uu encoding) and the `out-of-band' methods
1726 (which invoke an external copying program such as `rcp' or `scp' or
1727 `rsync' to do the copying).
1729 Shell connections can be acquired via `rsh', `ssh', `telnet' and also
1730 `su' and `sudo'. Ange-FTP is still supported via the `ftp' method.
1732 If you want to disable Tramp you should set
1734 (setq tramp-default-method "ftp")
1737 ** The URL package (which had been part of W3) is now part of Emacs.
1740 ** `cfengine-mode' is a major mode for editing GNU Cfengine
1741 configuration files.
1744 ** The new package conf-mode.el handles thousands of configuration files, with
1745 varying syntaxes for comments (;, #, //, /* */ or !), assignment (var = value,
1746 var : value, var value or keyword var value) and sections ([section] or
1747 section { }). Many files under /etc/, or with suffixes like .cf through
1748 .config, .properties (Java), .desktop (KDE/Gnome), .ini and many others are
1752 ** GDB-Script-mode is used for files like .gdbinit.
1755 ** The new python.el package is used to edit Python and Jython programs.
1758 ** The TCL package tcl-mode.el was replaced by tcl.el.
1759 This was actually done in Emacs-21.1, and was not documented.
1761 ** The new package scroll-lock.el provides the Scroll Lock minor mode
1762 for pager-like scrolling. Keys which normally move point by line or
1763 paragraph will scroll the buffer by the respective amount of lines
1764 instead and point will be kept vertically fixed relative to window
1765 boundaries during scrolling.
1767 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 22.1:
1769 ** The variable `woman-topic-at-point' was renamed
1770 to `woman-use-topic-at-point' and behaves differently: if this
1771 variable is non-nil, the `woman' command uses the word at point
1772 automatically, without asking for a confirmation. Otherwise, the word
1773 at point is suggested as default, but not inserted at the prompt.
1776 ** Changes to cmuscheme
1778 *** Emacs now offers to start Scheme if the user tries to
1779 evaluate a Scheme expression but no Scheme subprocess is running.
1781 *** If a file `.emacs_NAME' (where NAME is the name of the Scheme interpreter)
1782 exists in the user's home directory or in ~/.emacs.d, its
1783 contents are sent to the Scheme subprocess upon startup.
1785 *** There are new commands to instruct the Scheme interpreter to trace
1786 procedure calls (`scheme-trace-procedure') and to expand syntactic forms
1787 (`scheme-expand-current-form'). The commands actually sent to the Scheme
1788 subprocess are controlled by the user options `scheme-trace-command',
1789 `scheme-untrace-command' and `scheme-expand-current-form'.
1792 ** Makefile mode has submodes for automake, gmake, makepp and BSD make.
1794 The former two couldn't be differentiated before, and the latter two
1795 are new. Font-locking is robust now and offers new customizable
1799 ** In Outline mode, `hide-body' no longer hides lines at the top
1800 of the file that precede the first header line.
1803 ** Telnet now prompts you for a port number with C-u M-x telnet.
1806 ** The terminal emulation code in term.el has been improved; it can
1807 run most curses applications now.
1810 ** M-x diff uses Diff mode instead of Compilation mode.
1813 ** You can now customize `fill-nobreak-predicate' to control where
1814 filling can break lines. The value is now normally a list of
1815 functions, but it can also be a single function, for compatibility.
1817 Emacs provide two predicates, `fill-single-word-nobreak-p' and
1818 `fill-french-nobreak-p', for use as the value of
1819 `fill-nobreak-predicate'.
1822 ** M-x view-file and commands that use it now avoid interfering
1823 with special modes such as Tar mode.
1826 ** Commands `winner-redo' and `winner-undo', from winner.el, are now
1827 bound to C-c <left> and C-c <right>, respectively. This is an
1828 incompatible change.
1831 ** `global-whitespace-mode' is a new alias for `whitespace-global-mode'.
1834 ** M-x compare-windows now can automatically skip non-matching text to
1835 resync points in both windows.
1838 ** New user option `add-log-always-start-new-record'.
1840 When this option is enabled, M-x add-change-log-entry always
1841 starts a new record regardless of when the last record is.
1844 ** PO translation files are decoded according to their MIME headers
1845 when Emacs visits them.
1847 ** Info mode changes:
1850 *** A numeric prefix argument of `info' selects an Info buffer
1851 with the number appended to the `*info*' buffer name (e.g. "*info*<2>").
1854 *** isearch in Info uses Info-search and searches through multiple nodes.
1856 Before leaving the initial Info node isearch fails once with the error
1857 message [initial node], and with subsequent C-s/C-r continues through
1858 other nodes. When isearch fails for the rest of the manual, it wraps
1859 aroung the whole manual to the top/final node. The user option
1860 `Info-isearch-search' controls whether to use Info-search for isearch,
1861 or the default isearch search function that wraps around the current
1865 *** New search commands: `Info-search-case-sensitively' (bound to S),
1866 `Info-search-backward', and `Info-search-next' which repeats the last
1867 search without prompting for a new search string.
1870 *** New command `Info-history-forward' (bound to r and new toolbar icon)
1871 moves forward in history to the node you returned from after using
1872 `Info-history-back' (renamed from `Info-last').
1875 *** New command `Info-history' (bound to L) displays a menu of visited nodes.
1878 *** New command `Info-toc' (bound to T) creates a node with table of contents
1879 from the tree structure of menus of the current Info file.
1882 *** New command `info-apropos' searches the indices of the known
1883 Info files on your system for a string, and builds a menu of the
1887 *** New command `Info-copy-current-node-name' (bound to w) copies
1888 the current Info node name into the kill ring. With a zero prefix
1889 arg, puts the node name inside the `info' function call.
1892 *** New face `info-xref-visited' distinguishes visited nodes from unvisited
1893 and a new option `Info-fontify-visited-nodes' to control this.
1896 *** http and ftp links in Info are now operational: they look like cross
1897 references and following them calls `browse-url'.
1900 *** Info now hides node names in menus and cross references by default.
1902 If you prefer the old behavior, you can set the new user option
1903 `Info-hide-note-references' to nil.
1906 *** Images in Info pages are supported.
1908 Info pages show embedded images, in Emacs frames with image support.
1909 Info documentation that includes images, processed with makeinfo
1910 version 4.7 or newer, compiles to Info pages with embedded images.
1913 *** The default value for `Info-scroll-prefer-subnodes' is now nil.
1916 *** `Info-index' offers completion.
1918 ** Lisp mode changes:
1921 *** Lisp mode now uses `font-lock-doc-face' for doc strings.
1924 *** C-u C-M-q in Emacs Lisp mode pretty-prints the list after point.
1926 *** New features in evaluation commands
1929 **** The function `eval-defun' (C-M-x) called on defface reinitializes
1930 the face to the value specified in the defface expression.
1933 **** Typing C-x C-e twice prints the value of the integer result
1934 in additional formats (octal, hexadecimal, character) specified
1935 by the new function `eval-expression-print-format'. The same
1936 function also defines the result format for `eval-expression' (M-:),
1937 `eval-print-last-sexp' (C-j) and some edebug evaluation functions.
1942 *** Font lock support.
1943 CC Mode now provides font lock support for all its languages. This
1944 supersedes the font lock patterns that have been in the core font lock
1945 package for C, C++, Java and Objective-C. Like indentation, font
1946 locking is done in a uniform way across all languages (except the new
1947 AWK mode - see below). That means that the new font locking will be
1948 different from the old patterns in various details for most languages.
1950 The main goal of the font locking in CC Mode is accuracy, to provide a
1951 dependable aid in recognizing the various constructs. Some, like
1952 strings and comments, are easy to recognize while others like
1953 declarations and types can be very tricky. CC Mode can go to great
1954 lengths to recognize declarations and casts correctly, especially when
1955 the types aren't recognized by standard patterns. This is a fairly
1956 demanding analysis which can be slow on older hardware, and it can
1957 therefore be disabled by choosing a lower decoration level with the
1958 variable font-lock-maximum-decoration.
1960 Note that the most demanding font lock level has been tuned with lazy
1961 fontification in mind, i.e. there should be a support mode that waits
1962 with the fontification until the text is actually shown
1963 (e.g. Just-in-time Lock mode, which is the default, or Lazy Lock
1964 mode). Fontifying a file with several thousand lines in one go can
1965 take the better part of a minute.
1967 **** The (c|c++|objc|java|idl|pike)-font-lock-extra-types variables
1968 are now used by CC Mode to recognize identifiers that are certain to
1969 be types. (They are also used in cases that aren't related to font
1970 locking.) At the maximum decoration level, types are often recognized
1971 properly anyway, so these variables should be fairly restrictive and
1972 not contain patterns for uncertain types.
1974 **** Support for documentation comments.
1975 There is a "plugin" system to fontify documentation comments like
1976 Javadoc and the markup within them. It's independent of the host
1977 language, so it's possible to e.g. turn on Javadoc font locking in C
1978 buffers. See the variable c-doc-comment-style for details.
1980 Currently two kinds of doc comment styles are recognized: Suns Javadoc
1981 and Autodoc which is used in Pike. This is by no means a complete
1982 list of the most common tools; if your doc comment extractor of choice
1983 is missing then please drop a note to bug-cc-mode@gnu.org.
1985 **** Better handling of C++ templates.
1986 As a side effect of the more accurate font locking, C++ templates are
1987 now handled much better. The angle brackets that delimit them are
1988 given parenthesis syntax so that they can be navigated like other
1991 This also improves indentation of templates, although there still is
1992 work to be done in that area. E.g. it's required that multiline
1993 template clauses are written in full and then refontified to be
1994 recognized, and the indentation of nested templates is a bit odd and
1995 not as configurable as it ought to be.
1997 **** Improved handling of Objective-C and CORBA IDL.
1998 Especially the support for Objective-C and IDL has gotten an overhaul.
1999 The special "@" declarations in Objective-C are handled correctly.
2000 All the keywords used in CORBA IDL, PSDL, and CIDL are recognized and
2001 handled correctly, also wrt indentation.
2003 *** Support for the AWK language.
2004 Support for the AWK language has been introduced. The implementation is
2005 based around GNU AWK version 3.1, but it should work pretty well with
2006 any AWK. As yet, not all features of CC Mode have been adapted for AWK.
2009 **** Indentation Engine
2010 The CC Mode indentation engine fully supports AWK mode.
2012 AWK mode handles code formatted in the conventional AWK fashion: `{'s
2013 which start actions, user-defined functions, or compound statements are
2014 placed on the same line as the associated construct; the matching `}'s
2015 are normally placed under the start of the respective pattern, function
2016 definition, or structured statement.
2018 The predefined indentation functions haven't yet been adapted for AWK
2019 mode, though some of them may work serendipitously. There shouldn't be
2020 any problems writing custom indentation functions for AWK mode.
2022 The command C-c C-q (c-indent-defun) hasn't yet been adapted for AWK,
2023 though in practice it works properly nearly all the time. Should it
2024 fail, explicitly set the region around the function (using C-u C-SPC:
2025 C-M-h probably won't work either) then do C-M-\ (indent-region).
2028 There is a single level of font locking in AWK mode, rather than the
2029 three distinct levels the other modes have. There are several
2030 idiosyncrasies in AWK mode's font-locking due to the peculiarities of
2031 the AWK language itself.
2033 **** Comment Commands
2034 M-; (indent-for-comment) works fine. None of the other CC Mode
2035 comment formatting commands have yet been adapted for AWK mode.
2037 **** Movement Commands
2038 Most of the movement commands work in AWK mode. The most important
2039 exceptions are M-a (c-beginning-of-statement) and M-e
2040 (c-end-of-statement) which haven't yet been adapted.
2042 The notion of "defun" has been augmented to include AWK pattern-action
2043 pairs. C-M-a (c-awk-beginning-of-defun) and C-M-e (c-awk-end-of-defun)
2044 recognize these pattern-action pairs, as well as user defined
2047 **** Auto-newline Insertion and Clean-ups
2048 Auto-newline insertion hasn't yet been adapted for AWK. Some of
2049 the clean-ups can actually convert good AWK code into syntactically
2050 invalid code. These features are best disabled in AWK buffers.
2052 *** New syntactic symbols in IDL mode.
2053 The top level constructs "module" and "composition" (from CIDL) are
2054 now handled like "namespace" in C++: They are given syntactic symbols
2055 module-open, module-close, inmodule, composition-open,
2056 composition-close, and incomposition.
2058 *** New functions to do hungry delete without enabling hungry delete mode.
2059 The functions `c-hungry-backspace' and `c-hungry-delete-forward' can be
2060 bound to keys to get this feature without toggling a mode.
2062 *** Better control over `require-final-newline'.
2064 The variable `c-require-final-newline' specifies which of the modes
2065 implemented by CC mode should insert final newlines. Its value is a
2066 list of modes, and only those modes should do it. By default the list
2067 includes C, C++ and Objective-C modes.
2069 Whichever modes are in this list will set `require-final-newline'
2070 based on `mode-require-final-newline'.
2072 *** Format change for syntactic context elements.
2074 The elements in the syntactic context returned by `c-guess-basic-syntax'
2075 and stored in `c-syntactic-context' has been changed somewhat to allow
2076 attaching more information. They are now lists instead of single cons
2077 cells. E.g. a line that previously had the syntactic analysis
2079 ((inclass . 11) (topmost-intro . 13))
2083 ((inclass 11) (topmost-intro 13))
2085 In some cases there are more than one position given for a syntactic
2088 This change might affect code that call `c-guess-basic-syntax' directly,
2089 and custom lineup functions if they use `c-syntactic-context'. However,
2090 the argument given to lineup functions is still a single cons cell
2091 with nil or an integer in the cdr.
2093 *** API changes for derived modes.
2095 There have been extensive changes "under the hood" which can affect
2096 derived mode writers. Some of these changes are likely to cause
2097 incompatibilities with existing derived modes, but on the other hand
2098 care has now been taken to make it possible to extend and modify CC
2099 Mode with less risk of such problems in the future.
2101 **** New language variable system.
2102 See the comment blurb near the top of cc-langs.el.
2104 **** New initialization functions.
2105 The initialization procedure has been split up into more functions to
2106 give better control: `c-basic-common-init', `c-font-lock-init', and
2107 `c-init-language-vars'.
2109 *** Changes in analysis of nested syntactic constructs.
2110 The syntactic analysis engine has better handling of cases where
2111 several syntactic constructs appear nested on the same line. They are
2112 now handled as if each construct started on a line of its own.
2114 This means that CC Mode now indents some cases differently, and
2115 although it's more consistent there might be cases where the old way
2116 gave results that's more to one's liking. So if you find a situation
2117 where you think that the indentation has become worse, please report
2118 it to bug-cc-mode@gnu.org.
2120 **** New syntactic symbol substatement-label.
2121 This symbol is used when a label is inserted between a statement and
2122 its substatement. E.g:
2128 *** Better handling of multiline macros.
2130 **** Syntactic indentation inside macros.
2131 The contents of multiline #define's are now analyzed and indented
2132 syntactically just like other code. This can be disabled by the new
2133 variable `c-syntactic-indentation-in-macros'. A new syntactic symbol
2134 `cpp-define-intro' has been added to control the initial indentation
2137 **** New lineup function `c-lineup-cpp-define'.
2139 Now used by default to line up macro continuation lines. The behavior
2140 of this function closely mimics the indentation one gets if the macro
2141 is indented while the line continuation backslashes are temporarily
2142 removed. If syntactic indentation in macros is turned off, it works
2143 much line `c-lineup-dont-change', which was used earlier, but handles
2144 empty lines within the macro better.
2146 **** Automatically inserted newlines continues the macro if used within one.
2147 This applies to the newlines inserted by the auto-newline mode, and to
2148 `c-context-line-break' and `c-context-open-line'.
2150 **** Better alignment of line continuation backslashes.
2151 `c-backslash-region' tries to adapt to surrounding backslashes. New
2152 variable `c-backslash-max-column' which put a limit on how far out
2153 backslashes can be moved.
2155 **** Automatic alignment of line continuation backslashes.
2156 This is controlled by the new variable `c-auto-align-backslashes'. It
2157 affects `c-context-line-break', `c-context-open-line' and newlines
2158 inserted in Auto-Newline mode.
2159 **** Line indentation works better inside macros.
2161 Regardless whether syntactic indentation and syntactic indentation
2162 inside macros are enabled or not, line indentation now ignores the
2163 line continuation backslashes. This is most noticeable when syntactic
2164 indentation is turned off and there are empty lines (save for the
2165 backslash) in the macro.
2167 *** indent-for-comment is more customizable.
2168 The behavior of M-; (indent-for-comment) is now configurable through
2169 the variable `c-indent-comment-alist'. The indentation behavior based
2170 on the preceding code on the line, e.g. to get two spaces after #else
2171 and #endif but indentation to `comment-column' in most other cases
2172 (something which was hardcoded earlier).
2174 *** New function `c-context-open-line'.
2175 It's the open-line equivalent of `c-context-line-break'.
2177 *** New lineup functions
2179 **** `c-lineup-string-cont'
2180 This lineup function lines up a continued string under the one it
2183 result = prefix + "A message "
2184 "string."; <- c-lineup-string-cont
2186 **** `c-lineup-cascaded-calls'
2187 Lines up series of calls separated by "->" or ".".
2189 **** `c-lineup-knr-region-comment'
2190 Gives (what most people think is) better indentation of comments in
2191 the "K&R region" between the function header and its body.
2193 **** `c-lineup-gcc-asm-reg'
2194 Provides better indentation inside asm blocks.
2196 **** `c-lineup-argcont'
2197 Lines up continued function arguments after the preceding comma.
2199 *** Better caching of the syntactic context.
2200 CC Mode caches the positions of the opening parentheses (of any kind)
2201 of the lists surrounding the point. Those positions are used in many
2202 places as anchor points for various searches. The cache is now
2203 improved so that it can be reused to a large extent when the point is
2204 moved. The less it moves, the less needs to be recalculated.
2206 The effect is that CC Mode should be fast most of the time even when
2207 opening parens are hung (i.e. aren't in column zero). It's typically
2208 only the first time after the point is moved far down in a complex
2209 file that it'll take noticeable time to find out the syntactic
2212 *** Statements are recognized in a more robust way.
2213 Statements are recognized most of the time even when they occur in an
2214 "invalid" context, e.g. in a function argument. In practice that can
2215 happen when macros are involved.
2217 *** Improved the way `c-indent-exp' chooses the block to indent.
2218 It now indents the block for the closest sexp following the point
2219 whose closing paren ends on a different line. This means that the
2220 point doesn't have to be immediately before the block to indent.
2221 Also, only the block and the closing line is indented; the current
2222 line is left untouched.
2224 *** Added toggle for syntactic indentation.
2225 The function `c-toggle-syntactic-indentation' can be used to toggle
2226 syntactic indentation.
2228 ** In sh-script, a continuation line is only indented if the backslash was
2229 preceded by a SPC or a TAB.
2232 ** Perl mode has a new variable `perl-indent-continued-arguments'.
2235 ** The old Octave mode bindings C-c f and C-c i have been changed
2236 to C-c C-f and C-c C-i. The C-c C-i subcommands now have duplicate
2237 bindings on control characters--thus, C-c C-i C-b is the same as
2238 C-c C-i b, and so on.
2240 ** Fortran mode changes:
2243 *** Fortran mode does more font-locking by default. Use level 3
2244 highlighting for the old default.
2247 *** Fortran mode has a new variable `fortran-directive-re'.
2248 Adapt this to match the format of any compiler directives you use.
2249 Lines that match are never indented, and are given distinctive font-locking.
2252 *** F90 mode and Fortran mode have new navigation commands
2253 `f90-end-of-block', `f90-beginning-of-block', `f90-next-block',
2254 `f90-previous-block', `fortran-end-of-block',
2255 `fortran-beginning-of-block'.
2258 *** F90 mode and Fortran mode have support for `hs-minor-mode' (hideshow).
2259 It cannot deal with every code format, but ought to handle a sizeable
2263 *** The new function `f90-backslash-not-special' can be used to change
2264 the syntax of backslashes in F90 buffers.
2267 ** Reftex mode changes
2269 *** Changes to RefTeX's table of contents
2271 The new command keys "<" and ">" in the TOC buffer promote/demote the
2272 section at point or all sections in the current region, with full
2273 support for multifile documents.
2275 The new command `reftex-toc-recenter' (`C-c -') shows the current
2276 section in the TOC buffer without selecting the TOC window.
2277 Recentering can happen automatically in idle time when the option
2278 `reftex-auto-recenter-toc' is turned on. The highlight in the TOC
2279 buffer stays when the focus moves to a different window. A dedicated
2280 frame can show the TOC with the current section always automatically
2281 highlighted. The frame is created and deleted from the toc buffer
2284 The toc window can be split off horizontally instead of vertically.
2285 See new option `reftex-toc-split-windows-horizontally'.
2287 Labels can be renamed globally from the table of contents using the
2290 The new command `reftex-goto-label' jumps directly to a label
2294 *** Changes related to citations and BibTeX database files
2296 Commands that insert a citation now prompt for optional arguments when
2297 called with a prefix argument. Related new options are
2298 `reftex-cite-prompt-optional-args' and `reftex-cite-cleanup-optional-args'.
2300 The new command `reftex-create-bibtex-file' creates a BibTeX database
2301 with all entries referenced in the current document. The keys "e" and
2302 "E" allow to produce a BibTeX database file from entries marked in a
2303 citation selection buffer.
2305 The command `reftex-citation' uses the word in the buffer before the
2306 cursor as a default search string.
2308 The support for chapterbib has been improved. Different chapters can
2309 now use BibTeX or an explicit `thebibliography' environment.
2311 The macros which specify the bibliography file (like \bibliography)
2312 can be configured with the new option `reftex-bibliography-commands'.
2314 Support for jurabib has been added.
2317 *** Global index matched may be verified with a user function
2319 During global indexing, a user function can verify an index match.
2320 See new option `reftex-index-verify-function'.
2323 *** Parsing documents with many labels can be sped up.
2325 Operating in a document with thousands of labels can be sped up
2326 considerably by allowing RefTeX to derive the type of a label directly
2327 from the label prefix like `eq:' or `fig:'. The option
2328 `reftex-trust-label-prefix' needs to be configured in order to enable
2329 this feature. While the speed-up is significant, this may reduce the
2330 quality of the context offered by RefTeX to describe a label.
2333 *** Miscellaneous changes
2335 The macros which input a file in LaTeX (like \input, \include) can be
2336 configured in the new option `reftex-include-file-commands'.
2338 RefTeX supports global incremental search.
2341 ** Prolog mode has a new variable `prolog-font-lock-keywords'
2342 to support use of font-lock.
2344 ** HTML/SGML changes:
2347 *** Emacs now tries to set up buffer coding systems for HTML/XML files
2351 *** SGML mode has indentation and supports XML syntax.
2352 The new variable `sgml-xml-mode' tells SGML mode to use XML syntax.
2353 When this option is enabled, SGML tags are inserted in XML style,
2354 i.e., there is always a closing tag.
2355 By default, its setting is inferred on a buffer-by-buffer basis
2356 from the file name or buffer contents.
2359 *** `xml-mode' is now an alias for `sgml-mode', which has XML support.
2364 *** C-c C-c prompts for a command to run, and tries to offer a good default.
2367 *** The user option `tex-start-options-string' has been replaced
2368 by two new user options: `tex-start-options', which should hold
2369 command-line options to feed to TeX, and `tex-start-commands' which should hold
2370 TeX commands to use at startup.
2373 *** verbatim environments are now highlighted in courier by font-lock
2374 and super/sub-scripts are made into super/sub-scripts.
2377 *** New major mode Doctex mode, for *.dtx files.
2381 *** The new command `bibtex-url' browses a URL for the BibTeX entry at
2382 point (bound to C-c C-l and mouse-2, RET on clickable fields).
2384 *** The new command `bibtex-entry-update' (bound to C-c C-u) updates
2385 an existing BibTeX entry.
2387 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' option `required-fields', enabled by default.
2389 *** `bibtex-maintain-sorted-entries' can take values `plain',
2390 `crossref', and `entry-class' which control the sorting scheme used
2391 for BibTeX entries. `bibtex-sort-entry-class' controls the sorting
2392 scheme `entry-class'. TAB completion for reference keys and
2393 automatic detection of duplicates does not require anymore that
2394 `bibtex-maintain-sorted-entries' is non-nil.
2396 *** If the new variable `bibtex-parse-keys-fast' is non-nil,
2397 use fast but simplified algorithm for parsing BibTeX keys.
2399 *** If the new variable `bibtex-autoadd-commas' is non-nil,
2400 automatically add missing commas at end of BibTeX fields.
2402 *** The new variable `bibtex-autofill-types' contains a list of entry
2403 types for which fields are filled automatically (if possible).
2405 *** The new command `bibtex-complete' completes word fragment before
2406 point according to context (bound to M-tab).
2408 *** The new commands `bibtex-find-entry' and `bibtex-find-crossref'
2409 locate entries and crossref'd entries (bound to C-c C-s and C-c C-x).
2410 Crossref fields are clickable (bound to mouse-2, RET).
2412 *** In BibTeX mode the command `fill-paragraph' (M-q) fills
2413 individual fields of a BibTeX entry.
2415 *** The new variables `bibtex-files' and `bibtex-file-path' define a set
2416 of BibTeX files that are searched for entry keys.
2418 *** The new command `bibtex-validate-globally' checks for duplicate keys
2419 in multiple BibTeX files.
2421 *** The new command `bibtex-copy-summary-as-kill' pushes summary
2422 of BibTeX entry to kill ring (bound to C-c C-t).
2425 ** In Enriched mode, `set-left-margin' and `set-right-margin' are now
2426 by default bound to `C-c [' and `C-c ]' instead of the former `C-c C-l'
2432 *** In GUD mode, when talking to GDB, C-x C-a C-j "jumps" the program
2433 counter to the specified source line (the one where point is).
2436 *** GUD mode has its own tool bar for controlling execution of the inferior
2437 and other common debugger commands.
2440 *** The new package gdb-ui.el provides an enhanced graphical interface to
2441 GDB. You can interact with GDB through the GUD buffer in the usual way, but
2442 there are also further buffers which control the execution and describe the
2443 state of your program. It can separate the input/output of your program from
2444 that of GDB and watches expressions in the speedbar. It also uses features of
2445 Emacs 21/22 such as the toolbar, and bitmaps in the fringe to indicate
2448 Use M-x gdb to start GDB-UI.
2450 *** The variable tooltip-gud-tips-p has been removed. GUD tooltips can now be
2451 toggled independently of normal tooltips with the minor mode
2455 *** In graphical mode, with a C program, GUD Tooltips have been extended to
2456 display the #define directive associated with an identifier when program is
2460 ** GUD mode improvements for jdb:
2462 *** Search for source files using jdb classpath and class
2463 information. Fast startup since there is no need to scan all
2464 source files up front. There is also no need to create and maintain
2465 lists of source directories to scan. Look at `gud-jdb-use-classpath'
2466 and `gud-jdb-classpath' customization variables documentation.
2468 *** Supports the standard breakpoint (gud-break, gud-clear)
2469 set/clear operations from java source files under the classpath, stack
2470 traversal (gud-up, gud-down), and run until current stack finish
2473 *** Supports new jdb (Java 1.2 and later) in addition to oldjdb
2476 *** The previous method of searching for source files has been
2477 preserved in case someone still wants/needs to use it.
2478 Set `gud-jdb-use-classpath' to nil.
2480 Added Customization Variables
2482 *** `gud-jdb-command-name'. What command line to use to invoke jdb.
2484 *** `gud-jdb-use-classpath'. Allows selection of java source file searching
2485 method: set to t for new method, nil to scan `gud-jdb-directories' for
2486 java sources (previous method).
2488 *** `gud-jdb-directories'. List of directories to scan and search for java
2489 classes using the original gud-jdb method (if `gud-jdb-use-classpath'
2494 *** The STARTTLS wrapper (starttls.el) can now use GNUTLS
2495 instead of the OpenSSL based `starttls' tool. For backwards
2496 compatibility, it prefers `starttls', but you can toggle
2497 `starttls-use-gnutls' to switch to GNUTLS (or simply remove the
2500 *** Do not allow debugger output history variable to grow without bounds.
2502 ** Auto-Revert changes:
2505 *** You can now use Auto Revert mode to `tail' a file.
2507 If point is at the end of a file buffer before reverting, Auto Revert
2508 mode keeps it at the end after reverting. Similarly if point is
2509 displayed at the end of a file buffer in any window, it stays at
2510 the end of the buffer in that window. This allows to tail a file:
2511 just put point at the end of the buffer and it stays there. This
2512 rule applies to file buffers. For non-file buffers, the behavior can
2515 If you are sure that the file will only change by growing at the end,
2516 then you can tail the file more efficiently by using the new minor
2517 mode Auto Revert Tail mode. The function `auto-revert-tail-mode'
2521 *** Auto Revert mode is now more careful to avoid excessive reverts and
2522 other potential problems when deciding which non-file buffers to
2523 revert. This matters especially if Global Auto Revert mode is enabled
2524 and `global-auto-revert-non-file-buffers' is non-nil. Auto Revert
2525 mode only reverts a non-file buffer if the buffer has a non-nil
2526 `revert-buffer-function' and a non-nil `buffer-stale-function', which
2527 decides whether the buffer should be reverted. Currently, this means
2528 that auto reverting works for Dired buffers (although this may not
2529 work properly on all operating systems) and for the Buffer Menu.
2532 *** If the new user option `auto-revert-check-vc-info' is non-nil, Auto
2533 Revert mode reliably updates version control info (such as the version
2534 control number in the mode line), in all version controlled buffers in
2535 which it is active. If the option is nil, the default, then this info
2536 only gets updated whenever the buffer gets reverted.
2541 The recent file list is now automatically cleanup when recentf mode is
2542 enabled. The new option `recentf-auto-cleanup' controls when to do
2545 The `recentf-keep' option replaces `recentf-keep-non-readable-files-p'
2546 and provides a more general mechanism to customize which file names to
2547 keep in the recent list.
2549 With the more advanced option: `recentf-filename-handler', you can
2550 specify a function that transforms filenames handled by recentf. For
2551 example, if set to `file-truename', the same file will not be in the
2552 recent list with different symbolic links.
2554 To follow naming convention, `recentf-menu-append-commands-flag'
2555 replaces the misnamed option `recentf-menu-append-commands-p'. The
2556 old name remains available as alias, but has been marked obsolete.
2562 *** Desktop saving is now a minor mode, `desktop-save-mode'.
2565 *** The variable `desktop-enable' is obsolete.
2567 Customize `desktop-save-mode' to enable desktop saving.
2570 *** Buffers are saved in the desktop file in the same order as that in the
2574 *** The desktop package can be customized to restore only some buffers
2575 immediately, remaining buffers are restored lazily (when Emacs is
2580 - desktop-revert reverts to the last loaded desktop.
2581 - desktop-change-dir kills current desktop and loads a new.
2582 - desktop-save-in-desktop-dir saves desktop in the directory from which
2584 - desktop-lazy-complete runs the desktop load to completion.
2585 - desktop-lazy-abort aborts lazy loading of the desktop.
2588 *** New customizable variables:
2589 - desktop-save. Determins whether the desktop should be saved when it is
2591 - desktop-file-name-format. Format in which desktop file names should be saved.
2592 - desktop-path. List of directories in which to lookup the desktop file.
2593 - desktop-locals-to-save. List of local variables to save.
2594 - desktop-globals-to-clear. List of global variables that `desktop-clear' will clear.
2595 - desktop-clear-preserve-buffers-regexp. Regexp identifying buffers that `desktop-clear'
2597 - desktop-restore-eager. Number of buffers to restore immediately. Remaining buffers are
2598 restored lazily (when Emacs is idle).
2599 - desktop-lazy-verbose. Verbose reporting of lazily created buffers.
2600 - desktop-lazy-idle-delay. Idle delay before starting to create buffers.
2603 *** New command line option --no-desktop
2607 - desktop-after-read-hook run after a desktop is loaded.
2608 - desktop-no-desktop-file-hook run when no desktop file is found.
2611 ** The saveplace.el package now filters out unreadable files.
2613 When you exit Emacs, the saved positions in visited files no longer
2614 include files that aren't readable, e.g. files that don't exist.
2615 Customize the new option `save-place-forget-unreadable-files' to nil
2616 to get the old behavior. The new options `save-place-save-skipped'
2617 and `save-place-skip-check-regexp' allow further fine-tuning of this
2623 *** When comparing directories.
2624 Typing D brings up a buffer that lists the differences between the contents of
2625 directories. Now it is possible to use this buffer to copy the missing files
2626 from one directory to another.
2629 *** When comparing files or buffers.
2630 Typing the = key now offers to perform the word-by-word comparison of the
2631 currently highlighted regions in an inferior Ediff session. If you answer 'n'
2632 then it reverts to the old behavior and asks the user to select regions for
2636 *** The new command `ediff-backup' compares a file with its most recent
2637 backup using `ediff'. If you specify the name of a backup file,
2638 `ediff-backup' compares it with the file of which it is a backup.
2643 *** New regular expressions features
2645 **** New syntax for regular expressions, multi-line regular expressions.
2647 The syntax --ignore-case-regexp=/regex/ is now undocumented and retained
2648 only for backward compatibility. The new equivalent syntax is
2649 --regex=/regex/i. More generally, it is --regex=/TAGREGEX/TAGNAME/MODS,
2650 where `/TAGNAME' is optional, as usual, and MODS is a string of 0 or
2651 more characters among `i' (ignore case), `m' (multi-line) and `s'
2652 (single-line). The `m' and `s' modifiers behave as in Perl regular
2653 expressions: `m' allows regexps to match more than one line, while `s'
2654 (which implies `m') means that `.' matches newlines. The ability to
2655 span newlines allows writing of much more powerful regular expressions
2656 and rapid prototyping for tagging new languages.
2658 **** Regular expressions can use char escape sequences as in GCC.
2660 The escaped character sequence \a, \b, \d, \e, \f, \n, \r, \t, \v,
2661 respectively, stand for the ASCII characters BEL, BS, DEL, ESC, FF, NL,
2664 **** Regular expressions can be bound to a given language.
2666 The syntax --regex={LANGUAGE}REGEX means that REGEX is used to make tags
2667 only for files of language LANGUAGE, and ignored otherwise. This is
2668 particularly useful when storing regexps in a file.
2670 **** Regular expressions can be read from a file.
2672 The --regex=@regexfile option means read the regexps from a file, one
2673 per line. Lines beginning with space or tab are ignored.
2675 *** New language parsing features
2677 **** The `::' qualifier triggers C++ parsing in C file.
2679 Previously, only the `template' and `class' keywords had this effect.
2681 **** The GCC __attribute__ keyword is now recognized and ignored.
2683 **** New language HTML.
2685 Tags are generated for `title' as well as `h1', `h2', and `h3'. Also,
2686 when `name=' is used inside an anchor and whenever `id=' is used.
2688 **** In Makefiles, constants are tagged.
2690 If you want the old behavior instead, thus avoiding to increase the
2691 size of the tags file, use the --no-globals option.
2693 **** New language Lua.
2695 All functions are tagged.
2697 **** In Perl, packages are tags.
2699 Subroutine tags are named from their package. You can jump to sub tags
2700 as you did before, by the sub name, or additionally by looking for
2703 **** In Prolog, etags creates tags for rules in addition to predicates.
2705 **** New language PHP.
2707 Functions, classes and defines are tags. If the --members option is
2708 specified to etags, variables are tags also.
2710 **** New default keywords for TeX.
2712 The new keywords are def, newcommand, renewcommand, newenvironment and
2715 *** Honour #line directives.
2717 When Etags parses an input file that contains C preprocessor's #line
2718 directives, it creates tags using the file name and line number
2719 specified in those directives. This is useful when dealing with code
2720 created from Cweb source files. When Etags tags the generated file, it
2721 writes tags pointing to the source file.
2723 *** New option --parse-stdin=FILE.
2725 This option is mostly useful when calling etags from programs. It can
2726 be used (only once) in place of a file name on the command line. Etags
2727 reads from standard input and marks the produced tags as belonging to
2733 *** The key C-x C-q only changes the read-only state of the buffer
2734 (toggle-read-only). It no longer checks files in or out.
2736 We made this change because we held a poll and found that many users
2737 were unhappy with the previous behavior. If you do prefer this
2738 behavior, you can bind `vc-toggle-read-only' to C-x C-q in your
2741 (global-set-key "\C-x\C-q" 'vc-toggle-read-only)
2743 The function `vc-toggle-read-only' will continue to exist.
2746 *** The new variable `vc-cvs-global-switches' specifies switches that
2747 are passed to any CVS command invoked by VC.
2749 These switches are used as "global options" for CVS, which means they
2750 are inserted before the command name. For example, this allows you to
2751 specify a compression level using the `-z#' option for CVS.
2754 *** New backends for Subversion and Meta-CVS.
2757 *** VC-Annotate mode enhancements
2759 In VC-Annotate mode, you can now use the following key bindings for
2760 enhanced functionality to browse the annotations of past revisions, or
2761 to view diffs or log entries directly from vc-annotate-mode:
2763 P: annotates the previous revision
2764 N: annotates the next revision
2765 J: annotates the revision at line
2766 A: annotates the revision previous to line
2767 D: shows the diff of the revision at line with its previous revision
2768 L: shows the log of the revision at line
2769 W: annotates the workfile (most up to date) version
2774 *** In pcl-cvs mode, there is a new `d y' command to view the diffs
2775 between the local version of the file and yesterday's head revision
2779 *** In pcl-cvs mode, there is a new `d r' command to view the changes
2780 anyone has committed to the repository since you last executed
2781 `checkout', `update' or `commit'. That means using cvs diff options
2785 ** The new variable `mail-default-directory' specifies
2786 `default-directory' for mail buffers. This directory is used for
2787 auto-save files of mail buffers. It defaults to "~/".
2790 ** The mode line can indicate new mail in a directory or file.
2792 See the documentation of the user option
2793 `display-time-mail-directory'.
2798 *** Rmail now displays 5-digit message ids in its summary buffer.
2800 *** The new commands rmail-end-of-message and rmail-summary end-of-message,
2801 by default bound to `/', go to the end of the current mail message in
2802 Rmail and Rmail summary buffers.
2805 *** Support for `movemail' from GNU mailutils was added to Rmail.
2807 This version of `movemail' allows to read mail from a wide range of
2808 mailbox formats, including remote POP3 and IMAP4 mailboxes with or
2809 without TLS encryption. If GNU mailutils is installed on the system
2810 and its version of `movemail' can be found in exec-path, it will be
2811 used instead of the native one.
2816 *** Gnus now includes Sieve and PGG
2818 Sieve is a library for managing Sieve scripts. PGG is a library to handle
2822 *** There are many news features, bug fixes and improvements.
2824 See the file GNUS-NEWS or the node "Oort Gnus" in the Gnus manual for details.
2829 Upgraded to MH-E version 7.84. There have been major changes since
2830 version 5.0.2; see MH-E-NEWS for details.
2832 ** Calendar changes:
2835 *** You can now use < and >, instead of C-x < and C-x >, to scroll
2836 the calendar left or right. (The old key bindings still work too.)
2839 *** There is a new calendar package, icalendar.el, that can be used to
2840 convert Emacs diary entries to/from the iCalendar format.
2843 *** Diary sexp entries can have custom marking in the calendar.
2844 Diary sexp functions which only apply to certain days (such as
2845 `diary-block' or `diary-cyclic') now take an optional parameter MARK,
2846 which is the name of a face or a single-character string indicating
2847 how to highlight the day in the calendar display. Specifying a
2848 single-character string as @var{mark} places the character next to the
2849 day in the calendar. Specifying a face highlights the day with that
2850 face. This lets you have different colors or markings for vacations,
2851 appointments, paydays or anything else using a sexp.
2854 *** The new function `calendar-goto-day-of-year' (g D) prompts for a
2855 year and day number, and moves to that date. Negative day numbers
2856 count backward from the end of the year.
2859 *** The new Calendar function `calendar-goto-iso-week' (g w)
2860 prompts for a year and a week number, and moves to the first
2861 day of that ISO week.
2864 *** The new variable `calendar-minimum-window-height' affects the
2865 window generated by the function `generate-calendar-window'.
2868 *** The functions `holiday-easter-etc' and `holiday-advent' now take
2869 optional arguments, in order to only report on the specified holiday
2870 rather than all. This makes customization of variables such as
2871 `christian-holidays' simpler.
2874 *** The function `simple-diary-display' now by default sets a header line.
2875 This can be controlled through the variables `diary-header-line-flag'
2876 and `diary-header-line-format'.
2879 *** The procedure for activating appointment reminders has changed:
2880 use the new function `appt-activate'. The new variable
2881 `appt-display-format' controls how reminders are displayed, replacing
2882 `appt-issue-message', `appt-visible', and `appt-msg-window'.
2885 *** The new functions `diary-from-outlook', `diary-from-outlook-gnus',
2886 and `diary-from-outlook-rmail' can be used to import diary entries
2887 from Outlook-format appointments in mail messages. The variable
2888 `diary-outlook-formats' can be customized to recognize additional
2894 *** The variable `sql-product' controls the highlightng of different
2895 SQL dialects. This variable can be set globally via Customize, on a
2896 buffer-specific basis via local variable settings, or for the current
2897 session using the new SQL->Product submenu. (This menu replaces the
2898 SQL->Highlighting submenu.)
2900 The following values are supported:
2902 ansi ANSI Standard (default)
2916 The current product name will be shown on the mode line following the
2919 The technique of setting `sql-mode-font-lock-defaults' directly in
2920 your `.emacs' will no longer establish the default highlighting -- Use
2921 `sql-product' to accomplish this.
2923 ANSI keywords are always highlighted.
2925 *** The function `sql-add-product-keywords' can be used to add
2926 font-lock rules to the product specific rules. For example, to have
2927 all identifiers ending in `_t' under MS SQLServer treated as a type,
2928 you would use the following line in your .emacs file:
2930 (sql-add-product-keywords 'ms
2931 '(("\\<\\w+_t\\>" . font-lock-type-face)))
2933 *** Oracle support includes keyword highlighting for Oracle 9i.
2935 Most SQL and PL/SQL keywords are implemented. SQL*Plus commands are
2936 highlighted in `font-lock-doc-face'.
2938 *** Microsoft SQLServer support has been significantly improved.
2940 Keyword highlighting for SqlServer 2000 is implemented.
2941 sql-interactive-mode defaults to use osql, rather than isql, because
2942 osql flushes its error stream more frequently. Thus error messages
2943 are displayed when they occur rather than when the session is
2946 If the username and password are not provided to `sql-ms', osql is
2947 called with the `-E' command line argument to use the operating system
2948 credentials to authenticate the user.
2950 *** Postgres support is enhanced.
2951 Keyword highlighting of Postgres 7.3 is implemented. Prompting for
2952 the username and the pgsql `-U' option is added.
2954 *** MySQL support is enhanced.
2955 Keyword higlighting of MySql 4.0 is implemented.
2957 *** Imenu support has been enhanced to locate tables, views, indexes,
2958 packages, procedures, functions, triggers, sequences, rules, and
2961 *** Added SQL->Start SQLi Session menu entry which calls the
2962 appropriate `sql-interactive-mode' wrapper for the current setting of
2966 *** sql.el supports the SQLite interpreter--call 'sql-sqlite'.
2971 *** New ffap commands and keybindings:
2973 C-x C-r (`ffap-read-only'),
2974 C-x C-v (`ffap-alternate-file'), C-x C-d (`ffap-list-directory'),
2975 C-x 4 r (`ffap-read-only-other-window'), C-x 4 d (`ffap-dired-other-window'),
2976 C-x 5 r (`ffap-read-only-other-frame'), C-x 5 d (`ffap-dired-other-frame').
2979 *** FFAP accepts wildcards in a file name by default.
2981 C-x C-f passes the file name to `find-file' with non-nil WILDCARDS
2982 argument, which visits multiple files, and C-x d passes it to `dired'.
2985 ** In skeleton.el, `-' marks the `skeleton-point' without interregion interaction.
2987 `@' has reverted to only setting `skeleton-positions' and no longer
2988 sets `skeleton-point'. Skeletons which used @ to mark
2989 `skeleton-point' independent of `_' should now use `-' instead. The
2990 updated `skeleton-insert' docstring explains these new features along
2991 with other details of skeleton construction.
2994 ** New variable `hs-set-up-overlay' allows customization of the overlay
2995 used to effect hiding for hideshow minor mode. Integration with isearch
2996 handles the overlay property `display' specially, preserving it during
2997 temporary overlay showing in the course of an isearch operation.
2999 ** New variable `hs-allow-nesting' non-nil means that hiding a block does
3000 not discard the hidden state of any "internal" blocks; when the parent
3001 block is later shown, the internal blocks remain hidden. Default is nil.
3004 ** `hide-ifdef-mode' now uses overlays rather than selective-display
3005 to hide its text. This should be mostly transparent but slightly
3006 changes the behavior of motion commands like C-e and C-p.
3009 ** `partial-completion-mode' now handles partial completion on directory names.
3012 ** The type-break package now allows `type-break-file-name' to be nil
3013 and if so, doesn't store any data across sessions. This is handy if
3014 you don't want the `.type-break' file in your home directory or are
3015 annoyed by the need for interaction when you kill Emacs.
3018 ** `ps-print' can now print characters from the mule-unicode charsets.
3020 Printing text with characters from the mule-unicode-* sets works with
3021 `ps-print', provided that you have installed the appropriate BDF
3022 fonts. See the file INSTALL for URLs where you can find these fonts.
3025 ** New command `strokes-global-set-stroke-string'.
3026 This is like `strokes-global-set-stroke', but it allows you to bind
3027 the stroke directly to a string to insert. This is convenient for
3028 using strokes as an input method.
3030 ** Emacs server changes:
3033 *** You can have several Emacs servers on the same machine.
3035 % emacs --eval '(setq server-name "foo")' -f server-start &
3036 % emacs --eval '(setq server-name "bar")' -f server-start &
3037 % emacsclient -s foo file1
3038 % emacsclient -s bar file2
3041 *** The `emacsclient' command understands the options `--eval' and
3042 `--display' which tell Emacs respectively to evaluate the given Lisp
3043 expression and to use the given display when visiting files.
3046 *** User option `server-mode' can be used to start a server process.
3049 ** LDAP support now defaults to ldapsearch from OpenLDAP version 2.
3052 ** You can now disable pc-selection-mode after enabling it.
3054 M-x pc-selection-mode behaves like a proper minor mode, and with no
3055 argument it toggles the mode. Turning off PC-Selection mode restores
3056 the global key bindings that were replaced by turning on the mode.
3059 ** `uniquify-strip-common-suffix' tells uniquify to prefer
3060 `file|dir1' and `file|dir2' to `file|dir1/subdir' and `file|dir2/subdir'.
3063 ** Support for `magic cookie' standout modes has been removed.
3065 Emacs still works on terminals that require magic cookies in order to
3066 use standout mode, but they can no longer display mode-lines in
3070 ** The game `mpuz' is enhanced.
3072 `mpuz' now allows the 2nd factor not to have two identical digits. By
3073 default, all trivial operations involving whole lines are performed
3074 automatically. The game uses faces for better visual feedback.
3076 ** battery.el changes:
3079 *** display-battery-mode replaces display-battery.
3082 *** battery.el now works on recent versions of OS X.
3085 ** calculator.el now has radix grouping mode.
3087 To enable this, set `calculator-output-radix' non-nil. In this mode a
3088 separator character is used every few digits, making it easier to see
3089 byte boundries etc. For more info, see the documentation of the
3090 variable `calculator-radix-grouping-mode'.
3093 ** fast-lock.el and lazy-lock.el are obsolete. Use jit-lock.el instead.
3096 ** iso-acc.el is now obsolete. Use one of the latin input methods instead.
3099 ** cplus-md.el has been deleted.
3101 * Changes in Emacs 22.1 on non-free operating systems
3104 ** The HOME directory defaults to Application Data under the user profile.
3106 If you used a previous version of Emacs without setting the HOME
3107 environment variable and a `.emacs' was saved, then Emacs will continue
3108 using C:/ as the default HOME. But if you are installing Emacs afresh,
3109 the default location will be the "Application Data" (or similar
3110 localized name) subdirectory of your user profile. A typical location
3111 of this directory is "C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data",
3112 where USERNAME is your user name.
3114 This change means that users can now have their own `.emacs' files on
3115 shared computers, and the default HOME directory is less likely to be
3116 read-only on computers that are administered by someone else.
3119 ** Passing resources on the command line now works on MS Windows.
3121 You can use --xrm to pass resource settings to Emacs, overriding any
3122 existing values. For example:
3124 emacs --xrm "Emacs.Background:red" --xrm "Emacs.Geometry:100x20"
3126 will start up Emacs on an initial frame of 100x20 with red background,
3127 irrespective of geometry or background setting on the Windows registry.
3130 ** On MS Windows, the "system caret" now follows the cursor.
3132 This enables Emacs to work better with programs that need to track
3133 the cursor, for example screen magnifiers and text to speech programs.
3136 ** Tooltips now work on MS Windows.
3138 See the Emacs 21.1 NEWS entry for tooltips for details.
3141 ** Images are now supported on MS Windows.
3143 PBM and XBM images are supported out of the box. Other image formats
3144 depend on external libraries. All of these libraries have been ported
3145 to Windows, and can be found in both source and binary form at
3146 http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/. Note that libpng also depends on
3147 zlib, and tiff depends on the version of jpeg that it was compiled
3148 against. For additional information, see nt/INSTALL.
3151 ** Sound is now supported on MS Windows.
3153 WAV format is supported on all versions of Windows, other formats such
3154 as AU, AIFF and MP3 may be supported in the more recent versions of
3155 Windows, or when other software provides hooks into the system level
3156 sound support for those formats.
3159 ** Different shaped mouse pointers are supported on MS Windows.
3161 The mouse pointer changes shape depending on what is under the pointer.
3164 ** Pointing devices with more than 3 buttons are now supported on MS Windows.
3166 The new variable `w32-pass-extra-mouse-buttons-to-system' controls
3167 whether Emacs should handle the extra buttons itself (the default), or
3168 pass them to Windows to be handled with system-wide functions.
3171 ** Emacs takes note of colors defined in Control Panel on MS-Windows.
3173 The Control Panel defines some default colors for applications in much
3174 the same way as wildcard X Resources do on X. Emacs now adds these
3175 colors to the colormap prefixed by System (eg SystemMenu for the
3176 default Menu background, SystemMenuText for the foreground), and uses
3177 some of them to initialize some of the default faces.
3178 `list-colors-display' shows the list of System color names, in case
3179 you wish to use them in other faces.
3182 ** On MS Windows NT/W2K/XP, Emacs uses Unicode for clipboard operations.
3184 Those systems use Unicode internally, so this allows Emacs to share
3185 multilingual text with other applications. On other versions of
3186 MS Windows, Emacs now uses the appropriate locale coding-system, so
3187 the clipboard should work correctly for your local language without
3191 ** Running in a console window in Windows now uses the console size.
3193 Previous versions of Emacs erred on the side of having a usable Emacs
3194 through telnet, even though that was inconvenient if you use Emacs in
3195 a local console window with a scrollback buffer. The default value of
3196 w32-use-full-screen-buffer is now nil, which favours local console
3197 windows. Recent versions of Windows telnet also work well with this
3198 setting. If you are using an older telnet server then Emacs detects
3199 that the console window dimensions that are reported are not sane, and
3200 defaults to 80x25. If you use such a telnet server regularly at a size
3201 other than 80x25, you can still manually set
3202 w32-use-full-screen-buffer to t.
3205 ** On Mac OS, `keyboard-coding-system' changes based on the keyboard script.
3208 ** The variable `mac-keyboard-text-encoding' and the constants
3209 `kTextEncodingMacRoman', `kTextEncodingISOLatin1', and
3210 `kTextEncodingISOLatin2' are obsolete.
3212 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 22.1
3215 ** The variables post-command-idle-hook and post-command-idle-delay have
3216 been removed. Use run-with-idle-timer instead.
3219 ** `suppress-keymap' now works by remapping `self-insert-command' to
3220 the command `undefined'. (In earlier Emacs versions, it used
3221 `substitute-key-definition' to rebind self inserting characters to
3225 ** Mode line display ignores text properties as well as the
3226 :propertize and :eval forms in the value of a variable whose
3227 `risky-local-variable' property is nil.
3230 ** Support for Mocklisp has been removed.
3232 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 22.1
3234 ** General Lisp changes:
3236 *** The function `expt' handles negative exponents differently.
3237 The value for `(expt A B)', if both A and B are integers and B is
3238 negative, is now a float. For example: (expt 2 -2) => 0.25.
3241 *** The function `eql' is now available without requiring the CL package.
3244 *** `makehash' is now obsolete. Use `make-hash-table' instead.
3247 *** `add-to-list' takes an optional third argument, APPEND.
3249 If APPEND is non-nil, the new element gets added at the end of the
3250 list instead of at the beginning. This change actually occurred in
3251 Emacs 21.1, but was not documented then.
3254 *** New function `add-to-ordered-list' is like `add-to-list' but
3255 associates a numeric ordering of each element added to the list.
3258 *** New function `copy-tree' makes a copy of a tree.
3260 It recursively copyies through both CARs and CDRs.
3263 *** New function `delete-dups' deletes `equal' duplicate elements from a list.
3265 It modifies the list destructively, like `delete'. Of several `equal'
3266 occurrences of an element in the list, the one that's kept is the
3270 *** New function `rassq-delete-all'.
3272 (rassq-delete-all VALUE ALIST) deletes, from ALIST, each element whose
3273 CDR is `eq' to the specified value.
3276 *** The function `number-sequence' makes a list of equally-separated numbers.
3278 For instance, (number-sequence 4 9) returns (4 5 6 7 8 9). By
3279 default, the separation is 1, but you can specify a different
3280 separation as the third argument. (number-sequence 1.5 6 2) returns
3284 *** New variables `most-positive-fixnum' and `most-negative-fixnum'.
3286 They hold the largest and smallest possible integer values.
3289 *** Minor change in the function `format'.
3291 Some flags that were accepted but not implemented (such as "*") are no
3295 *** Functions `get' and `plist-get' no longer give errors for bad plists.
3297 They return nil for a malformed property list or if the list is
3301 *** New functions `lax-plist-get' and `lax-plist-put'.
3303 They are like `plist-get' and `plist-put', except that they compare
3304 the property name using `equal' rather than `eq'.
3307 *** New variable `print-continuous-numbering'.
3309 When this is non-nil, successive calls to print functions use a single
3310 numbering scheme for circular structure references. This is only
3311 relevant when `print-circle' is non-nil.
3313 When you bind `print-continuous-numbering' to t, you should
3314 also bind `print-number-table' to nil.
3317 *** New function `macroexpand-all' expands all macros in a form.
3319 It is similar to the Common-Lisp function of the same name.
3320 One difference is that it guarantees to return the original argument
3321 if no expansion is done, which can be tested using `eq'.
3324 *** The function `atan' now accepts an optional second argument.
3326 When called with 2 arguments, as in `(atan Y X)', `atan' returns the
3327 angle in radians between the vector [X, Y] and the X axis. (This is
3328 equivalent to the standard C library function `atan2'.)
3331 *** A function or macro's doc string can now specify the calling pattern.
3333 You put this info in the doc string's last line. It should be
3334 formatted so as to match the regexp "\n\n(fn .*)\\'". If you don't
3335 specify this explicitly, Emacs determines it from the actual argument
3336 names. Usually that default is right, but not always.
3339 *** New macro `with-local-quit' temporarily allows quitting.
3341 A quit inside the body of `with-local-quit' is caught by the
3342 `with-local-quit' form itself, but another quit will happen later once
3343 the code that has inhibitted quitting exits.
3345 This is for use around potentially blocking or long-running code
3346 inside timer functions and `post-command-hook' functions.
3349 *** New macro `define-obsolete-function-alias'.
3351 This combines `defalias' and `make-obsolete'.
3354 *** New function `unsafep' determines whether a Lisp form is safe.
3356 It returns nil if the given Lisp form can't possibly do anything
3357 dangerous; otherwise it returns a reason why the form might be unsafe
3358 (calls unknown function, alters global variable, etc).
3360 *** `list-faces-display' takes an optional argument, REGEXP.
3362 If it is non-nil, the function lists only faces matching this regexp.
3364 ** Lisp code indentation features:
3367 *** The `defmacro' form can contain indentation and edebug declarations.
3369 These declarations specify how to indent the macro calls in Lisp mode
3370 and how to debug them with Edebug. You write them like this:
3372 (defmacro NAME LAMBDA-LIST [DOC-STRING] [DECLARATION ...] ...)
3374 DECLARATION is a list `(declare DECLARATION-SPECIFIER ...)'. The
3375 possible declaration specifiers are:
3378 Set NAME's `lisp-indent-function' property to INDENT.
3381 Set NAME's `edebug-form-spec' property to DEBUG. (This is
3382 equivalent to writing a `def-edebug-spec' for the macro,
3383 but this is cleaner.)
3386 *** cl-indent now allows customization of Indentation of backquoted forms.
3388 See the new user option `lisp-backquote-indentation'.
3391 *** cl-indent now handles indentation of simple and extended `loop' forms.
3393 The new user options `lisp-loop-keyword-indentation',
3394 `lisp-loop-forms-indentation', and `lisp-simple-loop-indentation' can
3395 be used to customize the indentation of keywords and forms in loop
3399 ** Variable aliases:
3401 *** New function: defvaralias ALIAS-VAR BASE-VAR [DOCSTRING]
3403 This function defines the symbol ALIAS-VAR as a variable alias for
3404 symbol BASE-VAR. This means that retrieving the value of ALIAS-VAR
3405 returns the value of BASE-VAR, and changing the value of ALIAS-VAR
3406 changes the value of BASE-VAR.
3408 DOCSTRING, if present, is the documentation for ALIAS-VAR; else it has
3409 the same documentation as BASE-VAR.
3411 *** New function: indirect-variable VARIABLE
3413 This function returns the variable at the end of the chain of aliases
3414 of VARIABLE. If VARIABLE is not a symbol, or if VARIABLE is not
3415 defined as an alias, the function returns VARIABLE.
3417 It might be noteworthy that variables aliases work for all kinds of
3418 variables, including buffer-local and frame-local variables.
3421 *** The macro `define-obsolete-variable-alias' combines `defvaralias' and
3422 `make-obsolete-variable'.
3424 ** defcustom changes:
3427 *** The new customization type `float' requires a floating point number.
3432 *** The escape sequence \s is now interpreted as a SPACE character.
3434 Exception: In a character constant, if it is followed by a `-' in a
3435 character constant (e.g. ?\s-A), it is still interpreted as the super
3436 modifier. In strings, \s is always interpreted as a space.
3439 *** A hex escape in a string constant forces the string to be multibyte.
3442 *** An octal escape in a string constant forces the string to be unibyte.
3445 *** `split-string' now includes null substrings in the returned list if
3446 the optional argument SEPARATORS is non-nil and there are matches for
3447 SEPARATORS at the beginning or end of the string. If SEPARATORS is
3448 nil, or if the new optional third argument OMIT-NULLS is non-nil, all
3449 empty matches are omitted from the returned list.
3452 *** New function `string-to-multibyte' converts a unibyte string to a
3453 multibyte string with the same individual character codes.
3456 *** New function `substring-no-properties' returns a substring without
3460 *** The new function `assoc-string' replaces `assoc-ignore-case' and
3461 `assoc-ignore-representation', which are still available, but have
3462 been declared obsolete.
3465 ** Displaying warnings to the user.
3467 See the functions `warn' and `display-warning', or the Lisp Manual.
3468 If you want to be sure the warning will not be overlooked, this
3469 facility is much better than using `message', since it displays
3470 warnings in a separate window.
3473 ** Progress reporters.
3475 These provide a simple and uniform way for commands to present
3476 progress messages for the user.
3478 See the new functions `make-progress-reporter',
3479 `progress-reporter-update', `progress-reporter-force-update',
3480 `progress-reporter-done', and `dotimes-with-progress-reporter'.
3482 ** Buffer positions:
3485 *** Function `compute-motion' now calculates the usable window
3486 width if the WIDTH argument is nil. If the TOPOS argument is nil,
3487 the usable window height and width is used.
3490 *** The `line-move', `scroll-up', and `scroll-down' functions will now
3491 modify the window vscroll to scroll through display rows that are
3492 taller that the height of the window, for example in the presence of
3493 large images. To disable this feature, bind the new variable
3494 `auto-window-vscroll' to nil.
3497 *** The argument to `forward-word', `backward-word' is optional.
3502 *** Argument to `forward-to-indentation' and `backward-to-indentation' is optional.
3507 *** New function `mouse-on-link-p' test if a position is in a clickable link.
3509 This is the function used by the new `mouse-1-click-follows-link'
3513 *** New function `line-number-at-pos' returns the line number of a position.
3515 It an optional buffer position argument that defaults to point.
3518 *** `field-beginning' and `field-end' take new optional argument, LIMIT.
3520 This argument tells them not to search beyond LIMIT. Instead they
3521 give up and return LIMIT.
3524 *** Function `pos-visible-in-window-p' now returns the pixel coordinates
3525 and partial visiblity state of the corresponding row, if the PARTIALLY
3529 *** New functions `posn-at-point' and `posn-at-x-y' return
3530 click-event-style position information for a given visible buffer
3531 position or for a given window pixel coordinate.
3533 ** Text modification:
3536 *** The new function `insert-for-yank' normally works like `insert', but
3537 removes the text properties in the `yank-excluded-properties' list
3538 and handles the `yank-handler' text property.
3541 *** The new function `insert-buffer-substring-as-yank' is like
3542 `insert-for-yank' except that it gets the text from another buffer as
3543 in `insert-buffer-substring'.
3546 *** The new function `insert-buffer-substring-no-properties' is like
3547 `insert-buffer-substring', but removes all text properties from the
3551 *** The new function `filter-buffer-substring' extracts a buffer
3552 substring, passes it through a set of filter functions, and returns
3553 the filtered substring. Use it instead of `buffer-substring' or
3554 `delete-and-extract-region' when copying text into a user-accessible
3555 data structure, such as the kill-ring, X clipboard, or a register.
3557 The list of filter function is specified by the new variable
3558 `buffer-substring-filters'. For example, Longlines mode adds to
3559 `buffer-substring-filters' to remove soft newlines from the copied
3563 *** Function `translate-region' accepts also a char-table as TABLE
3567 *** The new translation table `translation-table-for-input'
3568 is used for customizing self-insertion. The character to
3569 be inserted is translated through it.
3574 The new function `text-clone-create'. Text clones are chunks of text
3575 that are kept identical by transparently propagating changes from one
3579 *** The function `insert-string' is now obsolete.
3584 *** In determining an adaptive fill prefix, Emacs now tries the function in
3585 `adaptive-fill-function' _before_ matching the buffer line against
3586 `adaptive-fill-regexp' rather than _after_ it.
3589 ** Atomic change groups.
3591 To perform some changes in the current buffer "atomically" so that
3592 they either all succeed or are all undone, use `atomic-change-group'
3593 around the code that makes changes. For instance:
3595 (atomic-change-group
3597 (delete-region x y))
3599 If an error (or other nonlocal exit) occurs inside the body of
3600 `atomic-change-group', it unmakes all the changes in that buffer that
3601 were during the execution of the body. The change group has no effect
3602 on any other buffers--any such changes remain.
3604 If you need something more sophisticated, you can directly call the
3605 lower-level functions that `atomic-change-group' uses. Here is how.
3607 To set up a change group for one buffer, call `prepare-change-group'.
3608 Specify the buffer as argument; it defaults to the current buffer.
3609 This function returns a "handle" for the change group. You must save
3610 the handle to activate the change group and then finish it.
3612 Before you change the buffer again, you must activate the change
3613 group. Pass the handle to `activate-change-group' afterward to
3616 After you make the changes, you must finish the change group. You can
3617 either accept the changes or cancel them all. Call
3618 `accept-change-group' to accept the changes in the group as final;
3619 call `cancel-change-group' to undo them all.
3621 You should use `unwind-protect' to make sure the group is always
3622 finished. The call to `activate-change-group' should be inside the
3623 `unwind-protect', in case the user types C-g just after it runs.
3624 (This is one reason why `prepare-change-group' and
3625 `activate-change-group' are separate functions.) Once you finish the
3626 group, don't use the handle again--don't try to finish the same group
3629 To make a multibuffer change group, call `prepare-change-group' once
3630 for each buffer you want to cover, then use `nconc' to combine the
3631 returned values, like this:
3633 (nconc (prepare-change-group buffer-1)
3634 (prepare-change-group buffer-2))
3636 You can then activate the multibuffer change group with a single call
3637 to `activate-change-group', and finish it with a single call to
3638 `accept-change-group' or `cancel-change-group'.
3640 Nested use of several change groups for the same buffer works as you
3641 would expect. Non-nested use of change groups for the same buffer
3642 will lead to undesirable results, so don't let it happen; the first
3643 change group you start for any given buffer should be the last one
3646 ** Buffer-related changes:
3649 *** `list-buffers-noselect' now takes an additional argument, BUFFER-LIST.
3651 If it is non-nil, it specifies which buffers to list.
3654 *** `kill-buffer-hook' is now a permanent local.
3657 *** The new function `buffer-local-value' returns the buffer-local
3658 binding of VARIABLE (a symbol) in buffer BUFFER. If VARIABLE does not
3659 have a buffer-local binding in buffer BUFFER, it returns the default
3660 value of VARIABLE instead.
3662 *** The function `frame-or-buffer-changed-p' now lets you maintain
3663 various status records in parallel.
3665 It take a variable (a symbol) as argument. If the variable is non-nil,
3666 then its value should be a vector installed previously by
3667 `frame-or-buffer-changed-p'. If the frame names, buffer names, buffer
3668 order, or their read-only or modified flags have changed, since the
3669 time the vector's contents were recorded by a previous call to
3670 `frame-or-buffer-changed-p', then the function returns t. Otherwise
3673 On the first call to `frame-or-buffer-changed-p', the variable's
3674 value should be nil. `frame-or-buffer-changed-p' stores a suitable
3675 vector into the variable and returns t.
3677 If the variable is itself nil, then `frame-or-buffer-changed-p' uses,
3678 for compatibility, an internal variable which exists only for this
3681 ** Local variables lists:
3684 *** Text properties in local variables.
3686 A file local variables list cannot specify a string with text
3687 properties--any specified text properties are discarded.
3690 *** The variable `safe-local-eval-forms' specifies a list of forms that
3691 are ok to evaluate when they appear in an `eval' local variables
3692 specification. Normally Emacs asks for confirmation before evaluating
3693 such a form, but if the form appears in this list, no confirmation is
3697 *** If a function has a non-nil `safe-local-eval-function' property,
3698 that means it is ok to evaluate some calls to that function when it
3699 appears in an `eval' local variables specification. If the property
3700 is t, then any form calling that function with constant arguments is
3701 ok. If the property is a function or list of functions, they are called
3702 with the form as argument, and if any returns t, the form is ok to call.
3704 If the form is not "ok to call", that means Emacs asks for
3705 confirmation as before.
3707 ** Searching and matching changes:
3710 *** New function `looking-back' checks whether a regular expression matches
3711 the text before point. Specifying the LIMIT argument bounds how far
3712 back the match can start; this is a way to keep it from taking too long.
3715 *** The new variable `search-spaces-regexp' controls how to search
3716 for spaces in a regular expression. If it is non-nil, it should be a
3717 regular expression, and any series of spaces stands for that regular
3718 expression. If it is nil, spaces stand for themselves.
3720 Spaces inside of constructs such as `[..]' and inside loops such as
3721 `*', `+', and `?' are never replaced with `search-spaces-regexp'.
3724 *** New regular expression operators, `\_<' and `\_>'.
3726 These match the beginning and end of a symbol. A symbol is a
3727 non-empty sequence of either word or symbol constituent characters, as
3728 specified by the syntax table.
3731 *** rx.el has new corresponding `symbol-end' and `symbol-start' elements.
3734 *** `skip-chars-forward' and `skip-chars-backward' now handle
3735 character classes such as `[:alpha:]', along with individual
3736 characters and ranges.
3739 *** In `replace-match', the replacement text no longer inherits
3740 properties from surrounding text.
3743 *** The list returned by `(match-data t)' now has the buffer as a final
3744 element, if the last match was on a buffer. `set-match-data'
3745 accepts such a list for restoring the match state.
3748 *** Functions `match-data' and `set-match-data' now have an optional
3749 argument `reseat'. When non-nil, all markers in the match data list
3750 passed to these function will be reseated to point to nowhere.
3753 *** The default value of `sentence-end' is now defined using the new
3754 variable `sentence-end-without-space', which contains such characters
3755 that end a sentence without following spaces.
3757 The function `sentence-end' should be used to obtain the value of the
3758 variable `sentence-end'. If the variable `sentence-end' is nil, then
3759 this function returns the regexp constructed from the variables
3760 `sentence-end-without-period', `sentence-end-double-space' and
3761 `sentence-end-without-space'.
3766 *** `buffer-undo-list' can allows programmable elements.
3768 These elements have the form (apply FUNNAME . ARGS), where FUNNAME is
3769 a symbol other than t or nil. That stands for a high-level change
3770 that should be undone by evaluating (apply FUNNAME ARGS).
3772 These entries can also have the form (apply DELTA BEG END FUNNAME . ARGS)
3773 which indicates that the change which took place was limited to the
3774 range BEG...END and increased the buffer size by DELTA.
3777 *** If the buffer's undo list for the current command gets longer than
3778 `undo-outer-limit', garbage collection empties it. This is to prevent
3779 it from using up the available memory and choking Emacs.
3782 ** New `yank-handler' text property can be used to control how
3783 previously killed text on the kill ring is reinserted.
3785 The value of the `yank-handler' property must be a list with one to four
3786 elements with the following format:
3787 (FUNCTION PARAM NOEXCLUDE UNDO).
3789 The `insert-for-yank' function looks for a yank-handler property on
3790 the first character on its string argument (typically the first
3791 element on the kill-ring). If a `yank-handler' property is found,
3792 the normal behavior of `insert-for-yank' is modified in various ways:
3794 When FUNCTION is present and non-nil, it is called instead of `insert'
3795 to insert the string. FUNCTION takes one argument--the object to insert.
3796 If PARAM is present and non-nil, it replaces STRING as the object
3797 passed to FUNCTION (or `insert'); for example, if FUNCTION is
3798 `yank-rectangle', PARAM should be a list of strings to insert as a
3800 If NOEXCLUDE is present and non-nil, the normal removal of the
3801 `yank-excluded-properties' is not performed; instead FUNCTION is
3802 responsible for removing those properties. This may be necessary
3803 if FUNCTION adjusts point before or after inserting the object.
3804 If UNDO is present and non-nil, it is a function that will be called
3805 by `yank-pop' to undo the insertion of the current object. It is
3806 called with two arguments, the start and end of the current region.
3807 FUNCTION can set `yank-undo-function' to override the UNDO value.
3809 *** The functions `kill-new', `kill-append', and `kill-region' now have an
3810 optional argument to specify the `yank-handler' text property to put on
3813 *** The function `yank-pop' will now use a non-nil value of the variable
3814 `yank-undo-function' (instead of `delete-region') to undo the previous
3815 `yank' or `yank-pop' command (or a call to `insert-for-yank'). The function
3816 `insert-for-yank' automatically sets that variable according to the UNDO
3817 element of the string argument's `yank-handler' text property if present.
3819 *** The function `insert-for-yank' now supports strings where the
3820 `yank-handler' property does not span the first character of the
3821 string. The old behavior is available if you call
3822 `insert-for-yank-1' instead.
3824 ** Syntax table changes:
3827 *** The macro `with-syntax-table' no longer copies the syntax table.
3830 *** The new function `syntax-after' returns the syntax code
3831 of the character after a specified buffer position, taking account
3832 of text properties as well as the character code.
3835 *** `syntax-class' extracts the class of a syntax code (as returned
3839 *** The new function `syntax-ppss' rovides an efficient way to find the
3840 current syntactic context at point.
3842 ** File operation changes:
3845 *** New vars `exec-suffixes' and `load-suffixes' used when
3846 searching for an executable or an Emacs Lisp file.
3849 *** The new primitive `set-file-times' sets a file's access and
3850 modification times. Magic file name handlers can handle this
3854 *** The new function `file-remote-p' tests a file name and returns
3855 non-nil if it specifies a remote file (one that Emacs accesses using
3856 its own special methods and not directly through the file system).
3857 The value in that case is an identifier for the remote file system.
3860 *** `buffer-auto-save-file-format' is the new name for what was
3861 formerly called `auto-save-file-format'. It is now a permanent local.
3864 *** Functions `file-name-sans-extension' and `file-name-extension' now
3865 ignore the leading dots in file names, so that file names such as
3866 `.emacs' are treated as extensionless.
3869 *** `copy-file' now takes an additional option arg MUSTBENEW.
3871 This argument works like the MUSTBENEW argument of write-file.
3874 *** `visited-file-modtime' and `calendar-time-from-absolute' now return
3875 a list of two integers, instead of a cons.
3878 *** `file-chase-links' now takes an optional second argument LIMIT which
3879 specifies the maximum number of links to chase through. If after that
3880 many iterations the file name obtained is still a symbolic link,
3881 `file-chase-links' returns it anyway.
3884 *** The new hook `before-save-hook' is invoked by `basic-save-buffer'
3885 before saving buffers. This allows packages to perform various final
3886 tasks, for example; it can be used by the copyright package to make
3887 sure saved files have the current year in any copyright headers.
3890 *** If `buffer-save-without-query' is non-nil in some buffer,
3891 `save-some-buffers' will always save that buffer without asking (if
3895 *** New function `locate-file' searches for a file in a list of directories.
3896 `locate-file' accepts a name of a file to search (a string), and two
3897 lists: a list of directories to search in and a list of suffixes to
3898 try; typical usage might use `exec-path' and `load-path' for the list
3899 of directories, and `exec-suffixes' and `load-suffixes' for the list
3900 of suffixes. The function also accepts a predicate argument to
3901 further filter candidate files.
3903 One advantage of using this function is that the list of suffixes in
3904 `exec-suffixes' is OS-dependant, so this function will find
3905 executables without polluting Lisp code with OS dependancies.
3908 *** The precedence of file name handlers has been changed.
3910 Instead of choosing the first handler that matches,
3911 `find-file-name-handler' now gives precedence to a file name handler
3912 that matches nearest the end of the file name. More precisely, the
3913 handler whose (match-beginning 0) is the largest is chosen. In case
3914 of ties, the old "first matched" rule applies.
3917 *** A file name handler can declare which operations it handles.
3919 You do this by putting an `operation' property on the handler name
3920 symbol. The property value should be a list of the operations that
3921 the handler really handles. It won't be called for any other
3924 This is useful for autoloaded handlers, to prevent them from being
3925 autoloaded when not really necessary.
3928 *** The function `make-auto-save-file-name' is now handled by file
3929 name handlers. This will be exploited for remote files mainly.
3934 *** An interactive specification can now use the code letter 'U' to get
3935 the up-event that was discarded in case the last key sequence read for a
3936 previous `k' or `K' argument was a down-event; otherwise nil is used.
3939 *** The new interactive-specification `G' reads a file name
3940 much like `F', but if the input is a directory name (even defaulted),
3941 it returns just the directory name.
3944 *** Functions `y-or-n-p', `read-char', `read-key-sequence' and the like, that
3945 display a prompt but don't use the minibuffer, now display the prompt
3946 using the text properties (esp. the face) of the prompt string.
3949 *** (while-no-input BODY...) runs BODY, but only so long as no input
3950 arrives. If the user types or clicks anything, BODY stops as if a
3951 quit had occurred. `while-no-input' returns the value of BODY, if BODY
3952 finishes. It returns nil if BODY was aborted by a quit, and t if
3953 BODY was aborted by arrival of input.
3955 ** Minibuffer changes:
3958 *** The new function `minibufferp' returns non-nil if its optional
3959 buffer argument is a minibuffer. If the argument is omitted, it
3960 defaults to the current buffer.
3963 *** New function `minibuffer-selected-window' returns the window which
3964 was selected when entering the minibuffer.
3967 *** `read-from-minibuffer' now accepts an additional argument KEEP-ALL
3968 saying to put all inputs in the history list, even empty ones.
3971 *** The `read-file-name' function now takes an additional argument which
3972 specifies a predicate which the file name read must satify. The
3973 new variable `read-file-name-predicate' contains the predicate argument
3974 while reading the file name from the minibuffer; the predicate in this
3975 variable is used by read-file-name-internal to filter the completion list.
3978 *** The new variable `read-file-name-function' can be used by Lisp code
3979 to override the built-in `read-file-name' function.
3982 *** The new variable `read-file-name-completion-ignore-case' specifies
3983 whether completion ignores case when reading a file name with the
3984 `read-file-name' function.
3987 *** The new function `read-directory-name' for reading a directory name.
3989 It is like `read-file-name' except that the defaulting works better
3990 for directories, and completion inside it shows only directories.
3992 ** Completion changes:
3995 *** The functions `all-completions' and `try-completion' now accept lists
3996 of strings as well as hash-tables additionally to alists, obarrays
3997 and functions. Furthermore, the function `test-completion' is now
3998 exported to Lisp. The keys in alists and hash tables can be either
3999 strings or symbols, which are automatically converted with to strings.
4002 *** The new macro `dynamic-completion-table' supports using functions
4003 as a dynamic completion table.
4005 (dynamic-completion-table FUN)
4007 FUN is called with one argument, the string for which completion is required,
4008 and it should return an alist containing all the intended possible
4009 completions. This alist can be a full list of possible completions so that FUN
4010 can ignore the value of its argument. If completion is performed in the
4011 minibuffer, FUN will be called in the buffer from which the minibuffer was
4012 entered. `dynamic-completion-table' then computes the completion.
4015 *** The new macro `lazy-completion-table' initializes a variable
4016 as a lazy completion table.
4018 (lazy-completion-table VAR FUN &rest ARGS)
4020 If the completion table VAR is used for the first time (e.g., by passing VAR
4021 as an argument to `try-completion'), the function FUN is called with arguments
4022 ARGS. FUN must return the completion table that will be stored in VAR. If
4023 completion is requested in the minibuffer, FUN will be called in the buffer
4024 from which the minibuffer was entered. The return value of
4025 `lazy-completion-table' must be used to initialize the value of VAR.
4028 ** Enhancements to keymaps.
4030 *** Cleaner way to enter key sequences.
4032 You can enter a constant key sequence in a more natural format, the
4033 same one used for saving keyboard macros, using the macro `kbd'. For
4036 (kbd "C-x C-f") => "\^x\^f"
4038 *** Interactive commands can be remapped through keymaps.
4040 This is an alternative to using `defadvice' or `substitute-key-definition'
4041 to modify the behavior of a key binding using the normal keymap
4042 binding and lookup functionality.
4044 When a key sequence is bound to a command, and that command is
4045 remapped to another command, that command is run instead of the
4049 Suppose that minor mode `my-mode' has defined the commands
4050 `my-kill-line' and `my-kill-word', and it wants C-k (and any other key
4051 bound to `kill-line') to run the command `my-kill-line' instead of
4052 `kill-line', and likewise it wants to run `my-kill-word' instead of
4055 Instead of rebinding C-k and the other keys in the minor mode map,
4056 command remapping allows you to directly map `kill-line' into
4057 `my-kill-line' and `kill-word' into `my-kill-word' using `define-key':
4059 (define-key my-mode-map [remap kill-line] 'my-kill-line)
4060 (define-key my-mode-map [remap kill-word] 'my-kill-word)
4062 When `my-mode' is enabled, its minor mode keymap is enabled too. So
4063 when the user types C-k, that runs the command `my-kill-line'.
4065 Only one level of remapping is supported. In the above example, this
4066 means that if `my-kill-line' is remapped to `other-kill', then C-k still
4067 runs `my-kill-line'.
4069 The following changes have been made to provide command remapping:
4071 - Command remappings are defined using `define-key' with a prefix-key
4072 `remap', i.e. `(define-key MAP [remap CMD] DEF)' remaps command CMD
4073 to definition DEF in keymap MAP. The definition is not limited to
4074 another command; it can be anything accepted for a normal binding.
4076 - The new function `command-remapping' returns the binding for a
4077 remapped command in the current keymaps, or nil if not remapped.
4079 - `key-binding' now remaps interactive commands unless the optional
4080 third argument NO-REMAP is non-nil.
4082 - `where-is-internal' now returns nil for a remapped command (e.g.
4083 `kill-line', when `my-mode' is enabled), and the actual key binding for
4084 the command it is remapped to (e.g. C-k for my-kill-line).
4085 It also has a new optional fifth argument, NO-REMAP, which inhibits
4086 remapping if non-nil (e.g. it returns "C-k" for `kill-line', and
4087 "<kill-line>" for `my-kill-line').
4089 - The new variable `this-original-command' contains the original
4090 command before remapping. It is equal to `this-command' when the
4091 command was not remapped.
4093 *** If text has a `keymap' property, that keymap takes precedence
4094 over minor mode keymaps.
4096 *** The `keymap' property now also works at the ends of overlays and
4097 text properties, according to their stickiness. This also means that it
4098 works with empty overlays. The same hold for the `local-map' property.
4100 *** Dense keymaps now handle inheritance correctly.
4102 Previously a dense keymap would hide all of the simple-char key
4103 bindings of the parent keymap.
4105 *** `define-key-after' now accepts keys longer than 1.
4107 *** New function `current-active-maps' returns a list of currently
4110 *** New function `describe-buffer-bindings' inserts the list of all
4111 defined keys and their definitions.
4113 *** New function `keymap-prompt' returns the prompt string of a keymap.
4115 *** (map-keymap FUNCTION KEYMAP) applies the function to each binding
4118 *** New variable `emulation-mode-map-alists'.
4120 Lisp packages using many minor mode keymaps can now maintain their own
4121 keymap alist separate from `minor-mode-map-alist' by adding their
4122 keymap alist to this list.
4127 *** The new function `copy-abbrev-table' copies an abbrev table.
4129 It returns a new abbrev table that is a copy of a given abbrev table.
4132 *** `define-abbrev' now accepts an optional argument SYSTEM-FLAG.
4134 If non-nil, this marks the abbrev as a "system" abbrev, which means
4135 that it won't be stored in the user's abbrevs file if he saves the
4136 abbrevs. Major modes that predefine some abbrevs should always
4140 ** Enhancements to process support
4142 *** Function `list-processes' now has an optional argument; if non-nil,
4143 it lists only the processes whose query-on-exit flag is set.
4145 *** New fns `set-process-query-on-exit-flag' and `process-query-on-exit-flag'.
4147 These replace the old function `process-kill-without-query'. That
4148 function is still supported, but new code should use the new
4151 *** Function `signal-process' now accepts a process object or process
4152 name in addition to a process id to identify the signaled process.
4154 *** Processes now have an associated property list where programs can
4155 maintain process state and other per-process related information.
4157 Use the new functions `process-get' and `process-put' to access, add,
4158 and modify elements on this property list. Use the new functions
4159 `process-plist' and `set-process-plist' to access and replace the
4160 entire property list of a process.
4162 *** Function `accept-process-output' has a new optional fourth arg
4163 JUST-THIS-ONE. If non-nil, only output from the specified process
4164 is handled, suspending output from other processes. If value is an
4165 integer, also inhibit running timers. This feature is generally not
4166 recommended, but may be necessary for specific applications, such as
4169 *** Adaptive read buffering of subprocess output.
4171 On some systems, when emacs reads the output from a subprocess, the
4172 output data is read in very small blocks, potentially resulting in
4173 very poor performance. This behavior can be remedied to some extent
4174 by setting the new variable `process-adaptive-read-buffering' to a
4175 non-nil value (the default), as it will automatically delay reading
4176 from such processes, to allowing them to produce more output before
4177 emacs tries to read it.
4179 *** The new function `call-process-shell-command'.
4181 This executes a shell command synchronously in a separate process.
4183 *** The new function `process-file' is similar to `call-process', but
4184 obeys file handlers. The file handler is chosen based on
4185 `default-directory'.
4187 *** A process filter function gets the output as multibyte string
4188 if the process specifies t for its filter's multibyteness.
4190 That multibyteness is decided by the value of
4191 `default-enable-multibyte-characters' when the process is created, and
4192 you can change it later with `set-process-filter-multibyte'.
4194 *** The new function `set-process-filter-multibyte' sets the
4195 multibyteness of the strings passed to the process's filter.
4197 *** The new function `process-filter-multibyte-p' returns the
4198 multibyteness of the strings passed to the process's filter.
4200 *** If a process's coding system is `raw-text' or `no-conversion' and its
4201 buffer is multibyte, the output of the process is at first converted
4202 to multibyte by `string-to-multibyte' then inserted in the buffer.
4203 Previously, it was converted to multibyte by `string-as-multibyte',
4204 which was not compatible with the behavior of file reading.
4207 ** Enhanced networking support.
4209 *** The new `make-network-process' function makes network connections.
4210 It allows opening of stream and datagram connections to a server, as well as
4211 create a stream or datagram server inside emacs.
4213 - A server is started using :server t arg.
4214 - Datagram connection is selected using :type 'datagram arg.
4215 - A server can open on a random port using :service t arg.
4216 - Local sockets are supported using :family 'local arg.
4217 - Non-blocking connect is supported using :nowait t arg.
4218 - The process' property list can be initialized using :plist PLIST arg;
4219 a copy of the server process' property list is automatically inherited
4220 by new client processes created to handle incoming connections.
4222 To test for the availability of a given feature, use featurep like this:
4223 (featurep 'make-network-process '(:type datagram))
4225 *** The old `open-network-stream' now uses `make-network-process'.
4227 *** New functions `process-datagram-address', `set-process-datagram-address'.
4229 These functions are used with datagram-based network processes to get
4230 and set the current address of the remote partner.
4232 *** New function `format-network-address'.
4234 This function reformats the Lisp representation of a network address
4235 to a printable string. For example, an IP address A.B.C.D and port
4236 number P is represented as a five element vector [A B C D P], and the
4237 printable string returned for this vector is "A.B.C.D:P". See the doc
4238 string for other formatting options.
4240 *** `process-contact' has an optional KEY argument.
4242 Depending on this argument, you can get the complete list of network
4243 process properties or a specific property. Using :local or :remote as
4244 the KEY, you get the address of the local or remote end-point.
4246 An Inet address is represented as a 5 element vector, where the first
4247 4 elements contain the IP address and the fifth is the port number.
4249 *** New functions `stop-process' and `continue-process'.
4251 These functions stop and restart communication through a network
4252 connection. For a server process, no connections are accepted in the
4253 stopped state. For a client process, no input is received in the
4256 *** New function `network-interface-list'.
4258 This function returns a list of network interface names and their
4259 current network addresses.
4261 *** New function `network-interface-info'.
4263 This function returns the network address, hardware address, current
4264 status, and other information about a specific network interface.
4266 *** Deleting a network process with `delete-process' calls the sentinel.
4268 The status message passed to the sentinel for a deleted network
4269 process is "deleted". The message passed to the sentinel when the
4270 connection is closed by the remote peer has been changed to
4271 "connection broken by remote peer".
4273 ** Using window objects:
4276 *** New function `window-body-height'.
4278 This is like `window-height' but does not count the mode line or the
4282 *** New function `window-body-height'.
4284 This is like `window-height' but does not count the mode line
4288 *** You can now make a window as short as one line.
4290 A window that is just one line tall does not display either a mode
4291 line or a header line, even if the variables `mode-line-format' and
4292 `header-line-format' call for them. A window that is two lines tall
4293 cannot display both a mode line and a header line at once; if the
4294 variables call for both, only the mode line actually appears.
4297 *** The new function `window-inside-edges' returns the edges of the
4298 actual text portion of the window, not including the scroll bar or
4299 divider line, the fringes, the display margins, the header line and
4303 *** The new functions `window-pixel-edges' and `window-inside-pixel-edges'
4304 return window edges in units of pixels, rather than columns and lines.
4307 *** The new macro `with-selected-window' temporarily switches the
4308 selected window without impacting the order of `buffer-list'.
4309 It saves and restores the current buffer, too.
4312 *** `select-window' takes an optional second argument NORECORD.
4314 This is like `switch-to-buffer'.
4317 *** `save-selected-window' now saves and restores the selected window
4318 of every frame. This way, it restores everything that can be changed
4319 by calling `select-window'. It also saves and restores the current
4323 *** `set-window-buffer' has an optional argument KEEP-MARGINS.
4325 If non-nil, that says to preserve the window's current margin, fringe,
4326 and scroll-bar settings.
4329 ** Customizable fringe bitmaps
4331 *** New function `define-fringe-bitmap' can now be used to create new
4332 fringe bitmaps, as well as change the built-in fringe bitmaps.
4334 To change a built-in bitmap, do (require 'fringe) and use the symbol
4335 identifing the bitmap such as `left-truncation or `continued-line'.
4337 *** New function `destroy-fringe-bitmap' deletes a fringe bitmap
4338 or restores a built-in one to its default value.
4340 *** New function `set-fringe-bitmap-face' specifies the face to be
4341 used for a specific fringe bitmap. The face is automatically merged
4342 with the `fringe' face, so normally, the face should only specify the
4343 foreground color of the bitmap.
4345 *** There are new display properties, `left-fringe' and `right-fringe',
4346 that can be used to show a specific bitmap in the left or right fringe
4347 bitmap of the display line.
4349 Format is `display (left-fringe BITMAP [FACE])', where BITMAP is a
4350 symbol identifying a fringe bitmap, either built-in or defined with
4351 `define-fringe-bitmap', and FACE is an optional face name to be used
4352 for displaying the bitmap instead of the default `fringe' face.
4353 When specified, FACE is automatically merged with the `fringe' face.
4355 *** New function `fringe-bitmaps-at-pos' returns the current fringe
4356 bitmaps in the display line at a given buffer position.
4358 ** Other window fringe features:
4361 *** Controlling the default left and right fringe widths.
4363 The default left and right fringe widths for all windows of a frame
4364 can now be controlled by setting the `left-fringe' and `right-fringe'
4365 frame parameters to an integer value specifying the width in pixels.
4366 Setting the width to 0 effectively removes the corresponding fringe.
4368 The actual default fringe widths for the frame may deviate from the
4369 specified widths, since the combined fringe widths must match an
4370 integral number of columns. The extra width is distributed evenly
4371 between the left and right fringe. For force a specific fringe width,
4372 specify the width as a negative integer (if both widths are negative,
4373 only the left fringe gets the specified width).
4375 Setting the width to nil (the default), restores the default fringe
4376 width which is the minimum number of pixels necessary to display any
4377 of the currently defined fringe bitmaps. The width of the built-in
4378 fringe bitmaps is 8 pixels.
4381 *** Per-window fringe and scrollbar settings
4383 **** Windows can now have their own individual fringe widths and
4386 To control the fringe widths of a window, either set the buffer-local
4387 variables `left-fringe-width', `right-fringe-width', or call
4388 `set-window-fringes'.
4390 To control the fringe position in a window, that is, whether fringes
4391 are positioned between the display margins and the window's text area,
4392 or at the edges of the window, either set the buffer-local variable
4393 `fringes-outside-margins' or call `set-window-fringes'.
4395 The function `window-fringes' can be used to obtain the current
4396 settings. To make `left-fringe-width', `right-fringe-width', and
4397 `fringes-outside-margins' take effect, you must set them before
4398 displaying the buffer in a window, or use `set-window-buffer' to force
4399 an update of the display margins.
4401 **** Windows can now have their own individual scroll-bar settings
4402 controlling the width and position of scroll-bars.
4404 To control the scroll-bar of a window, either set the buffer-local
4405 variables `scroll-bar-mode' and `scroll-bar-width', or call
4406 `set-window-scroll-bars'. The function `window-scroll-bars' can be
4407 used to obtain the current settings. To make `scroll-bar-mode' and
4408 `scroll-bar-width' take effect, you must set them before displaying
4409 the buffer in a window, or use `set-window-buffer' to force an update
4410 of the display margins.
4412 ** Redisplay features:
4415 *** `sit-for' can now be called with args (SECONDS &optional NODISP).
4418 *** New function `force-window-update' can initiate a full redisplay of
4419 one or all windows. Normally, this is not needed as changes in window
4420 contents are detected automatically. However, certain implicit
4421 changes to mode lines, header lines, or display properties may require
4422 forcing an explicit window update.
4425 *** (char-displayable-p CHAR) returns non-nil if Emacs ought to be able
4426 to display CHAR. More precisely, if the selected frame's fontset has
4427 a font to display the character set that CHAR belongs to.
4429 Fontsets can specify a font on a per-character basis; when the fontset
4430 does that, this value cannot be accurate.
4433 *** You can define multiple overlay arrows via the new
4434 variable `overlay-arrow-variable-list'.
4436 It contains a list of varibles which contain overlay arrow position
4437 markers, including the original `overlay-arrow-position' variable.
4439 Each variable on this list can have individual `overlay-arrow-string'
4440 and `overlay-arrow-bitmap' properties that specify an overlay arrow
4441 string (for non-window terminals) or fringe bitmap (for window
4442 systems) to display at the corresponding overlay arrow position.
4443 If either property is not set, the default `overlay-arrow-string' or
4444 'overlay-arrow-fringe-bitmap' will be used.
4447 *** New `line-height' and `line-spacing' properties for newline characters
4449 A newline can now have `line-height' and `line-spacing' text or overlay
4450 properties that control the height of the corresponding display row.
4452 If the `line-height' property value is t, the newline does not
4453 contribute to the height of the display row; instead the height of the
4454 newline glyph is reduced. Also, a `line-spacing' property on this
4455 newline is ignored. This can be used to tile small images or image
4456 slices without adding blank areas between the images.
4458 If the `line-height' property value is a positive integer, the value
4459 specifies the minimum line height in pixels. If necessary, the line
4460 height it increased by increasing the line's ascent.
4462 If the `line-height' property value is a float, the minimum line
4463 height is calculated by multiplying the default frame line height by
4466 If the `line-height' property value is a cons (FACE . RATIO), the
4467 minimum line height is calculated as RATIO * height of named FACE.
4468 RATIO is int or float. If FACE is t, it specifies the current face.
4470 If the `line-height' property value is a cons (nil . RATIO), the line
4471 height is calculated as RATIO * actual height of the line's contents.
4473 If the `line-height' value is a cons (HEIGHT . TOTAL), HEIGHT specifies
4474 the line height as described above, while TOTAL is any of the forms
4475 described above and specifies the total height of the line, causing a
4476 varying number of pixels to be inserted after the line to make it line
4477 exactly that many pixels high.
4479 If the `line-spacing' property value is an positive integer, the value
4480 is used as additional pixels to insert after the display line; this
4481 overrides the default frame `line-spacing' and any buffer local value of
4482 the `line-spacing' variable.
4484 If the `line-spacing' property is a float or cons, the line spacing
4485 is calculated as specified above for the `line-height' property.
4488 *** The buffer local `line-spacing' variable can now have a float value,
4489 which is used as a height relative to the default frame line height.
4492 *** Enhancements to stretch display properties
4494 The display property stretch specification form `(space PROPS)', where
4495 PROPS is a property list now allows pixel based width and height
4496 specifications, as well as enhanced horizontal text alignment.
4498 The value of these properties can now be a (primitive) expression
4499 which is evaluated during redisplay. The following expressions
4502 EXPR ::= NUM | (NUM) | UNIT | ELEM | POS | IMAGE | FORM
4503 NUM ::= INTEGER | FLOAT | SYMBOL
4504 UNIT ::= in | mm | cm | width | height
4505 ELEM ::= left-fringe | right-fringe | left-margin | right-margin
4507 POS ::= left | center | right
4508 FORM ::= (NUM . EXPR) | (OP EXPR ...)
4511 The form `NUM' specifies a fractional width or height of the default
4512 frame font size. The form `(NUM)' specifies an absolute number of
4513 pixels. If a symbol is specified, its buffer-local variable binding
4514 is used. The `in', `mm', and `cm' units specifies the number of
4515 pixels per inch, milli-meter, and centi-meter, resp. The `width' and
4516 `height' units correspond to the width and height of the current face
4517 font. An image specification corresponds to the width or height of
4520 The `left-fringe', `right-fringe', `left-margin', `right-margin',
4521 `scroll-bar', and `text' elements specify to the width of the
4522 corresponding area of the window.
4524 The `left', `center', and `right' positions can be used with :align-to
4525 to specify a position relative to the left edge, center, or right edge
4526 of the text area. One of the above window elements (except `text')
4527 can also be used with :align-to to specify that the position is
4528 relative to the left edge of the given area. Once the base offset for
4529 a relative position has been set (by the first occurrence of one of
4530 these symbols), further occurences of these symbols are interpreted as
4531 the width of the area.
4533 For example, to align to the center of the left-margin, use
4534 :align-to (+ left-margin (0.5 . left-margin))
4536 If no specific base offset is set for alignment, it is always relative
4537 to the left edge of the text area. For example, :align-to 0 in a
4538 header line aligns with the first text column in the text area.
4540 The value of the form `(NUM . EXPR)' is the value of NUM multiplied by
4541 the value of the expression EXPR. For example, (2 . in) specifies a
4542 width of 2 inches, while (0.5 . IMAGE) specifies half the width (or
4543 height) of the specified image.
4545 The form `(+ EXPR ...)' adds up the value of the expressions.
4546 The form `(- EXPR ...)' negates or subtracts the value of the expressions.
4549 *** Normally, the cursor is displayed at the end of any overlay and
4550 text property string that may be present at the current window
4551 position. The cursor can now be placed on any character of such
4552 strings by giving that character a non-nil `cursor' text property.
4555 *** The display space :width and :align-to text properties are now
4556 supported on text terminals.
4559 *** Support for displaying image slices
4561 **** New display property (slice X Y WIDTH HEIGHT) can be used with
4562 an image property to display only a specific slice of the image.
4564 **** Function `insert-image' has new optional fourth arg to
4565 specify image slice (X Y WIDTH HEIGHT).
4567 **** New function `insert-sliced-image' inserts a given image as a
4568 specified number of evenly sized slices (rows x columns).
4571 *** Images can now have an associated image map via the :map property.
4573 An image map is an alist where each element has the format (AREA ID PLIST).
4574 An AREA is specified as either a rectangle, a circle, or a polygon:
4575 A rectangle is a cons (rect . ((X0 . Y0) . (X1 . Y1))) specifying the
4576 pixel coordinates of the upper left and bottom right corners.
4577 A circle is a cons (circle . ((X0 . Y0) . R)) specifying the center
4578 and the radius of the circle; R can be a float or integer.
4579 A polygon is a cons (poly . [X0 Y0 X1 Y1 ...]) where each pair in the
4580 vector describes one corner in the polygon.
4582 When the mouse pointer is above a hot-spot area of an image, the
4583 PLIST of that hot-spot is consulted; if it contains a `help-echo'
4584 property it defines a tool-tip for the hot-spot, and if it contains
4585 a `pointer' property, it defines the shape of the mouse cursor when
4586 it is over the hot-spot. See the variable `void-area-text-pointer'
4587 for possible pointer shapes.
4589 When you click the mouse when the mouse pointer is over a hot-spot,
4590 an event is composed by combining the ID of the hot-spot with the
4591 mouse event, e.g. [area4 mouse-1] if the hot-spot's ID is `area4'.
4593 ** Mouse pointer features:
4597 *** The mouse pointer shape in void text areas (i.e. after the end of a
4598 line or below the last line in the buffer) of the text window is now
4599 controlled by the new variable `void-text-area-pointer'. The default
4600 is to use the `arrow' (non-text) pointer. Other choices are `text'
4601 (or nil), `hand', `vdrag', `hdrag', `modeline', and `hourglass'.
4604 *** The mouse pointer shape over an image can now be controlled by the
4605 :pointer image property.
4608 *** The mouse pointer shape over ordinary text or images can now be
4609 controlled/overriden via the `pointer' text property.
4611 ** Mouse event enhancements:
4614 *** Mouse events for clicks on window fringes now specify `left-fringe'
4615 or `right-fringe' as the area.
4618 *** All mouse events now include a buffer position regardless of where
4619 you clicked. For mouse clicks in window margins and fringes, this is
4620 a sensible buffer position corresponding to the surrounding text.
4623 *** `posn-point' now returns buffer position for non-text area events.
4626 *** Function `mouse-set-point' now works for events outside text area.
4629 *** New function `posn-area' returns window area clicked on (nil means
4633 *** Mouse events include actual glyph column and row for all event types
4637 *** New function `posn-actual-col-row' returns the actual glyph coordinates
4638 of the mouse event position.
4641 *** Mouse events can now indicate an image object clicked on.
4644 *** Mouse events include relative X and Y pixel coordinates relative to
4645 the top left corner of the object (image or character) clicked on.
4648 *** Mouse events include the pixel width and height of the object
4649 (image or character) clicked on.
4652 *** New functions 'posn-object', 'posn-object-x-y', 'posn-object-width-height'.
4654 These return the image or string object of a mouse click, the X and Y
4655 pixel coordinates relative to the top left corner of that object, and
4656 the total width and height of that object.
4658 ** Text property and overlay changes:
4661 *** Arguments for `remove-overlays' are now optional, so that you can
4662 remove all overlays in the buffer with just (remove-overlays).
4665 *** New variable `char-property-alias-alist'.
4667 This variable allows you to create alternative names for text
4668 properties. It works at the same level as `default-text-properties',
4669 although it applies to overlays as well. This variable was introduced
4670 to implement the `font-lock-face' property.
4673 *** New function `get-char-property-and-overlay' accepts the same
4674 arguments as `get-char-property' and returns a cons whose car is the
4675 return value of `get-char-property' called with those arguments and
4676 whose cdr is the overlay in which the property was found, or nil if
4677 it was found as a text property or not found at all.
4680 *** The new function `remove-list-of-text-properties'.
4682 It is like `remove-text-properties' except that it takes a list of
4683 property names as argument rather than a property list.
4688 *** The new face attribute condition `min-colors' can be used to tailor
4689 the face color to the number of colors supported by a display, and
4690 define the foreground and background colors accordingly so that they
4691 look best on a terminal that supports at least this many colors. This
4692 is now the preferred method for defining default faces in a way that
4693 makes a good use of the capabilities of the display.
4696 *** New function `display-supports-face-attributes-p' can be used to test
4697 whether a given set of face attributes is actually displayable.
4699 A new predicate `supports' has also been added to the `defface' face
4700 specification language, which can be used to do this test for faces
4701 defined with `defface'.
4704 *** The special treatment of faces whose names are of the form `fg:COLOR'
4705 or `bg:COLOR' has been removed. Lisp programs should use the
4706 `defface' facility for defining faces with specific colors, or use
4707 the feature of specifying the face attributes :foreground and :background
4708 directly in the `face' property instead of using a named face.
4711 *** The first face specification element in a defface can specify
4712 `default' instead of frame classification. Then its attributes act as
4713 defaults that apply to all the subsequent cases (and can be overridden
4717 *** The variable `face-font-rescale-alist' specifies how much larger
4718 (or smaller) font we should use. For instance, if the value is
4719 '((SOME-FONTNAME-PATTERN . 1.3)) and a face requests a font of 10
4720 point, we actually use a font of 13 point if the font matches
4721 SOME-FONTNAME-PATTERN.
4724 *** The function `face-differs-from-default-p' now truly checks
4725 whether the given face displays differently from the default face or
4726 not (previously it did only a very cursory check).
4729 *** `face-attribute', `face-foreground', `face-background', `face-stipple'.
4731 These now accept a new optional argument, INHERIT, which controls how
4732 face inheritance is used when determining the value of a face
4736 *** New functions `face-attribute-relative-p' and `merge-face-attribute'
4737 help with handling relative face attributes.
4740 *** The priority of faces in an :inherit attribute face list is reversed.
4742 If a face contains an :inherit attribute with a list of faces, earlier
4743 faces in the list override later faces in the list; in previous
4744 releases of Emacs, the order was the opposite. This change was made
4745 so that :inherit face lists operate identically to face lists in text
4749 *** On terminals, faces with the :inverse-video attribute are displayed
4750 with swapped foreground and background colors even when one of them is
4751 not specified. In previous releases of Emacs, if either foreground
4752 or background color was unspecified, colors were not swapped. This
4753 was inconsistent with the face behavior under X.
4756 *** `set-fontset-font', `fontset-info', `fontset-font' now operate on
4757 the default fontset if the argument NAME is nil..
4759 ** Font-Lock changes:
4762 *** New special text property `font-lock-face'.
4764 This property acts like the `face' property, but it is controlled by
4765 M-x font-lock-mode. It is not, strictly speaking, a builtin text
4766 property. Instead, it is implemented inside font-core.el, using the
4767 new variable `char-property-alias-alist'.
4770 *** font-lock can manage arbitrary text-properties beside `face'.
4772 **** the FACENAME returned in `font-lock-keywords' can be a list of the
4773 form (face FACE PROP1 VAL1 PROP2 VAL2 ...) so you can set other
4774 properties than `face'.
4776 **** `font-lock-extra-managed-props' can be set to make sure those
4777 extra properties are automatically cleaned up by font-lock.
4780 *** jit-lock obeys a new text-property `jit-lock-defer-multiline'.
4782 If a piece of text with that property gets contextually refontified
4783 (see `jit-lock-defer-contextually'), then all of that text will
4784 be refontified. This is useful when the syntax of a textual element
4785 depends on text several lines further down (and when `font-lock-multiline'
4786 is not appropriate to solve that problem). For example in Perl:
4794 Adding/removing the last `e' changes the `bar' from being a piece of
4795 text to being a piece of code, so you'd put a `jit-lock-defer-multiline'
4796 property over the second half of the command to force (deferred)
4797 refontification of `bar' whenever the `e' is added/removed.
4799 ** Major mode mechanism changes:
4802 *** `set-auto-mode' now gives the interpreter magic line (if present)
4803 precedence over the file name. Likewise an `<?xml' or `<!DOCTYPE'
4804 declaration will give the buffer XML or SGML mode, based on the new
4805 var `magic-mode-alist'.
4808 *** Use the new function `run-mode-hooks' to run the major mode's mode hook.
4811 *** All major mode functions should now run the new normal hook
4812 `after-change-major-mode-hook', at their very end, after the mode
4813 hooks. `run-mode-hooks' does this automatically.
4816 *** If a major mode function has a non-nil `no-clone-indirect'
4817 property, `clone-indirect-buffer' signals an error if you use
4821 *** Major modes can define `eldoc-documentation-function'
4822 locally to provide Eldoc functionality by some method appropriate to
4826 *** `define-derived-mode' by default creates a new empty abbrev table.
4827 It does not copy abbrevs from the parent mode's abbrev table.
4830 *** The new function `run-mode-hooks' and the new macro `delay-mode-hooks'
4831 are used by `define-derived-mode' to make sure the mode hook for the
4832 parent mode is run at the end of the child mode.
4834 ** Minor mode changes:
4837 *** `define-minor-mode' now accepts arbitrary additional keyword arguments
4838 and simply passes them to `defcustom', if applicable.
4841 *** `minor-mode-list' now holds a list of minor mode commands.
4844 *** `define-global-minor-mode'.
4846 This is a new name for what was formerly called
4847 `easy-mmode-define-global-mode'. The old name remains as an alias.
4849 ** Command loop changes:
4852 *** The new function `called-interactively-p' does what many people
4853 have mistakenly believed `interactive-p' to do: it returns t if the
4854 calling function was called through `call-interactively'.
4856 Only use this when you cannot solve the problem by adding a new
4857 INTERACTIVE argument to the command.
4860 *** The function `commandp' takes an additional optional argument.
4862 If it is non-nil, then `commandp' checks for a function that could be
4863 called with `call-interactively', and does not return t for keyboard
4867 *** When a command returns, the command loop moves point out from
4868 within invisible text, in the same way it moves out from within text
4869 covered by an image or composition property.
4871 This makes it generally unnecessary to mark invisible text as intangible.
4872 This is particularly good because the intangible property often has
4873 unexpected side-effects since the property applies to everything
4874 (including `goto-char', ...) whereas this new code is only run after
4875 `post-command-hook' and thus does not care about intermediate states.
4878 *** If a command sets `transient-mark-mode' to `only', that
4879 enables Transient Mark mode for the following command only.
4880 During that following command, the value of `transient-mark-mode'
4881 is `identity'. If it is still `identity' at the end of the command,
4882 the next return to the command loop changes to nil.
4885 *** Both the variable and the function `disabled-command-hook' have
4886 been renamed to `disabled-command-function'. The variable
4887 `disabled-command-hook' has been kept as an obsolete alias.
4890 *** `emacsserver' now runs `pre-command-hook' and `post-command-hook'
4891 when it receives a request from emacsclient.
4893 ** Lisp file loading changes:
4896 *** `load-history' can now have elements of the form (t . FUNNAME),
4897 which means FUNNAME was previously defined as an autoload (before the
4898 current file redefined it).
4901 *** `load-history' now records (defun . FUNNAME) when a function is
4902 defined. For a variable, it records just the variable name.
4905 *** The function `symbol-file' can now search specifically for function,
4906 variable or face definitions.
4909 *** `provide' and `featurep' now accept an optional second argument
4910 to test/provide subfeatures. Also `provide' now checks `after-load-alist'
4911 and runs any code associated with the provided feature.
4914 *** The variable `recursive-load-depth-limit' has been deleted.
4915 Emacs now signals an error if the same file is loaded with more
4916 than 3 levels of nesting.
4919 ** Byte compiler changes:
4921 *** The byte compiler now displays the actual line and character
4922 position of errors, where possible. Additionally, the form of its
4923 warning and error messages have been brought into line with GNU standards
4924 for these. As a result, you can use next-error and friends on the
4925 compilation output buffer.
4927 *** The new macro `with-no-warnings' suppresses all compiler warnings
4928 inside its body. In terms of execution, it is equivalent to `progn'.
4930 *** You can avoid warnings for possibly-undefined symbols with a
4931 simple convention that the compiler understands. (This is mostly
4932 useful in code meant to be portable to different Emacs versions.)
4933 Write forms like the following, or code that macroexpands into such
4936 (if (fboundp 'foo) <then> <else>)
4937 (if (boundp 'foo) <then> <else)
4939 In the first case, using `foo' as a function inside the <then> form
4940 won't produce a warning if it's not defined as a function, and in the
4941 second case, using `foo' as a variable won't produce a warning if it's
4942 unbound. The test must be in exactly one of the above forms (after
4943 macro expansion), but such tests can be nested. Note that `when' and
4944 `unless' expand to `if', but `cond' doesn't.
4946 *** `(featurep 'xemacs)' is treated by the compiler as nil. This
4947 helps to avoid noisy compiler warnings in code meant to run under both
4948 Emacs and XEmacs and can sometimes make the result significantly more
4949 efficient. Since byte code from recent versions of XEmacs won't
4950 generally run in Emacs and vice versa, this optimization doesn't lose
4953 *** The local variable `no-byte-compile' in Lisp files is now obeyed.
4956 *** When a Lisp file uses CL functions at run-time, compiling the file
4957 now issues warnings about these calls, unless the file performs
4958 (require 'cl) when loaded.
4960 ** Frame operations:
4963 *** New functions `frame-current-scroll-bars' and `window-current-scroll-bars'.
4965 These functions return the current locations of the vertical and
4966 horizontal scroll bars in a frame or window.
4969 *** The new function `modify-all-frames-parameters' modifies parameters
4970 for all (existing and future) frames.
4973 *** The new frame parameter `tty-color-mode' specifies the mode to use
4974 for color support on character terminal frames. Its value can be a
4975 number of colors to support, or a symbol. See the Emacs Lisp
4976 Reference manual for more detailed documentation.
4979 *** When using non-toolkit scroll bars with the default width,
4980 the `scroll-bar-width' frame parameter value is nil.
4985 *** Already true in Emacs 21.1, but not emphasized clearly enough:
4987 Multibyte buffers can now faithfully record all 256 character codes
4988 from 0 to 255. As a result, most of the past reasons to use unibyte
4989 buffers no longer exist. We only know of three reasons to use them
4992 1. If you prefer to use unibyte text all of the time.
4994 2. For reading files into temporary buffers, when you want to avoid
4995 the time it takes to convert the format.
4997 3. For binary files where format conversion would be pointless and
5001 *** `set-buffer-file-coding-system' now takes an additional argument,
5002 NOMODIFY. If it is non-nil, it means don't mark the buffer modified.
5005 *** The new variable `auto-coding-functions' lets you specify functions
5006 to examine a file being visited and deduce the proper coding system
5007 for it. (If the coding system is detected incorrectly for a specific
5008 file, you can put a `coding:' tags to override it.)
5011 *** The new function `merge-coding-systems' fills in unspecified aspects
5012 of one coding system from another coding system.
5015 *** New coding system property `mime-text-unsuitable' indicates that
5016 the coding system's `mime-charset' is not suitable for MIME text
5020 *** New function `decode-coding-inserted-region' decodes a region as if
5021 it is read from a file without decoding.
5024 *** New CCL functions `lookup-character' and `lookup-integer' access
5025 hash tables defined by the Lisp function `define-translation-hash-table'.
5028 *** New function `quail-find-key' returns a list of keys to type in the
5029 current input method to input a character.
5031 ** Mode line changes:
5034 *** New function `format-mode-line'.
5036 This returns the mode line or header line of the selected (or a
5037 specified) window as a string with or without text properties.
5040 *** The new mode-line construct `(:propertize ELT PROPS...)' can be
5041 used to add text properties to mode-line elements.
5044 *** The new `%i' and `%I' constructs for `mode-line-format' can be used
5045 to display the size of the accessible part of the buffer on the mode
5049 *** Mouse-face on mode-line (and header-line) is now supported.
5051 ** Menu manipulation changes:
5054 *** To manipulate the File menu using easy-menu, you must specify the
5055 proper name "file". In previous Emacs versions, you had to specify
5056 "files", even though the menu item itself was changed to say "File"
5057 several versions ago.
5060 *** The dummy function keys made by easy-menu are now always lower case.
5061 If you specify the menu item name "Ada", for instance, it uses `ada'
5062 as the "key" bound by that key binding.
5064 This is relevant only if Lisp code looks for the bindings that were
5065 made with easy-menu.
5068 *** `easy-menu-define' now allows you to use nil for the symbol name
5069 if you don't need to give the menu a name. If you install the menu
5070 into other keymaps right away (MAPS is non-nil), it usually doesn't
5071 need to have a name.
5073 ** Operating system access:
5076 *** The new primitive `get-internal-run-time' returns the processor
5077 run time used by Emacs since start-up.
5080 *** Functions `user-uid' and `user-real-uid' now return floats if the
5081 user UID doesn't fit in a Lisp integer. Function `user-full-name'
5082 accepts a float as UID parameter.
5085 *** New function `locale-info' accesses locale information.
5088 *** On MS Windows, locale-coding-system is used to interact with the OS.
5089 The Windows specific variable w32-system-coding-system, which was
5090 formerly used for that purpose is now an alias for locale-coding-system.
5093 *** New function `redirect-debugging-output' can be used to redirect
5094 debugging output on the stderr file handle to a file.
5099 *** A number of hooks have been renamed to better follow the conventions:
5101 `find-file-hooks' to `find-file-hook',
5102 `find-file-not-found-hooks' to `find-file-not-found-functions',
5103 `write-file-hooks' to `write-file-functions',
5104 `write-contents-hooks' to `write-contents-functions',
5105 `x-lost-selection-hooks' to `x-lost-selection-functions',
5106 `x-sent-selection-hooks' to `x-sent-selection-functions',
5107 `delete-frame-hook' to `delete-frame-functions'.
5109 In each case the old name remains as an alias for the moment.
5112 *** local-write-file-hooks is marked obsolete
5114 Use the LOCAL arg of `add-hook'.
5117 *** New function `x-send-client-message' sends a client message when
5123 *** New variable `gc-cons-percentage' automatically grows the GC cons threshold
5124 as the heap size increases.
5127 *** New variables `gc-elapsed' and `gcs-done' provide extra information
5128 on garbage collection.
5131 *** The normal hook `post-gc-hook' is run at the end of garbage collection.
5133 The hook is run with GC inhibited, so use it with care.
5135 * New Packages for Lisp Programming in Emacs 22.1
5138 ** The new library button.el implements simple and fast `clickable
5139 buttons' in emacs buffers. Buttons are much lighter-weight than the
5140 `widgets' implemented by widget.el, and can be used by lisp code that
5141 doesn't require the full power of widgets. Emacs uses buttons for
5142 such things as help and apropos buffers.
5145 ** The new library tree-widget.el provides a widget to display a set
5146 of hierarchical data as an outline. For example, the tree-widget is
5147 well suited to display a hierarchy of directories and files.
5150 ** The new library bindat.el provides functions to unpack and pack
5151 binary data structures, such as network packets, to and from Lisp
5155 ** master-mode.el implements a minor mode for scrolling a slave
5156 buffer without leaving your current buffer, the master buffer.
5158 It can be used by sql.el, for example: the SQL buffer is the master
5159 and its SQLi buffer is the slave. This allows you to scroll the SQLi
5160 buffer containing the output from the SQL buffer containing the
5163 This is how to use sql.el and master.el together: the variable
5164 sql-buffer contains the slave buffer. It is a local variable in the
5167 (add-hook 'sql-mode-hook
5168 (function (lambda ()
5170 (master-set-slave sql-buffer))))
5171 (add-hook 'sql-set-sqli-hook
5172 (function (lambda ()
5173 (master-set-slave sql-buffer))))
5176 ** The new library benchmark.el does timing measurements on Lisp code.
5178 This includes measuring garbage collection time.
5181 ** The new library testcover.el does test coverage checking.
5183 This is so you can tell whether you've tested all paths in your Lisp
5184 code. It works with edebug.
5186 The function `testcover-start' instruments all functions in a given
5187 file. Then test your code. The function `testcover-mark-all' adds
5188 overlay "splotches" to the Lisp file's buffer to show where coverage
5189 is lacking. The command `testcover-next-mark' (bind it to a key!)
5190 will move point forward to the next spot that has a splotch.
5192 Normally, a red splotch indicates the form was never completely
5193 evaluated; a brown splotch means it always evaluated to the same
5194 value. The red splotches are skipped for forms that can't possibly
5195 complete their evaluation, such as `error'. The brown splotches are
5196 skipped for forms that are expected to always evaluate to the same
5197 value, such as (setq x 14).
5199 For difficult cases, you can add do-nothing macros to your code to
5200 help out the test coverage tool. The macro `noreturn' suppresses a
5201 red splotch. It is an error if the argument to `noreturn' does
5202 return. The macro `1value' suppresses a brown splotch for its argument.
5203 This macro is a no-op except during test-coverage -- then it signals
5204 an error if the argument actually returns differing values.
5206 * Installation changes in Emacs 21.3
5208 ** Support for GNU/Linux on little-endian MIPS and on IBM S390 has
5212 * Changes in Emacs 21.3
5214 ** The obsolete C mode (c-mode.el) has been removed to avoid problems
5217 ** UTF-16 coding systems are available, encoding the same characters
5220 ** There is a new language environment for UTF-8 (set up automatically
5223 ** Translation tables are available between equivalent characters in
5224 different Emacs charsets -- for instance `e with acute' coming from the
5225 Latin-1 and Latin-2 charsets. User options `unify-8859-on-encoding-mode'
5226 and `unify-8859-on-decoding-mode' respectively turn on translation
5227 between ISO 8859 character sets (`unification') on encoding
5228 (e.g. writing a file) and decoding (e.g. reading a file). Note that
5229 `unify-8859-on-encoding-mode' is useful and safe, but
5230 `unify-8859-on-decoding-mode' can cause text to change when you read
5231 it and write it out again without edits, so it is not generally advisable.
5232 By default `unify-8859-on-encoding-mode' is turned on.
5234 ** In Emacs running on the X window system, the default value of
5235 `selection-coding-system' is now `compound-text-with-extensions'.
5237 If you want the old behavior, set selection-coding-system to
5238 compound-text, which may be significantly more efficient. Using
5239 compound-text-with-extensions seems to be necessary only for decoding
5240 text from applications under XFree86 4.2, whose behavior is actually
5241 contrary to the compound text specification.
5244 * Installation changes in Emacs 21.2
5246 ** Support for BSD/OS 5.0 has been added.
5248 ** Support for AIX 5.1 was added.
5251 * Changes in Emacs 21.2
5253 ** Emacs now supports compound-text extended segments in X selections.
5255 X applications can use `extended segments' to encode characters in
5256 compound text that belong to character sets which are not part of the
5257 list of approved standard encodings for X, e.g. Big5. To paste
5258 selections with such characters into Emacs, use the new coding system
5259 compound-text-with-extensions as the value of selection-coding-system.
5261 ** The default values of `tooltip-delay' and `tooltip-hide-delay'
5264 ** On terminals whose erase-char is ^H (Backspace), Emacs
5265 now uses normal-erase-is-backspace-mode.
5267 ** When the *scratch* buffer is recreated, its mode is set from
5268 initial-major-mode, which normally is lisp-interaction-mode,
5269 instead of using default-major-mode.
5271 ** The new option `Info-scroll-prefer-subnodes' causes Info to behave
5272 like the stand-alone Info reader (from the GNU Texinfo package) as far
5273 as motion between nodes and their subnodes is concerned. If it is t
5274 (the default), Emacs behaves as before when you type SPC in a menu: it
5275 visits the subnode pointed to by the first menu entry. If this option
5276 is nil, SPC scrolls to the end of the current node, and only then goes
5277 to the first menu item, like the stand-alone reader does.
5279 This change was already in Emacs 21.1, but wasn't advertised in the
5283 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 21.2
5285 ** The meanings of scroll-up-aggressively and scroll-down-aggressively
5286 have been interchanged, so that the former now controls scrolling up,
5287 and the latter now controls scrolling down.
5289 ** The variable `compilation-parse-errors-filename-function' can
5290 be used to transform filenames found in compilation output.
5293 * Installation Changes in Emacs 21.1
5295 See the INSTALL file for information on installing extra libraries and
5296 fonts to take advantage of the new graphical features and extra
5297 charsets in this release.
5299 ** Support for GNU/Linux on IA64 machines has been added.
5301 ** Support for LynxOS has been added.
5303 ** There are new configure options associated with the support for
5304 images and toolkit scrollbars. Use the --help option in `configure'
5307 ** You can build a 64-bit Emacs for SPARC/Solaris systems which
5308 support 64-bit executables and also on Irix 6.5. This increases the
5309 maximum buffer size. See etc/MACHINES for instructions. Changes to
5310 build on other 64-bit systems should be straightforward modulo any
5311 necessary changes to unexec.
5313 ** There is a new configure option `--disable-largefile' to omit
5314 Unix-98-style support for large files if that is available.
5316 ** There is a new configure option `--without-xim' that instructs
5317 Emacs to not use X Input Methods (XIM), if these are available.
5319 ** `movemail' defaults to supporting POP. You can turn this off using
5320 the --without-pop configure option, should that be necessary.
5322 ** This version can be built for the Macintosh, but does not implement
5323 all of the new display features described below. The port currently
5324 lacks unexec, asynchronous processes, and networking support. See the
5325 "Emacs and the Mac OS" appendix in the Emacs manual, for the
5326 description of aspects specific to the Mac.
5328 ** Note that the MS-Windows port does not yet implement various of the
5329 new display features described below.
5332 * Changes in Emacs 21.1
5334 ** Emacs has a new redisplay engine.
5336 The new redisplay handles characters of variable width and height.
5337 Italic text can be used without redisplay problems. Fonts containing
5338 oversized characters, i.e. characters larger than the logical height
5339 of a font can be used. Images of various formats can be displayed in
5342 ** Emacs has a new face implementation.
5344 The new faces no longer fundamentally use X font names to specify the
5345 font. Instead, each face has several independent attributes--family,
5346 height, width, weight and slant--that it may or may not specify.
5347 These attributes can be merged from various faces, and then together
5350 Faces are supported on terminals that can display color or fonts.
5351 These terminal capabilities are auto-detected. Details can be found
5352 under Lisp changes, below.
5354 ** Emacs can display faces on TTY frames.
5356 Emacs automatically detects terminals that are able to display colors.
5357 Faces with a weight greater than normal are displayed extra-bright, if
5358 the terminal supports it. Faces with a weight less than normal and
5359 italic faces are displayed dimmed, if the terminal supports it.
5360 Underlined faces are displayed underlined if possible. Other face
5361 attributes such as `overline', `strike-through', and `box' are ignored
5364 The command-line options `-fg COLOR', `-bg COLOR', and `-rv' are now
5365 supported on character terminals.
5367 Emacs automatically remaps all X-style color specifications to one of
5368 the colors supported by the terminal. This means you could have the
5369 same color customizations that work both on a windowed display and on
5370 a TTY or when Emacs is invoked with the -nw option.
5372 ** New default font is Courier 12pt under X.
5376 Emacs supports playing sound files on GNU/Linux and FreeBSD (Voxware
5377 driver and native BSD driver, a.k.a. Luigi's driver). Currently
5378 supported file formats are RIFF-WAVE (*.wav) and Sun Audio (*.au).
5379 You must configure Emacs with the option `--with-sound=yes' to enable
5382 ** Emacs now resizes mini-windows if appropriate.
5384 If a message is longer than one line, or minibuffer contents are
5385 longer than one line, Emacs can resize the minibuffer window unless it
5386 is on a frame of its own. You can control resizing and the maximum
5387 minibuffer window size by setting the following variables:
5389 - User option: max-mini-window-height
5391 Maximum height for resizing mini-windows. If a float, it specifies a
5392 fraction of the mini-window frame's height. If an integer, it
5393 specifies a number of lines.
5397 - User option: resize-mini-windows
5399 How to resize mini-windows. If nil, don't resize. If t, always
5400 resize to fit the size of the text. If `grow-only', let mini-windows
5401 grow only, until they become empty, at which point they are shrunk
5404 Default is `grow-only'.
5408 Emacs now runs with the LessTif toolkit (see
5409 <http://www.lesstif.org>). You will need version 0.92.26, or later.
5411 ** LessTif/Motif file selection dialog.
5413 When Emacs is configured to use LessTif or Motif, reading a file name
5414 from a menu will pop up a file selection dialog if `use-dialog-box' is
5417 ** File selection dialog on MS-Windows is supported.
5419 When a file is visited by clicking File->Open, the MS-Windows version
5420 now pops up a standard file selection dialog where you can select a
5421 file to visit. File->Save As also pops up that dialog.
5423 ** Toolkit scroll bars.
5425 Emacs now uses toolkit scroll bars if available. When configured for
5426 LessTif/Motif, it will use that toolkit's scroll bar. Otherwise, when
5427 configured for Lucid and Athena widgets, it will use the Xaw3d scroll
5428 bar if Xaw3d is available. You can turn off the use of toolkit scroll
5429 bars by specifying `--with-toolkit-scroll-bars=no' when configuring
5432 When you encounter problems with the Xaw3d scroll bar, watch out how
5433 Xaw3d is compiled on your system. If the Makefile generated from
5434 Xaw3d's Imakefile contains a `-DNARROWPROTO' compiler option, and your
5435 Emacs system configuration file `s/your-system.h' does not contain a
5436 define for NARROWPROTO, you might consider adding it. Take
5437 `s/freebsd.h' as an example.
5439 Alternatively, if you don't have access to the Xaw3d source code, take
5440 a look at your system's imake configuration file, for example in the
5441 directory `/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/config' (paths are different on
5442 different systems). You will find files `*.cf' there. If your
5443 system's cf-file contains a line like `#define NeedWidePrototypes NO',
5444 add a `#define NARROWPROTO' to your Emacs system configuration file.
5446 The reason for this is that one Xaw3d function uses `double' or
5447 `float' function parameters depending on the setting of NARROWPROTO.
5448 This is not a problem when Imakefiles are used because each system's
5449 imake configuration file contains the necessary information. Since
5450 Emacs doesn't use imake, this has do be done manually.
5452 ** Tool bar support.
5454 Emacs supports a tool bar at the top of a frame under X. For details
5455 of how to define a tool bar, see the page describing Lisp-level
5456 changes. Tool-bar global minor mode controls whether or not it is
5457 displayed and is on by default. The appearance of the bar is improved
5458 if Emacs has been built with XPM image support. Otherwise monochrome
5461 To make the tool bar more useful, we need contributions of extra icons
5462 for specific modes (with copyright assignments).
5466 Tooltips are small X windows displaying a help string at the current
5467 mouse position. The Lisp package `tooltip' implements them. You can
5468 turn them off via the user option `tooltip-mode'.
5470 Tooltips also provides support for GUD debugging. If activated,
5471 variable values can be displayed in tooltips by pointing at them with
5472 the mouse in source buffers. You can customize various aspects of the
5473 tooltip display in the group `tooltip'.
5475 ** Automatic Hscrolling
5477 Horizontal scrolling now happens automatically if
5478 `automatic-hscrolling' is set (the default). This setting can be
5481 If a window is scrolled horizontally with set-window-hscroll, or
5482 scroll-left/scroll-right (C-x <, C-x >), this serves as a lower bound
5483 for automatic horizontal scrolling. Automatic scrolling will scroll
5484 the text more to the left if necessary, but won't scroll the text more
5485 to the right than the column set with set-window-hscroll etc.
5487 ** When using a windowing terminal, each Emacs window now has a cursor
5488 of its own. By default, when a window is selected, the cursor is
5489 solid; otherwise, it is hollow. The user-option
5490 `cursor-in-non-selected-windows' controls how to display the
5491 cursor in non-selected windows. If nil, no cursor is shown, if
5492 non-nil a hollow box cursor is shown.
5494 ** Fringes to the left and right of windows are used to display
5495 truncation marks, continuation marks, overlay arrows and alike. The
5496 foreground, background, and stipple of these areas can be changed by
5497 customizing face `fringe'.
5499 ** The mode line under X is now drawn with shadows by default.
5500 You can change its appearance by modifying the face `mode-line'.
5501 In particular, setting the `:box' attribute to nil turns off the 3D
5502 appearance of the mode line. (The 3D appearance makes the mode line
5503 occupy more space, and thus might cause the first or the last line of
5504 the window to be partially obscured.)
5506 The variable `mode-line-inverse-video', which was used in older
5507 versions of emacs to make the mode-line stand out, is now deprecated.
5508 However, setting it to nil will cause the `mode-line' face to be
5509 ignored, and mode-lines to be drawn using the default text face.
5511 ** Mouse-sensitive mode line.
5513 Different parts of the mode line have been made mouse-sensitive on all
5514 systems which support the mouse. Moving the mouse to a
5515 mouse-sensitive part in the mode line changes the appearance of the
5516 mouse pointer to an arrow, and help about available mouse actions is
5517 displayed either in the echo area, or in the tooltip window if you
5520 Currently, the following actions have been defined:
5522 - Mouse-1 on the buffer name in the mode line goes to the next buffer.
5524 - Mouse-3 on the buffer-name goes to the previous buffer.
5526 - Mouse-2 on the read-only or modified status in the mode line (`%' or
5527 `*') toggles the status.
5529 - Mouse-3 on the mode name displays a minor-mode menu.
5531 ** Hourglass pointer
5533 Emacs can optionally display an hourglass pointer under X. You can
5534 turn the display on or off by customizing group `cursor'.
5538 M-x blink-cursor-mode toggles a blinking cursor under X and on
5539 terminals having terminal capabilities `vi', `vs', and `ve'. Blinking
5540 and related parameters like frequency and delay can be customized in
5543 ** New font-lock support mode `jit-lock-mode'.
5545 This support mode is roughly equivalent to `lazy-lock' but is
5546 generally faster. It supports stealth and deferred fontification.
5547 See the documentation of the function `jit-lock-mode' for more
5550 Font-lock uses jit-lock-mode as default support mode, so you don't
5551 have to do anything to activate it.
5553 ** The default binding of the Delete key has changed.
5555 The new user-option `normal-erase-is-backspace' can be set to
5556 determine the effect of the Delete and Backspace function keys.
5558 On window systems, the default value of this option is chosen
5559 according to the keyboard used. If the keyboard has both a Backspace
5560 key and a Delete key, and both are mapped to their usual meanings, the
5561 option's default value is set to t, so that Backspace can be used to
5562 delete backward, and Delete can be used to delete forward. On
5563 keyboards which either have only one key (usually labeled DEL), or two
5564 keys DEL and BS which produce the same effect, the option's value is
5565 set to nil, and these keys delete backward.
5567 If not running under a window system, setting this option accomplishes
5568 a similar effect by mapping C-h, which is usually generated by the
5569 Backspace key, to DEL, and by mapping DEL to C-d via
5570 `keyboard-translate'. The former functionality of C-h is available on
5571 the F1 key. You should probably not use this setting on a text-only
5572 terminal if you don't have both Backspace, Delete and F1 keys.
5574 Programmatically, you can call function normal-erase-is-backspace-mode
5575 to toggle the behavior of the Delete and Backspace keys.
5577 ** The default for user-option `next-line-add-newlines' has been
5578 changed to nil, i.e. C-n will no longer add newlines at the end of a
5581 ** The <home> and <end> keys now move to the beginning or end of the
5582 current line, respectively. C-<home> and C-<end> move to the
5583 beginning and end of the buffer.
5585 ** Emacs now checks for recursive loads of Lisp files. If the
5586 recursion depth exceeds `recursive-load-depth-limit', an error is
5589 ** When an error is signaled during the loading of the user's init
5590 file, Emacs now pops up the *Messages* buffer.
5592 ** Emacs now refuses to load compiled Lisp files which weren't
5593 compiled with Emacs. Set `load-dangerous-libraries' to t to change
5596 The reason for this change is an incompatible change in XEmacs's byte
5597 compiler. Files compiled with XEmacs can contain byte codes that let
5600 ** Toggle buttons and radio buttons in menus.
5602 When compiled with LessTif (or Motif) support, Emacs uses toolkit
5603 widgets for radio and toggle buttons in menus. When configured for
5604 Lucid, Emacs draws radio buttons and toggle buttons similar to Motif.
5606 ** The menu bar configuration has changed. The new configuration is
5607 more CUA-compliant. The most significant change is that Options is
5608 now a separate menu-bar item, with Mule and Customize as its submenus.
5610 ** Item Save Options on the Options menu allows saving options set
5613 ** Highlighting of trailing whitespace.
5615 When `show-trailing-whitespace' is non-nil, Emacs displays trailing
5616 whitespace in the face `trailing-whitespace'. Trailing whitespace is
5617 defined as spaces or tabs at the end of a line. To avoid busy
5618 highlighting when entering new text, trailing whitespace is not
5619 displayed if point is at the end of the line containing the
5622 ** C-x 5 1 runs the new command delete-other-frames which deletes
5623 all frames except the selected one.
5625 ** The new user-option `confirm-kill-emacs' can be customized to
5626 let Emacs ask for confirmation before exiting.
5628 ** The header line in an Info buffer is now displayed as an emacs
5629 header-line (which is like a mode-line, but at the top of the window),
5630 so that it remains visible even when the buffer has been scrolled.
5631 This behavior may be disabled by customizing the option
5632 `Info-use-header-line'.
5634 ** Polish, Czech, German, and French translations of Emacs' reference card
5635 have been added. They are named `pl-refcard.tex', `cs-refcard.tex',
5636 `de-refcard.tex' and `fr-refcard.tex'. Postscript files are included.
5638 ** An `Emacs Survival Guide', etc/survival.tex, is available.
5640 ** A reference card for Dired has been added. Its name is
5641 `dired-ref.tex'. A French translation is available in
5644 ** C-down-mouse-3 is bound differently. Now if the menu bar is not
5645 displayed it pops up a menu containing the items which would be on the
5646 menu bar. If the menu bar is displayed, it pops up the major mode
5647 menu or the Edit menu if there is no major mode menu.
5649 ** Variable `load-path' is no longer customizable through Customize.
5651 You can no longer use `M-x customize-variable' to customize `load-path'
5652 because it now contains a version-dependent component. You can still
5653 use `add-to-list' and `setq' to customize this variable in your
5654 `~/.emacs' init file or to modify it from any Lisp program in general.
5656 ** C-u C-x = provides detailed information about the character at
5657 point in a pop-up window.
5659 ** Emacs can now support 'wheeled' mice (such as the MS IntelliMouse)
5660 under XFree86. To enable this, use the `mouse-wheel-mode' command, or
5661 customize the variable `mouse-wheel-mode'.
5663 The variables `mouse-wheel-follow-mouse' and `mouse-wheel-scroll-amount'
5664 determine where and by how much buffers are scrolled.
5666 ** Emacs' auto-save list files are now by default stored in a
5667 sub-directory `.emacs.d/auto-save-list/' of the user's home directory.
5668 (On MS-DOS, this subdirectory's name is `_emacs.d/auto-save.list/'.)
5669 You can customize `auto-save-list-file-prefix' to change this location.
5671 ** The function `getenv' is now callable interactively.
5673 ** The new user-option `even-window-heights' can be set to nil
5674 to prevent `display-buffer' from evening out window heights.
5676 ** The new command M-x delete-trailing-whitespace RET will delete the
5677 trailing whitespace within the current restriction. You can also add
5678 this function to `write-file-hooks' or `local-write-file-hooks'.
5680 ** When visiting a file with M-x find-file-literally, no newlines will
5681 be added to the end of the buffer even if `require-final-newline' is
5684 ** The new user-option `find-file-suppress-same-file-warnings' can be
5685 set to suppress warnings ``X and Y are the same file'' when visiting a
5686 file that is already visited under a different name.
5688 ** The new user-option `electric-help-shrink-window' can be set to
5689 nil to prevent adjusting the help window size to the buffer size.
5691 ** New command M-x describe-character-set reads a character set name
5692 and displays information about that.
5694 ** The new variable `auto-mode-interpreter-regexp' contains a regular
5695 expression matching interpreters, for file mode determination.
5697 This regular expression is matched against the first line of a file to
5698 determine the file's mode in `set-auto-mode' when Emacs can't deduce a
5699 mode from the file's name. If it matches, the file is assumed to be
5700 interpreted by the interpreter matched by the second group of the
5701 regular expression. The mode is then determined as the mode
5702 associated with that interpreter in `interpreter-mode-alist'.
5704 ** New function executable-make-buffer-file-executable-if-script-p is
5705 suitable as an after-save-hook as an alternative to `executable-chmod'.
5707 ** The most preferred coding-system is now used to save a buffer if
5708 buffer-file-coding-system is `undecided' and it is safe for the buffer
5709 contents. (The most preferred is set by set-language-environment or
5710 by M-x prefer-coding-system.) Thus if you visit an ASCII file and
5711 insert a non-ASCII character from your current language environment,
5712 the file will be saved silently with the appropriate coding.
5713 Previously you would be prompted for a safe coding system.
5715 ** The many obsolete language `setup-...-environment' commands have
5716 been removed -- use `set-language-environment'.
5718 ** The new Custom option `keyboard-coding-system' specifies a coding
5719 system for keyboard input.
5721 ** New variable `inhibit-iso-escape-detection' determines if Emacs'
5722 coding system detection algorithm should pay attention to ISO2022's
5723 escape sequences. If this variable is non-nil, the algorithm ignores
5724 such escape sequences. The default value is nil, and it is
5725 recommended not to change it except for the special case that you
5726 always want to read any escape code verbatim. If you just want to
5727 read a specific file without decoding escape codes, use C-x RET c
5728 (`universal-coding-system-argument'). For instance, C-x RET c latin-1
5729 RET C-x C-f filename RET.
5731 ** Variable `default-korean-keyboard' is initialized properly from the
5732 environment variable `HANGUL_KEYBOARD_TYPE'.
5734 ** New command M-x list-charset-chars reads a character set name and
5735 displays all characters in that character set.
5737 ** M-x set-terminal-coding-system (C-x RET t) now allows CCL-based
5738 coding systems such as cpXXX and cyrillic-koi8.
5740 ** Emacs now attempts to determine the initial language environment
5741 and preferred and locale coding systems systematically from the
5742 LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, and LANG environment variables during startup.
5744 ** New language environments `Polish', `Latin-8' and `Latin-9'.
5745 Latin-8 and Latin-9 correspond respectively to the ISO character sets
5746 8859-14 (Celtic) and 8859-15 (updated Latin-1, with the Euro sign).
5747 GNU Intlfonts doesn't support these yet but recent X releases have
5748 8859-15. See etc/INSTALL for information on obtaining extra fonts.
5749 There are new Leim input methods for Latin-8 and Latin-9 prefix (only)
5752 ** New language environments `Dutch' and `Spanish'.
5753 These new environments mainly select appropriate translations
5756 ** In Ethiopic language environment, special key bindings for
5757 function keys are changed as follows. This is to conform to "Emacs
5758 Lisp Coding Convention".
5760 new command old-binding
5761 --- ------- -----------
5762 f3 ethio-fidel-to-sera-buffer f5
5763 S-f3 ethio-fidel-to-sera-region f5
5764 C-f3 ethio-fidel-to-sera-mail-or-marker f5
5766 f4 ethio-sera-to-fidel-buffer unchanged
5767 S-f4 ethio-sera-to-fidel-region unchanged
5768 C-f4 ethio-sera-to-fidel-mail-or-marker unchanged
5770 S-f5 ethio-toggle-punctuation f3
5771 S-f6 ethio-modify-vowel f6
5772 S-f7 ethio-replace-space f7
5773 S-f8 ethio-input-special-character f8
5774 S-f9 ethio-replace-space unchanged
5775 C-f9 ethio-toggle-space f2
5777 ** There are new Leim input methods.
5778 New input methods "turkish-postfix", "turkish-alt-postfix",
5779 "greek-mizuochi", "TeX", and "greek-babel" are now part of the Leim
5782 ** The rule of input method "slovak" is slightly changed. Now the
5783 rules for translating "q" and "Q" to "`" (backquote) are deleted, thus
5784 typing them inserts "q" and "Q" respectively. Rules for translating
5785 "=q", "+q", "=Q", and "+Q" to "`" are also deleted. Now, to input
5786 "`", you must type "=q".
5788 ** When your terminal can't display characters from some of the ISO
5789 8859 character sets but can display Latin-1, you can display
5790 more-or-less mnemonic sequences of ASCII/Latin-1 characters instead of
5791 empty boxes (under a window system) or question marks (not under a
5792 window system). Customize the option `latin1-display' to turn this
5795 ** M-; now calls comment-dwim which tries to do something clever based
5796 on the context. M-x kill-comment is now an alias to comment-kill,
5797 defined in newcomment.el. You can choose different styles of region
5798 commenting with the variable `comment-style'.
5800 ** New user options `display-time-mail-face' and
5801 `display-time-use-mail-icon' control the appearance of mode-line mail
5802 indicator used by the display-time package. On a suitable display the
5803 indicator can be an icon and is mouse-sensitive.
5805 ** On window-systems, additional space can be put between text lines
5806 on the display using several methods
5808 - By setting frame parameter `line-spacing' to PIXELS. PIXELS must be
5809 a positive integer, and specifies that PIXELS number of pixels should
5810 be put below text lines on the affected frame or frames.
5812 - By setting X resource `lineSpacing', class `LineSpacing'. This is
5813 equivalent to specifying the frame parameter.
5815 - By specifying `--line-spacing=N' or `-lsp N' on the command line.
5817 - By setting buffer-local variable `line-spacing'. The meaning is
5818 the same, but applies to the a particular buffer only.
5820 ** The new command `clone-indirect-buffer' can be used to create
5821 an indirect buffer that is a twin copy of the current buffer. The
5822 command `clone-indirect-buffer-other-window', bound to C-x 4 c,
5823 does the same but displays the indirect buffer in another window.
5825 ** New user options `backup-directory-alist' and
5826 `make-backup-file-name-function' control the placement of backups,
5827 typically in a single directory or in an invisible sub-directory.
5829 ** New commands iso-iso2sgml and iso-sgml2iso convert between Latin-1
5830 characters and the corresponding SGML (HTML) entities.
5832 ** New X resources recognized
5834 *** The X resource `synchronous', class `Synchronous', specifies
5835 whether Emacs should run in synchronous mode. Synchronous mode
5836 is useful for debugging X problems.
5840 emacs.synchronous: true
5842 *** The X resource `visualClass, class `VisualClass', specifies the
5843 visual Emacs should use. The resource's value should be a string of
5844 the form `CLASS-DEPTH', where CLASS is the name of the visual class,
5845 and DEPTH is the requested color depth as a decimal number. Valid
5846 visual class names are
5855 Visual class names specified as X resource are case-insensitive, i.e.
5856 `pseudocolor', `Pseudocolor' and `PseudoColor' all have the same
5859 The program `xdpyinfo' can be used to list the visual classes
5860 supported on your display, and which depths they have. If
5861 `visualClass' is not specified, Emacs uses the display's default
5866 emacs.visualClass: TrueColor-8
5868 *** The X resource `privateColormap', class `PrivateColormap',
5869 specifies that Emacs should use a private colormap if it is using the
5870 default visual, and that visual is of class PseudoColor. Recognized
5871 resource values are `true' or `on'.
5875 emacs.privateColormap: true
5877 ** Faces and frame parameters.
5879 There are four new faces `scroll-bar', `border', `cursor' and `mouse'.
5880 Setting the frame parameters `scroll-bar-foreground' and
5881 `scroll-bar-background' sets foreground and background color of face
5882 `scroll-bar' and vice versa. Setting frame parameter `border-color'
5883 sets the background color of face `border' and vice versa. Likewise
5884 for frame parameters `cursor-color' and face `cursor', and frame
5885 parameter `mouse-color' and face `mouse'.
5887 Changing frame parameter `font' sets font-related attributes of the
5888 `default' face and vice versa. Setting frame parameters
5889 `foreground-color' or `background-color' sets the colors of the
5890 `default' face and vice versa.
5894 The face `menu' can be used to change colors and font of Emacs' menus.
5896 ** New frame parameter `screen-gamma' for gamma correction.
5898 The new frame parameter `screen-gamma' specifies gamma-correction for
5899 colors. Its value may be nil, the default, in which case no gamma
5900 correction occurs, or a number > 0, usually a float, that specifies
5901 the screen gamma of a frame's display.
5903 PC monitors usually have a screen gamma of 2.2. smaller values result
5904 in darker colors. You might want to try a screen gamma of 1.5 for LCD
5905 color displays. The viewing gamma Emacs uses is 0.4545. (1/2.2).
5907 The X resource name of this parameter is `screenGamma', class
5910 ** Tabs and variable-width text.
5912 Tabs are now displayed with stretch properties; the width of a tab is
5913 defined as a multiple of the normal character width of a frame, and is
5914 independent of the fonts used in the text where the tab appears.
5915 Thus, tabs can be used to line up text in different fonts.
5917 ** Enhancements of the Lucid menu bar
5919 *** The Lucid menu bar now supports the resource "margin".
5921 emacs.pane.menubar.margin: 5
5923 The default margin is 4 which makes the menu bar appear like the
5926 *** Arrows that indicate sub-menus are now drawn with shadows, as in
5929 ** A block cursor can be drawn as wide as the glyph under it under X.
5931 As an example: if a block cursor is over a tab character, it will be
5932 drawn as wide as that tab on the display. To do this, set
5933 `x-stretch-cursor' to a non-nil value.
5935 ** Empty display lines at the end of a buffer may be marked with a
5936 bitmap (this is similar to the tilde displayed by vi and Less).
5938 This behavior is activated by setting the buffer-local variable
5939 `indicate-empty-lines' to a non-nil value. The default value of this
5940 variable is found in `default-indicate-empty-lines'.
5942 ** There is a new "aggressive" scrolling method.
5944 When scrolling up because point is above the window start, if the
5945 value of the buffer-local variable `scroll-up-aggressively' is a
5946 number, Emacs chooses a new window start so that point ends up that
5947 fraction of the window's height from the top of the window.
5949 When scrolling down because point is below the window end, if the
5950 value of the buffer-local variable `scroll-down-aggressively' is a
5951 number, Emacs chooses a new window start so that point ends up that
5952 fraction of the window's height from the bottom of the window.
5954 ** You can now easily create new *Info* buffers using either
5955 M-x clone-buffer, C-u m <entry> RET or C-u g <entry> RET.
5956 M-x clone-buffer can also be used on *Help* and several other special
5959 ** The command `Info-search' now uses a search history.
5961 ** Listing buffers with M-x list-buffers (C-x C-b) now shows
5962 abbreviated file names. Abbreviations can be customized by changing
5963 `directory-abbrev-alist'.
5965 ** A new variable, backup-by-copying-when-privileged-mismatch, gives
5966 the highest file uid for which backup-by-copying-when-mismatch will be
5967 forced on. The assumption is that uids less than or equal to this
5968 value are special uids (root, bin, daemon, etc.--not real system
5969 users) and that files owned by these users should not change ownership,
5970 even if your system policy allows users other than root to edit them.
5972 The default is 200; set the variable to nil to disable the feature.
5974 ** The rectangle commands now avoid inserting undesirable spaces,
5975 notably at the end of lines.
5977 All these functions have been rewritten to avoid inserting unwanted
5978 spaces, and an optional prefix now allows them to behave the old way.
5980 ** The function `replace-rectangle' is an alias for `string-rectangle'.
5982 ** The new command M-x string-insert-rectangle is like `string-rectangle',
5983 but inserts text instead of replacing it.
5985 ** The new command M-x query-replace-regexp-eval acts like
5986 query-replace-regexp, but takes a Lisp expression which is evaluated
5987 after each match to get the replacement text.
5989 ** M-x query-replace recognizes a new command `e' (or `E') that lets
5990 you edit the replacement string.
5992 ** The new command mail-abbrev-complete-alias, bound to `M-TAB'
5993 (if you load the library `mailabbrev'), lets you complete mail aliases
5994 in the text, analogous to lisp-complete-symbol.
5996 ** The variable `echo-keystrokes' may now have a floating point value.
5998 ** If your init file is compiled (.emacs.elc), `user-init-file' is set
5999 to the source name (.emacs.el), if that exists, after loading it.
6001 ** The help string specified for a menu-item whose definition contains
6002 the property `:help HELP' is now displayed under X, on MS-Windows, and
6003 MS-DOS, either in the echo area or with tooltips. Many standard menus
6004 displayed by Emacs now have help strings.
6007 ** New user option `read-mail-command' specifies a command to use to
6008 read mail from the menu etc.
6010 ** The environment variable `EMACSLOCKDIR' is no longer used on MS-Windows.
6011 This environment variable was used when creating lock files. Emacs on
6012 MS-Windows does not use this variable anymore. This change was made
6013 before Emacs 21.1, but wasn't documented until now.
6015 ** Highlighting of mouse-sensitive regions is now supported in the
6016 MS-DOS version of Emacs.
6018 ** The new command `msdos-set-mouse-buttons' forces the MS-DOS version
6019 of Emacs to behave as if the mouse had a specified number of buttons.
6020 This comes handy with mice that don't report their number of buttons
6021 correctly. One example is the wheeled mice, which report 3 buttons,
6022 but clicks on the middle button are not passed to the MS-DOS version
6025 ** Customize changes
6027 *** Customize now supports comments about customized items. Use the
6028 `State' menu to add comments, or give a prefix argument to
6029 M-x customize-set-variable or M-x customize-set-value. Note that
6030 customization comments will cause the customizations to fail in
6031 earlier versions of Emacs.
6033 *** The new option `custom-buffer-done-function' says whether to kill
6034 Custom buffers when you've done with them or just bury them (the
6037 *** If Emacs was invoked with the `-q' or `--no-init-file' options, it
6038 does not allow you to save customizations in your `~/.emacs' init
6039 file. This is because saving customizations from such a session would
6040 wipe out all the other customizationss you might have on your init
6043 ** If Emacs was invoked with the `-q' or `--no-init-file' options, it
6044 does not save disabled and enabled commands for future sessions, to
6045 avoid overwriting existing customizations of this kind that are
6046 already in your init file.
6048 ** New features in evaluation commands
6050 *** The commands to evaluate Lisp expressions, such as C-M-x in Lisp
6051 modes, C-j in Lisp Interaction mode, and M-:, now bind the variables
6052 print-level, print-length, and debug-on-error based on the new
6053 customizable variables eval-expression-print-level,
6054 eval-expression-print-length, and eval-expression-debug-on-error.
6056 The default values for the first two of these variables are 12 and 4
6057 respectively, which means that `eval-expression' now prints at most
6058 the first 12 members of a list and at most 4 nesting levels deep (if
6059 the list is longer or deeper than that, an ellipsis `...' is
6062 <RET> or <mouse-2> on the printed text toggles between an abbreviated
6063 printed representation and an unabbreviated one.
6065 The default value of eval-expression-debug-on-error is t, so any error
6066 during evaluation produces a backtrace.
6068 *** The function `eval-defun' (C-M-x) now loads Edebug and instruments
6069 code when called with a prefix argument.
6073 Note: This release contains changes that might not be compatible with
6074 current user setups (although it's believed that these
6075 incompatibilities will only show in very uncommon circumstances).
6076 However, since the impact is uncertain, these changes may be rolled
6077 back depending on user feedback. Therefore there's no forward
6078 compatibility guarantee wrt the new features introduced in this
6081 *** The hardcoded switch to "java" style in Java mode is gone.
6082 CC Mode used to automatically set the style to "java" when Java mode
6083 is entered. This has now been removed since it caused too much
6086 However, to keep backward compatibility to a certain extent, the
6087 default value for c-default-style now specifies the "java" style for
6088 java-mode, but "gnu" for all other modes (as before). So you won't
6089 notice the change if you haven't touched that variable.
6091 *** New cleanups, space-before-funcall and compact-empty-funcall.
6092 Two new cleanups have been added to c-cleanup-list:
6094 space-before-funcall causes a space to be inserted before the opening
6095 parenthesis of a function call, which gives the style "foo (bar)".
6097 compact-empty-funcall causes any space before a function call opening
6098 parenthesis to be removed if there are no arguments to the function.
6099 It's typically useful together with space-before-funcall to get the
6100 style "foo (bar)" and "foo()".
6102 *** Some keywords now automatically trigger reindentation.
6103 Keywords like "else", "while", "catch" and "finally" have been made
6104 "electric" to make them reindent automatically when they continue an
6105 earlier statement. An example:
6107 for (i = 0; i < 17; i++)
6109 res += a[i]->offset;
6112 Here, the "else" should be indented like the preceding "if", since it
6113 continues that statement. CC Mode will automatically reindent it after
6114 the "else" has been typed in full, since it's not until then it's
6115 possible to decide whether it's a new statement or a continuation of
6118 CC Mode uses Abbrev mode to achieve this, which is therefore turned on
6121 *** M-a and M-e now moves by sentence in multiline strings.
6122 Previously these two keys only moved by sentence in comments, which
6123 meant that sentence movement didn't work in strings containing
6124 documentation or other natural language text.
6126 The reason it's only activated in multiline strings (i.e. strings that
6127 contain a newline, even when escaped by a '\') is to avoid stopping in
6128 the short strings that often reside inside statements. Multiline
6129 strings almost always contain text in a natural language, as opposed
6130 to other strings that typically contain format specifications,
6131 commands, etc. Also, it's not that bothersome that M-a and M-e misses
6132 sentences in single line strings, since they're short anyway.
6134 *** Support for autodoc comments in Pike mode.
6135 Autodoc comments for Pike are used to extract documentation from the
6136 source, like Javadoc in Java. Pike mode now recognize this markup in
6137 comment prefixes and paragraph starts.
6139 *** The comment prefix regexps on c-comment-prefix may be mode specific.
6140 When c-comment-prefix is an association list, it specifies the comment
6141 line prefix on a per-mode basis, like c-default-style does. This
6142 change came about to support the special autodoc comment prefix in
6145 *** Better handling of syntactic errors.
6146 The recovery after unbalanced parens earlier in the buffer has been
6147 improved; CC Mode now reports them by dinging and giving a message
6148 stating the offending line, but still recovers and indent the
6149 following lines in a sane way (most of the time). An "else" with no
6150 matching "if" is handled similarly. If an error is discovered while
6151 indenting a region, the whole region is still indented and the error
6152 is reported afterwards.
6154 *** Lineup functions may now return absolute columns.
6155 A lineup function can give an absolute column to indent the line to by
6156 returning a vector with the desired column as the first element.
6158 *** More robust and warning-free byte compilation.
6159 Although this is strictly not a user visible change (well, depending
6160 on the view of a user), it's still worth mentioning that CC Mode now
6161 can be compiled in the standard ways without causing trouble. Some
6162 code have also been moved between the subpackages to enhance the
6163 modularity somewhat. Thanks to Martin Buchholz for doing the
6166 *** c-style-variables-are-local-p now defaults to t.
6167 This is an incompatible change that has been made to make the behavior
6168 of the style system wrt global variable settings less confusing for
6169 non-advanced users. If you know what this variable does you might
6170 want to set it to nil in your .emacs, otherwise you probably don't
6173 Defaulting c-style-variables-are-local-p to t avoids the confusing
6174 situation that occurs when a user sets some style variables globally
6175 and edits both a Java and a non-Java file in the same Emacs session.
6176 If the style variables aren't buffer local in this case, loading of
6177 the second file will cause the default style (either "gnu" or "java"
6178 by default) to override the global settings made by the user.
6180 *** New initialization procedure for the style system.
6181 When the initial style for a buffer is determined by CC Mode (from the
6182 variable c-default-style), the global values of style variables now
6183 take precedence over the values specified by the chosen style. This
6184 is different than the old behavior: previously, the style-specific
6185 settings would override the global settings. This change makes it
6186 possible to do simple configuration in the intuitive way with
6187 Customize or with setq lines in one's .emacs file.
6189 By default, the global value of every style variable is the new
6190 special symbol set-from-style, which causes the value to be taken from
6191 the style system. This means that in effect, only an explicit setting
6192 of a style variable will cause the "overriding" behavior described
6195 Also note that global settings override style-specific settings *only*
6196 when the initial style of a buffer is chosen by a CC Mode major mode
6197 function. When a style is chosen in other ways --- for example, by a
6198 call like (c-set-style "gnu") in a hook, or via M-x c-set-style ---
6199 then the style-specific values take precedence over any global style
6200 values. In Lisp terms, global values override style-specific values
6201 only when the new second argument to c-set-style is non-nil; see the
6202 function documentation for more info.
6204 The purpose of these changes is to make it easier for users,
6205 especially novice users, to do simple customizations with Customize or
6206 with setq in their .emacs files. On the other hand, the new system is
6207 intended to be compatible with advanced users' customizations as well,
6208 such as those that choose styles in hooks or whatnot. This new system
6209 is believed to be almost entirely compatible with current
6210 configurations, in spite of the changed precedence between style and
6211 global variable settings when a buffer's default style is set.
6213 (Thanks to Eric Eide for clarifying this explanation a bit.)
6215 **** c-offsets-alist is now a customizable variable.
6216 This became possible as a result of the new initialization behavior.
6218 This variable is treated slightly differently from the other style
6219 variables; instead of using the symbol set-from-style, it will be
6220 completed with the syntactic symbols it doesn't already contain when
6221 the style is first initialized. This means it now defaults to the
6222 empty list to make all syntactic elements get their values from the
6225 **** Compatibility variable to restore the old behavior.
6226 In case your configuration doesn't work with this change, you can set
6227 c-old-style-variable-behavior to non-nil to get the old behavior back
6230 *** Improvements to line breaking and text filling.
6231 CC Mode now handles this more intelligently and seamlessly wrt the
6232 surrounding code, especially inside comments. For details see the new
6233 chapter about this in the manual.
6235 **** New variable to recognize comment line prefix decorations.
6236 The variable c-comment-prefix-regexp has been added to properly
6237 recognize the line prefix in both block and line comments. It's
6238 primarily used to initialize the various paragraph recognition and
6239 adaptive filling variables that the text handling functions uses.
6241 **** New variable c-block-comment-prefix.
6242 This is a generalization of the now obsolete variable
6243 c-comment-continuation-stars to handle arbitrary strings.
6245 **** CC Mode now uses adaptive fill mode.
6246 This to make it adapt better to the paragraph style inside comments.
6248 It's also possible to use other adaptive filling packages inside CC
6249 Mode, notably Kyle E. Jones' Filladapt mode (http://wonderworks.com/).
6250 A new convenience function c-setup-filladapt sets up Filladapt for use
6253 Note though that the 2.12 version of Filladapt lacks a feature that
6254 causes it to work suboptimally when c-comment-prefix-regexp can match
6255 the empty string (which it commonly does). A patch for that is
6256 available from the CC Mode web site (http://www.python.org/emacs/
6259 **** The variables `c-hanging-comment-starter-p' and
6260 `c-hanging-comment-ender-p', which controlled how comment starters and
6261 enders were filled, are not used anymore. The new version of the
6262 function `c-fill-paragraph' keeps the comment starters and enders as
6263 they were before the filling.
6265 **** It's now possible to selectively turn off auto filling.
6266 The variable c-ignore-auto-fill is used to ignore auto fill mode in
6267 specific contexts, e.g. in preprocessor directives and in string
6270 **** New context sensitive line break function c-context-line-break.
6271 It works like newline-and-indent in normal code, and adapts the line
6272 prefix according to the comment style when used inside comments. If
6273 you're normally using newline-and-indent, you might want to switch to
6276 *** Fixes to IDL mode.
6277 It now does a better job in recognizing only the constructs relevant
6278 to IDL. E.g. it no longer matches "class" as the beginning of a
6279 struct block, but it does match the CORBA 2.3 "valuetype" keyword.
6280 Thanks to Eric Eide.
6282 *** Improvements to the Whitesmith style.
6283 It now keeps the style consistently on all levels and both when
6284 opening braces hangs and when they don't.
6286 **** New lineup function c-lineup-whitesmith-in-block.
6288 *** New lineup functions c-lineup-template-args and c-indent-multi-line-block.
6289 See their docstrings for details. c-lineup-template-args does a
6290 better job of tracking the brackets used as parens in C++ templates,
6291 and is used by default to line up continued template arguments.
6293 *** c-lineup-comment now preserves alignment with a comment on the
6294 previous line. It used to instead preserve comments that started in
6295 the column specified by comment-column.
6297 *** c-lineup-C-comments handles "free form" text comments.
6298 In comments with a long delimiter line at the start, the indentation
6299 is kept unchanged for lines that start with an empty comment line
6300 prefix. This is intended for the type of large block comments that
6301 contain documentation with its own formatting. In these you normally
6302 don't want CC Mode to change the indentation.
6304 *** The `c' syntactic symbol is now relative to the comment start
6305 instead of the previous line, to make integers usable as lineup
6308 *** All lineup functions have gotten docstrings.
6310 *** More preprocessor directive movement functions.
6311 c-down-conditional does the reverse of c-up-conditional.
6312 c-up-conditional-with-else and c-down-conditional-with-else are
6313 variants of these that also stops at "#else" lines (suggested by Don
6316 *** Minor improvements to many movement functions in tricky situations.
6320 *** New variable `dired-recursive-deletes' determines if the delete
6321 command will delete non-empty directories recursively. The default
6322 is, delete only empty directories.
6324 *** New variable `dired-recursive-copies' determines if the copy
6325 command will copy directories recursively. The default is, do not
6326 copy directories recursively.
6328 *** In command `dired-do-shell-command' (usually bound to `!') a `?'
6329 in the shell command has a special meaning similar to `*', but with
6330 the difference that the command will be run on each file individually.
6332 *** The new command `dired-find-alternate-file' (usually bound to `a')
6333 replaces the Dired buffer with the buffer for an alternate file or
6336 *** The new command `dired-show-file-type' (usually bound to `y') shows
6337 a message in the echo area describing what type of file the point is on.
6338 This command invokes the external program `file' do its work, and so
6339 will only work on systems with that program, and will be only as
6340 accurate or inaccurate as it is.
6342 *** Dired now properly handles undo changes of adding/removing `-R'
6345 *** Dired commands that prompt for a destination file now allow the use
6346 of the `M-n' command in the minibuffer to insert the source filename,
6347 which the user can then edit. This only works if there is a single
6348 source file, not when operating on multiple marked files.
6352 The Gnus NEWS entries are short, but they reflect sweeping changes in
6353 four areas: Article display treatment, MIME treatment,
6354 internationalization and mail-fetching.
6356 *** The mail-fetching functions have changed. See the manual for the
6357 many details. In particular, all procmail fetching variables are gone.
6359 If you used procmail like in
6361 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
6362 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
6363 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/mail/incoming/")
6364 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "\\.in")
6366 this now has changed to
6369 '((directory :path "~/mail/incoming/"
6372 More information is available in the info doc at Select Methods ->
6373 Getting Mail -> Mail Sources
6375 *** Gnus is now a MIME-capable reader. This affects many parts of
6376 Gnus, and adds a slew of new commands. See the manual for details.
6377 Separate MIME packages like RMIME, mime-compose etc., will probably no
6378 longer work; remove them and use the native facilities.
6380 The FLIM/SEMI package still works with Emacs 21, but if you want to
6381 use the native facilities, you must remove any mailcap.el[c] that was
6382 installed by FLIM/SEMI version 1.13 or earlier.
6384 *** Gnus has also been multilingualized. This also affects too many
6385 parts of Gnus to summarize here, and adds many new variables. There
6386 are built-in facilities equivalent to those of gnus-mule.el, which is
6387 now just a compatibility layer.
6389 *** gnus-mule.el is now just a compatibility layer over the built-in
6392 *** gnus-auto-select-first can now be a function to be
6393 called to position point.
6395 *** The user can now decide which extra headers should be included in
6396 summary buffers and NOV files.
6398 *** `gnus-article-display-hook' has been removed. Instead, a number
6399 of variables starting with `gnus-treat-' have been added.
6401 *** The Gnus posting styles have been redone again and now work in a
6402 subtly different manner.
6404 *** New web-based backends have been added: nnslashdot, nnwarchive
6405 and nnultimate. nnweb has been revamped, again, to keep up with
6406 ever-changing layouts.
6408 *** Gnus can now read IMAP mail via nnimap.
6410 *** There is image support of various kinds and some sound support.
6412 ** Changes in Texinfo mode.
6414 *** A couple of new key bindings have been added for inserting Texinfo
6418 -------------------------
6422 C-c C-c q @quotation
6424 C-c C-o @<block> ... @end <block>
6427 *** The " key now inserts either " or `` or '' depending on context.
6429 ** Changes in Outline mode.
6431 There is now support for Imenu to index headings. A new command
6432 `outline-headers-as-kill' copies the visible headings in the region to
6433 the kill ring, e.g. to produce a table of contents.
6435 ** Changes to Emacs Server
6437 *** The new option `server-kill-new-buffers' specifies what to do
6438 with buffers when done with them. If non-nil, the default, buffers
6439 are killed, unless they were already present before visiting them with
6440 Emacs Server. If nil, `server-temp-file-regexp' specifies which
6441 buffers to kill, as before.
6443 Please note that only buffers are killed that still have a client,
6444 i.e. buffers visited with `emacsclient --no-wait' are never killed in
6447 ** Both emacsclient and Emacs itself now accept command line options
6448 of the form +LINE:COLUMN in addition to +LINE.
6450 ** Changes to Show Paren mode.
6452 *** Overlays used by Show Paren mode now use a priority property.
6453 The new user option show-paren-priority specifies the priority to
6454 use. Default is 1000.
6456 ** New command M-x check-parens can be used to find unbalanced paren
6457 groups and strings in buffers in Lisp mode (or other modes).
6459 ** Changes to hideshow.el
6461 *** Generalized block selection and traversal
6463 A block is now recognized by its start and end regexps (both strings),
6464 and an integer specifying which sub-expression in the start regexp
6465 serves as the place where a `forward-sexp'-like function can operate.
6466 See the documentation of variable `hs-special-modes-alist'.
6468 *** During incremental search, if Hideshow minor mode is active,
6469 hidden blocks are temporarily shown. The variable `hs-headline' can
6470 be used in the mode line format to show the line at the beginning of
6473 *** User option `hs-hide-all-non-comment-function' specifies a
6474 function to be called at each top-level block beginning, instead of
6475 the normal block-hiding function.
6477 *** The command `hs-show-region' has been removed.
6479 *** The key bindings have changed to fit the Emacs conventions,
6480 roughly imitating those of Outline minor mode. Notably, the prefix
6481 for all bindings is now `C-c @'. For details, see the documentation
6482 for `hs-minor-mode'.
6484 *** The variable `hs-show-hidden-short-form' has been removed, and
6485 hideshow.el now always behaves as if this variable were set to t.
6487 ** Changes to Change Log mode and Add-Log functions
6489 *** If you invoke `add-change-log-entry' from a backup file, it makes
6490 an entry appropriate for the file's parent. This is useful for making
6491 log entries by comparing a version with deleted functions.
6493 **** New command M-x change-log-merge merges another log into the
6496 *** New command M-x change-log-redate fixes any old-style date entries
6499 *** Change Log mode now adds a file's version number to change log
6500 entries if user-option `change-log-version-info-enabled' is non-nil.
6501 Unless the file is under version control the search for a file's
6502 version number is performed based on regular expressions from
6503 `change-log-version-number-regexp-list' which can be customized.
6504 Version numbers are only found in the first 10 percent of a file.
6506 *** Change Log mode now defines its own faces for font-lock highlighting.
6508 ** Changes to cmuscheme
6510 *** The user-option `scheme-program-name' has been renamed
6511 `cmuscheme-program-name' due to conflicts with xscheme.el.
6513 ** Changes in Font Lock
6515 *** The new function `font-lock-remove-keywords' can be used to remove
6516 font-lock keywords from the current buffer or from a specific major mode.
6518 *** Multi-line patterns are now supported. Modes using this, should
6519 set font-lock-multiline to t in their font-lock-defaults.
6521 *** `font-lock-syntactic-face-function' allows major-modes to choose
6522 the face used for each string/comment.
6524 *** A new standard face `font-lock-doc-face'.
6525 Meant for Lisp docstrings, Javadoc comments and other "documentation in code".
6527 ** Changes to Shell mode
6529 *** The `shell' command now accepts an optional argument to specify the buffer
6530 to use, which defaults to "*shell*". When used interactively, a
6531 non-default buffer may be specified by giving the `shell' command a
6532 prefix argument (causing it to prompt for the buffer name).
6534 ** Comint (subshell) changes
6536 These changes generally affect all modes derived from comint mode, which
6537 include shell-mode, gdb-mode, scheme-interaction-mode, etc.
6539 *** Comint now by default interprets some carriage-control characters.
6540 Comint now removes CRs from CR LF sequences, and treats single CRs and
6541 BSs in the output in a way similar to a terminal (by deleting to the
6542 beginning of the line, or deleting the previous character,
6543 respectively). This is achieved by adding `comint-carriage-motion' to
6544 the `comint-output-filter-functions' hook by default.
6546 *** By default, comint no longer uses the variable `comint-prompt-regexp'
6547 to distinguish prompts from user-input. Instead, it notices which
6548 parts of the text were output by the process, and which entered by the
6549 user, and attaches `field' properties to allow emacs commands to use
6550 this information. Common movement commands, notably beginning-of-line,
6551 respect field boundaries in a fairly natural manner. To disable this
6552 feature, and use the old behavior, customize the user option
6553 `comint-use-prompt-regexp-instead-of-fields'.
6555 *** Comint now includes new features to send commands to running processes
6556 and redirect the output to a designated buffer or buffers.
6558 *** The command M-x comint-redirect-send-command reads a command and
6559 buffer name from the mini-buffer. The command is sent to the current
6560 buffer's process, and its output is inserted into the specified buffer.
6562 The command M-x comint-redirect-send-command-to-process acts like
6563 M-x comint-redirect-send-command but additionally reads the name of
6564 the buffer whose process should be used from the mini-buffer.
6566 *** Packages based on comint now highlight user input and program prompts,
6567 and support choosing previous input with mouse-2. To control these features,
6568 see the user-options `comint-highlight-input' and `comint-highlight-prompt'.
6570 *** The new command `comint-write-output' (usually bound to `C-c C-s')
6571 saves the output from the most recent command to a file. With a prefix
6572 argument, it appends to the file.
6574 *** The command `comint-kill-output' has been renamed `comint-delete-output'
6575 (usually bound to `C-c C-o'); the old name is aliased to it for
6578 *** The new function `comint-add-to-input-history' adds commands to the input
6581 *** The new variable `comint-input-history-ignore' is a regexp for
6582 identifying history lines that should be ignored, like tcsh time-stamp
6583 strings, starting with a `#'. The default value of this variable is "^#".
6585 ** Changes to Rmail mode
6587 *** The new user-option rmail-user-mail-address-regexp can be
6588 set to fine tune the identification of the correspondent when
6589 receiving new mail. If it matches the address of the sender, the
6590 recipient is taken as correspondent of a mail. If nil, the default,
6591 `user-login-name' and `user-mail-address' are used to exclude yourself
6594 Usually you don't have to set this variable, except if you collect
6595 mails sent by you under different user names. Then it should be a
6596 regexp matching your mail addresses.
6598 *** The new user-option rmail-confirm-expunge controls whether and how
6599 to ask for confirmation before expunging deleted messages from an
6600 Rmail file. You can choose between no confirmation, confirmation
6601 with y-or-n-p, or confirmation with yes-or-no-p. Default is to ask
6602 for confirmation with yes-or-no-p.
6604 *** RET is now bound in the Rmail summary to rmail-summary-goto-msg,
6607 *** There is a new user option `rmail-digest-end-regexps' that
6608 specifies the regular expressions to detect the line that ends a
6611 *** The new user option `rmail-automatic-folder-directives' specifies
6612 in which folder to put messages automatically.
6614 *** The new function `rmail-redecode-body' allows to fix a message
6615 with non-ASCII characters if Emacs happens to decode it incorrectly
6616 due to missing or malformed "charset=" header.
6618 ** The new user-option `mail-envelope-from' can be used to specify
6619 an envelope-from address different from user-mail-address.
6621 ** The variable mail-specify-envelope-from controls whether to
6622 use the -f option when sending mail.
6624 ** The Rmail command `o' (`rmail-output-to-rmail-file') now writes the
6625 current message in the internal `emacs-mule' encoding, rather than in
6626 the encoding taken from the variable `buffer-file-coding-system'.
6627 This allows to save messages whose characters cannot be safely encoded
6628 by the buffer's coding system, and makes sure the message will be
6629 displayed correctly when you later visit the target Rmail file.
6631 If you want your Rmail files be encoded in a specific coding system
6632 other than `emacs-mule', you can customize the variable
6633 `rmail-file-coding-system' to set its value to that coding system.
6635 ** Changes to TeX mode
6637 *** The default mode has been changed from `plain-tex-mode' to
6640 *** latex-mode now has a simple indentation algorithm.
6642 *** M-f and M-p jump around \begin...\end pairs.
6644 *** Added support for outline-minor-mode.
6646 ** Changes to RefTeX mode
6648 *** RefTeX has new support for index generation. Index entries can be
6649 created with `C-c <', with completion available on index keys.
6650 Pressing `C-c /' indexes the word at the cursor with a default
6651 macro. `C-c >' compiles all index entries into an alphabetically
6652 sorted *Index* buffer which looks like the final index. Entries
6653 can be edited from that buffer.
6655 *** Label and citation key selection now allow to select several
6656 items and reference them together (use `m' to mark items, `a' or
6657 `A' to use all marked entries).
6659 *** reftex.el has been split into a number of smaller files to reduce
6660 memory use when only a part of RefTeX is being used.
6662 *** a new command `reftex-view-crossref-from-bibtex' (bound to `C-c &'
6663 in BibTeX-mode) can be called in a BibTeX database buffer in order
6664 to show locations in LaTeX documents where a particular entry has
6667 ** Emacs Lisp mode now allows multiple levels of outline headings.
6668 The level of a heading is determined from the number of leading
6669 semicolons in a heading line. Toplevel forms starting with a `('
6670 in column 1 are always made leaves.
6672 ** The M-x time-stamp command (most commonly used on write-file-hooks)
6673 has the following new features:
6675 *** The patterns for finding the time stamp and for updating a pattern
6676 may match text spanning multiple lines. For example, some people like
6677 to have the filename and date on separate lines. The new variable
6678 time-stamp-inserts-lines controls the matching for multi-line patterns.
6680 *** More than one time stamp can be updated in the same file. This
6681 feature is useful if you need separate time stamps in a program source
6682 file to both include in formatted documentation and insert in the
6683 compiled binary. The same time-stamp will be written at each matching
6684 pattern. The variable time-stamp-count enables this new feature; it
6687 ** Partial Completion mode now completes environment variables in
6692 *** The command `ispell' now spell-checks a region if
6693 transient-mark-mode is on, and the mark is active. Otherwise it
6694 spell-checks the current buffer.
6696 *** Support for synchronous subprocesses - DOS/Windoze - has been
6699 *** An "alignment error" bug was fixed when a manual spelling
6700 correction is made and re-checked.
6702 *** Italian, Portuguese, and Slovak dictionary definitions have been added.
6704 *** Region skipping performance has been vastly improved in some
6707 *** Spell checking HTML buffers has been improved and isn't so strict
6710 *** The buffer-local words are now always placed on a new line at the
6713 *** Spell checking now works in the MS-DOS version of Emacs.
6715 ** Makefile mode changes
6717 *** The mode now uses the abbrev table `makefile-mode-abbrev-table'.
6719 *** Conditionals and include statements are now highlighted when
6720 Fontlock mode is active.
6724 *** Isearch now puts a call to `isearch-resume' in the command history,
6725 so that searches can be resumed.
6727 *** In Isearch mode, C-M-s and C-M-r are now bound like C-s and C-r,
6728 respectively, i.e. you can repeat a regexp isearch with the same keys
6729 that started the search.
6731 *** In Isearch mode, mouse-2 in the echo area now yanks the current
6732 selection into the search string rather than giving an error.
6734 *** There is a new lazy highlighting feature in incremental search.
6736 Lazy highlighting is switched on/off by customizing variable
6737 `isearch-lazy-highlight'. When active, all matches for the current
6738 search string are highlighted. The current match is highlighted as
6739 before using face `isearch' or `region'. All other matches are
6740 highlighted using face `isearch-lazy-highlight-face' which defaults to
6741 `secondary-selection'.
6743 The extra highlighting makes it easier to anticipate where the cursor
6744 will end up each time you press C-s or C-r to repeat a pending search.
6745 Highlighting of these additional matches happens in a deferred fashion
6746 using "idle timers," so the cycles needed do not rob isearch of its
6747 usual snappy response.
6749 If `isearch-lazy-highlight-cleanup' is set to t, highlights for
6750 matches are automatically cleared when you end the search. If it is
6751 set to nil, you can remove the highlights manually with `M-x
6752 isearch-lazy-highlight-cleanup'.
6756 VC has been overhauled internally. It is now modular, making it
6757 easier to plug-in arbitrary version control backends. (See Lisp
6758 Changes for details on the new structure.) As a result, the mechanism
6759 to enable and disable support for particular version systems has
6760 changed: everything is now controlled by the new variable
6761 `vc-handled-backends'. Its value is a list of symbols that identify
6762 version systems; the default is '(RCS CVS SCCS). When finding a file,
6763 each of the backends in that list is tried in order to see whether the
6764 file is registered in that backend.
6766 When registering a new file, VC first tries each of the listed
6767 backends to see if any of them considers itself "responsible" for the
6768 directory of the file (e.g. because a corresponding subdirectory for
6769 master files exists). If none of the backends is responsible, then
6770 the first backend in the list that could register the file is chosen.
6771 As a consequence, the variable `vc-default-back-end' is now obsolete.
6773 The old variable `vc-master-templates' is also obsolete, although VC
6774 still supports it for backward compatibility. To define templates for
6775 RCS or SCCS, you should rather use the new variables
6776 vc-{rcs,sccs}-master-templates. (There is no such feature under CVS
6777 where it doesn't make sense.)
6779 The variables `vc-ignore-vc-files' and `vc-handle-cvs' are also
6780 obsolete now, you must set `vc-handled-backends' to nil or exclude
6781 `CVS' from the list, respectively, to achieve their effect now.
6785 The variable `vc-checkout-carefully' is obsolete: the corresponding
6786 checks are always done now.
6788 VC Dired buffers are now kept up-to-date during all version control
6791 `vc-diff' output is now displayed in `diff-mode'.
6792 `vc-print-log' uses `log-view-mode'.
6793 `vc-log-mode' (used for *VC-Log*) has been replaced by `log-edit-mode'.
6795 The command C-x v m (vc-merge) now accepts an empty argument as the
6796 first revision number. This means that any recent changes on the
6797 current branch should be picked up from the repository and merged into
6798 the working file (``merge news'').
6800 The commands C-x v s (vc-create-snapshot) and C-x v r
6801 (vc-retrieve-snapshot) now ask for a directory name from which to work
6804 *** Multiple Backends
6806 VC now lets you register files in more than one backend. This is
6807 useful, for example, if you are working with a slow remote CVS
6808 repository. You can then use RCS for local editing, and occasionally
6809 commit your changes back to CVS, or pick up changes from CVS into your
6812 To make this work, the ``more local'' backend (RCS in our example)
6813 should come first in `vc-handled-backends', and the ``more remote''
6814 backend (CVS) should come later. (The default value of
6815 `vc-handled-backends' already has it that way.)
6817 You can then commit changes to another backend (say, RCS), by typing
6818 C-u C-x v v RCS RET (i.e. vc-next-action now accepts a backend name as
6819 a revision number). VC registers the file in the more local backend
6820 if that hasn't already happened, and commits to a branch based on the
6821 current revision number from the more remote backend.
6823 If a file is registered in multiple backends, you can switch to
6824 another one using C-x v b (vc-switch-backend). This does not change
6825 any files, it only changes VC's perspective on the file. Use this to
6826 pick up changes from CVS while working under RCS locally.
6828 After you are done with your local RCS editing, you can commit your
6829 changes back to CVS using C-u C-x v v CVS RET. In this case, the
6830 local RCS archive is removed after the commit, and the log entry
6831 buffer is initialized to contain the entire RCS change log of the file.
6835 There is a new user option, `vc-cvs-stay-local'. If it is `t' (the
6836 default), then VC avoids network queries for files registered in
6837 remote repositories. The state of such files is then only determined
6838 by heuristics and past information. `vc-cvs-stay-local' can also be a
6839 regexp to match against repository hostnames; only files from hosts
6840 that match it are treated locally. If the variable is nil, then VC
6841 queries the repository just as often as it does for local files.
6843 If `vc-cvs-stay-local' is on, then VC also makes local backups of
6844 repository versions. This means that ordinary diffs (C-x v =) and
6845 revert operations (C-x v u) can be done completely locally, without
6846 any repository interactions at all. The name of a local version
6847 backup of FILE is FILE.~REV.~, where REV is the repository version
6848 number. This format is similar to that used by C-x v ~
6849 (vc-version-other-window), except for the trailing dot. As a matter
6850 of fact, the two features can each use the files created by the other,
6851 the only difference being that files with a trailing `.' are deleted
6852 automatically after commit. (This feature doesn't work on MS-DOS,
6853 since DOS disallows more than a single dot in the trunk of a file
6856 If `vc-cvs-stay-local' is on, and there have been changes in the
6857 repository, VC notifies you about it when you actually try to commit.
6858 If you want to check for updates from the repository without trying to
6859 commit, you can either use C-x v m RET to perform an update on the
6860 current file, or you can use C-x v r RET to get an update for an
6861 entire directory tree.
6863 The new user option `vc-cvs-use-edit' indicates whether VC should call
6864 "cvs edit" to make files writeable; it defaults to `t'. (This option
6865 is only meaningful if the CVSREAD variable is set, or if files are
6866 "watched" by other developers.)
6868 The commands C-x v s (vc-create-snapshot) and C-x v r
6869 (vc-retrieve-snapshot) are now also implemented for CVS. If you give
6870 an empty snapshot name to the latter, that performs a `cvs update',
6871 starting at the given directory.
6873 *** Lisp Changes in VC
6875 VC has been restructured internally to make it modular. You can now
6876 add support for arbitrary version control backends by writing a
6877 library that provides a certain set of backend-specific functions, and
6878 then telling VC to use that library. For example, to add support for
6879 a version system named SYS, you write a library named vc-sys.el, which
6880 provides a number of functions vc-sys-... (see commentary at the top
6881 of vc.el for a detailed list of them). To make VC use that library,
6882 you need to put it somewhere into Emacs' load path and add the symbol
6883 `SYS' to the list `vc-handled-backends'.
6885 ** The customizable EDT emulation package now supports the EDT
6886 SUBS command and EDT scroll margins. It also works with more
6887 terminal/keyboard configurations and it now works under XEmacs.
6888 See etc/edt-user.doc for more information.
6890 ** New modes and packages
6892 *** The new global minor mode `minibuffer-electric-default-mode'
6893 automatically hides the `(default ...)' part of minibuffer prompts when
6894 the default is not applicable.
6896 *** Artist is an Emacs lisp package that allows you to draw lines,
6897 rectangles and ellipses by using your mouse and/or keyboard. The
6898 shapes are made up with the ascii characters |, -, / and \.
6902 - Intersecting: When a `|' intersects with a `-', a `+' is
6903 drawn, like this: | \ /
6907 - Rubber-banding: When drawing lines you can interactively see the
6908 result while holding the mouse button down and moving the mouse. If
6909 your machine is not fast enough (a 386 is a bit too slow, but a
6910 pentium is well enough), you can turn this feature off. You will
6911 then see 1's and 2's which mark the 1st and 2nd endpoint of the line
6914 - Arrows: After having drawn a (straight) line or a (straight)
6915 poly-line, you can set arrows on the line-ends by typing < or >.
6917 - Flood-filling: You can fill any area with a certain character by
6920 - Cut copy and paste: You can cut, copy and paste rectangular
6921 regions. Artist also interfaces with the rect package (this can be
6922 turned off if it causes you any trouble) so anything you cut in
6923 artist can be yanked with C-x r y and vice versa.
6925 - Drawing with keys: Everything you can do with the mouse, you can
6926 also do without the mouse.
6928 - Aspect-ratio: You can set the variable artist-aspect-ratio to
6929 reflect the height-width ratio for the font you are using. Squares
6930 and circles are then drawn square/round. Note, that once your
6931 ascii-file is shown with font with a different height-width ratio,
6932 the squares won't be square and the circles won't be round.
6934 - Drawing operations: The following drawing operations are implemented:
6936 lines straight-lines
6938 poly-lines straight poly-lines
6940 text (see-thru) text (overwrite)
6941 spray-can setting size for spraying
6942 vaporize line vaporize lines
6943 erase characters erase rectangles
6945 Straight lines are lines that go horizontally, vertically or
6946 diagonally. Plain lines go in any direction. The operations in
6947 the right column are accessed by holding down the shift key while
6950 It is possible to vaporize (erase) entire lines and connected lines
6951 (rectangles for example) as long as the lines being vaporized are
6952 straight and connected at their endpoints. Vaporizing is inspired
6953 by the drawrect package by Jari Aalto <jari.aalto@poboxes.com>.
6955 - Picture mode compatibility: Artist is picture mode compatible (this
6958 *** The new package Eshell is an operating system command shell
6959 implemented entirely in Emacs Lisp. Use `M-x eshell' to invoke it.
6960 It functions similarly to bash and zsh, and allows running of Lisp
6961 functions and external commands using the same syntax. It supports
6962 history lists, aliases, extended globbing, smart scrolling, etc. It
6963 will work on any platform Emacs has been ported to. And since most of
6964 the basic commands -- ls, rm, mv, cp, ln, du, cat, etc. -- have been
6965 rewritten in Lisp, it offers an operating-system independent shell,
6966 all within the scope of your Emacs process.
6968 *** The new package timeclock.el is a mode is for keeping track of time
6969 intervals. You can use it for whatever purpose you like, but the
6970 typical scenario is to keep track of how much time you spend working
6971 on certain projects.
6973 *** The new package hi-lock.el provides commands to highlight matches
6974 of interactively entered regexps. For example,
6976 M-x highlight-regexp RET clearly RET RET
6978 will highlight all occurrences of `clearly' using a yellow background
6979 face. New occurrences of `clearly' will be highlighted as they are
6980 typed. `M-x unhighlight-regexp RET' will remove the highlighting.
6981 Any existing face can be used for highlighting and a set of
6982 appropriate faces is provided. The regexps can be written into the
6983 current buffer in a form that will be recognized the next time the
6984 corresponding file is read. There are commands to highlight matches
6985 to phrases and to highlight entire lines containing a match.
6987 *** The new package zone.el plays games with Emacs' display when
6990 *** The new package tildify.el allows to add hard spaces or other text
6991 fragments in accordance with the current major mode.
6993 *** The new package xml.el provides a simple but generic XML
6994 parser. It doesn't parse the DTDs however.
6996 *** The comment operations are now provided by the newcomment.el
6997 package which allows different styles of comment-region and should
6998 be more robust while offering the same functionality.
6999 `comment-region' now doesn't always comment a-line-at-a-time, but only
7000 comments the region, breaking the line at point if necessary.
7002 *** The Ebrowse package implements a C++ class browser and tags
7003 facilities tailored for use with C++. It is documented in a
7004 separate Texinfo file.
7006 *** The PCL-CVS package available by either running M-x cvs-examine or
7007 by visiting a CVS administrative directory (with a prefix argument)
7008 provides an alternative interface to VC-dired for CVS. It comes with
7009 `log-view-mode' to view RCS and SCCS logs and `log-edit-mode' used to
7010 enter check-in log messages.
7012 *** The new package called `woman' allows to browse Unix man pages
7013 without invoking external programs.
7015 The command `M-x woman' formats manual pages entirely in Emacs Lisp
7016 and then displays them, like `M-x manual-entry' does. Unlike
7017 `manual-entry', `woman' does not invoke any external programs, so it
7018 is useful on systems such as MS-DOS/MS-Windows where the `man' and
7019 Groff or `troff' commands are not readily available.
7021 The command `M-x woman-find-file' asks for the file name of a man
7022 page, then formats and displays it like `M-x woman' does.
7024 *** The new command M-x re-builder offers a convenient interface for
7025 authoring regular expressions with immediate visual feedback.
7027 The buffer from which the command was called becomes the target for
7028 the regexp editor popping up in a separate window. Matching text in
7029 the target buffer is immediately color marked during the editing.
7030 Each sub-expression of the regexp will show up in a different face so
7031 even complex regexps can be edited and verified on target data in a
7034 On displays not supporting faces the matches instead blink like
7035 matching parens to make them stand out. On such a setup you will
7036 probably also want to use the sub-expression mode when the regexp
7037 contains such to get feedback about their respective limits.
7039 *** glasses-mode is a minor mode that makes
7040 unreadableIdentifiersLikeThis readable. It works as glasses, without
7041 actually modifying content of a buffer.
7043 *** The package ebnf2ps translates an EBNF to a syntactic chart in
7046 Currently accepts ad-hoc EBNF, ISO EBNF and Bison/Yacc.
7048 The ad-hoc default EBNF syntax has the following elements:
7050 ; comment (until end of line)
7054 $A default non-terminal
7055 $"C" default terminal
7056 $?C? default special
7057 A = B. production (A is the header and B the body)
7058 C D sequence (C occurs before D)
7059 C | D alternative (C or D occurs)
7060 A - B exception (A excluding B, B without any non-terminal)
7061 n * A repetition (A repeats n (integer) times)
7062 (C) group (expression C is grouped together)
7063 [C] optional (C may or not occurs)
7064 C+ one or more occurrences of C
7065 {C}+ one or more occurrences of C
7066 {C}* zero or more occurrences of C
7067 {C} zero or more occurrences of C
7068 C / D equivalent to: C {D C}*
7069 {C || D}+ equivalent to: C {D C}*
7070 {C || D}* equivalent to: [C {D C}*]
7071 {C || D} equivalent to: [C {D C}*]
7073 Please, see ebnf2ps documentation for EBNF syntax and how to use it.
7075 *** The package align.el will align columns within a region, using M-x
7076 align. Its mode-specific rules, based on regular expressions,
7077 determine where the columns should be split. In C and C++, for
7078 example, it will align variable names in declaration lists, or the
7079 equal signs of assignments.
7081 *** `paragraph-indent-minor-mode' is a new minor mode supporting
7082 paragraphs in the same style as `paragraph-indent-text-mode'.
7084 *** bs.el is a new package for buffer selection similar to
7085 list-buffers or electric-buffer-list. Use M-x bs-show to display a
7086 buffer menu with this package. See the Custom group `bs'.
7088 *** find-lisp.el is a package emulating the Unix find command in Lisp.
7090 *** calculator.el is a small calculator package that is intended to
7091 replace desktop calculators such as xcalc and calc.exe. Actually, it
7092 is not too small - it has more features than most desktop calculators,
7093 and can be customized easily to get many more functions. It should
7094 not be confused with "calc" which is a much bigger mathematical tool
7095 which answers different needs.
7097 *** The minor modes cwarn-mode and global-cwarn-mode highlights
7098 suspicious C and C++ constructions. Currently, assignments inside
7099 expressions, semicolon following `if', `for' and `while' (except, of
7100 course, after a `do .. while' statement), and C++ functions with
7101 reference parameters are recognized. The modes require font-lock mode
7104 *** smerge-mode.el provides `smerge-mode', a simple minor-mode for files
7105 containing diff3-style conflict markers, such as generated by RCS.
7107 *** 5x5.el is a simple puzzle game.
7109 *** hl-line.el provides `hl-line-mode', a minor mode to highlight the
7110 current line in the current buffer. It also provides
7111 `global-hl-line-mode' to provide the same behavior in all buffers.
7113 *** ansi-color.el translates ANSI terminal escapes into text-properties.
7115 Please note: if `ansi-color-for-comint-mode' and
7116 `global-font-lock-mode' are non-nil, loading ansi-color.el will
7117 disable font-lock and add `ansi-color-apply' to
7118 `comint-preoutput-filter-functions' for all shell-mode buffers. This
7119 displays the output of "ls --color=yes" using the correct foreground
7120 and background colors.
7122 *** delphi.el provides a major mode for editing the Delphi (Object
7125 *** quickurl.el provides a simple method of inserting a URL based on
7128 *** sql.el provides an interface to SQL data bases.
7130 *** fortune.el uses the fortune program to create mail/news signatures.
7132 *** whitespace.el is a package for warning about and cleaning bogus
7133 whitespace in a file.
7135 *** PostScript mode (ps-mode) is a new major mode for editing PostScript
7136 files. It offers: interaction with a PostScript interpreter, including
7137 (very basic) error handling; fontification, easily customizable for
7138 interpreter messages; auto-indentation; insertion of EPSF templates and
7139 often used code snippets; viewing of BoundingBox; commenting out /
7140 uncommenting regions; conversion of 8bit characters to PostScript octal
7141 codes. All functionality is accessible through a menu.
7143 *** delim-col helps to prettify columns in a text region or rectangle.
7145 Here is an example of columns:
7148 dog pineapple car EXTRA
7149 porcupine strawberry airplane
7151 Doing the following settings:
7153 (setq delimit-columns-str-before "[ ")
7154 (setq delimit-columns-str-after " ]")
7155 (setq delimit-columns-str-separator ", ")
7156 (setq delimit-columns-separator "\t")
7159 Selecting the lines above and typing:
7161 M-x delimit-columns-region
7165 [ horse , apple , bus , ]
7166 [ dog , pineapple , car , EXTRA ]
7167 [ porcupine, strawberry, airplane, ]
7169 delim-col has the following options:
7171 delimit-columns-str-before Specify a string to be inserted
7174 delimit-columns-str-separator Specify a string to be inserted
7175 between each column.
7177 delimit-columns-str-after Specify a string to be inserted
7180 delimit-columns-separator Specify a regexp which separates
7183 delim-col has the following commands:
7185 delimit-columns-region Prettify all columns in a text region.
7186 delimit-columns-rectangle Prettify all columns in a text rectangle.
7188 *** Recentf mode maintains a menu for visiting files that were
7189 operated on recently. User option recentf-menu-filter specifies a
7190 menu filter function to change the menu appearance. For example, the
7191 recent file list can be displayed:
7193 - organized by major modes, directories or user defined rules.
7194 - sorted by file paths, file names, ascending or descending.
7195 - showing paths relative to the current default-directory
7197 The `recentf-filter-changer' menu filter function allows to
7198 dynamically change the menu appearance.
7200 *** elide-head.el provides a mechanism for eliding boilerplate header
7203 *** footnote.el provides `footnote-mode', a minor mode supporting use
7204 of footnotes. It is intended for use with Message mode, but isn't
7205 specific to Message mode.
7207 *** diff-mode.el provides `diff-mode', a major mode for
7208 viewing/editing context diffs (patches). It is selected for files
7209 with extension `.diff', `.diffs', `.patch' and `.rej'.
7211 *** EUDC, the Emacs Unified Directory Client, provides a common user
7212 interface to access directory servers using different directory
7213 protocols. It has a separate manual.
7215 *** autoconf.el provides a major mode for editing configure.in files
7216 for Autoconf, selected automatically.
7218 *** windmove.el provides moving between windows.
7220 *** crm.el provides a facility to read multiple strings from the
7221 minibuffer with completion.
7223 *** todo-mode.el provides management of TODO lists and integration
7224 with the diary features.
7226 *** autoarg.el provides a feature reported from Twenex Emacs whereby
7227 numeric keys supply prefix args rather than self inserting.
7229 *** The function `turn-off-auto-fill' unconditionally turns off Auto
7232 *** pcomplete.el is a library that provides programmable completion
7233 facilities for Emacs, similar to what zsh and tcsh offer. The main
7234 difference is that completion functions are written in Lisp, meaning
7235 they can be profiled, debugged, etc.
7237 *** antlr-mode is a new major mode for editing ANTLR grammar files.
7238 It is automatically turned on for files whose names have the extension
7241 ** Changes in sort.el
7243 The function sort-numeric-fields interprets numbers starting with `0'
7244 as octal and numbers starting with `0x' or `0X' as hexadecimal. The
7245 new user-option sort-numeric-base can be used to specify a default
7248 ** Changes to Ange-ftp
7250 *** Ange-ftp allows you to specify of a port number in remote file
7251 names cleanly. It is appended to the host name, separated by a hash
7252 sign, e.g. `/foo@bar.org#666:mumble'. (This syntax comes from EFS.)
7254 *** If the new user-option `ange-ftp-try-passive-mode' is set, passive
7255 ftp mode will be used if the ftp client supports that.
7257 *** Ange-ftp handles the output of the w32-style clients which
7258 output ^M at the end of lines.
7260 ** The recommended way of using Iswitchb is via the new global minor
7261 mode `iswitchb-mode'.
7263 ** Just loading the msb package doesn't switch on Msb mode anymore.
7264 If you have `(require 'msb)' in your .emacs, please replace it with
7267 ** Flyspell mode has various new options. See the `flyspell' Custom
7270 ** The user option `backward-delete-char-untabify-method' controls the
7271 behavior of `backward-delete-char-untabify'. The following values
7274 `untabify' -- turn a tab to many spaces, then delete one space;
7275 `hungry' -- delete all whitespace, both tabs and spaces;
7276 `all' -- delete all whitespace, including tabs, spaces and newlines;
7277 nil -- just delete one character.
7279 Default value is `untabify'.
7281 [This change was made in Emacs 20.3 but not mentioned then.]
7283 ** In Cperl mode `cperl-invalid-face' should now be a normal face
7284 symbol, not double-quoted.
7286 ** Some packages are declared obsolete, to be removed in a future
7287 version. They are: auto-show, c-mode, hilit19, hscroll, ooutline,
7288 profile, rnews, rnewspost, and sc. Their implementations have been
7289 moved to lisp/obsolete.
7291 ** auto-compression mode is no longer enabled just by loading jka-compr.el.
7292 To control it, set `auto-compression-mode' via Custom or use the
7293 `auto-compression-mode' command.
7295 ** `browse-url-gnome-moz' is a new option for
7296 `browse-url-browser-function', invoking Mozilla in GNOME, and
7297 `browse-url-kde' can be chosen for invoking the KDE browser.
7299 ** The user-option `browse-url-new-window-p' has been renamed to
7300 `browse-url-new-window-flag'.
7302 ** The functions `keep-lines', `flush-lines' and `how-many' now
7303 operate on the active region in Transient Mark mode.
7305 ** `gnus-user-agent' is a new possibility for `mail-user-agent'. It
7306 is like `message-user-agent', but with all the Gnus paraphernalia.
7308 ** The Strokes package has been updated. If your Emacs has XPM
7309 support, you can use it for pictographic editing. In Strokes mode,
7310 use C-mouse-2 to compose a complex stoke and insert it into the
7311 buffer. You can encode or decode a strokes buffer with new commands
7312 M-x strokes-encode-buffer and M-x strokes-decode-buffer. There is a
7313 new command M-x strokes-list-strokes.
7315 ** Hexl contains a new command `hexl-insert-hex-string' which inserts
7316 a string of hexadecimal numbers read from the mini-buffer.
7318 ** Hexl mode allows to insert non-ASCII characters.
7320 The non-ASCII characters are encoded using the same encoding as the
7321 file you are visiting in Hexl mode.
7323 ** Shell script mode changes.
7325 Shell script mode (sh-script) can now indent scripts for shells
7326 derived from sh and rc. The indentation style is customizable, and
7327 sh-script can attempt to "learn" the current buffer's style.
7331 *** In DOS, etags looks for file.cgz if it cannot find file.c.
7333 *** New option --ignore-case-regex is an alternative to --regex. It is now
7334 possible to bind a regexp to a language, by prepending the regexp with
7335 {lang}, where lang is one of the languages that `etags --help' prints out.
7336 This feature is useful especially for regex files, where each line contains
7337 a regular expression. The manual contains details.
7339 *** In C and derived languages, etags creates tags for function
7340 declarations when given the --declarations option.
7342 *** In C++, tags are created for "operator". The tags have the form
7343 "operator+", without spaces between the keyword and the operator.
7345 *** You shouldn't generally need any more the -C or -c++ option: etags
7346 automatically switches to C++ parsing when it meets the `class' or
7347 `template' keywords.
7349 *** Etags now is able to delve at arbitrary deeps into nested structures in
7350 C-like languages. Previously, it was limited to one or two brace levels.
7352 *** New language Ada: tags are functions, procedures, packages, tasks, and
7355 *** In Fortran, `procedure' is not tagged.
7357 *** In Java, tags are created for "interface".
7359 *** In Lisp, "(defstruct (foo", "(defun (operator" and similar constructs
7362 *** In makefiles, tags the targets.
7364 *** In Perl, the --globals option tags global variables. my and local
7365 variables are tagged.
7367 *** New language Python: def and class at the beginning of a line are tags.
7369 *** .ss files are Scheme files, .pdb is Postscript with C syntax, .psw is
7372 ** Changes in etags.el
7374 *** The new user-option tags-case-fold-search can be used to make
7375 tags operations case-sensitive or case-insensitive. The default
7376 is to use the same setting as case-fold-search.
7378 *** You can display additional output with M-x tags-apropos by setting
7379 the new variable tags-apropos-additional-actions.
7381 If non-nil, the variable's value should be a list of triples (TITLE
7382 FUNCTION TO-SEARCH). For each triple, M-x tags-apropos processes
7383 TO-SEARCH and lists tags from it. TO-SEARCH should be an alist,
7384 obarray, or symbol. If it is a symbol, the symbol's value is used.
7386 TITLE is a string to use to label the list of tags from TO-SEARCH.
7388 FUNCTION is a function to call when an entry is selected in the Tags
7389 List buffer. It is called with one argument, the selected symbol.
7391 A useful example value for this variable might be something like:
7393 '(("Emacs Lisp" Info-goto-emacs-command-node obarray)
7394 ("Common Lisp" common-lisp-hyperspec common-lisp-hyperspec-obarray)
7395 ("SCWM" scwm-documentation scwm-obarray))
7397 *** The face tags-tag-face can be used to customize the appearance
7398 of tags in the output of M-x tags-apropos.
7400 *** Setting tags-apropos-verbose to a non-nil value displays the
7401 names of tags files in the *Tags List* buffer.
7403 *** You can now search for tags that are part of the filename itself.
7404 If you have tagged the files topfile.c subdir/subfile.c
7405 /tmp/tempfile.c, you can now search for tags "topfile.c", "subfile.c",
7406 "dir/sub", "tempfile", "tempfile.c". If the tag matches the file name,
7407 point will go to the beginning of the file.
7409 *** Compressed files are now transparently supported if
7410 auto-compression-mode is active. You can tag (with Etags) and search
7411 (with find-tag) both compressed and uncompressed files.
7413 *** Tags commands like M-x tags-search no longer change point
7414 in buffers where no match is found. In buffers where a match is
7415 found, the original value of point is pushed on the marker ring.
7417 ** Fortran mode has a new command `fortran-strip-sequence-nos' to
7418 remove text past column 72. The syntax class of `\' in Fortran is now
7419 appropriate for C-style escape sequences in strings.
7421 ** SGML mode's default `sgml-validate-command' is now `nsgmls'.
7423 ** A new command `view-emacs-problems' (C-h P) displays the PROBLEMS file.
7425 ** The Dabbrev package has a new user-option `dabbrev-ignored-regexps'
7426 containing a list of regular expressions. Buffers matching a regular
7427 expression from that list, are not checked.
7429 ** Emacs can now figure out modification times of remote files.
7430 When you do C-x C-f /user@host:/path/file RET and edit the file,
7431 and someone else modifies the file, you will be prompted to revert
7432 the buffer, just like for the local files.
7434 ** The buffer menu (C-x C-b) no longer lists the *Buffer List* buffer.
7436 ** When invoked with a prefix argument, the command `list-abbrevs' now
7437 displays local abbrevs, only.
7439 ** Refill minor mode provides preliminary support for keeping
7440 paragraphs filled as you modify them.
7442 ** The variable `double-click-fuzz' specifies how much the mouse
7443 may be moved between clicks that are recognized as a pair. Its value
7444 is measured in pixels.
7446 ** The new global minor mode `auto-image-file-mode' allows image files
7447 to be visited as images.
7449 ** Two new user-options `grep-command' and `grep-find-command'
7450 were added to compile.el.
7452 ** Withdrawn packages
7454 *** mldrag.el has been removed. mouse.el provides the same
7455 functionality with aliases for the mldrag functions.
7457 *** eval-reg.el has been obsoleted by changes to edebug.el and removed.
7459 *** ph.el has been obsoleted by EUDC and removed.
7462 * Incompatible Lisp changes
7464 There are a few Lisp changes which are not backwards-compatible and
7465 may require changes to existing code. Here is a list for reference.
7466 See the sections below for details.
7468 ** Since `format' preserves text properties, the idiom
7469 `(format "%s" foo)' no longer works to copy and remove properties.
7470 Use `copy-sequence' to copy the string, then use `set-text-properties'
7471 to remove the properties of the copy.
7473 ** Since the `keymap' text property now has significance, some code
7474 which uses both `local-map' and `keymap' properties (for portability)
7475 may, for instance, give rise to duplicate menus when the keymaps from
7476 these properties are active.
7478 ** The change in the treatment of non-ASCII characters in search
7479 ranges may affect some code.
7481 ** A non-nil value for the LOCAL arg of add-hook makes the hook
7482 buffer-local even if `make-local-hook' hasn't been called, which might
7483 make a difference to some code.
7485 ** The new treatment of the minibuffer prompt might affect code which
7486 operates on the minibuffer.
7488 ** The new character sets `eight-bit-control' and `eight-bit-graphic'
7489 cause `no-conversion' and `emacs-mule-unix' coding systems to produce
7490 different results when reading files with non-ASCII characters
7491 (previously, both coding systems would produce the same results).
7492 Specifically, `no-conversion' interprets each 8-bit byte as a separate
7493 character. This makes `no-conversion' inappropriate for reading
7494 multibyte text, e.g. buffers written to disk in their internal MULE
7495 encoding (auto-saving does that, for example). If a Lisp program
7496 reads such files with `no-conversion', each byte of the multibyte
7497 sequence, including the MULE leading codes such as \201, is treated as
7498 a separate character, which prevents them from being interpreted in
7499 the buffer as multibyte characters.
7501 Therefore, Lisp programs that read files which contain the internal
7502 MULE encoding should use `emacs-mule-unix'. `no-conversion' is only
7503 appropriate for reading truly binary files.
7505 ** Code that relies on the obsolete `before-change-function' and
7506 `after-change-function' to detect buffer changes will now fail. Use
7507 `before-change-functions' and `after-change-functions' instead.
7509 ** Code that uses `concat' with integer args now gets an error, as
7510 long promised. So does any code that uses derivatives of `concat',
7511 such as `mapconcat'.
7513 ** The function base64-decode-string now always returns a unibyte
7516 ** Not a Lisp incompatibility as such but, with the introduction of
7517 extra private charsets, there is now only one slot free for a new
7518 dimension-2 private charset. User code which tries to add more than
7519 one extra will fail unless you rebuild Emacs with some standard
7520 charset(s) removed; that is probably inadvisable because it changes
7521 the emacs-mule encoding. Also, files stored in the emacs-mule
7522 encoding using Emacs 20 with additional private charsets defined will
7523 probably not be read correctly by Emacs 21.
7525 ** The variable `directory-sep-char' is slated for removal.
7526 Not really a change (yet), but a projected one that you should be
7527 aware of: The variable `directory-sep-char' is deprecated, and should
7528 not be used. It was always ignored on GNU/Linux and Unix systems and
7529 on MS-DOS, but the MS-Windows port tried to support it by adapting the
7530 behavior of certain primitives to the value of this variable. It
7531 turned out that such support cannot be reliable, so it was decided to
7532 remove this variable in the near future. Lisp programs are well
7533 advised not to set it to anything but '/', because any different value
7534 will not have any effect when support for this variable is removed.
7537 * Lisp changes made after edition 2.6 of the Emacs Lisp Manual,
7538 (Display-related features are described in a page of their own below.)
7540 ** Function assq-delete-all replaces function assoc-delete-all.
7542 ** The new function animate-string, from lisp/play/animate.el
7543 allows the animated display of strings.
7545 ** The new function `interactive-form' can be used to obtain the
7546 interactive form of a function.
7548 ** The keyword :set-after in defcustom allows to specify dependencies
7549 between custom options. Example:
7551 (defcustom default-input-method nil
7552 "*Default input method for multilingual text (a string).
7553 This is the input method activated automatically by the command
7554 `toggle-input-method' (\\[toggle-input-method])."
7556 :type '(choice (const nil) string)
7557 :set-after '(current-language-environment))
7559 This specifies that default-input-method should be set after
7560 current-language-environment even if default-input-method appears
7561 first in a custom-set-variables statement.
7563 ** The new hook `kbd-macro-termination-hook' is run at the end of
7564 function execute-kbd-macro. Functions on this hook are called with no
7565 args. The hook is run independent of how the macro was terminated
7566 (signal or normal termination).
7568 ** Functions `butlast' and `nbutlast' for removing trailing elements
7569 from a list are now available without requiring the CL package.
7571 ** The new user-option `even-window-heights' can be set to nil
7572 to prevent `display-buffer' from evening out window heights.
7574 ** The user-option `face-font-registry-alternatives' specifies
7575 alternative font registry names to try when looking for a font.
7577 ** Function `md5' calculates the MD5 "message digest"/"checksum".
7579 ** Function `delete-frame' runs `delete-frame-hook' before actually
7580 deleting the frame. The hook is called with one arg, the frame
7583 ** `add-hook' now makes the hook local if called with a non-nil LOCAL arg.
7585 ** The treatment of non-ASCII characters in search ranges has changed.
7586 If a range in a regular expression or the arg of
7587 skip-chars-forward/backward starts with a unibyte character C and ends
7588 with a multibyte character C2, the range is divided into two: one is
7589 C..?\377, the other is C1..C2, where C1 is the first character of C2's
7592 ** The new function `display-message-or-buffer' displays a message in
7593 the echo area or pops up a buffer, depending on the length of the
7596 ** The new macro `with-auto-compression-mode' allows evaluating an
7597 expression with auto-compression-mode enabled.
7599 ** In image specifications, `:heuristic-mask' has been replaced
7600 with the more general `:mask' property.
7602 ** Image specifications accept more `:conversion's.
7604 ** A `?' can be used in a symbol name without escaping it with a
7607 ** Reading from the mini-buffer now reads from standard input if Emacs
7608 is running in batch mode. For example,
7610 (message "%s" (read t))
7612 will read a Lisp expression from standard input and print the result
7615 ** The argument of `down-list', `backward-up-list', `up-list',
7616 `kill-sexp', `backward-kill-sexp' and `mark-sexp' is now optional.
7618 ** If `display-buffer-reuse-frames' is set, function `display-buffer'
7619 will raise frames displaying a buffer, instead of creating a new
7622 ** Two new functions for removing elements from lists/sequences
7625 - Function: remove ELT SEQ
7627 Return a copy of SEQ with all occurrences of ELT removed. SEQ must be
7628 a list, vector, or string. The comparison is done with `equal'.
7630 - Function: remq ELT LIST
7632 Return a copy of LIST with all occurrences of ELT removed. The
7633 comparison is done with `eq'.
7635 ** The function `delete' now also works with vectors and strings.
7637 ** The meaning of the `:weakness WEAK' argument of make-hash-table
7638 has been changed: WEAK can now have new values `key-or-value' and
7639 `key-and-value', in addition to `nil', `key', `value', and `t'.
7641 ** Function `aset' stores any multibyte character in any string
7642 without signaling "Attempt to change char length of a string". It may
7643 convert a unibyte string to multibyte if necessary.
7645 ** The value of the `help-echo' text property is called as a function
7646 or evaluated, if it is not a string already, to obtain a help string.
7648 ** Function `make-obsolete' now has an optional arg to say when the
7649 function was declared obsolete.
7651 ** Function `plist-member' is renamed from `widget-plist-member' (which is
7652 retained as an alias).
7654 ** Easy-menu's :filter now takes the unconverted form of the menu and
7655 the result is automatically converted to Emacs' form.
7657 ** The new function `window-list' has been defined
7659 - Function: window-list &optional FRAME WINDOW MINIBUF
7661 Return a list of windows on FRAME, starting with WINDOW. FRAME nil or
7662 omitted means use the selected frame. WINDOW nil or omitted means use
7663 the selected window. MINIBUF t means include the minibuffer window,
7664 even if it isn't active. MINIBUF nil or omitted means include the
7665 minibuffer window only if it's active. MINIBUF neither nil nor t
7666 means never include the minibuffer window.
7668 ** There's a new function `get-window-with-predicate' defined as follows
7670 - Function: get-window-with-predicate PREDICATE &optional MINIBUF ALL-FRAMES DEFAULT
7672 Return a window satisfying PREDICATE.
7674 This function cycles through all visible windows using `walk-windows',
7675 calling PREDICATE on each one. PREDICATE is called with a window as
7676 argument. The first window for which PREDICATE returns a non-nil
7677 value is returned. If no window satisfies PREDICATE, DEFAULT is
7680 Optional second arg MINIBUF t means count the minibuffer window even
7681 if not active. MINIBUF nil or omitted means count the minibuffer iff
7682 it is active. MINIBUF neither t nor nil means not to count the
7683 minibuffer even if it is active.
7685 Several frames may share a single minibuffer; if the minibuffer
7686 counts, all windows on all frames that share that minibuffer count
7687 too. Therefore, if you are using a separate minibuffer frame
7688 and the minibuffer is active and MINIBUF says it counts,
7689 `walk-windows' includes the windows in the frame from which you
7690 entered the minibuffer, as well as the minibuffer window.
7692 ALL-FRAMES is the optional third argument.
7693 ALL-FRAMES nil or omitted means cycle within the frames as specified above.
7694 ALL-FRAMES = `visible' means include windows on all visible frames.
7695 ALL-FRAMES = 0 means include windows on all visible and iconified frames.
7696 ALL-FRAMES = t means include windows on all frames including invisible frames.
7697 If ALL-FRAMES is a frame, it means include windows on that frame.
7698 Anything else means restrict to the selected frame.
7700 ** The function `single-key-description' now encloses function key and
7701 event names in angle brackets. When called with a second optional
7702 argument non-nil, angle brackets won't be printed.
7704 ** If the variable `message-truncate-lines' is bound to t around a
7705 call to `message', the echo area will not be resized to display that
7706 message; it will be truncated instead, as it was done in 20.x.
7707 Default value is nil.
7709 ** The user option `line-number-display-limit' can now be set to nil,
7712 ** The new user option `line-number-display-limit-width' controls
7713 the maximum width of lines in a buffer for which Emacs displays line
7714 numbers in the mode line. The default is 200.
7716 ** `select-safe-coding-system' now also checks the most preferred
7717 coding-system if buffer-file-coding-system is `undecided' and
7718 DEFAULT-CODING-SYSTEM is not specified,
7720 ** The function `subr-arity' provides information about the argument
7721 list of a primitive.
7723 ** `where-is-internal' now also accepts a list of keymaps.
7725 ** The text property `keymap' specifies a key map which overrides the
7726 buffer's local map and the map specified by the `local-map' property.
7727 This is probably what most current uses of `local-map' want, rather
7728 than replacing the local map.
7730 ** The obsolete variables `before-change-function' and
7731 `after-change-function' are no longer acted upon and have been
7732 removed. Use `before-change-functions' and `after-change-functions'
7735 ** The function `apropos-mode' runs the hook `apropos-mode-hook'.
7737 ** `concat' no longer accepts individual integer arguments,
7738 as promised long ago.
7740 ** The new function `float-time' returns the current time as a float.
7742 ** The new variable auto-coding-regexp-alist specifies coding systems
7743 for reading specific files, analogous to auto-coding-alist, but
7744 patterns are checked against file contents instead of file names.
7747 * Lisp changes in Emacs 21.1 (see following page for display-related features)
7749 ** The new package rx.el provides an alternative sexp notation for
7750 regular expressions.
7752 - Function: rx-to-string SEXP
7754 Translate SEXP into a regular expression in string notation.
7758 Translate SEXP into a regular expression in string notation.
7760 The following are valid subforms of regular expressions in sexp
7764 matches string STRING literally.
7767 matches character CHAR literally.
7770 matches any character except a newline.
7773 matches any character
7776 matches any character in SET. SET may be a character or string.
7777 Ranges of characters can be specified as `A-Z' in strings.
7783 matches any character not in SET
7786 matches the empty string, but only at the beginning of a line
7787 in the text being matched
7790 is similar to `line-start' but matches only at the end of a line
7793 matches the empty string, but only at the beginning of the
7794 string being matched against.
7797 matches the empty string, but only at the end of the
7798 string being matched against.
7801 matches the empty string, but only at the beginning of the
7802 buffer being matched against.
7805 matches the empty string, but only at the end of the
7806 buffer being matched against.
7809 matches the empty string, but only at point.
7812 matches the empty string, but only at the beginning or end of a
7816 matches the empty string, but only at the end of a word.
7819 matches the empty string, but only at the beginning or end of a
7822 `(not word-boundary)'
7823 matches the empty string, but not at the beginning or end of a
7827 matches 0 through 9.
7830 matches ASCII control characters.
7833 matches 0 through 9, a through f and A through F.
7836 matches space and tab only.
7839 matches graphic characters--everything except ASCII control chars,
7843 matches printing characters--everything except ASCII control chars
7847 matches letters and digits. (But at present, for multibyte characters,
7848 it matches anything that has word syntax.)
7851 matches letters. (But at present, for multibyte characters,
7852 it matches anything that has word syntax.)
7855 matches ASCII (unibyte) characters.
7858 matches non-ASCII (multibyte) characters.
7861 matches anything lower-case.
7864 matches anything upper-case.
7867 matches punctuation. (But at present, for multibyte characters,
7868 it matches anything that has non-word syntax.)
7871 matches anything that has whitespace syntax.
7874 matches anything that has word syntax.
7877 matches a character with syntax SYNTAX. SYNTAX must be one
7878 of the following symbols.
7880 `whitespace' (\\s- in string notation)
7881 `punctuation' (\\s.)
7884 `open-parenthesis' (\\s()
7885 `close-parenthesis' (\\s))
7886 `expression-prefix' (\\s')
7887 `string-quote' (\\s\")
7888 `paired-delimiter' (\\s$)
7890 `character-quote' (\\s/)
7891 `comment-start' (\\s<)
7892 `comment-end' (\\s>)
7894 `(not (syntax SYNTAX))'
7895 matches a character that has not syntax SYNTAX.
7897 `(category CATEGORY)'
7898 matches a character with category CATEGORY. CATEGORY must be
7899 either a character to use for C, or one of the following symbols.
7901 `consonant' (\\c0 in string notation)
7903 `upper-diacritical-mark' (\\c2)
7904 `lower-diacritical-mark' (\\c3)
7908 `vowel-modifying-diacritical-mark' (\\c7)
7910 `semivowel-lower' (\\c9)
7911 `not-at-end-of-line' (\\c<)
7912 `not-at-beginning-of-line' (\\c>)
7913 `alpha-numeric-two-byte' (\\cA)
7914 `chinse-two-byte' (\\cC)
7915 `greek-two-byte' (\\cG)
7916 `japanese-hiragana-two-byte' (\\cH)
7917 `indian-two-byte' (\\cI)
7918 `japanese-katakana-two-byte' (\\cK)
7919 `korean-hangul-two-byte' (\\cN)
7920 `cyrillic-two-byte' (\\cY)
7929 `japanese-katakana' (\\ck)
7933 `japanese-roman' (\\cr)
7940 `(not (category CATEGORY))'
7941 matches a character that has not category CATEGORY.
7943 `(and SEXP1 SEXP2 ...)'
7944 matches what SEXP1 matches, followed by what SEXP2 matches, etc.
7946 `(submatch SEXP1 SEXP2 ...)'
7947 like `and', but makes the match accessible with `match-end',
7948 `match-beginning', and `match-string'.
7950 `(group SEXP1 SEXP2 ...)'
7951 another name for `submatch'.
7953 `(or SEXP1 SEXP2 ...)'
7954 matches anything that matches SEXP1 or SEXP2, etc. If all
7955 args are strings, use `regexp-opt' to optimize the resulting
7958 `(minimal-match SEXP)'
7959 produce a non-greedy regexp for SEXP. Normally, regexps matching
7960 zero or more occurrences of something are \"greedy\" in that they
7961 match as much as they can, as long as the overall regexp can
7962 still match. A non-greedy regexp matches as little as possible.
7964 `(maximal-match SEXP)'
7965 produce a greedy regexp for SEXP. This is the default.
7967 `(zero-or-more SEXP)'
7968 matches zero or more occurrences of what SEXP matches.
7971 like `zero-or-more'.
7974 like `zero-or-more', but always produces a greedy regexp.
7977 like `zero-or-more', but always produces a non-greedy regexp.
7979 `(one-or-more SEXP)'
7980 matches one or more occurrences of A.
7986 like `one-or-more', but always produces a greedy regexp.
7989 like `one-or-more', but always produces a non-greedy regexp.
7991 `(zero-or-one SEXP)'
7992 matches zero or one occurrences of A.
7998 like `zero-or-one', but always produces a greedy regexp.
8001 like `zero-or-one', but always produces a non-greedy regexp.
8004 matches N occurrences of what SEXP matches.
8007 matches N to M occurrences of what SEXP matches.
8010 evaluate FORM and insert result. If result is a string,
8014 include REGEXP in string notation in the result.
8016 *** The features `md5' and `overlay' are now provided by default.
8018 *** The special form `save-restriction' now works correctly even if the
8019 buffer is widened inside the save-restriction and changes made outside
8020 the original restriction. Previously, doing this would cause the saved
8021 restriction to be restored incorrectly.
8023 *** The functions `find-charset-region' and `find-charset-string' include
8024 `eight-bit-control' and/or `eight-bit-graphic' in the returned list
8025 when they find 8-bit characters. Previously, they included `ascii' in a
8026 multibyte buffer and `unknown' in a unibyte buffer.
8028 *** The functions `set-buffer-multibyte', `string-as-multibyte' and
8029 `string-as-unibyte' change the byte sequence of a buffer or a string
8030 if it contains a character from the `eight-bit-control' character set.
8032 *** The handling of multibyte sequences in a multibyte buffer is
8033 changed. Previously, a byte sequence matching the pattern
8034 [\200-\237][\240-\377]+ was interpreted as a single character
8035 regardless of the length of the trailing bytes [\240-\377]+. Thus, if
8036 the sequence was longer than what the leading byte indicated, the
8037 extra trailing bytes were ignored by Lisp functions. Now such extra
8038 bytes are independent 8-bit characters belonging to the charset
8041 ** Fontsets are now implemented using char-tables.
8043 A fontset can now be specified for each independent character, for
8044 a group of characters or for a character set rather than just for a
8045 character set as previously.
8047 *** The arguments of the function `set-fontset-font' are changed.
8048 They are NAME, CHARACTER, FONTNAME, and optional FRAME. The function
8049 modifies fontset NAME to use FONTNAME for CHARACTER.
8051 CHARACTER may be a cons (FROM . TO), where FROM and TO are non-generic
8052 characters. In that case FONTNAME is used for all characters in the
8053 range FROM and TO (inclusive). CHARACTER may be a charset. In that
8054 case FONTNAME is used for all character in the charset.
8056 FONTNAME may be a cons (FAMILY . REGISTRY), where FAMILY is the family
8057 name of a font and REGISTRY is a registry name of a font.
8059 *** Variable x-charset-registry has been deleted. The default charset
8060 registries of character sets are set in the default fontset
8063 *** The function `create-fontset-from-fontset-spec' ignores the second
8064 argument STYLE-VARIANT. It never creates style-variant fontsets.
8066 ** The method of composing characters is changed. Now character
8067 composition is done by a special text property `composition' in
8068 buffers and strings.
8070 *** Charset composition is deleted. Emacs never creates a `composite
8071 character' which is an independent character with a unique character
8072 code. Thus the following functions handling `composite characters'
8073 have been deleted: composite-char-component,
8074 composite-char-component-count, composite-char-composition-rule,
8075 composite-char-composition-rule and decompose-composite-char delete.
8076 The variables leading-code-composition and min-composite-char have
8079 *** Three more glyph reference points are added. They can be used to
8080 specify a composition rule. See the documentation of the variable
8081 `reference-point-alist' for more detail.
8083 *** The function `compose-region' takes new arguments COMPONENTS and
8084 MODIFICATION-FUNC. With COMPONENTS, you can specify not only a
8085 composition rule but also characters to be composed. Such characters
8086 may differ between buffer and string text.
8088 *** The function `compose-string' takes new arguments START, END,
8089 COMPONENTS, and MODIFICATION-FUNC.
8091 *** The function `compose-string' puts text property `composition'
8092 directly on the argument STRING instead of returning a new string.
8093 Likewise, the function `decompose-string' just removes text property
8094 `composition' from STRING.
8096 *** The new function `find-composition' returns information about
8097 a composition at a specified position in a buffer or a string.
8099 *** The function `decompose-composite-char' is now labeled as
8102 ** The new coding system `mac-roman' is primarily intended for use on
8103 the Macintosh but may be used generally for Macintosh-encoded text.
8105 ** The new character sets `mule-unicode-0100-24ff',
8106 `mule-unicode-2500-33ff', and `mule-unicode-e000-ffff' have been
8107 introduced for Unicode characters in the range U+0100..U+24FF,
8108 U+2500..U+33FF, U+E000..U+FFFF respectively.
8110 Note that the character sets are not yet unified in Emacs, so
8111 characters which belong to charsets such as Latin-2, Greek, Hebrew,
8112 etc. and the same characters in the `mule-unicode-*' charsets are
8113 different characters, as far as Emacs is concerned. For example, text
8114 which includes Unicode characters from the Latin-2 locale cannot be
8115 encoded by Emacs with ISO 8859-2 coding system.
8117 ** The new coding system `mule-utf-8' has been added.
8118 It provides limited support for decoding/encoding UTF-8 text. For
8119 details, please see the documentation string of this coding system.
8121 ** The new character sets `japanese-jisx0213-1' and
8122 `japanese-jisx0213-2' have been introduced for the new Japanese
8123 standard JIS X 0213 Plane 1 and Plane 2.
8125 ** The new character sets `latin-iso8859-14' and `latin-iso8859-15'
8126 have been introduced.
8128 ** The new character sets `eight-bit-control' and `eight-bit-graphic'
8129 have been introduced for 8-bit characters in the ranges 0x80..0x9F and
8130 0xA0..0xFF respectively. Note that the multibyte representation of
8131 eight-bit-control is never exposed; this leads to an exception in the
8132 emacs-mule coding system, which encodes everything else to the
8133 buffer/string internal representation. Note that to search for
8134 eight-bit-graphic characters in a multibyte buffer, the search string
8135 must be multibyte, otherwise such characters will be converted to
8136 their multibyte equivalent.
8138 ** If the APPEND argument of `write-region' is an integer, it seeks to
8139 that offset in the file before writing.
8141 ** The function `add-minor-mode' has been added for convenience and
8142 compatibility with XEmacs (and is used internally by define-minor-mode).
8144 ** The function `shell-command' now sets the default directory of the
8145 `*Shell Command Output*' buffer to the default directory of the buffer
8146 from which the command was issued.
8148 ** The functions `query-replace', `query-replace-regexp',
8149 `query-replace-regexp-eval' `map-query-replace-regexp',
8150 `replace-string', `replace-regexp', and `perform-replace' take two
8151 additional optional arguments START and END that specify the region to
8154 ** The new function `count-screen-lines' is a more flexible alternative
8155 to `window-buffer-height'.
8157 - Function: count-screen-lines &optional BEG END COUNT-FINAL-NEWLINE WINDOW
8159 Return the number of screen lines in the region between BEG and END.
8160 The number of screen lines may be different from the number of actual
8161 lines, due to line breaking, display table, etc.
8163 Optional arguments BEG and END default to `point-min' and `point-max'
8166 If region ends with a newline, ignore it unless optional third argument
8167 COUNT-FINAL-NEWLINE is non-nil.
8169 The optional fourth argument WINDOW specifies the window used for
8170 obtaining parameters such as width, horizontal scrolling, and so
8171 on. The default is to use the selected window's parameters.
8173 Like `vertical-motion', `count-screen-lines' always uses the current
8174 buffer, regardless of which buffer is displayed in WINDOW. This makes
8175 possible to use `count-screen-lines' in any buffer, whether or not it
8176 is currently displayed in some window.
8178 ** The new function `mapc' is like `mapcar' but doesn't collect the
8179 argument function's results.
8181 ** The functions base64-decode-region and base64-decode-string now
8182 signal an error instead of returning nil if decoding fails. Also,
8183 `base64-decode-string' now always returns a unibyte string (in Emacs
8184 20, it returned a multibyte string when the result was a valid multibyte
8187 ** The function sendmail-user-agent-compose now recognizes a `body'
8188 header in the list of headers passed to it.
8190 ** The new function member-ignore-case works like `member', but
8191 ignores differences in case and text representation.
8193 ** The buffer-local variable cursor-type can be used to specify the
8194 cursor to use in windows displaying a buffer. Values are interpreted
8197 t use the cursor specified for the frame (default)
8198 nil don't display a cursor
8199 `bar' display a bar cursor with default width
8200 (bar . WIDTH) display a bar cursor with width WIDTH
8201 others display a box cursor.
8203 ** The variable open-paren-in-column-0-is-defun-start controls whether
8204 an open parenthesis in column 0 is considered to be the start of a
8205 defun. If set, the default, it is considered a defun start. If not
8206 set, an open parenthesis in column 0 has no special meaning.
8208 ** The new function `string-to-syntax' can be used to translate syntax
8209 specifications in string form as accepted by `modify-syntax-entry' to
8210 the cons-cell form that is used for the values of the `syntax-table'
8211 text property, and in `font-lock-syntactic-keywords'.
8215 (string-to-syntax "()")
8218 ** Emacs' reader supports CL read syntax for integers in bases
8221 *** `#BINTEGER' or `#bINTEGER' reads INTEGER in binary (radix 2).
8222 INTEGER optionally contains a sign.
8229 *** `#OINTEGER' or `#oINTEGER' reads INTEGER in octal (radix 8).
8234 *** `#XINTEGER' or `#xINTEGER' reads INTEGER in hexadecimal (radix 16).
8239 *** `#RADIXrINTEGER' reads INTEGER in radix RADIX, 2 <= RADIX <= 36.
8246 ** The function `documentation-property' now evaluates the value of
8247 the given property to obtain a string if it doesn't refer to etc/DOC
8250 ** If called for a symbol, the function `documentation' now looks for
8251 a `function-documentation' property of that symbol. If it has a non-nil
8252 value, the documentation is taken from that value. If the value is
8253 not a string, it is evaluated to obtain a string.
8255 ** The last argument of `define-key-after' defaults to t for convenience.
8257 ** The new function `replace-regexp-in-string' replaces all matches
8258 for a regexp in a string.
8260 ** `mouse-position' now runs the abnormal hook
8261 `mouse-position-function'.
8263 ** The function string-to-number now returns a float for numbers
8264 that don't fit into a Lisp integer.
8266 ** The variable keyword-symbols-constants-flag has been removed.
8267 Keywords are now always considered constants.
8269 ** The new function `delete-and-extract-region' deletes text and
8272 ** The function `clear-this-command-keys' now also clears the vector
8273 returned by function `recent-keys'.
8275 ** Variables `beginning-of-defun-function' and `end-of-defun-function'
8276 can be used to define handlers for the functions that find defuns.
8277 Major modes can define these locally instead of rebinding C-M-a
8278 etc. if the normal conventions for defuns are not appropriate for the
8281 ** easy-mmode-define-minor-mode now takes an additional BODY argument
8282 and is renamed `define-minor-mode'.
8284 ** If an abbrev has a hook function which is a symbol, and that symbol
8285 has a non-nil `no-self-insert' property, the return value of the hook
8286 function specifies whether an expansion has been done or not. If it
8287 returns nil, abbrev-expand also returns nil, meaning "no expansion has
8290 When abbrev expansion is done by typing a self-inserting character,
8291 and the abbrev has a hook with the `no-self-insert' property, and the
8292 hook function returns non-nil meaning expansion has been done,
8293 then the self-inserting character is not inserted.
8295 ** The function `intern-soft' now accepts a symbol as first argument.
8296 In this case, that exact symbol is looked up in the specified obarray,
8297 and the function's value is nil if it is not found.
8299 ** The new macro `with-syntax-table' can be used to evaluate forms
8300 with the syntax table of the current buffer temporarily set to a
8303 (with-syntax-table TABLE &rest BODY)
8305 Evaluate BODY with syntax table of current buffer set to a copy of
8306 TABLE. The current syntax table is saved, BODY is evaluated, and the
8307 saved table is restored, even in case of an abnormal exit. Value is
8310 ** Regular expressions now support intervals \{n,m\} as well as
8311 Perl's shy-groups \(?:...\) and non-greedy *? +? and ?? operators.
8312 Also back-references like \2 are now considered as an error if the
8313 corresponding subgroup does not exist (or is not closed yet).
8314 Previously it would have been silently turned into `2' (ignoring the `\').
8316 ** The optional argument BUFFER of function file-local-copy has been
8317 removed since it wasn't used by anything.
8319 ** The file name argument of function `file-locked-p' is now required
8320 instead of being optional.
8322 ** The new built-in error `text-read-only' is signaled when trying to
8323 modify read-only text.
8325 ** New functions and variables for locales.
8327 The new variable `locale-coding-system' specifies how to encode and
8328 decode strings passed to low-level message functions like strerror and
8329 time functions like strftime. The new variables
8330 `system-messages-locale' and `system-time-locale' give the system
8331 locales to be used when invoking these two types of functions.
8333 The new function `set-locale-environment' sets the language
8334 environment, preferred coding system, and locale coding system from
8335 the system locale as specified by the LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, and LANG
8336 environment variables. Normally, it is invoked during startup and need
8337 not be invoked thereafter. It uses the new variables
8338 `locale-language-names', `locale-charset-language-names', and
8339 `locale-preferred-coding-systems' to make its decisions.
8341 ** syntax tables now understand nested comments.
8342 To declare a comment syntax as allowing nesting, just add an `n'
8343 modifier to either of the characters of the comment end and the comment
8346 ** The function `pixmap-spec-p' has been renamed `bitmap-spec-p'
8347 because `bitmap' is more in line with the usual X terminology.
8349 ** New function `propertize'
8351 The new function `propertize' can be used to conveniently construct
8352 strings with text properties.
8354 - Function: propertize STRING &rest PROPERTIES
8356 Value is a copy of STRING with text properties assigned as specified
8357 by PROPERTIES. PROPERTIES is a sequence of pairs PROPERTY VALUE, with
8358 PROPERTY being the name of a text property and VALUE being the
8359 specified value of that property. Example:
8361 (propertize "foo" 'face 'bold 'read-only t)
8363 ** push and pop macros.
8365 Simple versions of the push and pop macros of Common Lisp
8366 are now defined in Emacs Lisp. These macros allow only symbols
8367 as the place that holds the list to be changed.
8369 (push NEWELT LISTNAME) add NEWELT to the front of LISTNAME's value.
8370 (pop LISTNAME) return first elt of LISTNAME, and remove it
8371 (thus altering the value of LISTNAME).
8373 ** New dolist and dotimes macros.
8375 Simple versions of the dolist and dotimes macros of Common Lisp
8376 are now defined in Emacs Lisp.
8378 (dolist (VAR LIST [RESULT]) BODY...)
8379 Execute body once for each element of LIST,
8380 using the variable VAR to hold the current element.
8381 Then return the value of RESULT, or nil if RESULT is omitted.
8383 (dotimes (VAR COUNT [RESULT]) BODY...)
8384 Execute BODY with VAR bound to successive integers running from 0,
8385 inclusive, to COUNT, exclusive.
8386 Then return the value of RESULT, or nil if RESULT is omitted.
8388 ** Regular expressions now support Posix character classes such as
8389 [:alpha:], [:space:] and so on. These must be used within a character
8390 class--for instance, [-[:digit:].+] matches digits or a period
8393 [:digit:] matches 0 through 9
8394 [:cntrl:] matches ASCII control characters
8395 [:xdigit:] matches 0 through 9, a through f and A through F.
8396 [:blank:] matches space and tab only
8397 [:graph:] matches graphic characters--everything except ASCII control chars,
8399 [:print:] matches printing characters--everything except ASCII control chars
8401 [:alnum:] matches letters and digits.
8402 (But at present, for multibyte characters,
8403 it matches anything that has word syntax.)
8404 [:alpha:] matches letters.
8405 (But at present, for multibyte characters,
8406 it matches anything that has word syntax.)
8407 [:ascii:] matches ASCII (unibyte) characters.
8408 [:nonascii:] matches non-ASCII (multibyte) characters.
8409 [:lower:] matches anything lower-case.
8410 [:punct:] matches punctuation.
8411 (But at present, for multibyte characters,
8412 it matches anything that has non-word syntax.)
8413 [:space:] matches anything that has whitespace syntax.
8414 [:upper:] matches anything upper-case.
8415 [:word:] matches anything that has word syntax.
8417 ** Emacs now has built-in hash tables.
8419 The following functions are defined for hash tables:
8421 - Function: make-hash-table ARGS
8423 The argument list ARGS consists of keyword/argument pairs. All arguments
8424 are optional. The following arguments are defined:
8428 TEST must be a symbol specifying how to compare keys. Default is `eql'.
8429 Predefined are `eq', `eql' and `equal'. If TEST is not predefined,
8430 it must have been defined with `define-hash-table-test'.
8434 SIZE must be an integer > 0 giving a hint to the implementation how
8435 many elements will be put in the hash table. Default size is 65.
8437 :rehash-size REHASH-SIZE
8439 REHASH-SIZE specifies by how much to grow a hash table once it becomes
8440 full. If REHASH-SIZE is an integer, add that to the hash table's old
8441 size to get the new size. Otherwise, REHASH-SIZE must be a float >
8442 1.0, and the new size is computed by multiplying REHASH-SIZE with the
8443 old size. Default rehash size is 1.5.
8445 :rehash-threshold THRESHOLD
8447 THRESHOLD must be a float > 0 and <= 1.0 specifying when to resize the
8448 hash table. It is resized when the ratio of (number of entries) /
8449 (size of hash table) is >= THRESHOLD. Default threshold is 0.8.
8453 WEAK must be either nil, one of the symbols `key, `value',
8454 `key-or-value', `key-and-value', or t, meaning the same as
8455 `key-and-value'. Entries are removed from weak tables during garbage
8456 collection if their key and/or value are not referenced elsewhere
8457 outside of the hash table. Default are non-weak hash tables.
8459 - Function: makehash &optional TEST
8461 Similar to make-hash-table, but only TEST can be specified.
8463 - Function: hash-table-p TABLE
8465 Returns non-nil if TABLE is a hash table object.
8467 - Function: copy-hash-table TABLE
8469 Returns a copy of TABLE. Only the table itself is copied, keys and
8472 - Function: hash-table-count TABLE
8474 Returns the number of entries in TABLE.
8476 - Function: hash-table-rehash-size TABLE
8478 Returns the rehash size of TABLE.
8480 - Function: hash-table-rehash-threshold TABLE
8482 Returns the rehash threshold of TABLE.
8484 - Function: hash-table-rehash-size TABLE
8486 Returns the size of TABLE.
8488 - Function: hash-table-test TABLE
8490 Returns the test TABLE uses to compare keys.
8492 - Function: hash-table-weakness TABLE
8494 Returns the weakness specified for TABLE.
8496 - Function: clrhash TABLE
8500 - Function: gethash KEY TABLE &optional DEFAULT
8502 Look up KEY in TABLE and return its associated VALUE or DEFAULT if
8505 - Function: puthash KEY VALUE TABLE
8507 Associate KEY with VALUE in TABLE. If KEY is already associated with
8508 another value, replace the old value with VALUE.
8510 - Function: remhash KEY TABLE
8512 Remove KEY from TABLE if it is there.
8514 - Function: maphash FUNCTION TABLE
8516 Call FUNCTION for all elements in TABLE. FUNCTION must take two
8517 arguments KEY and VALUE.
8519 - Function: sxhash OBJ
8521 Return a hash code for Lisp object OBJ.
8523 - Function: define-hash-table-test NAME TEST-FN HASH-FN
8525 Define a new hash table test named NAME. If NAME is specified as
8526 a test in `make-hash-table', the table created will use TEST-FN for
8527 comparing keys, and HASH-FN to compute hash codes for keys. Test
8528 and hash function are stored as symbol property `hash-table-test'
8529 of NAME with a value of (TEST-FN HASH-FN).
8531 TEST-FN must take two arguments and return non-nil if they are the same.
8533 HASH-FN must take one argument and return an integer that is the hash
8534 code of the argument. The function should use the whole range of
8535 integer values for hash code computation, including negative integers.
8537 Example: The following creates a hash table whose keys are supposed to
8538 be strings that are compared case-insensitively.
8540 (defun case-fold-string= (a b)
8541 (compare-strings a nil nil b nil nil t))
8543 (defun case-fold-string-hash (a)
8544 (sxhash (upcase a)))
8546 (define-hash-table-test 'case-fold 'case-fold-string=
8547 'case-fold-string-hash))
8549 (make-hash-table :test 'case-fold)
8551 ** The Lisp reader handles circular structure.
8553 It now works to use the #N= and #N# constructs to represent
8554 circular structures. For example, #1=(a . #1#) represents
8555 a cons cell which is its own cdr.
8557 ** The Lisp printer handles circular structure.
8559 If you bind print-circle to a non-nil value, the Lisp printer outputs
8560 #N= and #N# constructs to represent circular and shared structure.
8562 ** If the second argument to `move-to-column' is anything but nil or
8563 t, that means replace a tab with spaces if necessary to reach the
8564 specified column, but do not add spaces at the end of the line if it
8565 is too short to reach that column.
8567 ** perform-replace has a new feature: the REPLACEMENTS argument may
8568 now be a cons cell (FUNCTION . DATA). This means to call FUNCTION
8569 after each match to get the replacement text. FUNCTION is called with
8570 two arguments: DATA, and the number of replacements already made.
8572 If the FROM-STRING contains any upper-case letters,
8573 perform-replace also turns off `case-fold-search' temporarily
8574 and inserts the replacement text without altering case in it.
8576 ** The function buffer-size now accepts an optional argument
8577 to specify which buffer to return the size of.
8579 ** The calendar motion commands now run the normal hook
8580 calendar-move-hook after moving point.
8582 ** The new variable small-temporary-file-directory specifies a
8583 directory to use for creating temporary files that are likely to be
8584 small. (Certain Emacs features use this directory.) If
8585 small-temporary-file-directory is nil, they use
8586 temporary-file-directory instead.
8588 ** The variable `inhibit-modification-hooks', if non-nil, inhibits all
8589 the hooks that track changes in the buffer. This affects
8590 `before-change-functions' and `after-change-functions', as well as
8591 hooks attached to text properties and overlay properties.
8593 ** assq-delete-all is a new function that deletes all the
8594 elements of an alist which have a car `eq' to a particular value.
8596 ** make-temp-file provides a more reliable way to create a temporary file.
8598 make-temp-file is used like make-temp-name, except that it actually
8599 creates the file before it returns. This prevents a timing error,
8600 ensuring that no other job can use the same name for a temporary file.
8602 ** New exclusive-open feature in `write-region'
8604 The optional seventh arg is now called MUSTBENEW. If non-nil, it insists
8605 on a check for an existing file with the same name. If MUSTBENEW
8606 is `excl', that means to get an error if the file already exists;
8607 never overwrite. If MUSTBENEW is neither nil nor `excl', that means
8608 ask for confirmation before overwriting, but do go ahead and
8609 overwrite the file if the user gives confirmation.
8611 If the MUSTBENEW argument in `write-region' is `excl',
8612 that means to use a special feature in the `open' system call
8613 to get an error if the file exists at that time.
8614 The error reported is `file-already-exists'.
8616 ** Function `format' now handles text properties.
8618 Text properties of the format string are applied to the result string.
8619 If the result string is longer than the format string, text properties
8620 ending at the end of the format string are extended to the end of the
8623 Text properties from string arguments are applied to the result
8624 string where arguments appear in the result string.
8628 (let ((s1 "hello, %s")
8630 (put-text-property 0 (length s1) 'face 'bold s1)
8631 (put-text-property 0 (length s2) 'face 'italic s2)
8634 results in a bold-face string with an italic `world' at the end.
8636 ** Messages can now be displayed with text properties.
8638 Text properties are handled as described above for function `format'.
8639 The following example displays a bold-face message with an italic
8642 (let ((msg "hello, %s!")
8644 (put-text-property 0 (length msg) 'face 'bold msg)
8645 (put-text-property 0 (length arg) 'face 'italic arg)
8650 Emacs supports playing sound files on GNU/Linux and the free BSDs
8651 (Voxware driver and native BSD driver, aka as Luigi's driver).
8653 Currently supported file formats are RIFF-WAVE (*.wav) and Sun Audio
8654 (*.au). You must configure Emacs with the option `--with-sound=yes'
8655 to enable sound support.
8657 Sound files can be played by calling (play-sound SOUND). SOUND is a
8658 list of the form `(sound PROPERTY...)'. The function is only defined
8659 when sound support is present for the system on which Emacs runs. The
8660 functions runs `play-sound-functions' with one argument which is the
8661 sound to play, before playing the sound.
8663 The following sound properties are supported:
8667 FILE is a file name. If FILE isn't an absolute name, it will be
8668 searched relative to `data-directory'.
8672 DATA is a string containing sound data. Either :file or :data
8673 may be present, but not both.
8677 VOLUME must be an integer in the range 0..100 or a float in the range
8678 0..1. This property is optional.
8682 DEVICE is a string specifying the system device on which to play the
8683 sound. The default device is system-dependent.
8685 Other properties are ignored.
8687 An alternative interface is called as
8688 (play-sound-file FILE &optional VOLUME DEVICE).
8690 ** `multimedia' is a new Finder keyword and Custom group.
8692 ** keywordp is a new predicate to test efficiently for an object being
8695 ** Changes to garbage collection
8697 *** The function garbage-collect now additionally returns the number
8698 of live and free strings.
8700 *** There is a new variable `strings-consed' holding the number of
8701 strings that have been consed so far.
8704 * Lisp-level Display features added after release 2.6 of the Emacs
8707 ** The user-option `resize-mini-windows' controls how Emacs resizes
8710 ** The function `pos-visible-in-window-p' now has a third optional
8711 argument, PARTIALLY. If a character is only partially visible, nil is
8712 returned, unless PARTIALLY is non-nil.
8714 ** On window systems, `glyph-table' is no longer used.
8716 ** Help strings in menu items are now used to provide `help-echo' text.
8718 ** The function `image-size' can be used to determine the size of an
8721 - Function: image-size SPEC &optional PIXELS FRAME
8723 Return the size of an image as a pair (WIDTH . HEIGHT).
8725 SPEC is an image specification. PIXELS non-nil means return sizes
8726 measured in pixels, otherwise return sizes measured in canonical
8727 character units (fractions of the width/height of the frame's default
8728 font). FRAME is the frame on which the image will be displayed.
8729 FRAME nil or omitted means use the selected frame.
8731 ** The function `image-mask-p' can be used to determine if an image
8734 - Function: image-mask-p SPEC &optional FRAME
8736 Return t if image SPEC has a mask bitmap.
8737 FRAME is the frame on which the image will be displayed. FRAME nil
8738 or omitted means use the selected frame.
8740 ** The function `find-image' can be used to find a usable image
8741 satisfying one of a list of specifications.
8743 ** The STRING argument of `put-image' and `insert-image' is now
8746 ** Image specifications may contain the property `:ascent center' (see
8750 * New Lisp-level Display features in Emacs 21.1
8752 ** The function tty-suppress-bold-inverse-default-colors can be used
8753 to make Emacs avoid displaying text with bold black foreground on TTYs.
8755 Some terminals, notably PC consoles, emulate bold text by displaying
8756 text in brighter colors. On such a console, a bold black foreground
8757 is displayed in a gray color. If this turns out to be hard to read on
8758 your monitor---the problem occurred with the mode line on
8759 laptops---you can instruct Emacs to ignore the text's boldness, and to
8760 just display it black instead.
8762 This situation can't be detected automatically. You will have to put
8765 (tty-suppress-bold-inverse-default-colors t)
8769 ** New face implementation.
8771 Emacs faces have been reimplemented from scratch. They don't use XLFD
8772 font names anymore and face merging now works as expected.
8776 Each face can specify the following display attributes:
8778 1. Font family or fontset alias name.
8780 2. Relative proportionate width, aka character set width or set
8781 width (swidth), e.g. `semi-compressed'.
8783 3. Font height in 1/10pt
8785 4. Font weight, e.g. `bold'.
8787 5. Font slant, e.g. `italic'.
8789 6. Foreground color.
8791 7. Background color.
8793 8. Whether or not characters should be underlined, and in what color.
8795 9. Whether or not characters should be displayed in inverse video.
8797 10. A background stipple, a bitmap.
8799 11. Whether or not characters should be overlined, and in what color.
8801 12. Whether or not characters should be strike-through, and in what
8804 13. Whether or not a box should be drawn around characters, its
8805 color, the width of the box lines, and 3D appearance.
8807 Faces are frame-local by nature because Emacs allows to define the
8808 same named face (face names are symbols) differently for different
8809 frames. Each frame has an alist of face definitions for all named
8810 faces. The value of a named face in such an alist is a Lisp vector
8811 with the symbol `face' in slot 0, and a slot for each of the face
8812 attributes mentioned above.
8814 There is also a global face alist `face-new-frame-defaults'. Face
8815 definitions from this list are used to initialize faces of newly
8818 A face doesn't have to specify all attributes. Those not specified
8819 have a nil value. Faces specifying all attributes are called
8824 The display style of a given character in the text is determined by
8825 combining several faces. This process is called `face merging'. Any
8826 aspect of the display style that isn't specified by overlays or text
8827 properties is taken from the `default' face. Since it is made sure
8828 that the default face is always fully-specified, face merging always
8829 results in a fully-specified face.
8831 *** Face realization.
8833 After all face attributes for a character have been determined by
8834 merging faces of that character, that face is `realized'. The
8835 realization process maps face attributes to what is physically
8836 available on the system where Emacs runs. The result is a `realized
8837 face' in form of an internal structure which is stored in the face
8838 cache of the frame on which it was realized.
8840 Face realization is done in the context of the charset of the
8841 character to display because different fonts and encodings are used
8842 for different charsets. In other words, for characters of different
8843 charsets, different realized faces are needed to display them.
8845 Except for composite characters, faces are always realized for a
8846 specific character set and contain a specific font, even if the face
8847 being realized specifies a fontset. The reason is that the result of
8848 the new font selection stage is better than what can be done with
8849 statically defined font name patterns in fontsets.
8851 In unibyte text, Emacs' charsets aren't applicable; function
8852 `char-charset' reports ASCII for all characters, including those >
8853 0x7f. The X registry and encoding of fonts to use is determined from
8854 the variable `face-default-registry' in this case. The variable is
8855 initialized at Emacs startup time from the font the user specified for
8858 Currently all unibyte text, i.e. all buffers with
8859 `enable-multibyte-characters' nil are displayed with fonts of the same
8860 registry and encoding `face-default-registry'. This is consistent
8861 with the fact that languages can also be set globally, only.
8863 **** Clearing face caches.
8865 The Lisp function `clear-face-cache' can be called to clear face caches
8866 on all frames. If called with a non-nil argument, it will also unload
8871 Font selection tries to find the best available matching font for a
8872 given (charset, face) combination. This is done slightly differently
8873 for faces specifying a fontset, or a font family name.
8875 If the face specifies a fontset name, that fontset determines a
8876 pattern for fonts of the given charset. If the face specifies a font
8877 family, a font pattern is constructed. Charset symbols have a
8878 property `x-charset-registry' for that purpose that maps a charset to
8879 an XLFD registry and encoding in the font pattern constructed.
8881 Available fonts on the system on which Emacs runs are then matched
8882 against the font pattern. The result of font selection is the best
8883 match for the given face attributes in this font list.
8885 Font selection can be influenced by the user.
8887 The user can specify the relative importance he gives the face
8888 attributes width, height, weight, and slant by setting
8889 face-font-selection-order (faces.el) to a list of face attribute
8890 names. The default is (:width :height :weight :slant), and means
8891 that font selection first tries to find a good match for the font
8892 width specified by a face, then---within fonts with that width---tries
8893 to find a best match for the specified font height, etc.
8895 Setting `face-font-family-alternatives' allows the user to specify
8896 alternative font families to try if a family specified by a face
8899 Setting `face-font-registry-alternatives' allows the user to specify
8900 all alternative font registry names to try for a face specifying a
8903 Please note that the interpretations of the above two variables are
8906 Setting face-ignored-fonts allows the user to ignore specific fonts.
8911 Emacs can make use of scalable fonts but doesn't do so by default,
8912 since the use of too many or too big scalable fonts may crash XFree86
8915 To enable scalable font use, set the variable
8916 `scalable-fonts-allowed'. A value of nil, the default, means never use
8917 scalable fonts. A value of t means any scalable font may be used.
8918 Otherwise, the value must be a list of regular expressions. A
8919 scalable font may then be used if it matches a regular expression from
8922 (setq scalable-fonts-allowed '("muleindian-2$"))
8924 allows the use of scalable fonts with registry `muleindian-2'.
8926 *** Functions and variables related to font selection.
8928 - Function: x-family-fonts &optional FAMILY FRAME
8930 Return a list of available fonts of family FAMILY on FRAME. If FAMILY
8931 is omitted or nil, list all families. Otherwise, FAMILY must be a
8932 string, possibly containing wildcards `?' and `*'.
8934 If FRAME is omitted or nil, use the selected frame. Each element of
8935 the result is a vector [FAMILY WIDTH POINT-SIZE WEIGHT SLANT FIXED-P
8936 FULL REGISTRY-AND-ENCODING]. FAMILY is the font family name.
8937 POINT-SIZE is the size of the font in 1/10 pt. WIDTH, WEIGHT, and
8938 SLANT are symbols describing the width, weight and slant of the font.
8939 These symbols are the same as for face attributes. FIXED-P is non-nil
8940 if the font is fixed-pitch. FULL is the full name of the font, and
8941 REGISTRY-AND-ENCODING is a string giving the registry and encoding of
8942 the font. The result list is sorted according to the current setting
8943 of the face font sort order.
8945 - Function: x-font-family-list
8947 Return a list of available font families on FRAME. If FRAME is
8948 omitted or nil, use the selected frame. Value is a list of conses
8949 (FAMILY . FIXED-P) where FAMILY is a font family, and FIXED-P is
8950 non-nil if fonts of that family are fixed-pitch.
8952 - Variable: font-list-limit
8954 Limit for font matching. If an integer > 0, font matching functions
8955 won't load more than that number of fonts when searching for a
8956 matching font. The default is currently 100.
8958 *** Setting face attributes.
8960 For the most part, the new face implementation is interface-compatible
8961 with the old one. Old face attribute related functions are now
8962 implemented in terms of the new functions `set-face-attribute' and
8965 Face attributes are identified by their names which are keyword
8966 symbols. All attributes can be set to `unspecified'.
8968 The following attributes are recognized:
8972 VALUE must be a string specifying the font family, e.g. ``courier'',
8973 or a fontset alias name. If a font family is specified, wild-cards `*'
8974 and `?' are allowed.
8978 VALUE specifies the relative proportionate width of the font to use.
8979 It must be one of the symbols `ultra-condensed', `extra-condensed',
8980 `condensed', `semi-condensed', `normal', `semi-expanded', `expanded',
8981 `extra-expanded', or `ultra-expanded'.
8985 VALUE must be either an integer specifying the height of the font to use
8986 in 1/10 pt, a floating point number specifying the amount by which to
8987 scale any underlying face, or a function, which is called with the old
8988 height (from the underlying face), and should return the new height.
8992 VALUE specifies the weight of the font to use. It must be one of the
8993 symbols `ultra-bold', `extra-bold', `bold', `semi-bold', `normal',
8994 `semi-light', `light', `extra-light', `ultra-light'.
8998 VALUE specifies the slant of the font to use. It must be one of the
8999 symbols `italic', `oblique', `normal', `reverse-italic', or
9002 `:foreground', `:background'
9004 VALUE must be a color name, a string.
9008 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be underlined. If
9009 VALUE is t, underline with foreground color of the face. If VALUE is
9010 a string, underline with that color. If VALUE is nil, explicitly
9015 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be overlined. If
9016 VALUE is t, overline with foreground color of the face. If VALUE is a
9017 string, overline with that color. If VALUE is nil, explicitly don't
9022 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be drawn with a line
9023 striking through them. If VALUE is t, use the foreground color of the
9024 face. If VALUE is a string, strike-through with that color. If VALUE
9025 is nil, explicitly don't strike through.
9029 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should have a box drawn
9030 around them. If VALUE is nil, explicitly don't draw boxes. If
9031 VALUE is t, draw a box with lines of width 1 in the foreground color
9032 of the face. If VALUE is a string, the string must be a color name,
9033 and the box is drawn in that color with a line width of 1. Otherwise,
9034 VALUE must be a property list of the form `(:line-width WIDTH
9035 :color COLOR :style STYLE)'. If a keyword/value pair is missing from
9036 the property list, a default value will be used for the value, as
9037 specified below. WIDTH specifies the width of the lines to draw; it
9038 defaults to 1. COLOR is the name of the color to draw in, default is
9039 the foreground color of the face for simple boxes, and the background
9040 color of the face for 3D boxes. STYLE specifies whether a 3D box
9041 should be draw. If STYLE is `released-button', draw a box looking
9042 like a released 3D button. If STYLE is `pressed-button' draw a box
9043 that appears like a pressed button. If STYLE is nil, the default if
9044 the property list doesn't contain a style specification, draw a 2D
9049 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be displayed in
9050 inverse video. VALUE must be one of t or nil.
9054 If VALUE is a string, it must be the name of a file of pixmap data.
9055 The directories listed in the `x-bitmap-file-path' variable are
9056 searched. Alternatively, VALUE may be a list of the form (WIDTH
9057 HEIGHT DATA) where WIDTH and HEIGHT are the size in pixels, and DATA
9058 is a string containing the raw bits of the bitmap. VALUE nil means
9059 explicitly don't use a stipple pattern.
9061 For convenience, attributes `:family', `:width', `:height', `:weight',
9062 and `:slant' may also be set in one step from an X font name:
9066 Set font-related face attributes from VALUE. VALUE must be a valid
9067 XLFD font name. If it is a font name pattern, the first matching font
9068 is used--this is for compatibility with the behavior of previous
9071 For compatibility with Emacs 20, keywords `:bold' and `:italic' can
9072 be used to specify that a bold or italic font should be used. VALUE
9073 must be t or nil in that case. A value of `unspecified' is not allowed."
9075 Please see also the documentation of `set-face-attribute' and
9080 VALUE is the name of a face from which to inherit attributes, or a list
9081 of face names. Attributes from inherited faces are merged into the face
9082 like an underlying face would be, with higher priority than underlying faces.
9084 *** Face attributes and X resources
9086 The following X resource names can be used to set face attributes
9089 Face attribute X resource class
9090 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
9091 :family attributeFamily . Face.AttributeFamily
9092 :width attributeWidth Face.AttributeWidth
9093 :height attributeHeight Face.AttributeHeight
9094 :weight attributeWeight Face.AttributeWeight
9095 :slant attributeSlant Face.AttributeSlant
9096 foreground attributeForeground Face.AttributeForeground
9097 :background attributeBackground . Face.AttributeBackground
9098 :overline attributeOverline Face.AttributeOverline
9099 :strike-through attributeStrikeThrough Face.AttributeStrikeThrough
9100 :box attributeBox Face.AttributeBox
9101 :underline attributeUnderline Face.AttributeUnderline
9102 :inverse-video attributeInverse Face.AttributeInverse
9103 :stipple attributeStipple Face.AttributeStipple
9104 or attributeBackgroundPixmap
9105 Face.AttributeBackgroundPixmap
9106 :font attributeFont Face.AttributeFont
9107 :bold attributeBold Face.AttributeBold
9108 :italic attributeItalic . Face.AttributeItalic
9109 :font attributeFont Face.AttributeFont
9111 *** Text property `face'.
9113 The value of the `face' text property can now be a single face
9114 specification or a list of such specifications. Each face
9115 specification can be
9117 1. A symbol or string naming a Lisp face.
9119 2. A property list of the form (KEYWORD VALUE ...) where each
9120 KEYWORD is a face attribute name, and VALUE is an appropriate value
9121 for that attribute. Please see the doc string of `set-face-attribute'
9122 for face attribute names.
9124 3. Conses of the form (FOREGROUND-COLOR . COLOR) or
9125 (BACKGROUND-COLOR . COLOR) where COLOR is a color name. This is
9126 for compatibility with previous Emacs versions.
9128 ** Support functions for colors on text-only terminals.
9130 The function `tty-color-define' can be used to define colors for use
9131 on TTY and MSDOS frames. It maps a color name to a color number on
9132 the terminal. Emacs defines a couple of common color mappings by
9133 default. You can get defined colors with a call to
9134 `defined-colors'. The function `tty-color-clear' can be
9135 used to clear the mapping table.
9137 ** Unified support for colors independent of frame type.
9139 The new functions `defined-colors', `color-defined-p', `color-values',
9140 and `display-color-p' work for any type of frame. On frames whose
9141 type is neither x nor w32, these functions transparently map X-style
9142 color specifications to the closest colors supported by the frame
9143 display. Lisp programs should use these new functions instead of the
9144 old `x-defined-colors', `x-color-defined-p', `x-color-values', and
9145 `x-display-color-p'. (The old function names are still available for
9146 compatibility; they are now aliases of the new names.) Lisp programs
9147 should no more look at the value of the variable window-system to
9148 modify their color-related behavior.
9150 The primitives `color-gray-p' and `color-supported-p' also work for
9153 ** Platform-independent functions to describe display capabilities.
9155 The new functions `display-mouse-p', `display-popup-menus-p',
9156 `display-graphic-p', `display-selections-p', `display-screens',
9157 `display-pixel-width', `display-pixel-height', `display-mm-width',
9158 `display-mm-height', `display-backing-store', `display-save-under',
9159 `display-planes', `display-color-cells', `display-visual-class', and
9160 `display-grayscale-p' describe the basic capabilities of a particular
9161 display. Lisp programs should call these functions instead of testing
9162 the value of the variables `window-system' or `system-type', or calling
9163 platform-specific functions such as `x-display-pixel-width'.
9165 The new function `display-images-p' returns non-nil if a particular
9166 display can display image files.
9168 ** The minibuffer prompt is now actually inserted in the minibuffer.
9170 This makes it possible to scroll through the prompt, if you want to.
9171 To disallow this completely (like previous versions of emacs), customize
9172 the variable `minibuffer-prompt-properties', and turn on the
9173 `Inviolable' option.
9175 The function `minibuffer-prompt-end' returns the current position of the
9176 end of the minibuffer prompt, if the minibuffer is current.
9177 Otherwise, it returns `(point-min)'.
9179 ** New `field' abstraction in buffers.
9181 There is now code to support an abstraction called `fields' in emacs
9182 buffers. A field is a contiguous region of text with the same `field'
9183 property (which can be a text property or an overlay).
9185 Many emacs functions, such as forward-word, forward-sentence,
9186 forward-paragraph, beginning-of-line, etc., stop moving when they come
9187 to the boundary between fields; beginning-of-line and end-of-line will
9188 not let the point move past the field boundary, but other movement
9189 commands continue into the next field if repeated. Stopping at field
9190 boundaries can be suppressed programmatically by binding
9191 `inhibit-field-text-motion' to a non-nil value around calls to these
9194 Now that the minibuffer prompt is inserted into the minibuffer, it is in
9195 a separate field from the user-input part of the buffer, so that common
9196 editing commands treat the user's text separately from the prompt.
9198 The following functions are defined for operating on fields:
9200 - Function: constrain-to-field NEW-POS OLD-POS &optional ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE ONLY-IN-LINE INHIBIT-CAPTURE-PROPERTY
9202 Return the position closest to NEW-POS that is in the same field as OLD-POS.
9204 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
9205 If NEW-POS is nil, then the current point is used instead, and set to the
9206 constrained position if that is different.
9208 If OLD-POS is at the boundary of two fields, then the allowable
9209 positions for NEW-POS depends on the value of the optional argument
9210 ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE: If ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE is nil, then NEW-POS is
9211 constrained to the field that has the same `field' char-property
9212 as any new characters inserted at OLD-POS, whereas if ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE
9213 is non-nil, NEW-POS is constrained to the union of the two adjacent
9214 fields. Additionally, if two fields are separated by another field with
9215 the special value `boundary', then any point within this special field is
9216 also considered to be `on the boundary'.
9218 If the optional argument ONLY-IN-LINE is non-nil and constraining
9219 NEW-POS would move it to a different line, NEW-POS is returned
9220 unconstrained. This useful for commands that move by line, like
9221 C-n or C-a, which should generally respect field boundaries
9222 only in the case where they can still move to the right line.
9224 If the optional argument INHIBIT-CAPTURE-PROPERTY is non-nil, and OLD-POS has
9225 a non-nil property of that name, then any field boundaries are ignored.
9227 Field boundaries are not noticed if `inhibit-field-text-motion' is non-nil.
9229 - Function: delete-field &optional POS
9231 Delete the field surrounding POS.
9232 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
9233 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
9235 - Function: field-beginning &optional POS ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE
9237 Return the beginning of the field surrounding POS.
9238 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
9239 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
9240 If ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE is non-nil and POS is at the beginning of its
9241 field, then the beginning of the *previous* field is returned.
9243 - Function: field-end &optional POS ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE
9245 Return the end of the field surrounding POS.
9246 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
9247 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
9248 If ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE is non-nil and POS is at the end of its field,
9249 then the end of the *following* field is returned.
9251 - Function: field-string &optional POS
9253 Return the contents of the field surrounding POS as a string.
9254 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
9255 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
9257 - Function: field-string-no-properties &optional POS
9259 Return the contents of the field around POS, without text-properties.
9260 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
9261 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
9265 Emacs can now display images. Images are inserted into text by giving
9266 strings or buffer text a `display' text property containing one of
9267 (AREA IMAGE) or IMAGE. The display of the `display' property value
9268 replaces the display of the characters having that property.
9270 If the property value has the form (AREA IMAGE), AREA must be one of
9271 `(margin left-margin)', `(margin right-margin)' or `(margin nil)'. If
9272 AREA is `(margin nil)', IMAGE will be displayed in the text area of a
9273 window, otherwise it will be displayed in the left or right marginal
9276 IMAGE is an image specification.
9278 *** Image specifications
9280 Image specifications are lists of the form `(image PROPS)' where PROPS
9281 is a property list whose keys are keyword symbols. Each
9282 specifications must contain a property `:type TYPE' with TYPE being a
9283 symbol specifying the image type, e.g. `xbm'. Properties not
9284 described below are ignored.
9286 The following is a list of properties all image types share.
9290 ASCENT must be a number in the range 0..100, or the symbol `center'.
9291 If it is a number, it specifies the percentage of the image's height
9292 to use for its ascent.
9294 If not specified, ASCENT defaults to the value 50 which means that the
9295 image will be centered with the base line of the row it appears in.
9297 If ASCENT is `center' the image is vertically centered around a
9298 centerline which is the vertical center of text drawn at the position
9299 of the image, in the manner specified by the text properties and
9300 overlays that apply to the image.
9304 MARGIN must be either a number >= 0 specifying how many pixels to put
9305 as margin around the image, or a pair (X . Y) with X specifying the
9306 horizontal margin and Y specifying the vertical margin. Default is 0.
9310 RELIEF is analogous to the `:relief' attribute of faces. Puts a relief
9315 Apply an image algorithm to the image before displaying it.
9317 ALGO `laplace' or `emboss' means apply a Laplace or ``emboss''
9318 edge-detection algorithm to the image.
9320 ALGO `(edge-detection :matrix MATRIX :color-adjust ADJUST)' means
9321 apply a general edge-detection algorithm. MATRIX must be either a
9322 nine-element list or a nine-element vector of numbers. A pixel at
9323 position x/y in the transformed image is computed from original pixels
9324 around that position. MATRIX specifies, for each pixel in the
9325 neighborhood of x/y, a factor with which that pixel will influence the
9326 transformed pixel; element 0 specifies the factor for the pixel at
9327 x-1/y-1, element 1 the factor for the pixel at x/y-1 etc. as shown
9330 (x-1/y-1 x/y-1 x+1/y-1
9332 x-1/y+1 x/y+1 x+1/y+1)
9334 The resulting pixel is computed from the color intensity of the color
9335 resulting from summing up the RGB values of surrounding pixels,
9336 multiplied by the specified factors, and dividing that sum by the sum
9337 of the factors' absolute values.
9339 Laplace edge-detection currently uses a matrix of
9345 Emboss edge-detection uses a matrix of
9351 ALGO `disabled' means transform the image so that it looks
9356 If MASK is `heuristic' or `(heuristic BG)', build a clipping mask for
9357 the image, so that the background of a frame is visible behind the
9358 image. If BG is not specified, or if BG is t, determine the
9359 background color of the image by looking at the 4 corners of the
9360 image, assuming the most frequently occurring color from the corners is
9361 the background color of the image. Otherwise, BG must be a list `(RED
9362 GREEN BLUE)' specifying the color to assume for the background of the
9365 If MASK is nil, remove a mask from the image, if it has one. Images
9366 in some formats include a mask which can be removed by specifying
9371 Load image from FILE. If FILE is not absolute after expanding it,
9372 search for the image in `data-directory'. Some image types support
9373 building images from data. When this is done, no `:file' property
9374 may be present in the image specification.
9378 Get image data from DATA. (As of this writing, this is not yet
9379 supported for image type `postscript'). Either :file or :data may be
9380 present in an image specification, but not both. All image types
9381 support strings as DATA, some types allow additional types of DATA.
9383 *** Supported image types
9385 **** XBM, image type `xbm'.
9387 XBM images don't require an external library. Additional image
9388 properties supported are:
9392 FG must be a string specifying the image foreground color, or nil
9393 meaning to use the default. Default is the frame's foreground color.
9397 BG must be a string specifying the image background color, or nil
9398 meaning to use the default. Default is the frame's background color.
9400 XBM images can be constructed from data instead of file. In this
9401 case, the image specification must contain the following properties
9402 instead of a `:file' property.
9406 WIDTH specifies the width of the image in pixels.
9410 HEIGHT specifies the height of the image in pixels.
9416 1. a string large enough to hold the bitmap data, i.e. it must
9417 have a size >= (WIDTH + 7) / 8 * HEIGHT
9419 2. a bool-vector of size >= WIDTH * HEIGHT
9421 3. a vector of strings or bool-vectors, one for each line of the
9424 4. a string that's an in-memory XBM file. Neither width nor
9425 height may be specified in this case because these are defined
9428 **** XPM, image type `xpm'
9430 XPM images require the external library `libXpm', package
9431 `xpm-3.4k.tar.gz', version 3.4k or later. Make sure the library is
9432 found when Emacs is configured by supplying appropriate paths via
9433 `--x-includes' and `--x-libraries'.
9435 Additional image properties supported are:
9437 `:color-symbols SYMBOLS'
9439 SYMBOLS must be a list of pairs (NAME . COLOR), with NAME being the
9440 name of color as it appears in an XPM file, and COLOR being an X color
9443 XPM images can be built from memory instead of files. In that case,
9444 add a `:data' property instead of a `:file' property.
9446 The XPM library uses libz in its implementation so that it is able
9447 to display compressed images.
9449 **** PBM, image type `pbm'
9451 PBM images don't require an external library. Color, gray-scale and
9452 mono images are supported. Additional image properties supported for
9457 FG must be a string specifying the image foreground color, or nil
9458 meaning to use the default. Default is the frame's foreground color.
9462 BG must be a string specifying the image background color, or nil
9463 meaning to use the default. Default is the frame's background color.
9465 **** JPEG, image type `jpeg'
9467 Support for JPEG images requires the external library `libjpeg',
9468 package `jpegsrc.v6a.tar.gz', or later. There are no additional image
9471 **** TIFF, image type `tiff'
9473 Support for TIFF images requires the external library `libtiff',
9474 package `tiff-v3.4-tar.gz', or later. There are no additional image
9477 **** GIF, image type `gif'
9479 Support for GIF images requires the external library `libungif', package
9480 `libungif-4.1.0', or later.
9482 Additional image properties supported are:
9486 INDEX must be an integer >= 0. Load image number INDEX from a
9487 multi-image GIF file. If INDEX is too large, the image displays
9490 This could be used to implement limited support for animated GIFs.
9491 For example, the following function displays a multi-image GIF file
9492 at point-min in the current buffer, switching between sub-images
9495 (defun show-anim (file max)
9496 "Display multi-image GIF file FILE which contains MAX subimages."
9497 (display-anim (current-buffer) file 0 max t))
9499 (defun display-anim (buffer file idx max first-time)
9502 (let ((img (create-image file nil nil :index idx)))
9505 (goto-char (point-min))
9506 (unless first-time (delete-char 1))
9507 (insert-image img "x"))
9508 (run-with-timer 0.1 nil 'display-anim buffer file (1+ idx) max nil)))
9510 **** PNG, image type `png'
9512 Support for PNG images requires the external library `libpng',
9513 package `libpng-1.0.2.tar.gz', or later. There are no additional image
9516 **** Ghostscript, image type `postscript'.
9518 Additional image properties supported are:
9522 WIDTH is width of the image in pt (1/72 inch). WIDTH must be an
9523 integer. This is a required property.
9527 HEIGHT specifies the height of the image in pt (1/72 inch). HEIGHT
9528 must be a integer. This is an required property.
9532 BOX must be a list or vector of 4 integers giving the bounding box of
9533 the PS image, analogous to the `BoundingBox' comment found in PS
9534 files. This is an required property.
9536 Part of the Ghostscript interface is implemented in Lisp. See
9541 The variable `image-types' contains a list of those image types
9542 which are supported in the current configuration.
9544 Images are stored in an image cache and removed from the cache when
9545 they haven't been displayed for `image-cache-eviction-delay seconds.
9546 The function `clear-image-cache' can be used to clear the image cache
9547 manually. Images in the cache are compared with `equal', i.e. all
9548 images with `equal' specifications share the same image.
9550 *** Simplified image API, image.el
9552 The new Lisp package image.el contains functions that simplify image
9553 creation and putting images into text. The function `create-image'
9554 can be used to create images. The macro `defimage' can be used to
9555 define an image based on available image types. The functions
9556 `put-image' and `insert-image' can be used to insert an image into a
9561 Windows can now have margins which are used for special text
9564 To give a window margins, either set the buffer-local variables
9565 `left-margin-width' and `right-margin-width', or call
9566 `set-window-margins'. The function `window-margins' can be used to
9567 obtain the current settings. To make `left-margin-width' and
9568 `right-margin-width' take effect, you must set them before displaying
9569 the buffer in a window, or use `set-window-buffer' to force an update
9570 of the display margins.
9572 You can put text in margins by giving it a `display' text property
9573 containing a pair of the form `(LOCATION . VALUE)', where LOCATION is
9574 one of `left-margin' or `right-margin' or nil. VALUE can be either a
9575 string, an image specification or a stretch specification (see later
9580 Emacs displays short help messages in the echo area, when the mouse
9581 moves over a tool-bar item or a piece of text that has a text property
9582 `help-echo'. This feature also applies to strings in the mode line
9583 that have a `help-echo' property.
9585 If the value of the `help-echo' property is a function, that function
9586 is called with three arguments WINDOW, OBJECT and POSITION. WINDOW is
9587 the window in which the help was found.
9589 If OBJECT is a buffer, POS is the position in the buffer where the
9590 `help-echo' text property was found.
9592 If OBJECT is an overlay, that overlay has a `help-echo' property, and
9593 POS is the position in the overlay's buffer under the mouse.
9595 If OBJECT is a string (an overlay string or a string displayed with
9596 the `display' property), POS is the position in that string under the
9599 If the value of the `help-echo' property is neither a function nor a
9600 string, it is evaluated to obtain a help string.
9602 For tool-bar and menu-bar items, their key definition is used to
9603 determine the help to display. If their definition contains a
9604 property `:help FORM', FORM is evaluated to determine the help string.
9605 For tool-bar items without a help form, the caption of the item is
9606 used as help string.
9608 The hook `show-help-function' can be set to a function that displays
9609 the help string differently. For example, enabling a tooltip window
9610 causes the help display to appear there instead of in the echo area.
9612 ** Vertical fractional scrolling.
9614 The display of text in windows can be scrolled smoothly in pixels.
9615 This is useful, for example, for making parts of large images visible.
9617 The function `window-vscroll' returns the current value of vertical
9618 scrolling, a non-negative fraction of the canonical character height.
9619 The function `set-window-vscroll' can be used to set the vertical
9620 scrolling value. Here is an example of how these function might be
9623 (global-set-key [A-down]
9626 (set-window-vscroll (selected-window)
9627 (+ 0.5 (window-vscroll)))))
9628 (global-set-key [A-up]
9631 (set-window-vscroll (selected-window)
9632 (- (window-vscroll) 0.5)))))
9634 ** New hook `fontification-functions'.
9636 Functions from `fontification-functions' are called from redisplay
9637 when it encounters a region of text that is not yet fontified. This
9638 variable automatically becomes buffer-local when set. Each function
9639 is called with one argument, POS.
9641 At least one of the hook functions should fontify one or more
9642 characters starting at POS in the current buffer. It should mark them
9643 as fontified by giving them a non-nil value of the `fontified' text
9644 property. It may be reasonable for these functions to check for the
9645 `fontified' property and not put it back on, but they do not have to.
9647 ** Tool bar support.
9649 Emacs supports a tool bar at the top of a frame under X. The frame
9650 parameter `tool-bar-lines' (X resource "toolBar", class "ToolBar")
9651 controls how may lines to reserve for the tool bar. A zero value
9652 suppresses the tool bar. If the value is non-zero and
9653 `auto-resize-tool-bars' is non-nil the tool bar's size will be changed
9654 automatically so that all tool bar items are visible.
9656 *** Tool bar item definitions
9658 Tool bar items are defined using `define-key' with a prefix-key
9659 `tool-bar'. For example `(define-key global-map [tool-bar item1] ITEM)'
9660 where ITEM is a list `(menu-item CAPTION BINDING PROPS...)'.
9662 CAPTION is the caption of the item, If it's not a string, it is
9663 evaluated to get a string. The caption is currently not displayed in
9664 the tool bar, but it is displayed if the item doesn't have a `:help'
9665 property (see below).
9667 BINDING is the tool bar item's binding. Tool bar items with keymaps as
9668 binding are currently ignored.
9670 The following properties are recognized:
9674 FORM is evaluated and specifies whether the tool bar item is enabled
9679 FORM is evaluated and specifies whether the tool bar item is displayed.
9683 FUNCTION is called with one parameter, the same list BINDING in which
9684 FUNCTION is specified as the filter. The value FUNCTION returns is
9685 used instead of BINDING to display this item.
9687 `:button (TYPE SELECTED)'
9689 TYPE must be one of `:radio' or `:toggle'. SELECTED is evaluated
9690 and specifies whether the button is selected (pressed) or not.
9694 IMAGES is either a single image specification or a vector of four
9695 image specifications. If it is a vector, this table lists the
9696 meaning of each of the four elements:
9698 Index Use when item is
9699 ----------------------------------------
9700 0 enabled and selected
9701 1 enabled and deselected
9702 2 disabled and selected
9703 3 disabled and deselected
9705 If IMAGE is a single image specification, a Laplace edge-detection
9706 algorithm is used on that image to draw the image in disabled state.
9708 `:help HELP-STRING'.
9710 Gives a help string to display for the tool bar item. This help
9711 is displayed when the mouse is moved over the item.
9713 The function `toolbar-add-item' is a convenience function for adding
9714 toolbar items generally, and `tool-bar-add-item-from-menu' can be used
9715 to define a toolbar item with a binding copied from an item on the
9718 The default bindings use a menu-item :filter to derive the tool-bar
9719 dynamically from variable `tool-bar-map' which may be set
9720 buffer-locally to override the global map.
9722 *** Tool-bar-related variables.
9724 If `auto-resize-tool-bar' is non-nil, the tool bar will automatically
9725 resize to show all defined tool bar items. It will never grow larger
9726 than 1/4 of the frame's size.
9728 If `auto-raise-tool-bar-buttons' is non-nil, tool bar buttons will be
9729 raised when the mouse moves over them.
9731 You can add extra space between tool bar items by setting
9732 `tool-bar-button-margin' to a positive integer specifying a number of
9733 pixels, or a pair of integers (X . Y) specifying horizontal and
9734 vertical margins . Default is 1.
9736 You can change the shadow thickness of tool bar buttons by setting
9737 `tool-bar-button-relief' to an integer. Default is 3.
9739 *** Tool-bar clicks with modifiers.
9741 You can bind commands to clicks with control, shift, meta etc. on
9744 (define-key global-map [tool-bar shell]
9745 '(menu-item "Shell" shell
9746 :image (image :type xpm :file "shell.xpm")))
9748 is the original tool bar item definition, then
9750 (define-key global-map [tool-bar S-shell] 'some-command)
9752 makes a binding to run `some-command' for a shifted click on the same
9755 ** Mode line changes.
9757 *** Mouse-sensitive mode line.
9759 The mode line can be made mouse-sensitive by displaying strings there
9760 that have a `local-map' text property. There are three ways to display
9761 a string with a `local-map' property in the mode line.
9763 1. The mode line spec contains a variable whose string value has
9764 a `local-map' text property.
9766 2. The mode line spec contains a format specifier (e.g. `%12b'), and
9767 that format specifier has a `local-map' property.
9769 3. The mode line spec contains a list containing `:eval FORM'. FORM
9770 is evaluated. If the result is a string, and that string has a
9771 `local-map' property.
9773 The same mechanism is used to determine the `face' and `help-echo'
9774 properties of strings in the mode line. See `bindings.el' for an
9777 *** If a mode line element has the form `(:eval FORM)', FORM is
9778 evaluated and the result is used as mode line element.
9780 *** You can suppress mode-line display by setting the buffer-local
9781 variable mode-line-format to nil.
9783 *** A headerline can now be displayed at the top of a window.
9785 This mode line's contents are controlled by the new variable
9786 `header-line-format' and `default-header-line-format' which are
9787 completely analogous to `mode-line-format' and
9788 `default-mode-line-format'. A value of nil means don't display a top
9791 The appearance of top mode lines is controlled by the face
9794 The function `coordinates-in-window-p' returns `header-line' for a
9795 position in the header-line.
9797 ** Text property `display'
9799 The `display' text property is used to insert images into text,
9800 replace text with other text, display text in marginal area, and it is
9801 also used to control other aspects of how text displays. The value of
9802 the `display' property should be a display specification, as described
9803 below, or a list or vector containing display specifications.
9805 *** Replacing text, displaying text in marginal areas
9807 To replace the text having the `display' property with some other
9808 text, use a display specification of the form `(LOCATION STRING)'.
9810 If LOCATION is `(margin left-margin)', STRING is displayed in the left
9811 marginal area, if it is `(margin right-margin)', it is displayed in
9812 the right marginal area, and if LOCATION is `(margin nil)' STRING
9813 is displayed in the text. In the latter case you can also use the
9814 simpler form STRING as property value.
9816 *** Variable width and height spaces
9818 To display a space of fractional width or height, use a display
9819 specification of the form `(LOCATION STRECH)'. If LOCATION is
9820 `(margin left-margin)', the space is displayed in the left marginal
9821 area, if it is `(margin right-margin)', it is displayed in the right
9822 marginal area, and if LOCATION is `(margin nil)' the space is
9823 displayed in the text. In the latter case you can also use the
9824 simpler form STRETCH as property value.
9826 The stretch specification STRETCH itself is a list of the form `(space
9827 PROPS)', where PROPS is a property list which can contain the
9828 properties described below.
9830 The display of the fractional space replaces the display of the
9831 characters having the `display' property.
9835 Specifies that the space width should be WIDTH times the normal
9836 character width. WIDTH can be an integer or floating point number.
9838 - :relative-width FACTOR
9840 Specifies that the width of the stretch should be computed from the
9841 first character in a group of consecutive characters that have the
9842 same `display' property. The computation is done by multiplying the
9843 width of that character by FACTOR.
9847 Specifies that the space should be wide enough to reach HPOS. The
9848 value HPOS is measured in units of the normal character width.
9850 Exactly one of the above properties should be used.
9854 Specifies the height of the space, as HEIGHT, measured in terms of the
9857 - :relative-height FACTOR
9859 The height of the space is computed as the product of the height
9860 of the text having the `display' property and FACTOR.
9864 Specifies that ASCENT percent of the height of the stretch should be
9865 used for the ascent of the stretch, i.e. for the part above the
9866 baseline. The value of ASCENT must be a non-negative number less or
9869 You should not use both `:height' and `:relative-height' together.
9873 A display specification for an image has the form `(LOCATION
9874 . IMAGE)', where IMAGE is an image specification. The image replaces,
9875 in the display, the characters having this display specification in
9876 their `display' text property. If LOCATION is `(margin left-margin)',
9877 the image will be displayed in the left marginal area, if it is
9878 `(margin right-margin)' it will be displayed in the right marginal
9879 area, and if LOCATION is `(margin nil)' the image will be displayed in
9880 the text. In the latter case you can also use the simpler form IMAGE
9881 as display specification.
9883 *** Other display properties
9885 - (space-width FACTOR)
9887 Specifies that space characters in the text having that property
9888 should be displayed FACTOR times as wide as normal; FACTOR must be an
9893 Display text having this property in a font that is smaller or larger.
9895 If HEIGHT is a list of the form `(+ N)', where N is an integer, that
9896 means to use a font that is N steps larger. If HEIGHT is a list of
9897 the form `(- N)', that means to use a font that is N steps smaller. A
9898 ``step'' is defined by the set of available fonts; each size for which
9899 a font is available counts as a step.
9901 If HEIGHT is a number, that means to use a font that is HEIGHT times
9902 as tall as the frame's default font.
9904 If HEIGHT is a symbol, it is called as a function with the current
9905 height as argument. The function should return the new height to use.
9907 Otherwise, HEIGHT is evaluated to get the new height, with the symbol
9908 `height' bound to the current specified font height.
9912 FACTOR must be a number, specifying a multiple of the current
9913 font's height. If it is positive, that means to display the characters
9914 raised. If it is negative, that means to display them lower down. The
9915 amount of raising or lowering is computed without taking account of the
9916 `height' subproperty.
9918 *** Conditional display properties
9920 All display specifications can be conditionalized. If a specification
9921 has the form `(when CONDITION . SPEC)', the specification SPEC applies
9922 only when CONDITION yields a non-nil value when evaluated. During the
9923 evaluation, `object' is bound to the string or buffer having the
9924 conditional display property; `position' and `buffer-position' are
9925 bound to the position within `object' and the buffer position where
9926 the display property was found, respectively. Both positions can be
9927 different when object is a string.
9929 The normal specification consisting of SPEC only is equivalent to
9932 ** New menu separator types.
9934 Emacs now supports more than one menu separator type. Menu items with
9935 item names consisting of dashes only (including zero dashes) are
9936 treated like before. In addition, the following item names are used
9937 to specify other menu separator types.
9939 - `--no-line' or `--space', or `--:space', or `--:noLine'
9941 No separator lines are drawn, but a small space is inserted where the
9944 - `--single-line' or `--:singleLine'
9946 A single line in the menu's foreground color.
9948 - `--double-line' or `--:doubleLine'
9950 A double line in the menu's foreground color.
9952 - `--single-dashed-line' or `--:singleDashedLine'
9954 A single dashed line in the menu's foreground color.
9956 - `--double-dashed-line' or `--:doubleDashedLine'
9958 A double dashed line in the menu's foreground color.
9960 - `--shadow-etched-in' or `--:shadowEtchedIn'
9962 A single line with 3D sunken appearance. This is the form
9963 displayed for item names consisting of dashes only.
9965 - `--shadow-etched-out' or `--:shadowEtchedOut'
9967 A single line with 3D raised appearance.
9969 - `--shadow-etched-in-dash' or `--:shadowEtchedInDash'
9971 A single dashed line with 3D sunken appearance.
9973 - `--shadow-etched-out-dash' or `--:shadowEtchedOutDash'
9975 A single dashed line with 3D raise appearance.
9977 - `--shadow-double-etched-in' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedIn'
9979 Two lines with 3D sunken appearance.
9981 - `--shadow-double-etched-out' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedOut'
9983 Two lines with 3D raised appearance.
9985 - `--shadow-double-etched-in-dash' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedInDash'
9987 Two dashed lines with 3D sunken appearance.
9989 - `--shadow-double-etched-out-dash' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedOutDash'
9991 Two dashed lines with 3D raised appearance.
9993 Under LessTif/Motif, the last four separator types are displayed like
9994 the corresponding single-line separators.
9996 ** New frame parameters for scroll bar colors.
9998 The new frame parameters `scroll-bar-foreground' and
9999 `scroll-bar-background' can be used to change scroll bar colors.
10000 Their value must be either a color name, a string, or nil to specify
10001 that scroll bars should use a default color. For toolkit scroll bars,
10002 default colors are toolkit specific. For non-toolkit scroll bars, the
10003 default background is the background color of the frame, and the
10004 default foreground is black.
10006 The X resource name of these parameters are `scrollBarForeground'
10007 (class ScrollBarForeground) and `scrollBarBackground' (class
10008 `ScrollBarBackground').
10010 Setting these parameters overrides toolkit specific X resource
10011 settings for scroll bar colors.
10013 ** You can set `redisplay-dont-pause' to a non-nil value to prevent
10014 display updates from being interrupted when input is pending.
10016 ** Changing a window's width may now change its window start if it
10017 starts on a continuation line. The new window start is computed based
10018 on the window's new width, starting from the start of the continued
10019 line as the start of the screen line with the minimum distance from
10020 the original window start.
10022 ** The variable `hscroll-step' and the functions
10023 `hscroll-point-visible' and `hscroll-window-column' have been removed
10024 now that proper horizontal scrolling is implemented.
10026 ** Windows can now be made fixed-width and/or fixed-height.
10028 A window is fixed-size if its buffer has a buffer-local variable
10029 `window-size-fixed' whose value is not nil. A value of `height' makes
10030 windows fixed-height, a value of `width' makes them fixed-width, any
10031 other non-nil value makes them both fixed-width and fixed-height.
10033 The following code makes all windows displaying the current buffer
10034 fixed-width and fixed-height.
10036 (set (make-local-variable 'window-size-fixed) t)
10038 A call to enlarge-window on a window gives an error if that window is
10039 fixed-width and it is tried to change the window's width, or if the
10040 window is fixed-height, and it is tried to change its height. To
10041 change the size of a fixed-size window, bind `window-size-fixed'
10042 temporarily to nil, for example
10044 (let ((window-size-fixed nil))
10045 (enlarge-window 10))
10047 Likewise, an attempt to split a fixed-height window vertically,
10048 or a fixed-width window horizontally results in a error.
10050 ** The cursor-type frame parameter is now supported on MS-DOS
10051 terminals. When Emacs starts, it by default changes the cursor shape
10052 to a solid box, as it does on Unix. The `cursor-type' frame parameter
10053 overrides this as it does on Unix, except that the bar cursor is
10054 horizontal rather than vertical (since the MS-DOS display doesn't
10055 support a vertical-bar cursor).
10059 * Emacs 20.7 is a bug-fix release with few user-visible changes
10061 ** It is now possible to use CCL-based coding systems for keyboard
10064 ** ange-ftp now handles FTP security extensions, like Kerberos.
10066 ** Rmail has been extended to recognize more forms of digest messages.
10068 ** Now, most coding systems set in keyboard coding system work not
10069 only for character input, but also in incremental search. The
10070 exceptions are such coding systems that handle 2-byte character sets
10071 (e.g euc-kr, euc-jp) and that use ISO's escape sequence
10072 (e.g. iso-2022-jp). They are ignored in incremental search.
10074 ** Support for Macintosh PowerPC-based machines running GNU/Linux has
10078 * Emacs 20.6 is a bug-fix release with one user-visible change
10080 ** Support for ARM-based non-RISCiX machines has been added.
10084 * Emacs 20.5 is a bug-fix release with no user-visible changes.
10086 ** Not new, but not mentioned before:
10087 M-w when Transient Mark mode is enabled disables the mark.
10089 * Changes in Emacs 20.4
10091 ** Init file may be called .emacs.el.
10093 You can now call the Emacs init file `.emacs.el'.
10094 Formerly the name had to be `.emacs'. If you use the name
10095 `.emacs.el', you can byte-compile the file in the usual way.
10097 If both `.emacs' and `.emacs.el' exist, the latter file
10098 is the one that is used.
10100 ** shell-command, and shell-command-on-region, now return
10101 the exit code of the command (unless it is asynchronous).
10102 Also, you can specify a place to put the error output,
10103 separate from the command's regular output.
10104 Interactively, the variable shell-command-default-error-buffer
10105 says where to put error output; set it to a buffer name.
10106 In calls from Lisp, an optional argument ERROR-BUFFER specifies
10109 When you specify a non-nil error buffer (or buffer name), any error
10110 output is inserted before point in that buffer, with \f\n to separate
10111 it from the previous batch of error output. The error buffer is not
10112 cleared, so error output from successive commands accumulates there.
10114 ** Setting the default value of enable-multibyte-characters to nil in
10115 the .emacs file, either explicitly using setq-default, or via Custom,
10116 is now essentially equivalent to using --unibyte: all buffers
10117 created during startup will be made unibyte after loading .emacs.
10119 ** C-x C-f now handles the wildcards * and ? in file names. For
10120 example, typing C-x C-f c*.c RET visits all the files whose names
10121 match c*.c. To visit a file whose name contains * or ?, add the
10122 quoting sequence /: to the beginning of the file name.
10124 ** The M-x commands keep-lines, flush-lines and count-matches
10125 now have the same feature as occur and query-replace:
10126 if the pattern contains any upper case letters, then
10127 they never ignore case.
10129 ** The end-of-line format conversion feature previously mentioned
10130 under `* Emacs 20.1 changes for MS-DOS and MS-Windows' actually
10131 applies to all operating systems. Emacs recognizes from the contents
10132 of a file what convention it uses to separate lines--newline, CRLF, or
10133 just CR--and automatically converts the contents to the normal Emacs
10134 convention (using newline to separate lines) for editing. This is a
10135 part of the general feature of coding system conversion.
10137 If you subsequently save the buffer, Emacs converts the text back to
10138 the same format that was used in the file before.
10140 You can turn off end-of-line conversion by setting the variable
10141 `inhibit-eol-conversion' to non-nil, e.g. with Custom in the MULE group.
10143 ** The character set property `prefered-coding-system' has been
10144 renamed to `preferred-coding-system', for the sake of correct spelling.
10145 This is a fairly internal feature, so few programs should be affected.
10147 ** Mode-line display of end-of-line format is changed.
10148 The indication of the end-of-line format of the file visited by a
10149 buffer is now more explicit when that format is not the usual one for
10150 your operating system. For example, the DOS-style end-of-line format
10151 is displayed as "(DOS)" on Unix and GNU/Linux systems. The usual
10152 end-of-line format is still displayed as a single character (colon for
10153 Unix, backslash for DOS and Windows, and forward slash for the Mac).
10155 The values of the variables eol-mnemonic-unix, eol-mnemonic-dos,
10156 eol-mnemonic-mac, and eol-mnemonic-undecided, which are strings,
10157 control what is displayed in the mode line for each end-of-line
10158 format. You can now customize these variables.
10160 ** In the previous version of Emacs, tar-mode didn't work well if a
10161 filename contained non-ASCII characters. Now this is fixed. Such a
10162 filename is decoded by file-name-coding-system if the default value of
10163 enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil.
10165 ** The command temp-buffer-resize-mode toggles a minor mode
10166 in which temporary buffers (such as help buffers) are given
10167 windows just big enough to hold the whole contents.
10169 ** If you use completion.el, you must now run the function
10170 dynamic-completion-mode to enable it. Just loading the file
10171 doesn't have any effect.
10173 ** In Flyspell mode, the default is now to make just one Ispell process,
10174 not one per buffer.
10176 ** If you use iswitchb but do not call (iswitchb-default-keybindings) to
10177 use the default keybindings, you will need to add the following line:
10178 (add-hook 'minibuffer-setup-hook 'iswitchb-minibuffer-setup)
10180 ** Auto-show mode is no longer enabled just by loading auto-show.el.
10181 To control it, set `auto-show-mode' via Custom or use the
10182 `auto-show-mode' command.
10184 ** Handling of X fonts' ascent/descent parameters has been changed to
10185 avoid redisplay problems. As a consequence, compared with previous
10186 versions the line spacing and frame size now differ with some font
10187 choices, typically increasing by a pixel per line. This change
10188 occurred in version 20.3 but was not documented then.
10190 ** If you select the bar cursor style, it uses the frame's
10191 cursor-color, rather than the cursor foreground pixel.
10193 ** In multibyte mode, Rmail decodes incoming MIME messages using the
10194 character set specified in the message. If you want to disable this
10195 feature, set the variable rmail-decode-mime-charset to nil.
10197 ** Not new, but not mentioned previously in NEWS: when you use #! at
10198 the beginning of a file to make it executable and specify an
10199 interpreter program, Emacs looks on the second line for the -*- mode
10200 and variable specification, as well as on the first line.
10202 ** Support for IBM codepage encoding of non-ASCII characters.
10204 The new command M-x codepage-setup creates a special coding system
10205 that can be used to convert text between a specific IBM codepage and
10206 one of the character sets built into Emacs which matches that
10207 codepage. For example, codepage 850 corresponds to Latin-1 character
10208 set, codepage 855 corresponds to Cyrillic-ISO character set, etc.
10210 Windows codepages 1250, 1251 and some others, where Windows deviates
10211 from the corresponding ISO character set, are also supported.
10213 IBM box-drawing characters and other glyphs which don't have
10214 equivalents in the corresponding ISO character set, are converted to
10215 a character defined by dos-unsupported-char-glyph on MS-DOS, and to
10216 `?' on other systems.
10218 IBM codepages are widely used on MS-DOS and MS-Windows, so this
10219 feature is most useful on those platforms, but it can also be used on
10222 Emacs compiled for MS-DOS automatically loads the support for the
10223 current codepage when it starts.
10227 *** When mail is sent using compose-mail (C-x m), and if
10228 `mail-send-nonascii' is set to the new default value `mime',
10229 appropriate MIME headers are added. The headers are added only if
10230 non-ASCII characters are present in the body of the mail, and no other
10231 MIME headers are already present. For example, the following three
10232 headers are added if the coding system used in the *mail* buffer is
10236 Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
10237 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
10239 *** The new variable default-sendmail-coding-system specifies the
10240 default way to encode outgoing mail. This has higher priority than
10241 default-buffer-file-coding-system but has lower priority than
10242 sendmail-coding-system and the local value of
10243 buffer-file-coding-system.
10245 You should not set this variable manually. Instead, set
10246 sendmail-coding-system to specify a fixed encoding for all outgoing
10249 *** When you try to send a message that contains non-ASCII characters,
10250 if the coding system specified by those variables doesn't handle them,
10251 Emacs will ask you to select a suitable coding system while showing a
10252 list of possible coding systems.
10256 *** c-default-style can now take an association list that maps major
10257 modes to style names. When this variable is an alist, Java mode no
10258 longer hardcodes a setting to "java" style. See the variable's
10259 docstring for details.
10261 *** It's now possible to put a list as the offset on a syntactic
10262 symbol. The list is evaluated recursively until a non-nil offset is
10263 found. This is useful to combine several lineup functions to act in a
10264 prioritized order on a single line. However, none of the supplied
10265 lineup functions use this feature currently.
10267 *** New syntactic symbol catch-clause, which is used on the "catch" and
10268 "finally" lines in try-catch constructs in C++ and Java.
10270 *** New cleanup brace-catch-brace on c-cleanup-list, which does for
10271 "catch" lines what brace-elseif-brace does for "else if" lines.
10273 *** The braces of Java anonymous inner classes are treated separately
10274 from the braces of other classes in auto-newline mode. Two new
10275 symbols inexpr-class-open and inexpr-class-close may be used on
10276 c-hanging-braces-alist to control the automatic newlines used for
10279 *** Support for the Pike language added, along with new Pike specific
10280 syntactic symbols: inlambda, lambda-intro-cont
10282 *** Support for Java anonymous classes via new syntactic symbol
10283 inexpr-class. New syntactic symbol inexpr-statement for Pike
10284 support and gcc-style statements inside expressions. New lineup
10285 function c-lineup-inexpr-block.
10287 *** New syntactic symbol brace-entry-open which is used in brace lists
10288 (i.e. static initializers) when a list entry starts with an open
10289 brace. These used to be recognized as brace-list-entry's.
10290 c-electric-brace also recognizes brace-entry-open braces
10291 (brace-list-entry's can no longer be electrified).
10293 *** New command c-indent-line-or-region, not bound by default.
10295 *** `#' is only electric when typed in the indentation of a line.
10297 *** Parentheses are now electric (via the new command c-electric-paren)
10298 for auto-reindenting lines when parens are typed.
10300 *** In "gnu" style, inline-open offset is now set to zero.
10302 *** Uniform handling of the inclass syntactic symbol. The indentation
10303 associated with it is now always relative to the class opening brace.
10304 This means that the indentation behavior has changed in some
10305 circumstances, but only if you've put anything besides 0 on the
10306 class-open syntactic symbol (none of the default styles do that).
10310 *** New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
10311 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See the
10312 Gnus manual for the full story.
10314 *** The nndraft backend has returned, but works differently than
10315 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the nndraft
10316 group, which is created automatically.
10318 *** `gnus-alter-header-function' can now be used to alter header
10321 *** `gnus-summary-goto-article' now accept Message-ID's.
10323 *** A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
10324 outside the region: `C-c C-v'.
10326 *** You can now post to component group in nnvirtual groups with
10329 *** `nntp-rlogin-program' -- new variable to ease customization.
10331 *** `C-u C-c C-c' in `gnus-article-edit-mode' will now inhibit
10332 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
10334 *** New element in `gnus-boring-article-headers' -- `long-to'.
10336 *** `M-i' symbolic prefix command. See the section "Symbolic
10337 Prefixes" in the Gnus manual for details.
10339 *** `L' and `I' in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
10340 `a' to add the score rule to the "all.SCORE" file.
10342 *** `gnus-simplify-subject-functions' variable to allow greater
10343 control over simplification.
10345 *** `A T' -- new command for fetching the current thread.
10347 *** `/ T' -- new command for including the current thread in the
10350 *** `M-RET' is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
10352 *** \\1-expressions are now valid in `nnmail-split-methods'.
10354 *** The `custom-face-lookup' function has been removed.
10355 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
10356 rewrite them to use `face-spec-set' instead.
10358 *** Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
10359 `a' forces normal posting method.
10361 *** New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper text
10364 *** For easier debugging of nntp, you can set `nntp-record-commands'
10365 to a non-nil value.
10367 *** nntp now uses ~/.authinfo, a .netrc-like file, for controlling
10368 where and how to send AUTHINFO to NNTP servers.
10370 *** A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
10373 *** A history of where mails have been split is available.
10375 *** A new article date command has been added -- `article-date-iso8601'.
10377 *** Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
10378 `gnus-score-thread-simplify'.
10380 *** A new function for citing in Message has been added --
10381 `message-cite-original-without-signature'.
10383 *** `article-strip-all-blank-lines' -- new article command.
10385 *** A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
10388 *** A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
10389 `gnus-adaptive-word-minimum' variable.
10391 *** The "lapsed date" article header can be kept continually
10392 updated by the `gnus-start-date-timer' command.
10394 *** Web listserv archives can be read with the nnlistserv backend.
10396 *** Old dejanews archives can now be read by nnweb.
10398 *** `gnus-posting-styles' has been re-activated.
10400 ** Changes to TeX and LaTeX mode
10402 *** The new variable `tex-start-options-string' can be used to give
10403 options for the TeX run. The default value causes TeX to run in
10404 nonstopmode. For an interactive TeX run set it to nil or "".
10406 *** The command `tex-feed-input' sends input to the Tex Shell. In a
10407 TeX buffer it is bound to the keys C-RET, C-c RET, and C-c C-m (some
10408 of these keys may not work on all systems). For instance, if you run
10409 TeX interactively and if the TeX run stops because of an error, you
10410 can continue it without leaving the TeX buffer by typing C-RET.
10412 *** The Tex Shell Buffer is now in `compilation-shell-minor-mode'.
10413 All error-parsing commands of the Compilation major mode are available
10414 but bound to keys that don't collide with the shell. Thus you can use
10415 the Tex Shell for command line executions like a usual shell.
10417 *** The commands `tex-validate-region' and `tex-validate-buffer' check
10418 the matching of braces and $'s. The errors are listed in a *Occur*
10419 buffer and you can use C-c C-c or mouse-2 to go to a particular
10422 ** Changes to RefTeX mode
10424 *** The table of contents buffer can now also display labels and
10425 file boundaries in addition to sections. Use `l', `i', and `c' keys.
10427 *** Labels derived from context (the section heading) are now
10428 lowercase by default. To make the label legal in LaTeX, latin-1
10429 characters will lose their accent. All Mule characters will be
10430 removed from the label.
10432 *** The automatic display of cross reference information can also use
10433 a window instead of the echo area. See variable `reftex-auto-view-crossref'.
10435 *** kpsewhich can be used by RefTeX to find TeX and BibTeX files. See the
10436 customization group `reftex-finding-files'.
10438 *** The option `reftex-bibfile-ignore-list' has been renamed to
10439 `reftex-bibfile-ignore-regexps' and indeed can be fed with regular
10442 *** Multiple Selection buffers are now hidden buffers.
10444 ** New/deleted modes and packages
10446 *** The package snmp-mode.el provides major modes for editing SNMP and
10447 SNMPv2 MIBs. It has entries on `auto-mode-alist'.
10449 *** The package sql.el provides a major mode, M-x sql-mode, for
10450 editing SQL files, and M-x sql-interactive-mode for interacting with
10451 SQL interpreters. It has an entry on `auto-mode-alist'.
10453 *** M-x highlight-changes-mode provides a minor mode displaying buffer
10454 changes with a special face.
10456 *** ispell4.el has been deleted. It got in the way of ispell.el and
10457 this was hard to fix reliably. It has long been obsolete -- use
10458 Ispell 3.1 and ispell.el.
10460 * MS-DOS changes in Emacs 20.4
10462 ** Emacs compiled for MS-DOS now supports MULE features better.
10463 This includes support for display of all ISO 8859-N character sets,
10464 conversion to and from IBM codepage encoding of non-ASCII characters,
10465 and automatic setup of the MULE environment at startup. For details,
10466 check out the section `MS-DOS and MULE' in the manual.
10468 The MS-DOS installation procedure automatically configures and builds
10469 Emacs with input method support if it finds an unpacked Leim
10470 distribution when the config.bat script is run.
10472 ** Formerly, the value of lpr-command did not affect printing on
10473 MS-DOS unless print-region-function was set to nil, but now it
10474 controls whether an external program is invoked or output is written
10475 directly to a printer port. Similarly, in the previous version of
10476 Emacs, the value of ps-lpr-command did not affect PostScript printing
10477 on MS-DOS unless ps-printer-name was set to something other than a
10478 string (eg. t or `pipe'), but now it controls whether an external
10479 program is used. (These changes were made so that configuration of
10480 printing variables would be almost identical across all platforms.)
10482 ** In the previous version of Emacs, PostScript and non-PostScript
10483 output was piped to external programs, but because most print programs
10484 available for MS-DOS and MS-Windows cannot read data from their standard
10485 input, on those systems the data to be output is now written to a
10486 temporary file whose name is passed as the last argument to the external
10489 An exception is made for `print', a standard program on Windows NT,
10490 and `nprint', a standard program on Novell Netware. For both of these
10491 programs, the command line is constructed in the appropriate syntax
10492 automatically, using only the value of printer-name or ps-printer-name
10493 as appropriate--the value of the relevant `-switches' variable is
10494 ignored, as both programs have no useful switches.
10496 ** The value of the variable dos-printer (cf. dos-ps-printer), if it has
10497 a value, overrides the value of printer-name (cf. ps-printer-name), on
10498 MS-DOS and MS-Windows only. This has been true since version 20.3, but
10499 was not documented clearly before.
10501 ** All the Emacs games now work on MS-DOS terminals.
10502 This includes Tetris and Snake.
10504 * Lisp changes in Emacs 20.4
10506 ** New functions line-beginning-position and line-end-position
10507 return the position of the beginning or end of the current line.
10508 They both accept an optional argument, which has the same
10509 meaning as the argument to beginning-of-line or end-of-line.
10511 ** find-file and allied functions now have an optional argument
10512 WILDCARD. If this is non-nil, they do wildcard processing,
10513 and visit all files that match the wildcard pattern.
10515 ** Changes in the file-attributes function.
10517 *** The file size returned by file-attributes may be an integer or a float.
10518 It is an integer if the size fits in a Lisp integer, float otherwise.
10520 *** The inode number returned by file-attributes may be an integer (if
10521 the number fits in a Lisp integer) or a cons cell containing two
10524 ** The new function directory-files-and-attributes returns a list of
10525 files in a directory and their attributes. It accepts the same
10526 arguments as directory-files and has similar semantics, except that
10527 file names and attributes are returned.
10529 ** The new function file-attributes-lessp is a helper function for
10530 sorting the list generated by directory-files-and-attributes. It
10531 accepts two arguments, each a list of a file name and its attributes.
10532 It compares the file names of each according to string-lessp and
10533 returns the result.
10535 ** The new function file-expand-wildcards expands a wildcard-pattern
10536 to produce a list of existing files that match the pattern.
10538 ** New functions for base64 conversion:
10540 The function base64-encode-region converts a part of the buffer
10541 into the base64 code used in MIME. base64-decode-region
10542 performs the opposite conversion. Line-breaking is supported
10545 Functions base64-encode-string and base64-decode-string do a similar
10546 job on the text in a string. They return the value as a new string.
10549 The new function process-running-child-p
10550 will tell you if a subprocess has given control of its
10551 terminal to its own child process.
10553 ** interrupt-process and such functions have a new feature:
10554 when the second argument is `lambda', they send a signal
10555 to the running child of the subshell, if any, but if the shell
10556 itself owns its terminal, no signal is sent.
10558 ** There are new widget types `plist' and `alist' which can
10559 be used for customizing variables whose values are plists or alists.
10561 ** easymenu.el now understands `:key-sequence' and `:style button'.
10562 :included is an alias for :visible.
10564 easy-menu-add-item now understands the values returned by
10565 easy-menu-remove-item and easy-menu-item-present-p. This can be used
10566 to move or copy menu entries.
10568 ** Multibyte editing changes
10570 *** The definitions of sref and char-bytes are changed. Now, sref is
10571 an alias of aref and char-bytes always returns 1. This change is to
10572 make some Emacs Lisp code which works on 20.2 and earlier also
10573 work on the latest Emacs. Such code uses a combination of sref and
10574 char-bytes in a loop typically as below:
10575 (setq char (sref str idx)
10576 idx (+ idx (char-bytes idx)))
10577 The byte-compiler now warns that this is obsolete.
10579 If you want to know how many bytes a specific multibyte character
10580 (say, CH) occupies in a multibyte buffer, use this code:
10581 (charset-bytes (char-charset ch))
10583 *** In multibyte mode, when you narrow a buffer to some region, and the
10584 region is preceded or followed by non-ASCII codes, inserting or
10585 deleting at the head or the end of the region may signal this error:
10587 Byte combining across boundary of accessible buffer text inhibited
10589 This is to avoid some bytes being combined together into a character
10590 across the boundary.
10592 *** The functions find-charset-region and find-charset-string include
10593 `unknown' in the returned list in the following cases:
10594 o The current buffer or the target string is unibyte and
10595 contains 8-bit characters.
10596 o The current buffer or the target string is multibyte and
10597 contains invalid characters.
10599 *** The functions decode-coding-region and encode-coding-region remove
10600 text properties of the target region. Ideally, they should correctly
10601 preserve text properties, but for the moment, it's hard. Removing
10602 text properties is better than preserving them in a less-than-correct
10605 *** prefer-coding-system sets EOL conversion of default coding systems.
10606 If the argument to prefer-coding-system specifies a certain type of
10607 end of line conversion, the default coding systems set by
10608 prefer-coding-system will specify that conversion type for end of line.
10610 *** The new function thai-compose-string can be used to properly
10611 compose Thai characters in a string.
10613 ** The primitive `define-prefix-command' now takes an optional third
10614 argument NAME, which should be a string. It supplies the menu name
10615 for the created keymap. Keymaps created in order to be displayed as
10616 menus should always use the third argument.
10618 ** The meanings of optional second arguments for read-char,
10619 read-event, and read-char-exclusive are flipped. Now the second
10620 arguments are INHERIT-INPUT-METHOD. These functions use the current
10621 input method (if any) if and only if INHERIT-INPUT-METHOD is non-nil.
10623 ** The new function clear-this-command-keys empties out the contents
10624 of the vector that (this-command-keys) returns. This is useful in
10625 programs that read passwords, to prevent the passwords from echoing
10626 inadvertently as part of the next command in certain cases.
10628 ** The new macro `with-temp-message' displays a temporary message in
10629 the echo area, while executing some Lisp code. Like `progn', it
10630 returns the value of the last form, but it also restores the previous
10631 echo area contents.
10633 (with-temp-message MESSAGE &rest BODY)
10635 ** The function `require' now takes an optional third argument
10636 NOERROR. If it is non-nil, then there is no error if the
10637 requested feature cannot be loaded.
10639 ** In the function modify-face, an argument of (nil) for the
10640 foreground color, background color or stipple pattern
10641 means to clear out that attribute.
10643 ** The `outer-window-id' frame property of an X frame
10644 gives the window number of the outermost X window for the frame.
10646 ** Temporary buffers made with with-output-to-temp-buffer are now
10647 read-only by default, and normally use the major mode Help mode
10648 unless you put them in some other non-Fundamental mode before the
10649 end of with-output-to-temp-buffer.
10651 ** The new functions gap-position and gap-size return information on
10652 the gap of the current buffer.
10654 ** The new functions position-bytes and byte-to-position provide a way
10655 to convert between character positions and byte positions in the
10658 ** vc.el defines two new macros, `edit-vc-file' and `with-vc-file', to
10659 facilitate working with version-controlled files from Lisp programs.
10660 These macros check out a given file automatically if needed, and check
10661 it back in after any modifications have been made.
10663 * Installation Changes in Emacs 20.3
10665 ** The default value of load-path now includes most subdirectories of
10666 the site-specific directories /usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp and
10667 /usr/local/share/emacs/VERSION/site-lisp, in addition to those
10668 directories themselves. Both immediate subdirectories and
10669 subdirectories multiple levels down are added to load-path.
10671 Not all subdirectories are included, though. Subdirectories whose
10672 names do not start with a letter or digit are excluded.
10673 Subdirectories named RCS or CVS are excluded. Also, a subdirectory
10674 which contains a file named `.nosearch' is excluded. You can use
10675 these methods to prevent certain subdirectories from being searched.
10677 Emacs finds these subdirectories and adds them to load-path when it
10678 starts up. While it would be cleaner to find the subdirectories each
10679 time Emacs loads a file, that would be much slower.
10681 This feature is an incompatible change. If you have stored some Emacs
10682 Lisp files in a subdirectory of the site-lisp directory specifically
10683 to prevent them from being used, you will need to rename the
10684 subdirectory to start with a non-alphanumeric character, or create a
10685 `.nosearch' file in it, in order to continue to achieve the desired
10688 ** Emacs no longer includes an old version of the C preprocessor from
10689 GCC. This was formerly used to help compile Emacs with C compilers
10690 that had limits on the significant length of an identifier, but in
10691 fact we stopped supporting such compilers some time ago.
10693 * Changes in Emacs 20.3
10695 ** The new command C-x z (repeat) repeats the previous command
10696 including its argument. If you repeat the z afterward,
10697 it repeats the command additional times; thus, you can
10698 perform many repetitions with one keystroke per repetition.
10700 ** Emacs now supports "selective undo" which undoes only within a
10701 specified region. To do this, set point and mark around the desired
10702 region and type C-u C-x u (or C-u C-_). You can then continue undoing
10703 further, within the same region, by repeating the ordinary undo
10704 command C-x u or C-_. This will keep undoing changes that were made
10705 within the region you originally specified, until either all of them
10706 are undone, or it encounters a change which crosses the edge of that
10709 In Transient Mark mode, undoing when a region is active requests
10712 ** If you specify --unibyte when starting Emacs, then all buffers are
10713 unibyte, except when a Lisp program specifically creates a multibyte
10714 buffer. Setting the environment variable EMACS_UNIBYTE has the same
10715 effect. The --no-unibyte option overrides EMACS_UNIBYTE and directs
10716 Emacs to run normally in multibyte mode.
10718 The option --unibyte does not affect the reading of Emacs Lisp files,
10719 though. If you want a Lisp file to be read in unibyte mode, use
10720 -*-unibyte: t;-*- on its first line. That will force Emacs to
10721 load that file in unibyte mode, regardless of how Emacs was started.
10723 ** toggle-enable-multibyte-characters no longer has a key binding and
10724 no longer appears in the menu bar. We've realized that changing the
10725 enable-multibyte-characters variable in an existing buffer is
10726 something that most users not do.
10728 ** You can specify a coding system to use for the next cut or paste
10729 operations through the window system with the command C-x RET X.
10730 The coding system can make a difference for communication with other
10733 C-x RET x specifies a coding system for all subsequent cutting and
10734 pasting operations.
10736 ** You can specify the printer to use for commands that do printing by
10737 setting the variable `printer-name'. Just what a printer name looks
10738 like depends on your operating system. You can specify a different
10739 printer for the Postscript printing commands by setting
10742 ** Emacs now supports on-the-fly spell checking by the means of a
10743 minor mode. It is called M-x flyspell-mode. You don't have to remember
10744 any other special commands to use it, and you will hardly notice it
10745 except when you make a spelling error. Flyspell works by highlighting
10746 incorrect words as soon as they are completed or as soon as the cursor
10749 Flyspell mode works with whichever dictionary you have selected for
10750 Ispell in Emacs. In TeX mode, it understands TeX syntax so as not
10751 to be confused by TeX commands.
10753 You can correct a misspelled word by editing it into something
10754 correct. You can also correct it, or accept it as correct, by
10755 clicking on the word with Mouse-2; that gives you a pop-up menu
10756 of various alternative replacements and actions.
10758 Flyspell mode also proposes "automatic" corrections. M-TAB replaces
10759 the current misspelled word with a possible correction. If several
10760 corrections are made possible, M-TAB cycles through them in
10761 alphabetical order, or in order of decreasing likelihood if
10762 flyspell-sort-corrections is nil.
10764 Flyspell mode also flags an error when a word is repeated, if
10765 flyspell-mark-duplications-flag is non-nil.
10767 ** Changes in input method usage.
10769 Now you can use arrow keys (right, left, down, up) for selecting among
10770 the alternatives just the same way as you do by C-f, C-b, C-n, and C-p
10773 You can use the ENTER key to accept the current conversion.
10775 If you type TAB to display a list of alternatives, you can select one
10776 of the alternatives with Mouse-2.
10778 The meaning of the variable `input-method-verbose-flag' is changed so
10779 that you can set it to t, nil, `default', or `complex-only'.
10781 If the value is nil, extra guidance is never given.
10783 If the value is t, extra guidance is always given.
10785 If the value is `complex-only', extra guidance is always given only
10786 when you are using complex input methods such as chinese-py.
10788 If the value is `default' (this is the default), extra guidance is
10789 given in the following case:
10790 o When you are using a complex input method.
10791 o When you are using a simple input method but not in the minibuffer.
10793 If you are using Emacs through a very slow line, setting
10794 input-method-verbose-flag to nil or to complex-only is a good choice,
10795 and if you are using an input method you are not familiar with,
10796 setting it to t is helpful.
10798 The old command select-input-method is now called set-input-method.
10800 In the language environment "Korean", you can use the following
10802 Shift-SPC toggle-korean-input-method
10803 C-F9 quail-hangul-switch-symbol-ksc
10804 F9 quail-hangul-switch-hanja
10805 These key bindings are canceled when you switch to another language
10808 ** The minibuffer history of file names now records the specified file
10809 names, not the entire minibuffer input. For example, if the
10810 minibuffer starts out with /usr/foo/, you might type in /etc/passwd to
10813 /usr/foo//etc/passwd
10815 which stands for the file /etc/passwd.
10817 Formerly, this used to put /usr/foo//etc/passwd in the history list.
10818 Now this puts just /etc/passwd in the history list.
10820 ** If you are root, Emacs sets backup-by-copying-when-mismatch to t
10821 at startup, so that saving a file will be sure to preserve
10822 its owner and group.
10824 ** find-func.el can now also find the place of definition of Emacs
10825 Lisp variables in user-loaded libraries.
10827 ** C-x r t (string-rectangle) now deletes the existing rectangle
10828 contents before inserting the specified string on each line.
10830 ** There is a new command delete-whitespace-rectangle
10831 which deletes whitespace starting from a particular column
10832 in all the lines on a rectangle. The column is specified
10833 by the left edge of the rectangle.
10835 ** You can now store a number into a register with C-u NUMBER C-x r n REG,
10836 increment it by INC with C-u INC C-x r + REG (to increment by one, omit
10837 C-u INC), and insert it in the buffer with C-x r g REG. This is useful
10838 for writing keyboard macros.
10840 ** The new command M-x speedbar displays a frame in which directories,
10841 files, and tags can be displayed, manipulated, and jumped to. The
10842 frame defaults to 20 characters in width, and is the same height as
10843 the frame that it was started from. Some major modes define
10844 additional commands for the speedbar, including Rmail, GUD/GDB, and
10847 ** query-replace-regexp is now bound to C-M-%.
10849 ** In Transient Mark mode, when the region is active, M-x
10850 query-replace and the other replace commands now operate on the region
10853 ** M-x write-region, when used interactively, now asks for
10854 confirmation before overwriting an existing file. When you call
10855 the function from a Lisp program, a new optional argument CONFIRM
10856 says whether to ask for confirmation in this case.
10858 ** If you use find-file-literally and the file is already visited
10859 non-literally, the command asks you whether to revisit the file
10860 literally. If you say no, it signals an error.
10862 ** Major modes defined with the "derived mode" feature
10863 now use the proper name for the mode hook: WHATEVER-mode-hook.
10864 Formerly they used the name WHATEVER-mode-hooks, but that is
10865 inconsistent with Emacs conventions.
10867 ** shell-command-on-region (and shell-command) reports success or
10868 failure if the command produces no output.
10870 ** Set focus-follows-mouse to nil if your window system or window
10871 manager does not transfer focus to another window when you just move
10874 ** mouse-menu-buffer-maxlen has been renamed to
10875 mouse-buffer-menu-maxlen to be consistent with the other related
10876 function and variable names.
10878 ** The new variable auto-coding-alist specifies coding systems for
10879 reading specific files. This has higher priority than
10880 file-coding-system-alist.
10882 ** If you set the variable unibyte-display-via-language-environment to
10883 t, then Emacs displays non-ASCII characters are displayed by
10884 converting them to the equivalent multibyte characters according to
10885 the current language environment. As a result, they are displayed
10886 according to the current fontset.
10888 ** C-q's handling of codes in the range 0200 through 0377 is changed.
10890 The codes in the range 0200 through 0237 are inserted as one byte of
10891 that code regardless of the values of nonascii-translation-table and
10892 nonascii-insert-offset.
10894 For the codes in the range 0240 through 0377, if
10895 enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil and nonascii-translation-table
10896 nor nonascii-insert-offset can't convert them to valid multibyte
10897 characters, they are converted to Latin-1 characters.
10899 ** If you try to find a file that is not read-accessible, you now get
10900 an error, rather than an empty buffer and a warning.
10902 ** In the minibuffer history commands M-r and M-s, an upper case
10903 letter in the regular expression forces case-sensitive search.
10905 ** In the *Help* buffer, cross-references to commands and variables
10906 are inferred and hyperlinked. Use C-h m in Help mode for the relevant
10909 ** M-x apropos-command, with a prefix argument, no longer looks for
10910 user option variables--instead it looks for noninteractive functions.
10912 Meanwhile, the command apropos-variable normally searches for
10913 user option variables; with a prefix argument, it looks at
10914 all variables that have documentation.
10916 ** When you type a long line in the minibuffer, and the minibuffer
10917 shows just one line, automatically scrolling works in a special way
10918 that shows you overlap with the previous line of text. The variable
10919 minibuffer-scroll-overlap controls how many characters of overlap
10920 it should show; the default is 20.
10922 Meanwhile, Resize Minibuffer mode is still available; in that mode,
10923 the minibuffer grows taller (up to a point) as needed to show the whole
10926 ** The new command M-x customize-changed-options lets you customize
10927 all the options whose meanings or default values have changed in
10928 recent Emacs versions. You specify a previous Emacs version number as
10929 argument, and the command creates a customization buffer showing all
10930 the customizable options which were changed since that version.
10931 Newly added options are included as well.
10933 If you don't specify a particular version number argument,
10934 then the customization buffer shows all the customizable options
10935 for which Emacs versions of changes are recorded.
10937 This function is also bound to the Changed Options entry in the
10940 ** When you run M-x grep with a prefix argument, it figures out
10941 the tag around point and puts that into the default grep command.
10943 ** The new command M-* (pop-tag-mark) pops back through a history of
10944 buffer positions from which M-. or other tag-finding commands were
10947 ** The new variable comment-padding specifies the number of spaces
10948 that `comment-region' will insert before the actual text of the comment.
10951 ** In Fortran mode the characters `.', `_' and `$' now have symbol
10952 syntax, not word syntax. Fortran mode now supports `imenu' and has
10953 new commands fortran-join-line (M-^) and fortran-narrow-to-subprogram
10954 (C-x n d). M-q can be used to fill a statement or comment block
10957 ** GUD now supports jdb, the Java debugger, and pdb, the Python debugger.
10959 ** If you set the variable add-log-keep-changes-together to a non-nil
10960 value, the command `C-x 4 a' will automatically notice when you make
10961 two entries in one day for one file, and combine them.
10963 ** You can use the command M-x diary-mail-entries to mail yourself a
10964 reminder about upcoming diary entries. See the documentation string
10965 for a sample shell script for calling this function automatically
10970 *** All you need to do to enable use of the Desktop package, is to set
10971 the variable desktop-enable to t with Custom.
10973 *** Minor modes are now restored. Which minor modes are restored
10974 and how modes are restored is controlled by `desktop-minor-mode-table'.
10976 ** There is no need to do anything special, now, to enable Gnus to
10977 read and post multi-lingual articles.
10979 ** Outline mode has now support for showing hidden outlines when
10980 doing an isearch. In order for this to happen search-invisible should
10981 be set to open (the default). If an isearch match is inside a hidden
10982 outline the outline is made visible. If you continue pressing C-s and
10983 the match moves outside the formerly invisible outline, the outline is
10984 made invisible again.
10986 ** Mail reading and sending changes
10988 *** The Rmail e command now switches to displaying the whole header of
10989 the message before it lets you edit the message. This is so that any
10990 changes you make in the header will not be lost if you subsequently
10993 *** The w command in Rmail, which writes the message body into a file,
10994 now works in the summary buffer as well. (The command to delete the
10995 summary buffer is now Q.) The default file name for the w command, if
10996 the message has no subject, is stored in the variable
10997 rmail-default-body-file.
10999 *** Most of the commands and modes that operate on mail and netnews no
11000 longer depend on the value of mail-header-separator. Instead, they
11001 handle whatever separator the buffer happens to use.
11003 *** If you set mail-signature to a value which is not t, nil, or a string,
11004 it should be an expression. When you send a message, this expression
11005 is evaluated to insert the signature.
11007 *** The new Lisp library feedmail.el (version 8) enhances processing of
11008 outbound email messages. It works in coordination with other email
11009 handling packages (e.g., rmail, VM, gnus) and is responsible for
11010 putting final touches on messages and actually submitting them for
11011 transmission. Users of the emacs program "fakemail" might be
11012 especially interested in trying feedmail.
11014 feedmail is not enabled by default. See comments at the top of
11015 feedmail.el for set-up instructions. Among the bigger features
11016 provided by feedmail are:
11018 **** you can park outgoing messages into a disk-based queue and
11019 stimulate sending some or all of them later (handy for laptop users);
11020 there is also a queue for draft messages
11022 **** you can get one last look at the prepped outbound message and
11023 be prompted for confirmation
11025 **** does smart filling of address headers
11027 **** can generate a MESSAGE-ID: line and a DATE: line; the date can be
11028 the time the message was written or the time it is being sent; this
11029 can make FCC copies more closely resemble copies that recipients get
11031 **** you can specify an arbitrary function for actually transmitting
11032 the message; included in feedmail are interfaces for /bin/[r]mail,
11033 /usr/lib/sendmail, and Emacs Lisp smtpmail; it's easy to write a new
11034 function for something else (10-20 lines of Lisp code).
11038 *** The Dired function dired-do-toggle, which toggles marked and unmarked
11039 files, is now bound to "t" instead of "T".
11041 *** dired-at-point has been added to ffap.el. It allows one to easily
11042 run Dired on the directory name at point.
11044 *** Dired has a new command: %g. It searches the contents of
11045 files in the directory and marks each file that contains a match
11046 for a specified regexp.
11050 *** New option vc-ignore-vc-files lets you turn off version control
11053 *** VC Dired has been completely rewritten. It is now much
11054 faster, especially for CVS, and works very similar to ordinary
11057 VC Dired is invoked by typing C-x v d and entering the name of the
11058 directory to display. By default, VC Dired gives you a recursive
11059 listing of all files at or below the given directory which are
11060 currently locked (for CVS, all files not up-to-date are shown).
11062 You can change the listing format by setting vc-dired-recurse to nil,
11063 then it shows only the given directory, and you may also set
11064 vc-dired-terse-display to nil, then it shows all files under version
11065 control plus the names of any subdirectories, so that you can type `i'
11066 on such lines to insert them manually, as in ordinary Dired.
11068 All Dired commands operate normally in VC Dired, except for `v', which
11069 is redefined as the version control prefix. That means you may type
11070 `v l', `v =' etc. to invoke `vc-print-log', `vc-diff' and the like on
11071 the file named in the current Dired buffer line. `v v' invokes
11072 `vc-next-action' on this file, or on all files currently marked.
11074 The new command `v t' (vc-dired-toggle-terse-mode) allows you to
11075 toggle between terse display (only locked files) and full display (all
11076 VC files plus subdirectories). There is also a special command,
11077 `* l', to mark all files currently locked.
11079 Giving a prefix argument to C-x v d now does the same thing as in
11080 ordinary Dired: it allows you to supply additional options for the ls
11081 command in the minibuffer, to fine-tune VC Dired's output.
11083 *** Under CVS, if you merge changes from the repository into a working
11084 file, and CVS detects conflicts, VC now offers to start an ediff
11085 session to resolve them.
11087 Alternatively, you can use the new command `vc-resolve-conflicts' to
11088 resolve conflicts in a file at any time. It works in any buffer that
11089 contains conflict markers as generated by rcsmerge (which is what CVS
11092 *** You can now transfer changes between branches, using the new
11093 command vc-merge (C-x v m). It is implemented for RCS and CVS. When
11094 you invoke it in a buffer under version-control, you can specify
11095 either an entire branch or a pair of versions, and the changes on that
11096 branch or between the two versions are merged into the working file.
11097 If this results in any conflicts, they may be resolved interactively,
11100 ** Changes in Font Lock
11102 *** The face and variable previously known as font-lock-reference-face
11103 are now called font-lock-constant-face to better reflect their typical
11104 use for highlighting constants and labels. (Its face properties are
11105 unchanged.) The variable font-lock-reference-face remains for now for
11106 compatibility reasons, but its value is font-lock-constant-face.
11108 ** Frame name display changes
11110 *** The command set-frame-name lets you set the name of the current
11111 frame. You can use the new command select-frame-by-name to select and
11112 raise a frame; this is mostly useful on character-only terminals, or
11113 when many frames are invisible or iconified.
11115 *** On character-only terminal (not a window system), changing the
11116 frame name is now reflected on the mode line and in the Buffers/Frames
11119 ** Comint (subshell) changes
11121 *** In Comint modes, the commands to kill, stop or interrupt a
11122 subjob now also kill pending input. This is for compatibility
11123 with ordinary shells, where the signal characters do this.
11125 *** There are new commands in Comint mode.
11127 C-c C-x fetches the "next" line from the input history;
11128 that is, the line after the last line you got.
11129 You can use this command to fetch successive lines, one by one.
11131 C-c SPC accumulates lines of input. More precisely, it arranges to
11132 send the current line together with the following line, when you send
11133 the following line.
11135 C-c C-a if repeated twice consecutively now moves to the process mark,
11136 which separates the pending input from the subprocess output and the
11137 previously sent input.
11139 C-c M-r now runs comint-previous-matching-input-from-input;
11140 it searches for a previous command, using the current pending input
11141 as the search string.
11143 *** New option compilation-scroll-output can be set to scroll
11144 automatically in compilation-mode windows.
11148 *** Multiline macros are now handled, both as they affect indentation,
11149 and as recognized syntax. New syntactic symbol cpp-macro-cont is
11150 assigned to second and subsequent lines of a multiline macro
11153 *** A new style "user" which captures all non-hook-ified
11154 (i.e. top-level) .emacs file variable settings and customizations.
11155 Style "cc-mode" is an alias for "user" and is deprecated. "gnu"
11156 style is still the default however.
11158 *** "java" style now conforms to Sun's JDK coding style.
11160 *** There are new commands c-beginning-of-defun, c-end-of-defun which
11161 are alternatives which you could bind to C-M-a and C-M-e if you prefer
11162 them. They do not have key bindings by default.
11164 *** New and improved implementations of M-a (c-beginning-of-statement)
11165 and M-e (c-end-of-statement).
11167 *** C++ namespace blocks are supported, with new syntactic symbols
11168 namespace-open, namespace-close, and innamespace.
11170 *** File local variable settings of c-file-style and c-file-offsets
11171 makes the style variables local to that buffer only.
11173 *** New indentation functions c-lineup-close-paren,
11174 c-indent-one-line-block, c-lineup-dont-change.
11176 *** Improvements (hopefully!) to the way CC Mode is loaded. You
11177 should now be able to do a (require 'cc-mode) to get the entire
11178 package loaded properly for customization in your .emacs file. A new
11179 variable c-initialize-on-load controls this and is t by default.
11181 ** Changes to hippie-expand.
11183 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-dabbrev-skip-space'. If
11184 non-nil, trailing spaces may be included in the abbreviation to search for,
11185 which then gives the same behavior as the original `dabbrev-expand'.
11187 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-dabbrev-as-symbol'. If
11188 non-nil, characters of syntax '_' is considered part of the word when
11189 expanding dynamically.
11191 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-no-restriction'. If
11192 non-nil, narrowed buffers are widened before they are searched.
11194 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-only-buffers'. If
11195 non-empty, buffers searched are restricted to the types specified in
11196 this list. Useful for example when constructing new special-purpose
11197 expansion functions with `make-hippie-expand-function'.
11199 *** Text properties of the expansion are no longer copied.
11201 ** Changes in BibTeX mode.
11203 *** Any titleword matching a regexp in the new variable
11204 bibtex-autokey-titleword-ignore (case sensitive) is ignored during
11205 automatic key generation. This replaces variable
11206 bibtex-autokey-titleword-first-ignore, which only checked for matches
11207 against the first word in the title.
11209 *** Autokey generation now uses all words from the title, not just
11210 capitalized words. To avoid conflicts with existing customizations,
11211 bibtex-autokey-titleword-ignore is set up such that words starting with
11212 lowerkey characters will still be ignored. Thus, if you want to use
11213 lowercase words from the title, you will have to overwrite the
11214 bibtex-autokey-titleword-ignore standard setting.
11216 *** Case conversion of names and title words for automatic key
11217 generation is more flexible. Variable bibtex-autokey-preserve-case is
11218 replaced by bibtex-autokey-titleword-case-convert and
11219 bibtex-autokey-name-case-convert.
11221 ** Changes in vcursor.el.
11223 *** Support for character terminals is available: there is a new keymap
11224 and the vcursor will appear as an arrow between buffer text. A
11225 variable `vcursor-interpret-input' allows input from the vcursor to be
11226 entered exactly as if typed. Numerous functions, including
11227 `vcursor-compare-windows', have been rewritten to improve consistency
11228 in the selection of windows and corresponding keymaps.
11230 *** vcursor options can now be altered with M-x customize under the
11231 Editing group once the package is loaded.
11233 *** Loading vcursor now does not define keys by default, as this is
11234 generally a bad side effect. Use M-x customize to set
11235 vcursor-key-bindings to t to restore the old behavior.
11237 *** vcursor-auto-disable can be `copy', which turns off copying from the
11238 vcursor, but doesn't disable it, after any non-vcursor command.
11242 *** You can now spell check comments and strings in the current
11243 buffer with M-x ispell-comments-and-strings. Comments and strings
11244 are identified by syntax tables in effect.
11246 *** Generic region skipping implemented.
11247 A single buffer can be broken into a number of regions where text will
11248 and will not be checked. The definitions of the regions can be user
11249 defined. New applications and improvements made available by this
11252 o URLs are automatically skipped
11253 o EMail message checking is vastly improved.
11255 *** Ispell can highlight the erroneous word even on non-window terminals.
11257 ** Changes to RefTeX mode
11259 RefTeX has been updated in order to make it more usable with very
11260 large projects (like a several volume math book). The parser has been
11261 re-written from scratch. To get maximum speed from RefTeX, check the
11262 section `Optimizations' in the manual.
11264 *** New recursive parser.
11266 The old version of RefTeX created a single large buffer containing the
11267 entire multifile document in order to parse the document. The new
11268 recursive parser scans the individual files.
11270 *** Parsing only part of a document.
11272 Reparsing of changed document parts can now be made faster by enabling
11273 partial scans. To use this feature, read the documentation string of
11274 the variable `reftex-enable-partial-scans' and set the variable to t.
11276 (setq reftex-enable-partial-scans t)
11278 *** Storing parsing information in a file.
11280 This can improve startup times considerably. To turn it on, use
11282 (setq reftex-save-parse-info t)
11284 *** Using multiple selection buffers
11286 If the creation of label selection buffers is too slow (this happens
11287 for large documents), you can reuse these buffers by setting
11289 (setq reftex-use-multiple-selection-buffers t)
11291 *** References to external documents.
11293 The LaTeX package `xr' allows to cross-reference labels in external
11294 documents. RefTeX can provide information about the external
11295 documents as well. To use this feature, set up the \externaldocument
11296 macros required by the `xr' package and rescan the document with
11297 RefTeX. The external labels can then be accessed with the `x' key in
11298 the selection buffer provided by `reftex-reference' (bound to `C-c )').
11299 The `x' key also works in the table of contents buffer.
11301 *** Many more labeled LaTeX environments are recognized by default.
11303 The built-in command list now covers all the standard LaTeX commands,
11304 and all of the major packages included in the LaTeX distribution.
11306 Also, RefTeX now understands the \appendix macro and changes
11307 the enumeration of sections in the *toc* buffer accordingly.
11309 *** Mouse support for selection and *toc* buffers
11311 The mouse can now be used to select items in the selection and *toc*
11312 buffers. See also the new option `reftex-highlight-selection'.
11314 *** New keymaps for selection and table of contents modes.
11316 The selection processes for labels and citation keys, and the table of
11317 contents buffer now have their own keymaps: `reftex-select-label-map',
11318 `reftex-select-bib-map', `reftex-toc-map'. The selection processes
11319 have a number of new keys predefined. In particular, TAB lets you
11320 enter a label with completion. Check the on-the-fly help (press `?'
11321 at the selection prompt) or read the Info documentation to find out
11324 *** Support for the varioref package
11326 The `v' key in the label selection buffer toggles \ref versus \vref.
11330 Three new hooks can be used to redefine the way labels, references,
11331 and citations are created. These hooks are
11332 `reftex-format-label-function', `reftex-format-ref-function',
11333 `reftex-format-cite-function'.
11335 *** Citations outside LaTeX
11337 The command `reftex-citation' may also be used outside LaTeX (e.g. in
11338 a mail buffer). See the Info documentation for details.
11340 *** Short context is no longer fontified.
11342 The short context in the label menu no longer copies the
11343 fontification from the text in the buffer. If you prefer it to be
11346 (setq reftex-refontify-context t)
11348 ** file-cache-minibuffer-complete now accepts a prefix argument.
11349 With a prefix argument, it does not try to do completion of
11350 the file name within its directory; it only checks for other
11351 directories that contain the same file name.
11353 Thus, given the file name Makefile, and assuming that a file
11354 Makefile.in exists in the same directory, ordinary
11355 file-cache-minibuffer-complete will try to complete Makefile to
11356 Makefile.in and will therefore never look for other directories that
11357 have Makefile. A prefix argument tells it not to look for longer
11358 names such as Makefile.in, so that instead it will look for other
11359 directories--just as if the name were already complete in its present
11362 ** New modes and packages
11364 *** There is a new alternative major mode for Perl, Cperl mode.
11365 It has many more features than Perl mode, and some people prefer
11366 it, but some do not.
11368 *** There is a new major mode, M-x vhdl-mode, for editing files of VHDL
11371 *** M-x which-function-mode enables a minor mode that displays the
11372 current function name continuously in the mode line, as you move
11373 around in a buffer.
11375 Which Function mode is effective in major modes which support Imenu.
11377 *** Gametree is a major mode for editing game analysis trees. The author
11378 uses it for keeping notes about his postal Chess games, but it should
11379 be helpful for other two-player games as well, as long as they have an
11380 established system of notation similar to Chess.
11382 *** The new minor mode checkdoc-minor-mode provides Emacs Lisp
11383 documentation string checking for style and spelling. The style
11384 guidelines are found in the Emacs Lisp programming manual.
11386 *** The net-utils package makes some common networking features
11387 available in Emacs. Some of these functions are wrappers around
11388 system utilities (ping, nslookup, etc); others are implementations of
11389 simple protocols (finger, whois) in Emacs Lisp. There are also
11390 functions to make simple connections to TCP/IP ports for debugging and
11393 *** highlight-changes-mode is a minor mode that uses colors to
11394 identify recently changed parts of the buffer text.
11396 *** The new package `midnight' lets you specify things to be done
11397 within Emacs at midnight--by default, kill buffers that you have not
11398 used in a considerable time. To use this feature, customize
11399 the user option `midnight-mode' to t.
11401 *** The file generic-x.el defines a number of simple major modes.
11403 apache-generic-mode: For Apache and NCSA httpd configuration files
11404 samba-generic-mode: Samba configuration files
11405 fvwm-generic-mode: For fvwm initialization files
11406 x-resource-generic-mode: For X resource files
11407 hosts-generic-mode: For hosts files (.rhosts, /etc/hosts, etc)
11408 mailagent-rules-generic-mode: For mailagent .rules files
11409 javascript-generic-mode: For JavaScript files
11410 vrml-generic-mode: For VRML files
11411 java-manifest-generic-mode: For Java MANIFEST files
11412 java-properties-generic-mode: For Java property files
11413 mailrc-generic-mode: For .mailrc files
11415 Platform-specific modes:
11417 prototype-generic-mode: For Solaris/Sys V prototype files
11418 pkginfo-generic-mode: For Solaris/Sys V pkginfo files
11419 alias-generic-mode: For C shell alias files
11420 inf-generic-mode: For MS-Windows INF files
11421 ini-generic-mode: For MS-Windows INI files
11422 reg-generic-mode: For MS-Windows Registry files
11423 bat-generic-mode: For MS-Windows BAT scripts
11424 rc-generic-mode: For MS-Windows Resource files
11425 rul-generic-mode: For InstallShield scripts
11427 * Lisp changes in Emacs 20.3 since the Emacs Lisp Manual was published
11429 ** If you want a Lisp file to be read in unibyte mode,
11430 use -*-unibyte: t;-*- on its first line.
11431 That will force Emacs to read that file in unibyte mode.
11432 Otherwise, the file will be loaded and byte-compiled in multibyte mode.
11434 Thus, each lisp file is read in a consistent way regardless of whether
11435 you started Emacs with --unibyte, so that a Lisp program gives
11436 consistent results regardless of how Emacs was started.
11438 ** The new function assoc-default is useful for searching an alist,
11439 and using a default value if the key is not found there. You can
11440 specify a comparison predicate, so this function is useful for
11441 searching comparing a string against an alist of regular expressions.
11443 ** The functions unibyte-char-to-multibyte and
11444 multibyte-char-to-unibyte convert between unibyte and multibyte
11445 character codes, in a way that is appropriate for the current language
11448 ** The functions read-event, read-char and read-char-exclusive now
11449 take two optional arguments. PROMPT, if non-nil, specifies a prompt
11450 string. SUPPRESS-INPUT-METHOD, if non-nil, says to disable the
11451 current input method for reading this one event.
11453 ** Two new variables print-escape-nonascii and print-escape-multibyte
11454 now control whether to output certain characters as
11455 backslash-sequences. print-escape-nonascii applies to single-byte
11456 non-ASCII characters; print-escape-multibyte applies to multibyte
11457 characters. Both of these variables are used only when printing
11458 in readable fashion (prin1 uses them, princ does not).
11460 * Lisp changes in Emacs 20.3 before the Emacs Lisp Manual was published
11462 ** Compiled Emacs Lisp files made with the modified "MBSK" version
11463 of Emacs 20.2 do not work in Emacs 20.3.
11465 ** Buffer positions are now measured in characters, as they were
11466 in Emacs 19 and before. This means that (forward-char 1)
11467 always increases point by 1.
11469 The function chars-in-region now just subtracts its arguments. It is
11470 considered obsolete. The function char-boundary-p has been deleted.
11472 See below for additional changes relating to multibyte characters.
11474 ** defcustom, defface and defgroup now accept the keyword `:version'.
11475 Use this to specify in which version of Emacs a certain variable's
11476 default value changed. For example,
11478 (defcustom foo-max 34 "*Maximum number of foo's allowed."
11483 (defgroup foo-group nil "The foo group."
11486 If an entire new group is added or the variables in it have the
11487 default values changed, then just add a `:version' to that group. It
11488 is recommended that new packages added to the distribution contain a
11489 `:version' in the top level group.
11491 This information is used to control the customize-changed-options command.
11493 ** It is now an error to change the value of a symbol whose name
11494 starts with a colon--if it is interned in the standard obarray.
11496 However, setting such a symbol to its proper value, which is that
11497 symbol itself, is not an error. This is for the sake of programs that
11498 support previous Emacs versions by explicitly setting these variables
11501 If you set the variable keyword-symbols-constant-flag to nil,
11502 this error is suppressed, and you can set these symbols to any
11505 ** There is a new debugger command, R.
11506 It evaluates an expression like e, but saves the result
11507 in the buffer *Debugger-record*.
11509 ** Frame-local variables.
11511 You can now make a variable local to various frames. To do this, call
11512 the function make-variable-frame-local; this enables frames to have
11513 local bindings for that variable.
11515 These frame-local bindings are actually frame parameters: you create a
11516 frame-local binding in a specific frame by calling
11517 modify-frame-parameters and specifying the variable name as the
11520 Buffer-local bindings take precedence over frame-local bindings.
11521 Thus, if the current buffer has a buffer-local binding, that binding is
11522 active; otherwise, if the selected frame has a frame-local binding,
11523 that binding is active; otherwise, the default binding is active.
11525 It would not be hard to implement window-local bindings, but it is not
11526 clear that this would be very useful; windows tend to come and go in a
11527 very transitory fashion, so that trying to produce any specific effect
11528 through a window-local binding would not be very robust.
11530 ** `sregexq' and `sregex' are two new functions for constructing
11531 "symbolic regular expressions." These are Lisp expressions that, when
11532 evaluated, yield conventional string-based regexps. The symbolic form
11533 makes it easier to construct, read, and maintain complex patterns.
11534 See the documentation in sregex.el.
11536 ** parse-partial-sexp's return value has an additional element which
11537 is used to pass information along if you pass it to another call to
11538 parse-partial-sexp, starting its scan where the first call ended.
11539 The contents of this field are not yet finalized.
11541 ** eval-region now accepts a fourth optional argument READ-FUNCTION.
11542 If it is non-nil, that function is used instead of `read'.
11544 ** unload-feature by default removes the feature's functions from
11545 known hooks to avoid trouble, but a package providing FEATURE can
11546 define a hook FEATURE-unload-hook to be run by unload-feature instead.
11548 ** read-from-minibuffer no longer returns the argument DEFAULT-VALUE
11549 when the user enters empty input. It now returns the null string, as
11550 it did in Emacs 19. The default value is made available in the
11551 history via M-n, but it is not applied here as a default.
11553 The other, more specialized minibuffer-reading functions continue to
11554 return the default value (not the null string) when the user enters
11557 ** The new variable read-buffer-function controls which routine to use
11558 for selecting buffers. For example, if you set this variable to
11559 `iswitchb-read-buffer', iswitchb will be used to read buffer names.
11560 Other functions can also be used if they accept the same arguments as
11561 `read-buffer' and return the selected buffer name as a string.
11563 ** The new function read-passwd reads a password from the terminal,
11564 echoing a period for each character typed. It takes three arguments:
11565 a prompt string, a flag which says "read it twice to make sure", and a
11566 default password to use if the user enters nothing.
11568 ** The variable fill-nobreak-predicate gives major modes a way to
11569 specify not to break a line at certain places. Its value is a
11570 function which is called with no arguments, with point located at the
11571 place where a break is being considered. If the function returns
11572 non-nil, then the line won't be broken there.
11574 ** window-end now takes an optional second argument, UPDATE.
11575 If this is non-nil, then the function always returns an accurate
11576 up-to-date value for the buffer position corresponding to the
11577 end of the window, even if this requires computation.
11579 ** other-buffer now takes an optional argument FRAME
11580 which specifies which frame's buffer list to use.
11581 If it is nil, that means use the selected frame's buffer list.
11583 ** The new variable buffer-display-time, always local in every buffer,
11584 holds the value of (current-time) as of the last time that a window
11585 was directed to display this buffer.
11587 ** It is now meaningful to compare two window-configuration objects
11588 with `equal'. Two window-configuration objects are equal if they
11589 describe equivalent arrangements of windows, in the same frame--in
11590 other words, if they would give the same results if passed to
11591 set-window-configuration.
11593 ** compare-window-configurations is a new function that compares two
11594 window configurations loosely. It ignores differences in saved buffer
11595 positions and scrolling, and considers only the structure and sizes of
11596 windows and the choice of buffers to display.
11598 ** The variable minor-mode-overriding-map-alist allows major modes to
11599 override the key bindings of a minor mode. The elements of this alist
11600 look like the elements of minor-mode-map-alist: (VARIABLE . KEYMAP).
11602 If the VARIABLE in an element of minor-mode-overriding-map-alist has a
11603 non-nil value, the paired KEYMAP is active, and totally overrides the
11604 map (if any) specified for the same variable in minor-mode-map-alist.
11606 minor-mode-overriding-map-alist is automatically local in all buffers,
11607 and it is meant to be set by major modes.
11609 ** The function match-string-no-properties is like match-string
11610 except that it discards all text properties from the result.
11612 ** The function load-average now accepts an optional argument
11613 USE-FLOATS. If it is non-nil, the load average values are returned as
11614 floating point numbers, rather than as integers to be divided by 100.
11616 ** The new variable temporary-file-directory specifies the directory
11617 to use for creating temporary files. The default value is determined
11618 in a reasonable way for your operating system; on GNU and Unix systems
11619 it is based on the TMP and TMPDIR environment variables.
11623 *** easymenu.el now uses the new menu item format and supports the
11624 keywords :visible and :filter. The existing keyword :keys is now
11627 The variable `easy-menu-precalculate-equivalent-keybindings' controls
11628 a new feature which calculates keyboard equivalents for the menu when
11629 you define the menu. The default is t. If you rarely use menus, you
11630 can set the variable to nil to disable this precalculation feature;
11631 then the calculation is done only if you use the menu bar.
11633 *** A new format for menu items is supported.
11635 In a keymap, a key binding that has the format
11636 (STRING . REAL-BINDING) or (STRING HELP-STRING . REAL-BINDING)
11637 defines a menu item. Now a menu item definition may also be a list that
11638 starts with the symbol `menu-item'.
11641 (menu-item ITEM-NAME) or
11642 (menu-item ITEM-NAME REAL-BINDING . ITEM-PROPERTY-LIST)
11643 where ITEM-NAME is an expression which evaluates to the menu item
11644 string, and ITEM-PROPERTY-LIST has the form of a property list.
11645 The supported properties include
11647 :enable FORM Evaluate FORM to determine whether the
11649 :visible FORM Evaluate FORM to determine whether the
11650 item should appear in the menu.
11652 FILTER-FN is a function of one argument,
11653 which will be REAL-BINDING.
11654 It should return a binding to use instead.
11656 DESCRIPTION is a string that describes an equivalent keyboard
11657 binding for REAL-BINDING. DESCRIPTION is expanded with
11658 `substitute-command-keys' before it is used.
11659 :key-sequence KEY-SEQUENCE
11660 KEY-SEQUENCE is a key-sequence for an equivalent
11663 This means that the command normally has no
11664 keyboard equivalent.
11665 :help HELP HELP is the extra help string (not currently used).
11666 :button (TYPE . SELECTED)
11667 TYPE is :toggle or :radio.
11668 SELECTED is a form, to be evaluated, and its
11669 value says whether this button is currently selected.
11671 Buttons are at the moment only simulated by prefixes in the menu.
11672 Eventually ordinary X-buttons may be supported.
11674 (menu-item ITEM-NAME) defines unselectable item.
11678 *** The new event type `mouse-wheel' is generated by a wheel on a
11679 mouse (such as the MS Intellimouse). The event contains a delta that
11680 corresponds to the amount and direction that the wheel is rotated,
11681 which is typically used to implement a scroll or zoom. The format is:
11683 (mouse-wheel POSITION DELTA)
11685 where POSITION is a list describing the position of the event in the
11686 same format as a mouse-click event, and DELTA is a signed number
11687 indicating the number of increments by which the wheel was rotated. A
11688 negative DELTA indicates that the wheel was rotated backwards, towards
11689 the user, and a positive DELTA indicates that the wheel was rotated
11690 forward, away from the user.
11692 As of now, this event type is generated only on MS Windows.
11694 *** The new event type `drag-n-drop' is generated when a group of
11695 files is selected in an application outside of Emacs, and then dragged
11696 and dropped onto an Emacs frame. The event contains a list of
11697 filenames that were dragged and dropped, which are then typically
11698 loaded into Emacs. The format is:
11700 (drag-n-drop POSITION FILES)
11702 where POSITION is a list describing the position of the event in the
11703 same format as a mouse-click event, and FILES is the list of filenames
11704 that were dragged and dropped.
11706 As of now, this event type is generated only on MS Windows.
11708 ** Changes relating to multibyte characters.
11710 *** The variable enable-multibyte-characters is now read-only;
11711 any attempt to set it directly signals an error. The only way
11712 to change this value in an existing buffer is with set-buffer-multibyte.
11714 *** In a string constant, `\ ' now stands for "nothing at all". You
11715 can use it to terminate a hex escape which is followed by a character
11716 that could otherwise be read as part of the hex escape.
11718 *** String indices are now measured in characters, as they were
11719 in Emacs 19 and before.
11721 The function chars-in-string has been deleted.
11722 The function concat-chars has been renamed to `string'.
11724 *** The function set-buffer-multibyte sets the flag in the current
11725 buffer that says whether the buffer uses multibyte representation or
11726 unibyte representation. If the argument is nil, it selects unibyte
11727 representation. Otherwise it selects multibyte representation.
11729 This function does not change the contents of the buffer, viewed
11730 as a sequence of bytes. However, it does change the contents
11731 viewed as characters; a sequence of two bytes which is treated as
11732 one character when the buffer uses multibyte representation
11733 will count as two characters using unibyte representation.
11735 This function sets enable-multibyte-characters to record which
11736 representation is in use. It also adjusts various data in the buffer
11737 (including its markers, overlays and text properties) so that they are
11738 consistent with the new representation.
11740 *** string-make-multibyte takes a string and converts it to multibyte
11741 representation. Most of the time, you don't need to care
11742 about the representation, because Emacs converts when necessary;
11743 however, it makes a difference when you compare strings.
11745 The conversion of non-ASCII characters works by adding the value of
11746 nonascii-insert-offset to each character, or by translating them
11747 using the table nonascii-translation-table.
11749 *** string-make-unibyte takes a string and converts it to unibyte
11750 representation. Most of the time, you don't need to care about the
11751 representation, but it makes a difference when you compare strings.
11753 The conversion from multibyte to unibyte representation
11754 loses information; the only time Emacs performs it automatically
11755 is when inserting a multibyte string into a unibyte buffer.
11757 *** string-as-multibyte takes a string, and returns another string
11758 which contains the same bytes, but treats them as multibyte.
11760 *** string-as-unibyte takes a string, and returns another string
11761 which contains the same bytes, but treats them as unibyte.
11763 *** The new function compare-strings lets you compare
11764 portions of two strings. Unibyte strings are converted to multibyte,
11765 so that a unibyte string can match a multibyte string.
11766 You can specify whether to ignore case or not.
11768 *** assoc-ignore-case now uses compare-strings so that
11769 it can treat unibyte and multibyte strings as equal.
11771 *** Regular expression operations and buffer string searches now
11772 convert the search pattern to multibyte or unibyte to accord with the
11773 buffer or string being searched.
11775 One consequence is that you cannot always use \200-\377 inside of
11776 [...] to match all non-ASCII characters. This does still work when
11777 searching or matching a unibyte buffer or string, but not when
11778 searching or matching a multibyte string. Unfortunately, there is no
11779 obvious choice of syntax to use within [...] for that job. But, what
11780 you want is just to match all non-ASCII characters, the regular
11781 expression [^\0-\177] works for it.
11783 *** Structure of coding system changed.
11785 All coding systems (including aliases and subsidiaries) are named
11786 by symbols; the symbol's `coding-system' property is a vector
11787 which defines the coding system. Aliases share the same vector
11788 as the principal name, so that altering the contents of this
11789 vector affects the principal name and its aliases. You can define
11790 your own alias name of a coding system by the function
11791 define-coding-system-alias.
11793 The coding system definition includes a property list of its own. Use
11794 the new functions `coding-system-get' and `coding-system-put' to
11795 access such coding system properties as post-read-conversion,
11796 pre-write-conversion, character-translation-table-for-decode,
11797 character-translation-table-for-encode, mime-charset, and
11798 safe-charsets. For instance, (coding-system-get 'iso-latin-1
11799 'mime-charset) gives the corresponding MIME-charset parameter
11802 Among the coding system properties listed above, safe-charsets is new.
11803 The value of this property is a list of character sets which this
11804 coding system can correctly encode and decode. For instance:
11805 (coding-system-get 'iso-latin-1 'safe-charsets) => (ascii latin-iso8859-1)
11807 Here, "correctly encode" means that the encoded character sets can
11808 also be handled safely by systems other than Emacs as far as they
11809 are capable of that coding system. Though, Emacs itself can encode
11810 the other character sets and read it back correctly.
11812 *** The new function select-safe-coding-system can be used to find a
11813 proper coding system for encoding the specified region or string.
11814 This function requires a user interaction.
11816 *** The new functions find-coding-systems-region and
11817 find-coding-systems-string are helper functions used by
11818 select-safe-coding-system. They return a list of all proper coding
11819 systems to encode a text in some region or string. If you don't want
11820 a user interaction, use one of these functions instead of
11821 select-safe-coding-system.
11823 *** The explicit encoding and decoding functions, such as
11824 decode-coding-region and encode-coding-string, now set
11825 last-coding-system-used to reflect the actual way encoding or decoding
11828 *** The new function detect-coding-with-language-environment can be
11829 used to detect a coding system of text according to priorities of
11830 coding systems used by some specific language environment.
11832 *** The functions detect-coding-region and detect-coding-string always
11833 return a list if the arg HIGHEST is nil. Thus, if only ASCII
11834 characters are found, they now return a list of single element
11835 `undecided' or its subsidiaries.
11837 *** The new functions coding-system-change-eol-conversion and
11838 coding-system-change-text-conversion can be used to get a different
11839 coding system than what specified only in how end-of-line or text is
11842 *** The new function set-selection-coding-system can be used to set a
11843 coding system for communicating with other X clients.
11845 *** The function `map-char-table' now passes as argument only valid
11846 character codes, plus generic characters that stand for entire
11847 character sets or entire subrows of a character set. In other words,
11848 each time `map-char-table' calls its FUNCTION argument, the key value
11849 either will be a valid individual character code, or will stand for a
11850 range of characters.
11852 *** The new function `char-valid-p' can be used for checking whether a
11853 Lisp object is a valid character code or not.
11855 *** The new function `charset-after' returns a charset of a character
11856 in the current buffer at position POS.
11858 *** Input methods are now implemented using the variable
11859 input-method-function. If this is non-nil, its value should be a
11860 function; then, whenever Emacs reads an input event that is a printing
11861 character with no modifier bits, it calls that function, passing the
11862 event as an argument. Often this function will read more input, first
11863 binding input-method-function to nil.
11865 The return value should be a list of the events resulting from input
11866 method processing. These events will be processed sequentially as
11867 input, before resorting to unread-command-events. Events returned by
11868 the input method function are not passed to the input method function,
11869 not even if they are printing characters with no modifier bits.
11871 The input method function is not called when reading the second and
11872 subsequent events of a key sequence.
11874 *** You can customize any language environment by using
11875 set-language-environment-hook and exit-language-environment-hook.
11877 The hook `exit-language-environment-hook' should be used to undo
11878 customizations that you made with set-language-environment-hook. For
11879 instance, if you set up a special key binding for a specific language
11880 environment by set-language-environment-hook, you should set up
11881 exit-language-environment-hook to restore the normal key binding.
11883 * Changes in Emacs 20.1
11885 ** Emacs has a new facility for customization of its many user
11886 options. It is called M-x customize. With this facility you can look
11887 at the many user options in an organized way; they are grouped into a
11890 M-x customize also knows what sorts of values are legitimate for each
11891 user option and ensures that you don't use invalid values.
11893 With M-x customize, you can set options either for the present Emacs
11894 session or permanently. (Permanent settings are stored automatically
11895 in your .emacs file.)
11897 ** Scroll bars are now on the left side of the window.
11898 You can change this with M-x customize-option scroll-bar-mode.
11900 ** The mode line no longer includes the string `Emacs'.
11901 This makes more space in the mode line for other information.
11903 ** When you select a region with the mouse, it is highlighted
11904 immediately afterward. At that time, if you type the DELETE key, it
11907 The BACKSPACE key, and the ASCII character DEL, do not do this; they
11908 delete the character before point, as usual.
11910 ** In an incremental search the whole current match is highlighted
11911 on terminals which support this. (You can disable this feature
11912 by setting search-highlight to nil.)
11914 ** In the minibuffer, in some cases, you can now use M-n to
11915 insert the default value into the minibuffer as text. In effect,
11916 the default value (if the minibuffer routines know it) is tacked
11917 onto the history "in the future". (The more normal use of the
11918 history list is to use M-p to insert minibuffer input used in the
11921 ** In Text mode, now only blank lines separate paragraphs.
11922 This makes it possible to get the full benefit of Adaptive Fill mode
11923 in Text mode, and other modes derived from it (such as Mail mode).
11924 TAB in Text mode now runs the command indent-relative; this
11925 makes a practical difference only when you use indented paragraphs.
11927 As a result, the old Indented Text mode is now identical to Text mode,
11928 and is an alias for it.
11930 If you want spaces at the beginning of a line to start a paragraph,
11931 use the new mode, Paragraph Indent Text mode.
11933 ** Scrolling changes
11935 *** Scroll commands to scroll a whole screen now preserve the screen
11936 position of the cursor, if scroll-preserve-screen-position is non-nil.
11938 In this mode, if you scroll several screens back and forth, finishing
11939 on the same screen where you started, the cursor goes back to the line
11942 *** If you set scroll-conservatively to a small number, then when you
11943 move point a short distance off the screen, Emacs will scroll the
11944 screen just far enough to bring point back on screen, provided that
11945 does not exceed `scroll-conservatively' lines.
11947 *** The new variable scroll-margin says how close point can come to the
11948 top or bottom of a window. It is a number of screen lines; if point
11949 comes within that many lines of the top or bottom of the window, Emacs
11950 recenters the window.
11952 ** International character set support (MULE)
11954 Emacs now supports a wide variety of international character sets,
11955 including European variants of the Latin alphabet, as well as Chinese,
11956 Devanagari (Hindi and Marathi), Ethiopian, Greek, IPA, Japanese,
11957 Korean, Lao, Russian, Thai, Tibetan, and Vietnamese scripts. These
11958 features have been merged from the modified version of Emacs known as
11959 MULE (for "MULti-lingual Enhancement to GNU Emacs")
11961 Users of these scripts have established many more-or-less standard
11962 coding systems for storing files. Emacs uses a single multibyte
11963 character encoding within Emacs buffers; it can translate from a wide
11964 variety of coding systems when reading a file and can translate back
11965 into any of these coding systems when saving a file.
11967 Keyboards, even in the countries where these character sets are used,
11968 generally don't have keys for all the characters in them. So Emacs
11969 supports various "input methods", typically one for each script or
11970 language, to make it possible to type them.
11972 The Emacs internal multibyte encoding represents a non-ASCII
11973 character as a sequence of bytes in the range 0200 through 0377.
11975 The new prefix key C-x RET is used for commands that pertain
11976 to multibyte characters, coding systems, and input methods.
11978 You can disable multibyte character support as follows:
11980 (setq-default enable-multibyte-characters nil)
11982 Calling the function standard-display-european turns off multibyte
11983 characters, unless you specify a non-nil value for the second
11984 argument, AUTO. This provides compatibility for people who are
11985 already using standard-display-european to continue using unibyte
11986 characters for their work until they want to change.
11990 An input method is a kind of character conversion which is designed
11991 specifically for interactive input. In Emacs, typically each language
11992 has its own input method (though sometimes several languages which use
11993 the same characters can share one input method). Some languages
11994 support several input methods.
11996 The simplest kind of input method works by mapping ASCII letters into
11997 another alphabet. This is how the Greek and Russian input methods
12000 A more powerful technique is composition: converting sequences of
12001 characters into one letter. Many European input methods use
12002 composition to produce a single non-ASCII letter from a sequence which
12003 consists of a letter followed by diacritics. For example, a' is one
12004 sequence of two characters that might be converted into a single
12007 The input methods for syllabic scripts typically use mapping followed
12008 by conversion. The input methods for Thai and Korean work this way.
12009 First, letters are mapped into symbols for particular sounds or tone
12010 marks; then, sequences of these which make up a whole syllable are
12011 mapped into one syllable sign--most often a "composite character".
12013 None of these methods works very well for Chinese and Japanese, so
12014 they are handled specially. First you input a whole word using
12015 phonetic spelling; then, after the word is in the buffer, Emacs
12016 converts it into one or more characters using a large dictionary.
12018 Since there is more than one way to represent a phonetically spelled
12019 word using Chinese characters, Emacs can only guess which one to use;
12020 typically these input methods give you a way to say "guess again" if
12021 the first guess is wrong.
12023 *** The command C-x RET m (toggle-enable-multibyte-characters)
12024 turns multibyte character support on or off for the current buffer.
12026 If multibyte character support is turned off in a buffer, then each
12027 byte is a single character, even codes 0200 through 0377--exactly as
12028 they did in Emacs 19.34. This includes the features for support for
12029 the European characters, ISO Latin-1 and ISO Latin-2.
12031 However, there is no need to turn off multibyte character support to
12032 use ISO Latin-1 or ISO Latin-2; the Emacs multibyte character set
12033 includes all the characters in these character sets, and Emacs can
12034 translate automatically to and from either one.
12036 *** Visiting a file in unibyte mode.
12038 Turning off multibyte character support in the buffer after visiting a
12039 file with multibyte code conversion will display the multibyte
12040 sequences already in the buffer, byte by byte. This is probably not
12043 If you want to edit a file of unibyte characters (Latin-1, for
12044 example), you can do it by specifying `no-conversion' as the coding
12045 system when reading the file. This coding system also turns off
12046 multibyte characters in that buffer.
12048 If you turn off multibyte character support entirely, this turns off
12049 character conversion as well.
12051 *** Displaying international characters on X Windows.
12053 A font for X typically displays just one alphabet or script.
12054 Therefore, displaying the entire range of characters Emacs supports
12055 requires using many fonts.
12057 Therefore, Emacs now supports "fontsets". Each fontset is a
12058 collection of fonts, each assigned to a range of character codes.
12060 A fontset has a name, like a font. Individual fonts are defined by
12061 the X server; fontsets are defined within Emacs itself. But once you
12062 have defined a fontset, you can use it in a face or a frame just as
12063 you would use a font.
12065 If a fontset specifies no font for a certain character, or if it
12066 specifies a font that does not exist on your system, then it cannot
12067 display that character. It will display an empty box instead.
12069 The fontset height and width are determined by the ASCII characters
12070 (that is, by the font in the fontset which is used for ASCII
12073 *** Defining fontsets.
12075 Emacs does not use any fontset by default. Its default font is still
12076 chosen as in previous versions. You can tell Emacs to use a fontset
12077 with the `-fn' option or the `Font' X resource.
12079 Emacs creates a standard fontset automatically according to the value
12080 of standard-fontset-spec. This fontset's short name is
12081 `fontset-standard'. Bold, italic, and bold-italic variants of the
12082 standard fontset are created automatically.
12084 If you specify a default ASCII font with the `Font' resource or `-fn'
12085 argument, a fontset is generated from it. This works by replacing the
12086 FOUNDARY, FAMILY, ADD_STYLE, and AVERAGE_WIDTH fields of the font name
12087 with `*' then using this to specify a fontset. This fontset's short
12088 name is `fontset-startup'.
12090 Emacs checks resources of the form Fontset-N where N is 0, 1, 2...
12091 The resource value should have this form:
12092 FONTSET-NAME, [CHARSET-NAME:FONT-NAME]...
12093 FONTSET-NAME should have the form of a standard X font name, except:
12094 * most fields should be just the wild card "*".
12095 * the CHARSET_REGISTRY field should be "fontset"
12096 * the CHARSET_ENCODING field can be any nickname of the fontset.
12097 The construct CHARSET-NAME:FONT-NAME can be repeated any number
12098 of times; each time specifies the font for one character set.
12099 CHARSET-NAME should be the name of a character set, and FONT-NAME
12100 should specify an actual font to use for that character set.
12102 Each of these fontsets has an alias which is made from the
12103 last two font name fields, CHARSET_REGISTRY and CHARSET_ENCODING.
12104 You can refer to the fontset by that alias or by its full name.
12106 For any character sets that you don't mention, Emacs tries to choose a
12107 font by substituting into FONTSET-NAME. For instance, with the
12108 following resource,
12109 Emacs*Fontset-0: -*-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-24-*-*-*-*-*-fontset-24
12110 the font for ASCII is generated as below:
12111 -*-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-24-*-ISO8859-1
12112 Here is the substitution rule:
12113 Change CHARSET_REGISTRY and CHARSET_ENCODING to that of the charset
12114 defined in the variable x-charset-registries. For instance, ASCII has
12115 the entry (ascii . "ISO8859-1") in this variable. Then, reduce
12116 sequences of wild cards -*-...-*- with a single wildcard -*-.
12117 (This is to prevent use of auto-scaled fonts.)
12119 The function which processes the fontset resource value to create the
12120 fontset is called create-fontset-from-fontset-spec. You can also call
12121 that function explicitly to create a fontset.
12123 With the X resource Emacs.Font, you can specify a fontset name just
12124 like an actual font name. But be careful not to specify a fontset
12125 name in a wildcard resource like Emacs*Font--that tries to specify the
12126 fontset for other purposes including menus, and they cannot handle
12129 *** The command M-x set-language-environment sets certain global Emacs
12130 defaults for a particular choice of language.
12132 Selecting a language environment typically specifies a default input
12133 method and which coding systems to recognize automatically when
12134 visiting files. However, it does not try to reread files you have
12135 already visited; the text in those buffers is not affected. The
12136 language environment may also specify a default choice of coding
12137 system for new files that you create.
12139 It makes no difference which buffer is current when you use
12140 set-language-environment, because these defaults apply globally to the
12141 whole Emacs session.
12143 For example, M-x set-language-environment RET Latin-1 RET
12144 chooses the Latin-1 character set. In the .emacs file, you can do this
12145 with (set-language-environment "Latin-1").
12147 *** The command C-x RET f (set-buffer-file-coding-system)
12148 specifies the file coding system for the current buffer. This
12149 specifies what sort of character code translation to do when saving
12150 the file. As an argument, you must specify the name of one of the
12151 coding systems that Emacs supports.
12153 *** The command C-x RET c (universal-coding-system-argument)
12154 lets you specify a coding system when you read or write a file.
12155 This command uses the minibuffer to read a coding system name.
12156 After you exit the minibuffer, the specified coding system
12157 is used for *the immediately following command*.
12159 So if the immediately following command is a command to read or
12160 write a file, it uses the specified coding system for that file.
12162 If the immediately following command does not use the coding system,
12163 then C-x RET c ultimately has no effect.
12165 For example, C-x RET c iso-8859-1 RET C-x C-f temp RET
12166 visits the file `temp' treating it as ISO Latin-1.
12168 *** You can specify the coding system for a file using the -*-
12169 construct. Include `coding: CODINGSYSTEM;' inside the -*-...-*-
12170 to specify use of coding system CODINGSYSTEM. You can also
12171 specify the coding system in a local variable list at the end
12174 *** The command C-x RET t (set-terminal-coding-system) specifies
12175 the coding system for terminal output. If you specify a character
12176 code for terminal output, all characters output to the terminal are
12177 translated into that character code.
12179 This feature is useful for certain character-only terminals built in
12180 various countries to support the languages of those countries.
12182 By default, output to the terminal is not translated at all.
12184 *** The command C-x RET k (set-keyboard-coding-system) specifies
12185 the coding system for keyboard input.
12187 Character code translation of keyboard input is useful for terminals
12188 with keys that send non-ASCII graphic characters--for example,
12189 some terminals designed for ISO Latin-1 or subsets of it.
12191 By default, keyboard input is not translated at all.
12193 Character code translation of keyboard input is similar to using an
12194 input method, in that both define sequences of keyboard input that
12195 translate into single characters. However, input methods are designed
12196 to be convenient for interactive use, while the code translations are
12197 designed to work with terminals.
12199 *** The command C-x RET p (set-buffer-process-coding-system)
12200 specifies the coding system for input and output to a subprocess.
12201 This command applies to the current buffer; normally, each subprocess
12202 has its own buffer, and thus you can use this command to specify
12203 translation to and from a particular subprocess by giving the command
12204 in the corresponding buffer.
12206 By default, process input and output are not translated at all.
12208 *** The variable file-name-coding-system specifies the coding system
12209 to use for encoding file names before operating on them.
12210 It is also used for decoding file names obtained from the system.
12212 *** The command C-\ (toggle-input-method) activates or deactivates
12213 an input method. If no input method has been selected before, the
12214 command prompts for you to specify the language and input method you
12217 C-u C-\ (select-input-method) lets you switch to a different input
12218 method. C-h C-\ (or C-h I) describes the current input method.
12220 *** Some input methods remap the keyboard to emulate various keyboard
12221 layouts commonly used for particular scripts. How to do this
12222 remapping properly depends on your actual keyboard layout. To specify
12223 which layout your keyboard has, use M-x quail-set-keyboard-layout.
12225 *** The command C-h C (describe-coding-system) displays
12226 the coding systems currently selected for various purposes, plus
12227 related information.
12229 *** The command C-h h (view-hello-file) displays a file called
12230 HELLO, which has examples of text in many languages, using various
12233 *** The command C-h L (describe-language-support) displays
12234 information about the support for a particular language.
12235 You specify the language as an argument.
12237 *** The mode line now contains a letter or character that identifies
12238 the coding system used in the visited file. It normally follows the
12241 A dash indicates the default state of affairs: no code conversion
12242 (except CRLF => newline if appropriate). `=' means no conversion
12243 whatsoever. The ISO 8859 coding systems are represented by digits
12244 1 through 9. Other coding systems are represented by letters:
12246 A alternativnyj (Russian)
12248 C cn-gb-2312 (Chinese)
12249 C iso-2022-cn (Chinese)
12250 D in-is13194-devanagari (Indian languages)
12251 E euc-japan (Japanese)
12252 I iso-2022-cjk or iso-2022-ss2 (Chinese, Japanese, Korean)
12253 J junet (iso-2022-7) or old-jis (iso-2022-jp-1978-irv) (Japanese)
12254 K euc-korea (Korean)
12257 S shift_jis (Japanese)
12260 V viscii or vscii (Vietnamese)
12261 i iso-2022-lock (Chinese, Japanese, Korean)
12262 k iso-2022-kr (Korean)
12263 v viqr (Vietnamese)
12266 When you are using a character-only terminal (not a window system),
12267 two additional characters appear in between the dash and the file
12268 coding system. These two characters describe the coding system for
12269 keyboard input, and the coding system for terminal output.
12271 *** The new variable rmail-file-coding-system specifies the code
12272 conversion to use for RMAIL files. The default value is nil.
12274 When you read mail with Rmail, each message is decoded automatically
12275 into Emacs' internal format. This has nothing to do with
12276 rmail-file-coding-system. That variable controls reading and writing
12277 Rmail files themselves.
12279 *** The new variable sendmail-coding-system specifies the code
12280 conversion for outgoing mail. The default value is nil.
12282 Actually, there are three different ways of specifying the coding system
12285 - If you use C-x RET f in the mail buffer, that takes priority.
12286 - Otherwise, if you set sendmail-coding-system non-nil, that specifies it.
12287 - Otherwise, the default coding system for new files is used,
12288 if that is non-nil. That comes from your language environment.
12289 - Otherwise, Latin-1 is used.
12291 *** The command C-h t (help-with-tutorial) accepts a prefix argument
12292 to specify the language for the tutorial file. Currently, English,
12293 Japanese, Korean and Thai are supported. We welcome additional
12296 ** An easy new way to visit a file with no code or format conversion
12297 of any kind: Use M-x find-file-literally. There is also a command
12298 insert-file-literally which inserts a file into the current buffer
12299 without any conversion.
12301 ** C-q's handling of octal character codes is changed.
12302 You can now specify any number of octal digits.
12303 RET terminates the digits and is discarded;
12304 any other non-digit terminates the digits and is then used as input.
12306 ** There are new commands for looking up Info documentation for
12307 functions, variables and file names used in your programs.
12309 Type M-x info-lookup-symbol to look up a symbol in the buffer at point.
12310 Type M-x info-lookup-file to look up a file in the buffer at point.
12312 Precisely which Info files are used to look it up depends on the major
12313 mode. For example, in C mode, the GNU libc manual is used.
12315 ** M-TAB in most programming language modes now runs the command
12316 complete-symbol. This command performs completion on the symbol name
12317 in the buffer before point.
12319 With a numeric argument, it performs completion based on the set of
12320 symbols documented in the Info files for the programming language that
12323 With no argument, it does completion based on the current tags tables,
12324 just like the old binding of M-TAB (complete-tag).
12326 ** File locking works with NFS now.
12328 The lock file for FILENAME is now a symbolic link named .#FILENAME,
12329 in the same directory as FILENAME.
12331 This means that collision detection between two different machines now
12332 works reasonably well; it also means that no file server or directory
12333 can become a bottleneck.
12335 The new method does have drawbacks. It means that collision detection
12336 does not operate when you edit a file in a directory where you cannot
12337 create new files. Collision detection also doesn't operate when the
12338 file server does not support symbolic links. But these conditions are
12339 rare, and the ability to have collision detection while using NFS is
12340 so useful that the change is worth while.
12342 When Emacs or a system crashes, this may leave behind lock files which
12343 are stale. So you may occasionally get warnings about spurious
12344 collisions. When you determine that the collision is spurious, just
12345 tell Emacs to go ahead anyway.
12347 ** If you wish to use Show Paren mode to display matching parentheses,
12348 it is no longer sufficient to load paren.el. Instead you must call
12351 ** If you wish to use Delete Selection mode to replace a highlighted
12352 selection when you insert new text, it is no longer sufficient to load
12353 delsel.el. Instead you must call the function delete-selection-mode.
12355 ** If you wish to use Partial Completion mode to complete partial words
12356 within symbols or filenames, it is no longer sufficient to load
12357 complete.el. Instead you must call the function partial-completion-mode.
12359 ** If you wish to use uniquify to rename buffers for you,
12360 it is no longer sufficient to load uniquify.el. You must also
12361 set uniquify-buffer-name-style to one of the non-nil legitimate values.
12363 ** Changes in View mode.
12365 *** Several new commands are available in View mode.
12366 Do H in view mode for a list of commands.
12368 *** There are two new commands for entering View mode:
12369 view-file-other-frame and view-buffer-other-frame.
12371 *** Exiting View mode does a better job of restoring windows to their
12374 *** New customization variable view-scroll-auto-exit. If non-nil,
12375 scrolling past end of buffer makes view mode exit.
12377 *** New customization variable view-exits-all-viewing-windows. If
12378 non-nil, view-mode will at exit restore all windows viewing buffer,
12379 not just the selected window.
12381 *** New customization variable view-read-only. If non-nil, visiting a
12382 read-only file automatically enters View mode, and toggle-read-only
12383 turns View mode on or off.
12385 *** New customization variable view-remove-frame-by-deleting controls
12386 how to remove a not needed frame at view mode exit. If non-nil,
12387 delete the frame, if nil make an icon of it.
12389 ** C-x v l, the command to print a file's version control log,
12390 now positions point at the entry for the file's current branch version.
12392 ** C-x v =, the command to compare a file with the last checked-in version,
12393 has a new feature. If the file is currently not locked, so that it is
12394 presumably identical to the last checked-in version, the command now asks
12395 which version to compare with.
12397 ** When using hideshow.el, incremental search can temporarily show hidden
12398 blocks if a match is inside the block.
12400 The block is hidden again if the search is continued and the next match
12401 is outside the block. By customizing the variable
12402 isearch-hide-immediately you can choose to hide all the temporarily
12403 shown blocks only when exiting from incremental search.
12405 By customizing the variable hs-isearch-open you can choose what kind
12406 of blocks to temporarily show during isearch: comment blocks, code
12407 blocks, all of them or none.
12409 ** The new command C-x 4 0 (kill-buffer-and-window) kills the
12410 current buffer and deletes the selected window. It asks for
12411 confirmation first.
12413 ** C-x C-w, which saves the buffer into a specified file name,
12414 now changes the major mode according to that file name.
12415 However, the mode will not be changed if
12416 (1) a local variables list or the `-*-' line specifies a major mode, or
12417 (2) the current major mode is a "special" mode,
12418 not suitable for ordinary files, or
12419 (3) the new file name does not particularly specify any mode.
12421 This applies to M-x set-visited-file-name as well.
12423 However, if you set change-major-mode-with-file-name to nil, then
12424 these commands do not change the major mode.
12426 ** M-x occur changes.
12428 *** If the argument to M-x occur contains upper case letters,
12429 it performs a case-sensitive search.
12431 *** In the *Occur* buffer made by M-x occur,
12432 if you type g or M-x revert-buffer, this repeats the search
12433 using the same regular expression and the same buffer as before.
12435 ** In Transient Mark mode, the region in any one buffer is highlighted
12436 in just one window at a time. At first, it is highlighted in the
12437 window where you set the mark. The buffer's highlighting remains in
12438 that window unless you select to another window which shows the same
12439 buffer--then the highlighting moves to that window.
12441 ** The feature to suggest key bindings when you use M-x now operates
12442 after the command finishes. The message suggesting key bindings
12443 appears temporarily in the echo area. The previous echo area contents
12444 come back after a few seconds, in case they contain useful information.
12446 ** Each frame now independently records the order for recently
12447 selected buffers, so that the default for C-x b is now based on the
12448 buffers recently selected in the selected frame.
12450 ** Outline mode changes.
12452 *** Outline mode now uses overlays (this is the former noutline.el).
12454 *** Incremental searches skip over invisible text in Outline mode.
12456 ** When a minibuffer window is active but not the selected window, if
12457 you try to use the minibuffer, you used to get a nested minibuffer.
12458 Now, this not only gives an error, it also cancels the minibuffer that
12459 was already active.
12461 The motive for this change is so that beginning users do not
12462 unknowingly move away from minibuffers, leaving them active, and then
12463 get confused by it.
12465 If you want to be able to have recursive minibuffers, you must
12466 set enable-recursive-minibuffers to non-nil.
12468 ** Changes in dynamic abbrevs.
12470 *** Expanding dynamic abbrevs with M-/ is now smarter about case
12471 conversion. If the expansion has mixed case not counting the first
12472 character, and the abbreviation matches the beginning of the expansion
12473 including case, then the expansion is copied verbatim.
12475 The expansion is also copied verbatim if the abbreviation itself has
12476 mixed case. And using SPC M-/ to copy an additional word always
12477 copies it verbatim except when the previous copied word is all caps.
12479 *** The values of `dabbrev-case-replace' and `dabbrev-case-fold-search'
12480 are no longer Lisp expressions. They have simply three possible
12483 `dabbrev-case-replace' has these three values: nil (don't preserve
12484 case), t (do), or `case-replace' (do like M-x query-replace).
12485 `dabbrev-case-fold-search' has these three values: nil (don't ignore
12486 case), t (do), or `case-fold-search' (do like search).
12488 ** Minibuffer history lists are truncated automatically now to a
12489 certain length. The variable history-length specifies how long they
12490 can be. The default value is 30.
12492 ** Changes in Mail mode.
12494 *** The key C-x m no longer runs the `mail' command directly.
12495 Instead, it runs the command `compose-mail', which invokes the mail
12496 composition mechanism you have selected with the variable
12497 `mail-user-agent'. The default choice of user agent is
12498 `sendmail-user-agent', which gives behavior compatible with the old
12501 C-x 4 m now runs compose-mail-other-window, and C-x 5 m runs
12502 compose-mail-other-frame.
12504 *** While composing a reply to a mail message, from Rmail, you can use
12505 the command C-c C-r to cite just the region from the message you are
12506 replying to. This copies the text which is the selected region in the
12507 buffer that shows the original message.
12509 *** The command C-c C-i inserts a file at the end of the message,
12510 with separator lines around the contents.
12512 *** The command M-x expand-mail-aliases expands all mail aliases
12513 in suitable mail headers. Emacs automatically extracts mail alias
12514 definitions from your mail alias file (e.g., ~/.mailrc). You do not
12515 need to expand mail aliases yourself before sending mail.
12517 *** New features in the mail-complete command.
12519 **** The mail-complete command now inserts the user's full name,
12520 for local users or if that is known. The variable mail-complete-style
12521 controls the style to use, and whether to do this at all.
12522 Its values are like those of mail-from-style.
12524 **** The variable mail-passwd-command lets you specify a shell command
12525 to run to fetch a set of password-entries that add to the ones in
12528 **** The variable mail-passwd-file now specifies a list of files to read
12529 to get the list of user ids. By default, one file is used:
12532 ** You can "quote" a file name to inhibit special significance of
12533 special syntax, by adding `/:' to the beginning. Thus, if you have a
12534 directory named `/foo:', you can prevent it from being treated as a
12535 reference to a remote host named `foo' by writing it as `/:/foo:'.
12537 Emacs uses this new construct automatically when necessary, such as
12538 when you start it with a working directory whose name might otherwise
12539 be taken to be magic.
12541 ** There is a new command M-x grep-find which uses find to select
12542 files to search through, and grep to scan them. The output is
12543 available in a Compile mode buffer, as with M-x grep.
12545 M-x grep now uses the -e option if the grep program supports that.
12546 (-e prevents problems if the search pattern starts with a dash.)
12548 ** In Dired, the & command now flags for deletion the files whose names
12549 suggest they are probably not needed in the long run.
12551 In Dired, * is now a prefix key for mark-related commands.
12553 new key dired.el binding old key
12554 ------- ---------------- -------
12555 * c dired-change-marks c
12557 * * dired-mark-executables * (binding deleted)
12558 * / dired-mark-directories / (binding deleted)
12559 * @ dired-mark-symlinks @ (binding deleted)
12561 * DEL dired-unmark-backward DEL
12562 * ? dired-unmark-all-files C-M-?
12563 * ! dired-unmark-all-marks
12564 * % dired-mark-files-regexp % m
12565 * C-n dired-next-marked-file M-}
12566 * C-p dired-prev-marked-file M-{
12570 *** When Rmail cannot convert your incoming mail into Babyl format, it
12571 saves the new mail in the file RMAILOSE.n, where n is an integer
12572 chosen to make a unique name. This way, Rmail will not keep crashing
12573 each time you run it.
12575 *** In Rmail, the variable rmail-summary-line-count-flag now controls
12576 whether to include the line count in the summary. Non-nil means yes.
12578 *** In Rmail summary buffers, d and C-d (the commands to delete
12579 messages) now take repeat counts as arguments. A negative argument
12580 means to move in the opposite direction.
12582 *** In Rmail, the t command now takes an optional argument which lets
12583 you specify whether to show the message headers in full or pruned.
12585 *** In Rmail, the new command w (rmail-output-body-to-file) writes
12586 just the body of the current message into a file, without the headers.
12587 It takes the file name from the message subject, by default, but you
12588 can edit that file name in the minibuffer before it is actually used
12593 *** nntp.el has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
12595 *** Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
12598 *** Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like
12599 `and', `or', `not', and parent redirection.
12601 *** Article washing status can be displayed in the
12604 *** gnus.el has been split into many smaller files.
12606 *** Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID.
12608 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
12610 *** New variables for specifying what score and adapt files
12611 are to be considered home score and adapt files. See
12612 `gnus-home-score-file' and `gnus-home-adapt-files'.
12614 *** Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics.
12616 *** Article editing has been revamped and is now usable.
12618 *** Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions.
12619 See `gnus-signature-separator' and `gnus-signature-limit'.
12621 *** Summary pick mode has been made to look more nn-like.
12622 Line numbers are displayed and the `.' command can be
12623 used to pick articles.
12625 *** Commands for moving the .newsrc.eld from one server to
12626 another have been added.
12628 `M-x gnus-change-server'
12630 *** A way to specify that "uninteresting" fields be suppressed when
12631 generating lines in buffers.
12633 *** Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with
12636 *** Scoring can be done on words using the new score type `w'.
12638 *** Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis:
12640 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
12642 *** Scores can be decayed.
12644 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
12646 *** Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The
12647 Date is normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first.
12649 *** A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
12652 `M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups'
12654 *** A new command for reading collections of documents
12655 (nndoc with nnvirtual on top) has been added -- `C-M-d'.
12657 *** Process mark sets can be pushed and popped.
12659 *** A new mail-to-news backend makes it possible to post
12660 even when the NNTP server doesn't allow posting.
12662 *** A new backend for reading searches from Web search engines
12663 (DejaNews, Alta Vista, InReference) has been added.
12665 Use the `G w' command in the group buffer to create such
12668 *** Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard
12669 sorting functions, and each topic can be sorted independently.
12671 See the commands under the `T S' submap.
12673 *** Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently.
12675 See the commands under the `G P' submap.
12677 *** Cached articles can be pulled into the groups.
12679 Use the `Y c' command.
12681 *** Score files are now applied in a more reliable order.
12683 *** Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated.
12685 `M-x nnmail-split-history'
12687 *** More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk
12688 from incoming mail before saving the mail.
12690 See `nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook'.
12692 *** The nnml mail backend now understands compressed article files.
12694 *** To enable Gnus to read/post multi-lingual articles, you must execute
12695 the following code, for instance, in your .emacs.
12697 (add-hook 'gnus-startup-hook 'gnus-mule-initialize)
12699 Then, when you start Gnus, it will decode non-ASCII text automatically
12700 and show appropriate characters. (Note: if you are using gnus-mime
12701 from the SEMI package, formerly known as TM, you should NOT add this
12702 hook to gnus-startup-hook; gnus-mime has its own method of handling
12705 Since it is impossible to distinguish all coding systems
12706 automatically, you may need to specify a choice of coding system for a
12707 particular news group. This can be done by:
12709 (gnus-mule-add-group NEWSGROUP 'CODING-SYSTEM)
12711 Here NEWSGROUP should be a string which names a newsgroup or a tree
12712 of newsgroups. If NEWSGROUP is "XXX.YYY", all news groups under
12713 "XXX.YYY" (including "XXX.YYY.ZZZ") will use the specified coding
12714 system. CODING-SYSTEM specifies which coding system to use (for both
12715 for reading and posting).
12717 CODING-SYSTEM can also be a cons cell of the form
12718 (READ-CODING-SYSTEM . POST-CODING-SYSTEM)
12719 Then READ-CODING-SYSTEM is used when you read messages from the
12720 newsgroups, while POST-CODING-SYSTEM is used when you post messages
12723 Emacs knows the right coding systems for certain newsgroups by
12724 default. Here are some of these default settings:
12726 (gnus-mule-add-group "fj" 'iso-2022-7)
12727 (gnus-mule-add-group "alt.chinese.text" 'hz-gb-2312)
12728 (gnus-mule-add-group "alt.hk" 'hz-gb-2312)
12729 (gnus-mule-add-group "alt.chinese.text.big5" 'cn-big5)
12730 (gnus-mule-add-group "soc.culture.vietnamese" '(nil . viqr))
12732 When you reply by mail to an article, these settings are ignored;
12733 the mail is encoded according to sendmail-coding-system, as usual.
12735 ** CC mode changes.
12737 *** If you edit primarily one style of C (or C++, Objective-C, Java)
12738 code, you may want to make the CC Mode style variables have global
12739 values so that you can set them directly in your .emacs file. To do
12740 this, set c-style-variables-are-local-p to nil in your .emacs file.
12741 Note that this only takes effect if you do it *before* cc-mode.el is
12744 If you typically edit more than one style of C (or C++, Objective-C,
12745 Java) code in a single Emacs session, you may want to make the CC Mode
12746 style variables have buffer local values. By default, all buffers
12747 share the same style variable settings; to make them buffer local, set
12748 c-style-variables-are-local-p to t in your .emacs file. Note that you
12749 must do this *before* CC Mode is loaded.
12751 *** The new variable c-indentation-style holds the C style name
12752 of the current buffer.
12754 *** The variable c-block-comments-indent-p has been deleted, because
12755 it is no longer necessary. C mode now handles all the supported styles
12756 of block comments, with no need to say which one you will use.
12758 *** There is a new indentation style "python", which specifies the C
12759 style that the Python developers like.
12761 *** There is a new c-cleanup-list option: brace-elseif-brace.
12762 This says to put ...} else if (...) {... on one line,
12763 just as brace-else-brace says to put ...} else {... on one line.
12765 ** VC Changes [new]
12767 *** In vc-retrieve-snapshot (C-x v r), if you don't specify a snapshot
12768 name, it retrieves the *latest* versions of all files in the current
12769 directory and its subdirectories (aside from files already locked).
12771 This feature is useful if your RCS directory is a link to a common
12772 master directory, and you want to pick up changes made by other
12775 You can do the same thing for an individual file by typing C-u C-x C-q
12776 RET in a buffer visiting that file.
12778 *** VC can now handle files under CVS that are being "watched" by
12779 other developers. Such files are made read-only by CVS. To get a
12780 writable copy, type C-x C-q in a buffer visiting such a file. VC then
12781 calls "cvs edit", which notifies the other developers of it.
12783 *** vc-version-diff (C-u C-x v =) now suggests reasonable defaults for
12784 version numbers, based on the current state of the file.
12786 ** Calendar changes.
12788 *** A new function, list-holidays, allows you list holidays or
12789 subclasses of holidays for ranges of years. Related menu items allow
12790 you do this for the year of the selected date, or the
12791 following/previous years.
12793 *** There is now support for the Baha'i calendar system. Use `pb' in
12794 the *Calendar* buffer to display the current Baha'i date. The Baha'i
12795 calendar, or "Badi calendar" is a system of 19 months with 19 days
12796 each, and 4 intercalary days (5 during a Gregorian leap year). The
12797 calendar begins May 23, 1844, with each of the months named after a
12798 supposed attribute of God.
12800 ** ps-print changes
12802 There are some new user variables and subgroups for customizing the page
12805 *** Headers & Footers (subgroup)
12807 Some printer systems print a header page and force the first page to
12808 be printed on the back of the header page when using duplex. If your
12809 printer system has this behavior, set variable
12810 `ps-banner-page-when-duplexing' to t.
12812 If variable `ps-banner-page-when-duplexing' is non-nil, it prints a
12813 blank page as the very first printed page. So, it behaves as if the
12814 very first character of buffer (or region) were a form feed ^L (\014).
12816 The variable `ps-spool-config' specifies who is responsible for
12817 setting duplex mode and page size. Valid values are:
12819 lpr-switches duplex and page size are configured by `ps-lpr-switches'.
12820 Don't forget to set `ps-lpr-switches' to select duplex
12821 printing for your printer.
12823 setpagedevice duplex and page size are configured by ps-print using the
12824 setpagedevice PostScript operator.
12826 nil duplex and page size are configured by ps-print *not* using
12827 the setpagedevice PostScript operator.
12829 The variable `ps-spool-tumble' specifies how the page images on
12830 opposite sides of a sheet are oriented with respect to each other. If
12831 `ps-spool-tumble' is nil, ps-print produces output suitable for
12832 bindings on the left or right. If `ps-spool-tumble' is non-nil,
12833 ps-print produces output suitable for bindings at the top or bottom.
12834 This variable takes effect only if `ps-spool-duplex' is non-nil.
12835 The default value is nil.
12837 The variable `ps-header-frame-alist' specifies a header frame
12838 properties alist. Valid frame properties are:
12840 fore-color Specify the foreground frame color.
12841 Value should be a float number between 0.0 (black
12842 color) and 1.0 (white color), or a string which is a
12843 color name, or a list of 3 float numbers which
12844 correspond to the Red Green Blue color scale, each
12845 float number between 0.0 (dark color) and 1.0 (bright
12846 color). The default is 0 ("black").
12848 back-color Specify the background frame color (similar to fore-color).
12849 The default is 0.9 ("gray90").
12851 shadow-color Specify the shadow color (similar to fore-color).
12852 The default is 0 ("black").
12854 border-color Specify the border color (similar to fore-color).
12855 The default is 0 ("black").
12857 border-width Specify the border width.
12858 The default is 0.4.
12860 Any other property is ignored.
12862 Don't change this alist directly; instead use Custom, or the
12863 `ps-value', `ps-get', `ps-put' and `ps-del' functions (see there for
12866 Ps-print can also print footers. The footer variables are:
12867 `ps-print-footer', `ps-footer-offset', `ps-print-footer-frame',
12868 `ps-footer-font-family', `ps-footer-font-size', `ps-footer-line-pad',
12869 `ps-footer-lines', `ps-left-footer', `ps-right-footer' and
12870 `ps-footer-frame-alist'. These variables are similar to those
12871 controlling headers.
12873 *** Color management (subgroup)
12875 If `ps-print-color-p' is non-nil, the buffer's text will be printed in
12878 *** Face Management (subgroup)
12880 If you need to print without worrying about face background colors,
12881 set the variable `ps-use-face-background' which specifies if face
12882 background should be used. Valid values are:
12884 t always use face background color.
12885 nil never use face background color.
12886 (face...) list of faces whose background color will be used.
12888 *** N-up printing (subgroup)
12890 The variable `ps-n-up-printing' specifies the number of pages per
12893 The variable `ps-n-up-margin' specifies the margin in points (pt)
12894 between the sheet border and the n-up printing.
12896 If variable `ps-n-up-border-p' is non-nil, a border is drawn around
12899 The variable `ps-n-up-filling' specifies how the page matrix is filled
12900 on each sheet of paper. Following are the valid values for
12901 `ps-n-up-filling' with a filling example using a 3x4 page matrix:
12903 `left-top' 1 2 3 4 `left-bottom' 9 10 11 12
12907 `right-top' 4 3 2 1 `right-bottom' 12 11 10 9
12911 `top-left' 1 4 7 10 `bottom-left' 3 6 9 12
12915 `top-right' 10 7 4 1 `bottom-right' 12 9 6 3
12919 Any other value is treated as `left-top'.
12921 *** Zebra stripes (subgroup)
12923 The variable `ps-zebra-color' controls the zebra stripes grayscale or
12926 The variable `ps-zebra-stripe-follow' specifies how zebra stripes
12927 continue on next page. Visually, valid values are (the character `+'
12928 to the right of each column indicates that a line is printed):
12930 `nil' `follow' `full' `full-follow'
12931 Current Page -------- ----------- --------- ----------------
12932 1 XXXXX + 1 XXXXXXXX + 1 XXXXXX + 1 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
12933 2 XXXXX + 2 XXXXXXXX + 2 XXXXXX + 2 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
12934 3 XXXXX + 3 XXXXXXXX + 3 XXXXXX + 3 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
12938 7 XXXXX + 7 XXXXXXXX + 7 XXXXXX + 7 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
12939 8 XXXXX + 8 XXXXXXXX + 8 XXXXXX + 8 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
12940 9 XXXXX + 9 XXXXXXXX + 9 XXXXXX + 9 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
12943 -------- ----------- --------- ----------------
12944 Next Page -------- ----------- --------- ----------------
12945 12 XXXXX + 12 + 10 XXXXXX + 10 +
12946 13 XXXXX + 13 XXXXXXXX + 11 XXXXXX + 11 +
12947 14 XXXXX + 14 XXXXXXXX + 12 XXXXXX + 12 +
12948 15 + 15 XXXXXXXX + 13 + 13 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
12949 16 + 16 + 14 + 14 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
12950 17 + 17 + 15 + 15 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
12951 18 XXXXX + 18 + 16 XXXXXX + 16 +
12952 19 XXXXX + 19 XXXXXXXX + 17 XXXXXX + 17 +
12953 20 XXXXX + 20 XXXXXXXX + 18 XXXXXX + 18 +
12956 -------- ----------- --------- ----------------
12958 Any other value is treated as `nil'.
12961 *** Printer management (subgroup)
12963 The variable `ps-printer-name-option' determines the option used by
12964 some utilities to indicate the printer name; it's used only when
12965 `ps-printer-name' is a non-empty string. If you're using the lpr
12966 utility to print, for example, `ps-printer-name-option' should be set
12969 The variable `ps-manual-feed' indicates if the printer requires manual
12970 paper feeding. If it's nil, automatic feeding takes place. If it's
12971 non-nil, manual feeding takes place.
12973 The variable `ps-end-with-control-d' specifies whether C-d (\x04)
12974 should be inserted at end of the generated PostScript. Non-nil means
12977 *** Page settings (subgroup)
12979 If variable `ps-warn-paper-type' is nil, it's *not* treated as an
12980 error if the PostScript printer doesn't have a paper with the size
12981 indicated by `ps-paper-type'; the default paper size will be used
12982 instead. If `ps-warn-paper-type' is non-nil, an error is signaled if
12983 the PostScript printer doesn't support a paper with the size indicated
12984 by `ps-paper-type'. This is used when `ps-spool-config' is set to
12987 The variable `ps-print-upside-down' determines the orientation for
12988 printing pages: nil means `normal' printing, non-nil means
12989 `upside-down' printing (that is, the page is rotated by 180 degrees).
12991 The variable `ps-selected-pages' specifies which pages to print. If
12992 it's nil, all pages are printed. If it's a list, list elements may be
12993 integers specifying a single page to print, or cons cells (FROM . TO)
12994 specifying to print from page FROM to TO. Invalid list elements, that
12995 is integers smaller than one, or elements whose FROM is greater than
12996 its TO, are ignored.
12998 The variable `ps-even-or-odd-pages' specifies how to print even/odd
12999 pages. Valid values are:
13001 nil print all pages.
13003 `even-page' print only even pages.
13005 `odd-page' print only odd pages.
13007 `even-sheet' print only even sheets.
13008 That is, if `ps-n-up-printing' is 1, it behaves like
13009 `even-page', but for values greater than 1, it'll
13010 print only the even sheet of paper.
13012 `odd-sheet' print only odd sheets.
13013 That is, if `ps-n-up-printing' is 1, it behaves like
13014 `odd-page'; but for values greater than 1, it'll print
13015 only the odd sheet of paper.
13017 Any other value is treated as nil.
13019 If you set `ps-selected-pages' (see there for documentation), pages
13020 are filtered by `ps-selected-pages', and then by
13021 `ps-even-or-odd-pages'. For example, if we have:
13023 (setq ps-selected-pages '(1 4 (6 . 10) (12 . 16) 20))
13025 and we combine this with `ps-even-or-odd-pages' and
13026 `ps-n-up-printing', we get:
13028 `ps-n-up-printing' = 1:
13029 `ps-even-or-odd-pages' PAGES PRINTED
13030 nil 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 20
13031 even-page 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 20
13032 odd-page 1, 7, 9, 13, 15
13033 even-sheet 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 20
13034 odd-sheet 1, 7, 9, 13, 15
13036 `ps-n-up-printing' = 2:
13037 `ps-even-or-odd-pages' PAGES PRINTED
13038 nil 1/4, 6/7, 8/9, 10/12, 13/14, 15/16, 20
13039 even-page 4/6, 8/10, 12/14, 16/20
13040 odd-page 1/7, 9/13, 15
13041 even-sheet 6/7, 10/12, 15/16
13042 odd-sheet 1/4, 8/9, 13/14, 20
13044 *** Miscellany (subgroup)
13046 The variable `ps-error-handler-message' specifies where error handler
13047 messages should be sent.
13049 It is also possible to add a user-defined PostScript prologue code in
13050 front of all generated prologue code by setting the variable
13051 `ps-user-defined-prologue'.
13053 The variable `ps-line-number-font' specifies the font for line numbers.
13055 The variable `ps-line-number-font-size' specifies the font size in
13056 points for line numbers.
13058 The variable `ps-line-number-color' specifies the color for line
13059 numbers. See `ps-zebra-color' for documentation.
13061 The variable `ps-line-number-step' specifies the interval in which
13062 line numbers are printed. For example, if `ps-line-number-step' is set
13063 to 2, the printing will look like:
13075 integer an integer specifying the interval in which line numbers are
13076 printed. If it's smaller than or equal to zero, 1
13079 `zebra' specifies that only the line number of the first line in a
13080 zebra stripe is to be printed.
13082 Any other value is treated as `zebra'.
13084 The variable `ps-line-number-start' specifies the starting point in
13085 the interval given by `ps-line-number-step'. For example, if
13086 `ps-line-number-step' is set to 3, and `ps-line-number-start' is set to
13087 3, the output will look like:
13101 The variable `ps-postscript-code-directory' specifies the directory
13102 where the PostScript prologue file used by ps-print is found.
13104 The variable `ps-line-spacing' determines the line spacing in points,
13105 for ordinary text, when generating PostScript (similar to
13108 The variable `ps-paragraph-spacing' determines the paragraph spacing,
13109 in points, for ordinary text, when generating PostScript (similar to
13112 The variable `ps-paragraph-regexp' specifies the paragraph delimiter.
13114 The variable `ps-begin-cut-regexp' and `ps-end-cut-regexp' specify the
13115 start and end of a region to cut out when printing.
13117 ** hideshow changes.
13119 *** now supports hiding of blocks of single line comments (like // for
13122 *** Support for java-mode added.
13124 *** When doing `hs-hide-all' it is now possible to also hide the comments
13125 in the file if `hs-hide-comments-when-hiding-all' is set.
13127 *** The new function `hs-hide-initial-comment' hides the comments at
13128 the beginning of the files. Finally those huge RCS logs don't stay in your
13129 way! This is run by default when entering the `hs-minor-mode'.
13131 *** Now uses overlays instead of `selective-display', so is more
13132 robust and a lot faster.
13134 *** A block beginning can span multiple lines.
13136 *** The new variable `hs-show-hidden-short-form' if t, directs hideshow
13137 to show only the beginning of a block when it is hidden. See the
13138 documentation for more details.
13140 ** Changes in Enriched mode.
13142 *** When you visit a file in enriched-mode, Emacs will make sure it is
13143 filled to the current fill-column. This behavior is now independent
13144 of the size of the window. When you save the file, the fill-column in
13145 use is stored as well, so that the whole buffer need not be refilled
13146 the next time unless the fill-column is different.
13148 *** use-hard-newlines is now a minor mode. When it is enabled, Emacs
13149 distinguishes between hard and soft newlines, and treats hard newlines
13150 as paragraph boundaries. Otherwise all newlines inserted are marked
13151 as soft, and paragraph boundaries are determined solely from the text.
13157 The variables font-lock-face-attributes, font-lock-display-type and
13158 font-lock-background-mode are now obsolete; the recommended way to specify the
13159 faces to use for Font Lock mode is with M-x customize-group on the new custom
13160 group font-lock-highlighting-faces. If you set font-lock-face-attributes in
13161 your ~/.emacs file, Font Lock mode will respect its value. However, you should
13162 consider converting from setting that variable to using M-x customize.
13164 You can still use X resources to specify Font Lock face appearances.
13166 *** Maximum decoration
13168 Fontification now uses the maximum level of decoration supported by
13169 default. Previously, fontification used a mode-specific default level
13170 of decoration, which is typically the minimum level of decoration
13171 supported. You can set font-lock-maximum-decoration to nil
13172 to get the old behavior.
13176 Support is now provided for Java, Objective-C, AWK and SIMULA modes.
13178 Note that Font Lock mode can be turned on without knowing exactly what modes
13179 support Font Lock mode, via the command global-font-lock-mode.
13181 *** Configurable support
13183 Support for C, C++, Objective-C and Java can be more easily configured for
13184 additional types and classes via the new variables c-font-lock-extra-types,
13185 c++-font-lock-extra-types, objc-font-lock-extra-types and, you guessed it,
13186 java-font-lock-extra-types. These value of each of these variables should be a
13187 list of regexps matching the extra type names. For example, the default value
13188 of c-font-lock-extra-types is ("\\sw+_t") which means fontification follows the
13189 convention that C type names end in _t. This results in slower fontification.
13191 Of course, you can change the variables that specify fontification in whatever
13192 way you wish, typically by adding regexps. However, these new variables make
13193 it easier to make specific and common changes for the fontification of types.
13195 *** Adding highlighting patterns to existing support
13197 You can use the new function font-lock-add-keywords to add your own
13198 highlighting patterns, such as for project-local or user-specific constructs,
13201 For example, to highlight `FIXME:' words in C comments, put:
13203 (font-lock-add-keywords 'c-mode '(("\\<FIXME:" 0 font-lock-warning-face t)))
13209 Font Lock now defines two new faces, font-lock-builtin-face and
13210 font-lock-warning-face. These are intended to highlight builtin keywords,
13211 distinct from a language's normal keywords, and objects that should be brought
13212 to user attention, respectively. Various modes now use these new faces.
13214 *** Changes to fast-lock support mode
13216 The fast-lock package, one of the two Font Lock support modes, can now process
13217 cache files silently. You can use the new variable fast-lock-verbose, in the
13218 same way as font-lock-verbose, to control this feature.
13220 *** Changes to lazy-lock support mode
13222 The lazy-lock package, one of the two Font Lock support modes, can now fontify
13223 according to the true syntactic context relative to other lines. You can use
13224 the new variable lazy-lock-defer-contextually to control this feature. If
13225 non-nil, changes to the buffer will cause subsequent lines in the buffer to be
13226 refontified after lazy-lock-defer-time seconds of idle time. If nil, then only
13227 the modified lines will be refontified; this is the same as the previous Lazy
13228 Lock mode behavior and the behavior of Font Lock mode.
13230 This feature is useful in modes where strings or comments can span lines.
13231 For example, if a string or comment terminating character is deleted, then if
13232 this feature is enabled subsequent lines in the buffer will be correctly
13233 refontified to reflect their new syntactic context. Previously, only the line
13234 containing the deleted character would be refontified and you would have to use
13235 the command M-o M-o (font-lock-fontify-block) to refontify some lines.
13237 As a consequence of this new feature, two other variables have changed:
13239 Variable `lazy-lock-defer-driven' is renamed `lazy-lock-defer-on-scrolling'.
13240 Variable `lazy-lock-defer-time' can now only be a time, i.e., a number.
13241 Buffer modes for which on-the-fly deferral applies can be specified via the
13242 new variable `lazy-lock-defer-on-the-fly'.
13244 If you set these variables in your ~/.emacs, then you may have to change those
13247 ** Ada mode changes.
13249 *** There is now better support for using find-file.el with Ada mode.
13250 If you switch between spec and body, the cursor stays in the same
13251 procedure (modulo overloading). If a spec has no body file yet, but
13252 you try to switch to its body file, Ada mode now generates procedure
13255 *** There are two new commands:
13256 - `ada-make-local' : invokes gnatmake on the current buffer
13257 - `ada-check-syntax' : check syntax of current buffer.
13259 The user options `ada-compiler-make', `ada-make-options',
13260 `ada-language-version', `ada-compiler-syntax-check', and
13261 `ada-compile-options' are used within these commands.
13263 *** Ada mode can now work with Outline minor mode. The outline level
13264 is calculated from the indenting, not from syntactic constructs.
13265 Outlining does not work if your code is not correctly indented.
13267 *** The new function `ada-gnat-style' converts the buffer to the style of
13268 formatting used in GNAT. It places two blanks after a comment start,
13269 places one blank between a word end and an opening '(', and puts one
13270 space between a comma and the beginning of a word.
13272 ** Scheme mode changes.
13274 *** Scheme mode indentation now uses many of the facilities of Lisp
13275 mode; therefore, the variables to customize it are the variables used
13276 for Lisp mode which have names starting with `lisp-'. The variables
13277 with names starting with `scheme-' which used to do this no longer
13280 If you want to use different indentation for Scheme and Lisp, this is
13281 still possible, but now you must do it by adding a hook to
13282 scheme-mode-hook, which could work by setting the `lisp-' indentation
13283 variables as buffer-local variables.
13285 *** DSSSL mode is a variant of Scheme mode, for editing DSSSL scripts.
13286 Use M-x dsssl-mode.
13288 ** Changes to the emacsclient program
13290 *** If a socket can't be found, and environment variables LOGNAME or
13291 USER are set, emacsclient now looks for a socket based on the UID
13292 associated with the name. That is an emacsclient running as root
13293 can connect to an Emacs server started by a non-root user.
13295 *** The emacsclient program now accepts an option --no-wait which tells
13296 it to return immediately without waiting for you to "finish" the
13299 *** The new option --alternate-editor allows to specify an editor to
13300 use if Emacs is not running. The environment variable
13301 ALTERNATE_EDITOR can be used for the same effect; the command line
13302 option takes precedence.
13304 ** M-x eldoc-mode enables a minor mode in which the echo area
13305 constantly shows the parameter list for function being called at point
13306 (in Emacs Lisp and Lisp Interaction modes only).
13308 ** C-x n d now runs the new command narrow-to-defun,
13309 which narrows the accessible parts of the buffer to just
13312 ** Emacs now handles the `--' argument in the standard way; all
13313 following arguments are treated as ordinary file names.
13315 ** On MSDOS and Windows, the bookmark file is now called _emacs.bmk,
13316 and the saved desktop file is now called _emacs.desktop (truncated if
13319 ** When you kill a buffer that visits a file,
13320 if there are any registers that save positions in the file,
13321 these register values no longer become completely useless.
13322 If you try to go to such a register with C-x j, then you are
13323 asked whether to visit the file again. If you say yes,
13324 it visits the file and then goes to the same position.
13326 ** When you visit a file that changes frequently outside Emacs--for
13327 example, a log of output from a process that continues to run--it may
13328 be useful for Emacs to revert the file without querying you whenever
13329 you visit the file afresh with C-x C-f.
13331 You can request this behavior for certain files by setting the
13332 variable revert-without-query to a list of regular expressions. If a
13333 file's name matches any of these regular expressions, find-file and
13334 revert-buffer revert the buffer without asking for permission--but
13335 only if you have not edited the buffer text yourself.
13337 ** set-default-font has been renamed to set-frame-font
13338 since it applies only to the current frame.
13340 ** In TeX mode, you can use the variable tex-main-file to specify the
13341 file for tex-file to run TeX on. (By default, tex-main-file is nil,
13342 and tex-file runs TeX on the current visited file.)
13344 This is useful when you are editing a document that consists of
13345 multiple files. In each of the included files, you can set up a local
13346 variable list which specifies the top-level file of your document for
13347 tex-main-file. Then tex-file will run TeX on the whole document
13348 instead of just the file you are editing.
13352 RefTeX mode is a new minor mode with special support for \label, \ref
13353 and \cite macros in LaTeX documents. RefTeX distinguishes labels of
13354 different environments (equation, figure, ...) and has full support for
13355 multifile documents. To use it, select a buffer with a LaTeX document and
13356 turn the mode on with M-x reftex-mode. Here are the main user commands:
13359 Creates a label semi-automatically. RefTeX is context sensitive and
13360 knows which kind of label is needed.
13362 C-c ) reftex-reference
13363 Offers in a menu all labels in the document, along with context of the
13364 label definition. The selected label is referenced as \ref{LABEL}.
13366 C-c [ reftex-citation
13367 Prompts for a regular expression and displays a list of matching BibTeX
13368 database entries. The selected entry is cited with a \cite{KEY} macro.
13370 C-c & reftex-view-crossref
13371 Views the cross reference of a \ref or \cite command near point.
13374 Shows a table of contents of the (multifile) document. From there you
13375 can quickly jump to every section.
13377 Under X, RefTeX installs a "Ref" menu in the menu bar, with additional
13378 commands. Press `?' to get help when a prompt mentions this feature.
13379 Full documentation and customization examples are in the file
13380 reftex.el. You can use the finder to view the file documentation:
13381 C-h p --> tex --> reftex.el
13383 ** Changes in BibTeX mode.
13385 *** Info documentation is now available.
13387 *** Don't allow parentheses in string constants anymore. This confused
13388 both the BibTeX program and Emacs BibTeX mode.
13390 *** Renamed variable bibtex-mode-user-optional-fields to
13391 bibtex-user-optional-fields.
13393 *** Removed variable bibtex-include-OPTannote
13394 (use bibtex-user-optional-fields instead).
13396 *** New interactive functions to copy and kill fields and complete
13397 entries to the BibTeX kill ring, from where they can be yanked back by
13398 appropriate functions.
13400 *** New interactive functions for repositioning and marking of
13401 entries. They are bound by default to C-M-l and C-M-h.
13403 *** New hook bibtex-clean-entry-hook. It is called after entry has
13406 *** New variable bibtex-field-delimiters, which replaces variables
13407 bibtex-field-{left|right}-delimiter.
13409 *** New variable bibtex-entry-delimiters to determine how entries
13410 shall be delimited.
13412 *** Allow preinitialization of fields. See documentation of
13413 bibtex-user-optional-fields, bibtex-entry-field-alist, and
13414 bibtex-include-OPTkey for details.
13416 *** Book and InBook entries require either an author or an editor
13417 field. This is now supported by bibtex.el. Alternative fields are
13418 prefixed with `ALT'.
13420 *** New variable bibtex-entry-format, which replaces variable
13421 bibtex-clean-entry-zap-empty-opts and allows specification of many
13422 formatting options performed on cleaning an entry (see variable
13425 *** Even more control on how automatic keys are generated. See
13426 documentation of bibtex-generate-autokey for details. Transcriptions
13427 for foreign languages other than German are now handled, too.
13429 *** New boolean user option bibtex-comma-after-last-field to decide if
13430 comma should be inserted at end of last field.
13432 *** New boolean user option bibtex-align-at-equal-sign to determine if
13433 alignment should be made at left side of field contents or at equal
13434 signs. New user options to control entry layout (e.g. indentation).
13436 *** New function bibtex-fill-entry to realign entries.
13438 *** New function bibtex-reformat to reformat region or buffer.
13440 *** New function bibtex-convert-alien to convert a BibTeX database
13441 from alien sources.
13443 *** New function bibtex-complete-key (similar to bibtex-complete-string)
13444 to complete prefix to a key defined in buffer. Mainly useful in
13447 *** New function bibtex-count-entries to count entries in buffer or
13450 *** Added support for imenu.
13452 *** The function `bibtex-validate' now checks current region instead
13453 of buffer if mark is active. Now it shows all errors of buffer in a
13454 `compilation mode' buffer. You can use the normal commands (e.g.
13455 `next-error') for compilation modes to jump to errors.
13457 *** New variable `bibtex-string-file-path' to determine where the files
13458 from `bibtex-string-files' are searched.
13460 ** Iso Accents mode now supports Latin-3 as an alternative.
13462 ** The command next-error now opens blocks hidden by hideshow.
13464 ** The function using-unix-filesystems has been replaced by the
13465 functions add-untranslated-filesystem and remove-untranslated-filesystem.
13466 Each of these functions takes the name of a drive letter or directory
13469 When a filesystem is added as untranslated, all files on it are read
13470 and written in binary mode (no cr/lf translation is performed).
13472 ** browse-url changes
13474 *** New methods for: Grail (browse-url-generic), MMM (browse-url-mmm),
13475 Lynx in a separate xterm (browse-url-lynx-xterm) or in an Emacs window
13476 (browse-url-lynx-emacs), remote W3 (browse-url-w3-gnudoit), generic
13477 non-remote-controlled browsers (browse-url-generic) and associated
13478 customization variables.
13480 *** New commands `browse-url-of-region' and `browse-url'.
13482 *** URLs marked up with <URL:...> (RFC1738) work if broken across
13483 lines. Browsing methods can be associated with URL regexps
13484 (e.g. mailto: URLs) via `browse-url-browser-function'.
13486 ** Changes in Ediff
13488 *** Clicking Mouse-2 on a brief command description in Ediff control panel
13489 pops up the Info file for this command.
13491 *** There is now a variable, ediff-autostore-merges, which controls whether
13492 the result of a merge is saved in a file. By default, this is done only when
13493 merge is done from a session group (eg, when merging files in two different
13496 *** Since Emacs 19.31 (this hasn't been announced before), Ediff can compare
13497 and merge groups of files residing in different directories, or revisions of
13498 files in the same directory.
13500 *** Since Emacs 19.31, Ediff can apply multi-file patches interactively.
13501 The patches must be in the context format or GNU unified format. (The bug
13502 related to the GNU format has now been fixed.)
13504 ** Changes in Viper
13506 *** The startup file is now .viper instead of .vip
13507 *** All variable/function names have been changed to start with viper-
13509 *** C-\ now simulates the meta-key in all Viper states.
13510 *** C-z in Insert state now escapes to Vi for the duration of the next
13511 Viper command. In Vi and Insert states, C-z behaves as before.
13512 *** C-c \ escapes to Vi for one command if Viper is in Insert or Emacs states.
13513 *** _ is no longer the meta-key in Vi state.
13514 *** The variable viper-insert-state-cursor-color can be used to change cursor
13515 color when Viper is in insert state.
13516 *** If search lands the cursor near the top or the bottom of the window,
13517 Viper pulls the window up or down to expose more context. The variable
13518 viper-adjust-window-after-search controls this behavior.
13522 *** In C, C++, Objective C and Java, Etags tags global variables by
13523 default. The resulting tags files are inflated by 30% on average.
13524 Use --no-globals to turn this feature off. Etags can also tag
13525 variables which are members of structure-like constructs, but it does
13526 not by default. Use --members to turn this feature on.
13528 *** C++ member functions are now recognized as tags.
13530 *** Java is tagged like C++. In addition, "extends" and "implements"
13531 constructs are tagged. Files are recognized by the extension .java.
13533 *** Etags can now handle programs written in Postscript. Files are
13534 recognized by the extensions .ps and .pdb (Postscript with C syntax).
13535 In Postscript, tags are lines that start with a slash.
13537 *** Etags now handles Objective C and Objective C++ code. The usual C and
13538 C++ tags are recognized in these languages; in addition, etags
13539 recognizes special Objective C syntax for classes, class categories,
13540 methods and protocols.
13542 *** Etags also handles Cobol. Files are recognized by the extension
13543 .cobol. The tagged lines are those containing a word that begins in
13544 column 8 and ends in a full stop, i.e. anything that could be a
13547 *** Regexps in Etags now support intervals, as in ed or grep. The syntax of
13548 an interval is \{M,N\}, and it means to match the preceding expression
13549 at least M times and as many as N times.
13551 ** The format for specifying a custom format for time-stamp to insert
13552 in files has changed slightly.
13554 With the new enhancements to the functionality of format-time-string,
13555 time-stamp-format will change to be eventually compatible with it.
13556 This conversion is being done in two steps to maintain compatibility
13557 with old time-stamp-format values.
13559 In the new scheme, alternate case is signified by the number-sign
13560 (`#') modifier, rather than changing the case of the format character.
13561 This feature is as yet incompletely implemented for compatibility
13564 In the old time-stamp-format, all numeric fields defaulted to their
13565 natural width. (With format-time-string, each format has a
13566 fixed-width default.) In this version, you can specify the colon
13567 (`:') modifier to a numeric conversion to mean "give me the historical
13568 time-stamp-format width default." Do not use colon if you are
13569 specifying an explicit width, as in "%02d".
13571 Numbers are no longer truncated to the requested width, except in the
13572 case of "%02y", which continues to give a two-digit year. Digit
13573 truncation probably wasn't being used for anything else anyway.
13575 The new formats will work with old versions of Emacs. New formats are
13576 being recommended now to allow time-stamp-format to change in the
13577 future to be compatible with format-time-string. The new forms being
13578 recommended now will continue to work then.
13580 See the documentation string for the variable time-stamp-format for
13583 ** There are some additional major modes:
13585 dcl-mode, for editing VMS DCL files.
13586 m4-mode, for editing files of m4 input.
13587 meta-mode, for editing MetaFont and MetaPost source files.
13589 ** In Shell mode, the command shell-copy-environment-variable lets you
13590 copy the value of a specified environment variable from the subshell
13593 ** New Lisp packages include:
13595 *** battery.el displays battery status for laptops.
13597 *** M-x bruce (named after Lenny Bruce) is a program that might
13598 be used for adding some indecent words to your email.
13600 *** M-x crisp-mode enables an emulation for the CRiSP editor.
13602 *** M-x dirtrack arranges for better tracking of directory changes
13605 *** The new library elint.el provides for linting of Emacs Lisp code.
13606 See the documentation for `elint-initialize', `elint-current-buffer'
13609 *** M-x expand-add-abbrevs defines a special kind of abbrev which is
13610 meant for programming constructs. These abbrevs expand like ordinary
13611 ones, when you type SPC, but only at the end of a line and not within
13612 strings or comments.
13614 These abbrevs can act as templates: you can define places within an
13615 abbrev for insertion of additional text. Once you expand the abbrev,
13616 you can then use C-x a p and C-x a n to move back and forth to these
13617 insertion points. Thus you can conveniently insert additional text
13620 *** filecache.el remembers the location of files so that you
13621 can visit them by short forms of their names.
13623 *** find-func.el lets you find the definition of the user-loaded
13624 Emacs Lisp function at point.
13626 *** M-x handwrite converts text to a "handwritten" picture.
13628 *** M-x iswitchb-buffer is a command for switching to a buffer, much like
13629 switch-buffer, but it reads the argument in a more helpful way.
13631 *** M-x landmark implements a neural network for landmark learning.
13633 *** M-x locate provides a convenient interface to the `locate' program.
13635 *** M4 mode is a new mode for editing files of m4 input.
13637 *** mantemp.el creates C++ manual template instantiations
13638 from the GCC error messages which indicate which instantiations are needed.
13640 *** mouse-copy.el provides a one-click copy and move feature.
13641 You can drag a region with M-mouse-1, and it is automatically
13642 inserted at point. M-Shift-mouse-1 deletes the text from its
13643 original place after inserting the copy.
13645 *** mouse-drag.el lets you do scrolling by dragging Mouse-2
13648 You click the mouse and move; that distance either translates into the
13649 velocity to scroll (with mouse-drag-throw) or the distance to scroll
13650 (with mouse-drag-drag). Horizontal scrolling is enabled when needed.
13652 Enable mouse-drag with:
13653 (global-set-key [down-mouse-2] 'mouse-drag-throw)
13655 (global-set-key [down-mouse-2] 'mouse-drag-drag)
13657 *** mspools.el is useful for determining which mail folders have
13658 mail waiting to be read in them. It works with procmail.
13660 *** Octave mode is a major mode for editing files of input for Octave.
13661 It comes with a facility for communicating with an Octave subprocess.
13665 The ogonek package provides functions for changing the coding of
13666 Polish diacritic characters in buffers. Codings known from various
13667 platforms are supported such as ISO8859-2, Mazovia, IBM Latin2, and
13668 TeX. For example, you can change the coding from Mazovia to
13669 ISO8859-2. Another example is a change of coding from ISO8859-2 to
13670 prefix notation (in which `/a' stands for the aogonek character, for
13671 instance) and vice versa.
13673 To use this package load it using
13674 M-x load-library [enter] ogonek
13675 Then, you may get an explanation by calling one of
13676 M-x ogonek-jak -- in Polish
13677 M-x ogonek-how -- in English
13678 The info specifies the commands and variables provided as well as the
13679 ways of customization in `.emacs'.
13681 *** Interface to ph.
13683 Emacs provides a client interface to CCSO Nameservers (ph/qi)
13685 The CCSO nameserver is used in many universities to provide directory
13686 services about people. ph.el provides a convenient Emacs interface to
13689 *** uce.el is useful for replying to unsolicited commercial email.
13691 *** vcursor.el implements a "virtual cursor" feature.
13692 You can move the virtual cursor with special commands
13693 while the real cursor does not move.
13695 *** webjump.el is a "hot list" package which you can set up
13696 for visiting your favorite web sites.
13698 *** M-x winner-mode is a minor mode which saves window configurations,
13699 so you can move back to other configurations that you have recently used.
13703 Movemail no longer needs to be installed setuid root in order for POP
13704 mail retrieval to function properly. This is because it no longer
13705 supports the RPOP (reserved-port POP) protocol; instead, it uses the
13706 user's POP password to authenticate to the mail server.
13708 This change was made earlier, but not reported in NEWS before.
13710 * Emacs 20.1 changes for MS-DOS and MS-Windows.
13712 ** Changes in handling MS-DOS/MS-Windows text files.
13714 Emacs handles three different conventions for representing
13715 end-of-line: CRLF for MSDOS, LF for Unix and GNU, and CR (used on the
13716 Macintosh). Emacs determines which convention is used in a specific
13717 file based on the contents of that file (except for certain special
13718 file names), and when it saves the file, it uses the same convention.
13720 To save the file and change the end-of-line convention, you can use
13721 C-x RET f (set-buffer-file-coding-system) to specify a different
13722 coding system for the buffer. Then, when you save the file, the newly
13723 specified coding system will take effect. For example, to save with
13724 LF, specify undecided-unix (or some other ...-unix coding system); to
13725 save with CRLF, specify undecided-dos.
13727 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 20.1
13729 ** Byte-compiled files made with Emacs 20 will, in general, work in
13730 Emacs 19 as well, as long as the source code runs in Emacs 19. And
13731 vice versa: byte-compiled files made with Emacs 19 should also run in
13732 Emacs 20, as long as the program itself works in Emacs 20.
13734 ** Windows-specific functions and variables have been renamed
13735 to start with w32- instead of win32-.
13737 In hacker language, calling something a "win" is a form of praise. We
13738 don't want to praise a non-free Microsoft system, so we don't call it
13741 ** Basic Lisp changes
13743 *** A symbol whose name starts with a colon now automatically
13744 evaluates to itself. Therefore such a symbol can be used as a constant.
13746 *** The defined purpose of `defconst' has been changed. It should now
13747 be used only for values that should not be changed whether by a program
13750 The actual behavior of defconst has not been changed.
13752 *** There are new macros `when' and `unless'
13754 (when CONDITION BODY...) is short for (if CONDITION (progn BODY...))
13755 (unless CONDITION BODY...) is short for (if CONDITION nil BODY...)
13757 *** Emacs now defines functions caar, cadr, cdar and cddr with their
13758 usual Lisp meanings. For example, caar returns the car of the car of
13761 *** equal, when comparing strings, now ignores their text properties.
13763 *** The new function `functionp' tests whether an object is a function.
13765 *** arrayp now returns t for char-tables and bool-vectors.
13767 *** Certain primitives which use characters (as integers) now get an
13768 error if the integer is not a valid character code. These primitives
13769 include insert-char, char-to-string, and the %c construct in the
13772 *** The `require' function now insists on adding a suffix, either .el
13773 or .elc, to the file name. Thus, (require 'foo) will not use a file
13774 whose name is just foo. It insists on foo.el or foo.elc.
13776 *** The `autoload' function, when the file name does not contain
13777 either a directory name or the suffix .el or .elc, insists on
13778 adding one of these suffixes.
13780 *** string-to-number now takes an optional second argument BASE
13781 which specifies the base to use when converting an integer.
13782 If BASE is omitted, base 10 is used.
13784 We have not implemented other radices for floating point numbers,
13785 because that would be much more work and does not seem useful.
13787 *** substring now handles vectors as well as strings.
13789 *** The Common Lisp function eql is no longer defined normally.
13790 You must load the `cl' library to define it.
13792 *** The new macro `with-current-buffer' lets you evaluate an expression
13793 conveniently with a different current buffer. It looks like this:
13795 (with-current-buffer BUFFER BODY-FORMS...)
13797 BUFFER is the expression that says which buffer to use.
13798 BODY-FORMS say what to do in that buffer.
13800 *** The new primitive `save-current-buffer' saves and restores the
13801 choice of current buffer, like `save-excursion', but without saving or
13802 restoring the value of point or the mark. `with-current-buffer'
13803 works using `save-current-buffer'.
13805 *** The new macro `with-temp-file' lets you do some work in a new buffer and
13806 write the output to a specified file. Like `progn', it returns the value
13809 *** The new macro `with-temp-buffer' lets you do some work in a new buffer,
13810 which is discarded after use. Like `progn', it returns the value of the
13811 last form. If you wish to return the buffer contents, use (buffer-string)
13814 *** The new function split-string takes a string, splits it at certain
13815 characters, and returns a list of the substrings in between the
13818 For example, (split-string "foo bar lose" " +") returns ("foo" "bar" "lose").
13820 *** The new macro with-output-to-string executes some Lisp expressions
13821 with standard-output set up so that all output feeds into a string.
13822 Then it returns that string.
13824 For example, if the current buffer name is `foo',
13826 (with-output-to-string
13827 (princ "The buffer is ")
13828 (princ (buffer-name)))
13830 returns "The buffer is foo".
13832 ** Non-ASCII characters are now supported, if enable-multibyte-characters
13835 These characters have character codes above 256. When inserted in the
13836 buffer or stored in a string, they are represented as multibyte
13837 characters that occupy several buffer positions each.
13839 *** When enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil, a single character in
13840 a buffer or string can be two or more bytes (as many as four).
13842 Buffers and strings are still made up of unibyte elements;
13843 character positions and string indices are always measured in bytes.
13844 Therefore, moving forward one character can increase the buffer
13845 position by 2, 3 or 4. The function forward-char moves by whole
13846 characters, and therefore is no longer equivalent to
13847 (lambda (n) (goto-char (+ (point) n))).
13849 ASCII characters (codes 0 through 127) are still single bytes, always.
13850 Sequences of byte values 128 through 255 are used to represent
13851 non-ASCII characters. These sequences are called "multibyte
13854 The first byte of a multibyte character is always in the range 128
13855 through 159 (octal 0200 through 0237). These values are called
13856 "leading codes". The second and subsequent bytes are always in the
13857 range 160 through 255 (octal 0240 through 0377). The first byte, the
13858 leading code, determines how many bytes long the sequence is.
13860 *** The function forward-char moves over characters, and therefore
13861 (forward-char 1) may increase point by more than 1 if it moves over a
13862 multibyte character. Likewise, delete-char always deletes a
13863 character, which may be more than one buffer position.
13865 This means that some Lisp programs, which assume that a character is
13866 always one buffer position, need to be changed.
13868 However, all ASCII characters are always one buffer position.
13870 *** The regexp [\200-\377] no longer matches all non-ASCII characters,
13871 because when enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil, these characters
13872 have codes that are not in the range octal 200 to octal 377. However,
13873 the regexp [^\000-\177] does match all non-ASCII characters,
13876 *** The function char-boundary-p returns non-nil if position POS is
13877 between two characters in the buffer (not in the middle of a
13880 When the value is non-nil, it says what kind of character follows POS:
13882 0 if POS is at an ASCII character or at the end of range,
13883 1 if POS is before a 2-byte length multi-byte form,
13884 2 if POS is at a head of 3-byte length multi-byte form,
13885 3 if POS is at a head of 4-byte length multi-byte form,
13886 4 if POS is at a head of multi-byte form of a composite character.
13888 *** The function char-bytes returns how many bytes the character CHAR uses.
13890 *** Strings can contain multibyte characters. The function
13891 `length' returns the string length counting bytes, which may be
13892 more than the number of characters.
13894 You can include a multibyte character in a string constant by writing
13895 it literally. You can also represent it with a hex escape,
13896 \xNNNNNNN..., using as many digits as necessary. Any character which
13897 is not a valid hex digit terminates this construct. If you want to
13898 follow it with a character that is a hex digit, write backslash and
13899 newline in between; that will terminate the hex escape.
13901 *** The function concat-chars takes arguments which are characters
13902 and returns a string containing those characters.
13904 *** The function sref access a multibyte character in a string.
13905 (sref STRING INDX) returns the character in STRING at INDEX. INDEX
13906 counts from zero. If INDEX is at a position in the middle of a
13907 character, sref signals an error.
13909 *** The function chars-in-string returns the number of characters
13910 in a string. This is less than the length of the string, if the
13911 string contains multibyte characters (the length counts bytes).
13913 *** The function chars-in-region returns the number of characters
13914 in a region from BEG to END. This is less than (- END BEG) if the
13915 region contains multibyte characters (the length counts bytes).
13917 *** The function string-to-list converts a string to a list of
13918 the characters in it. string-to-vector converts a string
13919 to a vector of the characters in it.
13921 *** The function store-substring alters part of the contents
13922 of a string. You call it as follows:
13924 (store-substring STRING IDX OBJ)
13926 This says to alter STRING, by storing OBJ starting at index IDX in
13927 STRING. OBJ may be either a character or a (smaller) string.
13928 This function really does alter the contents of STRING.
13929 Since it is impossible to change the length of an existing string,
13930 it is an error if OBJ doesn't fit within STRING's actual length.
13932 *** char-width returns the width (in columns) of the character CHAR,
13933 if it were displayed in the current buffer and the selected window.
13935 *** string-width returns the width (in columns) of the text in STRING,
13936 if it were displayed in the current buffer and the selected window.
13938 *** truncate-string-to-width shortens a string, if necessary,
13939 to fit within a certain number of columns. (Of course, it does
13940 not alter the string that you give it; it returns a new string
13941 which contains all or just part of the existing string.)
13943 (truncate-string-to-width STR END-COLUMN &optional START-COLUMN PADDING)
13945 This returns the part of STR up to column END-COLUMN.
13947 The optional argument START-COLUMN specifies the starting column.
13948 If this is non-nil, then the first START-COLUMN columns of the string
13949 are not included in the resulting value.
13951 The optional argument PADDING, if non-nil, is a padding character to be added
13952 at the beginning and end the resulting string, to extend it to exactly
13953 WIDTH columns. If PADDING is nil, that means do not pad; then, if STRING
13954 is narrower than WIDTH, the value is equal to STRING.
13956 If PADDING and START-COLUMN are both non-nil, and if there is no clean
13957 place in STRING that corresponds to START-COLUMN (because one
13958 character extends across that column), then the padding character
13959 PADDING is added one or more times at the beginning of the result
13960 string, so that its columns line up as if it really did start at
13961 column START-COLUMN.
13963 *** When the functions in the list after-change-functions are called,
13964 the third argument is the number of bytes in the pre-change text, not
13965 necessarily the number of characters. It is, in effect, the
13966 difference in buffer position between the beginning and the end of the
13967 changed text, before the change.
13969 *** The characters Emacs uses are classified in various character
13970 sets, each of which has a name which is a symbol. In general there is
13971 one character set for each script, not for each language.
13973 **** The function charsetp tests whether an object is a character set name.
13975 **** The variable charset-list holds a list of character set names.
13977 **** char-charset, given a character code, returns the name of the character
13978 set that the character belongs to. (The value is a symbol.)
13980 **** split-char, given a character code, returns a list containing the
13981 name of the character set, followed by one or two byte-values
13982 which identify the character within that character set.
13984 **** make-char, given a character set name and one or two subsequent
13985 byte-values, constructs a character code. This is roughly the
13986 opposite of split-char.
13988 **** find-charset-region returns a list of the character sets
13989 of all the characters between BEG and END.
13991 **** find-charset-string returns a list of the character sets
13992 of all the characters in a string.
13994 *** Here are the Lisp facilities for working with coding systems
13995 and specifying coding systems.
13997 **** The function coding-system-list returns a list of all coding
13998 system names (symbols). With optional argument t, it returns a list
13999 of all distinct base coding systems, not including variants.
14000 (Variant coding systems are those like latin-1-dos, latin-1-unix
14001 and latin-1-mac which specify the end-of-line conversion as well
14002 as what to do about code conversion.)
14004 **** coding-system-p tests a symbol to see if it is a coding system
14005 name. It returns t if so, nil if not.
14007 **** file-coding-system-alist specifies which coding systems to use
14008 for certain file names. It works like network-coding-system-alist,
14009 except that the PATTERN is matched against the file name.
14011 Each element has the format (PATTERN . VAL), where PATTERN determines
14012 which file names the element applies to. PATTERN should be a regexp
14013 to match against a file name.
14015 VAL is a coding system, a cons cell containing two coding systems, or
14016 a function symbol. If VAL is a coding system, it is used for both
14017 decoding what received from the network stream and encoding what sent
14018 to the network stream. If VAL is a cons cell containing two coding
14019 systems, the car specifies the coding system for decoding, and the cdr
14020 specifies the coding system for encoding.
14022 If VAL is a function symbol, the function must return a coding system
14023 or a cons cell containing two coding systems, which is used as above.
14025 **** The variable network-coding-system-alist specifies
14026 the coding system to use for network sockets.
14028 Each element has the format (PATTERN . VAL), where PATTERN determines
14029 which network sockets the element applies to. PATTERN should be
14030 either a port number or a regular expression matching some network
14033 VAL is a coding system, a cons cell containing two coding systems, or
14034 a function symbol. If VAL is a coding system, it is used for both
14035 decoding what received from the network stream and encoding what sent
14036 to the network stream. If VAL is a cons cell containing two coding
14037 systems, the car specifies the coding system for decoding, and the cdr
14038 specifies the coding system for encoding.
14040 If VAL is a function symbol, the function must return a coding system
14041 or a cons cell containing two coding systems, which is used as above.
14043 **** process-coding-system-alist specifies which coding systems to use
14044 for certain subprocess. It works like network-coding-system-alist,
14045 except that the PATTERN is matched against the program name used to
14046 start the subprocess.
14048 **** The variable default-process-coding-system specifies the coding
14049 systems to use for subprocess (and net connection) input and output,
14050 when nothing else specifies what to do. The value is a cons cell
14051 (OUTPUT-CODING . INPUT-CODING). OUTPUT-CODING applies to output
14052 to the subprocess, and INPUT-CODING applies to input from it.
14054 **** The variable coding-system-for-write, if non-nil, specifies the
14055 coding system to use for writing a file, or for output to a synchronous
14058 It also applies to any asynchronous subprocess or network connection,
14059 but in a different way: the value of coding-system-for-write when you
14060 start the subprocess or connection affects that subprocess or
14061 connection permanently or until overridden.
14063 The variable coding-system-for-write takes precedence over
14064 file-coding-system-alist, process-coding-system-alist and
14065 network-coding-system-alist, and all other methods of specifying a
14066 coding system for output. But most of the time this variable is nil.
14067 It exists so that Lisp programs can bind it to a specific coding
14068 system for one operation at a time.
14070 **** coding-system-for-read applies similarly to input from
14071 files, subprocesses or network connections.
14073 **** The function process-coding-system tells you what
14074 coding systems(s) an existing subprocess is using.
14075 The value is a cons cell,
14076 (DECODING-CODING-SYSTEM . ENCODING-CODING-SYSTEM)
14077 where DECODING-CODING-SYSTEM is used for decoding output from
14078 the subprocess, and ENCODING-CODING-SYSTEM is used for encoding
14079 input to the subprocess.
14081 **** The function set-process-coding-system can be used to
14082 change the coding systems in use for an existing subprocess.
14084 ** Emacs has a new facility to help users manage the many
14085 customization options. To make a Lisp program work with this facility,
14086 you need to use the new macros defgroup and defcustom.
14088 You use defcustom instead of defvar, for defining a user option
14089 variable. The difference is that you specify two additional pieces of
14090 information (usually): the "type" which says what values are
14091 legitimate, and the "group" which specifies the hierarchy for
14094 Thus, instead of writing
14096 (defvar foo-blurgoze nil
14097 "*Non-nil means that foo will act very blurgozely.")
14099 you would now write this:
14101 (defcustom foo-blurgoze nil
14102 "*Non-nil means that foo will act very blurgozely."
14106 The type `boolean' means that this variable has only
14107 two meaningful states: nil and non-nil. Other type values
14108 describe other possibilities; see the manual for Custom
14109 for a description of them.
14111 The "group" argument is used to specify a group which the option
14112 should belong to. You define a new group like this:
14114 (defgroup ispell nil
14115 "Spell checking using Ispell."
14118 The "group" argument in defgroup specifies the parent group. The root
14119 group is called `emacs'; it should not contain any variables itself,
14120 but only other groups. The immediate subgroups of `emacs' correspond
14121 to the keywords used by C-h p. Under these subgroups come
14122 second-level subgroups that belong to individual packages.
14124 Each Emacs package should have its own set of groups. A simple
14125 package should have just one group; a more complex package should
14126 have a hierarchy of its own groups. The sole or root group of a
14127 package should be a subgroup of one or more of the "keyword"
14128 first-level subgroups.
14130 ** New `widget' library for inserting UI components in buffers.
14132 This library, used by the new custom library, is documented in a
14133 separate manual that accompanies Emacs.
14137 The easy-mmode package provides macros and functions that make
14138 developing minor modes easier. Roughly, the programmer has to code
14139 only the functionality of the minor mode. All the rest--toggles,
14140 predicate, and documentation--can be done in one call to the macro
14141 `easy-mmode-define-minor-mode' (see the documentation). See also
14142 `easy-mmode-define-keymap'.
14144 ** Text property changes
14146 *** The `intangible' property now works on overlays as well as on a
14149 *** The new functions next-char-property-change and
14150 previous-char-property-change scan through the buffer looking for a
14151 place where either a text property or an overlay might change. The
14152 functions take two arguments, POSITION and LIMIT. POSITION is the
14153 starting position for the scan. LIMIT says where to stop the scan.
14155 If no property change is found before LIMIT, the value is LIMIT. If
14156 LIMIT is nil, scan goes to the beginning or end of the accessible part
14157 of the buffer. If no property change is found, the value is the
14158 position of the beginning or end of the buffer.
14160 *** In the `local-map' text property or overlay property, the property
14161 value can now be a symbol whose function definition is a keymap. This
14162 is an alternative to using the keymap itself.
14164 ** Changes in invisibility features
14166 *** Isearch can now temporarily show parts of the buffer which are
14167 hidden by an overlay with a invisible property, when the search match
14168 is inside that portion of the buffer. To enable this the overlay
14169 should have a isearch-open-invisible property which is a function that
14170 would be called having the overlay as an argument, the function should
14171 make the overlay visible.
14173 During incremental search the overlays are shown by modifying the
14174 invisible and intangible properties, if beside this more actions are
14175 needed the overlay should have a isearch-open-invisible-temporary
14176 which is a function. The function is called with 2 arguments: one is
14177 the overlay and the second is nil when it should show the overlay and
14178 t when it should hide it.
14180 *** add-to-invisibility-spec, remove-from-invisibility-spec
14182 Modes that use overlays to hide portions of a buffer should set the
14183 invisible property of the overlay to the mode's name (or another symbol)
14184 and modify the `buffer-invisibility-spec' to include that symbol.
14185 Use `add-to-invisibility-spec' and `remove-from-invisibility-spec' to
14186 manipulate the `buffer-invisibility-spec'.
14187 Here is an example of how to do this:
14189 ;; If we want to display an ellipsis:
14190 (add-to-invisibility-spec '(my-symbol . t))
14191 ;; If you don't want ellipsis:
14192 (add-to-invisibility-spec 'my-symbol)
14195 (overlay-put (make-overlay beginning end) 'invisible 'my-symbol)
14198 ;; When done with the overlays:
14199 (remove-from-invisibility-spec '(my-symbol . t))
14200 ;; Or respectively:
14201 (remove-from-invisibility-spec 'my-symbol)
14203 ** Changes in syntax parsing.
14205 *** The syntax-directed buffer-scan functions (such as
14206 `parse-partial-sexp', `forward-word' and similar functions) can now
14207 obey syntax information specified by text properties, if the variable
14208 `parse-sexp-lookup-properties' is non-nil.
14210 If the value of `parse-sexp-lookup-properties' is nil, the behavior
14211 is as before: the syntax-table of the current buffer is always
14212 used to determine the syntax of the character at the position.
14214 When `parse-sexp-lookup-properties' is non-nil, the syntax of a
14215 character in the buffer is calculated thus:
14217 a) if the `syntax-table' text-property of that character
14218 is a cons, this cons becomes the syntax-type;
14220 Valid values of `syntax-table' text-property are: nil, a valid
14221 syntax-table, and a valid syntax-table element, i.e.,
14222 a cons cell of the form (SYNTAX-CODE . MATCHING-CHAR).
14224 b) if the character's `syntax-table' text-property
14225 is a syntax table, this syntax table is used
14226 (instead of the syntax-table of the current buffer) to
14227 determine the syntax type of the character.
14229 c) otherwise the syntax-type is determined by the syntax-table
14230 of the current buffer.
14232 *** The meaning of \s in regular expressions is also affected by the
14233 value of `parse-sexp-lookup-properties'. The details are the same as
14234 for the syntax-directed buffer-scan functions.
14236 *** There are two new syntax-codes, `!' and `|' (numeric values 14
14237 and 15). A character with a code `!' starts a comment which is ended
14238 only by another character with the same code (unless quoted). A
14239 character with a code `|' starts a string which is ended only by
14240 another character with the same code (unless quoted).
14242 These codes are mainly meant for use as values of the `syntax-table'
14245 *** The function `parse-partial-sexp' has new semantics for the sixth
14246 arg COMMENTSTOP. If it is `syntax-table', parse stops after the start
14247 of a comment or a string, or after end of a comment or a string.
14249 *** The state-list which the return value from `parse-partial-sexp'
14250 (and can also be used as an argument) now has an optional ninth
14251 element: the character address of the start of last comment or string;
14252 nil if none. The fourth and eighth elements have special values if the
14253 string/comment is started by a "!" or "|" syntax-code.
14255 *** Since new features of `parse-partial-sexp' allow a complete
14256 syntactic parsing, `font-lock' no longer supports
14257 `font-lock-comment-start-regexp'.
14259 ** Changes in face features
14261 *** The face functions are now unconditionally defined in Emacs, even
14262 if it does not support displaying on a device that supports faces.
14264 *** The function face-documentation returns the documentation string
14265 of a face (or nil if it doesn't have one).
14267 *** The function face-bold-p returns t if a face should be bold.
14268 set-face-bold-p sets that flag.
14270 *** The function face-italic-p returns t if a face should be italic.
14271 set-face-italic-p sets that flag.
14273 *** You can now specify foreground and background colors for text
14274 by adding elements of the form (foreground-color . COLOR-NAME)
14275 and (background-color . COLOR-NAME) to the list of faces in
14276 the `face' property (either the character's text property or an
14279 This means that you no longer need to create named faces to use
14280 arbitrary colors in a Lisp package.
14282 ** Changes in file-handling functions
14284 *** File-access primitive functions no longer discard an extra redundant
14285 directory name from the beginning of the file name. In other words,
14286 they no longer do anything special with // or /~. That conversion
14287 is now done only in substitute-in-file-name.
14289 This makes it possible for a Lisp program to open a file whose name
14292 *** If copy-file is unable to set the date of the output file,
14293 it now signals an error with the condition file-date-error.
14295 *** The inode number returned by file-attributes may be an integer (if
14296 the number fits in a Lisp integer) or a list of integers.
14298 *** insert-file-contents can now read from a special file,
14299 as long as the arguments VISIT and REPLACE are nil.
14301 *** The RAWFILE arg to find-file-noselect, if non-nil, now suppresses
14302 character code conversion as well as other things.
14304 Meanwhile, this feature does work with remote file names
14305 (formerly it did not).
14307 *** Lisp packages which create temporary files should use the TMPDIR
14308 environment variable to decide which directory to put them in.
14310 *** interpreter-mode-alist elements now specify regexps
14311 instead of constant strings.
14313 *** expand-file-name no longer treats `//' or `/~' specially. It used
14314 to delete all the text of a file name up through the first slash of
14315 any `//' or `/~' sequence. Now it passes them straight through.
14317 substitute-in-file-name continues to treat those sequences specially,
14318 in the same way as before.
14320 *** The variable `format-alist' is more general now.
14321 The FROM-FN and TO-FN in a format definition can now be strings
14322 which specify shell commands to use as filters to perform conversion.
14324 *** The new function access-file tries to open a file, and signals an
14325 error if that fails. If the open succeeds, access-file does nothing
14326 else, and returns nil.
14328 *** The function insert-directory now signals an error if the specified
14329 directory cannot be listed.
14331 ** Changes in minibuffer input
14333 *** The functions read-buffer, read-variable, read-command, read-string
14334 read-file-name, read-from-minibuffer and completing-read now take an
14335 additional argument which specifies the default value. If this
14336 argument is non-nil, it should be a string; that string is used in two
14339 It is returned if the user enters empty input.
14340 It is available through the history command M-n.
14342 *** The functions read-string, read-from-minibuffer,
14343 read-no-blanks-input and completing-read now take an additional
14344 argument INHERIT-INPUT-METHOD. If this is non-nil, then the
14345 minibuffer inherits the current input method and the setting of
14346 enable-multibyte-characters from the previously current buffer.
14348 In an interactive spec, you can use M instead of s to read an
14349 argument in this way.
14351 *** All minibuffer input functions discard text properties
14352 from the text you enter in the minibuffer, unless the variable
14353 minibuffer-allow-text-properties is non-nil.
14355 ** Echo area features
14357 *** Clearing the echo area now runs the normal hook
14358 echo-area-clear-hook. Note that the echo area can be used while the
14359 minibuffer is active; in that case, the minibuffer is still active
14360 after the echo area is cleared.
14362 *** The function current-message returns the message currently displayed
14363 in the echo area, or nil if there is none.
14365 ** Keyboard input features
14367 *** tty-erase-char is a new variable that reports which character was
14368 set up as the terminal's erase character when time Emacs was started.
14370 *** num-nonmacro-input-events is the total number of input events
14371 received so far from the terminal. It does not count those generated
14372 by keyboard macros.
14374 ** Frame-related changes
14376 *** make-frame runs the normal hook before-make-frame-hook just before
14377 creating a frame, and just after creating a frame it runs the abnormal
14378 hook after-make-frame-functions with the new frame as arg.
14380 *** The new hook window-configuration-change-hook is now run every time
14381 the window configuration has changed. The frame whose configuration
14382 has changed is the selected frame when the hook is run.
14384 *** Each frame now independently records the order for recently
14385 selected buffers, in its buffer-list frame parameter, so that the
14386 value of other-buffer is now based on the buffers recently displayed
14387 in the selected frame.
14389 *** The value of the frame parameter vertical-scroll-bars
14390 is now `left', `right' or nil. A non-nil value specifies
14391 which side of the window to put the scroll bars on.
14393 ** X Windows features
14395 *** You can examine X resources for other applications by binding
14396 x-resource-class around a call to x-get-resource. The usual value of
14397 x-resource-class is "Emacs", which is the correct value for Emacs.
14399 *** In menus, checkboxes and radio buttons now actually work.
14400 The menu displays the current status of the box or button.
14402 *** The function x-list-fonts now takes an optional fourth argument
14403 MAXIMUM which sets a limit on how many matching fonts to return.
14404 A smaller value of MAXIMUM makes the function faster.
14406 If the only question is whether *any* font matches the pattern,
14407 it is good to supply 1 for this argument.
14409 ** Subprocess features
14411 *** A reminder: it is no longer necessary for subprocess filter
14412 functions and sentinels to do save-match-data, because Emacs does this
14415 *** The new function shell-command-to-string executes a shell command
14416 and returns the output from the command as a string.
14418 *** The new function process-contact returns t for a child process,
14419 and (HOSTNAME SERVICE) for a net connection.
14421 ** An error in running pre-command-hook or post-command-hook
14422 does clear the variable to nil. The documentation was wrong before.
14424 ** In define-key-after, if AFTER is t, the new binding now always goes
14425 at the end of the keymap. If the keymap is a menu, this means it
14426 goes after the other menu items.
14428 ** If you have a program that makes several changes in the same area
14429 of the buffer, you can use the macro combine-after-change-calls
14430 around that Lisp code to make it faster when after-change hooks
14433 The macro arranges to call the after-change functions just once for a
14434 series of several changes--if that seems safe.
14436 Don't alter the variables after-change-functions and
14437 after-change-function within the body of a combine-after-change-calls
14440 ** If you define an abbrev (with define-abbrev) whose EXPANSION
14441 is not a string, then the abbrev does not expand in the usual sense,
14442 but its hook is still run.
14444 ** Normally, the Lisp debugger is not used (even if you have enabled it)
14445 for errors that are handled by condition-case.
14447 If you set debug-on-signal to a non-nil value, then the debugger is called
14448 regardless of whether there is a handler for the condition. This is
14449 useful for debugging problems that happen inside of a condition-case.
14451 This mode of operation seems to be unreliable in other ways. Errors that
14452 are normal and ought to be handled, perhaps in timers or process
14453 filters, will instead invoke the debugger. So don't say you weren't
14456 ** The new variable ring-bell-function lets you specify your own
14457 way for Emacs to "ring the bell".
14459 ** If run-at-time's TIME argument is t, the action is repeated at
14460 integral multiples of REPEAT from the epoch; this is useful for
14461 functions like display-time.
14463 ** You can use the function locate-library to find the precise file
14464 name of a Lisp library. This isn't new, but wasn't documented before.
14466 ** Commands for entering view mode have new optional arguments that
14467 can be used from Lisp. Low-level entrance to and exit from view mode
14468 is done by functions view-mode-enter and view-mode-exit.
14470 ** batch-byte-compile-file now makes Emacs return a nonzero status code
14471 if there is an error in compilation.
14473 ** pop-to-buffer, switch-to-buffer-other-window and
14474 switch-to-buffer-other-frame now accept an additional optional
14475 argument NORECORD, much like switch-to-buffer. If it is non-nil,
14476 they don't put the buffer at the front of the buffer list.
14478 ** If your .emacs file leaves the *scratch* buffer non-empty,
14479 Emacs does not display the startup message, so as to avoid changing
14480 the *scratch* buffer.
14482 ** The new function regexp-opt returns an efficient regexp to match a string.
14483 The arguments are STRINGS and (optionally) PAREN. This function can be used
14484 where regexp matching or searching is intensively used and speed is important,
14485 e.g., in Font Lock mode.
14487 ** The variable buffer-display-count is local to each buffer,
14488 and is incremented each time the buffer is displayed in a window.
14489 It starts at 0 when the buffer is created.
14491 ** The new function compose-mail starts composing a mail message
14492 using the user's chosen mail composition agent (specified with the
14493 variable mail-user-agent). It has variants compose-mail-other-window
14494 and compose-mail-other-frame.
14496 ** The `user-full-name' function now takes an optional parameter which
14497 can either be a number (the UID) or a string (the login name). The
14498 full name of the specified user will be returned.
14500 ** Lisp packages that load files of customizations, or any other sort
14501 of user profile, should obey the variable init-file-user in deciding
14502 where to find it. They should load the profile of the user name found
14503 in that variable. If init-file-user is nil, meaning that the -q
14504 option was used, then Lisp packages should not load the customization
14507 ** format-time-string now allows you to specify the field width
14508 and type of padding. This works as in printf: you write the field
14509 width as digits in the middle of a %-construct. If you start
14510 the field width with 0, it means to pad with zeros.
14512 For example, %S normally specifies the number of seconds since the
14513 minute; %03S means to pad this with zeros to 3 positions, %_3S to pad
14514 with spaces to 3 positions. Plain %3S pads with zeros, because that
14515 is how %S normally pads to two positions.
14517 ** thing-at-point now supports a new kind of "thing": url.
14519 ** imenu.el changes.
14521 You can now specify a function to be run when selecting an
14522 item from menu created by imenu.
14524 An example of using this feature: if we define imenu items for the
14525 #include directives in a C file, we can open the included file when we
14526 select one of those items.
14528 * For older news, see the file ONEWS
14530 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
14531 Copyright information:
14533 Copyright (C) 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004,
14534 2005 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
14536 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
14537 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
14538 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
14539 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
14541 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
14542 of this document, or of portions of it,
14543 under the above conditions, provided also that they
14544 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
14548 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"
14551 arch-tag: 1aca9dfa-2ac4-4d14-bebf-0007cee12793