1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 2003-05-21
2 Copyright (C) 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 See the end for copying conditions.
5 Please send Emacs bug reports to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.
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8 `view-emacs-news' with a prefix argument or by typing C-u C-h C-n.
11 +++ indicates that the appropriate manual has already been updated.
12 --- means no change in the manuals is called for.
13 When you add a new item, please add it without either +++ or ---
14 so we will look at it and add it to the manual.
17 * Installation Changes in Emacs 21.4
19 ** Emacs includes now support for loading image libraries on demand.
20 (Currently this feature is only used on MS Windows.) You can configure
21 the supported image types and their associated dynamic libraries by
22 setting the variable `image-library-alist'.
25 ** New translations of the Emacs Tutorial are available in the following
26 languages: Brasilian, Bulgarian, Chinese (both with simplified and
27 traditional characters), French, and Italian. Type `C-u C-h t' to
28 choose one of them in case your language setup doesn't automatically
31 ** You can build Emacs with Gtk+ widgets by specifying `--with-x-toolkit=gtk'
32 when you run configure. This requires Gtk+ 2.0 or newer. This port
33 provides a way to display multilingual text in menus (with some caveats).
36 ** Emacs can now be built without sound support.
38 ** The `emacsserver' program has been removed, replaced with elisp code.
41 ** Emacs now supports new configure options `--program-prefix',
42 `--program-suffix' and `--program-transform-name' that affect the names of
46 ** By default, Emacs now uses a setgid helper program to update game
47 scores. The directory ${localstatedir}/games/emacs is the normal
48 place for game scores to be stored. This may be controlled by the
49 configure option `--with-game-dir'. The specific user that Emacs uses
50 to own the game scores is controlled by `--with-game-user'. If access
51 to a game user is not available, then scores will be stored separately
52 in each user's home directory.
55 ** Leim is now part of the Emacs distribution.
56 You no longer need to download a separate tarball in order to build
60 ** The Emacs Lisp Reference Manual is now part of the distribution.
62 The ELisp reference manual in Info format is built as part of the
63 Emacs build procedure and installed together with the Emacs User
64 Manual. A menu item was added to the menu bar that makes it easy
65 accessible (Help->More Manuals->Emacs Lisp Reference).
68 ** The Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp manual is now part of
71 This manual is now part of the standard distribution and is installed,
72 together with the Emacs User Manual, into the Info directory. A menu
73 item was added to the menu bar that makes it easy accessible
74 (Help->More Manuals->Introduction to Emacs Lisp).
76 ** Support for Cygwin was added.
79 ** Support for FreeBSD/Alpha has been added.
82 ** Support for GNU/Linux systems on S390 machines was added.
85 ** Support for MacOS X was added.
86 See the files mac/README and mac/INSTALL for build instructions.
89 ** Support for GNU/Linux systems on X86-64 machines was added.
92 ** A French translation of the `Emacs Survival Guide' is available.
95 ** Building with -DENABLE_CHECKING does not automatically build with union
96 types any more. Add -DUSE_LISP_UNION_TYPE if you want union types.
99 * Changes in Emacs 21.4
102 ** `apply-macro-to-region-lines' now operates on all lines that begin
103 in the region, rather than on all complete lines in the region.
105 ** global-whitespace-mode is a new alias for whitespace-global-mode.
108 ** There are now two new regular expression operators, \_< and \_>,
109 for matching the beginning and end of a symbol. A symbol is a
110 non-empty sequence of either word or symbol constituent characters, as
111 specified by the syntax table.
113 ** Passing resources on the command line now works on MS Windows.
114 You can use --xrm to pass resource settings to Emacs, overriding any
115 existing values. For example:
117 emacs --xrm "Emacs.Background:red" --xrm "Emacs.Geometry:100x20"
119 will start up Emacs on an initial frame of 100x20 with red background,
120 irrespective of geometry or background setting on the Windows registry.
122 ** New features in evaluation commands
125 *** The function `eval-defun' (C-M-x) called on defface reinitializes
126 the face to the value specified in the defface expression.
128 *** Typing C-x C-e twice prints the value of the integer result
129 in additional formats (octal, hexadecimal, character) specified
130 by the new function `eval-expression-print-format'. The same
131 function also defines the result format for `eval-expression' (M-:),
132 `eval-print-last-sexp' (C-j) and some edebug evaluation functions.
134 ** New input method chinese-sisheng for inputting Chinese Pinyin
137 ** New command quail-show-key shows what key (or key sequence) to type
138 in the current input method to input a character at point.
140 ** Convenient commands to switch buffers in a cyclic order are C-x <left>
141 (prev-buffer) and C-x <right> (next-buffer).
143 ** Commands winner-redo and winner-undo, from winner.el, are now bound to
144 C-c <left> and C-c <right>, respectively. This is an incompatible change.
146 ** Help commands `describe-function' and `describe-key' now show function
147 arguments in lowercase italics on displays that support it. To change the
148 default, customize face `help-argument-name' or redefine the function
149 `help-default-arg-highlight'.
152 ** The comint prompt can now be made read-only, using the new user
153 option `comint-prompt-read-only'. This is not enabled by default,
154 except in IELM buffers. The read-only status of IELM prompts can be
155 controlled with the new user option `ielm-prompt-read-only', which
156 overrides `comint-prompt-read-only'.
158 The new commands `comint-kill-whole-line' and `comint-kill-region'
159 support editing comint buffers with read-only prompts.
161 `comint-kill-whole-line' is like `kill-whole-line', but ignores both
162 read-only and field properties. Hence, it always kill entire
163 lines, including any prompts.
165 `comint-kill-region' is like `kill-region', except that it ignores
166 read-only properties, if it is safe to do so. This means that if any
167 part of a prompt is deleted, then the entire prompt must be deleted
168 and that all prompts must stay at the beginning of a line. If this is
169 not the case, then `comint-kill-region' behaves just like
170 `kill-region' if read-only are involved: it copies the text to the
171 kill-ring, but does not delete it.
173 ** You can now use next-error (C-x `) and previous-error to advance to
174 the next/previous matching line found by M-x occur.
176 ** Telnet now prompts you for a port number with C-u M-x telnet.
179 ** New command line option -Q.
181 This is like using -q --no-site-file, but in addition it also disables
182 the menu-bar, the tool-bar, the scroll-bars, tool tips, the blinking
183 cursor, and the fancy startup screen.
185 ** C-h v and C-h f commands now include a hyperlink to the C source for
186 variables and functions defined in C (if the C source is available).
188 ** When used interactively, `format-write-file' now asks for confirmation
189 before overwriting an existing file, unless a prefix argument is
190 supplied. This behavior is analogous to `write-file'.
192 ** You can now use Auto Revert mode to `tail' a file.
193 If point is at the end of a file buffer before reverting, Auto Revert
194 mode keeps it at the end after reverting. Similarly if point is
195 displayed at the end of a file buffer in any window, it stays at
196 the end of the buffer in that window. This allows to tail a file:
197 just put point at the end of the buffer and it stays there. This
198 rule applies to file buffers. For non-file buffers, the behavior may
201 If you are sure that the file will only change by growing at the end,
202 then you can tail the file more efficiently by using the new minor
203 mode Auto Revert Tail mode. The function `auto-revert-tail-mode'
206 ** Auto Revert mode is now more careful to avoid excessive reverts and
207 other potential problems when deciding which non-file buffers to
208 revert. This matters especially if Global Auto Revert mode is enabled
209 and `global-auto-revert-non-file-buffers' is non-nil. Auto Revert
210 mode only reverts a non-file buffer if the buffer has a non-nil
211 `revert-buffer-function' and a non-nil `buffer-stale-function', which
212 decides whether the buffer should be reverted. Currently, this means
213 that auto reverting works for Dired buffers (although this may not
214 work properly on all operating systems) and for the Buffer Menu.
216 ** If the new user option `auto-revert-check-vc-info' is non-nil, Auto
217 Revert mode reliably updates version control info (such as the version
218 control number in the mode line), in all version controlled buffers in
219 which it is active. If the option is nil, the default, then this info
220 only gets updated whenever the buffer gets reverted.
222 ** New command `Buffer-menu-toggle-files-only' toggles display of file
223 buffers only in the Buffer Menu. It is bound to `T' in Buffer Menu
226 ** M-x compile has become more robust and reliable
228 Quite a few more kinds of messages are recognized. Messages that are
229 recognized as warnings or informational come in orange or green, instead of
230 red. Informational messages are by default skipped with `next-error'
231 (controlled by `compilation-skip-threshold').
233 Location data is collected on the fly as the *compilation* buffer changes.
234 This means you could modify messages to make them point to different files.
235 This also means you can not go to locations of messages you may have deleted.
237 The variable `compilation-error-regexp-alist' has now become customizable. If
238 you had added your own regexps to this, you'll probably need to include a
239 leading `^', otherwise they'll match anywhere on a line. There is now also a
240 `compilation-mode-font-lock-keywords' and it nicely handles all the checks
241 that configure outputs and -o options so you see at a glance where you are.
243 The new file etc/compilation.txt gives examples of each type of message.
245 ** M-x grep has been adapted to new compile
247 Hits are fontified in green, and hits in binary files in orange. Grep buffers
248 can be saved and automatically revisited with the new Grep mode.
250 ** M-x diff uses diff-mode instead of compilation-mode.
252 ** M-x compare-windows now can automatically skip non-matching text to
253 resync points in both windows.
255 ** New command `strokes-global-set-stroke-string'.
256 This is like `strokes-global-set-stroke', but it allows you to bind
257 the stroke directly to a string to insert. This is convenient for
258 using strokes as an input method.
263 *** Desktop saving is now a minor mode, desktop-save-mode. Variable
264 desktop-enable is obsolete. Customize desktop-save-mode to enable desktop
267 *** Buffers are saved in the desktop file in the same order as that in the
271 - desktop-revert reverts to the last loaded desktop.
272 - desktop-change-dir kills current desktop and loads a new.
273 - desktop-save-in-desktop-dir saves desktop in the directory from which
276 *** New customizable variables:
277 - desktop-save. Determins whether the desktop should be saved when it is
279 - desktop-file-name-format.
280 - desktop-path. List of directories in which to lookup the desktop file.
281 - desktop-locals-to-save.
282 - desktop-globals-to-clear.
283 - desktop-clear-preserve-buffers-regexp.
285 *** New command line option --no-desktop
288 - desktop-after-read-hook run after a desktop is loaded.
289 - desktop-no-desktop-file-hook run when no desktop file is found.
292 ** The saveplace.el package now filters out unreadable files.
293 When you exit Emacs, the saved positions in visited files no longer
294 include files that aren't readable, e.g. files that don't exist.
295 Customize the new option `save-place-forget-unreadable-files' to nil
296 to get the old behavior. The new options `save-place-save-skipped'
297 and `save-place-skip-check-regexp' allow further fine-tuning of this
300 ** You can have several Emacs servers on the same machine.
302 % emacs --eval '(setq server-name "foo")' -f server-start &
303 % emacs --eval '(setq server-name "bar")' -f server-start &
304 % emacsclient -s foo file1
305 % emacsclient -s bar file2
307 ** On window systems, lines which are exactly as wide as the window
308 (not counting the final newline character) are no longer broken into
309 two lines on the display (with just the newline on the second line).
310 Instead, the newline now "overflows" into the right fringe, and the
311 cursor will be displayed in the fringe when positioned on that newline.
313 The new user option 'overflow-newline-into-fringe' may be set to nil to
314 revert to the old behaviour of continuing such lines.
316 ** The buffer boundaries (i.e. first and last line in the buffer) may
317 now be marked with angle bitmaps in the fringes. In addition, up and
318 down arrow bitmaps may be shown at the top and bottom of the left or
319 right fringe if the window can be scrolled in either direction.
321 This behavior is activated by setting the buffer-local variable
322 `indicate-buffer-boundaries' to a non-nil value. The default value of
323 this variable is found in `default-indicate-buffer-boundaries'.
325 If value is `left' or `right', both angle and arrow bitmaps are
326 displayed in the left or right fringe, resp. Any other non-nil value
327 causes the bitmap on the top line to be displayed in the left fringe,
328 and the bitmap on the bottom line in the right fringe.
330 If value is a cons (ANGLES . ARROWS), the car specifies the position
331 of the angle bitmaps, and the cdr specifies the position of the arrow
334 For example, (t . right) places the top angle bitmap in left fringe,
335 the bottom angle bitmap in right fringe, and both arrow bitmaps in
336 right fringe. To show just the angle bitmaps in the left fringe, but
337 no arrow bitmaps, use (left . nil).
339 ** New command `display-local-help' displays any local help at point
340 in the echo area. It is bound to `C-h .'. It normally displays the
341 same string that would be displayed on mouse-over using the
342 `help-echo' property, but, in certain cases, it can display a more
343 keyboard oriented alternative.
345 ** New user option `help-at-pt-display-when-idle' allows to
346 automatically show the help provided by `display-local-help' on
347 point-over, after suitable idle time. The amount of idle time is
348 determined by the user option `help-at-pt-timer-delay' and defaults
349 to one second. This feature is turned off by default.
351 ** New commands `scan-buf-next-region' and `scan-buf-previous-region'
352 move to the start of the next (previous, respectively) region with
353 non-nil help-echo property and display any help found there in the
354 echo area, using `display-local-help'.
357 ** Help mode now only makes hyperlinks for faces when the face name is
358 preceded or followed by the word `face'. It no longer makes
359 hyperlinks for variables without variable documentation, unless
360 preceded by one of the words `variable' or `option'. It now makes
361 hyperlinks to Info anchors (or nodes) if the anchor (or node) name is
362 enclosed in single quotes and preceded by `info anchor' or `Info
363 anchor' (in addition to earlier `info node' and `Info node').
365 ** The max size of buffers and integers has been doubled.
366 On 32bit machines, it is now 256M (i.e. 268435455).
369 ** The -f option, used from the command line to call a function,
370 now reads arguments for the function interactively if it is
371 an interactively callable function.
376 *** The variable `sql-product' controls the highlightng of different
377 SQL dialects. This variable can be set globally via Customize, on a
378 buffer-specific basis via local variable settings, or for the current
379 session using the new SQL->Product submenu. (This menu replaces the
380 SQL->Highlighting submenu.)
382 The following values are supported:
384 ansi ANSI Standard (default)
398 The current product name will be shown on the mode line following the
401 The technique of setting `sql-mode-font-lock-defaults' directly in
402 your .emacs will no longer establish the default highlighting -- Use
403 `sql-product' to accomplish this.
405 ANSI keywords are always highlighted.
407 *** The function `sql-add-product-keywords' can be used to add
408 font-lock rules to the product specific rules. For example, to have
409 all identifiers ending in "_t" under MS SQLServer treated as a type,
410 you would use the following line in your .emacs file:
412 (sql-add-product-keywords 'ms
413 '(("\\<\\w+_t\\>" . font-lock-type-face)))
415 *** Oracle support includes keyword highlighting for Oracle 9i. Most
416 SQL and PL/SQL keywords are implemented. SQL*Plus commands are
417 highlighted in `font-lock-doc-face'.
419 *** Microsoft SQLServer support has been significantly improved.
420 Keyword highlighting for SqlServer 2000 is implemented.
421 sql-interactive-mode defaults to use osql, rather than isql, because
422 osql flushes its error stream more frequently. Thus error messages
423 are displayed when they occur rather than when the session is
426 If the username and password are not provided to `sql-ms', osql is
427 called with the -E command line argument to use the operating system
428 credentials to authenticate the user.
430 *** Postgres support is enhanced.
431 Keyword highlighting of Postgres 7.3 is implemented. Prompting for
432 the username and the pgsql `-U' option is added.
434 *** MySQL support is enhanced.
435 Keyword higlighting of MySql 4.0 is implemented.
437 *** Imenu support has been enhanced to locate tables, views, indexes,
438 packages, procedures, functions, triggers, sequences, rules, and
441 *** Added SQL->Start SQLi Session menu entry which calls the
442 appropriate sql-interactive-mode wrapper for the current setting of
445 ** M-x view-file and commands that use it now avoid interfering
446 with special modes such as Tar mode.
448 ** Enhancements to apropos commands:
450 *** The apropos commands now accept a list of words to match.
451 When more than one word is specified, at least two of those words must
452 be present for an item to match. Regular expression matching is still
455 *** The new option `apropos-sort-by-scores' causes the matching items
456 to be sorted according to their score. The score for an item is a
457 number calculated to indicate how well the item matches the words or
458 regular expression that you entered to the apropos command. The best
459 match is listed first, and the calculated score is shown for each
463 ** The old bindings C-M-delete and C-M-backspace have been deleted,
464 since there are situations where one or the other will shut down
465 the operating system or your X server.
467 ** New minor mode, Visible mode, toggles invisibility in the current buffer.
468 When enabled, it makes all invisible text visible. When disabled, it
469 restores the previous value of `buffer-invisibility-spec'.
471 ** New command `kill-whole-line' kills an entire line at once.
472 By default, it is bound to C-S-<backspace>.
474 ** New commands to operate on pairs of open and close characters:
475 `insert-pair', `delete-pair', `raise-sexp'.
477 ** A prefix argument of C-M-q in Emacs Lisp mode pretty-printifies the
478 list starting after point.
482 *** New faces dired-header, dired-mark, dired-marked, dired-flagged,
483 dired-ignored, dired-directory, dired-symlink, dired-warning
484 introduced for Dired mode instead of font-lock faces.
486 *** New Dired command `dired-compare-directories' marks files
487 with different file attributes in two dired buffers.
490 *** New Dired command `dired-do-touch' (bound to T) changes timestamps
491 of marked files with the value entered in the minibuffer.
494 *** In Dired's ! command (dired-do-shell-command), `*' and `?' now
495 control substitution of the file names only when they are surrounded
496 by whitespace. This means you can now use them as shell wildcards
497 too. If you want to use just plain `*' as a wildcard, type `*""'; the
498 doublequotes make no difference in the shell, but they prevent
499 special treatment in `dired-do-shell-command'.
502 *** Dired's v command now runs external viewers to view certain
503 types of files. The variable `dired-view-command-alist' controls
504 what external viewers to use and when.
506 *** In Dired, the w command now copies the current line's file name
507 into the kill ring. With a zero prefix arg, copies absolute file names.
512 *** Omitting files is now a minor mode, dired-omit-mode. The mode toggling
513 command is bound to M-o. A new command dired-mark-omitted, bound to M-O,
514 marks omitted files. The variable dired-omit-files-p is obsoleted, use the
515 mode toggling function instead.
519 *** A numeric prefix argument of `info' selects an Info buffer
520 with the number appended to the *info* buffer name.
522 *** New command `Info-history' (bound to L) displays a menu of visited nodes.
524 *** New command `Info-toc' (bound to T) creates a node with table of contents
525 from the tree structure of menus of the current Info file.
527 *** New command `info-apropos' searches the indices of the known
528 Info files on your system for a string, and builds a menu of the
531 *** New command `Info-copy-current-node-name' (bound to w) copies
532 the current Info node name into the kill ring. With a zero prefix
533 arg, puts the node name inside the `info' function call.
535 *** New command `Info-search-case-sensitively' (bound to S).
537 *** New command `Info-search-next' (unbound) repeats the last search
538 without prompting for a new search string.
540 *** New face `info-xref-visited' distinguishes visited nodes from unvisited
541 and a new option `Info-fontify-visited-nodes' to control this.
543 *** http and ftp links in Info are now operational: they look like cross
544 references and following them calls `browse-url'.
547 *** Info now hides node names in menus and cross references by default.
548 If you prefer the old behavior, you can set the new user option
549 `Info-hide-note-references' to nil.
551 *** Images in Info pages are supported.
552 Info pages show embedded images, in Emacs frames with image support.
553 Info documentation that includes images, processed with makeinfo
554 version 4.7 or newer, compiles to Info pages with embedded images.
557 *** The default value for `Info-scroll-prefer-subnodes' is now nil.
560 *** Info-index offers completion.
562 ** Support for the SQLite interpreter has been added to sql.el by calling
566 *** The new command bibtex-entry-update (bound to C-c C-u) updates
567 an existing BibTeX entry.
568 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' option `required-fields', enabled by default.
569 *** bibtex-maintain-sorted-entries can take values `plain',
570 `crossref', and `entry-class' which control the sorting scheme used
571 for BibTeX entries. `bibtex-sort-entry-class' controls the sorting
572 scheme `entry-class'. TAB completion for reference keys and
573 automatic detection of duplicates does not require anymore that
574 bibtex-maintain-sorted-entries is non-nil.
576 *** If the new variable bibtex-parse-keys-fast is non-nil,
577 use fast but simplified algorithm for parsing BibTeX keys.
579 *** If the new variable bibtex-autoadd-commas is non-nil,
580 automatically add missing commas at end of BibTeX fields.
582 *** The new variable bibtex-autofill-types contains a list of entry
583 types for which fields are filled automatically (if possible).
585 *** The new command bibtex-complete completes word fragment before
586 point according to context (bound to M-tab).
588 *** The new commands bibtex-find-entry and bibtex-find-crossref
589 locate entries and crossref'd entries.
591 *** In BibTeX mode the command fill-paragraph (bound to M-q) fills
592 individual fields of a BibTeX entry.
594 ** When display margins are present in a window, the fringes are now
595 displayed between the margins and the buffer's text area, rather than
596 at the edges of the window.
598 ** A window may now have individual fringe and scroll-bar settings,
599 in addition to the individual display margin settings.
601 Such individual settings are now preserved when windows are split
602 horizontally or vertically, a saved window configuration is restored,
603 or when the frame is resized.
605 ** New functions frame-current-scroll-bars and window-current-scroll-bars.
607 These functions return the current locations of the vertical and
608 horizontal scroll bars in a frame or window.
611 ** Emacs now supports drag and drop for X. Dropping a file on a window
612 opens it, dropping text inserts the text. Dropping a file on a dired
613 buffer copies or moves the file to that directory.
615 ** Under X, mouse-wheel-mode is turned on by default.
617 ** The X resource useXIM can be used to turn off use of XIM, which may
618 speed up Emacs with slow networking to the X server.
620 If the configure option `--without-xim' was used to turn off use of
621 XIM by default, the X resource useXIM can be used to turn it on.
623 ** `undo-only' does an undo which does not redo any previous undo.
625 ** `uniquify-strip-common-suffix' tells uniquify to prefer
626 `file|dir1' and `file|dir2' to `file|dir1/subdir' and `file|dir2/subdir'.
628 ** If the user visits a file larger than `large-file-warning-threshold',
629 Emacs prompts her for confirmation.
631 ** A UTF-7 coding system is available in the library `utf-7'.
633 ** GUD mode has its own tool bar for controlling execution of the inferior
634 and other common debugger commands.
638 The recent file list is now automatically cleanup when recentf mode is
639 enabled. The new option `recentf-auto-cleanup' controls when to do
642 With the more advanced option: `recentf-filename-handler', you can
643 specify a function that transforms filenames handled by recentf. For
644 example, if set to `file-truename', the same file will not be in the
645 recent list with different symbolic links.
647 To follow naming convention, `recentf-keep-non-readable-files-flag'
648 and `recentf-menu-append-commands-flag' respectively replace the
649 misnamed options `recentf-keep-non-readable-files-p' and
650 `recentf-menu-append-commands-p'. The old names remain available as
651 aliases, but have been marked obsolete.
653 ** The default for the paper size (variable ps-paper-type) is taken
658 You can now put the init files .emacs and .emacs_SHELL under
659 ~/.emacs.d or directly under ~. Emacs will find them in either place.
661 ** partial-completion-mode now does partial completion on directory names.
663 ** skeleton.el now supports using - to mark the skeleton-point without
664 interregion interaction. @ has reverted to only setting
665 skeleton-positions and no longer sets skeleton-point. Skeletons
666 which used @ to mark skeleton-point independent of _ should now use -
667 instead. The updated skeleton-insert docstring explains these new
668 features along with other details of skeleton construction.
672 Upgraded to MH-E version 7.82. There have been major changes since
673 version 5.0.2; see MH-E-NEWS for details.
676 ** The `emacsclient' command understands the options `--eval' and
677 `--display' which tell Emacs respectively to evaluate the given elisp
678 expression and to use the given display when visiting files.
680 ** User option `server-mode' can be used to start a server process.
683 ** The mode line position information now comes before the major mode.
684 When the file is maintained under version control, that information
685 appears between the position information and the major mode.
687 ** C-x s (save-some-buffers) now offers an option `d' to diff a buffer
688 against its file, so you can see what changes you would be saving.
691 ** You can now customize the use of window fringes. To control this
692 for all frames, use M-x fringe-mode or the Show/Hide submenu of the
693 top-level Options menu, or customize the `fringe-mode' variable. To
694 control this for a specific frame, use the command M-x
698 ** There is a new user option `mail-default-directory' that allows you
699 to specify the value of `default-directory' for mail buffers. This
700 directory is used for auto-save files of mail buffers. It defaults to
704 ** When you are root, and you visit a file whose modes specify
705 read-only, the Emacs buffer is now read-only too. Type C-x C-q if you
706 want to make the buffer writable. (As root, you can in fact alter the
709 ** The new command `revert-buffer-with-coding-system' (C-x RET r)
710 revisits the current file using a coding system that you specify.
712 ** The new command `recode-file-name' changes the encoding of the name
716 ** `ps-print' can now print characters from the mule-unicode charsets.
718 Printing text with characters from the mule-unicode-* sets works with
719 ps-print, provided that you have installed the appropriate BDF fonts.
720 See the file INSTALL for URLs where you can find these fonts.
723 ** The new options `buffers-menu-show-directories' and
724 `buffers-menu-show-status' let you control how buffers are displayed
725 in the menu dropped down when you click "Buffers" from the menu bar.
727 `buffers-menu-show-directories' controls whether the menu displays
728 leading directories as part of the file name visited by the buffer.
729 If its value is `unless-uniquify', the default, directories are
730 shown unless uniquify-buffer-name-style' is non-nil. The value of nil
731 and t turn the display of directories off and on, respectively.
733 `buffers-menu-show-status' controls whether the Buffers menu includes
734 the modified and read-only status of the buffers. By default it is
735 t, and the status is shown.
737 Setting these variables directly does not take effect until next time
738 the Buffers menu is regenerated.
741 ** The commands M-x customize-face and M-x customize-face-other-window
742 now look at the character after point. If a face or faces are
743 specified for that character, the commands by default customize those
746 ** New language environments: French, Ukrainian, Tajik,
747 Bulgarian, Belarusian, Ukrainian, UTF-8, Windows-1255, Welsh, Latin-6,
748 Latin-7, Lithuanian, Latvian, Swedish, Slovenian, Croatian, Georgian,
749 Italian, Russian, Malayalam, Tamil, Russian, Chinese-EUC-TW. (Set up
750 automatically according to the locale.)
752 ** Indian support has been updated.
753 The in-is13194 coding system is now Unicode-based. CDAC fonts are
754 assumed. There is a framework for supporting various
755 Indian scripts, but currently only Devanagari, Malayalam and Tamil are
759 ** New input methods: latin-alt-postfix, latin-postfix, latin-prefix,
760 ukrainian-computer, belarusian, bulgarian-bds, russian-computer,
761 vietnamese-telex, lithuanian-numeric, lithuanian-keyboard,
762 latvian-keyboard, welsh, georgian, rfc1345, ucs, sgml,
763 bulgarian-phonetic, dutch, slovenian, croatian, malayalam-inscript,
767 ** A new coding system `euc-tw' has been added for traditional Chinese
768 in CNS encoding; it accepts both Big 5 and CNS as input; on saving,
769 Big 5 is then converted to CNS.
772 ** Many new coding systems are available by loading the `code-pages'
773 library. These include complete versions of most of those in
774 codepage.el, based on Unicode mappings. `codepage-setup' is now
775 obsolete and is used only in the MS-DOS port of Emacs. windows-1252
776 and windows-1251 are preloaded since the former is so common and the
777 latter is used by GNU locales.
779 ** The utf-8/16 coding systems have been enhanced.
780 By default, untranslatable utf-8 sequences are simply composed into
781 single quasi-characters. User option `utf-translate-cjk-mode' (it is
782 turned on by default) arranges to translate many utf-8 CJK character
783 sequences into real Emacs characters in a similar way to the Mule-UCS
784 system. As this loads a fairly big data on demand, people who are not
785 interested in CJK characters may want to customize it to nil.
786 You can augment/amend the CJK translation via hash tables
787 `ucs-mule-cjk-to-unicode' and `ucs-unicode-to-mule-cjk'. The utf-8
788 coding system now also encodes characters from most of Emacs's
789 one-dimensional internal charsets, specifically the ISO-8859 ones.
790 The utf-16 coding system is affected similarly.
792 ** iso-10646-1 (`Unicode') fonts can be used to display any range of
793 characters encodable by the utf-8 coding system. Just specify the
794 fontset appropriately.
796 ** New command `ucs-insert' inserts a character specified by its
800 ** Limited support for character `unification' has been added.
801 Emacs now knows how to translate between different representations of
802 the same characters in various Emacs charsets according to standard
803 Unicode mappings. This applies mainly to characters in the ISO 8859
804 sets plus some other 8-bit sets, but can be extended. For instance,
805 translation works amongst the Emacs ...-iso8859-... charsets and the
806 mule-unicode-... ones.
808 By default this translation happens automatically on encoding.
809 Self-inserting characters are translated to make the input conformant
810 with the encoding of the buffer in which it's being used, where
813 You can force a more complete unification with the user option
814 unify-8859-on-decoding-mode. That maps all the Latin-N character sets
815 into Unicode characters (from the latin-iso8859-1 and
816 mule-unicode-0100-24ff charsets) on decoding. Note that this mode
817 will often effectively clobber data with an iso-2022 encoding.
819 ** There is support for decoding Greek and Cyrillic characters into
820 either Unicode (the mule-unicode charsets) or the iso-8859 charsets,
821 when possible. The latter are more space-efficient. This is
822 controlled by user option utf-fragment-on-decoding.
824 ** The new command `set-file-name-coding-system' (C-x RET F) sets
825 coding system for encoding and decoding file names. A new menu item
826 (Options->Mule->Set Coding Systems->For File Name) invokes this
830 ** The scrollbar under LessTif or Motif has a smoother drag-scrolling.
831 On the other hand, the size of the thumb does not represent the actual
832 amount of text shown any more (only a crude approximation of it).
835 ** The pop up menus for Lucid now stay up if you do a fast click and can
836 be navigated with the arrow keys (like Gtk+ and W32).
839 ** Dialogs for Lucid/Athena and Lesstif/Motif pops down when pressing ESC.
842 ** The file selection dialog for Gtk+, W32 and Motif/Lesstif can be
843 disabled by customizing the variable `use-file-dialog'.
846 ** Emacs can produce an underscore-like (horizontal bar) cursor.
847 The underscore cursor is set by putting `(cursor-type . hbar)' in
848 default-frame-alist. It supports variable heights, like the `bar'
852 ** On X, MS Windows, and Mac OS, the blinking cursor's "off" state is
853 now controlled by the variable `blink-cursor-alist'.
855 ** Filesets are collections of files. You can define a fileset in
856 various ways, such as based on a directory tree or based on
857 program files that include other program files.
859 Once you have defined a fileset, you can perform various operations on
860 all the files in it, such as visiting them or searching and replacing
864 ** PO translation files are decoded according to their MIME headers
865 when Emacs visits them.
868 ** The game `mpuz' is enhanced.
870 `mpuz' now allows the 2nd factor not to have two identical digits. By
871 default, all trivial operations involving whole lines are performed
872 automatically. The game uses faces for better visual feedback.
874 ** The new variable `x-select-request-type' controls how Emacs
875 requests X selection. The default value is nil, which means that
876 Emacs requests X selection with types COMPOUND_TEXT and UTF8_STRING,
877 and use the more appropriately result.
880 ** The parameters of automatic hscrolling can now be customized.
881 The variable `hscroll-margin' determines how many columns away from
882 the window edge point is allowed to get before automatic hscrolling
883 will horizontally scroll the window. The default value is 5.
885 The variable `hscroll-step' determines how many columns automatic
886 hscrolling scrolls the window when point gets too close to the
887 window edge. If its value is zero, the default, Emacs scrolls the
888 window so as to center point. If its value is an integer, it says how
889 many columns to scroll. If the value is a floating-point number, it
890 gives the fraction of the window's width to scroll the window.
892 The variable `automatic-hscrolling' was renamed to
893 `auto-hscroll-mode'. The old name is still available as an alias.
896 *** C-c C-c prompts for a command to run, and tries to offer a good default.
898 *** The user option `tex-start-options-string' has been replaced
899 by two new user options: `tex-start-options', which should hold
900 command-line options to feed to TeX, and `tex-start-commands' which should hold
901 TeX commands to use at startup.
902 *** verbatim environments are now highlighted in courier by font-lock
903 and super/sub-scripts are made into super/sub-scripts.
905 *** New major mode doctex-mode for *.dtx files.
908 ** New display feature: focus follows the mouse from one Emacs window
909 to another, even within a frame. If you set the variable
910 mouse-autoselect-window to non-nil value, moving the mouse to a
911 different Emacs window will select that window (minibuffer window can
912 be selected only when it is active). The default is nil, so that this
913 feature is not enabled.
915 ** On X, when the window manager requires that you click on a frame to
916 select it (give it focus), the selected window and cursor position
917 normally changes according to the mouse click position. If you set
918 the variable x-mouse-click-focus-ignore-position to t, the selected
919 window and cursor position do not change when you click on a frame
923 ** The new command `describe-char' (C-u C-x =) pops up a buffer with
924 description various information about a character, including its
925 encodings and syntax, its text properties, how to input, overlays, and
926 widgets at point. You can get more information about some of them, by
927 clicking on mouse-sensitive areas or moving there and pressing RET.
930 ** The new command `multi-occur' is just like `occur', except it can
931 search multiple buffers. There is also a new command
932 `multi-occur-by-filename-regexp' which allows you to specify the
933 buffers to search by their filename. Internally, Occur mode has been
934 rewritten, and now uses font-lock, among other changes.
936 ** The default values of paragraph-start and indent-line-function have
937 been changed to reflect those used in Text mode rather than those used
938 in Indented-Text mode.
940 ** New user option `query-replace-skip-read-only': when non-nil,
941 `query-replace' and related functions simply ignore
942 a match if part of it has a read-only property.
944 ** When used interactively, the commands `query-replace-regexp' and
945 `replace-regexp' allow \,expr to be used in a replacement string,
946 where expr is an arbitrary Lisp expression evaluated at replacement
947 time. In many cases, this will be more convenient than using
948 `query-replace-regexp-eval'. `\#' in a replacement string now refers
949 to the count of replacements already made by the replacement command.
950 All regular expression replacement commands now allow `\?' in the
951 replacement string to specify a position where the replacement string
952 can be edited for each replacement.
955 ** Emacs normally highlights mouse sensitive text whenever the mouse
956 is over the text. By setting the new variable `mouse-highlight', you
957 can optionally enable mouse highlighting only after you move the
958 mouse, so that highlighting disappears when you press a key. You can
959 also disable mouse highlighting.
961 ** You can now customize if selecting a region by dragging the mouse
962 shall not copy the selected text to the kill-ring by setting the new
963 variable mouse-drag-copy-region to nil.
966 ** font-lock: in modes like C and Lisp where the fontification assumes that
967 an open-paren in column 0 is always outside of any string or comment,
968 font-lock now highlights any such open-paren-in-column-zero in bold-red
969 if it is inside a string or a comment, to indicate that it can cause
970 trouble with fontification and/or indentation.
973 ** There's a new face `minibuffer-prompt'.
974 Emacs adds this face to the list of text properties stored in the
975 variable `minibuffer-prompt-properties', which is used to display the
979 ** The new face `mode-line-inactive' is used to display the mode line
980 of non-selected windows. The `mode-line' face is now used to display
981 the mode line of the currently selected window.
983 The new variable `mode-line-in-non-selected-windows' controls whether
984 the `mode-line-inactive' face is used.
987 ** A menu item "Show/Hide" was added to the top-level menu "Options".
988 This menu allows you to turn various display features on and off (such
989 as the fringes, the tool bar, the speedbar, and the menu bar itself).
990 You can also move the vertical scroll bar to either side here or turn
991 it off completely. There is also a menu-item to toggle displaying of
992 current date and time, current line and column number in the
996 ** Speedbar has moved from the "Tools" top level menu to "Show/Hide".
999 ** Emacs can now indicate in the mode-line the presence of new e-mail
1000 in a directory or in a file. See the documentation of the user option
1001 `display-time-mail-directory'.
1004 ** LDAP support now defaults to ldapsearch from OpenLDAP version 2.
1007 ** You can now disable pc-selection-mode after enabling it.
1008 M-x pc-selection-mode behaves like a proper minor mode, and with no
1009 argument it toggles the mode.
1011 Turning off PC-Selection mode restores the global key bindings
1012 that were replaced by turning on the mode.
1015 ** Emacs now displays a splash screen by default even if command-line
1016 arguments were given. The new command-line option --no-splash
1017 disables the splash screen; see also the variable
1018 `inhibit-startup-message' (which is also aliased as
1019 `inhibit-splash-screen').
1021 ** Changes in support of colors on character terminals
1024 *** The new command-line option --color=MODE lets you specify a standard
1025 mode for a tty color support. It is meant to be used on character
1026 terminals whose capabilities are not set correctly in the terminal
1027 database, or with terminal emulators which support colors, but don't
1028 set the TERM environment variable to a name of a color-capable
1029 terminal. "emacs --color" uses the same color commands as GNU `ls'
1030 when invoked with "ls --color", so if your terminal can support colors
1031 in "ls --color", it will support "emacs --color" as well. See the
1032 user manual for the possible values of the MODE parameter.
1035 *** Emacs now supports several character terminals which provide more
1036 than 8 colors. For example, for `xterm', 16-color, 88-color, and
1037 256-color modes are supported. Emacs automatically notes at startup
1038 the extended number of colors, and defines the appropriate entries for
1039 all of these colors.
1042 *** Emacs now uses the full range of available colors for the default
1043 faces when running on a color terminal, including 16-, 88-, and
1044 256-color xterms. This means that when you run "emacs -nw" on an
1045 88-color or 256-color xterm, you will see essentially the same face
1049 *** There's a new support for colors on `rxvt' terminal emulator.
1052 ** Emacs can now be invoked in full-screen mode on a windowed display.
1054 When Emacs is invoked on a window system, the new command-line options
1055 `--fullwidth', `--fullheight', and `--fullscreen' produce a frame
1056 whose width, height, or both width and height take up the entire
1057 screen size. (For now, this does not work with some window managers.)
1060 ** Emacs now tries to set up buffer coding systems for HTML/XML files
1064 ** The new command `comint-insert-previous-argument' in comint-derived
1065 modes (shell-mode etc) inserts arguments from previous command lines,
1066 like bash's `ESC .' binding. It is bound by default to `C-c .', but
1067 otherwise behaves quite similarly to the bash version.
1070 ** Changes in C-h bindings:
1072 C-h e displays the *Messages* buffer.
1074 C-h followed by a control character is used for displaying files
1077 C-h C-f displays the FAQ.
1078 C-h C-e displays the PROBLEMS file.
1080 The info-search bindings on C-h C-f, C-h C-k and C-h C-i
1081 have been moved to C-h F, C-h K and C-h S.
1083 C-h c, C-h k, C-h w, and C-h f now handle remapped interactive commands.
1085 - C-h c and C-h k report the actual command (after possible remapping)
1086 run by the key sequence.
1088 - C-h w and C-h f on a command which has been remapped now report the
1089 command it is remapped to, and the keys which can be used to run
1092 For example, if C-k is bound to kill-line, and kill-line is remapped
1093 to new-kill-line, these commands now report:
1095 - C-h c and C-h k C-k reports:
1096 C-k runs the command new-kill-line
1098 - C-h w and C-h f kill-line reports:
1099 kill-line is remapped to new-kill-line which is on C-k, <deleteline>
1101 - C-h w and C-h f new-kill-line reports:
1102 new-kill-line is on C-k
1105 ** C-w in incremental search now grabs either a character or a word,
1106 making the decision in a heuristic way. This new job is done by the
1107 command `isearch-yank-word-or-char'. To restore the old behavior,
1108 bind C-w to `isearch-yank-word' in `isearch-mode-map'.
1111 ** C-M-w deletes and C-M-y grabs a character in isearch mode.
1112 Another method to grab a character is to enter the minibuffer by `M-e'
1113 and to type `C-f' at the end of the search string in the minibuffer.
1116 ** M-% and C-M-% typed in isearch mode invoke `query-replace' and
1117 `query-replace-regexp' with the current search string inserted
1118 in the minibuffer as initial input for the string to replace.
1121 ** Yanking text now discards certain text properties that can
1122 be inconvenient when you did not expect them. The variable
1123 `yank-excluded-properties' specifies which ones. Insertion
1124 of register contents and rectangles also discards these properties.
1127 ** Occur, Info, and comint-derived modes now support using
1128 M-x font-lock-mode to toggle fontification. The variable
1129 `Info-fontify' is no longer applicable; to disable fontification,
1130 remove `turn-on-font-lock' from `Info-mode-hook'.
1133 ** M-x grep now tries to avoid appending `/dev/null' to the command line
1134 by using GNU grep `-H' option instead. M-x grep automatically
1135 detects whether this is possible or not the first time it is invoked.
1136 When `-H' is used, the grep command line supplied by the user is passed
1137 unchanged to the system to execute, which allows more complicated
1138 command lines to be used than was possible before.
1141 ** The face-customization widget has been reworked to be less confusing.
1142 In particular, when you enable a face attribute using the corresponding
1143 check-box, there's no longer a redundant `*' option in value selection
1144 for that attribute; the values you can choose are only those which make
1145 sense for the attribute. When an attribute is de-selected by unchecking
1146 its check-box, then the (now ignored, but still present temporarily in
1147 case you re-select the attribute) value is hidden.
1150 ** When you set or reset a variable's value in a Customize buffer,
1151 the previous value becomes the "backup value" of the variable.
1152 You can go back to that backup value by selecting "Use Backup Value"
1153 under the "[State]" button.
1155 ** The new customization type `float' specifies numbers with floating
1156 point (no integers are allowed).
1159 ** In GUD mode, when talking to GDB, C-x C-a C-j "jumps" the program
1160 counter to the specified source line (the one where point is).
1163 ** GUD mode improvements for jdb:
1165 *** Search for source files using jdb classpath and class
1166 information. Fast startup since there is no need to scan all
1167 source files up front. There is also no need to create and maintain
1168 lists of source directories to scan. Look at `gud-jdb-use-classpath'
1169 and `gud-jdb-classpath' customization variables documentation.
1171 *** Supports the standard breakpoint (gud-break, gud-clear)
1172 set/clear operations from java source files under the classpath, stack
1173 traversal (gud-up, gud-down), and run until current stack finish
1176 *** Supports new jdb (Java 1.2 and later) in addition to oldjdb
1179 *** The previous method of searching for source files has been
1180 preserved in case someone still wants/needs to use it.
1181 Set gud-jdb-use-classpath to nil.
1183 Added Customization Variables
1185 *** gud-jdb-command-name. What command line to use to invoke jdb.
1187 *** gud-jdb-use-classpath. Allows selection of java source file searching
1188 method: set to t for new method, nil to scan gud-jdb-directories for
1189 java sources (previous method).
1191 *** gud-jdb-directories. List of directories to scan and search for java
1192 classes using the original gud-jdb method (if gud-jdb-use-classpath
1197 *** The STARTTLS elisp wrapper (starttls.el) can now use GNUTLS
1198 instead of the OpenSSL based "starttls" tool. For backwards
1199 compatibility, it prefers "starttls", but you can toggle
1200 `starttls-use-gnutls' to switch to GNUTLS (or simply remove the
1203 *** Do not allow debugger output history variable to grow without bounds.
1206 ** hide-ifdef-mode now uses overlays rather than selective-display
1207 to hide its text. This should be mostly transparent but slightly
1208 changes the behavior of motion commands like C-e and C-p.
1211 ** Unquoted `$' in file names do not signal an error any more when
1212 the corresponding environment variable does not exist.
1213 Instead, the `$ENVVAR' text is left as is, so that `$$' quoting
1214 is only rarely needed.
1218 *** jit-lock can now be delayed with `jit-lock-defer-time'.
1220 If this variable is non-nil, its value should be the amount of Emacs
1221 idle time in seconds to wait before starting fontification. For
1222 example, if you set `jit-lock-defer-time' to 0.25, fontification will
1223 only happen after 0.25s of idle time.
1225 *** contextual refontification is now separate from stealth fontification.
1227 jit-lock-defer-contextually is renamed jit-lock-contextually and
1228 jit-lock-context-time determines the delay after which contextual
1229 refontification takes place.
1232 ** Marking commands extend the region when invoked multiple times. If
1233 you hit M-C-SPC (mark-sexp), M-@ (mark-word), M-h (mark-paragraph), or
1234 C-M-h (mark-defun) repeatedly, the marked region extends each time, so
1235 you can mark the next two sexps with M-C-SPC M-C-SPC, for example.
1236 This feature also works for mark-end-of-sentence, if you bind that to
1240 ** Some commands do something special in Transient Mark mode when the
1241 mark is active--for instance, they limit their operation to the
1242 region. Even if you don't normally use Transient Mark mode, you might
1243 want to get this behavior from a particular command. There are two
1244 ways you can enable Transient Mark mode and activate the mark, for one
1247 One method is to type C-SPC C-SPC; this enables Transient Mark mode
1248 and sets the mark at point. The other method is to type C-u C-x C-x.
1249 This enables Transient Mark mode temporarily but does not alter the
1252 After these commands, Transient Mark mode remains enabled until you
1253 deactivate the mark. That typically happens when you type a command
1254 that alters the buffer, but you can also deactivate the mark by typing
1258 ** A prefix argument is no longer required to repeat a jump to a
1259 previous mark, i.e. C-u C-SPC C-SPC C-SPC ... cycles through the
1260 mark ring. Use C-u C-u C-SPC to set the mark immediately after a jump.
1263 ** In the *Occur* buffer, `o' switches to it in another window, and
1264 C-o displays the current line's occurrence in another window without
1268 ** When you specify a frame size with --geometry, the size applies to
1269 all frames you create. A position specified with --geometry only
1270 affects the initial frame.
1273 ** M-h (mark-paragraph) now accepts a prefix arg.
1274 With positive arg, M-h marks the current and the following paragraphs;
1275 if the arg is negative, it marks the current and the preceding
1279 ** The variables dired-free-space-program and dired-free-space-args
1280 have been renamed to directory-free-space-program and
1281 directory-free-space-args, and they now apply whenever Emacs puts a
1282 directory listing into a buffer.
1285 ** mouse-wheels can now scroll a specific fraction of the window
1286 (rather than a fixed number of lines) and the scrolling is `progressive'.
1288 ** Unexpected yanking of text due to accidental clicking on the mouse
1289 wheel button (typically mouse-2) during wheel scrolling is now avoided.
1290 This behaviour can be customized via the mouse-wheel-click-event and
1291 mouse-wheel-inhibit-click-time variables.
1294 ** The keyboard-coding-system is now automatically set based on your
1295 current locale settings if you are not using a window system. This
1296 may mean that the META key doesn't work but generates non-ASCII
1297 characters instead, depending on how the terminal (or terminal
1298 emulator) works. Use `set-keyboard-coding-system' (or customize
1299 keyboard-coding-system) if you prefer META to work (the old default)
1300 or if the locale doesn't describe the character set actually generated
1301 by the keyboard. See Info node `Single-Byte Character Support'.
1304 ** Emacs now reads the standard abbrevs file ~/.abbrev_defs
1305 automatically at startup, if it exists. When Emacs offers to save
1306 modified buffers, it saves the abbrevs too if they have changed. It
1307 can do this either silently or asking for confirmation first,
1308 according to the value of `save-abbrevs'.
1311 ** Display of hollow cursors now obeys the buffer-local value (if any)
1312 of `cursor-in-non-selected-windows' in the buffer that the cursor
1315 ** The variable `cursor-in-non-selected-windows' can now be set to any
1316 of the recognized cursor types.
1319 ** The variable `auto-save-file-name-transforms' now has a third element that
1320 controls whether or not the function `make-auto-save-file-name' will
1321 attempt to construct a unique auto-save name (e.g. for remote files).
1324 ** Diary sexp entries can have custom marking in the calendar.
1325 Diary sexp functions which only apply to certain days (such as
1326 `diary-block' or `diary-cyclic') now take an optional parameter MARK,
1327 which is the name of a face or a single-character string indicating
1328 how to highlight the day in the calendar display. Specifying a
1329 single-character string as @var{mark} places the character next to the
1330 day in the calendar. Specifying a face highlights the day with that
1331 face. This lets you have different colors or markings for vacations,
1332 appointments, paydays or anything else using a sexp.
1335 ** The new function `calendar-goto-day-of-year' (g D) prompts for a
1336 year and day number, and moves to that date. Negative day numbers
1337 count backward from the end of the year.
1339 ** The function `simple-diary-display' now by default sets a header line.
1340 This can be controlled through the variables `diary-header-line-flag'
1341 and `diary-header-line-format'.
1344 ** The procedure for activating appointment reminders has changed: use
1345 the new function `appt-activate'. The new variable
1346 `appt-display-format' controls how reminders are displayed, replacing
1347 appt-issue-message, appt-visible, and appt-msg-window.
1349 ** The new functions `diary-from-outlook', `diary-from-outlook-gnus',
1350 and `diary-from-outlook-rmail' can be used to import diary entries
1351 from Outlook-format appointments in mail messages. The variable
1352 `diary-outlook-formats' can be customized to recognize additional
1358 *** The key C-x C-q no longer checks files in or out, it only changes
1359 the read-only state of the buffer (toggle-read-only). We made this
1360 change because we held a poll and found that many users were unhappy
1361 with the previous behavior. If you do prefer this behavior, you
1362 can bind `vc-toggle-read-only' to C-x C-q in your .emacs:
1364 (global-set-key "\C-x\C-q" 'vc-toggle-read-only)
1366 The function `vc-toggle-read-only' will continue to exist.
1369 *** There is a new user option `vc-cvs-global-switches' that allows
1370 you to specify switches that are passed to any CVS command invoked
1371 by VC. These switches are used as "global options" for CVS, which
1372 means they are inserted before the command name. For example, this
1373 allows you to specify a compression level using the "-z#" option for
1376 *** New backends for Subversion and Meta-CVS.
1381 *** When comparing directories.
1382 Typing D brings up a buffer that lists the differences between the contents of
1383 directories. Now it is possible to use this buffer to copy the missing files
1384 from one directory to another.
1387 *** When comparing files or buffers.
1388 Typing the = key now offers to perform the word-by-word comparison of the
1389 currently highlighted regions in an inferior Ediff session. If you answer 'n'
1390 then it reverts to the old behavior and asks the user to select regions for
1393 *** The new command `ediff-backup' compares a file with its most recent
1394 backup using `ediff'. If you specify the name of a backup file,
1395 `ediff-backup' compares it with the file of which it is a backup.
1400 *** New regular expressions features
1402 **** New syntax for regular expressions, multi-line regular expressions.
1403 The syntax --ignore-case-regexp=/regex/ is now undocumented and retained
1404 only for backward compatibility. The new equivalent syntax is
1405 --regex=/regex/i. More generally, it is --regex=/TAGREGEX/TAGNAME/MODS,
1406 where `/TAGNAME' is optional, as usual, and MODS is a string of 0 or
1407 more characters among `i' (ignore case), `m' (multi-line) and `s'
1408 (single-line). The `m' and `s' modifiers behave as in Perl regular
1409 expressions: `m' allows regexps to match more than one line, while `s'
1410 (which implies `m') means that `.' matches newlines. The ability to
1411 span newlines allows writing of much more powerful regular expressions
1412 and rapid prototyping for tagging new languages.
1414 **** Regular expressions can use char escape sequences as in Gcc.
1415 The escaped character sequence \a, \b, \d, \e, \f, \n, \r, \t, \v,
1416 respectively, stand for the ASCII characters BEL, BS, DEL, ESC, FF, NL,
1419 **** Regular expressions can be bound to a given language.
1420 The syntax --regex={LANGUAGE}REGEX means that REGEX is used to make tags
1421 only for files of language LANGUAGE, and ignored otherwise. This is
1422 particularly useful when storing regexps in a file.
1424 **** Regular expressions can be read from a file.
1425 The --regex=@regexfile option means read the regexps from a file, one
1426 per line. Lines beginning with space or tab are ignored.
1428 *** New language parsing features
1430 **** The `::' qualifier triggers C++ parsing in C file.
1431 Previously, only the `template' and `class' keywords had this effect.
1433 **** In Perl, packages are tags.
1434 Subroutine tags are named from their package. You can jump to sub tags
1435 as you did before, by the sub name, or additionally by looking for
1438 **** New language PHP.
1439 Tags are functions, classes and defines.
1440 If the --members option is specified to etags, tags are vars also.
1442 **** New language HTML.
1443 Title and h1, h2, h3 are tagged. Also, tags are generated when name= is
1444 used inside an anchor and whenever id= is used.
1446 **** New default keywords for TeX.
1447 The new keywords are def, newcommand, renewcommand, newenvironment and
1450 **** In Makefiles, constants are tagged.
1451 If you want the old behavior instead, thus avoiding to increase the
1452 size of the tags file, use the --no-globals option.
1454 **** In Prolog, etags creates tags for rules in addition to predicates.
1456 *** Honour #line directives.
1457 When Etags parses an input file that contains C preprocessor's #line
1458 directives, it creates tags using the file name and line number
1459 specified in those directives. This is useful when dealing with code
1460 created from Cweb source files. When Etags tags the generated file, it
1461 writes tags pointing to the source file.
1463 *** New option --parse-stdin=FILE.
1464 This option is mostly useful when calling etags from programs. It can
1465 be used (only once) in place of a file name on the command line. Etags
1466 reads from standard input and mark the produced tags as belonging to
1472 *** Font lock support.
1473 CC Mode now provides font lock support for all its languages. This
1474 supersedes the font lock patterns that have been in the core font lock
1475 package for C, C++, Java and Objective-C. Like indentation, font
1476 locking is done in a uniform way across all languages (except the new
1477 AWK mode - see below). That means that the new font locking will be
1478 different from the old patterns in various details for most languages.
1480 The main goal of the font locking in CC Mode is accuracy, to provide a
1481 dependable aid in recognizing the various constructs. Some, like
1482 strings and comments, are easy to recognize while others like
1483 declarations and types can be very tricky. CC Mode can go to great
1484 lengths to recognize declarations and casts correctly, especially when
1485 the types aren't recognized by standard patterns. This is a fairly
1486 demanding analysis which can be slow on older hardware, and it can
1487 therefore be disabled by choosing a lower decoration level with the
1488 variable font-lock-maximum-decoration.
1490 Note that the most demanding font lock level has been tuned with lazy
1491 fontification in mind, i.e. there should be a support mode that waits
1492 with the fontification until the text is actually shown
1493 (e.g. Just-in-time Lock mode, which is the default, or Lazy Lock
1494 mode). Fontifying a file with several thousand lines in one go can
1495 take the better part of a minute.
1497 **** The (c|c++|objc|java|idl|pike)-font-lock-extra-types variables
1498 are now used by CC Mode to recognize identifiers that are certain to
1499 be types. (They are also used in cases that aren't related to font
1500 locking.) At the maximum decoration level, types are often recognized
1501 properly anyway, so these variables should be fairly restrictive and
1502 not contain patterns for uncertain types.
1504 **** Support for documentation comments.
1505 There is a "plugin" system to fontify documentation comments like
1506 Javadoc and the markup within them. It's independent of the host
1507 language, so it's possible to e.g. turn on Javadoc font locking in C
1508 buffers. See the variable c-doc-comment-style for details.
1510 Currently two kinds of doc comment styles are recognized: Suns Javadoc
1511 and Autodoc which is used in Pike. This is by no means a complete
1512 list of the most common tools; if your doc comment extractor of choice
1513 is missing then please drop a note to bug-cc-mode@gnu.org.
1515 **** Better handling of C++ templates.
1516 As a side effect of the more accurate font locking, C++ templates are
1517 now handled much better. The angle brackets that delimit them are
1518 given parenthesis syntax so that they can be navigated like other
1521 This also improves indentation of templates, although there still is
1522 work to be done in that area. E.g. it's required that multiline
1523 template clauses are written in full and then refontified to be
1524 recognized, and the indentation of nested templates is a bit odd and
1525 not as configurable as it ought to be.
1527 **** Improved handling of Objective-C and CORBA IDL.
1528 Especially the support for Objective-C and IDL has gotten an overhaul.
1529 The special "@" declarations in Objective-C are handled correctly.
1530 All the keywords used in CORBA IDL, PSDL, and CIDL are recognized and
1531 handled correctly, also wrt indentation.
1533 *** Support for the AWK language.
1534 Support for the AWK language has been introduced. The implementation is
1535 based around GNU AWK version 3.1, but it should work pretty well with
1536 any AWK. As yet, not all features of CC Mode have been adapted for AWK.
1539 **** Indentation Engine
1540 The CC Mode indentation engine fully supports AWK mode.
1542 AWK mode handles code formatted in the conventional AWK fashion: `{'s
1543 which start actions, user-defined functions, or compound statements are
1544 placed on the same line as the associated construct; the matching `}'s
1545 are normally placed under the start of the respective pattern, function
1546 definition, or structured statement.
1548 The predefined indentation functions haven't yet been adapted for AWK
1549 mode, though some of them may work serendipitously. There shouldn't be
1550 any problems writing custom indentation functions for AWK mode.
1552 The command C-c C-q (c-indent-defun) hasn't yet been adapted for AWK,
1553 though in practice it works properly nearly all the time. Should it
1554 fail, explicitly set the region around the function (using C-u C-SPC:
1555 C-M-h probably won't work either) then do C-M-\ (indent-region).
1558 There is a single level of font locking in AWK mode, rather than the
1559 three distinct levels the other modes have. There are several
1560 idiosyncrasies in AWK mode's font-locking due to the peculiarities of
1561 the AWK language itself.
1563 **** Comment Commands
1564 M-; (indent-for-comment) works fine. None of the other CC Mode
1565 comment formatting commands have yet been adapted for AWK mode.
1567 **** Movement Commands
1568 Most of the movement commands work in AWK mode. The most important
1569 exceptions are M-a (c-beginning-of-statement) and M-e
1570 (c-end-of-statement) which haven't yet been adapted.
1572 The notion of "defun" has been augmented to include AWK pattern-action
1573 pairs. C-M-a (c-awk-beginning-of-defun) and C-M-e (c-awk-end-of-defun)
1574 recognise these pattern-action pairs, as well as user defined
1577 **** Auto-newline Insertion and Clean-ups
1578 Auto-newline insertion hasn't yet been adapted for AWK. Some of
1579 the clean-ups can actually convert good AWK code into syntactically
1580 invalid code. These features are best disabled in AWK buffers.
1582 *** New syntactic symbols in IDL mode.
1583 The top level constructs "module" and "composition" (from CIDL) are
1584 now handled like "namespace" in C++: They are given syntactic symbols
1585 module-open, module-close, inmodule, composition-open,
1586 composition-close, and incomposition.
1588 *** New functions to do hungry delete without enabling hungry delete mode.
1589 The functions c-hungry-backspace and c-hungry-delete-forward can be
1590 bound to keys to get this feature without toggling a mode.
1591 Contributed by Kevin Ryde.
1593 *** Better control over require-final-newline.
1594 The variable that controls how to handle a final newline when the
1595 buffer is saved, require-final-newline, is now customizable on a
1596 per-mode basis through c-require-final-newline. The default is to set
1597 it to t only in languages that mandate a final newline in source files
1598 (C, C++ and Objective-C).
1600 *** Format change for syntactic context elements.
1601 The elements in the syntactic context returned by c-guess-basic-syntax
1602 and stored in c-syntactic-context has been changed somewhat to allow
1603 attaching more information. They are now lists instead of single cons
1604 cells. E.g. a line that previously had the syntactic analysis
1606 ((inclass . 11) (topmost-intro . 13))
1610 ((inclass 11) (topmost-intro 13))
1612 In some cases there are more than one position given for a syntactic
1615 This change might affect code that call c-guess-basic-syntax directly,
1616 and custom lineup functions if they use c-syntactic-context. However,
1617 the argument given to lineup functions is still a single cons cell
1618 with nil or an integer in the cdr.
1620 *** API changes for derived modes.
1621 There have been extensive changes "under the hood" which can affect
1622 derived mode writers. Some of these changes are likely to cause
1623 incompatibilities with existing derived modes, but on the other hand
1624 care has now been taken to make it possible to extend and modify CC
1625 Mode with less risk of such problems in the future.
1627 **** New language variable system.
1628 See the comment blurb near the top of cc-langs.el.
1630 **** New initialization functions.
1631 The initialization procedure has been split up into more functions to
1632 give better control: c-basic-common-init, c-font-lock-init, and
1633 c-init-language-vars.
1635 *** Changes in analysis of nested syntactic constructs.
1636 The syntactic analysis engine has better handling of cases where
1637 several syntactic constructs appear nested on the same line. They are
1638 now handled as if each construct started on a line of its own.
1640 This means that CC Mode now indents some cases differently, and
1641 although it's more consistent there might be cases where the old way
1642 gave results that's more to one's liking. So if you find a situation
1643 where you think that the indentation has become worse, please report
1644 it to bug-cc-mode@gnu.org.
1646 **** New syntactic symbol substatement-label.
1647 This symbol is used when a label is inserted between a statement and
1648 its substatement. E.g:
1654 *** Better handling of multiline macros.
1656 **** Syntactic indentation inside macros.
1657 The contents of multiline #define's are now analyzed and indented
1658 syntactically just like other code. This can be disabled by the new
1659 variable c-syntactic-indentation-in-macros. A new syntactic symbol
1660 cpp-define-intro has been added to control the initial indentation
1663 **** New lineup function c-lineup-cpp-define.
1664 Now used by default to line up macro continuation lines. The behavior
1665 of this function closely mimics the indentation one gets if the macro
1666 is indented while the line continuation backslashes are temporarily
1667 removed. If syntactic indentation in macros is turned off, it works
1668 much line c-lineup-dont-change, which was used earlier, but handles
1669 empty lines within the macro better.
1671 **** Automatically inserted newlines continues the macro if used within one.
1672 This applies to the newlines inserted by the auto-newline mode, and to
1673 c-context-line-break and c-context-open-line.
1675 **** Better alignment of line continuation backslashes.
1676 c-backslash-region tries to adapt to surrounding backslashes. New
1677 variable c-backslash-max-column which put a limit on how far out
1678 backslashes can be moved.
1680 **** Automatic alignment of line continuation backslashes.
1681 This is controlled by the new variable c-auto-align-backslashes. It
1682 affects c-context-line-break, c-context-open-line and newlines
1683 inserted in auto-newline mode.
1685 **** Line indentation works better inside macros.
1686 Regardless whether syntactic indentation and syntactic indentation
1687 inside macros are enabled or not, line indentation now ignores the
1688 line continuation backslashes. This is most noticeable when syntactic
1689 indentation is turned off and there are empty lines (save for the
1690 backslash) in the macro.
1692 *** indent-for-comment is more customizable.
1693 The behavior of M-; (indent-for-comment) is now configurable through
1694 the variable c-indent-comment-alist. The indentation behavior based
1695 on the preceding code on the line, e.g. to get two spaces after #else
1696 and #endif but indentation to comment-column in most other cases
1697 (something which was hardcoded earlier).
1699 *** New function c-context-open-line.
1700 It's the open-line equivalent of c-context-line-break.
1702 *** New lineup functions
1704 **** c-lineup-string-cont
1705 This lineup function lines up a continued string under the one it
1708 result = prefix + "A message "
1709 "string."; <- c-lineup-string-cont
1711 **** c-lineup-cascaded-calls
1712 Lines up series of calls separated by "->" or ".".
1714 **** c-lineup-knr-region-comment
1715 Gives (what most people think is) better indentation of comments in
1716 the "K&R region" between the function header and its body.
1718 **** c-lineup-gcc-asm-reg
1719 Provides better indentation inside asm blocks. Contributed by Kevin
1722 **** c-lineup-argcont
1723 Lines up continued function arguments after the preceding comma.
1724 Contributed by Kevin Ryde.
1726 *** Better caching of the syntactic context.
1727 CC Mode caches the positions of the opening parentheses (of any kind)
1728 of the lists surrounding the point. Those positions are used in many
1729 places as anchor points for various searches. The cache is now
1730 improved so that it can be reused to a large extent when the point is
1731 moved. The less it moves, the less needs to be recalculated.
1733 The effect is that CC Mode should be fast most of the time even when
1734 opening parens are hung (i.e. aren't in column zero). It's typically
1735 only the first time after the point is moved far down in a complex
1736 file that it'll take noticeable time to find out the syntactic
1739 *** Statements are recognized in a more robust way.
1740 Statements are recognized most of the time even when they occur in an
1741 "invalid" context, e.g. in a function argument. In practice that can
1742 happen when macros are involved.
1744 *** Improved the way c-indent-exp chooses the block to indent.
1745 It now indents the block for the closest sexp following the point
1746 whose closing paren ends on a different line. This means that the
1747 point doesn't have to be immediately before the block to indent.
1748 Also, only the block and the closing line is indented; the current
1749 line is left untouched.
1751 *** Added toggle for syntactic indentation.
1752 The function c-toggle-syntactic-indentation can be used to toggle
1753 syntactic indentation.
1755 ** The command line option --no-windows has been changed to
1756 --no-window-system. The old one still works, but is deprecated.
1759 ** The command `list-text-properties-at' has been deleted because
1760 C-u C-x = gives the same information and more.
1763 ** `buffer-menu' and `list-buffers' now list buffers whose names begin
1764 with a space, when those buffers are visiting files. Normally buffers
1765 whose names begin with space are omitted.
1768 ** You can now customize fill-nobreak-predicate to control where
1769 filling can break lines. We provide two sample predicates,
1770 fill-single-word-nobreak-p and fill-french-nobreak-p.
1773 ** New user option `add-log-always-start-new-record'.
1774 When this option is enabled, M-x add-change-log-entry always
1775 starts a new record regardless of when the last record is.
1778 ** SGML mode has indentation and supports XML syntax.
1779 The new variable `sgml-xml-mode' tells SGML mode to use XML syntax.
1780 When this option is enabled, SGML tags are inserted in XML style,
1781 i.e., there is always a closing tag.
1782 By default, its setting is inferred on a buffer-by-buffer basis
1783 from the file name or buffer contents.
1786 ** `xml-mode' is now an alias for `sgml-mode', which has XML support.
1789 ** New user option `isearch-resume-enabled'.
1790 This option can be disabled, to avoid the normal behavior of isearch
1791 which puts calls to `isearch-resume' in the command history.
1794 ** Lisp mode now uses font-lock-doc-face for the docstrings.
1797 ** Perl mode has a new variable `perl-indent-continued-arguments'.
1800 ** Fortran mode has a new variable `fortran-directive-re'.
1801 Adapt this to match the format of any compiler directives you use.
1802 Lines that match are never indented, and are given distinctive font-locking.
1805 ** F90 mode has new navigation commands `f90-end-of-block',
1806 `f90-beginning-of-block', `f90-next-block', `f90-previous-block'.
1808 ** F90 mode now has support for hs-minor-mode (hideshow).
1809 It cannot deal with every code format, but ought to handle a sizeable
1813 ** Prolog mode has a new variable `prolog-font-lock-keywords'
1814 to support use of font-lock.
1817 ** `special-display-buffer-names' and `special-display-regexps' now
1818 understand two new boolean pseudo-frame-parameters `same-frame' and
1822 ** M-x setenv now expands environment variables of the form `$foo' and
1823 `${foo}' in the specified new value of the environment variable. To
1824 include a `$' in the value, use `$$'.
1827 ** File-name completion can now ignore directories.
1828 If an element of the list in `completion-ignored-extensions' ends in a
1829 slash `/', it indicates a subdirectory that should be ignored when
1830 completing file names. Elements of `completion-ignored-extensions'
1831 which do not end in a slash are never considered when a completion
1832 candidate is a directory.
1835 ** The completion commands TAB, SPC and ? in the minibuffer apply only
1836 to the text before point. If there is text in the buffer after point,
1837 it remains unchanged.
1839 ** Enhanced visual feedback in *Completions* buffer.
1841 Completions lists use faces to highlight what all completions
1842 have in common and where they begin to differ.
1844 The common prefix shared by all possible completions uses the face
1845 `completions-common-part', while the first character that isn't the
1846 same uses the face `completions-first-difference'. By default,
1847 `completions-common-part' inherits from `default', and
1848 `completions-first-difference' inherits from `bold'. The idea of
1849 `completions-common-part' is that you can use it to make the common
1850 parts less visible than normal, so that the rest of the differing
1851 parts is, by contrast, slightly highlighted.
1854 ** New user option `inhibit-startup-buffer-menu'.
1855 When loading many files, for instance with `emacs *', Emacs normally
1856 displays a buffer menu. This option turns the buffer menu off.
1858 ** Compilation mode enhancements:
1860 *** New user option `compilation-environment'.
1861 This option allows you to specify environment variables for inferior
1862 compilation processes without affecting the environment that all
1863 subprocesses inherit.
1865 *** `next-error' now temporarily highlights the corresponding source line.
1867 ** Grep has been decoupled from compilation mode setup.
1869 *** There's a new separate package grep.el.
1871 *** Grep commands now have their own submenu and customization group.
1873 *** The new variables `grep-window-height', `grep-auto-highlight', and
1874 `grep-scroll-output' can be used to override the corresponding
1875 compilation mode settings for grep commands.
1877 *** Source line is temporarily highlighted when going to next match.
1879 *** New key bindings in grep output window:
1880 SPC and DEL scrolls window up and down. C-n and C-p moves to next and
1881 previous match in the grep window. RET jumps to the source line of
1882 the current match. `n' and `p' shows next and previous match in
1883 other window, but does not switch buffer. `{' and `}' jumps to the
1884 previous or next file in the grep output. TAB also jumps to the next
1888 ** Rmail now displays 5-digit message ids in its summary buffer.
1891 ** On MS Windows, the "system caret" now follows the cursor.
1892 This enables Emacs to work better with programs that need to track
1893 the cursor, for example screen magnifiers and text to speech programs.
1896 ** Tooltips now work on MS Windows.
1897 See the Emacs 21.1 NEWS entry for tooltips for details.
1900 ** Images are now supported on MS Windows.
1901 PBM and XBM images are supported out of the box. Other image formats
1902 depend on external libraries. All of these libraries have been ported
1903 to Windows, and can be found in both source and binary form at
1904 http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/. Note that libpng also depends on
1905 zlib, and tiff depends on the version of jpeg that it was compiled
1906 against. For additional information, see nt/INSTALL.
1909 ** Sound is now supported on MS Windows.
1910 WAV format is supported on all versions of Windows, other formats such
1911 as AU, AIFF and MP3 may be supported in the more recent versions of
1912 Windows, or when other software provides hooks into the system level
1913 sound support for those formats.
1916 ** Different shaped mouse pointers are supported on MS Windows.
1917 The mouse pointer changes shape depending on what is under the pointer.
1920 ** Pointing devices with more than 3 buttons are now supported on MS Windows.
1921 The new variable `w32-pass-extra-mouse-buttons-to-system' controls
1922 whether Emacs should handle the extra buttons itself (the default), or
1923 pass them to Windows to be handled with system-wide functions.
1926 ** Emacs takes note of colors defined in Control Panel on MS-Windows.
1927 The Control Panel defines some default colors for applications in much
1928 the same way as wildcard X Resources do on X. Emacs now adds these
1929 colors to the colormap prefixed by System (eg SystemMenu for the
1930 default Menu background, SystemMenuText for the foreground), and uses
1931 some of them to initialize some of the default faces.
1932 `list-colors-display' shows the list of System color names, in case
1933 you wish to use them in other faces.
1936 ** Under X11, it is possible to swap Alt and Meta (and Super and Hyper).
1937 The new variables `x-alt-keysym', `x-hyper-keysym', `x-meta-keysym',
1938 and `x-super-keysym' can be used to choose which keysyms Emacs should
1939 use for the modifiers. For example, the following two lines swap
1941 (setq x-alt-keysym 'meta)
1942 (setq x-meta-keysym 'alt)
1945 ** vc-annotate-mode enhancements
1947 In vc-annotate mode, you can now use the following key bindings for
1948 enhanced functionality to browse the annotations of past revisions, or
1949 to view diffs or log entries directly from vc-annotate-mode:
1951 P: annotates the previous revision
1952 N: annotates the next revision
1953 J: annotates the revision at line
1954 A: annotates the revision previous to line
1955 D: shows the diff of the revision at line with its previous revision
1956 L: shows the log of the revision at line
1957 W: annotates the workfile (most up to date) version
1960 ** In pcl-cvs mode, there is a new `d y' command to view the diffs
1961 between the local version of the file and yesterday's head revision
1965 ** In pcl-cvs mode, there is a new `d r' command to view the changes
1966 anyone has committed to the repository since you last executed
1967 "checkout", "update" or "commit". That means using cvs diff options
1971 * New modes and packages in Emacs 21.4
1973 ** The new package flymake.el does on-the-fly syntax checking of program
1974 source files. See the Flymake's Info manual for more details.
1976 ** The library tree-widget.el provides a new widget to display a set
1977 of hierarchical data as an outline. For example, the tree-widget is
1978 well suited to display a hierarchy of directories and files.
1980 ** The wdired.el package allows you to use normal editing commands on Dired
1981 buffers to change filenames, permissions, etc...
1983 ** The thumbs.el package allows you to preview image files as thumbnails
1984 and can be invoked from a Dired buffer.
1986 ** The new python.el package is used to edit Python and Jython programs.
1988 ** The URL package (which had been part of W3) is now part of Emacs.
1991 ** The new global minor mode `size-indication-mode' (off by default)
1992 shows the size of accessible part of the buffer on the mode line.
1994 ** GDB-Script-mode is used for files like .gdbinit.
1997 ** Ido mode is now part of the Emacs distribution.
1999 The ido (interactively do) package is an extension of the iswitchb
2000 package to do interactive opening of files and directories in addition
2001 to interactive buffer switching. Ido is a superset of iswitchb (with
2002 a few exceptions), so don't enable both packages.
2005 ** CUA mode is now part of the Emacs distribution.
2007 The new cua package provides CUA-like keybindings using C-x for
2008 cut (kill), C-c for copy, C-v for paste (yank), and C-z for undo.
2009 With cua, the region can be set and extended using shifted movement
2010 keys (like pc-selection-mode) and typed text replaces the active
2011 region (like delete-selection-mode). Do not enable these modes with
2012 cua-mode. Customize the variable `cua-mode' to enable cua.
2014 In addition, cua provides unified rectangle support with visible
2015 rectangle highlighting: Use S-return to start a rectangle, extend it
2016 using the movement commands (or mouse-3), and cut or copy it using C-x
2017 or C-c (using C-w and M-w also works).
2019 Use M-o and M-c to `open' or `close' the rectangle, use M-b or M-f, to
2020 fill it with blanks or another character, use M-u or M-l to upcase or
2021 downcase the rectangle, use M-i to increment the numbers in the
2022 rectangle, use M-n to fill the rectangle with a numeric sequence (such
2023 as 10 20 30...), use M-r to replace a regexp in the rectangle, and use
2024 M-' or M-/ to restrict command on the rectangle to a subset of the
2025 rows. See the commentary in cua-base.el for more rectangle commands.
2027 Cua also provides unified support for registers: Use a numeric
2028 prefix argument between 0 and 9, i.e. M-0 .. M-9, for C-x, C-c, and
2029 C-v to cut or copy into register 0-9, or paste from register 0-9.
2031 The last text deleted (not killed) is automatically stored in
2032 register 0. This includes text deleted by typing text.
2034 Finally, cua provides a global mark which is set using S-C-space.
2035 When the global mark is active, any text which is cut or copied is
2036 automatically inserted at the global mark position. See the
2037 commentary in cua-base.el for more global mark related commands.
2039 The features of cua also works with the standard emacs bindings for
2040 kill, copy, yank, and undo. If you want to use cua mode, but don't
2041 want the C-x, C-c, C-v, and C-z bindings, you may customize the
2042 `cua-enable-cua-keys' variable.
2044 Note: This version of cua mode is not backwards compatible with older
2045 versions of cua.el and cua-mode.el. To ensure proper operation, you
2046 must remove older versions of cua.el or cua-mode.el as well as the
2047 loading and customization of those packages from the .emacs file.
2049 ** The new keypad setup package provides several common bindings for
2050 the numeric keypad which is available on most keyboards. The numeric
2051 keypad typically has the digits 0 to 9, a decimal point, keys marked
2052 +, -, /, and *, an Enter key, and a NumLock toggle key. The keypad
2053 package only controls the use of the digit and decimal keys.
2055 By customizing the variables `keypad-setup', `keypad-shifted-setup',
2056 `keypad-numlock-setup', and `keypad-numlock-shifted-setup', or by
2057 using the function `keypad-setup', you can rebind all digit keys and
2058 the decimal key of the keypad in one step for each of the four
2059 possible combinations of the Shift key state (not pressed/pressed) and
2060 the NumLock toggle state (off/on).
2062 The choices for the keypad keys in each of the above states are:
2063 `Plain numeric keypad' where the keys generates plain digits,
2064 `Numeric keypad with decimal key' where the character produced by the
2065 decimal key can be customized individually (for internationalization),
2066 `Numeric Prefix Arg' where the keypad keys produce numeric prefix args
2067 for emacs editing commands, `Cursor keys' and `Shifted Cursor keys'
2068 where the keys work like (shifted) arrow keys, home/end, etc., and
2069 `Unspecified/User-defined' where the keypad keys (kp-0, kp-1, etc.)
2070 are left unspecified and can be bound individually through the global
2074 ** The new kmacro package provides a simpler user interface to
2075 emacs' keyboard macro facilities.
2077 Basically, it uses two function keys (default F3 and F4) like this:
2078 F3 starts a macro, F4 ends the macro, and pressing F4 again executes
2079 the last macro. While defining the macro, F3 inserts a counter value
2080 which automatically increments every time the macro is executed.
2082 There is now a keyboard macro ring which stores the most recently
2085 The C-x C-k sequence is now a prefix for the kmacro keymap which
2086 defines bindings for moving through the keyboard macro ring,
2087 C-x C-k C-p and C-x C-k C-n, editing the last macro C-x C-k C-e,
2088 manipulating the macro counter and format via C-x C-k C-c,
2089 C-x C-k C-a, and C-x C-k C-f. See the commentary in kmacro.el
2092 The normal macro bindings C-x (, C-x ), and C-x e now interfaces to
2093 the keyboard macro ring.
2095 The C-x e command now automatically terminates the current macro
2096 before calling it, if used while defining a macro.
2098 In addition, when ending or calling a macro with C-x e, the macro can
2099 be repeated immediately by typing just the `e'. You can customize
2100 this behaviour via the variable kmacro-call-repeat-key and
2101 kmacro-call-repeat-with-arg.
2103 Keyboard macros can now be debugged and edited interactively.
2104 C-x C-k SPC steps through the last keyboard macro one key sequence
2105 at a time, prompting for the actions to take.
2108 ** The old Octave mode bindings C-c f and C-c i have been changed
2109 to C-c C-f and C-c C-i. The C-c C-i subcommands now have duplicate
2110 bindings on control characters--thus, C-c C-i C-b is the same as
2111 C-c C-i b, and so on.
2113 ** The printing package is now part of the Emacs distribution.
2115 If you enable the printing package by including (require 'printing) in
2116 the .emacs file, the normal Print item on the File menu is replaced
2117 with a Print sub-menu which allows you to preview output through
2118 ghostview, use ghostscript to print (if you don't have a PostScript
2119 printer) or send directly to printer a PostScript code generated by
2120 `ps-print' package. Use M-x pr-help for more information.
2123 ** Calc is now part of the Emacs distribution.
2125 Calc is an advanced desk calculator and mathematical tool written in
2126 Emacs Lisp. Its documentation is in a separate manual; within Emacs,
2127 type "C-h i m calc RET" to read that manual. A reference card is
2128 available in `etc/calccard.tex' and `etc/calccard.ps'.
2131 ** Tramp is now part of the distribution.
2133 This package is similar to Ange-FTP: it allows you to edit remote
2134 files. But whereas Ange-FTP uses FTP to access the remote host,
2135 Tramp uses a shell connection. The shell connection is always used
2136 for filename completion and directory listings and suchlike, but for
2137 the actual file transfer, you can choose between the so-called
2138 `inline' methods (which transfer the files through the shell
2139 connection using base64 or uu encoding) and the `out-of-band' methods
2140 (which invoke an external copying program such as `rcp' or `scp' or
2141 `rsync' to do the copying).
2143 Shell connections can be acquired via `rsh', `ssh', `telnet' and also
2147 ** The new global minor mode `file-name-shadow-mode' modifies the way
2148 filenames being entered by the user in the minibuffer are displayed, so
2149 that it's clear when part of the entered filename will be ignored due to
2150 emacs' filename parsing rules. The ignored portion can be made dim,
2151 invisible, or otherwise less visually noticable. The display method may
2152 be displayed by customizing the variable `file-name-shadow-properties'.
2155 ** The ruler-mode.el library provides a minor mode for displaying an
2156 "active" ruler in the header line. You can use the mouse to visually
2157 change the `fill-column', `window-margins' and `tab-stop-list'
2161 ** The minor mode Reveal mode makes text visible on the fly as you
2162 move your cursor into hidden regions of the buffer.
2163 It should work with any package that uses overlays to hide parts
2164 of a buffer, such as outline-minor-mode, hs-minor-mode, hide-ifdef-mode, ...
2166 There is also Global Reveal mode which affects all buffers.
2169 ** The new package ibuffer provides a powerful, completely
2170 customizable replacement for buff-menu.el.
2172 ** The new package table.el implements editable, WYSIWYG, embedded
2173 `text tables' in Emacs buffers. It simulates the effect of putting
2174 these tables in a special major mode. The package emulates WYSIWYG
2175 table editing available in modern word processors. The package also
2176 can generate a table source in typesetting and markup languages such
2177 as latex and html from the visually laid out text table.
2180 ** SES mode (ses-mode) is a new major mode for creating and editing
2181 spreadsheet files. Besides the usual Emacs features (intuitive command
2182 letters, undo, cell formulas in Lisp, plaintext files, etc.) it also offers
2183 viral immunity and import/export of tab-separated values.
2186 ** Support for `magic cookie' standout modes has been removed.
2187 Emacs will still work on terminals that require magic cookies in order
2188 to use standout mode, however they will not be able to display
2189 mode-lines in inverse-video.
2192 ** cplus-md.el has been removed to avoid problems with Custom.
2194 ** New package benchmark.el contains simple support for convenient
2195 timing measurements of code (including the garbage collection component).
2197 ** The new Lisp library fringe.el controls the appearance of fringes.
2199 ** `cfengine-mode' is a major mode for editing GNU Cfengine
2200 configuration files.
2202 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 21.4
2205 ** Both the variable and the function `disabled-command-hook' have
2206 been renamed to `disabled-command-function'. The variable
2207 `disabled-command-hook' has been kept as an obsolete alias.
2209 ** Function `compute-motion' now calculates the usable window
2210 width if the WIDTH argument is nil. If the TOPOS argument is nil,
2211 the usable window height and width is used.
2214 ** `visited-file-modtime' and `calendar-time-from-absolute' now return
2215 a list of two integers, instead of a cons.
2217 ** If a command sets transient-mark-mode to `only', that
2218 enables Transient Mark mode for the following command only.
2219 During that following command, the value of transient-mark-mode
2220 is `identity'. If it is still `identity' at the end of the command,
2224 ** Cleaner way to enter key sequences.
2226 You can enter a constant key sequence in a more natural format, the
2227 same one used for saving keyboard macros, using the macro `kbd'. For
2230 (kbd "C-x C-f") => "\^x\^f"
2232 ** The sentinel is now called when a network process is deleted with
2233 delete-process. The status message passed to the sentinel for a
2234 deleted network process is "deleted". The message passed to the
2235 sentinel when the connection is closed by the remote peer has been
2236 changed to "connection broken by remote peer".
2238 ** If the buffer's undo list for the current command gets longer than
2239 undo-outer-limit, garbage collection empties it. This is to prevent
2240 it from using up the available memory and choking Emacs.
2243 ** New function quail-find-key returns a list of keys to type in the
2244 current input method to input a character.
2247 ** New functions posn-at-point and posn-at-x-y return
2248 click-event-style position information for a given visible buffer
2249 position or for a given window pixel coordinate.
2251 ** skip-chars-forward and skip-chars-backward now handle
2252 character classes such as [:alpha:], along with individual characters
2255 ** Function pos-visible-in-window-p now returns the pixel coordinates
2256 and partial visiblity state of the corresponding row, if the PARTIALLY
2259 ** The function `eql' is now available without requiring the CL package.
2262 ** The new primitive `set-file-times' sets a file's access and
2263 modification times. Magic file name handlers can handle this
2266 ** file-remote-p now returns an identifier for the remote system,
2267 if the file is indeed remote. (Before, the return value was t in
2270 ** The display space :width and :align-to text properties are now
2271 supported on text terminals.
2273 ** Support for displaying image slices
2275 *** New display property (slice X Y WIDTH HEIGHT) may be used with
2276 an image property to display only a specific slice of the image.
2278 *** Function insert-image has new optional fourth arg to
2279 specify image slice (X Y WIDTH HEIGHT).
2281 *** New function insert-sliced-image inserts a given image as a
2282 specified number of evenly sized slices (rows x columns).
2284 ** New line-height and line-spacing properties for newline characters
2286 A newline may now have line-height and line-spacing text or overlay
2287 properties that control the height of the corresponding display row.
2289 If the line-height property value is 0, the newline does not
2290 contribute to the height of the display row; instead the height of the
2291 newline glyph is reduced. Also, a line-spacing property on this
2292 newline is ignored. This can be used to tile small images or image
2293 slices without adding blank areas between the images.
2295 If the line-height property value is a positive integer, the value
2296 specifies the minimum line height in pixels. If necessary, the line
2297 height it increased by increasing the line's ascent.
2299 If the line-height property value is a float, the minimum line height
2300 is calculated by multiplying the default frame line height by the
2303 If the line-height property value is a cons (RATIO . FACE), the
2304 minimum line height is calculated as RATIO * height of named FACE.
2305 RATIO is int or float. If FACE is t, it specifies the current face.
2307 If the line-spacing property value is an positive integer, the value
2308 is used as additional pixels to insert after the display line; this
2309 overrides the default frame line-spacing and any buffer local value of
2310 the line-spacing variable.
2312 If the line-spacing property may be a float or cons, the line spacing
2313 is calculated as specified above for the line-height property.
2315 If the line-spacing value is a cons (total . SPACING) where SPACING is
2316 any of the forms described above, the value of SPACING is used as the
2317 total height of the line, i.e. a varying number of pixels are inserted
2318 after each line to make each line exactly that many pixels high.
2321 ** The buffer local line-spacing variable may now have a float value,
2322 which is used as a height relative to the default frame line height.
2324 ** Enhancements to stretch display properties
2326 The display property stretch specification form `(space PROPS)', where
2327 PROPS is a property list now allows pixel based width and height
2328 specifications, as well as enhanced horizontal text alignment.
2330 The value of these properties can now be a (primitive) expression
2331 which is evaluated during redisplay. The following expressions
2334 EXPR ::= NUM | (NUM) | UNIT | ELEM | POS | IMAGE | FORM
2335 NUM ::= INTEGER | FLOAT | SYMBOL
2336 UNIT ::= in | mm | cm | width | height
2337 ELEM ::= left-fringe | right-fringe | left-margin | right-margin
2339 POS ::= left | center | right
2340 FORM ::= (NUM . EXPR) | (OP EXPR ...)
2343 The form `NUM' specifies a fractional width or height of the default
2344 frame font size. The form `(NUM)' specifies an absolute number of
2345 pixels. If a symbol is specified, its buffer-local variable binding
2346 is used. The `in', `mm', and `cm' units specifies the number of
2347 pixels per inch, milli-meter, and centi-meter, resp. The `width' and
2348 `height' units correspond to the width and height of the current face
2349 font. An image specification corresponds to the width or height of
2352 The `left-fringe', `right-fringe', `left-margin', `right-margin',
2353 `scroll-bar', and `text' elements specify to the width of the
2354 corresponding area of the window.
2356 The `left', `center', and `right' positions can be used with :align-to
2357 to specify a position relative to the left edge, center, or right edge
2358 of the text area. One of the above window elements (except `text')
2359 can also be used with :align-to to specify that the position is
2360 relative to the left edge of the given area. Once the base offset for
2361 a relative position has been set (by the first occurrence of one of
2362 these symbols), further occurences of these symbols are interpreted as
2363 the width of the area.
2365 For example, to align to the center of the left-margin, use
2366 :align-to (+ left-margin (0.5 . left-margin))
2368 If no specific base offset is set for alignment, it is always relative
2369 to the left edge of the text area. For example, :align-to 0 in a
2370 header-line aligns with the first text column in the text area.
2372 The value of the form `(NUM . EXPR)' is the value of NUM multiplied by
2373 the value of the expression EXPR. For example, (2 . in) specifies a
2374 width of 2 inches, while (0.5 . IMAGE) specifies half the width (or
2375 height) of the specified image.
2377 The form `(+ EXPR ...)' adds up the value of the expressions.
2378 The form `(- EXPR ...)' negates or subtracts the value of the expressions.
2380 ** New macro with-local-quit temporarily sets inhibit-quit to nil for use
2381 around potentially blocking or long-running code in timers
2382 and post-command-hooks.
2385 ** New face attribute `min-colors' can be used to tailor the face color
2386 to the number of colors supported by a display, and define the
2387 foreground and background colors accordingly so that they look best on
2388 a terminal that supports at least this many colors. This is now the
2389 preferred method for defining default faces in a way that makes a good
2390 use of the capabilities of the display.
2392 ** New function 'define-fringe-bitmap' can now be used to change the
2393 built-in fringe bitmaps, as well as create new fringe bitmaps.
2394 The return value is a number identifying the new fringe bitmap.
2396 To change a built-in bitmap, do (require 'fringe) and identify the
2397 bitmap to change with the value of the corresponding symbol, like
2398 `left-truncation-fringe-bitmap' or `continued-line-fringe-bitmap'.
2400 ** New function 'destroy-fringe-bitmap' may be used to destroy a
2401 previously created bitmap, or restore a built-in bitmap.
2403 ** New function 'set-fringe-bitmap-face' can now be used to set a
2404 specific face to be used for a specific fringe bitmap. Normally,
2405 this should be a face derived from the `fringe' face, specifying
2406 the foreground color as the desired color of the bitmap.
2408 ** There are new display properties, left-fringe and right-fringe,
2409 that can be used to show a specific bitmap in the left or right fringe
2410 bitmap of the display line.
2412 Format is 'display '(left-fringe BITMAP [FACE]), where BITMAP is a
2413 number identifying a fringe bitmap, either built-in or as returned by
2414 `define-fringe-bitmap', and FACE is an optional face name to be used
2415 for displaying the bitmap.
2417 ** New function `fringe-bitmaps-at-pos' returns a cons (LEFT . RIGHT)
2418 identifying the current fringe bitmaps in the display line at a given
2419 buffer position. A nil value means no bitmap.
2421 ** Multiple overlay arrows can now be defined and managed via the new
2422 variable `overlay-arrow-variable-list'. It contains a list of
2423 varibles which contain overlay arrow position markers, including
2424 the original `overlay-arrow-position' variable.
2426 Each variable on this list may have individual `overlay-arrow-string'
2427 and `overlay-arrow-bitmap' properties that specify an overlay arrow
2428 string (for non-window terminals) or fringe bitmap (for window
2429 systems) to display at the corresponding overlay arrow position.
2430 If either property is not set, the default `overlay-arrow-string' or
2431 'overlay-arrow-fringe-bitmap' will be used.
2434 ** New function `line-number-at-pos' returns line number of current
2435 line in current buffer, or if optional buffer position is given, line
2436 number of corresponding line in current buffer.
2438 ** The default value of `sentence-end' is now defined using the new
2439 variable `sentence-end-without-space' which contains such characters
2440 that end a sentence without following spaces.
2442 ** The function `sentence-end' should be used to obtain the value of
2443 the variable `sentence-end'. If the variable `sentence-end' is nil,
2444 then this function returns the regexp constructed from the variables
2445 `sentence-end-without-period', `sentence-end-double-space' and
2446 `sentence-end-without-space'.
2449 ** The flags, width, and precision options for %-specifications in function
2450 `format' are now documented. Some flags that were accepted but not
2451 implemented (such as "*") are no longer accepted.
2453 ** New function `macroexpand-all' expands all macros in a form.
2454 It is similar to the Common-Lisp function of the same name.
2455 One difference is that it guarantees to return the original argument
2456 if no expansion is done, which may be tested using `eq'.
2459 ** New function `delete-dups' destructively removes `equal' duplicates
2460 from a list. Of several `equal' occurrences of an element in the list,
2461 the first one is kept.
2464 ** `declare' is now a macro. This change was made mostly for
2465 documentation purposes and should have no real effect on Lisp code.
2467 ** The new hook `before-save-hook' is invoked by `basic-save-buffer'
2468 before saving buffers. This allows packages to perform various final
2469 tasks, for example; it can be used by the copyright package to make
2470 sure saved files have the current year in any copyright headers.
2473 ** The function `insert-for-yank' now supports strings where the
2474 `yank-handler' property does not span the first character of the
2475 string. The old behavior is available if you call
2476 `insert-for-yank-1' instead.
2478 ** New function `get-char-property-and-overlay' accepts the same
2479 arguments as `get-char-property' and returns a cons whose car is the
2480 return value of `get-char-property' called with those arguments and
2481 whose cdr is the overlay in which the property was found, or nil if
2482 it was found as a text property or not found at all.
2484 ** The mouse pointer shape in void text areas (i.e. after the end of a
2485 line or below the last line in the buffer) of the text window is now
2486 controlled by the new variable `void-text-area-pointer'. The default
2487 is to use the `arrow' (non-text) pointer. Other choices are `text'
2488 (or nil), `hand', `vdrag', `hdrag', `modeline', and `hourglass'.
2490 ** The mouse pointer shape over an image can now be controlled by the
2491 :pointer image property.
2493 ** The mouse pointer shape over ordinary text or images may now be
2494 controlled/overriden via the `pointer' text property.
2496 ** Images may now have an associated image map via the :map property.
2498 An image map is an alist where each element has the format (AREA ID PLIST).
2499 An AREA is specified as either a rectangle, a circle, or a polygon:
2500 A rectangle is a cons (rect . ((x0 . y0) . (x1 . y1))) specifying the
2501 pixel coordinates of the upper left and bottom right corners.
2502 A circle is a cons (circle . ((x0 . y0) . r)) specifying the center
2503 and the radius of the circle; r may be a float or integer.
2504 A polygon is a cons (poly . [x0 y0 x1 y1 ...]) where each pair in the
2505 vector describes one corner in the polygon.
2507 When the mouse pointer is above a hot-spot area of an image, the
2508 PLIST of that hot-spot is consulted; if it contains a `help-echo'
2509 property it defines a tool-tip for the hot-spot, and if it contains
2510 a `pointer' property, it defines the shape of the mouse cursor when
2511 it is over the hot-spot. See the variable 'void-area-text-pointer'
2512 for possible pointer shapes.
2514 When you click the mouse when the mouse pointer is over a hot-spot,
2515 an event is composed by combining the ID of the hot-spot with the
2516 mouse event, e.g. [area4 mouse-1] if the hot-spot's ID is `area4'.
2518 ** Mouse event enhancements:
2520 *** Mouse clicks on fringes now generates left-fringe or right-fringes
2521 events, rather than a text area click event.
2523 *** Mouse clicks in the left and right marginal areas now includes a
2524 sensible buffer position corresponding to the first character in the
2525 corresponding text row.
2527 *** Function `mouse-set-point' now works for events outside text area.
2530 *** Mouse events now includes buffer position for all event types.
2533 *** `posn-point' now returns buffer position for non-text area events.
2536 *** New function `posn-area' returns window area clicked on (nil means
2540 *** Mouse events include actual glyph column and row for all event types.
2543 *** New function `posn-actual-col-row' returns actual glyph coordinates.
2546 *** Mouse events may now include image object in addition to string object.
2549 *** Mouse events include relative x and y pixel coordinates relative to
2550 the top left corner of the object (image or character) clicked on.
2553 *** Mouse events include the pixel width and height of the object
2554 (image or character) clicked on.
2557 *** New functions 'posn-object', 'posn-object-x-y', and
2558 'posn-object-width-height' return the image or string object of a mouse
2559 click, the x and y pixel coordinates relative to the top left corner
2560 of that object, and the total width and height of that object.
2562 ** New function `force-window-update' can initiate a full redisplay of
2563 one or all windows. Normally, this is not needed as changes in window
2564 contents are detected automatically. However, certain implicit
2565 changes to mode lines, header lines, or display properties may require
2566 forcing an explicit window update.
2568 ** New function `redirect-debugging-output' can be used to redirect
2569 debugging output on the stderr file handle to a file.
2572 ** `split-string' now includes null substrings in the returned list if
2573 the optional argument SEPARATORS is non-nil and there are matches for
2574 SEPARATORS at the beginning or end of the string. If SEPARATORS is
2575 nil, or if the new optional third argument OMIT-NULLS is non-nil, all
2576 empty matches are omitted from the returned list.
2579 ** `makehash' is now obsolete. Use `make-hash-table' instead.
2582 ** If optional third argument APPEND to `add-to-list' is non-nil, a
2583 new element gets added at the end of the list instead of at the
2584 beginning. This change actually occurred in Emacs-21.1, but was not
2587 ** Major modes can define `eldoc-print-current-symbol-info-function'
2588 locally to provide Eldoc functionality by some method appropriate to
2592 ** New coding system property `mime-text-unsuitable' indicates that
2593 the coding system's `mime-charset' is not suitable for MIME text
2597 ** The argument to forward-word, backward-word, forward-to-indentation
2598 and backward-to-indentation is now optional, and defaults to 1.
2601 ** (char-displayable-p CHAR) returns non-nil if Emacs ought to be able
2602 to display CHAR. More precisely, if the selected frame's fontset has
2603 a font to display the character set that CHAR belongs to.
2605 Fontsets can specify a font on a per-character basis; when the fontset
2606 does that, this value may not be accurate.
2609 ** The new function `window-inside-edges' returns the edges of the
2610 actual text portion of the window, not including the scroll bar or
2611 divider line, the fringes, the display margins, the header line and
2615 ** The new functions `window-pixel-edges' and `window-inside-pixel-edges'
2616 return window edges in units of pixels, rather than columns and lines.
2619 ** The kill-buffer-hook is now permanent-local.
2622 ** `select-window' takes an optional second argument `norecord', like
2626 ** The new macro `with-selected-window' temporarily switches the
2627 selected window without impacting the order of buffer-list.
2630 ** The `keymap' property now also works at the ends of overlays and
2631 text-properties, according to their stickiness. This also means that it
2632 works with empty overlays. The same hold for the `local-map' property.
2635 ** (map-keymap FUNCTION KEYMAP) applies the function to each binding
2639 ** VC changes for backends:
2640 *** (vc-switches BACKEND OPERATION) is a new function for use by backends.
2641 *** The new `find-version' backend function replaces the `destfile'
2642 parameter of the `checkout' backend function.
2643 Old code still works thanks to a default `find-version' behavior that
2644 uses the old `destfile' parameter.
2647 ** The new macro dynamic-completion-table supports using functions
2648 as a dynamic completion table.
2650 (dynamic-completion-table FUN)
2652 FUN is called with one argument, the string for which completion is required,
2653 and it should return an alist containing all the intended possible
2654 completions. This alist may be a full list of possible completions so that FUN
2655 can ignore the value of its argument. If completion is performed in the
2656 minibuffer, FUN will be called in the buffer from which the minibuffer was
2657 entered. dynamic-completion-table then computes the completion.
2660 ** The new macro lazy-completion-table initializes a variable
2661 as a lazy completion table.
2663 (lazy-completion-table VAR FUN &rest ARGS)
2665 If the completion table VAR is used for the first time (e.g., by passing VAR
2666 as an argument to `try-completion'), the function FUN is called with arguments
2667 ARGS. FUN must return the completion table that will be stored in VAR. If
2668 completion is requested in the minibuffer, FUN will be called in the buffer
2669 from which the minibuffer was entered. The return value of
2670 `lazy-completion-table' must be used to initialize the value of VAR.
2673 ** `minor-mode-list' now holds a list of minor mode commands.
2676 ** The new function `modify-all-frames-parameters' modifies parameters
2677 for all (existing and future) frames.
2680 ** `sit-for' can now be called with args (SECONDS &optional NODISP).
2683 ** New standard font-lock face `font-lock-preprocessor-face'.
2686 ** The macro `with-syntax-table' does not copy the table any more.
2689 ** The variable `face-font-rescale-alist' specifies how much larger
2690 (or smaller) font we should use. For instance, if the value is
2691 '((SOME-FONTNAME-PATTERN . 1.3)) and a face requests a font of 10
2692 point, we actually use a font of 13 point if the font matches
2693 SOME-FONTNAME-PATTERN.
2696 ** The function `number-sequence' returns a list of equally-separated
2697 numbers. For instance, (number-sequence 4 9) returns (4 5 6 7 8 9).
2698 By default, the separation is 1, but you can specify a different separation
2699 as the third argument. (number-sequence 1.5 6 2) returns (1.5 3.5 5.5).
2702 ** `file-chase-links' now takes an optional second argument LIMIT which
2703 specifies the maximum number of links to chase through. If after that
2704 many iterations the file name obtained is still a symbolic link,
2705 `file-chase-links' returns it anyway.
2708 ** `set-fontset-font', `fontset-info', `fontset-font' now operate on
2709 the default fontset if the argument NAME is nil..
2712 ** The escape sequence \s is now interpreted as a SPACE character,
2713 unless it is followed by a `-' in a character constant (e.g. ?\s-A),
2714 in which case it is still interpreted as the super modifier.
2715 In strings, \s is always interpreted as a space.
2718 ** New function `set-process-filter-multibyte' sets the multibyteness
2719 of a string given to a process's filter.
2722 ** New function `process-filter-multibyte-p' returns t if
2723 a string given to a process's filter is multibyte.
2726 ** A filter function of a process is called with a multibyte string if
2727 the filter's multibyteness is t. That multibyteness is decided by the
2728 value of `default-enable-multibyte-characters' when the process is
2729 created and can be changed later by `set-process-filter-multibyte'.
2732 ** If a process's coding system is raw-text or no-conversion and its
2733 buffer is multibyte, the output of the process is at first converted
2734 to multibyte by `string-to-multibyte' then inserted in the buffer.
2735 Previously, it was converted to multibyte by `string-as-multibyte',
2736 which was not compatible with the behaviour of file reading.
2739 ** New function `string-to-multibyte' converts a unibyte string to a
2740 multibyte string with the same individual character codes.
2743 ** New variables `gc-elapsed' and `gcs-done' provide extra information
2744 on garbage collection.
2747 ** New function `decode-coding-inserted-region' decodes a region as if
2748 it is read from a file without decoding.
2751 ** New function `locale-info' accesses locale information.
2754 ** `save-selected-window' now saves and restores the selected window
2755 of every frame. This way, it restores everything that can be changed
2756 by calling `select-window'.
2759 ** `easy-menu-define' now allows you to use nil for the symbol name
2760 if you don't need to give the menu a name. If you install the menu
2761 into other keymaps right away (MAPS is non-nil), it usually doesn't
2762 need to have a name.
2764 ** Byte compiler changes:
2767 *** `(featurep 'xemacs)' is treated by the compiler as nil. This
2768 helps to avoid noisy compiler warnings in code meant to run under both
2769 Emacs and XEmacs and may sometimes make the result significantly more
2770 efficient. Since byte code from recent versions of XEmacs won't
2771 generally run in Emacs and vice versa, this optimization doesn't lose
2775 *** You can avoid warnings for possibly-undefined symbols with a
2776 simple convention that the compiler understands. (This is mostly
2777 useful in code meant to be portable to different Emacs versions.)
2778 Write forms like the following, or code that macroexpands into such
2781 (if (fboundp 'foo) <then> <else>)
2782 (if (boundp 'foo) <then> <else)
2784 In the first case, using `foo' as a function inside the <then> form
2785 won't produce a warning if it's not defined as a function, and in the
2786 second case, using `foo' as a variable won't produce a warning if it's
2787 unbound. The test must be in exactly one of the above forms (after
2788 macro expansion), but such tests may be nested. Note that `when' and
2789 `unless' expand to `if', but `cond' doesn't.
2792 *** The new macro `with-no-warnings' suppresses all compiler warnings
2793 inside its body. In terms of execution, it is equivalent to `progn'.
2796 ** The new translation table `translation-table-for-input'
2797 is used for customizing self-insertion. The character to
2798 be inserted is translated through it.
2801 ** `load-history' can now have elements of the form (t . FUNNAME),
2802 which means FUNNAME was previously defined as an autoload (before the
2803 current file redefined it).
2806 ** New Lisp library testcover.el works with edebug to help you determine
2807 whether you've tested all your Lisp code. Function testcover-start
2808 instruments all functions in a given file. Then test your code. Function
2809 testcover-mark-all adds overlay "splotches" to the Lisp file's buffer to
2810 show where coverage is lacking. Command testcover-next-mark (bind it to
2811 a key!) will move point forward to the next spot that has a splotch.
2813 *** Normally, a red splotch indicates the form was never completely evaluated;
2814 a brown splotch means it always evaluated to the same value. The red
2815 splotches are skipped for forms that can't possibly complete their evaluation,
2816 such as `error'. The brown splotches are skipped for forms that are expected
2817 to always evaluate to the same value, such as (setq x 14).
2819 *** For difficult cases, you can add do-nothing macros to your code to help
2820 out the test coverage tool. The macro `noreturn' suppresses a red splotch.
2821 It is an error if the argument to `noreturn' does return. The macro 1value
2822 suppresses a brown splotch for its argument. This macro is a no-op except
2823 during test-coverage -- then it signals an error if the argument actually
2824 returns differing values.
2827 ** New function unsafep returns nil if the given Lisp form can't possibly
2828 do anything dangerous; otherwise it returns a reason why the form might be
2829 unsafe (calls dangerous function, alters global variable, etc).
2832 ** The new variable `print-continuous-numbering', when non-nil, says
2833 that successive calls to print functions should use the same
2834 numberings for circular structure references. This is only relevant
2835 when `print-circle' is non-nil.
2837 When you bind `print-continuous-numbering' to t, you should
2838 also bind `print-number-table' to nil.
2841 ** When using non-toolkit scroll bars with the default width,
2842 the scroll-bar-width frame parameter value is nil.
2845 ** The new function copy-abbrev-table returns a new abbrev table that
2846 is a copy of a given abbrev table.
2849 ** The option --script FILE runs Emacs in batch mode and loads FILE.
2850 It is useful for writing Emacs Lisp shell script files, because they
2851 can start with this line:
2853 #!/usr/bin/emacs --script
2856 ** A function's docstring can now hold the function's usage info on
2857 its last line. It should match the regexp "\n\n(fn.*)\\'".
2860 ** New CCL functions `lookup-character' and `lookup-integer' access
2861 hash tables defined by the Lisp function `define-translation-hash-table'.
2864 ** The new function `minibufferp' returns non-nil if its optional buffer
2865 argument is a minibuffer. If the argument is omitted it defaults to
2869 ** There is a new Warnings facility; see the functions `warn'
2870 and `display-warning'.
2873 ** The functions all-completions and try-completion now accept lists
2874 of strings as well as hash-tables additionally to alists, obarrays
2875 and functions. Furthermore, the function `test-completion' is now
2879 ** When pure storage overflows while dumping, Emacs now prints how
2880 much pure storage it will approximately need.
2883 ** The new variable `auto-coding-functions' lets you specify functions
2884 to examine a file being visited and deduce the proper coding system
2885 for it. (If the coding system is detected incorrectly for a specific
2886 file, you can put a `coding:' tags to override it.)
2889 ** The new function `merge-coding-systems' fills in unspecified aspects
2890 of one coding system from another coding system.
2893 ** The variable `safe-local-eval-forms' specifies a list of forms that
2894 are ok to evaluate when they appear in an `eval' local variables
2895 specification. Normally Emacs asks for confirmation before evaluating
2896 such a form, but if the form appears in this list, no confirmation is
2900 ** If a function has a non-nil `safe-local-eval-function' property,
2901 that means it is ok to evaluate some calls to that function when it
2902 appears in an `eval' local variables specification. If the property
2903 is t, then any form calling that function with constant arguments is
2904 ok. If the property is a function or list of functions, they are called
2905 with the form as argument, and if any returns t, the form is ok to call.
2907 If the form is not "ok to call", that means Emacs asks for
2908 confirmation as before.
2911 ** Controlling the default left and right fringe widths.
2913 The default left and right fringe widths for all windows of a frame
2914 can now be controlled by setting the `left-fringe' and `right-fringe'
2915 frame parameters to an integer value specifying the width in pixels.
2916 Setting the width to 0 effectively removes the corresponding fringe.
2918 The actual default fringe widths for the frame may deviate from the
2919 specified widths, since the combined fringe widths must match an
2920 integral number of columns. The extra width is distributed evenly
2921 between the left and right fringe. For force a specific fringe width,
2922 specify the width as a negative integer (if both widths are negative,
2923 only the left fringe gets the specified width).
2925 Setting the width to nil (the default), restores the default fringe
2926 width which is the minimum number of pixels necessary to display any
2927 of the currently defined fringe bitmaps. The width of the built-in
2928 fringe bitmaps is 8 pixels.
2931 ** Per-window fringes settings
2933 Windows can now have their own individual fringe widths and position
2936 To control the fringe widths of a window, either set the buffer-local
2937 variables `left-fringe-width', `right-fringe-width', or call
2938 `set-window-fringes'.
2940 To control the fringe position in a window, that is, whether fringes
2941 are positioned between the display margins and the window's text area,
2942 or at the edges of the window, either set the buffer-local variable
2943 `fringes-outside-margins' or call `set-window-fringes'.
2945 The function `window-fringes' can be used to obtain the current
2946 settings. To make `left-fringe-width', `right-fringe-width', and
2947 `fringes-outside-margins' take effect, you must set them before
2948 displaying the buffer in a window, or use `set-window-buffer' to force
2949 an update of the display margins.
2952 ** Per-window vertical scroll-bar settings
2954 Windows can now have their own individual scroll-bar settings
2955 controlling the width and position of scroll-bars.
2957 To control the scroll-bar of a window, either set the buffer-local
2958 variables `scroll-bar-mode' and `scroll-bar-width', or call
2959 `set-window-scroll-bars'. The function `window-scroll-bars' can be
2960 used to obtain the current settings. To make `scroll-bar-mode' and
2961 `scroll-bar-width' take effect, you must set them before displaying
2962 the buffer in a window, or use `set-window-buffer' to force an update
2963 of the display margins.
2966 ** The function `set-window-buffer' now has an optional third argument
2967 KEEP-MARGINS which will preserve the window's current margin, fringe,
2968 and scroll-bar settings if non-nil.
2971 ** Renamed file hooks to follow the convention:
2972 find-file-hooks to find-file-hook,
2973 find-file-not-found-hooks to find-file-not-found-functions,
2974 write-file-hooks to write-file-functions,
2975 write-contents-hooks to write-contents-functions.
2976 Marked local-write-file-hooks as obsolete (use the LOCAL arg of `add-hook').
2979 ** The new variable `delete-frame-functions' replaces `delete-frame-hook'.
2980 It was renamed to follow the naming conventions for abnormal hooks. The old
2981 name remains available as an alias, but has been marked obsolete.
2984 ** The `read-file-name' function now takes an additional argument which
2985 specifies a predicate which the file name read must satify. The
2986 new variable `read-file-name-predicate' contains the predicate argument
2987 while reading the file name from the minibuffer; the predicate in this
2988 variable is used by read-file-name-internal to filter the completion list.
2991 ** The new variable `read-file-name-function' can be used by lisp code
2992 to override the internal read-file-name function.
2995 ** The new variable `read-file-name-completion-ignore-case' specifies
2996 whether completion ignores case when reading a file name with the
2997 `read-file-name' function.
3000 ** The new function `read-directory-name' can be used instead of
3001 `read-file-name' to read a directory name; when used, completion
3002 will only show directories.
3005 ** The new function `file-remote-p' tests a file name and returns
3006 non-nil if it specifies a remote file (one that Emacs accesses using
3007 its own special methods and not directly through the file system).
3010 ** When a Lisp file uses CL functions at run-time, compiling the file
3011 now issues warnings about these calls, unless the file performs
3012 (require 'cl) when loaded.
3015 ** The `defmacro' form may contain declarations specifying how to
3016 indent the macro in Lisp mode and how to debug it with Edebug. The
3017 syntax of defmacro has been extended to
3019 (defmacro NAME LAMBDA-LIST [DOC-STRING] [DECLARATION ...] ...)
3021 DECLARATION is a list `(declare DECLARATION-SPECIFIER ...)'. The
3022 declaration specifiers supported are:
3025 Set NAME's `lisp-indent-function' property to INDENT.
3028 Set NAME's `edebug-form-spec' property to DEBUG. (This is
3029 equivalent to writing a `def-edebug-spec' for the macro.
3032 ** Interactive commands can be remapped through keymaps.
3034 This is an alternative to using defadvice or substitute-key-definition
3035 to modify the behavior of a key binding using the normal keymap
3036 binding and lookup functionality.
3038 When a key sequence is bound to a command, and that command is
3039 remapped to another command, that command is run instead of the
3043 Suppose that minor mode my-mode has defined the commands
3044 my-kill-line and my-kill-word, and it wants C-k (and any other key
3045 bound to kill-line) to run the command my-kill-line instead of
3046 kill-line, and likewise it wants to run my-kill-word instead of
3049 Instead of rebinding C-k and the other keys in the minor mode map,
3050 command remapping allows you to directly map kill-line into
3051 my-kill-line and kill-word into my-kill-word through the minor mode
3052 map using define-key:
3054 (define-key my-mode-map [remap kill-line] 'my-kill-line)
3055 (define-key my-mode-map [remap kill-word] 'my-kill-word)
3057 Now, when my-mode is enabled, and the user enters C-k or M-d,
3058 the commands my-kill-line and my-kill-word are run.
3060 Notice that only one level of remapping is supported. In the above
3061 example, this means that if my-kill-line is remapped to other-kill,
3062 then C-k still runs my-kill-line.
3064 The following changes have been made to provide command remapping:
3066 - Command remappings are defined using `define-key' with a prefix-key
3067 `remap', i.e. `(define-key MAP [remap CMD] DEF)' remaps command CMD
3068 to definition DEF in keymap MAP. The definition is not limited to
3069 another command; it can be anything accepted for a normal binding.
3071 - The new function `command-remapping' returns the binding for a
3072 remapped command in the current keymaps, or nil if not remapped.
3074 - key-binding now remaps interactive commands unless the optional
3075 third argument NO-REMAP is non-nil.
3077 - where-is-internal now returns nil for a remapped command (e.g.
3078 kill-line if my-mode is enabled), and the actual key binding for
3079 the command it is remapped to (e.g. C-k for my-kill-line).
3080 It also has a new optional fifth argument, NO-REMAP, which inhibits
3081 remapping if non-nil (e.g. it returns C-k for kill-line and
3082 <kill-line> for my-kill-line).
3084 - The new variable `this-original-command' contains the original
3085 command before remapping. It is equal to `this-command' when the
3086 command was not remapped.
3089 ** New variable emulation-mode-map-alists.
3091 Lisp packages using many minor mode keymaps can now maintain their own
3092 keymap alist separate from minor-mode-map-alist by adding their keymap
3096 ** Atomic change groups.
3098 To perform some changes in the current buffer "atomically" so that
3099 they either all succeed or are all undone, use `atomic-change-group'
3100 around the code that makes changes. For instance:
3102 (atomic-change-group
3104 (delete-region x y))
3106 If an error (or other nonlocal exit) occurs inside the body of
3107 `atomic-change-group', it unmakes all the changes in that buffer that
3108 were during the execution of the body. The change group has no effect
3109 on any other buffers--any such changes remain.
3111 If you need something more sophisticated, you can directly call the
3112 lower-level functions that `atomic-change-group' uses. Here is how.
3114 To set up a change group for one buffer, call `prepare-change-group'.
3115 Specify the buffer as argument; it defaults to the current buffer.
3116 This function returns a "handle" for the change group. You must save
3117 the handle to activate the change group and then finish it.
3119 Before you change the buffer again, you must activate the change
3120 group. Pass the handle to `activate-change-group' afterward to
3123 After you make the changes, you must finish the change group. You can
3124 either accept the changes or cancel them all. Call
3125 `accept-change-group' to accept the changes in the group as final;
3126 call `cancel-change-group' to undo them all.
3128 You should use `unwind-protect' to make sure the group is always
3129 finished. The call to `activate-change-group' should be inside the
3130 `unwind-protect', in case the user types C-g just after it runs.
3131 (This is one reason why `prepare-change-group' and
3132 `activate-change-group' are separate functions.) Once you finish the
3133 group, don't use the handle again--don't try to finish the same group
3136 To make a multibuffer change group, call `prepare-change-group' once
3137 for each buffer you want to cover, then use `nconc' to combine the
3138 returned values, like this:
3140 (nconc (prepare-change-group buffer-1)
3141 (prepare-change-group buffer-2))
3143 You can then activate the multibuffer change group with a single call
3144 to `activate-change-group', and finish it with a single call to
3145 `accept-change-group' or `cancel-change-group'.
3147 Nested use of several change groups for the same buffer works as you
3148 would expect. Non-nested use of change groups for the same buffer
3149 will lead to undesirable results, so don't let it happen; the first
3150 change group you start for any given buffer should be the last one
3154 ** New variable char-property-alias-alist.
3156 This variable allows you to create alternative names for text
3157 properties. It works at the same level as `default-text-properties',
3158 although it applies to overlays as well. This variable was introduced
3159 to implement the `font-lock-face' property.
3162 ** New special text property `font-lock-face'.
3164 This property acts like the `face' property, but it is controlled by
3165 M-x font-lock-mode. It is not, strictly speaking, a builtin text
3166 property. Instead, it is implemented inside font-core.el, using the
3167 new variable `char-property-alias-alist'.
3170 ** New function remove-list-of-text-properties.
3172 The new function `remove-list-of-text-properties' is almost the same
3173 as `remove-text-properties'. The only difference is that it takes
3174 a list of property names as argument rather than a property list.
3177 ** New function insert-for-yank.
3179 This function normally works like `insert' but removes the text
3180 properties in the `yank-excluded-properties' list. However, if the
3181 inserted text has a `yank-handler' text property on the first
3182 character of the string, the insertion of the text may be modified in
3183 a number of ways. See the description of `yank-handler' below.
3186 ** New function insert-buffer-substring-as-yank.
3188 This function works like `insert-buffer-substring', but removes the
3189 text properties in the `yank-excluded-properties' list.
3192 ** New function insert-buffer-substring-no-properties.
3194 This function is like insert-buffer-substring, but removes all
3195 text properties from the inserted substring.
3198 ** New `yank-handler' text property may be used to control how
3199 previously killed text on the kill-ring is reinserted.
3201 The value of the yank-handler property must be a list with one to four
3202 elements with the following format:
3203 (FUNCTION PARAM NOEXCLUDE UNDO).
3205 The `insert-for-yank' function looks for a yank-handler property on
3206 the first character on its string argument (typically the first
3207 element on the kill-ring). If a yank-handler property is found,
3208 the normal behaviour of `insert-for-yank' is modified in various ways:
3210 When FUNCTION is present and non-nil, it is called instead of `insert'
3211 to insert the string. FUNCTION takes one argument--the object to insert.
3212 If PARAM is present and non-nil, it replaces STRING as the object
3213 passed to FUNCTION (or `insert'); for example, if FUNCTION is
3214 `yank-rectangle', PARAM should be a list of strings to insert as a
3216 If NOEXCLUDE is present and non-nil, the normal removal of the
3217 yank-excluded-properties is not performed; instead FUNCTION is
3218 responsible for removing those properties. This may be necessary
3219 if FUNCTION adjusts point before or after inserting the object.
3220 If UNDO is present and non-nil, it is a function that will be called
3221 by `yank-pop' to undo the insertion of the current object. It is
3222 called with two arguments, the start and end of the current region.
3223 FUNCTION may set `yank-undo-function' to override the UNDO value.
3225 *** The functions kill-new, kill-append, and kill-region now have an
3226 optional argument to specify the yank-handler text property to put on
3229 *** The function yank-pop will now use a non-nil value of the variable
3230 `yank-undo-function' (instead of delete-region) to undo the previous
3231 yank or yank-pop command (or a call to insert-for-yank). The function
3232 insert-for-yank automatically sets that variable according to the UNDO
3233 element of the string argument's yank-handler text property if present.
3236 ** New function display-supports-face-attributes-p may be used to test
3237 whether a given set of face attributes is actually displayable.
3239 A new predicate `supports' has also been added to the `defface' face
3240 specification language, which can be used to do this test for faces
3241 defined with defface.
3243 ** The function face-differs-from-default-p now truly checks whether the
3244 given face displays differently from the default face or not (previously
3245 it did only a very cursory check).
3248 ** face-attribute, face-foreground, face-background, and face-stipple now
3249 accept a new optional argument, INHERIT, which controls how face
3250 inheritance is used when determining the value of a face attribute.
3253 ** New functions face-attribute-relative-p and merge-face-attribute
3254 help with handling relative face attributes.
3256 ** The priority of faces in an :inherit attribute face-list is reversed.
3257 If a face contains an :inherit attribute with a list of faces, earlier
3258 faces in the list override later faces in the list; in previous releases
3259 of Emacs, the order was the opposite. This change was made so that
3260 :inherit face-lists operate identically to face-lists in text `face'
3264 ** Enhancements to process support
3266 *** Function list-processes now has an optional argument; if non-nil,
3267 only the processes whose query-on-exit flag is set are listed.
3269 *** New set-process-query-on-exit-flag and process-query-on-exit-flag
3270 functions. The existing process-kill-without-query function is still
3271 supported, but new code should use the new functions.
3273 *** Function signal-process now accepts a process object or process
3274 name in addition to a process id to identify the signalled process.
3276 *** Processes now have an associated property list where programs can
3277 maintain process state and other per-process related information.
3279 The new functions process-get and process-put are used to access, add,
3280 and modify elements on this property list.
3282 The new low-level functions process-plist and set-process-plist are
3283 used to access and replace the entire property list of a process.
3285 *** Function accept-process-output now has an optional fourth arg
3286 `just-this-one'. If non-nil, only output from the specified process
3287 is handled, suspending output from other processes. If value is an
3288 integer, also inhibit running timers. This feature is generally not
3289 recommended, but may be necessary for specific applications, such as
3292 *** Adaptive read buffering of subprocess output.
3294 On some systems, when emacs reads the output from a subprocess, the
3295 output data is read in very small blocks, potentially resulting in
3296 very poor performance. This behaviour can be remedied to some extent
3297 by setting the new variable process-adaptive-read-buffering to a
3298 non-nil value (the default), as it will automatically delay reading
3299 from such processes, to allowing them to produce more output before
3300 emacs tries to read it.
3303 ** Enhanced networking support.
3305 *** There is a new `make-network-process' function which supports
3306 opening of stream and datagram connections to a server, as well as
3307 create a stream or datagram server inside emacs.
3309 - A server is started using :server t arg.
3310 - Datagram connection is selected using :type 'datagram arg.
3311 - A server can open on a random port using :service t arg.
3312 - Local sockets are supported using :family 'local arg.
3313 - Non-blocking connect is supported using :nowait t arg.
3314 - The process' property list may be initialized using :plist PLIST arg;
3315 a copy of the server process' property list is automatically inherited
3316 by new client processes created to handle incoming connections.
3318 To test for the availability of a given feature, use featurep like this:
3319 (featurep 'make-network-process '(:type datagram))
3321 *** Original open-network-stream is now emulated using make-network-process.
3323 *** New function open-network-stream-nowait.
3325 This function initiates a non-blocking connect and returns immediately
3326 without waiting for the connection to be established. It takes the
3327 filter and sentinel functions as arguments; when the non-blocking
3328 connect completes, the sentinel is called with a status string
3329 matching "open" or "failed".
3331 *** New function open-network-stream-server.
3333 This function creates a network server process for a TCP service.
3334 When a client connects to the specified service, a new subprocess
3335 is created to handle the new connection, and the sentinel function
3336 is called for the new process.
3338 *** New functions process-datagram-address and set-process-datagram-address.
3340 These functions are used with datagram-based network processes to get
3341 and set the current address of the remote partner.
3343 *** New function format-network-address.
3345 This function reformats the lisp representation of a network address
3346 to a printable string. For example, an IP address A.B.C.D and port
3347 number P is represented as a five element vector [A B C D P], and the
3348 printable string returned for this vector is "A.B.C.D:P". See the doc
3349 string for other formatting options.
3351 *** By default, the function process-contact still returns (HOST SERVICE)
3352 for a network process. Using the new optional KEY arg, the complete list
3353 of network process properties or a specific property can be selected.
3355 Using :local and :remote as the KEY, the address of the local or
3356 remote end-point is returned. An Inet address is represented as a 5
3357 element vector, where the first 4 elements contain the IP address and
3358 the fifth is the port number.
3360 *** Network processes can now be stopped and restarted with
3361 `stop-process' and `continue-process'. For a server process, no
3362 connections are accepted in the stopped state. For a client process,
3363 no input is received in the stopped state.
3365 *** New function network-interface-list.
3367 This function returns a list of network interface names and their
3368 current network addresses.
3370 *** New function network-interface-info.
3372 This function returns the network address, hardware address, current
3373 status, and other information about a specific network interface.
3376 ** New function copy-tree.
3379 ** New function substring-no-properties.
3382 ** New function minibuffer-selected-window.
3385 ** New function `call-process-shell-command'.
3388 ** The dummy function keys made by easymenu
3389 are now always lower case. If you specify the
3390 menu item name "Ada", for instance, it uses `ada'
3391 as the "key" bound by that key binding.
3393 This is relevant only if Lisp code looks for
3394 the bindings that were made with easymenu.
3397 ** The function `commandp' takes an additional optional
3398 argument. If it is non-nil, then `commandp' checks
3399 for a function that could be called with `call-interactively',
3400 and does not return t for keyboard macros.
3403 ** master-mode.el implements a minor mode for scrolling a slave
3404 buffer without leaving your current buffer, the master buffer.
3406 It can be used by sql.el, for example: the SQL buffer is the master
3407 and its SQLi buffer is the slave. This allows you to scroll the SQLi
3408 buffer containing the output from the SQL buffer containing the
3411 This is how to use sql.el and master.el together: the variable
3412 sql-buffer contains the slave buffer. It is a local variable in the
3415 (add-hook 'sql-mode-hook
3416 (function (lambda ()
3418 (master-set-slave sql-buffer))))
3419 (add-hook 'sql-set-sqli-hook
3420 (function (lambda ()
3421 (master-set-slave sql-buffer))))
3424 ** File local variables.
3426 A file local variables list cannot specify a string with text
3427 properties--any specified text properties are discarded.
3430 ** New function window-body-height.
3432 This is like window-height but does not count the mode line
3436 ** New function format-mode-line.
3438 This returns the mode-line or header-line of the selected (or a
3439 specified) window as a string with or without text properties.
3442 ** New functions `lax-plist-get' and `lax-plist-put'.
3444 These functions are like `plist-get' and `plist-put' except that they
3445 compare the property name using `equal' rather than `eq'.
3448 ** New function `tool-bar-local-item-from-menu'
3450 The `tool-bar-add-item-from-menu' must not be used (as previously
3451 recommended) for making entries in the tool bar for local keymaps.
3452 Instead, use the function `tool-bar-local-item-from-menu', which lets
3453 you specify the map to use as an argument.
3456 ** The function `atan' now accepts an optional second argument.
3458 When called with 2 arguments, as in `(atan Y X)', `atan' returns the
3459 angle in radians between the vector [X, Y] and the X axis. (This is
3460 equivalent to the standard C library function `atan2'.)
3463 ** You can now make a window as short as one line.
3465 A window that is just one line tall does not display either a mode
3466 line or a header line, even if the variables `mode-line-format' and
3467 `header-line-format' call for them. A window that is two lines tall
3468 cannot display both a mode line and a header line at once; if the
3469 variables call for both, only the mode line actually appears.
3472 ** The new frame parameter `tty-color-mode' specifies the mode to use
3473 for color support on character terminal frames. Its value can be a
3474 number of colors to support, or a symbol. See the Emacs Lisp
3475 Reference manual for more detailed documentation.
3478 ** The new mode-line construct `(:propertize ELT PROPS...)' can be
3479 used to add text properties to mode-line elements.
3482 ** Mode line display ignores text properties as well as the
3483 :propertize and :eval forms in the value of a variable whose
3484 `risky-local-variable' property is nil.
3487 ** The new `%i' and `%I' constructs for `mode-line-format' can be used
3488 to display the size of the accessible part of the buffer on the mode
3492 ** Indentation of simple and extended loop forms has been added to the
3493 cl-indent package. The new user options
3494 `lisp-loop-keyword-indentation', `lisp-loop-forms-indentation', and
3495 `lisp-simple-loop-indentation' can be used to customize the
3496 indentation of keywords and forms in loop forms.
3499 ** Indentation of backquoted forms has been made customizable in the
3500 cl-indent package. See the new user option `lisp-backquote-indentation'.
3503 ** Already true in Emacs 21.1, but not emphasized clearly enough:
3505 Multibyte buffers can now faithfully record all 256 character codes
3506 from 0 to 255. As a result, most of the past reasons to use unibyte
3507 buffers no longer exist. We only know of three reasons to use them
3510 1. If you prefer to use unibyte text all of the time.
3512 2. For reading files into temporary buffers, when you want to avoid
3513 the time it takes to convert the format.
3515 3. For binary files where format conversion would be pointless and
3519 ** If text has a `keymap' property, that keymap takes precedence
3520 over minor mode keymaps.
3523 ** A hex escape in a string forces the string to be multibyte.
3524 An octal escape makes it unibyte.
3527 ** At the end of a command, point moves out from within invisible
3528 text, in the same way it moves out from within text covered by an
3529 image or composition property.
3531 This makes it generally unnecessary to mark invisible text as intangible.
3532 This is particularly good because the intangible property often has
3533 unexpected side-effects since the property applies to everything
3534 (including `goto-char', ...) whereas this new code is only run after
3535 post-command-hook and thus does not care about intermediate states.
3538 ** field-beginning and field-end now accept an additional optional
3542 ** define-abbrev now accepts an optional argument SYSTEM-FLAG. If
3543 non-nil, this marks the abbrev as a "system" abbrev, which means that
3544 it won't be stored in the user's abbrevs file if he saves the abbrevs.
3545 Major modes that predefine some abbrevs should always specify this
3549 ** Support for Mocklisp has been removed.
3552 ** The function insert-string is now obsolete.
3555 ** The precedence of file-name-handlers has been changed.
3556 Instead of blindly choosing the first handler that matches,
3557 find-file-name-handler now gives precedence to a file-name handler
3558 that matches near the end of the file name. More specifically, the
3559 handler whose (match-beginning 0) is the largest is chosen.
3560 In case of ties, the old "first matched" rule applies.
3563 ** Dense keymaps now handle inheritance correctly.
3564 Previously a dense keymap would hide all of the simple-char key
3565 bindings of the parent keymap.
3568 ** jit-lock obeys a new text-property `jit-lock-defer-multiline'.
3569 If a piece of text with that property gets contextually refontified
3570 (see jit-lock-defer-contextually), then all of that text will
3571 be refontified. This is useful when the syntax of a textual element
3572 depends on text several lines further down (and when font-lock-multiline
3573 is not appropriate to solve that problem). For example in Perl:
3581 Adding/removing the last `e' changes the `bar' from being a piece of
3582 text to being a piece of code, so you'd put a jit-lock-defer-multiline
3583 property over the second half of the command to force (deferred)
3584 refontification of `bar' whenever the `e' is added/removed.
3587 ** describe-vector now takes a second argument `describer' which is
3588 called to print the entries' values. It defaults to `princ'.
3590 ** defcustom and other custom declarations now use a default group
3591 (the last prior group defined in the same file) when no :group was given.
3594 ** emacsserver now runs pre-command-hook and post-command-hook when
3595 it receives a request from emacsclient.
3598 ** The variable `recursive-load-depth-limit' has been deleted.
3599 Emacs now signals an error if the same file is loaded with more
3600 than 3 levels of nesting.
3603 ** If a major mode function has a non-nil `no-clone-indirect'
3604 property, `clone-indirect-buffer' signals an error if you use
3608 ** In `replace-match', the replacement text no longer inherits
3609 properties from surrounding text.
3612 ** The list returned by `(match-data t)' now has the buffer as a final
3613 element, if the last match was on a buffer. `set-match-data'
3614 accepts such a list for restoring the match state.
3617 ** New function `buffer-local-value'.
3619 This function returns the buffer-local binding of VARIABLE (a symbol)
3620 in buffer BUFFER. If VARIABLE does not have a buffer-local binding in
3621 buffer BUFFER, it returns the default value of VARIABLE instead.
3624 ** New function `text-clone-create'. Text clones are chunks of text
3625 that are kept identical by transparently propagating changes from one
3629 ** font-lock can manage arbitrary text-properties beside `face'.
3630 *** the FACENAME returned in font-lock-keywords can be a list
3631 of the form (face FACE PROP1 VAL1 PROP2 VAL2 ...) so you can set
3632 other properties than `face'.
3633 *** font-lock-extra-managed-props can be set to make sure those extra
3634 properties are automatically cleaned up by font-lock.
3637 ** The special treatment of faces whose names are of the form `fg:COLOR'
3638 or `bg:COLOR' has been removed. Lisp programs should use the
3639 `defface' facility for defining faces with specific colors, or use
3640 the feature of specifying the face attributes :foreground and :background
3641 directly in the `face' property instead of using a named face.
3644 ** The new function `run-mode-hooks' and the new macro `delay-mode-hooks'
3645 are used by define-derived-mode to make sure the mode hook for the
3646 parent mode is run at the end of the child mode.
3649 ** define-minor-mode now accepts arbitrary additional keyword arguments
3650 and simply passes them to defcustom, if applicable.
3653 ** define-derived-mode by default creates a new empty abbrev table.
3654 It does not copy abbrevs from the parent mode's abbrev table.
3657 ** `provide' and `featurep' now accept an optional second argument
3658 to test/provide subfeatures. Also `provide' now checks `after-load-alist'
3659 and runs any code associated with the provided feature.
3662 ** Functions `file-name-sans-extension' and `file-name-extension' now
3663 ignore the leading dots in file names, so that file names such as
3664 `.emacs' are treated as extensionless.
3667 ** Functions `user-uid' and `user-real-uid' now return floats if the
3668 user UID doesn't fit in a Lisp integer. Function `user-full-name'
3669 accepts a float as UID parameter.
3672 ** `define-key-after' now accepts keys longer than 1.
3675 ** The local variable `no-byte-compile' in elisp files is now obeyed.
3678 ** The Emacs Lisp byte-compiler now displays the actual line and
3679 character position of errors, where possible. Additionally, the form
3680 of its warning and error messages have been brought more in line with
3681 the output of other GNU tools.
3684 ** New functions `keymap-prompt' and `current-active-maps'.
3687 ** New function `describe-buffer-bindings'.
3690 ** New vars `exec-suffixes' and `load-suffixes' used when
3691 searching for an executable resp. an elisp file.
3694 ** Variable aliases have been implemented:
3696 *** defvaralias ALIAS-VAR BASE-VAR [DOCSTRING]
3698 This function defines the symbol ALIAS-VAR as a variable alias for
3699 symbol BASE-VAR. This means that retrieving the value of ALIAS-VAR
3700 returns the value of BASE-VAR, and changing the value of ALIAS-VAR
3701 changes the value of BASE-VAR.
3703 DOCSTRING, if present, is the documentation for ALIAS-VAR; else it has
3704 the same documentation as BASE-VAR.
3706 *** indirect-variable VARIABLE
3708 This function returns the variable at the end of the chain of aliases
3709 of VARIABLE. If VARIABLE is not a symbol, or if VARIABLE is not
3710 defined as an alias, the function returns VARIABLE.
3712 It might be noteworthy that variables aliases work for all kinds of
3713 variables, including buffer-local and frame-local variables.
3716 ** Functions from `post-gc-hook' are run at the end of garbage
3717 collection. The hook is run with GC inhibited, so use it with care.
3720 ** If the second argument to `copy-file' is the name of a directory,
3721 the file is copied to that directory instead of signaling an error.
3724 ** The variables most-positive-fixnum and most-negative-fixnum
3725 hold the largest and smallest possible integer values.
3728 ** On MS Windows, locale-coding-system is used to interact with the OS.
3729 The Windows specific variable w32-system-coding-system, which was
3730 formerly used for that purpose is now an alias for locale-coding-system.
3732 ** Functions y-or-n-p, read-char, read-key-sequence and the like, that
3733 display a prompt but don't use the minibuffer, now display the prompt
3734 using the text properties (esp. the face) of the prompt string.
3736 ** New function x-send-client-message sends a client message when
3739 ** Arguments for remove-overlays are now optional, so that you can remove
3740 all overlays in the buffer by just calling (remove-overlay).
3744 *** The new package gdb-ui.el provides an enhanced graphical interface to
3745 GDB. You can interact with GDB through the GUD buffer in the usual way, but
3746 there are also further buffers which control the execution and describe the
3747 state of your program. It separates the input/output of your program from
3748 that of GDB and watches expressions in the speedbar. It also uses features of
3749 Emacs 21 such as the display margin for breakpoints, and the toolbar.
3751 Use M-x gdba to start GDB-UI.
3753 *** The new package syntax.el provides an efficient way to find the
3754 current syntactic context (as returned by parse-partial-sexp).
3756 *** The new package bindat.el provides functions to unpack and pack
3757 binary data structures, such as network packets, to and from Lisp
3760 *** The TCL package tcl-mode.el was replaced by tcl.el.
3761 This was actually done in Emacs-21.1, and was not documented.
3763 *** The new package button.el implements simple and fast `clickable buttons'
3764 in emacs buffers. `buttons' are much lighter-weight than the `widgets'
3765 implemented by widget.el, and can be used by lisp code that doesn't
3766 require the full power of widgets. Emacs uses buttons for such things
3767 as help and apropos buffers.
3770 * Installation changes in Emacs 21.3
3772 ** Support for GNU/Linux on little-endian MIPS and on IBM S390 has
3776 * Changes in Emacs 21.3
3778 ** The obsolete C mode (c-mode.el) has been removed to avoid problems
3781 ** UTF-16 coding systems are available, encoding the same characters
3784 ** There is a new language environment for UTF-8 (set up automatically
3787 ** Translation tables are available between equivalent characters in
3788 different Emacs charsets -- for instance `e with acute' coming from the
3789 Latin-1 and Latin-2 charsets. User options `unify-8859-on-encoding-mode'
3790 and `unify-8859-on-decoding-mode' respectively turn on translation
3791 between ISO 8859 character sets (`unification') on encoding
3792 (e.g. writing a file) and decoding (e.g. reading a file). Note that
3793 `unify-8859-on-encoding-mode' is useful and safe, but
3794 `unify-8859-on-decoding-mode' can cause text to change when you read
3795 it and write it out again without edits, so it is not generally advisable.
3796 By default `unify-8859-on-encoding-mode' is turned on.
3798 ** In Emacs running on the X window system, the default value of
3799 `selection-coding-system' is now `compound-text-with-extensions'.
3801 If you want the old behavior, set selection-coding-system to
3802 compound-text, which may be significantly more efficient. Using
3803 compound-text-with-extensions seems to be necessary only for decoding
3804 text from applications under XFree86 4.2, whose behaviour is actually
3805 contrary to the compound text specification.
3808 * Installation changes in Emacs 21.2
3810 ** Support for BSD/OS 5.0 has been added.
3812 ** Support for AIX 5.1 was added.
3815 * Changes in Emacs 21.2
3817 ** Emacs now supports compound-text extended segments in X selections.
3819 X applications can use `extended segments' to encode characters in
3820 compound text that belong to character sets which are not part of the
3821 list of approved standard encodings for X, e.g. Big5. To paste
3822 selections with such characters into Emacs, use the new coding system
3823 compound-text-with-extensions as the value of selection-coding-system.
3825 ** The default values of `tooltip-delay' and `tooltip-hide-delay'
3828 ** On terminals whose erase-char is ^H (Backspace), Emacs
3829 now uses normal-erase-is-backspace-mode.
3831 ** When the *scratch* buffer is recreated, its mode is set from
3832 initial-major-mode, which normally is lisp-interaction-mode,
3833 instead of using default-major-mode.
3835 ** The new option `Info-scroll-prefer-subnodes' causes Info to behave
3836 like the stand-alone Info reader (from the GNU Texinfo package) as far
3837 as motion between nodes and their subnodes is concerned. If it is t
3838 (the default), Emacs behaves as before when you type SPC in a menu: it
3839 visits the subnode pointed to by the first menu entry. If this option
3840 is nil, SPC scrolls to the end of the current node, and only then goes
3841 to the first menu item, like the stand-alone reader does.
3843 This change was already in Emacs 21.1, but wasn't advertised in the
3847 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 21.2
3849 ** The meanings of scroll-up-aggressively and scroll-down-aggressively
3850 have been interchanged, so that the former now controls scrolling up,
3851 and the latter now controls scrolling down.
3853 ** The variable `compilation-parse-errors-filename-function' can
3854 be used to transform filenames found in compilation output.
3857 * Installation Changes in Emacs 21.1
3859 See the INSTALL file for information on installing extra libraries and
3860 fonts to take advantage of the new graphical features and extra
3861 charsets in this release.
3863 ** Support for GNU/Linux on IA64 machines has been added.
3865 ** Support for LynxOS has been added.
3867 ** There are new configure options associated with the support for
3868 images and toolkit scrollbars. Use the --help option in `configure'
3871 ** You can build a 64-bit Emacs for SPARC/Solaris systems which
3872 support 64-bit executables and also on Irix 6.5. This increases the
3873 maximum buffer size. See etc/MACHINES for instructions. Changes to
3874 build on other 64-bit systems should be straightforward modulo any
3875 necessary changes to unexec.
3877 ** There is a new configure option `--disable-largefile' to omit
3878 Unix-98-style support for large files if that is available.
3880 ** There is a new configure option `--without-xim' that instructs
3881 Emacs to not use X Input Methods (XIM), if these are available.
3883 ** `movemail' defaults to supporting POP. You can turn this off using
3884 the --without-pop configure option, should that be necessary.
3886 ** This version can be built for the Macintosh, but does not implement
3887 all of the new display features described below. The port currently
3888 lacks unexec, asynchronous processes, and networking support. See the
3889 "Emacs and the Mac OS" appendix in the Emacs manual, for the
3890 description of aspects specific to the Mac.
3892 ** Note that the MS-Windows port does not yet implement various of the
3893 new display features described below.
3896 * Changes in Emacs 21.1
3898 ** Emacs has a new redisplay engine.
3900 The new redisplay handles characters of variable width and height.
3901 Italic text can be used without redisplay problems. Fonts containing
3902 oversized characters, i.e. characters larger than the logical height
3903 of a font can be used. Images of various formats can be displayed in
3906 ** Emacs has a new face implementation.
3908 The new faces no longer fundamentally use X font names to specify the
3909 font. Instead, each face has several independent attributes--family,
3910 height, width, weight and slant--that it may or may not specify.
3911 These attributes can be merged from various faces, and then together
3914 Faces are supported on terminals that can display color or fonts.
3915 These terminal capabilities are auto-detected. Details can be found
3916 under Lisp changes, below.
3918 ** Emacs can display faces on TTY frames.
3920 Emacs automatically detects terminals that are able to display colors.
3921 Faces with a weight greater than normal are displayed extra-bright, if
3922 the terminal supports it. Faces with a weight less than normal and
3923 italic faces are displayed dimmed, if the terminal supports it.
3924 Underlined faces are displayed underlined if possible. Other face
3925 attributes such as `overline', `strike-through', and `box' are ignored
3928 The command-line options `-fg COLOR', `-bg COLOR', and `-rv' are now
3929 supported on character terminals.
3931 Emacs automatically remaps all X-style color specifications to one of
3932 the colors supported by the terminal. This means you could have the
3933 same color customizations that work both on a windowed display and on
3934 a TTY or when Emacs is invoked with the -nw option.
3936 ** New default font is Courier 12pt under X.
3940 Emacs supports playing sound files on GNU/Linux and FreeBSD (Voxware
3941 driver and native BSD driver, a.k.a. Luigi's driver). Currently
3942 supported file formats are RIFF-WAVE (*.wav) and Sun Audio (*.au).
3943 You must configure Emacs with the option `--with-sound=yes' to enable
3946 ** Emacs now resizes mini-windows if appropriate.
3948 If a message is longer than one line, or minibuffer contents are
3949 longer than one line, Emacs can resize the minibuffer window unless it
3950 is on a frame of its own. You can control resizing and the maximum
3951 minibuffer window size by setting the following variables:
3953 - User option: max-mini-window-height
3955 Maximum height for resizing mini-windows. If a float, it specifies a
3956 fraction of the mini-window frame's height. If an integer, it
3957 specifies a number of lines.
3961 - User option: resize-mini-windows
3963 How to resize mini-windows. If nil, don't resize. If t, always
3964 resize to fit the size of the text. If `grow-only', let mini-windows
3965 grow only, until they become empty, at which point they are shrunk
3968 Default is `grow-only'.
3972 Emacs now runs with the LessTif toolkit (see
3973 <http://www.lesstif.org>). You will need version 0.92.26, or later.
3975 ** LessTif/Motif file selection dialog.
3977 When Emacs is configured to use LessTif or Motif, reading a file name
3978 from a menu will pop up a file selection dialog if `use-dialog-box' is
3981 ** File selection dialog on MS-Windows is supported.
3983 When a file is visited by clicking File->Open, the MS-Windows version
3984 now pops up a standard file selection dialog where you can select a
3985 file to visit. File->Save As also pops up that dialog.
3987 ** Toolkit scroll bars.
3989 Emacs now uses toolkit scroll bars if available. When configured for
3990 LessTif/Motif, it will use that toolkit's scroll bar. Otherwise, when
3991 configured for Lucid and Athena widgets, it will use the Xaw3d scroll
3992 bar if Xaw3d is available. You can turn off the use of toolkit scroll
3993 bars by specifying `--with-toolkit-scroll-bars=no' when configuring
3996 When you encounter problems with the Xaw3d scroll bar, watch out how
3997 Xaw3d is compiled on your system. If the Makefile generated from
3998 Xaw3d's Imakefile contains a `-DNARROWPROTO' compiler option, and your
3999 Emacs system configuration file `s/your-system.h' does not contain a
4000 define for NARROWPROTO, you might consider adding it. Take
4001 `s/freebsd.h' as an example.
4003 Alternatively, if you don't have access to the Xaw3d source code, take
4004 a look at your system's imake configuration file, for example in the
4005 directory `/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/config' (paths are different on
4006 different systems). You will find files `*.cf' there. If your
4007 system's cf-file contains a line like `#define NeedWidePrototypes NO',
4008 add a `#define NARROWPROTO' to your Emacs system configuration file.
4010 The reason for this is that one Xaw3d function uses `double' or
4011 `float' function parameters depending on the setting of NARROWPROTO.
4012 This is not a problem when Imakefiles are used because each system's
4013 imake configuration file contains the necessary information. Since
4014 Emacs doesn't use imake, this has do be done manually.
4016 ** Tool bar support.
4018 Emacs supports a tool bar at the top of a frame under X. For details
4019 of how to define a tool bar, see the page describing Lisp-level
4020 changes. Tool-bar global minor mode controls whether or not it is
4021 displayed and is on by default. The appearance of the bar is improved
4022 if Emacs has been built with XPM image support. Otherwise monochrome
4025 To make the tool bar more useful, we need contributions of extra icons
4026 for specific modes (with copyright assignments).
4030 Tooltips are small X windows displaying a help string at the current
4031 mouse position. The Lisp package `tooltip' implements them. You can
4032 turn them off via the user option `tooltip-mode'.
4034 Tooltips also provides support for GUD debugging. If activated,
4035 variable values can be displayed in tooltips by pointing at them with
4036 the mouse in source buffers. You can customize various aspects of the
4037 tooltip display in the group `tooltip'.
4039 ** Automatic Hscrolling
4041 Horizontal scrolling now happens automatically if
4042 `automatic-hscrolling' is set (the default). This setting can be
4045 If a window is scrolled horizontally with set-window-hscroll, or
4046 scroll-left/scroll-right (C-x <, C-x >), this serves as a lower bound
4047 for automatic horizontal scrolling. Automatic scrolling will scroll
4048 the text more to the left if necessary, but won't scroll the text more
4049 to the right than the column set with set-window-hscroll etc.
4051 ** When using a windowing terminal, each Emacs window now has a cursor
4052 of its own. By default, when a window is selected, the cursor is
4053 solid; otherwise, it is hollow. The user-option
4054 `cursor-in-non-selected-windows' controls how to display the
4055 cursor in non-selected windows. If nil, no cursor is shown, if
4056 non-nil a hollow box cursor is shown.
4058 ** Fringes to the left and right of windows are used to display
4059 truncation marks, continuation marks, overlay arrows and alike. The
4060 foreground, background, and stipple of these areas can be changed by
4061 customizing face `fringe'.
4063 ** The mode line under X is now drawn with shadows by default.
4064 You can change its appearance by modifying the face `mode-line'.
4065 In particular, setting the `:box' attribute to nil turns off the 3D
4066 appearance of the mode line. (The 3D appearance makes the mode line
4067 occupy more space, and thus might cause the first or the last line of
4068 the window to be partially obscured.)
4070 The variable `mode-line-inverse-video', which was used in older
4071 versions of emacs to make the mode-line stand out, is now deprecated.
4072 However, setting it to nil will cause the `mode-line' face to be
4073 ignored, and mode-lines to be drawn using the default text face.
4075 ** Mouse-sensitive mode line.
4077 Different parts of the mode line have been made mouse-sensitive on all
4078 systems which support the mouse. Moving the mouse to a
4079 mouse-sensitive part in the mode line changes the appearance of the
4080 mouse pointer to an arrow, and help about available mouse actions is
4081 displayed either in the echo area, or in the tooltip window if you
4084 Currently, the following actions have been defined:
4086 - Mouse-1 on the buffer name in the mode line goes to the next buffer.
4088 - Mouse-3 on the buffer-name goes to the previous buffer.
4090 - Mouse-2 on the read-only or modified status in the mode line (`%' or
4091 `*') toggles the status.
4093 - Mouse-3 on the mode name displays a minor-mode menu.
4095 ** Hourglass pointer
4097 Emacs can optionally display an hourglass pointer under X. You can
4098 turn the display on or off by customizing group `cursor'.
4102 M-x blink-cursor-mode toggles a blinking cursor under X and on
4103 terminals having terminal capabilities `vi', `vs', and `ve'. Blinking
4104 and related parameters like frequency and delay can be customized in
4107 ** New font-lock support mode `jit-lock-mode'.
4109 This support mode is roughly equivalent to `lazy-lock' but is
4110 generally faster. It supports stealth and deferred fontification.
4111 See the documentation of the function `jit-lock-mode' for more
4114 Font-lock uses jit-lock-mode as default support mode, so you don't
4115 have to do anything to activate it.
4117 ** The default binding of the Delete key has changed.
4119 The new user-option `normal-erase-is-backspace' can be set to
4120 determine the effect of the Delete and Backspace function keys.
4122 On window systems, the default value of this option is chosen
4123 according to the keyboard used. If the keyboard has both a Backspace
4124 key and a Delete key, and both are mapped to their usual meanings, the
4125 option's default value is set to t, so that Backspace can be used to
4126 delete backward, and Delete can be used to delete forward. On
4127 keyboards which either have only one key (usually labeled DEL), or two
4128 keys DEL and BS which produce the same effect, the option's value is
4129 set to nil, and these keys delete backward.
4131 If not running under a window system, setting this option accomplishes
4132 a similar effect by mapping C-h, which is usually generated by the
4133 Backspace key, to DEL, and by mapping DEL to C-d via
4134 `keyboard-translate'. The former functionality of C-h is available on
4135 the F1 key. You should probably not use this setting on a text-only
4136 terminal if you don't have both Backspace, Delete and F1 keys.
4138 Programmatically, you can call function normal-erase-is-backspace-mode
4139 to toggle the behavior of the Delete and Backspace keys.
4141 ** The default for user-option `next-line-add-newlines' has been
4142 changed to nil, i.e. C-n will no longer add newlines at the end of a
4145 ** The <home> and <end> keys now move to the beginning or end of the
4146 current line, respectively. C-<home> and C-<end> move to the
4147 beginning and end of the buffer.
4149 ** Emacs now checks for recursive loads of Lisp files. If the
4150 recursion depth exceeds `recursive-load-depth-limit', an error is
4153 ** When an error is signaled during the loading of the user's init
4154 file, Emacs now pops up the *Messages* buffer.
4156 ** Emacs now refuses to load compiled Lisp files which weren't
4157 compiled with Emacs. Set `load-dangerous-libraries' to t to change
4160 The reason for this change is an incompatible change in XEmacs's byte
4161 compiler. Files compiled with XEmacs can contain byte codes that let
4164 ** Toggle buttons and radio buttons in menus.
4166 When compiled with LessTif (or Motif) support, Emacs uses toolkit
4167 widgets for radio and toggle buttons in menus. When configured for
4168 Lucid, Emacs draws radio buttons and toggle buttons similar to Motif.
4170 ** The menu bar configuration has changed. The new configuration is
4171 more CUA-compliant. The most significant change is that Options is
4172 now a separate menu-bar item, with Mule and Customize as its submenus.
4174 ** Item Save Options on the Options menu allows saving options set
4177 ** Highlighting of trailing whitespace.
4179 When `show-trailing-whitespace' is non-nil, Emacs displays trailing
4180 whitespace in the face `trailing-whitespace'. Trailing whitespace is
4181 defined as spaces or tabs at the end of a line. To avoid busy
4182 highlighting when entering new text, trailing whitespace is not
4183 displayed if point is at the end of the line containing the
4186 ** C-x 5 1 runs the new command delete-other-frames which deletes
4187 all frames except the selected one.
4189 ** The new user-option `confirm-kill-emacs' can be customized to
4190 let Emacs ask for confirmation before exiting.
4192 ** The header line in an Info buffer is now displayed as an emacs
4193 header-line (which is like a mode-line, but at the top of the window),
4194 so that it remains visible even when the buffer has been scrolled.
4195 This behavior may be disabled by customizing the option
4196 `Info-use-header-line'.
4198 ** Polish, Czech, German, and French translations of Emacs' reference card
4199 have been added. They are named `pl-refcard.tex', `cs-refcard.tex',
4200 `de-refcard.tex' and `fr-refcard.tex'. Postscript files are included.
4202 ** An `Emacs Survival Guide', etc/survival.tex, is available.
4204 ** A reference card for Dired has been added. Its name is
4205 `dired-ref.tex'. A French translation is available in
4208 ** C-down-mouse-3 is bound differently. Now if the menu bar is not
4209 displayed it pops up a menu containing the items which would be on the
4210 menu bar. If the menu bar is displayed, it pops up the major mode
4211 menu or the Edit menu if there is no major mode menu.
4213 ** Variable `load-path' is no longer customizable through Customize.
4215 You can no longer use `M-x customize-variable' to customize `load-path'
4216 because it now contains a version-dependent component. You can still
4217 use `add-to-list' and `setq' to customize this variable in your
4218 `~/.emacs' init file or to modify it from any Lisp program in general.
4220 ** C-u C-x = provides detailed information about the character at
4221 point in a pop-up window.
4223 ** Emacs can now support 'wheeled' mice (such as the MS IntelliMouse)
4224 under XFree86. To enable this, use the `mouse-wheel-mode' command, or
4225 customize the variable `mouse-wheel-mode'.
4227 The variables `mouse-wheel-follow-mouse' and `mouse-wheel-scroll-amount'
4228 determine where and by how much buffers are scrolled.
4230 ** Emacs' auto-save list files are now by default stored in a
4231 sub-directory `.emacs.d/auto-save-list/' of the user's home directory.
4232 (On MS-DOS, this subdirectory's name is `_emacs.d/auto-save.list/'.)
4233 You can customize `auto-save-list-file-prefix' to change this location.
4235 ** The function `getenv' is now callable interactively.
4237 ** The new user-option `even-window-heights' can be set to nil
4238 to prevent `display-buffer' from evening out window heights.
4240 ** The new command M-x delete-trailing-whitespace RET will delete the
4241 trailing whitespace within the current restriction. You can also add
4242 this function to `write-file-hooks' or `local-write-file-hooks'.
4244 ** When visiting a file with M-x find-file-literally, no newlines will
4245 be added to the end of the buffer even if `require-final-newline' is
4248 ** The new user-option `find-file-suppress-same-file-warnings' can be
4249 set to suppress warnings ``X and Y are the same file'' when visiting a
4250 file that is already visited under a different name.
4252 ** The new user-option `electric-help-shrink-window' can be set to
4253 nil to prevent adjusting the help window size to the buffer size.
4255 ** New command M-x describe-character-set reads a character set name
4256 and displays information about that.
4258 ** The new variable `auto-mode-interpreter-regexp' contains a regular
4259 expression matching interpreters, for file mode determination.
4261 This regular expression is matched against the first line of a file to
4262 determine the file's mode in `set-auto-mode' when Emacs can't deduce a
4263 mode from the file's name. If it matches, the file is assumed to be
4264 interpreted by the interpreter matched by the second group of the
4265 regular expression. The mode is then determined as the mode
4266 associated with that interpreter in `interpreter-mode-alist'.
4268 ** New function executable-make-buffer-file-executable-if-script-p is
4269 suitable as an after-save-hook as an alternative to `executable-chmod'.
4271 ** The most preferred coding-system is now used to save a buffer if
4272 buffer-file-coding-system is `undecided' and it is safe for the buffer
4273 contents. (The most preferred is set by set-language-environment or
4274 by M-x prefer-coding-system.) Thus if you visit an ASCII file and
4275 insert a non-ASCII character from your current language environment,
4276 the file will be saved silently with the appropriate coding.
4277 Previously you would be prompted for a safe coding system.
4279 ** The many obsolete language `setup-...-environment' commands have
4280 been removed -- use `set-language-environment'.
4282 ** The new Custom option `keyboard-coding-system' specifies a coding
4283 system for keyboard input.
4285 ** New variable `inhibit-iso-escape-detection' determines if Emacs'
4286 coding system detection algorithm should pay attention to ISO2022's
4287 escape sequences. If this variable is non-nil, the algorithm ignores
4288 such escape sequences. The default value is nil, and it is
4289 recommended not to change it except for the special case that you
4290 always want to read any escape code verbatim. If you just want to
4291 read a specific file without decoding escape codes, use C-x RET c
4292 (`universal-coding-system-argument'). For instance, C-x RET c latin-1
4293 RET C-x C-f filename RET.
4295 ** Variable `default-korean-keyboard' is initialized properly from the
4296 environment variable `HANGUL_KEYBOARD_TYPE'.
4298 ** New command M-x list-charset-chars reads a character set name and
4299 displays all characters in that character set.
4301 ** M-x set-terminal-coding-system (C-x RET t) now allows CCL-based
4302 coding systems such as cpXXX and cyrillic-koi8.
4304 ** Emacs now attempts to determine the initial language environment
4305 and preferred and locale coding systems systematically from the
4306 LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, and LANG environment variables during startup.
4308 ** New language environments `Polish', `Latin-8' and `Latin-9'.
4309 Latin-8 and Latin-9 correspond respectively to the ISO character sets
4310 8859-14 (Celtic) and 8859-15 (updated Latin-1, with the Euro sign).
4311 GNU Intlfonts doesn't support these yet but recent X releases have
4312 8859-15. See etc/INSTALL for information on obtaining extra fonts.
4313 There are new Leim input methods for Latin-8 and Latin-9 prefix (only)
4316 ** New language environments `Dutch' and `Spanish'.
4317 These new environments mainly select appropriate translations
4320 ** In Ethiopic language environment, special key bindings for
4321 function keys are changed as follows. This is to conform to "Emacs
4322 Lisp Coding Convention".
4324 new command old-binding
4325 --- ------- -----------
4326 f3 ethio-fidel-to-sera-buffer f5
4327 S-f3 ethio-fidel-to-sera-region f5
4328 C-f3 ethio-fidel-to-sera-mail-or-marker f5
4330 f4 ethio-sera-to-fidel-buffer unchanged
4331 S-f4 ethio-sera-to-fidel-region unchanged
4332 C-f4 ethio-sera-to-fidel-mail-or-marker unchanged
4334 S-f5 ethio-toggle-punctuation f3
4335 S-f6 ethio-modify-vowel f6
4336 S-f7 ethio-replace-space f7
4337 S-f8 ethio-input-special-character f8
4338 S-f9 ethio-replace-space unchanged
4339 C-f9 ethio-toggle-space f2
4341 ** There are new Leim input methods.
4342 New input methods "turkish-postfix", "turkish-alt-postfix",
4343 "greek-mizuochi", "TeX", and "greek-babel" are now part of the Leim
4346 ** The rule of input method "slovak" is slightly changed. Now the
4347 rules for translating "q" and "Q" to "`" (backquote) are deleted, thus
4348 typing them inserts "q" and "Q" respectively. Rules for translating
4349 "=q", "+q", "=Q", and "+Q" to "`" are also deleted. Now, to input
4350 "`", you must type "=q".
4352 ** When your terminal can't display characters from some of the ISO
4353 8859 character sets but can display Latin-1, you can display
4354 more-or-less mnemonic sequences of ASCII/Latin-1 characters instead of
4355 empty boxes (under a window system) or question marks (not under a
4356 window system). Customize the option `latin1-display' to turn this
4359 ** M-; now calls comment-dwim which tries to do something clever based
4360 on the context. M-x kill-comment is now an alias to comment-kill,
4361 defined in newcomment.el. You can choose different styles of region
4362 commenting with the variable `comment-style'.
4364 ** New user options `display-time-mail-face' and
4365 `display-time-use-mail-icon' control the appearance of mode-line mail
4366 indicator used by the display-time package. On a suitable display the
4367 indicator can be an icon and is mouse-sensitive.
4369 ** On window-systems, additional space can be put between text lines
4370 on the display using several methods
4372 - By setting frame parameter `line-spacing' to PIXELS. PIXELS must be
4373 a positive integer, and specifies that PIXELS number of pixels should
4374 be put below text lines on the affected frame or frames.
4376 - By setting X resource `lineSpacing', class `LineSpacing'. This is
4377 equivalent to specifying the frame parameter.
4379 - By specifying `--line-spacing=N' or `-lsp N' on the command line.
4381 - By setting buffer-local variable `line-spacing'. The meaning is
4382 the same, but applies to the a particular buffer only.
4384 ** The new command `clone-indirect-buffer' can be used to create
4385 an indirect buffer that is a twin copy of the current buffer. The
4386 command `clone-indirect-buffer-other-window', bound to C-x 4 c,
4387 does the same but displays the indirect buffer in another window.
4389 ** New user options `backup-directory-alist' and
4390 `make-backup-file-name-function' control the placement of backups,
4391 typically in a single directory or in an invisible sub-directory.
4393 ** New commands iso-iso2sgml and iso-sgml2iso convert between Latin-1
4394 characters and the corresponding SGML (HTML) entities.
4396 ** New X resources recognized
4398 *** The X resource `synchronous', class `Synchronous', specifies
4399 whether Emacs should run in synchronous mode. Synchronous mode
4400 is useful for debugging X problems.
4404 emacs.synchronous: true
4406 *** The X resource `visualClass, class `VisualClass', specifies the
4407 visual Emacs should use. The resource's value should be a string of
4408 the form `CLASS-DEPTH', where CLASS is the name of the visual class,
4409 and DEPTH is the requested color depth as a decimal number. Valid
4410 visual class names are
4419 Visual class names specified as X resource are case-insensitive, i.e.
4420 `pseudocolor', `Pseudocolor' and `PseudoColor' all have the same
4423 The program `xdpyinfo' can be used to list the visual classes
4424 supported on your display, and which depths they have. If
4425 `visualClass' is not specified, Emacs uses the display's default
4430 emacs.visualClass: TrueColor-8
4432 *** The X resource `privateColormap', class `PrivateColormap',
4433 specifies that Emacs should use a private colormap if it is using the
4434 default visual, and that visual is of class PseudoColor. Recognized
4435 resource values are `true' or `on'.
4439 emacs.privateColormap: true
4441 ** Faces and frame parameters.
4443 There are four new faces `scroll-bar', `border', `cursor' and `mouse'.
4444 Setting the frame parameters `scroll-bar-foreground' and
4445 `scroll-bar-background' sets foreground and background color of face
4446 `scroll-bar' and vice versa. Setting frame parameter `border-color'
4447 sets the background color of face `border' and vice versa. Likewise
4448 for frame parameters `cursor-color' and face `cursor', and frame
4449 parameter `mouse-color' and face `mouse'.
4451 Changing frame parameter `font' sets font-related attributes of the
4452 `default' face and vice versa. Setting frame parameters
4453 `foreground-color' or `background-color' sets the colors of the
4454 `default' face and vice versa.
4458 The face `menu' can be used to change colors and font of Emacs' menus.
4460 ** New frame parameter `screen-gamma' for gamma correction.
4462 The new frame parameter `screen-gamma' specifies gamma-correction for
4463 colors. Its value may be nil, the default, in which case no gamma
4464 correction occurs, or a number > 0, usually a float, that specifies
4465 the screen gamma of a frame's display.
4467 PC monitors usually have a screen gamma of 2.2. smaller values result
4468 in darker colors. You might want to try a screen gamma of 1.5 for LCD
4469 color displays. The viewing gamma Emacs uses is 0.4545. (1/2.2).
4471 The X resource name of this parameter is `screenGamma', class
4474 ** Tabs and variable-width text.
4476 Tabs are now displayed with stretch properties; the width of a tab is
4477 defined as a multiple of the normal character width of a frame, and is
4478 independent of the fonts used in the text where the tab appears.
4479 Thus, tabs can be used to line up text in different fonts.
4481 ** Enhancements of the Lucid menu bar
4483 *** The Lucid menu bar now supports the resource "margin".
4485 emacs.pane.menubar.margin: 5
4487 The default margin is 4 which makes the menu bar appear like the
4490 *** Arrows that indicate sub-menus are now drawn with shadows, as in
4493 ** A block cursor can be drawn as wide as the glyph under it under X.
4495 As an example: if a block cursor is over a tab character, it will be
4496 drawn as wide as that tab on the display. To do this, set
4497 `x-stretch-cursor' to a non-nil value.
4499 ** Empty display lines at the end of a buffer may be marked with a
4500 bitmap (this is similar to the tilde displayed by vi and Less).
4502 This behavior is activated by setting the buffer-local variable
4503 `indicate-empty-lines' to a non-nil value. The default value of this
4504 variable is found in `default-indicate-empty-lines'.
4506 ** There is a new "aggressive" scrolling method.
4508 When scrolling up because point is above the window start, if the
4509 value of the buffer-local variable `scroll-up-aggressively' is a
4510 number, Emacs chooses a new window start so that point ends up that
4511 fraction of the window's height from the top of the window.
4513 When scrolling down because point is below the window end, if the
4514 value of the buffer-local variable `scroll-down-aggressively' is a
4515 number, Emacs chooses a new window start so that point ends up that
4516 fraction of the window's height from the bottom of the window.
4518 ** You can now easily create new *Info* buffers using either
4519 M-x clone-buffer, C-u m <entry> RET or C-u g <entry> RET.
4520 M-x clone-buffer can also be used on *Help* and several other special
4523 ** The command `Info-search' now uses a search history.
4525 ** Listing buffers with M-x list-buffers (C-x C-b) now shows
4526 abbreviated file names. Abbreviations can be customized by changing
4527 `directory-abbrev-alist'.
4529 ** A new variable, backup-by-copying-when-privileged-mismatch, gives
4530 the highest file uid for which backup-by-copying-when-mismatch will be
4531 forced on. The assumption is that uids less than or equal to this
4532 value are special uids (root, bin, daemon, etc.--not real system
4533 users) and that files owned by these users should not change ownership,
4534 even if your system policy allows users other than root to edit them.
4536 The default is 200; set the variable to nil to disable the feature.
4538 ** The rectangle commands now avoid inserting undesirable spaces,
4539 notably at the end of lines.
4541 All these functions have been rewritten to avoid inserting unwanted
4542 spaces, and an optional prefix now allows them to behave the old way.
4544 ** The function `replace-rectangle' is an alias for `string-rectangle'.
4546 ** The new command M-x string-insert-rectangle is like `string-rectangle',
4547 but inserts text instead of replacing it.
4549 ** The new command M-x query-replace-regexp-eval acts like
4550 query-replace-regexp, but takes a Lisp expression which is evaluated
4551 after each match to get the replacement text.
4553 ** M-x query-replace recognizes a new command `e' (or `E') that lets
4554 you edit the replacement string.
4556 ** The new command mail-abbrev-complete-alias, bound to `M-TAB'
4557 (if you load the library `mailabbrev'), lets you complete mail aliases
4558 in the text, analogous to lisp-complete-symbol.
4560 ** The variable `echo-keystrokes' may now have a floating point value.
4562 ** If your init file is compiled (.emacs.elc), `user-init-file' is set
4563 to the source name (.emacs.el), if that exists, after loading it.
4565 ** The help string specified for a menu-item whose definition contains
4566 the property `:help HELP' is now displayed under X, on MS-Windows, and
4567 MS-DOS, either in the echo area or with tooltips. Many standard menus
4568 displayed by Emacs now have help strings.
4571 ** New user option `read-mail-command' specifies a command to use to
4572 read mail from the menu etc.
4574 ** The environment variable `EMACSLOCKDIR' is no longer used on MS-Windows.
4575 This environment variable was used when creating lock files. Emacs on
4576 MS-Windows does not use this variable anymore. This change was made
4577 before Emacs 21.1, but wasn't documented until now.
4579 ** Highlighting of mouse-sensitive regions is now supported in the
4580 MS-DOS version of Emacs.
4582 ** The new command `msdos-set-mouse-buttons' forces the MS-DOS version
4583 of Emacs to behave as if the mouse had a specified number of buttons.
4584 This comes handy with mice that don't report their number of buttons
4585 correctly. One example is the wheeled mice, which report 3 buttons,
4586 but clicks on the middle button are not passed to the MS-DOS version
4589 ** Customize changes
4591 *** Customize now supports comments about customized items. Use the
4592 `State' menu to add comments, or give a prefix argument to
4593 M-x customize-set-variable or M-x customize-set-value. Note that
4594 customization comments will cause the customizations to fail in
4595 earlier versions of Emacs.
4597 *** The new option `custom-buffer-done-function' says whether to kill
4598 Custom buffers when you've done with them or just bury them (the
4601 *** If Emacs was invoked with the `-q' or `--no-init-file' options, it
4602 does not allow you to save customizations in your `~/.emacs' init
4603 file. This is because saving customizations from such a session would
4604 wipe out all the other customizationss you might have on your init
4607 ** If Emacs was invoked with the `-q' or `--no-init-file' options, it
4608 does not save disabled and enabled commands for future sessions, to
4609 avoid overwriting existing customizations of this kind that are
4610 already in your init file.
4612 ** New features in evaluation commands
4614 *** The commands to evaluate Lisp expressions, such as C-M-x in Lisp
4615 modes, C-j in Lisp Interaction mode, and M-:, now bind the variables
4616 print-level, print-length, and debug-on-error based on the new
4617 customizable variables eval-expression-print-level,
4618 eval-expression-print-length, and eval-expression-debug-on-error.
4620 The default values for the first two of these variables are 12 and 4
4621 respectively, which means that `eval-expression' now prints at most
4622 the first 12 members of a list and at most 4 nesting levels deep (if
4623 the list is longer or deeper than that, an ellipsis `...' is
4626 <RET> or <mouse-2> on the printed text toggles between an abbreviated
4627 printed representation and an unabbreviated one.
4629 The default value of eval-expression-debug-on-error is t, so any error
4630 during evaluation produces a backtrace.
4632 *** The function `eval-defun' (C-M-x) now loads Edebug and instruments
4633 code when called with a prefix argument.
4637 Note: This release contains changes that might not be compatible with
4638 current user setups (although it's believed that these
4639 incompatibilities will only show in very uncommon circumstances).
4640 However, since the impact is uncertain, these changes may be rolled
4641 back depending on user feedback. Therefore there's no forward
4642 compatibility guarantee wrt the new features introduced in this
4645 *** The hardcoded switch to "java" style in Java mode is gone.
4646 CC Mode used to automatically set the style to "java" when Java mode
4647 is entered. This has now been removed since it caused too much
4650 However, to keep backward compatibility to a certain extent, the
4651 default value for c-default-style now specifies the "java" style for
4652 java-mode, but "gnu" for all other modes (as before). So you won't
4653 notice the change if you haven't touched that variable.
4655 *** New cleanups, space-before-funcall and compact-empty-funcall.
4656 Two new cleanups have been added to c-cleanup-list:
4658 space-before-funcall causes a space to be inserted before the opening
4659 parenthesis of a function call, which gives the style "foo (bar)".
4661 compact-empty-funcall causes any space before a function call opening
4662 parenthesis to be removed if there are no arguments to the function.
4663 It's typically useful together with space-before-funcall to get the
4664 style "foo (bar)" and "foo()".
4666 *** Some keywords now automatically trigger reindentation.
4667 Keywords like "else", "while", "catch" and "finally" have been made
4668 "electric" to make them reindent automatically when they continue an
4669 earlier statement. An example:
4671 for (i = 0; i < 17; i++)
4673 res += a[i]->offset;
4676 Here, the "else" should be indented like the preceding "if", since it
4677 continues that statement. CC Mode will automatically reindent it after
4678 the "else" has been typed in full, since it's not until then it's
4679 possible to decide whether it's a new statement or a continuation of
4682 CC Mode uses Abbrev mode to achieve this, which is therefore turned on
4685 *** M-a and M-e now moves by sentence in multiline strings.
4686 Previously these two keys only moved by sentence in comments, which
4687 meant that sentence movement didn't work in strings containing
4688 documentation or other natural language text.
4690 The reason it's only activated in multiline strings (i.e. strings that
4691 contain a newline, even when escaped by a '\') is to avoid stopping in
4692 the short strings that often reside inside statements. Multiline
4693 strings almost always contain text in a natural language, as opposed
4694 to other strings that typically contain format specifications,
4695 commands, etc. Also, it's not that bothersome that M-a and M-e misses
4696 sentences in single line strings, since they're short anyway.
4698 *** Support for autodoc comments in Pike mode.
4699 Autodoc comments for Pike are used to extract documentation from the
4700 source, like Javadoc in Java. Pike mode now recognize this markup in
4701 comment prefixes and paragraph starts.
4703 *** The comment prefix regexps on c-comment-prefix may be mode specific.
4704 When c-comment-prefix is an association list, it specifies the comment
4705 line prefix on a per-mode basis, like c-default-style does. This
4706 change came about to support the special autodoc comment prefix in
4709 *** Better handling of syntactic errors.
4710 The recovery after unbalanced parens earlier in the buffer has been
4711 improved; CC Mode now reports them by dinging and giving a message
4712 stating the offending line, but still recovers and indent the
4713 following lines in a sane way (most of the time). An "else" with no
4714 matching "if" is handled similarly. If an error is discovered while
4715 indenting a region, the whole region is still indented and the error
4716 is reported afterwards.
4718 *** Lineup functions may now return absolute columns.
4719 A lineup function can give an absolute column to indent the line to by
4720 returning a vector with the desired column as the first element.
4722 *** More robust and warning-free byte compilation.
4723 Although this is strictly not a user visible change (well, depending
4724 on the view of a user), it's still worth mentioning that CC Mode now
4725 can be compiled in the standard ways without causing trouble. Some
4726 code have also been moved between the subpackages to enhance the
4727 modularity somewhat. Thanks to Martin Buchholz for doing the
4730 *** c-style-variables-are-local-p now defaults to t.
4731 This is an incompatible change that has been made to make the behavior
4732 of the style system wrt global variable settings less confusing for
4733 non-advanced users. If you know what this variable does you might
4734 want to set it to nil in your .emacs, otherwise you probably don't
4737 Defaulting c-style-variables-are-local-p to t avoids the confusing
4738 situation that occurs when a user sets some style variables globally
4739 and edits both a Java and a non-Java file in the same Emacs session.
4740 If the style variables aren't buffer local in this case, loading of
4741 the second file will cause the default style (either "gnu" or "java"
4742 by default) to override the global settings made by the user.
4744 *** New initialization procedure for the style system.
4745 When the initial style for a buffer is determined by CC Mode (from the
4746 variable c-default-style), the global values of style variables now
4747 take precedence over the values specified by the chosen style. This
4748 is different than the old behavior: previously, the style-specific
4749 settings would override the global settings. This change makes it
4750 possible to do simple configuration in the intuitive way with
4751 Customize or with setq lines in one's .emacs file.
4753 By default, the global value of every style variable is the new
4754 special symbol set-from-style, which causes the value to be taken from
4755 the style system. This means that in effect, only an explicit setting
4756 of a style variable will cause the "overriding" behavior described
4759 Also note that global settings override style-specific settings *only*
4760 when the initial style of a buffer is chosen by a CC Mode major mode
4761 function. When a style is chosen in other ways --- for example, by a
4762 call like (c-set-style "gnu") in a hook, or via M-x c-set-style ---
4763 then the style-specific values take precedence over any global style
4764 values. In Lisp terms, global values override style-specific values
4765 only when the new second argument to c-set-style is non-nil; see the
4766 function documentation for more info.
4768 The purpose of these changes is to make it easier for users,
4769 especially novice users, to do simple customizations with Customize or
4770 with setq in their .emacs files. On the other hand, the new system is
4771 intended to be compatible with advanced users' customizations as well,
4772 such as those that choose styles in hooks or whatnot. This new system
4773 is believed to be almost entirely compatible with current
4774 configurations, in spite of the changed precedence between style and
4775 global variable settings when a buffer's default style is set.
4777 (Thanks to Eric Eide for clarifying this explanation a bit.)
4779 **** c-offsets-alist is now a customizable variable.
4780 This became possible as a result of the new initialization behavior.
4782 This variable is treated slightly differently from the other style
4783 variables; instead of using the symbol set-from-style, it will be
4784 completed with the syntactic symbols it doesn't already contain when
4785 the style is first initialized. This means it now defaults to the
4786 empty list to make all syntactic elements get their values from the
4789 **** Compatibility variable to restore the old behavior.
4790 In case your configuration doesn't work with this change, you can set
4791 c-old-style-variable-behavior to non-nil to get the old behavior back
4794 *** Improvements to line breaking and text filling.
4795 CC Mode now handles this more intelligently and seamlessly wrt the
4796 surrounding code, especially inside comments. For details see the new
4797 chapter about this in the manual.
4799 **** New variable to recognize comment line prefix decorations.
4800 The variable c-comment-prefix-regexp has been added to properly
4801 recognize the line prefix in both block and line comments. It's
4802 primarily used to initialize the various paragraph recognition and
4803 adaptive filling variables that the text handling functions uses.
4805 **** New variable c-block-comment-prefix.
4806 This is a generalization of the now obsolete variable
4807 c-comment-continuation-stars to handle arbitrary strings.
4809 **** CC Mode now uses adaptive fill mode.
4810 This to make it adapt better to the paragraph style inside comments.
4812 It's also possible to use other adaptive filling packages inside CC
4813 Mode, notably Kyle E. Jones' Filladapt mode (http://wonderworks.com/).
4814 A new convenience function c-setup-filladapt sets up Filladapt for use
4817 Note though that the 2.12 version of Filladapt lacks a feature that
4818 causes it to work suboptimally when c-comment-prefix-regexp can match
4819 the empty string (which it commonly does). A patch for that is
4820 available from the CC Mode web site (http://www.python.org/emacs/
4823 **** The variables `c-hanging-comment-starter-p' and
4824 `c-hanging-comment-ender-p', which controlled how comment starters and
4825 enders were filled, are not used anymore. The new version of the
4826 function `c-fill-paragraph' keeps the comment starters and enders as
4827 they were before the filling.
4829 **** It's now possible to selectively turn off auto filling.
4830 The variable c-ignore-auto-fill is used to ignore auto fill mode in
4831 specific contexts, e.g. in preprocessor directives and in string
4834 **** New context sensitive line break function c-context-line-break.
4835 It works like newline-and-indent in normal code, and adapts the line
4836 prefix according to the comment style when used inside comments. If
4837 you're normally using newline-and-indent, you might want to switch to
4840 *** Fixes to IDL mode.
4841 It now does a better job in recognizing only the constructs relevant
4842 to IDL. E.g. it no longer matches "class" as the beginning of a
4843 struct block, but it does match the CORBA 2.3 "valuetype" keyword.
4844 Thanks to Eric Eide.
4846 *** Improvements to the Whitesmith style.
4847 It now keeps the style consistently on all levels and both when
4848 opening braces hangs and when they don't.
4850 **** New lineup function c-lineup-whitesmith-in-block.
4852 *** New lineup functions c-lineup-template-args and c-indent-multi-line-block.
4853 See their docstrings for details. c-lineup-template-args does a
4854 better job of tracking the brackets used as parens in C++ templates,
4855 and is used by default to line up continued template arguments.
4857 *** c-lineup-comment now preserves alignment with a comment on the
4858 previous line. It used to instead preserve comments that started in
4859 the column specified by comment-column.
4861 *** c-lineup-C-comments handles "free form" text comments.
4862 In comments with a long delimiter line at the start, the indentation
4863 is kept unchanged for lines that start with an empty comment line
4864 prefix. This is intended for the type of large block comments that
4865 contain documentation with its own formatting. In these you normally
4866 don't want CC Mode to change the indentation.
4868 *** The `c' syntactic symbol is now relative to the comment start
4869 instead of the previous line, to make integers usable as lineup
4872 *** All lineup functions have gotten docstrings.
4874 *** More preprocessor directive movement functions.
4875 c-down-conditional does the reverse of c-up-conditional.
4876 c-up-conditional-with-else and c-down-conditional-with-else are
4877 variants of these that also stops at "#else" lines (suggested by Don
4880 *** Minor improvements to many movement functions in tricky situations.
4884 *** New variable `dired-recursive-deletes' determines if the delete
4885 command will delete non-empty directories recursively. The default
4886 is, delete only empty directories.
4888 *** New variable `dired-recursive-copies' determines if the copy
4889 command will copy directories recursively. The default is, do not
4890 copy directories recursively.
4892 *** In command `dired-do-shell-command' (usually bound to `!') a `?'
4893 in the shell command has a special meaning similar to `*', but with
4894 the difference that the command will be run on each file individually.
4896 *** The new command `dired-find-alternate-file' (usually bound to `a')
4897 replaces the Dired buffer with the buffer for an alternate file or
4900 *** The new command `dired-show-file-type' (usually bound to `y') shows
4901 a message in the echo area describing what type of file the point is on.
4902 This command invokes the external program `file' do its work, and so
4903 will only work on systems with that program, and will be only as
4904 accurate or inaccurate as it is.
4906 *** Dired now properly handles undo changes of adding/removing `-R'
4909 *** Dired commands that prompt for a destination file now allow the use
4910 of the `M-n' command in the minibuffer to insert the source filename,
4911 which the user can then edit. This only works if there is a single
4912 source file, not when operating on multiple marked files.
4916 The Gnus NEWS entries are short, but they reflect sweeping changes in
4917 four areas: Article display treatment, MIME treatment,
4918 internationalization and mail-fetching.
4920 *** The mail-fetching functions have changed. See the manual for the
4921 many details. In particular, all procmail fetching variables are gone.
4923 If you used procmail like in
4925 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
4926 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
4927 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/mail/incoming/")
4928 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "\\.in")
4930 this now has changed to
4933 '((directory :path "~/mail/incoming/"
4936 More information is available in the info doc at Select Methods ->
4937 Getting Mail -> Mail Sources
4939 *** Gnus is now a MIME-capable reader. This affects many parts of
4940 Gnus, and adds a slew of new commands. See the manual for details.
4941 Separate MIME packages like RMIME, mime-compose etc., will probably no
4942 longer work; remove them and use the native facilities.
4944 The FLIM/SEMI package still works with Emacs 21, but if you want to
4945 use the native facilities, you must remove any mailcap.el[c] that was
4946 installed by FLIM/SEMI version 1.13 or earlier.
4948 *** Gnus has also been multilingualized. This also affects too many
4949 parts of Gnus to summarize here, and adds many new variables. There
4950 are built-in facilities equivalent to those of gnus-mule.el, which is
4951 now just a compatibility layer.
4953 *** gnus-mule.el is now just a compatibility layer over the built-in
4956 *** gnus-auto-select-first can now be a function to be
4957 called to position point.
4959 *** The user can now decide which extra headers should be included in
4960 summary buffers and NOV files.
4962 *** `gnus-article-display-hook' has been removed. Instead, a number
4963 of variables starting with `gnus-treat-' have been added.
4965 *** The Gnus posting styles have been redone again and now work in a
4966 subtly different manner.
4968 *** New web-based backends have been added: nnslashdot, nnwarchive
4969 and nnultimate. nnweb has been revamped, again, to keep up with
4970 ever-changing layouts.
4972 *** Gnus can now read IMAP mail via nnimap.
4974 *** There is image support of various kinds and some sound support.
4976 ** Changes in Texinfo mode.
4978 *** A couple of new key bindings have been added for inserting Texinfo
4982 -------------------------
4986 C-c C-c q @quotation
4988 C-c C-o @<block> ... @end <block>
4991 *** The " key now inserts either " or `` or '' depending on context.
4993 ** Changes in Outline mode.
4995 There is now support for Imenu to index headings. A new command
4996 `outline-headers-as-kill' copies the visible headings in the region to
4997 the kill ring, e.g. to produce a table of contents.
4999 ** Changes to Emacs Server
5001 *** The new option `server-kill-new-buffers' specifies what to do
5002 with buffers when done with them. If non-nil, the default, buffers
5003 are killed, unless they were already present before visiting them with
5004 Emacs Server. If nil, `server-temp-file-regexp' specifies which
5005 buffers to kill, as before.
5007 Please note that only buffers are killed that still have a client,
5008 i.e. buffers visited with `emacsclient --no-wait' are never killed in
5011 ** Both emacsclient and Emacs itself now accept command line options
5012 of the form +LINE:COLUMN in addition to +LINE.
5014 ** Changes to Show Paren mode.
5016 *** Overlays used by Show Paren mode now use a priority property.
5017 The new user option show-paren-priority specifies the priority to
5018 use. Default is 1000.
5020 ** New command M-x check-parens can be used to find unbalanced paren
5021 groups and strings in buffers in Lisp mode (or other modes).
5023 ** Changes to hideshow.el
5025 *** Generalized block selection and traversal
5027 A block is now recognized by its start and end regexps (both strings),
5028 and an integer specifying which sub-expression in the start regexp
5029 serves as the place where a `forward-sexp'-like function can operate.
5030 See the documentation of variable `hs-special-modes-alist'.
5032 *** During incremental search, if Hideshow minor mode is active,
5033 hidden blocks are temporarily shown. The variable `hs-headline' can
5034 be used in the mode line format to show the line at the beginning of
5037 *** User option `hs-hide-all-non-comment-function' specifies a
5038 function to be called at each top-level block beginning, instead of
5039 the normal block-hiding function.
5041 *** The command `hs-show-region' has been removed.
5043 *** The key bindings have changed to fit the Emacs conventions,
5044 roughly imitating those of Outline minor mode. Notably, the prefix
5045 for all bindings is now `C-c @'. For details, see the documentation
5046 for `hs-minor-mode'.
5048 *** The variable `hs-show-hidden-short-form' has been removed, and
5049 hideshow.el now always behaves as if this variable were set to t.
5051 ** Changes to Change Log mode and Add-Log functions
5053 *** If you invoke `add-change-log-entry' from a backup file, it makes
5054 an entry appropriate for the file's parent. This is useful for making
5055 log entries by comparing a version with deleted functions.
5057 **** New command M-x change-log-merge merges another log into the
5060 *** New command M-x change-log-redate fixes any old-style date entries
5063 *** Change Log mode now adds a file's version number to change log
5064 entries if user-option `change-log-version-info-enabled' is non-nil.
5065 Unless the file is under version control the search for a file's
5066 version number is performed based on regular expressions from
5067 `change-log-version-number-regexp-list' which can be customized.
5068 Version numbers are only found in the first 10 percent of a file.
5070 *** Change Log mode now defines its own faces for font-lock highlighting.
5072 ** Changes to cmuscheme
5074 *** The user-option `scheme-program-name' has been renamed
5075 `cmuscheme-program-name' due to conflicts with xscheme.el.
5077 ** Changes in Font Lock
5079 *** The new function `font-lock-remove-keywords' can be used to remove
5080 font-lock keywords from the current buffer or from a specific major mode.
5082 *** Multi-line patterns are now supported. Modes using this, should
5083 set font-lock-multiline to t in their font-lock-defaults.
5085 *** `font-lock-syntactic-face-function' allows major-modes to choose
5086 the face used for each string/comment.
5088 *** A new standard face `font-lock-doc-face'.
5089 Meant for Lisp docstrings, Javadoc comments and other "documentation in code".
5091 ** Changes to Shell mode
5093 *** The `shell' command now accepts an optional argument to specify the buffer
5094 to use, which defaults to "*shell*". When used interactively, a
5095 non-default buffer may be specified by giving the `shell' command a
5096 prefix argument (causing it to prompt for the buffer name).
5098 ** Comint (subshell) changes
5100 These changes generally affect all modes derived from comint mode, which
5101 include shell-mode, gdb-mode, scheme-interaction-mode, etc.
5103 *** Comint now by default interprets some carriage-control characters.
5104 Comint now removes CRs from CR LF sequences, and treats single CRs and
5105 BSs in the output in a way similar to a terminal (by deleting to the
5106 beginning of the line, or deleting the previous character,
5107 respectively). This is achieved by adding `comint-carriage-motion' to
5108 the `comint-output-filter-functions' hook by default.
5110 *** By default, comint no longer uses the variable `comint-prompt-regexp'
5111 to distinguish prompts from user-input. Instead, it notices which
5112 parts of the text were output by the process, and which entered by the
5113 user, and attaches `field' properties to allow emacs commands to use
5114 this information. Common movement commands, notably beginning-of-line,
5115 respect field boundaries in a fairly natural manner. To disable this
5116 feature, and use the old behavior, customize the user option
5117 `comint-use-prompt-regexp-instead-of-fields'.
5119 *** Comint now includes new features to send commands to running processes
5120 and redirect the output to a designated buffer or buffers.
5122 *** The command M-x comint-redirect-send-command reads a command and
5123 buffer name from the mini-buffer. The command is sent to the current
5124 buffer's process, and its output is inserted into the specified buffer.
5126 The command M-x comint-redirect-send-command-to-process acts like
5127 M-x comint-redirect-send-command but additionally reads the name of
5128 the buffer whose process should be used from the mini-buffer.
5130 *** Packages based on comint now highlight user input and program prompts,
5131 and support choosing previous input with mouse-2. To control these features,
5132 see the user-options `comint-highlight-input' and `comint-highlight-prompt'.
5134 *** The new command `comint-write-output' (usually bound to `C-c C-s')
5135 saves the output from the most recent command to a file. With a prefix
5136 argument, it appends to the file.
5138 *** The command `comint-kill-output' has been renamed `comint-delete-output'
5139 (usually bound to `C-c C-o'); the old name is aliased to it for
5142 *** The new function `comint-add-to-input-history' adds commands to the input
5145 *** The new variable `comint-input-history-ignore' is a regexp for
5146 identifying history lines that should be ignored, like tcsh time-stamp
5147 strings, starting with a `#'. The default value of this variable is "^#".
5149 ** Changes to Rmail mode
5151 *** The new user-option rmail-user-mail-address-regexp can be
5152 set to fine tune the identification of the correspondent when
5153 receiving new mail. If it matches the address of the sender, the
5154 recipient is taken as correspondent of a mail. If nil, the default,
5155 `user-login-name' and `user-mail-address' are used to exclude yourself
5158 Usually you don't have to set this variable, except if you collect
5159 mails sent by you under different user names. Then it should be a
5160 regexp matching your mail addresses.
5162 *** The new user-option rmail-confirm-expunge controls whether and how
5163 to ask for confirmation before expunging deleted messages from an
5164 Rmail file. You can choose between no confirmation, confirmation
5165 with y-or-n-p, or confirmation with yes-or-no-p. Default is to ask
5166 for confirmation with yes-or-no-p.
5168 *** RET is now bound in the Rmail summary to rmail-summary-goto-msg,
5171 *** There is a new user option `rmail-digest-end-regexps' that
5172 specifies the regular expressions to detect the line that ends a
5175 *** The new user option `rmail-automatic-folder-directives' specifies
5176 in which folder to put messages automatically.
5178 *** The new function `rmail-redecode-body' allows to fix a message
5179 with non-ASCII characters if Emacs happens to decode it incorrectly
5180 due to missing or malformed "charset=" header.
5182 ** The new user-option `mail-envelope-from' can be used to specify
5183 an envelope-from address different from user-mail-address.
5185 ** The variable mail-specify-envelope-from controls whether to
5186 use the -f option when sending mail.
5188 ** The Rmail command `o' (`rmail-output-to-rmail-file') now writes the
5189 current message in the internal `emacs-mule' encoding, rather than in
5190 the encoding taken from the variable `buffer-file-coding-system'.
5191 This allows to save messages whose characters cannot be safely encoded
5192 by the buffer's coding system, and makes sure the message will be
5193 displayed correctly when you later visit the target Rmail file.
5195 If you want your Rmail files be encoded in a specific coding system
5196 other than `emacs-mule', you can customize the variable
5197 `rmail-file-coding-system' to set its value to that coding system.
5199 ** Changes to TeX mode
5201 *** The default mode has been changed from `plain-tex-mode' to
5204 *** latex-mode now has a simple indentation algorithm.
5206 *** M-f and M-p jump around \begin...\end pairs.
5208 *** Added support for outline-minor-mode.
5210 ** Changes to RefTeX mode
5212 *** RefTeX has new support for index generation. Index entries can be
5213 created with `C-c <', with completion available on index keys.
5214 Pressing `C-c /' indexes the word at the cursor with a default
5215 macro. `C-c >' compiles all index entries into an alphabetically
5216 sorted *Index* buffer which looks like the final index. Entries
5217 can be edited from that buffer.
5219 *** Label and citation key selection now allow to select several
5220 items and reference them together (use `m' to mark items, `a' or
5221 `A' to use all marked entries).
5223 *** reftex.el has been split into a number of smaller files to reduce
5224 memory use when only a part of RefTeX is being used.
5226 *** a new command `reftex-view-crossref-from-bibtex' (bound to `C-c &'
5227 in BibTeX-mode) can be called in a BibTeX database buffer in order
5228 to show locations in LaTeX documents where a particular entry has
5231 ** Emacs Lisp mode now allows multiple levels of outline headings.
5232 The level of a heading is determined from the number of leading
5233 semicolons in a heading line. Toplevel forms starting with a `('
5234 in column 1 are always made leaves.
5236 ** The M-x time-stamp command (most commonly used on write-file-hooks)
5237 has the following new features:
5239 *** The patterns for finding the time stamp and for updating a pattern
5240 may match text spanning multiple lines. For example, some people like
5241 to have the filename and date on separate lines. The new variable
5242 time-stamp-inserts-lines controls the matching for multi-line patterns.
5244 *** More than one time stamp can be updated in the same file. This
5245 feature is useful if you need separate time stamps in a program source
5246 file to both include in formatted documentation and insert in the
5247 compiled binary. The same time-stamp will be written at each matching
5248 pattern. The variable time-stamp-count enables this new feature; it
5251 ** Partial Completion mode now completes environment variables in
5256 *** The command `ispell' now spell-checks a region if
5257 transient-mark-mode is on, and the mark is active. Otherwise it
5258 spell-checks the current buffer.
5260 *** Support for synchronous subprocesses - DOS/Windoze - has been
5263 *** An "alignment error" bug was fixed when a manual spelling
5264 correction is made and re-checked.
5266 *** Italian, Portuguese, and Slovak dictionary definitions have been added.
5268 *** Region skipping performance has been vastly improved in some
5271 *** Spell checking HTML buffers has been improved and isn't so strict
5274 *** The buffer-local words are now always placed on a new line at the
5277 *** Spell checking now works in the MS-DOS version of Emacs.
5279 ** Makefile mode changes
5281 *** The mode now uses the abbrev table `makefile-mode-abbrev-table'.
5283 *** Conditionals and include statements are now highlighted when
5284 Fontlock mode is active.
5288 *** Isearch now puts a call to `isearch-resume' in the command history,
5289 so that searches can be resumed.
5291 *** In Isearch mode, C-M-s and C-M-r are now bound like C-s and C-r,
5292 respectively, i.e. you can repeat a regexp isearch with the same keys
5293 that started the search.
5295 *** In Isearch mode, mouse-2 in the echo area now yanks the current
5296 selection into the search string rather than giving an error.
5298 *** There is a new lazy highlighting feature in incremental search.
5300 Lazy highlighting is switched on/off by customizing variable
5301 `isearch-lazy-highlight'. When active, all matches for the current
5302 search string are highlighted. The current match is highlighted as
5303 before using face `isearch' or `region'. All other matches are
5304 highlighted using face `isearch-lazy-highlight-face' which defaults to
5305 `secondary-selection'.
5307 The extra highlighting makes it easier to anticipate where the cursor
5308 will end up each time you press C-s or C-r to repeat a pending search.
5309 Highlighting of these additional matches happens in a deferred fashion
5310 using "idle timers," so the cycles needed do not rob isearch of its
5311 usual snappy response.
5313 If `isearch-lazy-highlight-cleanup' is set to t, highlights for
5314 matches are automatically cleared when you end the search. If it is
5315 set to nil, you can remove the highlights manually with `M-x
5316 isearch-lazy-highlight-cleanup'.
5320 VC has been overhauled internally. It is now modular, making it
5321 easier to plug-in arbitrary version control backends. (See Lisp
5322 Changes for details on the new structure.) As a result, the mechanism
5323 to enable and disable support for particular version systems has
5324 changed: everything is now controlled by the new variable
5325 `vc-handled-backends'. Its value is a list of symbols that identify
5326 version systems; the default is '(RCS CVS SCCS). When finding a file,
5327 each of the backends in that list is tried in order to see whether the
5328 file is registered in that backend.
5330 When registering a new file, VC first tries each of the listed
5331 backends to see if any of them considers itself "responsible" for the
5332 directory of the file (e.g. because a corresponding subdirectory for
5333 master files exists). If none of the backends is responsible, then
5334 the first backend in the list that could register the file is chosen.
5335 As a consequence, the variable `vc-default-back-end' is now obsolete.
5337 The old variable `vc-master-templates' is also obsolete, although VC
5338 still supports it for backward compatibility. To define templates for
5339 RCS or SCCS, you should rather use the new variables
5340 vc-{rcs,sccs}-master-templates. (There is no such feature under CVS
5341 where it doesn't make sense.)
5343 The variables `vc-ignore-vc-files' and `vc-handle-cvs' are also
5344 obsolete now, you must set `vc-handled-backends' to nil or exclude
5345 `CVS' from the list, respectively, to achieve their effect now.
5349 The variable `vc-checkout-carefully' is obsolete: the corresponding
5350 checks are always done now.
5352 VC Dired buffers are now kept up-to-date during all version control
5355 `vc-diff' output is now displayed in `diff-mode'.
5356 `vc-print-log' uses `log-view-mode'.
5357 `vc-log-mode' (used for *VC-Log*) has been replaced by `log-edit-mode'.
5359 The command C-x v m (vc-merge) now accepts an empty argument as the
5360 first revision number. This means that any recent changes on the
5361 current branch should be picked up from the repository and merged into
5362 the working file (``merge news'').
5364 The commands C-x v s (vc-create-snapshot) and C-x v r
5365 (vc-retrieve-snapshot) now ask for a directory name from which to work
5368 *** Multiple Backends
5370 VC now lets you register files in more than one backend. This is
5371 useful, for example, if you are working with a slow remote CVS
5372 repository. You can then use RCS for local editing, and occasionally
5373 commit your changes back to CVS, or pick up changes from CVS into your
5376 To make this work, the ``more local'' backend (RCS in our example)
5377 should come first in `vc-handled-backends', and the ``more remote''
5378 backend (CVS) should come later. (The default value of
5379 `vc-handled-backends' already has it that way.)
5381 You can then commit changes to another backend (say, RCS), by typing
5382 C-u C-x v v RCS RET (i.e. vc-next-action now accepts a backend name as
5383 a revision number). VC registers the file in the more local backend
5384 if that hasn't already happened, and commits to a branch based on the
5385 current revision number from the more remote backend.
5387 If a file is registered in multiple backends, you can switch to
5388 another one using C-x v b (vc-switch-backend). This does not change
5389 any files, it only changes VC's perspective on the file. Use this to
5390 pick up changes from CVS while working under RCS locally.
5392 After you are done with your local RCS editing, you can commit your
5393 changes back to CVS using C-u C-x v v CVS RET. In this case, the
5394 local RCS archive is removed after the commit, and the log entry
5395 buffer is initialized to contain the entire RCS change log of the file.
5399 There is a new user option, `vc-cvs-stay-local'. If it is `t' (the
5400 default), then VC avoids network queries for files registered in
5401 remote repositories. The state of such files is then only determined
5402 by heuristics and past information. `vc-cvs-stay-local' can also be a
5403 regexp to match against repository hostnames; only files from hosts
5404 that match it are treated locally. If the variable is nil, then VC
5405 queries the repository just as often as it does for local files.
5407 If `vc-cvs-stay-local' is on, then VC also makes local backups of
5408 repository versions. This means that ordinary diffs (C-x v =) and
5409 revert operations (C-x v u) can be done completely locally, without
5410 any repository interactions at all. The name of a local version
5411 backup of FILE is FILE.~REV.~, where REV is the repository version
5412 number. This format is similar to that used by C-x v ~
5413 (vc-version-other-window), except for the trailing dot. As a matter
5414 of fact, the two features can each use the files created by the other,
5415 the only difference being that files with a trailing `.' are deleted
5416 automatically after commit. (This feature doesn't work on MS-DOS,
5417 since DOS disallows more than a single dot in the trunk of a file
5420 If `vc-cvs-stay-local' is on, and there have been changes in the
5421 repository, VC notifies you about it when you actually try to commit.
5422 If you want to check for updates from the repository without trying to
5423 commit, you can either use C-x v m RET to perform an update on the
5424 current file, or you can use C-x v r RET to get an update for an
5425 entire directory tree.
5427 The new user option `vc-cvs-use-edit' indicates whether VC should call
5428 "cvs edit" to make files writeable; it defaults to `t'. (This option
5429 is only meaningful if the CVSREAD variable is set, or if files are
5430 "watched" by other developers.)
5432 The commands C-x v s (vc-create-snapshot) and C-x v r
5433 (vc-retrieve-snapshot) are now also implemented for CVS. If you give
5434 an empty snapshot name to the latter, that performs a `cvs update',
5435 starting at the given directory.
5437 *** Lisp Changes in VC
5439 VC has been restructured internally to make it modular. You can now
5440 add support for arbitrary version control backends by writing a
5441 library that provides a certain set of backend-specific functions, and
5442 then telling VC to use that library. For example, to add support for
5443 a version system named SYS, you write a library named vc-sys.el, which
5444 provides a number of functions vc-sys-... (see commentary at the top
5445 of vc.el for a detailed list of them). To make VC use that library,
5446 you need to put it somewhere into Emacs' load path and add the symbol
5447 `SYS' to the list `vc-handled-backends'.
5449 ** The customizable EDT emulation package now supports the EDT
5450 SUBS command and EDT scroll margins. It also works with more
5451 terminal/keyboard configurations and it now works under XEmacs.
5452 See etc/edt-user.doc for more information.
5454 ** New modes and packages
5456 *** The new global minor mode `minibuffer-electric-default-mode'
5457 automatically hides the `(default ...)' part of minibuffer prompts when
5458 the default is not applicable.
5460 *** Artist is an Emacs lisp package that allows you to draw lines,
5461 rectangles and ellipses by using your mouse and/or keyboard. The
5462 shapes are made up with the ascii characters |, -, / and \.
5466 - Intersecting: When a `|' intersects with a `-', a `+' is
5467 drawn, like this: | \ /
5471 - Rubber-banding: When drawing lines you can interactively see the
5472 result while holding the mouse button down and moving the mouse. If
5473 your machine is not fast enough (a 386 is a bit too slow, but a
5474 pentium is well enough), you can turn this feature off. You will
5475 then see 1's and 2's which mark the 1st and 2nd endpoint of the line
5478 - Arrows: After having drawn a (straight) line or a (straight)
5479 poly-line, you can set arrows on the line-ends by typing < or >.
5481 - Flood-filling: You can fill any area with a certain character by
5484 - Cut copy and paste: You can cut, copy and paste rectangular
5485 regions. Artist also interfaces with the rect package (this can be
5486 turned off if it causes you any trouble) so anything you cut in
5487 artist can be yanked with C-x r y and vice versa.
5489 - Drawing with keys: Everything you can do with the mouse, you can
5490 also do without the mouse.
5492 - Aspect-ratio: You can set the variable artist-aspect-ratio to
5493 reflect the height-width ratio for the font you are using. Squares
5494 and circles are then drawn square/round. Note, that once your
5495 ascii-file is shown with font with a different height-width ratio,
5496 the squares won't be square and the circles won't be round.
5498 - Drawing operations: The following drawing operations are implemented:
5500 lines straight-lines
5502 poly-lines straight poly-lines
5504 text (see-thru) text (overwrite)
5505 spray-can setting size for spraying
5506 vaporize line vaporize lines
5507 erase characters erase rectangles
5509 Straight lines are lines that go horizontally, vertically or
5510 diagonally. Plain lines go in any direction. The operations in
5511 the right column are accessed by holding down the shift key while
5514 It is possible to vaporize (erase) entire lines and connected lines
5515 (rectangles for example) as long as the lines being vaporized are
5516 straight and connected at their endpoints. Vaporizing is inspired
5517 by the drawrect package by Jari Aalto <jari.aalto@poboxes.com>.
5519 - Picture mode compatibility: Artist is picture mode compatible (this
5522 *** The new package Eshell is an operating system command shell
5523 implemented entirely in Emacs Lisp. Use `M-x eshell' to invoke it.
5524 It functions similarly to bash and zsh, and allows running of Lisp
5525 functions and external commands using the same syntax. It supports
5526 history lists, aliases, extended globbing, smart scrolling, etc. It
5527 will work on any platform Emacs has been ported to. And since most of
5528 the basic commands -- ls, rm, mv, cp, ln, du, cat, etc. -- have been
5529 rewritten in Lisp, it offers an operating-system independent shell,
5530 all within the scope of your Emacs process.
5532 *** The new package timeclock.el is a mode is for keeping track of time
5533 intervals. You can use it for whatever purpose you like, but the
5534 typical scenario is to keep track of how much time you spend working
5535 on certain projects.
5537 *** The new package hi-lock.el provides commands to highlight matches
5538 of interactively entered regexps. For example,
5540 M-x highlight-regexp RET clearly RET RET
5542 will highlight all occurrences of `clearly' using a yellow background
5543 face. New occurrences of `clearly' will be highlighted as they are
5544 typed. `M-x unhighlight-regexp RET' will remove the highlighting.
5545 Any existing face can be used for highlighting and a set of
5546 appropriate faces is provided. The regexps can be written into the
5547 current buffer in a form that will be recognized the next time the
5548 corresponding file is read. There are commands to highlight matches
5549 to phrases and to highlight entire lines containing a match.
5551 *** The new package zone.el plays games with Emacs' display when
5554 *** The new package tildify.el allows to add hard spaces or other text
5555 fragments in accordance with the current major mode.
5557 *** The new package xml.el provides a simple but generic XML
5558 parser. It doesn't parse the DTDs however.
5560 *** The comment operations are now provided by the newcomment.el
5561 package which allows different styles of comment-region and should
5562 be more robust while offering the same functionality.
5563 `comment-region' now doesn't always comment a-line-at-a-time, but only
5564 comments the region, breaking the line at point if necessary.
5566 *** The Ebrowse package implements a C++ class browser and tags
5567 facilities tailored for use with C++. It is documented in a
5568 separate Texinfo file.
5570 *** The PCL-CVS package available by either running M-x cvs-examine or
5571 by visiting a CVS administrative directory (with a prefix argument)
5572 provides an alternative interface to VC-dired for CVS. It comes with
5573 `log-view-mode' to view RCS and SCCS logs and `log-edit-mode' used to
5574 enter check-in log messages.
5576 *** The new package called `woman' allows to browse Unix man pages
5577 without invoking external programs.
5579 The command `M-x woman' formats manual pages entirely in Emacs Lisp
5580 and then displays them, like `M-x manual-entry' does. Unlike
5581 `manual-entry', `woman' does not invoke any external programs, so it
5582 is useful on systems such as MS-DOS/MS-Windows where the `man' and
5583 Groff or `troff' commands are not readily available.
5585 The command `M-x woman-find-file' asks for the file name of a man
5586 page, then formats and displays it like `M-x woman' does.
5588 *** The new command M-x re-builder offers a convenient interface for
5589 authoring regular expressions with immediate visual feedback.
5591 The buffer from which the command was called becomes the target for
5592 the regexp editor popping up in a separate window. Matching text in
5593 the target buffer is immediately color marked during the editing.
5594 Each sub-expression of the regexp will show up in a different face so
5595 even complex regexps can be edited and verified on target data in a
5598 On displays not supporting faces the matches instead blink like
5599 matching parens to make them stand out. On such a setup you will
5600 probably also want to use the sub-expression mode when the regexp
5601 contains such to get feedback about their respective limits.
5603 *** glasses-mode is a minor mode that makes
5604 unreadableIdentifiersLikeThis readable. It works as glasses, without
5605 actually modifying content of a buffer.
5607 *** The package ebnf2ps translates an EBNF to a syntactic chart in
5610 Currently accepts ad-hoc EBNF, ISO EBNF and Bison/Yacc.
5612 The ad-hoc default EBNF syntax has the following elements:
5614 ; comment (until end of line)
5618 $A default non-terminal
5619 $"C" default terminal
5620 $?C? default special
5621 A = B. production (A is the header and B the body)
5622 C D sequence (C occurs before D)
5623 C | D alternative (C or D occurs)
5624 A - B exception (A excluding B, B without any non-terminal)
5625 n * A repetition (A repeats n (integer) times)
5626 (C) group (expression C is grouped together)
5627 [C] optional (C may or not occurs)
5628 C+ one or more occurrences of C
5629 {C}+ one or more occurrences of C
5630 {C}* zero or more occurrences of C
5631 {C} zero or more occurrences of C
5632 C / D equivalent to: C {D C}*
5633 {C || D}+ equivalent to: C {D C}*
5634 {C || D}* equivalent to: [C {D C}*]
5635 {C || D} equivalent to: [C {D C}*]
5637 Please, see ebnf2ps documentation for EBNF syntax and how to use it.
5639 *** The package align.el will align columns within a region, using M-x
5640 align. Its mode-specific rules, based on regular expressions,
5641 determine where the columns should be split. In C and C++, for
5642 example, it will align variable names in declaration lists, or the
5643 equal signs of assignments.
5645 *** `paragraph-indent-minor-mode' is a new minor mode supporting
5646 paragraphs in the same style as `paragraph-indent-text-mode'.
5648 *** bs.el is a new package for buffer selection similar to
5649 list-buffers or electric-buffer-list. Use M-x bs-show to display a
5650 buffer menu with this package. See the Custom group `bs'.
5652 *** find-lisp.el is a package emulating the Unix find command in Lisp.
5654 *** calculator.el is a small calculator package that is intended to
5655 replace desktop calculators such as xcalc and calc.exe. Actually, it
5656 is not too small - it has more features than most desktop calculators,
5657 and can be customized easily to get many more functions. It should
5658 not be confused with "calc" which is a much bigger mathematical tool
5659 which answers different needs.
5661 *** The minor modes cwarn-mode and global-cwarn-mode highlights
5662 suspicious C and C++ constructions. Currently, assignments inside
5663 expressions, semicolon following `if', `for' and `while' (except, of
5664 course, after a `do .. while' statement), and C++ functions with
5665 reference parameters are recognized. The modes require font-lock mode
5668 *** smerge-mode.el provides `smerge-mode', a simple minor-mode for files
5669 containing diff3-style conflict markers, such as generated by RCS.
5671 *** 5x5.el is a simple puzzle game.
5673 *** hl-line.el provides `hl-line-mode', a minor mode to highlight the
5674 current line in the current buffer. It also provides
5675 `global-hl-line-mode' to provide the same behavior in all buffers.
5677 *** ansi-color.el translates ANSI terminal escapes into text-properties.
5679 Please note: if `ansi-color-for-comint-mode' and
5680 `global-font-lock-mode' are non-nil, loading ansi-color.el will
5681 disable font-lock and add `ansi-color-apply' to
5682 `comint-preoutput-filter-functions' for all shell-mode buffers. This
5683 displays the output of "ls --color=yes" using the correct foreground
5684 and background colors.
5686 *** delphi.el provides a major mode for editing the Delphi (Object
5689 *** quickurl.el provides a simple method of inserting a URL based on
5692 *** sql.el provides an interface to SQL data bases.
5694 *** fortune.el uses the fortune program to create mail/news signatures.
5696 *** whitespace.el is a package for warning about and cleaning bogus
5697 whitespace in a file.
5699 *** PostScript mode (ps-mode) is a new major mode for editing PostScript
5700 files. It offers: interaction with a PostScript interpreter, including
5701 (very basic) error handling; fontification, easily customizable for
5702 interpreter messages; auto-indentation; insertion of EPSF templates and
5703 often used code snippets; viewing of BoundingBox; commenting out /
5704 uncommenting regions; conversion of 8bit characters to PostScript octal
5705 codes. All functionality is accessible through a menu.
5707 *** delim-col helps to prettify columns in a text region or rectangle.
5709 Here is an example of columns:
5712 dog pineapple car EXTRA
5713 porcupine strawberry airplane
5715 Doing the following settings:
5717 (setq delimit-columns-str-before "[ ")
5718 (setq delimit-columns-str-after " ]")
5719 (setq delimit-columns-str-separator ", ")
5720 (setq delimit-columns-separator "\t")
5723 Selecting the lines above and typing:
5725 M-x delimit-columns-region
5729 [ horse , apple , bus , ]
5730 [ dog , pineapple , car , EXTRA ]
5731 [ porcupine, strawberry, airplane, ]
5733 delim-col has the following options:
5735 delimit-columns-str-before Specify a string to be inserted
5738 delimit-columns-str-separator Specify a string to be inserted
5739 between each column.
5741 delimit-columns-str-after Specify a string to be inserted
5744 delimit-columns-separator Specify a regexp which separates
5747 delim-col has the following commands:
5749 delimit-columns-region Prettify all columns in a text region.
5750 delimit-columns-rectangle Prettify all columns in a text rectangle.
5752 *** Recentf mode maintains a menu for visiting files that were
5753 operated on recently. User option recentf-menu-filter specifies a
5754 menu filter function to change the menu appearance. For example, the
5755 recent file list can be displayed:
5757 - organized by major modes, directories or user defined rules.
5758 - sorted by file paths, file names, ascending or descending.
5759 - showing paths relative to the current default-directory
5761 The `recentf-filter-changer' menu filter function allows to
5762 dynamically change the menu appearance.
5764 *** elide-head.el provides a mechanism for eliding boilerplate header
5767 *** footnote.el provides `footnote-mode', a minor mode supporting use
5768 of footnotes. It is intended for use with Message mode, but isn't
5769 specific to Message mode.
5771 *** diff-mode.el provides `diff-mode', a major mode for
5772 viewing/editing context diffs (patches). It is selected for files
5773 with extension `.diff', `.diffs', `.patch' and `.rej'.
5775 *** EUDC, the Emacs Unified Directory Client, provides a common user
5776 interface to access directory servers using different directory
5777 protocols. It has a separate manual.
5779 *** autoconf.el provides a major mode for editing configure.in files
5780 for Autoconf, selected automatically.
5782 *** windmove.el provides moving between windows.
5784 *** crm.el provides a facility to read multiple strings from the
5785 minibuffer with completion.
5787 *** todo-mode.el provides management of TODO lists and integration
5788 with the diary features.
5790 *** autoarg.el provides a feature reported from Twenex Emacs whereby
5791 numeric keys supply prefix args rather than self inserting.
5793 *** The function `turn-off-auto-fill' unconditionally turns off Auto
5796 *** pcomplete.el is a library that provides programmable completion
5797 facilities for Emacs, similar to what zsh and tcsh offer. The main
5798 difference is that completion functions are written in Lisp, meaning
5799 they can be profiled, debugged, etc.
5801 *** antlr-mode is a new major mode for editing ANTLR grammar files.
5802 It is automatically turned on for files whose names have the extension
5805 ** Changes in sort.el
5807 The function sort-numeric-fields interprets numbers starting with `0'
5808 as octal and numbers starting with `0x' or `0X' as hexadecimal. The
5809 new user-option sort-numeric-base can be used to specify a default
5812 ** Changes to Ange-ftp
5814 *** Ange-ftp allows you to specify of a port number in remote file
5815 names cleanly. It is appended to the host name, separated by a hash
5816 sign, e.g. `/foo@bar.org#666:mumble'. (This syntax comes from EFS.)
5818 *** If the new user-option `ange-ftp-try-passive-mode' is set, passive
5819 ftp mode will be used if the ftp client supports that.
5821 *** Ange-ftp handles the output of the w32-style clients which
5822 output ^M at the end of lines.
5824 ** The recommended way of using Iswitchb is via the new global minor
5825 mode `iswitchb-mode'.
5827 ** Just loading the msb package doesn't switch on Msb mode anymore.
5828 If you have `(require 'msb)' in your .emacs, please replace it with
5831 ** Flyspell mode has various new options. See the `flyspell' Custom
5834 ** The user option `backward-delete-char-untabify-method' controls the
5835 behavior of `backward-delete-char-untabify'. The following values
5838 `untabify' -- turn a tab to many spaces, then delete one space;
5839 `hungry' -- delete all whitespace, both tabs and spaces;
5840 `all' -- delete all whitespace, including tabs, spaces and newlines;
5841 nil -- just delete one character.
5843 Default value is `untabify'.
5845 [This change was made in Emacs 20.3 but not mentioned then.]
5847 ** In Cperl mode `cperl-invalid-face' should now be a normal face
5848 symbol, not double-quoted.
5850 ** Some packages are declared obsolete, to be removed in a future
5851 version. They are: auto-show, c-mode, hilit19, hscroll, ooutline,
5852 profile, rnews, rnewspost, and sc. Their implementations have been
5853 moved to lisp/obsolete.
5855 ** auto-compression mode is no longer enabled just by loading jka-compr.el.
5856 To control it, set `auto-compression-mode' via Custom or use the
5857 `auto-compression-mode' command.
5859 ** `browse-url-gnome-moz' is a new option for
5860 `browse-url-browser-function', invoking Mozilla in GNOME, and
5861 `browse-url-kde' can be chosen for invoking the KDE browser.
5863 ** The user-option `browse-url-new-window-p' has been renamed to
5864 `browse-url-new-window-flag'.
5866 ** The functions `keep-lines', `flush-lines' and `how-many' now
5867 operate on the active region in Transient Mark mode.
5869 ** `gnus-user-agent' is a new possibility for `mail-user-agent'. It
5870 is like `message-user-agent', but with all the Gnus paraphernalia.
5872 ** The Strokes package has been updated. If your Emacs has XPM
5873 support, you can use it for pictographic editing. In Strokes mode,
5874 use C-mouse-2 to compose a complex stoke and insert it into the
5875 buffer. You can encode or decode a strokes buffer with new commands
5876 M-x strokes-encode-buffer and M-x strokes-decode-buffer. There is a
5877 new command M-x strokes-list-strokes.
5879 ** Hexl contains a new command `hexl-insert-hex-string' which inserts
5880 a string of hexadecimal numbers read from the mini-buffer.
5882 ** Hexl mode allows to insert non-ASCII characters.
5884 The non-ASCII characters are encoded using the same encoding as the
5885 file you are visiting in Hexl mode.
5887 ** Shell script mode changes.
5889 Shell script mode (sh-script) can now indent scripts for shells
5890 derived from sh and rc. The indentation style is customizable, and
5891 sh-script can attempt to "learn" the current buffer's style.
5895 *** In DOS, etags looks for file.cgz if it cannot find file.c.
5897 *** New option --ignore-case-regex is an alternative to --regex. It is now
5898 possible to bind a regexp to a language, by prepending the regexp with
5899 {lang}, where lang is one of the languages that `etags --help' prints out.
5900 This feature is useful especially for regex files, where each line contains
5901 a regular expression. The manual contains details.
5903 *** In C and derived languages, etags creates tags for function
5904 declarations when given the --declarations option.
5906 *** In C++, tags are created for "operator". The tags have the form
5907 "operator+", without spaces between the keyword and the operator.
5909 *** You shouldn't generally need any more the -C or -c++ option: etags
5910 automatically switches to C++ parsing when it meets the `class' or
5911 `template' keywords.
5913 *** Etags now is able to delve at arbitrary deeps into nested structures in
5914 C-like languages. Previously, it was limited to one or two brace levels.
5916 *** New language Ada: tags are functions, procedures, packages, tasks, and
5919 *** In Fortran, `procedure' is not tagged.
5921 *** In Java, tags are created for "interface".
5923 *** In Lisp, "(defstruct (foo", "(defun (operator" and similar constructs
5926 *** In makefiles, tags the targets.
5928 *** In Perl, the --globals option tags global variables. my and local
5929 variables are tagged.
5931 *** New language Python: def and class at the beginning of a line are tags.
5933 *** .ss files are Scheme files, .pdb is Postscript with C syntax, .psw is
5936 ** Changes in etags.el
5938 *** The new user-option tags-case-fold-search can be used to make
5939 tags operations case-sensitive or case-insensitive. The default
5940 is to use the same setting as case-fold-search.
5942 *** You can display additional output with M-x tags-apropos by setting
5943 the new variable tags-apropos-additional-actions.
5945 If non-nil, the variable's value should be a list of triples (TITLE
5946 FUNCTION TO-SEARCH). For each triple, M-x tags-apropos processes
5947 TO-SEARCH and lists tags from it. TO-SEARCH should be an alist,
5948 obarray, or symbol. If it is a symbol, the symbol's value is used.
5950 TITLE is a string to use to label the list of tags from TO-SEARCH.
5952 FUNCTION is a function to call when an entry is selected in the Tags
5953 List buffer. It is called with one argument, the selected symbol.
5955 A useful example value for this variable might be something like:
5957 '(("Emacs Lisp" Info-goto-emacs-command-node obarray)
5958 ("Common Lisp" common-lisp-hyperspec common-lisp-hyperspec-obarray)
5959 ("SCWM" scwm-documentation scwm-obarray))
5961 *** The face tags-tag-face can be used to customize the appearance
5962 of tags in the output of M-x tags-apropos.
5964 *** Setting tags-apropos-verbose to a non-nil value displays the
5965 names of tags files in the *Tags List* buffer.
5967 *** You can now search for tags that are part of the filename itself.
5968 If you have tagged the files topfile.c subdir/subfile.c
5969 /tmp/tempfile.c, you can now search for tags "topfile.c", "subfile.c",
5970 "dir/sub", "tempfile", "tempfile.c". If the tag matches the file name,
5971 point will go to the beginning of the file.
5973 *** Compressed files are now transparently supported if
5974 auto-compression-mode is active. You can tag (with Etags) and search
5975 (with find-tag) both compressed and uncompressed files.
5977 *** Tags commands like M-x tags-search no longer change point
5978 in buffers where no match is found. In buffers where a match is
5979 found, the original value of point is pushed on the marker ring.
5981 ** Fortran mode has a new command `fortran-strip-sequence-nos' to
5982 remove text past column 72. The syntax class of `\' in Fortran is now
5983 appropriate for C-style escape sequences in strings.
5985 ** SGML mode's default `sgml-validate-command' is now `nsgmls'.
5987 ** A new command `view-emacs-problems' (C-h P) displays the PROBLEMS file.
5989 ** The Dabbrev package has a new user-option `dabbrev-ignored-regexps'
5990 containing a list of regular expressions. Buffers matching a regular
5991 expression from that list, are not checked.
5993 ** Emacs can now figure out modification times of remote files.
5994 When you do C-x C-f /user@host:/path/file RET and edit the file,
5995 and someone else modifies the file, you will be prompted to revert
5996 the buffer, just like for the local files.
5998 ** The buffer menu (C-x C-b) no longer lists the *Buffer List* buffer.
6000 ** When invoked with a prefix argument, the command `list-abbrevs' now
6001 displays local abbrevs, only.
6003 ** Refill minor mode provides preliminary support for keeping
6004 paragraphs filled as you modify them.
6006 ** The variable `double-click-fuzz' specifies how much the mouse
6007 may be moved between clicks that are recognized as a pair. Its value
6008 is measured in pixels.
6010 ** The new global minor mode `auto-image-file-mode' allows image files
6011 to be visited as images.
6013 ** Two new user-options `grep-command' and `grep-find-command'
6014 were added to compile.el.
6016 ** Withdrawn packages
6018 *** mldrag.el has been removed. mouse.el provides the same
6019 functionality with aliases for the mldrag functions.
6021 *** eval-reg.el has been obsoleted by changes to edebug.el and removed.
6023 *** ph.el has been obsoleted by EUDC and removed.
6026 * Incompatible Lisp changes
6028 There are a few Lisp changes which are not backwards-compatible and
6029 may require changes to existing code. Here is a list for reference.
6030 See the sections below for details.
6032 ** Since `format' preserves text properties, the idiom
6033 `(format "%s" foo)' no longer works to copy and remove properties.
6034 Use `copy-sequence' to copy the string, then use `set-text-properties'
6035 to remove the properties of the copy.
6037 ** Since the `keymap' text property now has significance, some code
6038 which uses both `local-map' and `keymap' properties (for portability)
6039 may, for instance, give rise to duplicate menus when the keymaps from
6040 these properties are active.
6042 ** The change in the treatment of non-ASCII characters in search
6043 ranges may affect some code.
6045 ** A non-nil value for the LOCAL arg of add-hook makes the hook
6046 buffer-local even if `make-local-hook' hasn't been called, which might
6047 make a difference to some code.
6049 ** The new treatment of the minibuffer prompt might affect code which
6050 operates on the minibuffer.
6052 ** The new character sets `eight-bit-control' and `eight-bit-graphic'
6053 cause `no-conversion' and `emacs-mule-unix' coding systems to produce
6054 different results when reading files with non-ASCII characters
6055 (previously, both coding systems would produce the same results).
6056 Specifically, `no-conversion' interprets each 8-bit byte as a separate
6057 character. This makes `no-conversion' inappropriate for reading
6058 multibyte text, e.g. buffers written to disk in their internal MULE
6059 encoding (auto-saving does that, for example). If a Lisp program
6060 reads such files with `no-conversion', each byte of the multibyte
6061 sequence, including the MULE leading codes such as \201, is treated as
6062 a separate character, which prevents them from being interpreted in
6063 the buffer as multibyte characters.
6065 Therefore, Lisp programs that read files which contain the internal
6066 MULE encoding should use `emacs-mule-unix'. `no-conversion' is only
6067 appropriate for reading truly binary files.
6069 ** Code that relies on the obsolete `before-change-function' and
6070 `after-change-function' to detect buffer changes will now fail. Use
6071 `before-change-functions' and `after-change-functions' instead.
6073 ** Code that uses `concat' with integer args now gets an error, as
6074 long promised. So does any code that uses derivatives of `concat',
6075 such as `mapconcat'.
6077 ** The function base64-decode-string now always returns a unibyte
6080 ** Not a Lisp incompatibility as such but, with the introduction of
6081 extra private charsets, there is now only one slot free for a new
6082 dimension-2 private charset. User code which tries to add more than
6083 one extra will fail unless you rebuild Emacs with some standard
6084 charset(s) removed; that is probably inadvisable because it changes
6085 the emacs-mule encoding. Also, files stored in the emacs-mule
6086 encoding using Emacs 20 with additional private charsets defined will
6087 probably not be read correctly by Emacs 21.
6089 ** The variable `directory-sep-char' is slated for removal.
6090 Not really a change (yet), but a projected one that you should be
6091 aware of: The variable `directory-sep-char' is deprecated, and should
6092 not be used. It was always ignored on GNU/Linux and Unix systems and
6093 on MS-DOS, but the MS-Windows port tried to support it by adapting the
6094 behavior of certain primitives to the value of this variable. It
6095 turned out that such support cannot be reliable, so it was decided to
6096 remove this variable in the near future. Lisp programs are well
6097 advised not to set it to anything but '/', because any different value
6098 will not have any effect when support for this variable is removed.
6101 * Lisp changes made after edition 2.6 of the Emacs Lisp Manual,
6102 (Display-related features are described in a page of their own below.)
6104 ** Function assq-delete-all replaces function assoc-delete-all.
6106 ** The new function animate-string, from lisp/play/animate.el
6107 allows the animated display of strings.
6109 ** The new function `interactive-form' can be used to obtain the
6110 interactive form of a function.
6112 ** The keyword :set-after in defcustom allows to specify dependencies
6113 between custom options. Example:
6115 (defcustom default-input-method nil
6116 "*Default input method for multilingual text (a string).
6117 This is the input method activated automatically by the command
6118 `toggle-input-method' (\\[toggle-input-method])."
6120 :type '(choice (const nil) string)
6121 :set-after '(current-language-environment))
6123 This specifies that default-input-method should be set after
6124 current-language-environment even if default-input-method appears
6125 first in a custom-set-variables statement.
6127 ** The new hook `kbd-macro-termination-hook' is run at the end of
6128 function execute-kbd-macro. Functions on this hook are called with no
6129 args. The hook is run independent of how the macro was terminated
6130 (signal or normal termination).
6132 ** Functions `butlast' and `nbutlast' for removing trailing elements
6133 from a list are now available without requiring the CL package.
6135 ** The new user-option `even-window-heights' can be set to nil
6136 to prevent `display-buffer' from evening out window heights.
6138 ** The user-option `face-font-registry-alternatives' specifies
6139 alternative font registry names to try when looking for a font.
6141 ** Function `md5' calculates the MD5 "message digest"/"checksum".
6143 ** Function `delete-frame' runs `delete-frame-hook' before actually
6144 deleting the frame. The hook is called with one arg, the frame
6147 ** `add-hook' now makes the hook local if called with a non-nil LOCAL arg.
6149 ** The treatment of non-ASCII characters in search ranges has changed.
6150 If a range in a regular expression or the arg of
6151 skip-chars-forward/backward starts with a unibyte character C and ends
6152 with a multibyte character C2, the range is divided into two: one is
6153 C..?\377, the other is C1..C2, where C1 is the first character of C2's
6156 ** The new function `display-message-or-buffer' displays a message in
6157 the echo area or pops up a buffer, depending on the length of the
6160 ** The new macro `with-auto-compression-mode' allows evaluating an
6161 expression with auto-compression-mode enabled.
6163 ** In image specifications, `:heuristic-mask' has been replaced
6164 with the more general `:mask' property.
6166 ** Image specifications accept more `:conversion's.
6168 ** A `?' can be used in a symbol name without escaping it with a
6171 ** Reading from the mini-buffer now reads from standard input if Emacs
6172 is running in batch mode. For example,
6174 (message "%s" (read t))
6176 will read a Lisp expression from standard input and print the result
6179 ** The argument of `down-list', `backward-up-list', `up-list',
6180 `kill-sexp', `backward-kill-sexp' and `mark-sexp' is now optional.
6182 ** If `display-buffer-reuse-frames' is set, function `display-buffer'
6183 will raise frames displaying a buffer, instead of creating a new
6186 ** Two new functions for removing elements from lists/sequences
6189 - Function: remove ELT SEQ
6191 Return a copy of SEQ with all occurrences of ELT removed. SEQ must be
6192 a list, vector, or string. The comparison is done with `equal'.
6194 - Function: remq ELT LIST
6196 Return a copy of LIST with all occurrences of ELT removed. The
6197 comparison is done with `eq'.
6199 ** The function `delete' now also works with vectors and strings.
6201 ** The meaning of the `:weakness WEAK' argument of make-hash-table
6202 has been changed: WEAK can now have new values `key-or-value' and
6203 `key-and-value', in addition to `nil', `key', `value', and `t'.
6205 ** Function `aset' stores any multibyte character in any string
6206 without signaling "Attempt to change char length of a string". It may
6207 convert a unibyte string to multibyte if necessary.
6209 ** The value of the `help-echo' text property is called as a function
6210 or evaluated, if it is not a string already, to obtain a help string.
6212 ** Function `make-obsolete' now has an optional arg to say when the
6213 function was declared obsolete.
6215 ** Function `plist-member' is renamed from `widget-plist-member' (which is
6216 retained as an alias).
6218 ** Easy-menu's :filter now works as in XEmacs.
6219 It takes the unconverted (i.e. XEmacs) form of the menu and the result
6220 is automatically converted to Emacs' form.
6222 ** The new function `window-list' has been defined
6224 - Function: window-list &optional FRAME WINDOW MINIBUF
6226 Return a list of windows on FRAME, starting with WINDOW. FRAME nil or
6227 omitted means use the selected frame. WINDOW nil or omitted means use
6228 the selected window. MINIBUF t means include the minibuffer window,
6229 even if it isn't active. MINIBUF nil or omitted means include the
6230 minibuffer window only if it's active. MINIBUF neither nil nor t
6231 means never include the minibuffer window.
6233 ** There's a new function `get-window-with-predicate' defined as follows
6235 - Function: get-window-with-predicate PREDICATE &optional MINIBUF ALL-FRAMES DEFAULT
6237 Return a window satisfying PREDICATE.
6239 This function cycles through all visible windows using `walk-windows',
6240 calling PREDICATE on each one. PREDICATE is called with a window as
6241 argument. The first window for which PREDICATE returns a non-nil
6242 value is returned. If no window satisfies PREDICATE, DEFAULT is
6245 Optional second arg MINIBUF t means count the minibuffer window even
6246 if not active. MINIBUF nil or omitted means count the minibuffer iff
6247 it is active. MINIBUF neither t nor nil means not to count the
6248 minibuffer even if it is active.
6250 Several frames may share a single minibuffer; if the minibuffer
6251 counts, all windows on all frames that share that minibuffer count
6252 too. Therefore, if you are using a separate minibuffer frame
6253 and the minibuffer is active and MINIBUF says it counts,
6254 `walk-windows' includes the windows in the frame from which you
6255 entered the minibuffer, as well as the minibuffer window.
6257 ALL-FRAMES is the optional third argument.
6258 ALL-FRAMES nil or omitted means cycle within the frames as specified above.
6259 ALL-FRAMES = `visible' means include windows on all visible frames.
6260 ALL-FRAMES = 0 means include windows on all visible and iconified frames.
6261 ALL-FRAMES = t means include windows on all frames including invisible frames.
6262 If ALL-FRAMES is a frame, it means include windows on that frame.
6263 Anything else means restrict to the selected frame.
6265 ** The function `single-key-description' now encloses function key and
6266 event names in angle brackets. When called with a second optional
6267 argument non-nil, angle brackets won't be printed.
6269 ** If the variable `message-truncate-lines' is bound to t around a
6270 call to `message', the echo area will not be resized to display that
6271 message; it will be truncated instead, as it was done in 20.x.
6272 Default value is nil.
6274 ** The user option `line-number-display-limit' can now be set to nil,
6277 ** The new user option `line-number-display-limit-width' controls
6278 the maximum width of lines in a buffer for which Emacs displays line
6279 numbers in the mode line. The default is 200.
6281 ** `select-safe-coding-system' now also checks the most preferred
6282 coding-system if buffer-file-coding-system is `undecided' and
6283 DEFAULT-CODING-SYSTEM is not specified,
6285 ** The function `subr-arity' provides information about the argument
6286 list of a primitive.
6288 ** `where-is-internal' now also accepts a list of keymaps.
6290 ** The text property `keymap' specifies a key map which overrides the
6291 buffer's local map and the map specified by the `local-map' property.
6292 This is probably what most current uses of `local-map' want, rather
6293 than replacing the local map.
6295 ** The obsolete variables `before-change-function' and
6296 `after-change-function' are no longer acted upon and have been
6297 removed. Use `before-change-functions' and `after-change-functions'
6300 ** The function `apropos-mode' runs the hook `apropos-mode-hook'.
6302 ** `concat' no longer accepts individual integer arguments,
6303 as promised long ago.
6305 ** The new function `float-time' returns the current time as a float.
6307 ** The new variable auto-coding-regexp-alist specifies coding systems
6308 for reading specific files, analogous to auto-coding-alist, but
6309 patterns are checked against file contents instead of file names.
6312 * Lisp changes in Emacs 21.1 (see following page for display-related features)
6314 ** The new package rx.el provides an alternative sexp notation for
6315 regular expressions.
6317 - Function: rx-to-string SEXP
6319 Translate SEXP into a regular expression in string notation.
6323 Translate SEXP into a regular expression in string notation.
6325 The following are valid subforms of regular expressions in sexp
6329 matches string STRING literally.
6332 matches character CHAR literally.
6335 matches any character except a newline.
6338 matches any character
6341 matches any character in SET. SET may be a character or string.
6342 Ranges of characters can be specified as `A-Z' in strings.
6348 matches any character not in SET
6351 matches the empty string, but only at the beginning of a line
6352 in the text being matched
6355 is similar to `line-start' but matches only at the end of a line
6358 matches the empty string, but only at the beginning of the
6359 string being matched against.
6362 matches the empty string, but only at the end of the
6363 string being matched against.
6366 matches the empty string, but only at the beginning of the
6367 buffer being matched against.
6370 matches the empty string, but only at the end of the
6371 buffer being matched against.
6374 matches the empty string, but only at point.
6377 matches the empty string, but only at the beginning or end of a
6381 matches the empty string, but only at the end of a word.
6384 matches the empty string, but only at the beginning or end of a
6387 `(not word-boundary)'
6388 matches the empty string, but not at the beginning or end of a
6392 matches 0 through 9.
6395 matches ASCII control characters.
6398 matches 0 through 9, a through f and A through F.
6401 matches space and tab only.
6404 matches graphic characters--everything except ASCII control chars,
6408 matches printing characters--everything except ASCII control chars
6412 matches letters and digits. (But at present, for multibyte characters,
6413 it matches anything that has word syntax.)
6416 matches letters. (But at present, for multibyte characters,
6417 it matches anything that has word syntax.)
6420 matches ASCII (unibyte) characters.
6423 matches non-ASCII (multibyte) characters.
6426 matches anything lower-case.
6429 matches anything upper-case.
6432 matches punctuation. (But at present, for multibyte characters,
6433 it matches anything that has non-word syntax.)
6436 matches anything that has whitespace syntax.
6439 matches anything that has word syntax.
6442 matches a character with syntax SYNTAX. SYNTAX must be one
6443 of the following symbols.
6445 `whitespace' (\\s- in string notation)
6446 `punctuation' (\\s.)
6449 `open-parenthesis' (\\s()
6450 `close-parenthesis' (\\s))
6451 `expression-prefix' (\\s')
6452 `string-quote' (\\s\")
6453 `paired-delimiter' (\\s$)
6455 `character-quote' (\\s/)
6456 `comment-start' (\\s<)
6457 `comment-end' (\\s>)
6459 `(not (syntax SYNTAX))'
6460 matches a character that has not syntax SYNTAX.
6462 `(category CATEGORY)'
6463 matches a character with category CATEGORY. CATEGORY must be
6464 either a character to use for C, or one of the following symbols.
6466 `consonant' (\\c0 in string notation)
6468 `upper-diacritical-mark' (\\c2)
6469 `lower-diacritical-mark' (\\c3)
6473 `vowel-modifying-diacritical-mark' (\\c7)
6475 `semivowel-lower' (\\c9)
6476 `not-at-end-of-line' (\\c<)
6477 `not-at-beginning-of-line' (\\c>)
6478 `alpha-numeric-two-byte' (\\cA)
6479 `chinse-two-byte' (\\cC)
6480 `greek-two-byte' (\\cG)
6481 `japanese-hiragana-two-byte' (\\cH)
6482 `indian-two-byte' (\\cI)
6483 `japanese-katakana-two-byte' (\\cK)
6484 `korean-hangul-two-byte' (\\cN)
6485 `cyrillic-two-byte' (\\cY)
6494 `japanese-katakana' (\\ck)
6498 `japanese-roman' (\\cr)
6505 `(not (category CATEGORY))'
6506 matches a character that has not category CATEGORY.
6508 `(and SEXP1 SEXP2 ...)'
6509 matches what SEXP1 matches, followed by what SEXP2 matches, etc.
6511 `(submatch SEXP1 SEXP2 ...)'
6512 like `and', but makes the match accessible with `match-end',
6513 `match-beginning', and `match-string'.
6515 `(group SEXP1 SEXP2 ...)'
6516 another name for `submatch'.
6518 `(or SEXP1 SEXP2 ...)'
6519 matches anything that matches SEXP1 or SEXP2, etc. If all
6520 args are strings, use `regexp-opt' to optimize the resulting
6523 `(minimal-match SEXP)'
6524 produce a non-greedy regexp for SEXP. Normally, regexps matching
6525 zero or more occurrences of something are \"greedy\" in that they
6526 match as much as they can, as long as the overall regexp can
6527 still match. A non-greedy regexp matches as little as possible.
6529 `(maximal-match SEXP)'
6530 produce a greedy regexp for SEXP. This is the default.
6532 `(zero-or-more SEXP)'
6533 matches zero or more occurrences of what SEXP matches.
6536 like `zero-or-more'.
6539 like `zero-or-more', but always produces a greedy regexp.
6542 like `zero-or-more', but always produces a non-greedy regexp.
6544 `(one-or-more SEXP)'
6545 matches one or more occurrences of A.
6551 like `one-or-more', but always produces a greedy regexp.
6554 like `one-or-more', but always produces a non-greedy regexp.
6556 `(zero-or-one SEXP)'
6557 matches zero or one occurrences of A.
6563 like `zero-or-one', but always produces a greedy regexp.
6566 like `zero-or-one', but always produces a non-greedy regexp.
6569 matches N occurrences of what SEXP matches.
6572 matches N to M occurrences of what SEXP matches.
6575 evaluate FORM and insert result. If result is a string,
6579 include REGEXP in string notation in the result.
6581 *** The features `md5' and `overlay' are now provided by default.
6583 *** The special form `save-restriction' now works correctly even if the
6584 buffer is widened inside the save-restriction and changes made outside
6585 the original restriction. Previously, doing this would cause the saved
6586 restriction to be restored incorrectly.
6588 *** The functions `find-charset-region' and `find-charset-string' include
6589 `eight-bit-control' and/or `eight-bit-graphic' in the returned list
6590 when they find 8-bit characters. Previously, they included `ascii' in a
6591 multibyte buffer and `unknown' in a unibyte buffer.
6593 *** The functions `set-buffer-multibyte', `string-as-multibyte' and
6594 `string-as-unibyte' change the byte sequence of a buffer or a string
6595 if it contains a character from the `eight-bit-control' character set.
6597 *** The handling of multibyte sequences in a multibyte buffer is
6598 changed. Previously, a byte sequence matching the pattern
6599 [\200-\237][\240-\377]+ was interpreted as a single character
6600 regardless of the length of the trailing bytes [\240-\377]+. Thus, if
6601 the sequence was longer than what the leading byte indicated, the
6602 extra trailing bytes were ignored by Lisp functions. Now such extra
6603 bytes are independent 8-bit characters belonging to the charset
6606 ** Fontsets are now implemented using char-tables.
6608 A fontset can now be specified for each independent character, for
6609 a group of characters or for a character set rather than just for a
6610 character set as previously.
6612 *** The arguments of the function `set-fontset-font' are changed.
6613 They are NAME, CHARACTER, FONTNAME, and optional FRAME. The function
6614 modifies fontset NAME to use FONTNAME for CHARACTER.
6616 CHARACTER may be a cons (FROM . TO), where FROM and TO are non-generic
6617 characters. In that case FONTNAME is used for all characters in the
6618 range FROM and TO (inclusive). CHARACTER may be a charset. In that
6619 case FONTNAME is used for all character in the charset.
6621 FONTNAME may be a cons (FAMILY . REGISTRY), where FAMILY is the family
6622 name of a font and REGISTRY is a registry name of a font.
6624 *** Variable x-charset-registry has been deleted. The default charset
6625 registries of character sets are set in the default fontset
6628 *** The function `create-fontset-from-fontset-spec' ignores the second
6629 argument STYLE-VARIANT. It never creates style-variant fontsets.
6631 ** The method of composing characters is changed. Now character
6632 composition is done by a special text property `composition' in
6633 buffers and strings.
6635 *** Charset composition is deleted. Emacs never creates a `composite
6636 character' which is an independent character with a unique character
6637 code. Thus the following functions handling `composite characters'
6638 have been deleted: composite-char-component,
6639 composite-char-component-count, composite-char-composition-rule,
6640 composite-char-composition-rule and decompose-composite-char delete.
6641 The variables leading-code-composition and min-composite-char have
6644 *** Three more glyph reference points are added. They can be used to
6645 specify a composition rule. See the documentation of the variable
6646 `reference-point-alist' for more detail.
6648 *** The function `compose-region' takes new arguments COMPONENTS and
6649 MODIFICATION-FUNC. With COMPONENTS, you can specify not only a
6650 composition rule but also characters to be composed. Such characters
6651 may differ between buffer and string text.
6653 *** The function `compose-string' takes new arguments START, END,
6654 COMPONENTS, and MODIFICATION-FUNC.
6656 *** The function `compose-string' puts text property `composition'
6657 directly on the argument STRING instead of returning a new string.
6658 Likewise, the function `decompose-string' just removes text property
6659 `composition' from STRING.
6661 *** The new function `find-composition' returns information about
6662 a composition at a specified position in a buffer or a string.
6664 *** The function `decompose-composite-char' is now labeled as
6667 ** The new coding system `mac-roman' is primarily intended for use on
6668 the Macintosh but may be used generally for Macintosh-encoded text.
6670 ** The new character sets `mule-unicode-0100-24ff',
6671 `mule-unicode-2500-33ff', and `mule-unicode-e000-ffff' have been
6672 introduced for Unicode characters in the range U+0100..U+24FF,
6673 U+2500..U+33FF, U+E000..U+FFFF respectively.
6675 Note that the character sets are not yet unified in Emacs, so
6676 characters which belong to charsets such as Latin-2, Greek, Hebrew,
6677 etc. and the same characters in the `mule-unicode-*' charsets are
6678 different characters, as far as Emacs is concerned. For example, text
6679 which includes Unicode characters from the Latin-2 locale cannot be
6680 encoded by Emacs with ISO 8859-2 coding system.
6682 ** The new coding system `mule-utf-8' has been added.
6683 It provides limited support for decoding/encoding UTF-8 text. For
6684 details, please see the documentation string of this coding system.
6686 ** The new character sets `japanese-jisx0213-1' and
6687 `japanese-jisx0213-2' have been introduced for the new Japanese
6688 standard JIS X 0213 Plane 1 and Plane 2.
6690 ** The new character sets `latin-iso8859-14' and `latin-iso8859-15'
6691 have been introduced.
6693 ** The new character sets `eight-bit-control' and `eight-bit-graphic'
6694 have been introduced for 8-bit characters in the ranges 0x80..0x9F and
6695 0xA0..0xFF respectively. Note that the multibyte representation of
6696 eight-bit-control is never exposed; this leads to an exception in the
6697 emacs-mule coding system, which encodes everything else to the
6698 buffer/string internal representation. Note that to search for
6699 eight-bit-graphic characters in a multibyte buffer, the search string
6700 must be multibyte, otherwise such characters will be converted to
6701 their multibyte equivalent.
6703 ** If the APPEND argument of `write-region' is an integer, it seeks to
6704 that offset in the file before writing.
6706 ** The function `add-minor-mode' has been added for convenience and
6707 compatibility with XEmacs (and is used internally by define-minor-mode).
6709 ** The function `shell-command' now sets the default directory of the
6710 `*Shell Command Output*' buffer to the default directory of the buffer
6711 from which the command was issued.
6713 ** The functions `query-replace', `query-replace-regexp',
6714 `query-replace-regexp-eval' `map-query-replace-regexp',
6715 `replace-string', `replace-regexp', and `perform-replace' take two
6716 additional optional arguments START and END that specify the region to
6719 ** The new function `count-screen-lines' is a more flexible alternative
6720 to `window-buffer-height'.
6722 - Function: count-screen-lines &optional BEG END COUNT-FINAL-NEWLINE WINDOW
6724 Return the number of screen lines in the region between BEG and END.
6725 The number of screen lines may be different from the number of actual
6726 lines, due to line breaking, display table, etc.
6728 Optional arguments BEG and END default to `point-min' and `point-max'
6731 If region ends with a newline, ignore it unless optional third argument
6732 COUNT-FINAL-NEWLINE is non-nil.
6734 The optional fourth argument WINDOW specifies the window used for
6735 obtaining parameters such as width, horizontal scrolling, and so
6736 on. The default is to use the selected window's parameters.
6738 Like `vertical-motion', `count-screen-lines' always uses the current
6739 buffer, regardless of which buffer is displayed in WINDOW. This makes
6740 possible to use `count-screen-lines' in any buffer, whether or not it
6741 is currently displayed in some window.
6743 ** The new function `mapc' is like `mapcar' but doesn't collect the
6744 argument function's results.
6746 ** The functions base64-decode-region and base64-decode-string now
6747 signal an error instead of returning nil if decoding fails. Also,
6748 `base64-decode-string' now always returns a unibyte string (in Emacs
6749 20, it returned a multibyte string when the result was a valid multibyte
6752 ** The function sendmail-user-agent-compose now recognizes a `body'
6753 header in the list of headers passed to it.
6755 ** The new function member-ignore-case works like `member', but
6756 ignores differences in case and text representation.
6758 ** The buffer-local variable cursor-type can be used to specify the
6759 cursor to use in windows displaying a buffer. Values are interpreted
6762 t use the cursor specified for the frame (default)
6763 nil don't display a cursor
6764 `bar' display a bar cursor with default width
6765 (bar . WIDTH) display a bar cursor with width WIDTH
6766 others display a box cursor.
6768 ** The variable open-paren-in-column-0-is-defun-start controls whether
6769 an open parenthesis in column 0 is considered to be the start of a
6770 defun. If set, the default, it is considered a defun start. If not
6771 set, an open parenthesis in column 0 has no special meaning.
6773 ** The new function `string-to-syntax' can be used to translate syntax
6774 specifications in string form as accepted by `modify-syntax-entry' to
6775 the cons-cell form that is used for the values of the `syntax-table'
6776 text property, and in `font-lock-syntactic-keywords'.
6780 (string-to-syntax "()")
6783 ** Emacs' reader supports CL read syntax for integers in bases
6786 *** `#BINTEGER' or `#bINTEGER' reads INTEGER in binary (radix 2).
6787 INTEGER optionally contains a sign.
6794 *** `#OINTEGER' or `#oINTEGER' reads INTEGER in octal (radix 8).
6799 *** `#XINTEGER' or `#xINTEGER' reads INTEGER in hexadecimal (radix 16).
6804 *** `#RADIXrINTEGER' reads INTEGER in radix RADIX, 2 <= RADIX <= 36.
6811 ** The function `documentation-property' now evaluates the value of
6812 the given property to obtain a string if it doesn't refer to etc/DOC
6815 ** If called for a symbol, the function `documentation' now looks for
6816 a `function-documentation' property of that symbol. If it has a non-nil
6817 value, the documentation is taken from that value. If the value is
6818 not a string, it is evaluated to obtain a string.
6820 ** The last argument of `define-key-after' defaults to t for convenience.
6822 ** The new function `replace-regexp-in-string' replaces all matches
6823 for a regexp in a string.
6825 ** `mouse-position' now runs the abnormal hook
6826 `mouse-position-function'.
6828 ** The function string-to-number now returns a float for numbers
6829 that don't fit into a Lisp integer.
6831 ** The variable keyword-symbols-constants-flag has been removed.
6832 Keywords are now always considered constants.
6834 ** The new function `delete-and-extract-region' deletes text and
6837 ** The function `clear-this-command-keys' now also clears the vector
6838 returned by function `recent-keys'.
6840 ** Variables `beginning-of-defun-function' and `end-of-defun-function'
6841 can be used to define handlers for the functions that find defuns.
6842 Major modes can define these locally instead of rebinding C-M-a
6843 etc. if the normal conventions for defuns are not appropriate for the
6846 ** easy-mmode-define-minor-mode now takes an additional BODY argument
6847 and is renamed `define-minor-mode'.
6849 ** If an abbrev has a hook function which is a symbol, and that symbol
6850 has a non-nil `no-self-insert' property, the return value of the hook
6851 function specifies whether an expansion has been done or not. If it
6852 returns nil, abbrev-expand also returns nil, meaning "no expansion has
6855 When abbrev expansion is done by typing a self-inserting character,
6856 and the abbrev has a hook with the `no-self-insert' property, and the
6857 hook function returns non-nil meaning expansion has been done,
6858 then the self-inserting character is not inserted.
6860 ** The function `intern-soft' now accepts a symbol as first argument.
6861 In this case, that exact symbol is looked up in the specified obarray,
6862 and the function's value is nil if it is not found.
6864 ** The new macro `with-syntax-table' can be used to evaluate forms
6865 with the syntax table of the current buffer temporarily set to a
6868 (with-syntax-table TABLE &rest BODY)
6870 Evaluate BODY with syntax table of current buffer set to a copy of
6871 TABLE. The current syntax table is saved, BODY is evaluated, and the
6872 saved table is restored, even in case of an abnormal exit. Value is
6875 ** Regular expressions now support intervals \{n,m\} as well as
6876 Perl's shy-groups \(?:...\) and non-greedy *? +? and ?? operators.
6877 Also back-references like \2 are now considered as an error if the
6878 corresponding subgroup does not exist (or is not closed yet).
6879 Previously it would have been silently turned into `2' (ignoring the `\').
6881 ** The optional argument BUFFER of function file-local-copy has been
6882 removed since it wasn't used by anything.
6884 ** The file name argument of function `file-locked-p' is now required
6885 instead of being optional.
6887 ** The new built-in error `text-read-only' is signaled when trying to
6888 modify read-only text.
6890 ** New functions and variables for locales.
6892 The new variable `locale-coding-system' specifies how to encode and
6893 decode strings passed to low-level message functions like strerror and
6894 time functions like strftime. The new variables
6895 `system-messages-locale' and `system-time-locale' give the system
6896 locales to be used when invoking these two types of functions.
6898 The new function `set-locale-environment' sets the language
6899 environment, preferred coding system, and locale coding system from
6900 the system locale as specified by the LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, and LANG
6901 environment variables. Normally, it is invoked during startup and need
6902 not be invoked thereafter. It uses the new variables
6903 `locale-language-names', `locale-charset-language-names', and
6904 `locale-preferred-coding-systems' to make its decisions.
6906 ** syntax tables now understand nested comments.
6907 To declare a comment syntax as allowing nesting, just add an `n'
6908 modifier to either of the characters of the comment end and the comment
6911 ** The function `pixmap-spec-p' has been renamed `bitmap-spec-p'
6912 because `bitmap' is more in line with the usual X terminology.
6914 ** New function `propertize'
6916 The new function `propertize' can be used to conveniently construct
6917 strings with text properties.
6919 - Function: propertize STRING &rest PROPERTIES
6921 Value is a copy of STRING with text properties assigned as specified
6922 by PROPERTIES. PROPERTIES is a sequence of pairs PROPERTY VALUE, with
6923 PROPERTY being the name of a text property and VALUE being the
6924 specified value of that property. Example:
6926 (propertize "foo" 'face 'bold 'read-only t)
6928 ** push and pop macros.
6930 Simple versions of the push and pop macros of Common Lisp
6931 are now defined in Emacs Lisp. These macros allow only symbols
6932 as the place that holds the list to be changed.
6934 (push NEWELT LISTNAME) add NEWELT to the front of LISTNAME's value.
6935 (pop LISTNAME) return first elt of LISTNAME, and remove it
6936 (thus altering the value of LISTNAME).
6938 ** New dolist and dotimes macros.
6940 Simple versions of the dolist and dotimes macros of Common Lisp
6941 are now defined in Emacs Lisp.
6943 (dolist (VAR LIST [RESULT]) BODY...)
6944 Execute body once for each element of LIST,
6945 using the variable VAR to hold the current element.
6946 Then return the value of RESULT, or nil if RESULT is omitted.
6948 (dotimes (VAR COUNT [RESULT]) BODY...)
6949 Execute BODY with VAR bound to successive integers running from 0,
6950 inclusive, to COUNT, exclusive.
6951 Then return the value of RESULT, or nil if RESULT is omitted.
6953 ** Regular expressions now support Posix character classes such as
6954 [:alpha:], [:space:] and so on. These must be used within a character
6955 class--for instance, [-[:digit:].+] matches digits or a period
6958 [:digit:] matches 0 through 9
6959 [:cntrl:] matches ASCII control characters
6960 [:xdigit:] matches 0 through 9, a through f and A through F.
6961 [:blank:] matches space and tab only
6962 [:graph:] matches graphic characters--everything except ASCII control chars,
6964 [:print:] matches printing characters--everything except ASCII control chars
6966 [:alnum:] matches letters and digits.
6967 (But at present, for multibyte characters,
6968 it matches anything that has word syntax.)
6969 [:alpha:] matches letters.
6970 (But at present, for multibyte characters,
6971 it matches anything that has word syntax.)
6972 [:ascii:] matches ASCII (unibyte) characters.
6973 [:nonascii:] matches non-ASCII (multibyte) characters.
6974 [:lower:] matches anything lower-case.
6975 [:punct:] matches punctuation.
6976 (But at present, for multibyte characters,
6977 it matches anything that has non-word syntax.)
6978 [:space:] matches anything that has whitespace syntax.
6979 [:upper:] matches anything upper-case.
6980 [:word:] matches anything that has word syntax.
6982 ** Emacs now has built-in hash tables.
6984 The following functions are defined for hash tables:
6986 - Function: make-hash-table ARGS
6988 The argument list ARGS consists of keyword/argument pairs. All arguments
6989 are optional. The following arguments are defined:
6993 TEST must be a symbol specifying how to compare keys. Default is `eql'.
6994 Predefined are `eq', `eql' and `equal'. If TEST is not predefined,
6995 it must have been defined with `define-hash-table-test'.
6999 SIZE must be an integer > 0 giving a hint to the implementation how
7000 many elements will be put in the hash table. Default size is 65.
7002 :rehash-size REHASH-SIZE
7004 REHASH-SIZE specifies by how much to grow a hash table once it becomes
7005 full. If REHASH-SIZE is an integer, add that to the hash table's old
7006 size to get the new size. Otherwise, REHASH-SIZE must be a float >
7007 1.0, and the new size is computed by multiplying REHASH-SIZE with the
7008 old size. Default rehash size is 1.5.
7010 :rehash-threshold THRESHOLD
7012 THRESHOLD must be a float > 0 and <= 1.0 specifying when to resize the
7013 hash table. It is resized when the ratio of (number of entries) /
7014 (size of hash table) is >= THRESHOLD. Default threshold is 0.8.
7018 WEAK must be either nil, one of the symbols `key, `value',
7019 `key-or-value', `key-and-value', or t, meaning the same as
7020 `key-and-value'. Entries are removed from weak tables during garbage
7021 collection if their key and/or value are not referenced elsewhere
7022 outside of the hash table. Default are non-weak hash tables.
7024 - Function: makehash &optional TEST
7026 Similar to make-hash-table, but only TEST can be specified.
7028 - Function: hash-table-p TABLE
7030 Returns non-nil if TABLE is a hash table object.
7032 - Function: copy-hash-table TABLE
7034 Returns a copy of TABLE. Only the table itself is copied, keys and
7037 - Function: hash-table-count TABLE
7039 Returns the number of entries in TABLE.
7041 - Function: hash-table-rehash-size TABLE
7043 Returns the rehash size of TABLE.
7045 - Function: hash-table-rehash-threshold TABLE
7047 Returns the rehash threshold of TABLE.
7049 - Function: hash-table-rehash-size TABLE
7051 Returns the size of TABLE.
7053 - Function: hash-table-test TABLE
7055 Returns the test TABLE uses to compare keys.
7057 - Function: hash-table-weakness TABLE
7059 Returns the weakness specified for TABLE.
7061 - Function: clrhash TABLE
7065 - Function: gethash KEY TABLE &optional DEFAULT
7067 Look up KEY in TABLE and return its associated VALUE or DEFAULT if
7070 - Function: puthash KEY VALUE TABLE
7072 Associate KEY with VALUE in TABLE. If KEY is already associated with
7073 another value, replace the old value with VALUE.
7075 - Function: remhash KEY TABLE
7077 Remove KEY from TABLE if it is there.
7079 - Function: maphash FUNCTION TABLE
7081 Call FUNCTION for all elements in TABLE. FUNCTION must take two
7082 arguments KEY and VALUE.
7084 - Function: sxhash OBJ
7086 Return a hash code for Lisp object OBJ.
7088 - Function: define-hash-table-test NAME TEST-FN HASH-FN
7090 Define a new hash table test named NAME. If NAME is specified as
7091 a test in `make-hash-table', the table created will use TEST-FN for
7092 comparing keys, and HASH-FN to compute hash codes for keys. Test
7093 and hash function are stored as symbol property `hash-table-test'
7094 of NAME with a value of (TEST-FN HASH-FN).
7096 TEST-FN must take two arguments and return non-nil if they are the same.
7098 HASH-FN must take one argument and return an integer that is the hash
7099 code of the argument. The function should use the whole range of
7100 integer values for hash code computation, including negative integers.
7102 Example: The following creates a hash table whose keys are supposed to
7103 be strings that are compared case-insensitively.
7105 (defun case-fold-string= (a b)
7106 (compare-strings a nil nil b nil nil t))
7108 (defun case-fold-string-hash (a)
7109 (sxhash (upcase a)))
7111 (define-hash-table-test 'case-fold 'case-fold-string=
7112 'case-fold-string-hash))
7114 (make-hash-table :test 'case-fold)
7116 ** The Lisp reader handles circular structure.
7118 It now works to use the #N= and #N# constructs to represent
7119 circular structures. For example, #1=(a . #1#) represents
7120 a cons cell which is its own cdr.
7122 ** The Lisp printer handles circular structure.
7124 If you bind print-circle to a non-nil value, the Lisp printer outputs
7125 #N= and #N# constructs to represent circular and shared structure.
7127 ** If the second argument to `move-to-column' is anything but nil or
7128 t, that means replace a tab with spaces if necessary to reach the
7129 specified column, but do not add spaces at the end of the line if it
7130 is too short to reach that column.
7132 ** perform-replace has a new feature: the REPLACEMENTS argument may
7133 now be a cons cell (FUNCTION . DATA). This means to call FUNCTION
7134 after each match to get the replacement text. FUNCTION is called with
7135 two arguments: DATA, and the number of replacements already made.
7137 If the FROM-STRING contains any upper-case letters,
7138 perform-replace also turns off `case-fold-search' temporarily
7139 and inserts the replacement text without altering case in it.
7141 ** The function buffer-size now accepts an optional argument
7142 to specify which buffer to return the size of.
7144 ** The calendar motion commands now run the normal hook
7145 calendar-move-hook after moving point.
7147 ** The new variable small-temporary-file-directory specifies a
7148 directory to use for creating temporary files that are likely to be
7149 small. (Certain Emacs features use this directory.) If
7150 small-temporary-file-directory is nil, they use
7151 temporary-file-directory instead.
7153 ** The variable `inhibit-modification-hooks', if non-nil, inhibits all
7154 the hooks that track changes in the buffer. This affects
7155 `before-change-functions' and `after-change-functions', as well as
7156 hooks attached to text properties and overlay properties.
7158 ** assq-delete-all is a new function that deletes all the
7159 elements of an alist which have a car `eq' to a particular value.
7161 ** make-temp-file provides a more reliable way to create a temporary file.
7163 make-temp-file is used like make-temp-name, except that it actually
7164 creates the file before it returns. This prevents a timing error,
7165 ensuring that no other job can use the same name for a temporary file.
7167 ** New exclusive-open feature in `write-region'
7169 The optional seventh arg is now called MUSTBENEW. If non-nil, it insists
7170 on a check for an existing file with the same name. If MUSTBENEW
7171 is `excl', that means to get an error if the file already exists;
7172 never overwrite. If MUSTBENEW is neither nil nor `excl', that means
7173 ask for confirmation before overwriting, but do go ahead and
7174 overwrite the file if the user gives confirmation.
7176 If the MUSTBENEW argument in `write-region' is `excl',
7177 that means to use a special feature in the `open' system call
7178 to get an error if the file exists at that time.
7179 The error reported is `file-already-exists'.
7181 ** Function `format' now handles text properties.
7183 Text properties of the format string are applied to the result string.
7184 If the result string is longer than the format string, text properties
7185 ending at the end of the format string are extended to the end of the
7188 Text properties from string arguments are applied to the result
7189 string where arguments appear in the result string.
7193 (let ((s1 "hello, %s")
7195 (put-text-property 0 (length s1) 'face 'bold s1)
7196 (put-text-property 0 (length s2) 'face 'italic s2)
7199 results in a bold-face string with an italic `world' at the end.
7201 ** Messages can now be displayed with text properties.
7203 Text properties are handled as described above for function `format'.
7204 The following example displays a bold-face message with an italic
7207 (let ((msg "hello, %s!")
7209 (put-text-property 0 (length msg) 'face 'bold msg)
7210 (put-text-property 0 (length arg) 'face 'italic arg)
7215 Emacs supports playing sound files on GNU/Linux and the free BSDs
7216 (Voxware driver and native BSD driver, aka as Luigi's driver).
7218 Currently supported file formats are RIFF-WAVE (*.wav) and Sun Audio
7219 (*.au). You must configure Emacs with the option `--with-sound=yes'
7220 to enable sound support.
7222 Sound files can be played by calling (play-sound SOUND). SOUND is a
7223 list of the form `(sound PROPERTY...)'. The function is only defined
7224 when sound support is present for the system on which Emacs runs. The
7225 functions runs `play-sound-functions' with one argument which is the
7226 sound to play, before playing the sound.
7228 The following sound properties are supported:
7232 FILE is a file name. If FILE isn't an absolute name, it will be
7233 searched relative to `data-directory'.
7237 DATA is a string containing sound data. Either :file or :data
7238 may be present, but not both.
7242 VOLUME must be an integer in the range 0..100 or a float in the range
7243 0..1. This property is optional.
7247 DEVICE is a string specifying the system device on which to play the
7248 sound. The default device is system-dependent.
7250 Other properties are ignored.
7252 An alternative interface is called as
7253 (play-sound-file FILE &optional VOLUME DEVICE).
7255 ** `multimedia' is a new Finder keyword and Custom group.
7257 ** keywordp is a new predicate to test efficiently for an object being
7260 ** Changes to garbage collection
7262 *** The function garbage-collect now additionally returns the number
7263 of live and free strings.
7265 *** There is a new variable `strings-consed' holding the number of
7266 strings that have been consed so far.
7269 * Lisp-level Display features added after release 2.6 of the Emacs
7272 ** The user-option `resize-mini-windows' controls how Emacs resizes
7275 ** The function `pos-visible-in-window-p' now has a third optional
7276 argument, PARTIALLY. If a character is only partially visible, nil is
7277 returned, unless PARTIALLY is non-nil.
7279 ** On window systems, `glyph-table' is no longer used.
7281 ** Help strings in menu items are now used to provide `help-echo' text.
7283 ** The function `image-size' can be used to determine the size of an
7286 - Function: image-size SPEC &optional PIXELS FRAME
7288 Return the size of an image as a pair (WIDTH . HEIGHT).
7290 SPEC is an image specification. PIXELS non-nil means return sizes
7291 measured in pixels, otherwise return sizes measured in canonical
7292 character units (fractions of the width/height of the frame's default
7293 font). FRAME is the frame on which the image will be displayed.
7294 FRAME nil or omitted means use the selected frame.
7296 ** The function `image-mask-p' can be used to determine if an image
7299 - Function: image-mask-p SPEC &optional FRAME
7301 Return t if image SPEC has a mask bitmap.
7302 FRAME is the frame on which the image will be displayed. FRAME nil
7303 or omitted means use the selected frame.
7305 ** The function `find-image' can be used to find a usable image
7306 satisfying one of a list of specifications.
7308 ** The STRING argument of `put-image' and `insert-image' is now
7311 ** Image specifications may contain the property `:ascent center' (see
7315 * New Lisp-level Display features in Emacs 21.1
7317 ** The function tty-suppress-bold-inverse-default-colors can be used
7318 to make Emacs avoid displaying text with bold black foreground on TTYs.
7320 Some terminals, notably PC consoles, emulate bold text by displaying
7321 text in brighter colors. On such a console, a bold black foreground
7322 is displayed in a gray color. If this turns out to be hard to read on
7323 your monitor---the problem occurred with the mode line on
7324 laptops---you can instruct Emacs to ignore the text's boldness, and to
7325 just display it black instead.
7327 This situation can't be detected automatically. You will have to put
7330 (tty-suppress-bold-inverse-default-colors t)
7334 ** New face implementation.
7336 Emacs faces have been reimplemented from scratch. They don't use XLFD
7337 font names anymore and face merging now works as expected.
7341 Each face can specify the following display attributes:
7343 1. Font family or fontset alias name.
7345 2. Relative proportionate width, aka character set width or set
7346 width (swidth), e.g. `semi-compressed'.
7348 3. Font height in 1/10pt
7350 4. Font weight, e.g. `bold'.
7352 5. Font slant, e.g. `italic'.
7354 6. Foreground color.
7356 7. Background color.
7358 8. Whether or not characters should be underlined, and in what color.
7360 9. Whether or not characters should be displayed in inverse video.
7362 10. A background stipple, a bitmap.
7364 11. Whether or not characters should be overlined, and in what color.
7366 12. Whether or not characters should be strike-through, and in what
7369 13. Whether or not a box should be drawn around characters, its
7370 color, the width of the box lines, and 3D appearance.
7372 Faces are frame-local by nature because Emacs allows to define the
7373 same named face (face names are symbols) differently for different
7374 frames. Each frame has an alist of face definitions for all named
7375 faces. The value of a named face in such an alist is a Lisp vector
7376 with the symbol `face' in slot 0, and a slot for each of the face
7377 attributes mentioned above.
7379 There is also a global face alist `face-new-frame-defaults'. Face
7380 definitions from this list are used to initialize faces of newly
7383 A face doesn't have to specify all attributes. Those not specified
7384 have a nil value. Faces specifying all attributes are called
7389 The display style of a given character in the text is determined by
7390 combining several faces. This process is called `face merging'. Any
7391 aspect of the display style that isn't specified by overlays or text
7392 properties is taken from the `default' face. Since it is made sure
7393 that the default face is always fully-specified, face merging always
7394 results in a fully-specified face.
7396 *** Face realization.
7398 After all face attributes for a character have been determined by
7399 merging faces of that character, that face is `realized'. The
7400 realization process maps face attributes to what is physically
7401 available on the system where Emacs runs. The result is a `realized
7402 face' in form of an internal structure which is stored in the face
7403 cache of the frame on which it was realized.
7405 Face realization is done in the context of the charset of the
7406 character to display because different fonts and encodings are used
7407 for different charsets. In other words, for characters of different
7408 charsets, different realized faces are needed to display them.
7410 Except for composite characters, faces are always realized for a
7411 specific character set and contain a specific font, even if the face
7412 being realized specifies a fontset. The reason is that the result of
7413 the new font selection stage is better than what can be done with
7414 statically defined font name patterns in fontsets.
7416 In unibyte text, Emacs' charsets aren't applicable; function
7417 `char-charset' reports ASCII for all characters, including those >
7418 0x7f. The X registry and encoding of fonts to use is determined from
7419 the variable `face-default-registry' in this case. The variable is
7420 initialized at Emacs startup time from the font the user specified for
7423 Currently all unibyte text, i.e. all buffers with
7424 `enable-multibyte-characters' nil are displayed with fonts of the same
7425 registry and encoding `face-default-registry'. This is consistent
7426 with the fact that languages can also be set globally, only.
7428 **** Clearing face caches.
7430 The Lisp function `clear-face-cache' can be called to clear face caches
7431 on all frames. If called with a non-nil argument, it will also unload
7436 Font selection tries to find the best available matching font for a
7437 given (charset, face) combination. This is done slightly differently
7438 for faces specifying a fontset, or a font family name.
7440 If the face specifies a fontset name, that fontset determines a
7441 pattern for fonts of the given charset. If the face specifies a font
7442 family, a font pattern is constructed. Charset symbols have a
7443 property `x-charset-registry' for that purpose that maps a charset to
7444 an XLFD registry and encoding in the font pattern constructed.
7446 Available fonts on the system on which Emacs runs are then matched
7447 against the font pattern. The result of font selection is the best
7448 match for the given face attributes in this font list.
7450 Font selection can be influenced by the user.
7452 The user can specify the relative importance he gives the face
7453 attributes width, height, weight, and slant by setting
7454 face-font-selection-order (faces.el) to a list of face attribute
7455 names. The default is (:width :height :weight :slant), and means
7456 that font selection first tries to find a good match for the font
7457 width specified by a face, then---within fonts with that width---tries
7458 to find a best match for the specified font height, etc.
7460 Setting `face-font-family-alternatives' allows the user to specify
7461 alternative font families to try if a family specified by a face
7464 Setting `face-font-registry-alternatives' allows the user to specify
7465 all alternative font registry names to try for a face specifying a
7468 Please note that the interpretations of the above two variables are
7471 Setting face-ignored-fonts allows the user to ignore specific fonts.
7476 Emacs can make use of scalable fonts but doesn't do so by default,
7477 since the use of too many or too big scalable fonts may crash XFree86
7480 To enable scalable font use, set the variable
7481 `scalable-fonts-allowed'. A value of nil, the default, means never use
7482 scalable fonts. A value of t means any scalable font may be used.
7483 Otherwise, the value must be a list of regular expressions. A
7484 scalable font may then be used if it matches a regular expression from
7487 (setq scalable-fonts-allowed '("muleindian-2$"))
7489 allows the use of scalable fonts with registry `muleindian-2'.
7491 *** Functions and variables related to font selection.
7493 - Function: x-family-fonts &optional FAMILY FRAME
7495 Return a list of available fonts of family FAMILY on FRAME. If FAMILY
7496 is omitted or nil, list all families. Otherwise, FAMILY must be a
7497 string, possibly containing wildcards `?' and `*'.
7499 If FRAME is omitted or nil, use the selected frame. Each element of
7500 the result is a vector [FAMILY WIDTH POINT-SIZE WEIGHT SLANT FIXED-P
7501 FULL REGISTRY-AND-ENCODING]. FAMILY is the font family name.
7502 POINT-SIZE is the size of the font in 1/10 pt. WIDTH, WEIGHT, and
7503 SLANT are symbols describing the width, weight and slant of the font.
7504 These symbols are the same as for face attributes. FIXED-P is non-nil
7505 if the font is fixed-pitch. FULL is the full name of the font, and
7506 REGISTRY-AND-ENCODING is a string giving the registry and encoding of
7507 the font. The result list is sorted according to the current setting
7508 of the face font sort order.
7510 - Function: x-font-family-list
7512 Return a list of available font families on FRAME. If FRAME is
7513 omitted or nil, use the selected frame. Value is a list of conses
7514 (FAMILY . FIXED-P) where FAMILY is a font family, and FIXED-P is
7515 non-nil if fonts of that family are fixed-pitch.
7517 - Variable: font-list-limit
7519 Limit for font matching. If an integer > 0, font matching functions
7520 won't load more than that number of fonts when searching for a
7521 matching font. The default is currently 100.
7523 *** Setting face attributes.
7525 For the most part, the new face implementation is interface-compatible
7526 with the old one. Old face attribute related functions are now
7527 implemented in terms of the new functions `set-face-attribute' and
7530 Face attributes are identified by their names which are keyword
7531 symbols. All attributes can be set to `unspecified'.
7533 The following attributes are recognized:
7537 VALUE must be a string specifying the font family, e.g. ``courier'',
7538 or a fontset alias name. If a font family is specified, wild-cards `*'
7539 and `?' are allowed.
7543 VALUE specifies the relative proportionate width of the font to use.
7544 It must be one of the symbols `ultra-condensed', `extra-condensed',
7545 `condensed', `semi-condensed', `normal', `semi-expanded', `expanded',
7546 `extra-expanded', or `ultra-expanded'.
7550 VALUE must be either an integer specifying the height of the font to use
7551 in 1/10 pt, a floating point number specifying the amount by which to
7552 scale any underlying face, or a function, which is called with the old
7553 height (from the underlying face), and should return the new height.
7557 VALUE specifies the weight of the font to use. It must be one of the
7558 symbols `ultra-bold', `extra-bold', `bold', `semi-bold', `normal',
7559 `semi-light', `light', `extra-light', `ultra-light'.
7563 VALUE specifies the slant of the font to use. It must be one of the
7564 symbols `italic', `oblique', `normal', `reverse-italic', or
7567 `:foreground', `:background'
7569 VALUE must be a color name, a string.
7573 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be underlined. If
7574 VALUE is t, underline with foreground color of the face. If VALUE is
7575 a string, underline with that color. If VALUE is nil, explicitly
7580 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be overlined. If
7581 VALUE is t, overline with foreground color of the face. If VALUE is a
7582 string, overline with that color. If VALUE is nil, explicitly don't
7587 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be drawn with a line
7588 striking through them. If VALUE is t, use the foreground color of the
7589 face. If VALUE is a string, strike-through with that color. If VALUE
7590 is nil, explicitly don't strike through.
7594 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should have a box drawn
7595 around them. If VALUE is nil, explicitly don't draw boxes. If
7596 VALUE is t, draw a box with lines of width 1 in the foreground color
7597 of the face. If VALUE is a string, the string must be a color name,
7598 and the box is drawn in that color with a line width of 1. Otherwise,
7599 VALUE must be a property list of the form `(:line-width WIDTH
7600 :color COLOR :style STYLE)'. If a keyword/value pair is missing from
7601 the property list, a default value will be used for the value, as
7602 specified below. WIDTH specifies the width of the lines to draw; it
7603 defaults to 1. COLOR is the name of the color to draw in, default is
7604 the foreground color of the face for simple boxes, and the background
7605 color of the face for 3D boxes. STYLE specifies whether a 3D box
7606 should be draw. If STYLE is `released-button', draw a box looking
7607 like a released 3D button. If STYLE is `pressed-button' draw a box
7608 that appears like a pressed button. If STYLE is nil, the default if
7609 the property list doesn't contain a style specification, draw a 2D
7614 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be displayed in
7615 inverse video. VALUE must be one of t or nil.
7619 If VALUE is a string, it must be the name of a file of pixmap data.
7620 The directories listed in the `x-bitmap-file-path' variable are
7621 searched. Alternatively, VALUE may be a list of the form (WIDTH
7622 HEIGHT DATA) where WIDTH and HEIGHT are the size in pixels, and DATA
7623 is a string containing the raw bits of the bitmap. VALUE nil means
7624 explicitly don't use a stipple pattern.
7626 For convenience, attributes `:family', `:width', `:height', `:weight',
7627 and `:slant' may also be set in one step from an X font name:
7631 Set font-related face attributes from VALUE. VALUE must be a valid
7632 XLFD font name. If it is a font name pattern, the first matching font
7633 is used--this is for compatibility with the behavior of previous
7636 For compatibility with Emacs 20, keywords `:bold' and `:italic' can
7637 be used to specify that a bold or italic font should be used. VALUE
7638 must be t or nil in that case. A value of `unspecified' is not allowed."
7640 Please see also the documentation of `set-face-attribute' and
7645 VALUE is the name of a face from which to inherit attributes, or a list
7646 of face names. Attributes from inherited faces are merged into the face
7647 like an underlying face would be, with higher priority than underlying faces.
7649 *** Face attributes and X resources
7651 The following X resource names can be used to set face attributes
7654 Face attribute X resource class
7655 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
7656 :family attributeFamily . Face.AttributeFamily
7657 :width attributeWidth Face.AttributeWidth
7658 :height attributeHeight Face.AttributeHeight
7659 :weight attributeWeight Face.AttributeWeight
7660 :slant attributeSlant Face.AttributeSlant
7661 foreground attributeForeground Face.AttributeForeground
7662 :background attributeBackground . Face.AttributeBackground
7663 :overline attributeOverline Face.AttributeOverline
7664 :strike-through attributeStrikeThrough Face.AttributeStrikeThrough
7665 :box attributeBox Face.AttributeBox
7666 :underline attributeUnderline Face.AttributeUnderline
7667 :inverse-video attributeInverse Face.AttributeInverse
7668 :stipple attributeStipple Face.AttributeStipple
7669 or attributeBackgroundPixmap
7670 Face.AttributeBackgroundPixmap
7671 :font attributeFont Face.AttributeFont
7672 :bold attributeBold Face.AttributeBold
7673 :italic attributeItalic . Face.AttributeItalic
7674 :font attributeFont Face.AttributeFont
7676 *** Text property `face'.
7678 The value of the `face' text property can now be a single face
7679 specification or a list of such specifications. Each face
7680 specification can be
7682 1. A symbol or string naming a Lisp face.
7684 2. A property list of the form (KEYWORD VALUE ...) where each
7685 KEYWORD is a face attribute name, and VALUE is an appropriate value
7686 for that attribute. Please see the doc string of `set-face-attribute'
7687 for face attribute names.
7689 3. Conses of the form (FOREGROUND-COLOR . COLOR) or
7690 (BACKGROUND-COLOR . COLOR) where COLOR is a color name. This is
7691 for compatibility with previous Emacs versions.
7693 ** Support functions for colors on text-only terminals.
7695 The function `tty-color-define' can be used to define colors for use
7696 on TTY and MSDOS frames. It maps a color name to a color number on
7697 the terminal. Emacs defines a couple of common color mappings by
7698 default. You can get defined colors with a call to
7699 `defined-colors'. The function `tty-color-clear' can be
7700 used to clear the mapping table.
7702 ** Unified support for colors independent of frame type.
7704 The new functions `defined-colors', `color-defined-p', `color-values',
7705 and `display-color-p' work for any type of frame. On frames whose
7706 type is neither x nor w32, these functions transparently map X-style
7707 color specifications to the closest colors supported by the frame
7708 display. Lisp programs should use these new functions instead of the
7709 old `x-defined-colors', `x-color-defined-p', `x-color-values', and
7710 `x-display-color-p'. (The old function names are still available for
7711 compatibility; they are now aliases of the new names.) Lisp programs
7712 should no more look at the value of the variable window-system to
7713 modify their color-related behavior.
7715 The primitives `color-gray-p' and `color-supported-p' also work for
7718 ** Platform-independent functions to describe display capabilities.
7720 The new functions `display-mouse-p', `display-popup-menus-p',
7721 `display-graphic-p', `display-selections-p', `display-screens',
7722 `display-pixel-width', `display-pixel-height', `display-mm-width',
7723 `display-mm-height', `display-backing-store', `display-save-under',
7724 `display-planes', `display-color-cells', `display-visual-class', and
7725 `display-grayscale-p' describe the basic capabilities of a particular
7726 display. Lisp programs should call these functions instead of testing
7727 the value of the variables `window-system' or `system-type', or calling
7728 platform-specific functions such as `x-display-pixel-width'.
7730 The new function `display-images-p' returns non-nil if a particular
7731 display can display image files.
7733 ** The minibuffer prompt is now actually inserted in the minibuffer.
7735 This makes it possible to scroll through the prompt, if you want to.
7736 To disallow this completely (like previous versions of emacs), customize
7737 the variable `minibuffer-prompt-properties', and turn on the
7738 `Inviolable' option.
7740 The function `minibuffer-prompt-end' returns the current position of the
7741 end of the minibuffer prompt, if the minibuffer is current.
7742 Otherwise, it returns `(point-min)'.
7744 ** New `field' abstraction in buffers.
7746 There is now code to support an abstraction called `fields' in emacs
7747 buffers. A field is a contiguous region of text with the same `field'
7748 property (which can be a text property or an overlay).
7750 Many emacs functions, such as forward-word, forward-sentence,
7751 forward-paragraph, beginning-of-line, etc., stop moving when they come
7752 to the boundary between fields; beginning-of-line and end-of-line will
7753 not let the point move past the field boundary, but other movement
7754 commands continue into the next field if repeated. Stopping at field
7755 boundaries can be suppressed programmatically by binding
7756 `inhibit-field-text-motion' to a non-nil value around calls to these
7759 Now that the minibuffer prompt is inserted into the minibuffer, it is in
7760 a separate field from the user-input part of the buffer, so that common
7761 editing commands treat the user's text separately from the prompt.
7763 The following functions are defined for operating on fields:
7765 - Function: constrain-to-field NEW-POS OLD-POS &optional ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE ONLY-IN-LINE INHIBIT-CAPTURE-PROPERTY
7767 Return the position closest to NEW-POS that is in the same field as OLD-POS.
7769 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
7770 If NEW-POS is nil, then the current point is used instead, and set to the
7771 constrained position if that is different.
7773 If OLD-POS is at the boundary of two fields, then the allowable
7774 positions for NEW-POS depends on the value of the optional argument
7775 ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE: If ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE is nil, then NEW-POS is
7776 constrained to the field that has the same `field' char-property
7777 as any new characters inserted at OLD-POS, whereas if ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE
7778 is non-nil, NEW-POS is constrained to the union of the two adjacent
7779 fields. Additionally, if two fields are separated by another field with
7780 the special value `boundary', then any point within this special field is
7781 also considered to be `on the boundary'.
7783 If the optional argument ONLY-IN-LINE is non-nil and constraining
7784 NEW-POS would move it to a different line, NEW-POS is returned
7785 unconstrained. This useful for commands that move by line, like
7786 C-n or C-a, which should generally respect field boundaries
7787 only in the case where they can still move to the right line.
7789 If the optional argument INHIBIT-CAPTURE-PROPERTY is non-nil, and OLD-POS has
7790 a non-nil property of that name, then any field boundaries are ignored.
7792 Field boundaries are not noticed if `inhibit-field-text-motion' is non-nil.
7794 - Function: delete-field &optional POS
7796 Delete the field surrounding POS.
7797 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
7798 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
7800 - Function: field-beginning &optional POS ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE
7802 Return the beginning of the field surrounding POS.
7803 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
7804 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
7805 If ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE is non-nil and POS is at the beginning of its
7806 field, then the beginning of the *previous* field is returned.
7808 - Function: field-end &optional POS ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE
7810 Return the end of the field surrounding POS.
7811 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
7812 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
7813 If ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE is non-nil and POS is at the end of its field,
7814 then the end of the *following* field is returned.
7816 - Function: field-string &optional POS
7818 Return the contents of the field surrounding POS as a string.
7819 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
7820 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
7822 - Function: field-string-no-properties &optional POS
7824 Return the contents of the field around POS, without text-properties.
7825 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
7826 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
7830 Emacs can now display images. Images are inserted into text by giving
7831 strings or buffer text a `display' text property containing one of
7832 (AREA IMAGE) or IMAGE. The display of the `display' property value
7833 replaces the display of the characters having that property.
7835 If the property value has the form (AREA IMAGE), AREA must be one of
7836 `(margin left-margin)', `(margin right-margin)' or `(margin nil)'. If
7837 AREA is `(margin nil)', IMAGE will be displayed in the text area of a
7838 window, otherwise it will be displayed in the left or right marginal
7841 IMAGE is an image specification.
7843 *** Image specifications
7845 Image specifications are lists of the form `(image PROPS)' where PROPS
7846 is a property list whose keys are keyword symbols. Each
7847 specifications must contain a property `:type TYPE' with TYPE being a
7848 symbol specifying the image type, e.g. `xbm'. Properties not
7849 described below are ignored.
7851 The following is a list of properties all image types share.
7855 ASCENT must be a number in the range 0..100, or the symbol `center'.
7856 If it is a number, it specifies the percentage of the image's height
7857 to use for its ascent.
7859 If not specified, ASCENT defaults to the value 50 which means that the
7860 image will be centered with the base line of the row it appears in.
7862 If ASCENT is `center' the image is vertically centered around a
7863 centerline which is the vertical center of text drawn at the position
7864 of the image, in the manner specified by the text properties and
7865 overlays that apply to the image.
7869 MARGIN must be either a number >= 0 specifying how many pixels to put
7870 as margin around the image, or a pair (X . Y) with X specifying the
7871 horizontal margin and Y specifying the vertical margin. Default is 0.
7875 RELIEF is analogous to the `:relief' attribute of faces. Puts a relief
7880 Apply an image algorithm to the image before displaying it.
7882 ALGO `laplace' or `emboss' means apply a Laplace or ``emboss''
7883 edge-detection algorithm to the image.
7885 ALGO `(edge-detection :matrix MATRIX :color-adjust ADJUST)' means
7886 apply a general edge-detection algorithm. MATRIX must be either a
7887 nine-element list or a nine-element vector of numbers. A pixel at
7888 position x/y in the transformed image is computed from original pixels
7889 around that position. MATRIX specifies, for each pixel in the
7890 neighborhood of x/y, a factor with which that pixel will influence the
7891 transformed pixel; element 0 specifies the factor for the pixel at
7892 x-1/y-1, element 1 the factor for the pixel at x/y-1 etc. as shown
7895 (x-1/y-1 x/y-1 x+1/y-1
7897 x-1/y+1 x/y+1 x+1/y+1)
7899 The resulting pixel is computed from the color intensity of the color
7900 resulting from summing up the RGB values of surrounding pixels,
7901 multiplied by the specified factors, and dividing that sum by the sum
7902 of the factors' absolute values.
7904 Laplace edge-detection currently uses a matrix of
7910 Emboss edge-detection uses a matrix of
7916 ALGO `disabled' means transform the image so that it looks
7921 If MASK is `heuristic' or `(heuristic BG)', build a clipping mask for
7922 the image, so that the background of a frame is visible behind the
7923 image. If BG is not specified, or if BG is t, determine the
7924 background color of the image by looking at the 4 corners of the
7925 image, assuming the most frequently occurring color from the corners is
7926 the background color of the image. Otherwise, BG must be a list `(RED
7927 GREEN BLUE)' specifying the color to assume for the background of the
7930 If MASK is nil, remove a mask from the image, if it has one. Images
7931 in some formats include a mask which can be removed by specifying
7936 Load image from FILE. If FILE is not absolute after expanding it,
7937 search for the image in `data-directory'. Some image types support
7938 building images from data. When this is done, no `:file' property
7939 may be present in the image specification.
7943 Get image data from DATA. (As of this writing, this is not yet
7944 supported for image type `postscript'). Either :file or :data may be
7945 present in an image specification, but not both. All image types
7946 support strings as DATA, some types allow additional types of DATA.
7948 *** Supported image types
7950 **** XBM, image type `xbm'.
7952 XBM images don't require an external library. Additional image
7953 properties supported are:
7957 FG must be a string specifying the image foreground color, or nil
7958 meaning to use the default. Default is the frame's foreground color.
7962 BG must be a string specifying the image background color, or nil
7963 meaning to use the default. Default is the frame's background color.
7965 XBM images can be constructed from data instead of file. In this
7966 case, the image specification must contain the following properties
7967 instead of a `:file' property.
7971 WIDTH specifies the width of the image in pixels.
7975 HEIGHT specifies the height of the image in pixels.
7981 1. a string large enough to hold the bitmap data, i.e. it must
7982 have a size >= (WIDTH + 7) / 8 * HEIGHT
7984 2. a bool-vector of size >= WIDTH * HEIGHT
7986 3. a vector of strings or bool-vectors, one for each line of the
7989 4. a string that's an in-memory XBM file. Neither width nor
7990 height may be specified in this case because these are defined
7993 **** XPM, image type `xpm'
7995 XPM images require the external library `libXpm', package
7996 `xpm-3.4k.tar.gz', version 3.4k or later. Make sure the library is
7997 found when Emacs is configured by supplying appropriate paths via
7998 `--x-includes' and `--x-libraries'.
8000 Additional image properties supported are:
8002 `:color-symbols SYMBOLS'
8004 SYMBOLS must be a list of pairs (NAME . COLOR), with NAME being the
8005 name of color as it appears in an XPM file, and COLOR being an X color
8008 XPM images can be built from memory instead of files. In that case,
8009 add a `:data' property instead of a `:file' property.
8011 The XPM library uses libz in its implementation so that it is able
8012 to display compressed images.
8014 **** PBM, image type `pbm'
8016 PBM images don't require an external library. Color, gray-scale and
8017 mono images are supported. Additional image properties supported for
8022 FG must be a string specifying the image foreground color, or nil
8023 meaning to use the default. Default is the frame's foreground color.
8027 BG must be a string specifying the image background color, or nil
8028 meaning to use the default. Default is the frame's background color.
8030 **** JPEG, image type `jpeg'
8032 Support for JPEG images requires the external library `libjpeg',
8033 package `jpegsrc.v6a.tar.gz', or later. There are no additional image
8036 **** TIFF, image type `tiff'
8038 Support for TIFF images requires the external library `libtiff',
8039 package `tiff-v3.4-tar.gz', or later. There are no additional image
8042 **** GIF, image type `gif'
8044 Support for GIF images requires the external library `libungif', package
8045 `libungif-4.1.0', or later.
8047 Additional image properties supported are:
8051 INDEX must be an integer >= 0. Load image number INDEX from a
8052 multi-image GIF file. If INDEX is too large, the image displays
8055 This could be used to implement limited support for animated GIFs.
8056 For example, the following function displays a multi-image GIF file
8057 at point-min in the current buffer, switching between sub-images
8060 (defun show-anim (file max)
8061 "Display multi-image GIF file FILE which contains MAX subimages."
8062 (display-anim (current-buffer) file 0 max t))
8064 (defun display-anim (buffer file idx max first-time)
8067 (let ((img (create-image file nil nil :index idx)))
8070 (goto-char (point-min))
8071 (unless first-time (delete-char 1))
8072 (insert-image img "x"))
8073 (run-with-timer 0.1 nil 'display-anim buffer file (1+ idx) max nil)))
8075 **** PNG, image type `png'
8077 Support for PNG images requires the external library `libpng',
8078 package `libpng-1.0.2.tar.gz', or later. There are no additional image
8081 **** Ghostscript, image type `postscript'.
8083 Additional image properties supported are:
8087 WIDTH is width of the image in pt (1/72 inch). WIDTH must be an
8088 integer. This is a required property.
8092 HEIGHT specifies the height of the image in pt (1/72 inch). HEIGHT
8093 must be a integer. This is an required property.
8097 BOX must be a list or vector of 4 integers giving the bounding box of
8098 the PS image, analogous to the `BoundingBox' comment found in PS
8099 files. This is an required property.
8101 Part of the Ghostscript interface is implemented in Lisp. See
8106 The variable `image-types' contains a list of those image types
8107 which are supported in the current configuration.
8109 Images are stored in an image cache and removed from the cache when
8110 they haven't been displayed for `image-cache-eviction-delay seconds.
8111 The function `clear-image-cache' can be used to clear the image cache
8112 manually. Images in the cache are compared with `equal', i.e. all
8113 images with `equal' specifications share the same image.
8115 *** Simplified image API, image.el
8117 The new Lisp package image.el contains functions that simplify image
8118 creation and putting images into text. The function `create-image'
8119 can be used to create images. The macro `defimage' can be used to
8120 define an image based on available image types. The functions
8121 `put-image' and `insert-image' can be used to insert an image into a
8126 Windows can now have margins which are used for special text
8129 To give a window margins, either set the buffer-local variables
8130 `left-margin-width' and `right-margin-width', or call
8131 `set-window-margins'. The function `window-margins' can be used to
8132 obtain the current settings. To make `left-margin-width' and
8133 `right-margin-width' take effect, you must set them before displaying
8134 the buffer in a window, or use `set-window-buffer' to force an update
8135 of the display margins.
8137 You can put text in margins by giving it a `display' text property
8138 containing a pair of the form `(LOCATION . VALUE)', where LOCATION is
8139 one of `left-margin' or `right-margin' or nil. VALUE can be either a
8140 string, an image specification or a stretch specification (see later
8145 Emacs displays short help messages in the echo area, when the mouse
8146 moves over a tool-bar item or a piece of text that has a text property
8147 `help-echo'. This feature also applies to strings in the mode line
8148 that have a `help-echo' property.
8150 If the value of the `help-echo' property is a function, that function
8151 is called with three arguments WINDOW, OBJECT and POSITION. WINDOW is
8152 the window in which the help was found.
8154 If OBJECT is a buffer, POS is the position in the buffer where the
8155 `help-echo' text property was found.
8157 If OBJECT is an overlay, that overlay has a `help-echo' property, and
8158 POS is the position in the overlay's buffer under the mouse.
8160 If OBJECT is a string (an overlay string or a string displayed with
8161 the `display' property), POS is the position in that string under the
8164 If the value of the `help-echo' property is neither a function nor a
8165 string, it is evaluated to obtain a help string.
8167 For tool-bar and menu-bar items, their key definition is used to
8168 determine the help to display. If their definition contains a
8169 property `:help FORM', FORM is evaluated to determine the help string.
8170 For tool-bar items without a help form, the caption of the item is
8171 used as help string.
8173 The hook `show-help-function' can be set to a function that displays
8174 the help string differently. For example, enabling a tooltip window
8175 causes the help display to appear there instead of in the echo area.
8177 ** Vertical fractional scrolling.
8179 The display of text in windows can be scrolled smoothly in pixels.
8180 This is useful, for example, for making parts of large images visible.
8182 The function `window-vscroll' returns the current value of vertical
8183 scrolling, a non-negative fraction of the canonical character height.
8184 The function `set-window-vscroll' can be used to set the vertical
8185 scrolling value. Here is an example of how these function might be
8188 (global-set-key [A-down]
8191 (set-window-vscroll (selected-window)
8192 (+ 0.5 (window-vscroll)))))
8193 (global-set-key [A-up]
8196 (set-window-vscroll (selected-window)
8197 (- (window-vscroll) 0.5)))))
8199 ** New hook `fontification-functions'.
8201 Functions from `fontification-functions' are called from redisplay
8202 when it encounters a region of text that is not yet fontified. This
8203 variable automatically becomes buffer-local when set. Each function
8204 is called with one argument, POS.
8206 At least one of the hook functions should fontify one or more
8207 characters starting at POS in the current buffer. It should mark them
8208 as fontified by giving them a non-nil value of the `fontified' text
8209 property. It may be reasonable for these functions to check for the
8210 `fontified' property and not put it back on, but they do not have to.
8212 ** Tool bar support.
8214 Emacs supports a tool bar at the top of a frame under X. The frame
8215 parameter `tool-bar-lines' (X resource "toolBar", class "ToolBar")
8216 controls how may lines to reserve for the tool bar. A zero value
8217 suppresses the tool bar. If the value is non-zero and
8218 `auto-resize-tool-bars' is non-nil the tool bar's size will be changed
8219 automatically so that all tool bar items are visible.
8221 *** Tool bar item definitions
8223 Tool bar items are defined using `define-key' with a prefix-key
8224 `tool-bar'. For example `(define-key global-map [tool-bar item1] ITEM)'
8225 where ITEM is a list `(menu-item CAPTION BINDING PROPS...)'.
8227 CAPTION is the caption of the item, If it's not a string, it is
8228 evaluated to get a string. The caption is currently not displayed in
8229 the tool bar, but it is displayed if the item doesn't have a `:help'
8230 property (see below).
8232 BINDING is the tool bar item's binding. Tool bar items with keymaps as
8233 binding are currently ignored.
8235 The following properties are recognized:
8239 FORM is evaluated and specifies whether the tool bar item is enabled
8244 FORM is evaluated and specifies whether the tool bar item is displayed.
8248 FUNCTION is called with one parameter, the same list BINDING in which
8249 FUNCTION is specified as the filter. The value FUNCTION returns is
8250 used instead of BINDING to display this item.
8252 `:button (TYPE SELECTED)'
8254 TYPE must be one of `:radio' or `:toggle'. SELECTED is evaluated
8255 and specifies whether the button is selected (pressed) or not.
8259 IMAGES is either a single image specification or a vector of four
8260 image specifications. If it is a vector, this table lists the
8261 meaning of each of the four elements:
8263 Index Use when item is
8264 ----------------------------------------
8265 0 enabled and selected
8266 1 enabled and deselected
8267 2 disabled and selected
8268 3 disabled and deselected
8270 If IMAGE is a single image specification, a Laplace edge-detection
8271 algorithm is used on that image to draw the image in disabled state.
8273 `:help HELP-STRING'.
8275 Gives a help string to display for the tool bar item. This help
8276 is displayed when the mouse is moved over the item.
8278 The function `toolbar-add-item' is a convenience function for adding
8279 toolbar items generally, and `tool-bar-add-item-from-menu' can be used
8280 to define a toolbar item with a binding copied from an item on the
8283 The default bindings use a menu-item :filter to derive the tool-bar
8284 dynamically from variable `tool-bar-map' which may be set
8285 buffer-locally to override the global map.
8287 *** Tool-bar-related variables.
8289 If `auto-resize-tool-bar' is non-nil, the tool bar will automatically
8290 resize to show all defined tool bar items. It will never grow larger
8291 than 1/4 of the frame's size.
8293 If `auto-raise-tool-bar-buttons' is non-nil, tool bar buttons will be
8294 raised when the mouse moves over them.
8296 You can add extra space between tool bar items by setting
8297 `tool-bar-button-margin' to a positive integer specifying a number of
8298 pixels, or a pair of integers (X . Y) specifying horizontal and
8299 vertical margins . Default is 1.
8301 You can change the shadow thickness of tool bar buttons by setting
8302 `tool-bar-button-relief' to an integer. Default is 3.
8304 *** Tool-bar clicks with modifiers.
8306 You can bind commands to clicks with control, shift, meta etc. on
8309 (define-key global-map [tool-bar shell]
8310 '(menu-item "Shell" shell
8311 :image (image :type xpm :file "shell.xpm")))
8313 is the original tool bar item definition, then
8315 (define-key global-map [tool-bar S-shell] 'some-command)
8317 makes a binding to run `some-command' for a shifted click on the same
8320 ** Mode line changes.
8322 *** Mouse-sensitive mode line.
8324 The mode line can be made mouse-sensitive by displaying strings there
8325 that have a `local-map' text property. There are three ways to display
8326 a string with a `local-map' property in the mode line.
8328 1. The mode line spec contains a variable whose string value has
8329 a `local-map' text property.
8331 2. The mode line spec contains a format specifier (e.g. `%12b'), and
8332 that format specifier has a `local-map' property.
8334 3. The mode line spec contains a list containing `:eval FORM'. FORM
8335 is evaluated. If the result is a string, and that string has a
8336 `local-map' property.
8338 The same mechanism is used to determine the `face' and `help-echo'
8339 properties of strings in the mode line. See `bindings.el' for an
8342 *** If a mode line element has the form `(:eval FORM)', FORM is
8343 evaluated and the result is used as mode line element.
8345 *** You can suppress mode-line display by setting the buffer-local
8346 variable mode-line-format to nil.
8348 *** A headerline can now be displayed at the top of a window.
8350 This mode line's contents are controlled by the new variable
8351 `header-line-format' and `default-header-line-format' which are
8352 completely analogous to `mode-line-format' and
8353 `default-mode-line-format'. A value of nil means don't display a top
8356 The appearance of top mode lines is controlled by the face
8359 The function `coordinates-in-window-p' returns `header-line' for a
8360 position in the header-line.
8362 ** Text property `display'
8364 The `display' text property is used to insert images into text,
8365 replace text with other text, display text in marginal area, and it is
8366 also used to control other aspects of how text displays. The value of
8367 the `display' property should be a display specification, as described
8368 below, or a list or vector containing display specifications.
8370 *** Replacing text, displaying text in marginal areas
8372 To replace the text having the `display' property with some other
8373 text, use a display specification of the form `(LOCATION STRING)'.
8375 If LOCATION is `(margin left-margin)', STRING is displayed in the left
8376 marginal area, if it is `(margin right-margin)', it is displayed in
8377 the right marginal area, and if LOCATION is `(margin nil)' STRING
8378 is displayed in the text. In the latter case you can also use the
8379 simpler form STRING as property value.
8381 *** Variable width and height spaces
8383 To display a space of fractional width or height, use a display
8384 specification of the form `(LOCATION STRECH)'. If LOCATION is
8385 `(margin left-margin)', the space is displayed in the left marginal
8386 area, if it is `(margin right-margin)', it is displayed in the right
8387 marginal area, and if LOCATION is `(margin nil)' the space is
8388 displayed in the text. In the latter case you can also use the
8389 simpler form STRETCH as property value.
8391 The stretch specification STRETCH itself is a list of the form `(space
8392 PROPS)', where PROPS is a property list which can contain the
8393 properties described below.
8395 The display of the fractional space replaces the display of the
8396 characters having the `display' property.
8400 Specifies that the space width should be WIDTH times the normal
8401 character width. WIDTH can be an integer or floating point number.
8403 - :relative-width FACTOR
8405 Specifies that the width of the stretch should be computed from the
8406 first character in a group of consecutive characters that have the
8407 same `display' property. The computation is done by multiplying the
8408 width of that character by FACTOR.
8412 Specifies that the space should be wide enough to reach HPOS. The
8413 value HPOS is measured in units of the normal character width.
8415 Exactly one of the above properties should be used.
8419 Specifies the height of the space, as HEIGHT, measured in terms of the
8422 - :relative-height FACTOR
8424 The height of the space is computed as the product of the height
8425 of the text having the `display' property and FACTOR.
8429 Specifies that ASCENT percent of the height of the stretch should be
8430 used for the ascent of the stretch, i.e. for the part above the
8431 baseline. The value of ASCENT must be a non-negative number less or
8434 You should not use both `:height' and `:relative-height' together.
8438 A display specification for an image has the form `(LOCATION
8439 . IMAGE)', where IMAGE is an image specification. The image replaces,
8440 in the display, the characters having this display specification in
8441 their `display' text property. If LOCATION is `(margin left-margin)',
8442 the image will be displayed in the left marginal area, if it is
8443 `(margin right-margin)' it will be displayed in the right marginal
8444 area, and if LOCATION is `(margin nil)' the image will be displayed in
8445 the text. In the latter case you can also use the simpler form IMAGE
8446 as display specification.
8448 *** Other display properties
8450 - (space-width FACTOR)
8452 Specifies that space characters in the text having that property
8453 should be displayed FACTOR times as wide as normal; FACTOR must be an
8458 Display text having this property in a font that is smaller or larger.
8460 If HEIGHT is a list of the form `(+ N)', where N is an integer, that
8461 means to use a font that is N steps larger. If HEIGHT is a list of
8462 the form `(- N)', that means to use a font that is N steps smaller. A
8463 ``step'' is defined by the set of available fonts; each size for which
8464 a font is available counts as a step.
8466 If HEIGHT is a number, that means to use a font that is HEIGHT times
8467 as tall as the frame's default font.
8469 If HEIGHT is a symbol, it is called as a function with the current
8470 height as argument. The function should return the new height to use.
8472 Otherwise, HEIGHT is evaluated to get the new height, with the symbol
8473 `height' bound to the current specified font height.
8477 FACTOR must be a number, specifying a multiple of the current
8478 font's height. If it is positive, that means to display the characters
8479 raised. If it is negative, that means to display them lower down. The
8480 amount of raising or lowering is computed without taking account of the
8481 `height' subproperty.
8483 *** Conditional display properties
8485 All display specifications can be conditionalized. If a specification
8486 has the form `(when CONDITION . SPEC)', the specification SPEC applies
8487 only when CONDITION yields a non-nil value when evaluated. During the
8488 evaluation, `object' is bound to the string or buffer having the
8489 conditional display property; `position' and `buffer-position' are
8490 bound to the position within `object' and the buffer position where
8491 the display property was found, respectively. Both positions can be
8492 different when object is a string.
8494 The normal specification consisting of SPEC only is equivalent to
8497 ** New menu separator types.
8499 Emacs now supports more than one menu separator type. Menu items with
8500 item names consisting of dashes only (including zero dashes) are
8501 treated like before. In addition, the following item names are used
8502 to specify other menu separator types.
8504 - `--no-line' or `--space', or `--:space', or `--:noLine'
8506 No separator lines are drawn, but a small space is inserted where the
8509 - `--single-line' or `--:singleLine'
8511 A single line in the menu's foreground color.
8513 - `--double-line' or `--:doubleLine'
8515 A double line in the menu's foreground color.
8517 - `--single-dashed-line' or `--:singleDashedLine'
8519 A single dashed line in the menu's foreground color.
8521 - `--double-dashed-line' or `--:doubleDashedLine'
8523 A double dashed line in the menu's foreground color.
8525 - `--shadow-etched-in' or `--:shadowEtchedIn'
8527 A single line with 3D sunken appearance. This is the form
8528 displayed for item names consisting of dashes only.
8530 - `--shadow-etched-out' or `--:shadowEtchedOut'
8532 A single line with 3D raised appearance.
8534 - `--shadow-etched-in-dash' or `--:shadowEtchedInDash'
8536 A single dashed line with 3D sunken appearance.
8538 - `--shadow-etched-out-dash' or `--:shadowEtchedOutDash'
8540 A single dashed line with 3D raise appearance.
8542 - `--shadow-double-etched-in' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedIn'
8544 Two lines with 3D sunken appearance.
8546 - `--shadow-double-etched-out' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedOut'
8548 Two lines with 3D raised appearance.
8550 - `--shadow-double-etched-in-dash' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedInDash'
8552 Two dashed lines with 3D sunken appearance.
8554 - `--shadow-double-etched-out-dash' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedOutDash'
8556 Two dashed lines with 3D raised appearance.
8558 Under LessTif/Motif, the last four separator types are displayed like
8559 the corresponding single-line separators.
8561 ** New frame parameters for scroll bar colors.
8563 The new frame parameters `scroll-bar-foreground' and
8564 `scroll-bar-background' can be used to change scroll bar colors.
8565 Their value must be either a color name, a string, or nil to specify
8566 that scroll bars should use a default color. For toolkit scroll bars,
8567 default colors are toolkit specific. For non-toolkit scroll bars, the
8568 default background is the background color of the frame, and the
8569 default foreground is black.
8571 The X resource name of these parameters are `scrollBarForeground'
8572 (class ScrollBarForeground) and `scrollBarBackground' (class
8573 `ScrollBarBackground').
8575 Setting these parameters overrides toolkit specific X resource
8576 settings for scroll bar colors.
8578 ** You can set `redisplay-dont-pause' to a non-nil value to prevent
8579 display updates from being interrupted when input is pending.
8581 ** Changing a window's width may now change its window start if it
8582 starts on a continuation line. The new window start is computed based
8583 on the window's new width, starting from the start of the continued
8584 line as the start of the screen line with the minimum distance from
8585 the original window start.
8587 ** The variable `hscroll-step' and the functions
8588 `hscroll-point-visible' and `hscroll-window-column' have been removed
8589 now that proper horizontal scrolling is implemented.
8591 ** Windows can now be made fixed-width and/or fixed-height.
8593 A window is fixed-size if its buffer has a buffer-local variable
8594 `window-size-fixed' whose value is not nil. A value of `height' makes
8595 windows fixed-height, a value of `width' makes them fixed-width, any
8596 other non-nil value makes them both fixed-width and fixed-height.
8598 The following code makes all windows displaying the current buffer
8599 fixed-width and fixed-height.
8601 (set (make-local-variable 'window-size-fixed) t)
8603 A call to enlarge-window on a window gives an error if that window is
8604 fixed-width and it is tried to change the window's width, or if the
8605 window is fixed-height, and it is tried to change its height. To
8606 change the size of a fixed-size window, bind `window-size-fixed'
8607 temporarily to nil, for example
8609 (let ((window-size-fixed nil))
8610 (enlarge-window 10))
8612 Likewise, an attempt to split a fixed-height window vertically,
8613 or a fixed-width window horizontally results in a error.
8615 ** The cursor-type frame parameter is now supported on MS-DOS
8616 terminals. When Emacs starts, it by default changes the cursor shape
8617 to a solid box, as it does on Unix. The `cursor-type' frame parameter
8618 overrides this as it does on Unix, except that the bar cursor is
8619 horizontal rather than vertical (since the MS-DOS display doesn't
8620 support a vertical-bar cursor).
8624 * Emacs 20.7 is a bug-fix release with few user-visible changes
8626 ** It is now possible to use CCL-based coding systems for keyboard
8629 ** ange-ftp now handles FTP security extensions, like Kerberos.
8631 ** Rmail has been extended to recognize more forms of digest messages.
8633 ** Now, most coding systems set in keyboard coding system work not
8634 only for character input, but also in incremental search. The
8635 exceptions are such coding systems that handle 2-byte character sets
8636 (e.g euc-kr, euc-jp) and that use ISO's escape sequence
8637 (e.g. iso-2022-jp). They are ignored in incremental search.
8639 ** Support for Macintosh PowerPC-based machines running GNU/Linux has
8643 * Emacs 20.6 is a bug-fix release with one user-visible change
8645 ** Support for ARM-based non-RISCiX machines has been added.
8649 * Emacs 20.5 is a bug-fix release with no user-visible changes.
8651 ** Not new, but not mentioned before:
8652 M-w when Transient Mark mode is enabled disables the mark.
8654 * Changes in Emacs 20.4
8656 ** Init file may be called .emacs.el.
8658 You can now call the Emacs init file `.emacs.el'.
8659 Formerly the name had to be `.emacs'. If you use the name
8660 `.emacs.el', you can byte-compile the file in the usual way.
8662 If both `.emacs' and `.emacs.el' exist, the latter file
8663 is the one that is used.
8665 ** shell-command, and shell-command-on-region, now return
8666 the exit code of the command (unless it is asynchronous).
8667 Also, you can specify a place to put the error output,
8668 separate from the command's regular output.
8669 Interactively, the variable shell-command-default-error-buffer
8670 says where to put error output; set it to a buffer name.
8671 In calls from Lisp, an optional argument ERROR-BUFFER specifies
8674 When you specify a non-nil error buffer (or buffer name), any error
8675 output is inserted before point in that buffer, with \f\n to separate
8676 it from the previous batch of error output. The error buffer is not
8677 cleared, so error output from successive commands accumulates there.
8679 ** Setting the default value of enable-multibyte-characters to nil in
8680 the .emacs file, either explicitly using setq-default, or via Custom,
8681 is now essentially equivalent to using --unibyte: all buffers
8682 created during startup will be made unibyte after loading .emacs.
8684 ** C-x C-f now handles the wildcards * and ? in file names. For
8685 example, typing C-x C-f c*.c RET visits all the files whose names
8686 match c*.c. To visit a file whose name contains * or ?, add the
8687 quoting sequence /: to the beginning of the file name.
8689 ** The M-x commands keep-lines, flush-lines and count-matches
8690 now have the same feature as occur and query-replace:
8691 if the pattern contains any upper case letters, then
8692 they never ignore case.
8694 ** The end-of-line format conversion feature previously mentioned
8695 under `* Emacs 20.1 changes for MS-DOS and MS-Windows' actually
8696 applies to all operating systems. Emacs recognizes from the contents
8697 of a file what convention it uses to separate lines--newline, CRLF, or
8698 just CR--and automatically converts the contents to the normal Emacs
8699 convention (using newline to separate lines) for editing. This is a
8700 part of the general feature of coding system conversion.
8702 If you subsequently save the buffer, Emacs converts the text back to
8703 the same format that was used in the file before.
8705 You can turn off end-of-line conversion by setting the variable
8706 `inhibit-eol-conversion' to non-nil, e.g. with Custom in the MULE group.
8708 ** The character set property `prefered-coding-system' has been
8709 renamed to `preferred-coding-system', for the sake of correct spelling.
8710 This is a fairly internal feature, so few programs should be affected.
8712 ** Mode-line display of end-of-line format is changed.
8713 The indication of the end-of-line format of the file visited by a
8714 buffer is now more explicit when that format is not the usual one for
8715 your operating system. For example, the DOS-style end-of-line format
8716 is displayed as "(DOS)" on Unix and GNU/Linux systems. The usual
8717 end-of-line format is still displayed as a single character (colon for
8718 Unix, backslash for DOS and Windows, and forward slash for the Mac).
8720 The values of the variables eol-mnemonic-unix, eol-mnemonic-dos,
8721 eol-mnemonic-mac, and eol-mnemonic-undecided, which are strings,
8722 control what is displayed in the mode line for each end-of-line
8723 format. You can now customize these variables.
8725 ** In the previous version of Emacs, tar-mode didn't work well if a
8726 filename contained non-ASCII characters. Now this is fixed. Such a
8727 filename is decoded by file-name-coding-system if the default value of
8728 enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil.
8730 ** The command temp-buffer-resize-mode toggles a minor mode
8731 in which temporary buffers (such as help buffers) are given
8732 windows just big enough to hold the whole contents.
8734 ** If you use completion.el, you must now run the function
8735 dynamic-completion-mode to enable it. Just loading the file
8736 doesn't have any effect.
8738 ** In Flyspell mode, the default is now to make just one Ispell process,
8741 ** If you use iswitchb but do not call (iswitchb-default-keybindings) to
8742 use the default keybindings, you will need to add the following line:
8743 (add-hook 'minibuffer-setup-hook 'iswitchb-minibuffer-setup)
8745 ** Auto-show mode is no longer enabled just by loading auto-show.el.
8746 To control it, set `auto-show-mode' via Custom or use the
8747 `auto-show-mode' command.
8749 ** Handling of X fonts' ascent/descent parameters has been changed to
8750 avoid redisplay problems. As a consequence, compared with previous
8751 versions the line spacing and frame size now differ with some font
8752 choices, typically increasing by a pixel per line. This change
8753 occurred in version 20.3 but was not documented then.
8755 ** If you select the bar cursor style, it uses the frame's
8756 cursor-color, rather than the cursor foreground pixel.
8758 ** In multibyte mode, Rmail decodes incoming MIME messages using the
8759 character set specified in the message. If you want to disable this
8760 feature, set the variable rmail-decode-mime-charset to nil.
8762 ** Not new, but not mentioned previously in NEWS: when you use #! at
8763 the beginning of a file to make it executable and specify an
8764 interpreter program, Emacs looks on the second line for the -*- mode
8765 and variable specification, as well as on the first line.
8767 ** Support for IBM codepage encoding of non-ASCII characters.
8769 The new command M-x codepage-setup creates a special coding system
8770 that can be used to convert text between a specific IBM codepage and
8771 one of the character sets built into Emacs which matches that
8772 codepage. For example, codepage 850 corresponds to Latin-1 character
8773 set, codepage 855 corresponds to Cyrillic-ISO character set, etc.
8775 Windows codepages 1250, 1251 and some others, where Windows deviates
8776 from the corresponding ISO character set, are also supported.
8778 IBM box-drawing characters and other glyphs which don't have
8779 equivalents in the corresponding ISO character set, are converted to
8780 a character defined by dos-unsupported-char-glyph on MS-DOS, and to
8781 `?' on other systems.
8783 IBM codepages are widely used on MS-DOS and MS-Windows, so this
8784 feature is most useful on those platforms, but it can also be used on
8787 Emacs compiled for MS-DOS automatically loads the support for the
8788 current codepage when it starts.
8792 *** When mail is sent using compose-mail (C-x m), and if
8793 `mail-send-nonascii' is set to the new default value `mime',
8794 appropriate MIME headers are added. The headers are added only if
8795 non-ASCII characters are present in the body of the mail, and no other
8796 MIME headers are already present. For example, the following three
8797 headers are added if the coding system used in the *mail* buffer is
8801 Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
8802 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
8804 *** The new variable default-sendmail-coding-system specifies the
8805 default way to encode outgoing mail. This has higher priority than
8806 default-buffer-file-coding-system but has lower priority than
8807 sendmail-coding-system and the local value of
8808 buffer-file-coding-system.
8810 You should not set this variable manually. Instead, set
8811 sendmail-coding-system to specify a fixed encoding for all outgoing
8814 *** When you try to send a message that contains non-ASCII characters,
8815 if the coding system specified by those variables doesn't handle them,
8816 Emacs will ask you to select a suitable coding system while showing a
8817 list of possible coding systems.
8821 *** c-default-style can now take an association list that maps major
8822 modes to style names. When this variable is an alist, Java mode no
8823 longer hardcodes a setting to "java" style. See the variable's
8824 docstring for details.
8826 *** It's now possible to put a list as the offset on a syntactic
8827 symbol. The list is evaluated recursively until a non-nil offset is
8828 found. This is useful to combine several lineup functions to act in a
8829 prioritized order on a single line. However, none of the supplied
8830 lineup functions use this feature currently.
8832 *** New syntactic symbol catch-clause, which is used on the "catch" and
8833 "finally" lines in try-catch constructs in C++ and Java.
8835 *** New cleanup brace-catch-brace on c-cleanup-list, which does for
8836 "catch" lines what brace-elseif-brace does for "else if" lines.
8838 *** The braces of Java anonymous inner classes are treated separately
8839 from the braces of other classes in auto-newline mode. Two new
8840 symbols inexpr-class-open and inexpr-class-close may be used on
8841 c-hanging-braces-alist to control the automatic newlines used for
8844 *** Support for the Pike language added, along with new Pike specific
8845 syntactic symbols: inlambda, lambda-intro-cont
8847 *** Support for Java anonymous classes via new syntactic symbol
8848 inexpr-class. New syntactic symbol inexpr-statement for Pike
8849 support and gcc-style statements inside expressions. New lineup
8850 function c-lineup-inexpr-block.
8852 *** New syntactic symbol brace-entry-open which is used in brace lists
8853 (i.e. static initializers) when a list entry starts with an open
8854 brace. These used to be recognized as brace-list-entry's.
8855 c-electric-brace also recognizes brace-entry-open braces
8856 (brace-list-entry's can no longer be electrified).
8858 *** New command c-indent-line-or-region, not bound by default.
8860 *** `#' is only electric when typed in the indentation of a line.
8862 *** Parentheses are now electric (via the new command c-electric-paren)
8863 for auto-reindenting lines when parens are typed.
8865 *** In "gnu" style, inline-open offset is now set to zero.
8867 *** Uniform handling of the inclass syntactic symbol. The indentation
8868 associated with it is now always relative to the class opening brace.
8869 This means that the indentation behavior has changed in some
8870 circumstances, but only if you've put anything besides 0 on the
8871 class-open syntactic symbol (none of the default styles do that).
8875 *** New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
8876 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See the
8877 Gnus manual for the full story.
8879 *** The nndraft backend has returned, but works differently than
8880 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the nndraft
8881 group, which is created automatically.
8883 *** `gnus-alter-header-function' can now be used to alter header
8886 *** `gnus-summary-goto-article' now accept Message-ID's.
8888 *** A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
8889 outside the region: `C-c C-v'.
8891 *** You can now post to component group in nnvirtual groups with
8894 *** `nntp-rlogin-program' -- new variable to ease customization.
8896 *** `C-u C-c C-c' in `gnus-article-edit-mode' will now inhibit
8897 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
8899 *** New element in `gnus-boring-article-headers' -- `long-to'.
8901 *** `M-i' symbolic prefix command. See the section "Symbolic
8902 Prefixes" in the Gnus manual for details.
8904 *** `L' and `I' in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
8905 `a' to add the score rule to the "all.SCORE" file.
8907 *** `gnus-simplify-subject-functions' variable to allow greater
8908 control over simplification.
8910 *** `A T' -- new command for fetching the current thread.
8912 *** `/ T' -- new command for including the current thread in the
8915 *** `M-RET' is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
8917 *** \\1-expressions are now valid in `nnmail-split-methods'.
8919 *** The `custom-face-lookup' function has been removed.
8920 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
8921 rewrite them to use `face-spec-set' instead.
8923 *** Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
8924 `a' forces normal posting method.
8926 *** New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper text
8929 *** For easier debugging of nntp, you can set `nntp-record-commands'
8932 *** nntp now uses ~/.authinfo, a .netrc-like file, for controlling
8933 where and how to send AUTHINFO to NNTP servers.
8935 *** A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
8938 *** A history of where mails have been split is available.
8940 *** A new article date command has been added -- `article-date-iso8601'.
8942 *** Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
8943 `gnus-score-thread-simplify'.
8945 *** A new function for citing in Message has been added --
8946 `message-cite-original-without-signature'.
8948 *** `article-strip-all-blank-lines' -- new article command.
8950 *** A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
8953 *** A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
8954 `gnus-adaptive-word-minimum' variable.
8956 *** The "lapsed date" article header can be kept continually
8957 updated by the `gnus-start-date-timer' command.
8959 *** Web listserv archives can be read with the nnlistserv backend.
8961 *** Old dejanews archives can now be read by nnweb.
8963 *** `gnus-posting-styles' has been re-activated.
8965 ** Changes to TeX and LaTeX mode
8967 *** The new variable `tex-start-options-string' can be used to give
8968 options for the TeX run. The default value causes TeX to run in
8969 nonstopmode. For an interactive TeX run set it to nil or "".
8971 *** The command `tex-feed-input' sends input to the Tex Shell. In a
8972 TeX buffer it is bound to the keys C-RET, C-c RET, and C-c C-m (some
8973 of these keys may not work on all systems). For instance, if you run
8974 TeX interactively and if the TeX run stops because of an error, you
8975 can continue it without leaving the TeX buffer by typing C-RET.
8977 *** The Tex Shell Buffer is now in `compilation-shell-minor-mode'.
8978 All error-parsing commands of the Compilation major mode are available
8979 but bound to keys that don't collide with the shell. Thus you can use
8980 the Tex Shell for command line executions like a usual shell.
8982 *** The commands `tex-validate-region' and `tex-validate-buffer' check
8983 the matching of braces and $'s. The errors are listed in a *Occur*
8984 buffer and you can use C-c C-c or mouse-2 to go to a particular
8987 ** Changes to RefTeX mode
8989 *** The table of contents buffer can now also display labels and
8990 file boundaries in addition to sections. Use `l', `i', and `c' keys.
8992 *** Labels derived from context (the section heading) are now
8993 lowercase by default. To make the label legal in LaTeX, latin-1
8994 characters will lose their accent. All Mule characters will be
8995 removed from the label.
8997 *** The automatic display of cross reference information can also use
8998 a window instead of the echo area. See variable `reftex-auto-view-crossref'.
9000 *** kpsewhich can be used by RefTeX to find TeX and BibTeX files. See the
9001 customization group `reftex-finding-files'.
9003 *** The option `reftex-bibfile-ignore-list' has been renamed to
9004 `reftex-bibfile-ignore-regexps' and indeed can be fed with regular
9007 *** Multiple Selection buffers are now hidden buffers.
9009 ** New/deleted modes and packages
9011 *** The package snmp-mode.el provides major modes for editing SNMP and
9012 SNMPv2 MIBs. It has entries on `auto-mode-alist'.
9014 *** The package sql.el provides a major mode, M-x sql-mode, for
9015 editing SQL files, and M-x sql-interactive-mode for interacting with
9016 SQL interpreters. It has an entry on `auto-mode-alist'.
9018 *** M-x highlight-changes-mode provides a minor mode displaying buffer
9019 changes with a special face.
9021 *** ispell4.el has been deleted. It got in the way of ispell.el and
9022 this was hard to fix reliably. It has long been obsolete -- use
9023 Ispell 3.1 and ispell.el.
9025 * MS-DOS changes in Emacs 20.4
9027 ** Emacs compiled for MS-DOS now supports MULE features better.
9028 This includes support for display of all ISO 8859-N character sets,
9029 conversion to and from IBM codepage encoding of non-ASCII characters,
9030 and automatic setup of the MULE environment at startup. For details,
9031 check out the section `MS-DOS and MULE' in the manual.
9033 The MS-DOS installation procedure automatically configures and builds
9034 Emacs with input method support if it finds an unpacked Leim
9035 distribution when the config.bat script is run.
9037 ** Formerly, the value of lpr-command did not affect printing on
9038 MS-DOS unless print-region-function was set to nil, but now it
9039 controls whether an external program is invoked or output is written
9040 directly to a printer port. Similarly, in the previous version of
9041 Emacs, the value of ps-lpr-command did not affect PostScript printing
9042 on MS-DOS unless ps-printer-name was set to something other than a
9043 string (eg. t or `pipe'), but now it controls whether an external
9044 program is used. (These changes were made so that configuration of
9045 printing variables would be almost identical across all platforms.)
9047 ** In the previous version of Emacs, PostScript and non-PostScript
9048 output was piped to external programs, but because most print programs
9049 available for MS-DOS and MS-Windows cannot read data from their standard
9050 input, on those systems the data to be output is now written to a
9051 temporary file whose name is passed as the last argument to the external
9054 An exception is made for `print', a standard program on Windows NT,
9055 and `nprint', a standard program on Novell Netware. For both of these
9056 programs, the command line is constructed in the appropriate syntax
9057 automatically, using only the value of printer-name or ps-printer-name
9058 as appropriate--the value of the relevant `-switches' variable is
9059 ignored, as both programs have no useful switches.
9061 ** The value of the variable dos-printer (cf. dos-ps-printer), if it has
9062 a value, overrides the value of printer-name (cf. ps-printer-name), on
9063 MS-DOS and MS-Windows only. This has been true since version 20.3, but
9064 was not documented clearly before.
9066 ** All the Emacs games now work on MS-DOS terminals.
9067 This includes Tetris and Snake.
9069 * Lisp changes in Emacs 20.4
9071 ** New functions line-beginning-position and line-end-position
9072 return the position of the beginning or end of the current line.
9073 They both accept an optional argument, which has the same
9074 meaning as the argument to beginning-of-line or end-of-line.
9076 ** find-file and allied functions now have an optional argument
9077 WILDCARD. If this is non-nil, they do wildcard processing,
9078 and visit all files that match the wildcard pattern.
9080 ** Changes in the file-attributes function.
9082 *** The file size returned by file-attributes may be an integer or a float.
9083 It is an integer if the size fits in a Lisp integer, float otherwise.
9085 *** The inode number returned by file-attributes may be an integer (if
9086 the number fits in a Lisp integer) or a cons cell containing two
9089 ** The new function directory-files-and-attributes returns a list of
9090 files in a directory and their attributes. It accepts the same
9091 arguments as directory-files and has similar semantics, except that
9092 file names and attributes are returned.
9094 ** The new function file-attributes-lessp is a helper function for
9095 sorting the list generated by directory-files-and-attributes. It
9096 accepts two arguments, each a list of a file name and its attributes.
9097 It compares the file names of each according to string-lessp and
9100 ** The new function file-expand-wildcards expands a wildcard-pattern
9101 to produce a list of existing files that match the pattern.
9103 ** New functions for base64 conversion:
9105 The function base64-encode-region converts a part of the buffer
9106 into the base64 code used in MIME. base64-decode-region
9107 performs the opposite conversion. Line-breaking is supported
9110 Functions base64-encode-string and base64-decode-string do a similar
9111 job on the text in a string. They return the value as a new string.
9114 The new function process-running-child-p
9115 will tell you if a subprocess has given control of its
9116 terminal to its own child process.
9118 ** interrupt-process and such functions have a new feature:
9119 when the second argument is `lambda', they send a signal
9120 to the running child of the subshell, if any, but if the shell
9121 itself owns its terminal, no signal is sent.
9123 ** There are new widget types `plist' and `alist' which can
9124 be used for customizing variables whose values are plists or alists.
9126 ** easymenu.el now understands `:key-sequence' and `:style button'.
9127 :included is an alias for :visible.
9129 easy-menu-add-item now understands the values returned by
9130 easy-menu-remove-item and easy-menu-item-present-p. This can be used
9131 to move or copy menu entries.
9133 ** Multibyte editing changes
9135 *** The definitions of sref and char-bytes are changed. Now, sref is
9136 an alias of aref and char-bytes always returns 1. This change is to
9137 make some Emacs Lisp code which works on 20.2 and earlier also
9138 work on the latest Emacs. Such code uses a combination of sref and
9139 char-bytes in a loop typically as below:
9140 (setq char (sref str idx)
9141 idx (+ idx (char-bytes idx)))
9142 The byte-compiler now warns that this is obsolete.
9144 If you want to know how many bytes a specific multibyte character
9145 (say, CH) occupies in a multibyte buffer, use this code:
9146 (charset-bytes (char-charset ch))
9148 *** In multibyte mode, when you narrow a buffer to some region, and the
9149 region is preceded or followed by non-ASCII codes, inserting or
9150 deleting at the head or the end of the region may signal this error:
9152 Byte combining across boundary of accessible buffer text inhibited
9154 This is to avoid some bytes being combined together into a character
9155 across the boundary.
9157 *** The functions find-charset-region and find-charset-string include
9158 `unknown' in the returned list in the following cases:
9159 o The current buffer or the target string is unibyte and
9160 contains 8-bit characters.
9161 o The current buffer or the target string is multibyte and
9162 contains invalid characters.
9164 *** The functions decode-coding-region and encode-coding-region remove
9165 text properties of the target region. Ideally, they should correctly
9166 preserve text properties, but for the moment, it's hard. Removing
9167 text properties is better than preserving them in a less-than-correct
9170 *** prefer-coding-system sets EOL conversion of default coding systems.
9171 If the argument to prefer-coding-system specifies a certain type of
9172 end of line conversion, the default coding systems set by
9173 prefer-coding-system will specify that conversion type for end of line.
9175 *** The new function thai-compose-string can be used to properly
9176 compose Thai characters in a string.
9178 ** The primitive `define-prefix-command' now takes an optional third
9179 argument NAME, which should be a string. It supplies the menu name
9180 for the created keymap. Keymaps created in order to be displayed as
9181 menus should always use the third argument.
9183 ** The meanings of optional second arguments for read-char,
9184 read-event, and read-char-exclusive are flipped. Now the second
9185 arguments are INHERIT-INPUT-METHOD. These functions use the current
9186 input method (if any) if and only if INHERIT-INPUT-METHOD is non-nil.
9188 ** The new function clear-this-command-keys empties out the contents
9189 of the vector that (this-command-keys) returns. This is useful in
9190 programs that read passwords, to prevent the passwords from echoing
9191 inadvertently as part of the next command in certain cases.
9193 ** The new macro `with-temp-message' displays a temporary message in
9194 the echo area, while executing some Lisp code. Like `progn', it
9195 returns the value of the last form, but it also restores the previous
9198 (with-temp-message MESSAGE &rest BODY)
9200 ** The function `require' now takes an optional third argument
9201 NOERROR. If it is non-nil, then there is no error if the
9202 requested feature cannot be loaded.
9204 ** In the function modify-face, an argument of (nil) for the
9205 foreground color, background color or stipple pattern
9206 means to clear out that attribute.
9208 ** The `outer-window-id' frame property of an X frame
9209 gives the window number of the outermost X window for the frame.
9211 ** Temporary buffers made with with-output-to-temp-buffer are now
9212 read-only by default, and normally use the major mode Help mode
9213 unless you put them in some other non-Fundamental mode before the
9214 end of with-output-to-temp-buffer.
9216 ** The new functions gap-position and gap-size return information on
9217 the gap of the current buffer.
9219 ** The new functions position-bytes and byte-to-position provide a way
9220 to convert between character positions and byte positions in the
9223 ** vc.el defines two new macros, `edit-vc-file' and `with-vc-file', to
9224 facilitate working with version-controlled files from Lisp programs.
9225 These macros check out a given file automatically if needed, and check
9226 it back in after any modifications have been made.
9228 * Installation Changes in Emacs 20.3
9230 ** The default value of load-path now includes most subdirectories of
9231 the site-specific directories /usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp and
9232 /usr/local/share/emacs/VERSION/site-lisp, in addition to those
9233 directories themselves. Both immediate subdirectories and
9234 subdirectories multiple levels down are added to load-path.
9236 Not all subdirectories are included, though. Subdirectories whose
9237 names do not start with a letter or digit are excluded.
9238 Subdirectories named RCS or CVS are excluded. Also, a subdirectory
9239 which contains a file named `.nosearch' is excluded. You can use
9240 these methods to prevent certain subdirectories from being searched.
9242 Emacs finds these subdirectories and adds them to load-path when it
9243 starts up. While it would be cleaner to find the subdirectories each
9244 time Emacs loads a file, that would be much slower.
9246 This feature is an incompatible change. If you have stored some Emacs
9247 Lisp files in a subdirectory of the site-lisp directory specifically
9248 to prevent them from being used, you will need to rename the
9249 subdirectory to start with a non-alphanumeric character, or create a
9250 `.nosearch' file in it, in order to continue to achieve the desired
9253 ** Emacs no longer includes an old version of the C preprocessor from
9254 GCC. This was formerly used to help compile Emacs with C compilers
9255 that had limits on the significant length of an identifier, but in
9256 fact we stopped supporting such compilers some time ago.
9258 * Changes in Emacs 20.3
9260 ** The new command C-x z (repeat) repeats the previous command
9261 including its argument. If you repeat the z afterward,
9262 it repeats the command additional times; thus, you can
9263 perform many repetitions with one keystroke per repetition.
9265 ** Emacs now supports "selective undo" which undoes only within a
9266 specified region. To do this, set point and mark around the desired
9267 region and type C-u C-x u (or C-u C-_). You can then continue undoing
9268 further, within the same region, by repeating the ordinary undo
9269 command C-x u or C-_. This will keep undoing changes that were made
9270 within the region you originally specified, until either all of them
9271 are undone, or it encounters a change which crosses the edge of that
9274 In Transient Mark mode, undoing when a region is active requests
9277 ** If you specify --unibyte when starting Emacs, then all buffers are
9278 unibyte, except when a Lisp program specifically creates a multibyte
9279 buffer. Setting the environment variable EMACS_UNIBYTE has the same
9280 effect. The --no-unibyte option overrides EMACS_UNIBYTE and directs
9281 Emacs to run normally in multibyte mode.
9283 The option --unibyte does not affect the reading of Emacs Lisp files,
9284 though. If you want a Lisp file to be read in unibyte mode, use
9285 -*-unibyte: t;-*- on its first line. That will force Emacs to
9286 load that file in unibyte mode, regardless of how Emacs was started.
9288 ** toggle-enable-multibyte-characters no longer has a key binding and
9289 no longer appears in the menu bar. We've realized that changing the
9290 enable-multibyte-characters variable in an existing buffer is
9291 something that most users not do.
9293 ** You can specify a coding system to use for the next cut or paste
9294 operations through the window system with the command C-x RET X.
9295 The coding system can make a difference for communication with other
9298 C-x RET x specifies a coding system for all subsequent cutting and
9301 ** You can specify the printer to use for commands that do printing by
9302 setting the variable `printer-name'. Just what a printer name looks
9303 like depends on your operating system. You can specify a different
9304 printer for the Postscript printing commands by setting
9307 ** Emacs now supports on-the-fly spell checking by the means of a
9308 minor mode. It is called M-x flyspell-mode. You don't have to remember
9309 any other special commands to use it, and you will hardly notice it
9310 except when you make a spelling error. Flyspell works by highlighting
9311 incorrect words as soon as they are completed or as soon as the cursor
9314 Flyspell mode works with whichever dictionary you have selected for
9315 Ispell in Emacs. In TeX mode, it understands TeX syntax so as not
9316 to be confused by TeX commands.
9318 You can correct a misspelled word by editing it into something
9319 correct. You can also correct it, or accept it as correct, by
9320 clicking on the word with Mouse-2; that gives you a pop-up menu
9321 of various alternative replacements and actions.
9323 Flyspell mode also proposes "automatic" corrections. M-TAB replaces
9324 the current misspelled word with a possible correction. If several
9325 corrections are made possible, M-TAB cycles through them in
9326 alphabetical order, or in order of decreasing likelihood if
9327 flyspell-sort-corrections is nil.
9329 Flyspell mode also flags an error when a word is repeated, if
9330 flyspell-mark-duplications-flag is non-nil.
9332 ** Changes in input method usage.
9334 Now you can use arrow keys (right, left, down, up) for selecting among
9335 the alternatives just the same way as you do by C-f, C-b, C-n, and C-p
9338 You can use the ENTER key to accept the current conversion.
9340 If you type TAB to display a list of alternatives, you can select one
9341 of the alternatives with Mouse-2.
9343 The meaning of the variable `input-method-verbose-flag' is changed so
9344 that you can set it to t, nil, `default', or `complex-only'.
9346 If the value is nil, extra guidance is never given.
9348 If the value is t, extra guidance is always given.
9350 If the value is `complex-only', extra guidance is always given only
9351 when you are using complex input methods such as chinese-py.
9353 If the value is `default' (this is the default), extra guidance is
9354 given in the following case:
9355 o When you are using a complex input method.
9356 o When you are using a simple input method but not in the minibuffer.
9358 If you are using Emacs through a very slow line, setting
9359 input-method-verbose-flag to nil or to complex-only is a good choice,
9360 and if you are using an input method you are not familiar with,
9361 setting it to t is helpful.
9363 The old command select-input-method is now called set-input-method.
9365 In the language environment "Korean", you can use the following
9367 Shift-SPC toggle-korean-input-method
9368 C-F9 quail-hangul-switch-symbol-ksc
9369 F9 quail-hangul-switch-hanja
9370 These key bindings are canceled when you switch to another language
9373 ** The minibuffer history of file names now records the specified file
9374 names, not the entire minibuffer input. For example, if the
9375 minibuffer starts out with /usr/foo/, you might type in /etc/passwd to
9378 /usr/foo//etc/passwd
9380 which stands for the file /etc/passwd.
9382 Formerly, this used to put /usr/foo//etc/passwd in the history list.
9383 Now this puts just /etc/passwd in the history list.
9385 ** If you are root, Emacs sets backup-by-copying-when-mismatch to t
9386 at startup, so that saving a file will be sure to preserve
9387 its owner and group.
9389 ** find-func.el can now also find the place of definition of Emacs
9390 Lisp variables in user-loaded libraries.
9392 ** C-x r t (string-rectangle) now deletes the existing rectangle
9393 contents before inserting the specified string on each line.
9395 ** There is a new command delete-whitespace-rectangle
9396 which deletes whitespace starting from a particular column
9397 in all the lines on a rectangle. The column is specified
9398 by the left edge of the rectangle.
9400 ** You can now store a number into a register with C-u NUMBER C-x r n REG,
9401 increment it by INC with C-u INC C-x r + REG (to increment by one, omit
9402 C-u INC), and insert it in the buffer with C-x r g REG. This is useful
9403 for writing keyboard macros.
9405 ** The new command M-x speedbar displays a frame in which directories,
9406 files, and tags can be displayed, manipulated, and jumped to. The
9407 frame defaults to 20 characters in width, and is the same height as
9408 the frame that it was started from. Some major modes define
9409 additional commands for the speedbar, including Rmail, GUD/GDB, and
9412 ** query-replace-regexp is now bound to C-M-%.
9414 ** In Transient Mark mode, when the region is active, M-x
9415 query-replace and the other replace commands now operate on the region
9418 ** M-x write-region, when used interactively, now asks for
9419 confirmation before overwriting an existing file. When you call
9420 the function from a Lisp program, a new optional argument CONFIRM
9421 says whether to ask for confirmation in this case.
9423 ** If you use find-file-literally and the file is already visited
9424 non-literally, the command asks you whether to revisit the file
9425 literally. If you say no, it signals an error.
9427 ** Major modes defined with the "derived mode" feature
9428 now use the proper name for the mode hook: WHATEVER-mode-hook.
9429 Formerly they used the name WHATEVER-mode-hooks, but that is
9430 inconsistent with Emacs conventions.
9432 ** shell-command-on-region (and shell-command) reports success or
9433 failure if the command produces no output.
9435 ** Set focus-follows-mouse to nil if your window system or window
9436 manager does not transfer focus to another window when you just move
9439 ** mouse-menu-buffer-maxlen has been renamed to
9440 mouse-buffer-menu-maxlen to be consistent with the other related
9441 function and variable names.
9443 ** The new variable auto-coding-alist specifies coding systems for
9444 reading specific files. This has higher priority than
9445 file-coding-system-alist.
9447 ** If you set the variable unibyte-display-via-language-environment to
9448 t, then Emacs displays non-ASCII characters are displayed by
9449 converting them to the equivalent multibyte characters according to
9450 the current language environment. As a result, they are displayed
9451 according to the current fontset.
9453 ** C-q's handling of codes in the range 0200 through 0377 is changed.
9455 The codes in the range 0200 through 0237 are inserted as one byte of
9456 that code regardless of the values of nonascii-translation-table and
9457 nonascii-insert-offset.
9459 For the codes in the range 0240 through 0377, if
9460 enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil and nonascii-translation-table
9461 nor nonascii-insert-offset can't convert them to valid multibyte
9462 characters, they are converted to Latin-1 characters.
9464 ** If you try to find a file that is not read-accessible, you now get
9465 an error, rather than an empty buffer and a warning.
9467 ** In the minibuffer history commands M-r and M-s, an upper case
9468 letter in the regular expression forces case-sensitive search.
9470 ** In the *Help* buffer, cross-references to commands and variables
9471 are inferred and hyperlinked. Use C-h m in Help mode for the relevant
9474 ** M-x apropos-command, with a prefix argument, no longer looks for
9475 user option variables--instead it looks for noninteractive functions.
9477 Meanwhile, the command apropos-variable normally searches for
9478 user option variables; with a prefix argument, it looks at
9479 all variables that have documentation.
9481 ** When you type a long line in the minibuffer, and the minibuffer
9482 shows just one line, automatically scrolling works in a special way
9483 that shows you overlap with the previous line of text. The variable
9484 minibuffer-scroll-overlap controls how many characters of overlap
9485 it should show; the default is 20.
9487 Meanwhile, Resize Minibuffer mode is still available; in that mode,
9488 the minibuffer grows taller (up to a point) as needed to show the whole
9491 ** The new command M-x customize-changed-options lets you customize
9492 all the options whose meanings or default values have changed in
9493 recent Emacs versions. You specify a previous Emacs version number as
9494 argument, and the command creates a customization buffer showing all
9495 the customizable options which were changed since that version.
9496 Newly added options are included as well.
9498 If you don't specify a particular version number argument,
9499 then the customization buffer shows all the customizable options
9500 for which Emacs versions of changes are recorded.
9502 This function is also bound to the Changed Options entry in the
9505 ** When you run M-x grep with a prefix argument, it figures out
9506 the tag around point and puts that into the default grep command.
9508 ** The new command M-* (pop-tag-mark) pops back through a history of
9509 buffer positions from which M-. or other tag-finding commands were
9512 ** The new variable comment-padding specifies the number of spaces
9513 that `comment-region' will insert before the actual text of the comment.
9516 ** In Fortran mode the characters `.', `_' and `$' now have symbol
9517 syntax, not word syntax. Fortran mode now supports `imenu' and has
9518 new commands fortran-join-line (M-^) and fortran-narrow-to-subprogram
9519 (C-x n d). M-q can be used to fill a statement or comment block
9522 ** GUD now supports jdb, the Java debugger, and pdb, the Python debugger.
9524 ** If you set the variable add-log-keep-changes-together to a non-nil
9525 value, the command `C-x 4 a' will automatically notice when you make
9526 two entries in one day for one file, and combine them.
9528 ** You can use the command M-x diary-mail-entries to mail yourself a
9529 reminder about upcoming diary entries. See the documentation string
9530 for a sample shell script for calling this function automatically
9535 *** All you need to do to enable use of the Desktop package, is to set
9536 the variable desktop-enable to t with Custom.
9538 *** Minor modes are now restored. Which minor modes are restored
9539 and how modes are restored is controlled by `desktop-minor-mode-table'.
9541 ** There is no need to do anything special, now, to enable Gnus to
9542 read and post multi-lingual articles.
9544 ** Outline mode has now support for showing hidden outlines when
9545 doing an isearch. In order for this to happen search-invisible should
9546 be set to open (the default). If an isearch match is inside a hidden
9547 outline the outline is made visible. If you continue pressing C-s and
9548 the match moves outside the formerly invisible outline, the outline is
9549 made invisible again.
9551 ** Mail reading and sending changes
9553 *** The Rmail e command now switches to displaying the whole header of
9554 the message before it lets you edit the message. This is so that any
9555 changes you make in the header will not be lost if you subsequently
9558 *** The w command in Rmail, which writes the message body into a file,
9559 now works in the summary buffer as well. (The command to delete the
9560 summary buffer is now Q.) The default file name for the w command, if
9561 the message has no subject, is stored in the variable
9562 rmail-default-body-file.
9564 *** Most of the commands and modes that operate on mail and netnews no
9565 longer depend on the value of mail-header-separator. Instead, they
9566 handle whatever separator the buffer happens to use.
9568 *** If you set mail-signature to a value which is not t, nil, or a string,
9569 it should be an expression. When you send a message, this expression
9570 is evaluated to insert the signature.
9572 *** The new Lisp library feedmail.el (version 8) enhances processing of
9573 outbound email messages. It works in coordination with other email
9574 handling packages (e.g., rmail, VM, gnus) and is responsible for
9575 putting final touches on messages and actually submitting them for
9576 transmission. Users of the emacs program "fakemail" might be
9577 especially interested in trying feedmail.
9579 feedmail is not enabled by default. See comments at the top of
9580 feedmail.el for set-up instructions. Among the bigger features
9581 provided by feedmail are:
9583 **** you can park outgoing messages into a disk-based queue and
9584 stimulate sending some or all of them later (handy for laptop users);
9585 there is also a queue for draft messages
9587 **** you can get one last look at the prepped outbound message and
9588 be prompted for confirmation
9590 **** does smart filling of address headers
9592 **** can generate a MESSAGE-ID: line and a DATE: line; the date can be
9593 the time the message was written or the time it is being sent; this
9594 can make FCC copies more closely resemble copies that recipients get
9596 **** you can specify an arbitrary function for actually transmitting
9597 the message; included in feedmail are interfaces for /bin/[r]mail,
9598 /usr/lib/sendmail, and elisp smtpmail; it's easy to write a new
9599 function for something else (10-20 lines of elisp)
9603 *** The Dired function dired-do-toggle, which toggles marked and unmarked
9604 files, is now bound to "t" instead of "T".
9606 *** dired-at-point has been added to ffap.el. It allows one to easily
9607 run Dired on the directory name at point.
9609 *** Dired has a new command: %g. It searches the contents of
9610 files in the directory and marks each file that contains a match
9611 for a specified regexp.
9615 *** New option vc-ignore-vc-files lets you turn off version control
9618 *** VC Dired has been completely rewritten. It is now much
9619 faster, especially for CVS, and works very similar to ordinary
9622 VC Dired is invoked by typing C-x v d and entering the name of the
9623 directory to display. By default, VC Dired gives you a recursive
9624 listing of all files at or below the given directory which are
9625 currently locked (for CVS, all files not up-to-date are shown).
9627 You can change the listing format by setting vc-dired-recurse to nil,
9628 then it shows only the given directory, and you may also set
9629 vc-dired-terse-display to nil, then it shows all files under version
9630 control plus the names of any subdirectories, so that you can type `i'
9631 on such lines to insert them manually, as in ordinary Dired.
9633 All Dired commands operate normally in VC Dired, except for `v', which
9634 is redefined as the version control prefix. That means you may type
9635 `v l', `v =' etc. to invoke `vc-print-log', `vc-diff' and the like on
9636 the file named in the current Dired buffer line. `v v' invokes
9637 `vc-next-action' on this file, or on all files currently marked.
9639 The new command `v t' (vc-dired-toggle-terse-mode) allows you to
9640 toggle between terse display (only locked files) and full display (all
9641 VC files plus subdirectories). There is also a special command,
9642 `* l', to mark all files currently locked.
9644 Giving a prefix argument to C-x v d now does the same thing as in
9645 ordinary Dired: it allows you to supply additional options for the ls
9646 command in the minibuffer, to fine-tune VC Dired's output.
9648 *** Under CVS, if you merge changes from the repository into a working
9649 file, and CVS detects conflicts, VC now offers to start an ediff
9650 session to resolve them.
9652 Alternatively, you can use the new command `vc-resolve-conflicts' to
9653 resolve conflicts in a file at any time. It works in any buffer that
9654 contains conflict markers as generated by rcsmerge (which is what CVS
9657 *** You can now transfer changes between branches, using the new
9658 command vc-merge (C-x v m). It is implemented for RCS and CVS. When
9659 you invoke it in a buffer under version-control, you can specify
9660 either an entire branch or a pair of versions, and the changes on that
9661 branch or between the two versions are merged into the working file.
9662 If this results in any conflicts, they may be resolved interactively,
9665 ** Changes in Font Lock
9667 *** The face and variable previously known as font-lock-reference-face
9668 are now called font-lock-constant-face to better reflect their typical
9669 use for highlighting constants and labels. (Its face properties are
9670 unchanged.) The variable font-lock-reference-face remains for now for
9671 compatibility reasons, but its value is font-lock-constant-face.
9673 ** Frame name display changes
9675 *** The command set-frame-name lets you set the name of the current
9676 frame. You can use the new command select-frame-by-name to select and
9677 raise a frame; this is mostly useful on character-only terminals, or
9678 when many frames are invisible or iconified.
9680 *** On character-only terminal (not a window system), changing the
9681 frame name is now reflected on the mode line and in the Buffers/Frames
9684 ** Comint (subshell) changes
9686 *** In Comint modes, the commands to kill, stop or interrupt a
9687 subjob now also kill pending input. This is for compatibility
9688 with ordinary shells, where the signal characters do this.
9690 *** There are new commands in Comint mode.
9692 C-c C-x fetches the "next" line from the input history;
9693 that is, the line after the last line you got.
9694 You can use this command to fetch successive lines, one by one.
9696 C-c SPC accumulates lines of input. More precisely, it arranges to
9697 send the current line together with the following line, when you send
9700 C-c C-a if repeated twice consecutively now moves to the process mark,
9701 which separates the pending input from the subprocess output and the
9702 previously sent input.
9704 C-c M-r now runs comint-previous-matching-input-from-input;
9705 it searches for a previous command, using the current pending input
9706 as the search string.
9708 *** New option compilation-scroll-output can be set to scroll
9709 automatically in compilation-mode windows.
9713 *** Multiline macros are now handled, both as they affect indentation,
9714 and as recognized syntax. New syntactic symbol cpp-macro-cont is
9715 assigned to second and subsequent lines of a multiline macro
9718 *** A new style "user" which captures all non-hook-ified
9719 (i.e. top-level) .emacs file variable settings and customizations.
9720 Style "cc-mode" is an alias for "user" and is deprecated. "gnu"
9721 style is still the default however.
9723 *** "java" style now conforms to Sun's JDK coding style.
9725 *** There are new commands c-beginning-of-defun, c-end-of-defun which
9726 are alternatives which you could bind to C-M-a and C-M-e if you prefer
9727 them. They do not have key bindings by default.
9729 *** New and improved implementations of M-a (c-beginning-of-statement)
9730 and M-e (c-end-of-statement).
9732 *** C++ namespace blocks are supported, with new syntactic symbols
9733 namespace-open, namespace-close, and innamespace.
9735 *** File local variable settings of c-file-style and c-file-offsets
9736 makes the style variables local to that buffer only.
9738 *** New indentation functions c-lineup-close-paren,
9739 c-indent-one-line-block, c-lineup-dont-change.
9741 *** Improvements (hopefully!) to the way CC Mode is loaded. You
9742 should now be able to do a (require 'cc-mode) to get the entire
9743 package loaded properly for customization in your .emacs file. A new
9744 variable c-initialize-on-load controls this and is t by default.
9746 ** Changes to hippie-expand.
9748 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-dabbrev-skip-space'. If
9749 non-nil, trailing spaces may be included in the abbreviation to search for,
9750 which then gives the same behavior as the original `dabbrev-expand'.
9752 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-dabbrev-as-symbol'. If
9753 non-nil, characters of syntax '_' is considered part of the word when
9754 expanding dynamically.
9756 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-no-restriction'. If
9757 non-nil, narrowed buffers are widened before they are searched.
9759 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-only-buffers'. If
9760 non-empty, buffers searched are restricted to the types specified in
9761 this list. Useful for example when constructing new special-purpose
9762 expansion functions with `make-hippie-expand-function'.
9764 *** Text properties of the expansion are no longer copied.
9766 ** Changes in BibTeX mode.
9768 *** Any titleword matching a regexp in the new variable
9769 bibtex-autokey-titleword-ignore (case sensitive) is ignored during
9770 automatic key generation. This replaces variable
9771 bibtex-autokey-titleword-first-ignore, which only checked for matches
9772 against the first word in the title.
9774 *** Autokey generation now uses all words from the title, not just
9775 capitalized words. To avoid conflicts with existing customizations,
9776 bibtex-autokey-titleword-ignore is set up such that words starting with
9777 lowerkey characters will still be ignored. Thus, if you want to use
9778 lowercase words from the title, you will have to overwrite the
9779 bibtex-autokey-titleword-ignore standard setting.
9781 *** Case conversion of names and title words for automatic key
9782 generation is more flexible. Variable bibtex-autokey-preserve-case is
9783 replaced by bibtex-autokey-titleword-case-convert and
9784 bibtex-autokey-name-case-convert.
9786 ** Changes in vcursor.el.
9788 *** Support for character terminals is available: there is a new keymap
9789 and the vcursor will appear as an arrow between buffer text. A
9790 variable `vcursor-interpret-input' allows input from the vcursor to be
9791 entered exactly as if typed. Numerous functions, including
9792 `vcursor-compare-windows', have been rewritten to improve consistency
9793 in the selection of windows and corresponding keymaps.
9795 *** vcursor options can now be altered with M-x customize under the
9796 Editing group once the package is loaded.
9798 *** Loading vcursor now does not define keys by default, as this is
9799 generally a bad side effect. Use M-x customize to set
9800 vcursor-key-bindings to t to restore the old behavior.
9802 *** vcursor-auto-disable can be `copy', which turns off copying from the
9803 vcursor, but doesn't disable it, after any non-vcursor command.
9807 *** You can now spell check comments and strings in the current
9808 buffer with M-x ispell-comments-and-strings. Comments and strings
9809 are identified by syntax tables in effect.
9811 *** Generic region skipping implemented.
9812 A single buffer can be broken into a number of regions where text will
9813 and will not be checked. The definitions of the regions can be user
9814 defined. New applications and improvements made available by this
9817 o URLs are automatically skipped
9818 o EMail message checking is vastly improved.
9820 *** Ispell can highlight the erroneous word even on non-window terminals.
9822 ** Changes to RefTeX mode
9824 RefTeX has been updated in order to make it more usable with very
9825 large projects (like a several volume math book). The parser has been
9826 re-written from scratch. To get maximum speed from RefTeX, check the
9827 section `Optimizations' in the manual.
9829 *** New recursive parser.
9831 The old version of RefTeX created a single large buffer containing the
9832 entire multifile document in order to parse the document. The new
9833 recursive parser scans the individual files.
9835 *** Parsing only part of a document.
9837 Reparsing of changed document parts can now be made faster by enabling
9838 partial scans. To use this feature, read the documentation string of
9839 the variable `reftex-enable-partial-scans' and set the variable to t.
9841 (setq reftex-enable-partial-scans t)
9843 *** Storing parsing information in a file.
9845 This can improve startup times considerably. To turn it on, use
9847 (setq reftex-save-parse-info t)
9849 *** Using multiple selection buffers
9851 If the creation of label selection buffers is too slow (this happens
9852 for large documents), you can reuse these buffers by setting
9854 (setq reftex-use-multiple-selection-buffers t)
9856 *** References to external documents.
9858 The LaTeX package `xr' allows to cross-reference labels in external
9859 documents. RefTeX can provide information about the external
9860 documents as well. To use this feature, set up the \externaldocument
9861 macros required by the `xr' package and rescan the document with
9862 RefTeX. The external labels can then be accessed with the `x' key in
9863 the selection buffer provided by `reftex-reference' (bound to `C-c )').
9864 The `x' key also works in the table of contents buffer.
9866 *** Many more labeled LaTeX environments are recognized by default.
9868 The built-in command list now covers all the standard LaTeX commands,
9869 and all of the major packages included in the LaTeX distribution.
9871 Also, RefTeX now understands the \appendix macro and changes
9872 the enumeration of sections in the *toc* buffer accordingly.
9874 *** Mouse support for selection and *toc* buffers
9876 The mouse can now be used to select items in the selection and *toc*
9877 buffers. See also the new option `reftex-highlight-selection'.
9879 *** New keymaps for selection and table of contents modes.
9881 The selection processes for labels and citation keys, and the table of
9882 contents buffer now have their own keymaps: `reftex-select-label-map',
9883 `reftex-select-bib-map', `reftex-toc-map'. The selection processes
9884 have a number of new keys predefined. In particular, TAB lets you
9885 enter a label with completion. Check the on-the-fly help (press `?'
9886 at the selection prompt) or read the Info documentation to find out
9889 *** Support for the varioref package
9891 The `v' key in the label selection buffer toggles \ref versus \vref.
9895 Three new hooks can be used to redefine the way labels, references,
9896 and citations are created. These hooks are
9897 `reftex-format-label-function', `reftex-format-ref-function',
9898 `reftex-format-cite-function'.
9900 *** Citations outside LaTeX
9902 The command `reftex-citation' may also be used outside LaTeX (e.g. in
9903 a mail buffer). See the Info documentation for details.
9905 *** Short context is no longer fontified.
9907 The short context in the label menu no longer copies the
9908 fontification from the text in the buffer. If you prefer it to be
9911 (setq reftex-refontify-context t)
9913 ** file-cache-minibuffer-complete now accepts a prefix argument.
9914 With a prefix argument, it does not try to do completion of
9915 the file name within its directory; it only checks for other
9916 directories that contain the same file name.
9918 Thus, given the file name Makefile, and assuming that a file
9919 Makefile.in exists in the same directory, ordinary
9920 file-cache-minibuffer-complete will try to complete Makefile to
9921 Makefile.in and will therefore never look for other directories that
9922 have Makefile. A prefix argument tells it not to look for longer
9923 names such as Makefile.in, so that instead it will look for other
9924 directories--just as if the name were already complete in its present
9927 ** New modes and packages
9929 *** There is a new alternative major mode for Perl, Cperl mode.
9930 It has many more features than Perl mode, and some people prefer
9931 it, but some do not.
9933 *** There is a new major mode, M-x vhdl-mode, for editing files of VHDL
9936 *** M-x which-function-mode enables a minor mode that displays the
9937 current function name continuously in the mode line, as you move
9940 Which Function mode is effective in major modes which support Imenu.
9942 *** Gametree is a major mode for editing game analysis trees. The author
9943 uses it for keeping notes about his postal Chess games, but it should
9944 be helpful for other two-player games as well, as long as they have an
9945 established system of notation similar to Chess.
9947 *** The new minor mode checkdoc-minor-mode provides Emacs Lisp
9948 documentation string checking for style and spelling. The style
9949 guidelines are found in the Emacs Lisp programming manual.
9951 *** The net-utils package makes some common networking features
9952 available in Emacs. Some of these functions are wrappers around
9953 system utilities (ping, nslookup, etc); others are implementations of
9954 simple protocols (finger, whois) in Emacs Lisp. There are also
9955 functions to make simple connections to TCP/IP ports for debugging and
9958 *** highlight-changes-mode is a minor mode that uses colors to
9959 identify recently changed parts of the buffer text.
9961 *** The new package `midnight' lets you specify things to be done
9962 within Emacs at midnight--by default, kill buffers that you have not
9963 used in a considerable time. To use this feature, customize
9964 the user option `midnight-mode' to t.
9966 *** The file generic-x.el defines a number of simple major modes.
9968 apache-generic-mode: For Apache and NCSA httpd configuration files
9969 samba-generic-mode: Samba configuration files
9970 fvwm-generic-mode: For fvwm initialization files
9971 x-resource-generic-mode: For X resource files
9972 hosts-generic-mode: For hosts files (.rhosts, /etc/hosts, etc)
9973 mailagent-rules-generic-mode: For mailagent .rules files
9974 javascript-generic-mode: For JavaScript files
9975 vrml-generic-mode: For VRML files
9976 java-manifest-generic-mode: For Java MANIFEST files
9977 java-properties-generic-mode: For Java property files
9978 mailrc-generic-mode: For .mailrc files
9980 Platform-specific modes:
9982 prototype-generic-mode: For Solaris/Sys V prototype files
9983 pkginfo-generic-mode: For Solaris/Sys V pkginfo files
9984 alias-generic-mode: For C shell alias files
9985 inf-generic-mode: For MS-Windows INF files
9986 ini-generic-mode: For MS-Windows INI files
9987 reg-generic-mode: For MS-Windows Registry files
9988 bat-generic-mode: For MS-Windows BAT scripts
9989 rc-generic-mode: For MS-Windows Resource files
9990 rul-generic-mode: For InstallShield scripts
9992 * Lisp changes in Emacs 20.3 since the Emacs Lisp Manual was published
9994 ** If you want a Lisp file to be read in unibyte mode,
9995 use -*-unibyte: t;-*- on its first line.
9996 That will force Emacs to read that file in unibyte mode.
9997 Otherwise, the file will be loaded and byte-compiled in multibyte mode.
9999 Thus, each lisp file is read in a consistent way regardless of whether
10000 you started Emacs with --unibyte, so that a Lisp program gives
10001 consistent results regardless of how Emacs was started.
10003 ** The new function assoc-default is useful for searching an alist,
10004 and using a default value if the key is not found there. You can
10005 specify a comparison predicate, so this function is useful for
10006 searching comparing a string against an alist of regular expressions.
10008 ** The functions unibyte-char-to-multibyte and
10009 multibyte-char-to-unibyte convert between unibyte and multibyte
10010 character codes, in a way that is appropriate for the current language
10013 ** The functions read-event, read-char and read-char-exclusive now
10014 take two optional arguments. PROMPT, if non-nil, specifies a prompt
10015 string. SUPPRESS-INPUT-METHOD, if non-nil, says to disable the
10016 current input method for reading this one event.
10018 ** Two new variables print-escape-nonascii and print-escape-multibyte
10019 now control whether to output certain characters as
10020 backslash-sequences. print-escape-nonascii applies to single-byte
10021 non-ASCII characters; print-escape-multibyte applies to multibyte
10022 characters. Both of these variables are used only when printing
10023 in readable fashion (prin1 uses them, princ does not).
10025 * Lisp changes in Emacs 20.3 before the Emacs Lisp Manual was published
10027 ** Compiled Emacs Lisp files made with the modified "MBSK" version
10028 of Emacs 20.2 do not work in Emacs 20.3.
10030 ** Buffer positions are now measured in characters, as they were
10031 in Emacs 19 and before. This means that (forward-char 1)
10032 always increases point by 1.
10034 The function chars-in-region now just subtracts its arguments. It is
10035 considered obsolete. The function char-boundary-p has been deleted.
10037 See below for additional changes relating to multibyte characters.
10039 ** defcustom, defface and defgroup now accept the keyword `:version'.
10040 Use this to specify in which version of Emacs a certain variable's
10041 default value changed. For example,
10043 (defcustom foo-max 34 "*Maximum number of foo's allowed."
10048 (defgroup foo-group nil "The foo group."
10051 If an entire new group is added or the variables in it have the
10052 default values changed, then just add a `:version' to that group. It
10053 is recommended that new packages added to the distribution contain a
10054 `:version' in the top level group.
10056 This information is used to control the customize-changed-options command.
10058 ** It is now an error to change the value of a symbol whose name
10059 starts with a colon--if it is interned in the standard obarray.
10061 However, setting such a symbol to its proper value, which is that
10062 symbol itself, is not an error. This is for the sake of programs that
10063 support previous Emacs versions by explicitly setting these variables
10066 If you set the variable keyword-symbols-constant-flag to nil,
10067 this error is suppressed, and you can set these symbols to any
10070 ** There is a new debugger command, R.
10071 It evaluates an expression like e, but saves the result
10072 in the buffer *Debugger-record*.
10074 ** Frame-local variables.
10076 You can now make a variable local to various frames. To do this, call
10077 the function make-variable-frame-local; this enables frames to have
10078 local bindings for that variable.
10080 These frame-local bindings are actually frame parameters: you create a
10081 frame-local binding in a specific frame by calling
10082 modify-frame-parameters and specifying the variable name as the
10085 Buffer-local bindings take precedence over frame-local bindings.
10086 Thus, if the current buffer has a buffer-local binding, that binding is
10087 active; otherwise, if the selected frame has a frame-local binding,
10088 that binding is active; otherwise, the default binding is active.
10090 It would not be hard to implement window-local bindings, but it is not
10091 clear that this would be very useful; windows tend to come and go in a
10092 very transitory fashion, so that trying to produce any specific effect
10093 through a window-local binding would not be very robust.
10095 ** `sregexq' and `sregex' are two new functions for constructing
10096 "symbolic regular expressions." These are Lisp expressions that, when
10097 evaluated, yield conventional string-based regexps. The symbolic form
10098 makes it easier to construct, read, and maintain complex patterns.
10099 See the documentation in sregex.el.
10101 ** parse-partial-sexp's return value has an additional element which
10102 is used to pass information along if you pass it to another call to
10103 parse-partial-sexp, starting its scan where the first call ended.
10104 The contents of this field are not yet finalized.
10106 ** eval-region now accepts a fourth optional argument READ-FUNCTION.
10107 If it is non-nil, that function is used instead of `read'.
10109 ** unload-feature by default removes the feature's functions from
10110 known hooks to avoid trouble, but a package providing FEATURE can
10111 define a hook FEATURE-unload-hook to be run by unload-feature instead.
10113 ** read-from-minibuffer no longer returns the argument DEFAULT-VALUE
10114 when the user enters empty input. It now returns the null string, as
10115 it did in Emacs 19. The default value is made available in the
10116 history via M-n, but it is not applied here as a default.
10118 The other, more specialized minibuffer-reading functions continue to
10119 return the default value (not the null string) when the user enters
10122 ** The new variable read-buffer-function controls which routine to use
10123 for selecting buffers. For example, if you set this variable to
10124 `iswitchb-read-buffer', iswitchb will be used to read buffer names.
10125 Other functions can also be used if they accept the same arguments as
10126 `read-buffer' and return the selected buffer name as a string.
10128 ** The new function read-passwd reads a password from the terminal,
10129 echoing a period for each character typed. It takes three arguments:
10130 a prompt string, a flag which says "read it twice to make sure", and a
10131 default password to use if the user enters nothing.
10133 ** The variable fill-nobreak-predicate gives major modes a way to
10134 specify not to break a line at certain places. Its value is a
10135 function which is called with no arguments, with point located at the
10136 place where a break is being considered. If the function returns
10137 non-nil, then the line won't be broken there.
10139 ** window-end now takes an optional second argument, UPDATE.
10140 If this is non-nil, then the function always returns an accurate
10141 up-to-date value for the buffer position corresponding to the
10142 end of the window, even if this requires computation.
10144 ** other-buffer now takes an optional argument FRAME
10145 which specifies which frame's buffer list to use.
10146 If it is nil, that means use the selected frame's buffer list.
10148 ** The new variable buffer-display-time, always local in every buffer,
10149 holds the value of (current-time) as of the last time that a window
10150 was directed to display this buffer.
10152 ** It is now meaningful to compare two window-configuration objects
10153 with `equal'. Two window-configuration objects are equal if they
10154 describe equivalent arrangements of windows, in the same frame--in
10155 other words, if they would give the same results if passed to
10156 set-window-configuration.
10158 ** compare-window-configurations is a new function that compares two
10159 window configurations loosely. It ignores differences in saved buffer
10160 positions and scrolling, and considers only the structure and sizes of
10161 windows and the choice of buffers to display.
10163 ** The variable minor-mode-overriding-map-alist allows major modes to
10164 override the key bindings of a minor mode. The elements of this alist
10165 look like the elements of minor-mode-map-alist: (VARIABLE . KEYMAP).
10167 If the VARIABLE in an element of minor-mode-overriding-map-alist has a
10168 non-nil value, the paired KEYMAP is active, and totally overrides the
10169 map (if any) specified for the same variable in minor-mode-map-alist.
10171 minor-mode-overriding-map-alist is automatically local in all buffers,
10172 and it is meant to be set by major modes.
10174 ** The function match-string-no-properties is like match-string
10175 except that it discards all text properties from the result.
10177 ** The function load-average now accepts an optional argument
10178 USE-FLOATS. If it is non-nil, the load average values are returned as
10179 floating point numbers, rather than as integers to be divided by 100.
10181 ** The new variable temporary-file-directory specifies the directory
10182 to use for creating temporary files. The default value is determined
10183 in a reasonable way for your operating system; on GNU and Unix systems
10184 it is based on the TMP and TMPDIR environment variables.
10188 *** easymenu.el now uses the new menu item format and supports the
10189 keywords :visible and :filter. The existing keyword :keys is now
10192 The variable `easy-menu-precalculate-equivalent-keybindings' controls
10193 a new feature which calculates keyboard equivalents for the menu when
10194 you define the menu. The default is t. If you rarely use menus, you
10195 can set the variable to nil to disable this precalculation feature;
10196 then the calculation is done only if you use the menu bar.
10198 *** A new format for menu items is supported.
10200 In a keymap, a key binding that has the format
10201 (STRING . REAL-BINDING) or (STRING HELP-STRING . REAL-BINDING)
10202 defines a menu item. Now a menu item definition may also be a list that
10203 starts with the symbol `menu-item'.
10206 (menu-item ITEM-NAME) or
10207 (menu-item ITEM-NAME REAL-BINDING . ITEM-PROPERTY-LIST)
10208 where ITEM-NAME is an expression which evaluates to the menu item
10209 string, and ITEM-PROPERTY-LIST has the form of a property list.
10210 The supported properties include
10212 :enable FORM Evaluate FORM to determine whether the
10214 :visible FORM Evaluate FORM to determine whether the
10215 item should appear in the menu.
10217 FILTER-FN is a function of one argument,
10218 which will be REAL-BINDING.
10219 It should return a binding to use instead.
10221 DESCRIPTION is a string that describes an equivalent keyboard
10222 binding for REAL-BINDING. DESCRIPTION is expanded with
10223 `substitute-command-keys' before it is used.
10224 :key-sequence KEY-SEQUENCE
10225 KEY-SEQUENCE is a key-sequence for an equivalent
10228 This means that the command normally has no
10229 keyboard equivalent.
10230 :help HELP HELP is the extra help string (not currently used).
10231 :button (TYPE . SELECTED)
10232 TYPE is :toggle or :radio.
10233 SELECTED is a form, to be evaluated, and its
10234 value says whether this button is currently selected.
10236 Buttons are at the moment only simulated by prefixes in the menu.
10237 Eventually ordinary X-buttons may be supported.
10239 (menu-item ITEM-NAME) defines unselectable item.
10243 *** The new event type `mouse-wheel' is generated by a wheel on a
10244 mouse (such as the MS Intellimouse). The event contains a delta that
10245 corresponds to the amount and direction that the wheel is rotated,
10246 which is typically used to implement a scroll or zoom. The format is:
10248 (mouse-wheel POSITION DELTA)
10250 where POSITION is a list describing the position of the event in the
10251 same format as a mouse-click event, and DELTA is a signed number
10252 indicating the number of increments by which the wheel was rotated. A
10253 negative DELTA indicates that the wheel was rotated backwards, towards
10254 the user, and a positive DELTA indicates that the wheel was rotated
10255 forward, away from the user.
10257 As of now, this event type is generated only on MS Windows.
10259 *** The new event type `drag-n-drop' is generated when a group of
10260 files is selected in an application outside of Emacs, and then dragged
10261 and dropped onto an Emacs frame. The event contains a list of
10262 filenames that were dragged and dropped, which are then typically
10263 loaded into Emacs. The format is:
10265 (drag-n-drop POSITION FILES)
10267 where POSITION is a list describing the position of the event in the
10268 same format as a mouse-click event, and FILES is the list of filenames
10269 that were dragged and dropped.
10271 As of now, this event type is generated only on MS Windows.
10273 ** Changes relating to multibyte characters.
10275 *** The variable enable-multibyte-characters is now read-only;
10276 any attempt to set it directly signals an error. The only way
10277 to change this value in an existing buffer is with set-buffer-multibyte.
10279 *** In a string constant, `\ ' now stands for "nothing at all". You
10280 can use it to terminate a hex escape which is followed by a character
10281 that could otherwise be read as part of the hex escape.
10283 *** String indices are now measured in characters, as they were
10284 in Emacs 19 and before.
10286 The function chars-in-string has been deleted.
10287 The function concat-chars has been renamed to `string'.
10289 *** The function set-buffer-multibyte sets the flag in the current
10290 buffer that says whether the buffer uses multibyte representation or
10291 unibyte representation. If the argument is nil, it selects unibyte
10292 representation. Otherwise it selects multibyte representation.
10294 This function does not change the contents of the buffer, viewed
10295 as a sequence of bytes. However, it does change the contents
10296 viewed as characters; a sequence of two bytes which is treated as
10297 one character when the buffer uses multibyte representation
10298 will count as two characters using unibyte representation.
10300 This function sets enable-multibyte-characters to record which
10301 representation is in use. It also adjusts various data in the buffer
10302 (including its markers, overlays and text properties) so that they are
10303 consistent with the new representation.
10305 *** string-make-multibyte takes a string and converts it to multibyte
10306 representation. Most of the time, you don't need to care
10307 about the representation, because Emacs converts when necessary;
10308 however, it makes a difference when you compare strings.
10310 The conversion of non-ASCII characters works by adding the value of
10311 nonascii-insert-offset to each character, or by translating them
10312 using the table nonascii-translation-table.
10314 *** string-make-unibyte takes a string and converts it to unibyte
10315 representation. Most of the time, you don't need to care about the
10316 representation, but it makes a difference when you compare strings.
10318 The conversion from multibyte to unibyte representation
10319 loses information; the only time Emacs performs it automatically
10320 is when inserting a multibyte string into a unibyte buffer.
10322 *** string-as-multibyte takes a string, and returns another string
10323 which contains the same bytes, but treats them as multibyte.
10325 *** string-as-unibyte takes a string, and returns another string
10326 which contains the same bytes, but treats them as unibyte.
10328 *** The new function compare-strings lets you compare
10329 portions of two strings. Unibyte strings are converted to multibyte,
10330 so that a unibyte string can match a multibyte string.
10331 You can specify whether to ignore case or not.
10333 *** assoc-ignore-case now uses compare-strings so that
10334 it can treat unibyte and multibyte strings as equal.
10336 *** Regular expression operations and buffer string searches now
10337 convert the search pattern to multibyte or unibyte to accord with the
10338 buffer or string being searched.
10340 One consequence is that you cannot always use \200-\377 inside of
10341 [...] to match all non-ASCII characters. This does still work when
10342 searching or matching a unibyte buffer or string, but not when
10343 searching or matching a multibyte string. Unfortunately, there is no
10344 obvious choice of syntax to use within [...] for that job. But, what
10345 you want is just to match all non-ASCII characters, the regular
10346 expression [^\0-\177] works for it.
10348 *** Structure of coding system changed.
10350 All coding systems (including aliases and subsidiaries) are named
10351 by symbols; the symbol's `coding-system' property is a vector
10352 which defines the coding system. Aliases share the same vector
10353 as the principal name, so that altering the contents of this
10354 vector affects the principal name and its aliases. You can define
10355 your own alias name of a coding system by the function
10356 define-coding-system-alias.
10358 The coding system definition includes a property list of its own. Use
10359 the new functions `coding-system-get' and `coding-system-put' to
10360 access such coding system properties as post-read-conversion,
10361 pre-write-conversion, character-translation-table-for-decode,
10362 character-translation-table-for-encode, mime-charset, and
10363 safe-charsets. For instance, (coding-system-get 'iso-latin-1
10364 'mime-charset) gives the corresponding MIME-charset parameter
10367 Among the coding system properties listed above, safe-charsets is new.
10368 The value of this property is a list of character sets which this
10369 coding system can correctly encode and decode. For instance:
10370 (coding-system-get 'iso-latin-1 'safe-charsets) => (ascii latin-iso8859-1)
10372 Here, "correctly encode" means that the encoded character sets can
10373 also be handled safely by systems other than Emacs as far as they
10374 are capable of that coding system. Though, Emacs itself can encode
10375 the other character sets and read it back correctly.
10377 *** The new function select-safe-coding-system can be used to find a
10378 proper coding system for encoding the specified region or string.
10379 This function requires a user interaction.
10381 *** The new functions find-coding-systems-region and
10382 find-coding-systems-string are helper functions used by
10383 select-safe-coding-system. They return a list of all proper coding
10384 systems to encode a text in some region or string. If you don't want
10385 a user interaction, use one of these functions instead of
10386 select-safe-coding-system.
10388 *** The explicit encoding and decoding functions, such as
10389 decode-coding-region and encode-coding-string, now set
10390 last-coding-system-used to reflect the actual way encoding or decoding
10393 *** The new function detect-coding-with-language-environment can be
10394 used to detect a coding system of text according to priorities of
10395 coding systems used by some specific language environment.
10397 *** The functions detect-coding-region and detect-coding-string always
10398 return a list if the arg HIGHEST is nil. Thus, if only ASCII
10399 characters are found, they now return a list of single element
10400 `undecided' or its subsidiaries.
10402 *** The new functions coding-system-change-eol-conversion and
10403 coding-system-change-text-conversion can be used to get a different
10404 coding system than what specified only in how end-of-line or text is
10407 *** The new function set-selection-coding-system can be used to set a
10408 coding system for communicating with other X clients.
10410 *** The function `map-char-table' now passes as argument only valid
10411 character codes, plus generic characters that stand for entire
10412 character sets or entire subrows of a character set. In other words,
10413 each time `map-char-table' calls its FUNCTION argument, the key value
10414 either will be a valid individual character code, or will stand for a
10415 range of characters.
10417 *** The new function `char-valid-p' can be used for checking whether a
10418 Lisp object is a valid character code or not.
10420 *** The new function `charset-after' returns a charset of a character
10421 in the current buffer at position POS.
10423 *** Input methods are now implemented using the variable
10424 input-method-function. If this is non-nil, its value should be a
10425 function; then, whenever Emacs reads an input event that is a printing
10426 character with no modifier bits, it calls that function, passing the
10427 event as an argument. Often this function will read more input, first
10428 binding input-method-function to nil.
10430 The return value should be a list of the events resulting from input
10431 method processing. These events will be processed sequentially as
10432 input, before resorting to unread-command-events. Events returned by
10433 the input method function are not passed to the input method function,
10434 not even if they are printing characters with no modifier bits.
10436 The input method function is not called when reading the second and
10437 subsequent events of a key sequence.
10439 *** You can customize any language environment by using
10440 set-language-environment-hook and exit-language-environment-hook.
10442 The hook `exit-language-environment-hook' should be used to undo
10443 customizations that you made with set-language-environment-hook. For
10444 instance, if you set up a special key binding for a specific language
10445 environment by set-language-environment-hook, you should set up
10446 exit-language-environment-hook to restore the normal key binding.
10448 * Changes in Emacs 20.1
10450 ** Emacs has a new facility for customization of its many user
10451 options. It is called M-x customize. With this facility you can look
10452 at the many user options in an organized way; they are grouped into a
10455 M-x customize also knows what sorts of values are legitimate for each
10456 user option and ensures that you don't use invalid values.
10458 With M-x customize, you can set options either for the present Emacs
10459 session or permanently. (Permanent settings are stored automatically
10460 in your .emacs file.)
10462 ** Scroll bars are now on the left side of the window.
10463 You can change this with M-x customize-option scroll-bar-mode.
10465 ** The mode line no longer includes the string `Emacs'.
10466 This makes more space in the mode line for other information.
10468 ** When you select a region with the mouse, it is highlighted
10469 immediately afterward. At that time, if you type the DELETE key, it
10472 The BACKSPACE key, and the ASCII character DEL, do not do this; they
10473 delete the character before point, as usual.
10475 ** In an incremental search the whole current match is highlighted
10476 on terminals which support this. (You can disable this feature
10477 by setting search-highlight to nil.)
10479 ** In the minibuffer, in some cases, you can now use M-n to
10480 insert the default value into the minibuffer as text. In effect,
10481 the default value (if the minibuffer routines know it) is tacked
10482 onto the history "in the future". (The more normal use of the
10483 history list is to use M-p to insert minibuffer input used in the
10486 ** In Text mode, now only blank lines separate paragraphs.
10487 This makes it possible to get the full benefit of Adaptive Fill mode
10488 in Text mode, and other modes derived from it (such as Mail mode).
10489 TAB in Text mode now runs the command indent-relative; this
10490 makes a practical difference only when you use indented paragraphs.
10492 As a result, the old Indented Text mode is now identical to Text mode,
10493 and is an alias for it.
10495 If you want spaces at the beginning of a line to start a paragraph,
10496 use the new mode, Paragraph Indent Text mode.
10498 ** Scrolling changes
10500 *** Scroll commands to scroll a whole screen now preserve the screen
10501 position of the cursor, if scroll-preserve-screen-position is non-nil.
10503 In this mode, if you scroll several screens back and forth, finishing
10504 on the same screen where you started, the cursor goes back to the line
10507 *** If you set scroll-conservatively to a small number, then when you
10508 move point a short distance off the screen, Emacs will scroll the
10509 screen just far enough to bring point back on screen, provided that
10510 does not exceed `scroll-conservatively' lines.
10512 *** The new variable scroll-margin says how close point can come to the
10513 top or bottom of a window. It is a number of screen lines; if point
10514 comes within that many lines of the top or bottom of the window, Emacs
10515 recenters the window.
10517 ** International character set support (MULE)
10519 Emacs now supports a wide variety of international character sets,
10520 including European variants of the Latin alphabet, as well as Chinese,
10521 Devanagari (Hindi and Marathi), Ethiopian, Greek, IPA, Japanese,
10522 Korean, Lao, Russian, Thai, Tibetan, and Vietnamese scripts. These
10523 features have been merged from the modified version of Emacs known as
10524 MULE (for "MULti-lingual Enhancement to GNU Emacs")
10526 Users of these scripts have established many more-or-less standard
10527 coding systems for storing files. Emacs uses a single multibyte
10528 character encoding within Emacs buffers; it can translate from a wide
10529 variety of coding systems when reading a file and can translate back
10530 into any of these coding systems when saving a file.
10532 Keyboards, even in the countries where these character sets are used,
10533 generally don't have keys for all the characters in them. So Emacs
10534 supports various "input methods", typically one for each script or
10535 language, to make it possible to type them.
10537 The Emacs internal multibyte encoding represents a non-ASCII
10538 character as a sequence of bytes in the range 0200 through 0377.
10540 The new prefix key C-x RET is used for commands that pertain
10541 to multibyte characters, coding systems, and input methods.
10543 You can disable multibyte character support as follows:
10545 (setq-default enable-multibyte-characters nil)
10547 Calling the function standard-display-european turns off multibyte
10548 characters, unless you specify a non-nil value for the second
10549 argument, AUTO. This provides compatibility for people who are
10550 already using standard-display-european to continue using unibyte
10551 characters for their work until they want to change.
10555 An input method is a kind of character conversion which is designed
10556 specifically for interactive input. In Emacs, typically each language
10557 has its own input method (though sometimes several languages which use
10558 the same characters can share one input method). Some languages
10559 support several input methods.
10561 The simplest kind of input method works by mapping ASCII letters into
10562 another alphabet. This is how the Greek and Russian input methods
10565 A more powerful technique is composition: converting sequences of
10566 characters into one letter. Many European input methods use
10567 composition to produce a single non-ASCII letter from a sequence which
10568 consists of a letter followed by diacritics. For example, a' is one
10569 sequence of two characters that might be converted into a single
10572 The input methods for syllabic scripts typically use mapping followed
10573 by conversion. The input methods for Thai and Korean work this way.
10574 First, letters are mapped into symbols for particular sounds or tone
10575 marks; then, sequences of these which make up a whole syllable are
10576 mapped into one syllable sign--most often a "composite character".
10578 None of these methods works very well for Chinese and Japanese, so
10579 they are handled specially. First you input a whole word using
10580 phonetic spelling; then, after the word is in the buffer, Emacs
10581 converts it into one or more characters using a large dictionary.
10583 Since there is more than one way to represent a phonetically spelled
10584 word using Chinese characters, Emacs can only guess which one to use;
10585 typically these input methods give you a way to say "guess again" if
10586 the first guess is wrong.
10588 *** The command C-x RET m (toggle-enable-multibyte-characters)
10589 turns multibyte character support on or off for the current buffer.
10591 If multibyte character support is turned off in a buffer, then each
10592 byte is a single character, even codes 0200 through 0377--exactly as
10593 they did in Emacs 19.34. This includes the features for support for
10594 the European characters, ISO Latin-1 and ISO Latin-2.
10596 However, there is no need to turn off multibyte character support to
10597 use ISO Latin-1 or ISO Latin-2; the Emacs multibyte character set
10598 includes all the characters in these character sets, and Emacs can
10599 translate automatically to and from either one.
10601 *** Visiting a file in unibyte mode.
10603 Turning off multibyte character support in the buffer after visiting a
10604 file with multibyte code conversion will display the multibyte
10605 sequences already in the buffer, byte by byte. This is probably not
10608 If you want to edit a file of unibyte characters (Latin-1, for
10609 example), you can do it by specifying `no-conversion' as the coding
10610 system when reading the file. This coding system also turns off
10611 multibyte characters in that buffer.
10613 If you turn off multibyte character support entirely, this turns off
10614 character conversion as well.
10616 *** Displaying international characters on X Windows.
10618 A font for X typically displays just one alphabet or script.
10619 Therefore, displaying the entire range of characters Emacs supports
10620 requires using many fonts.
10622 Therefore, Emacs now supports "fontsets". Each fontset is a
10623 collection of fonts, each assigned to a range of character codes.
10625 A fontset has a name, like a font. Individual fonts are defined by
10626 the X server; fontsets are defined within Emacs itself. But once you
10627 have defined a fontset, you can use it in a face or a frame just as
10628 you would use a font.
10630 If a fontset specifies no font for a certain character, or if it
10631 specifies a font that does not exist on your system, then it cannot
10632 display that character. It will display an empty box instead.
10634 The fontset height and width are determined by the ASCII characters
10635 (that is, by the font in the fontset which is used for ASCII
10638 *** Defining fontsets.
10640 Emacs does not use any fontset by default. Its default font is still
10641 chosen as in previous versions. You can tell Emacs to use a fontset
10642 with the `-fn' option or the `Font' X resource.
10644 Emacs creates a standard fontset automatically according to the value
10645 of standard-fontset-spec. This fontset's short name is
10646 `fontset-standard'. Bold, italic, and bold-italic variants of the
10647 standard fontset are created automatically.
10649 If you specify a default ASCII font with the `Font' resource or `-fn'
10650 argument, a fontset is generated from it. This works by replacing the
10651 FOUNDARY, FAMILY, ADD_STYLE, and AVERAGE_WIDTH fields of the font name
10652 with `*' then using this to specify a fontset. This fontset's short
10653 name is `fontset-startup'.
10655 Emacs checks resources of the form Fontset-N where N is 0, 1, 2...
10656 The resource value should have this form:
10657 FONTSET-NAME, [CHARSET-NAME:FONT-NAME]...
10658 FONTSET-NAME should have the form of a standard X font name, except:
10659 * most fields should be just the wild card "*".
10660 * the CHARSET_REGISTRY field should be "fontset"
10661 * the CHARSET_ENCODING field can be any nickname of the fontset.
10662 The construct CHARSET-NAME:FONT-NAME can be repeated any number
10663 of times; each time specifies the font for one character set.
10664 CHARSET-NAME should be the name of a character set, and FONT-NAME
10665 should specify an actual font to use for that character set.
10667 Each of these fontsets has an alias which is made from the
10668 last two font name fields, CHARSET_REGISTRY and CHARSET_ENCODING.
10669 You can refer to the fontset by that alias or by its full name.
10671 For any character sets that you don't mention, Emacs tries to choose a
10672 font by substituting into FONTSET-NAME. For instance, with the
10673 following resource,
10674 Emacs*Fontset-0: -*-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-24-*-*-*-*-*-fontset-24
10675 the font for ASCII is generated as below:
10676 -*-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-24-*-ISO8859-1
10677 Here is the substitution rule:
10678 Change CHARSET_REGISTRY and CHARSET_ENCODING to that of the charset
10679 defined in the variable x-charset-registries. For instance, ASCII has
10680 the entry (ascii . "ISO8859-1") in this variable. Then, reduce
10681 sequences of wild cards -*-...-*- with a single wildcard -*-.
10682 (This is to prevent use of auto-scaled fonts.)
10684 The function which processes the fontset resource value to create the
10685 fontset is called create-fontset-from-fontset-spec. You can also call
10686 that function explicitly to create a fontset.
10688 With the X resource Emacs.Font, you can specify a fontset name just
10689 like an actual font name. But be careful not to specify a fontset
10690 name in a wildcard resource like Emacs*Font--that tries to specify the
10691 fontset for other purposes including menus, and they cannot handle
10694 *** The command M-x set-language-environment sets certain global Emacs
10695 defaults for a particular choice of language.
10697 Selecting a language environment typically specifies a default input
10698 method and which coding systems to recognize automatically when
10699 visiting files. However, it does not try to reread files you have
10700 already visited; the text in those buffers is not affected. The
10701 language environment may also specify a default choice of coding
10702 system for new files that you create.
10704 It makes no difference which buffer is current when you use
10705 set-language-environment, because these defaults apply globally to the
10706 whole Emacs session.
10708 For example, M-x set-language-environment RET Latin-1 RET
10709 chooses the Latin-1 character set. In the .emacs file, you can do this
10710 with (set-language-environment "Latin-1").
10712 *** The command C-x RET f (set-buffer-file-coding-system)
10713 specifies the file coding system for the current buffer. This
10714 specifies what sort of character code translation to do when saving
10715 the file. As an argument, you must specify the name of one of the
10716 coding systems that Emacs supports.
10718 *** The command C-x RET c (universal-coding-system-argument)
10719 lets you specify a coding system when you read or write a file.
10720 This command uses the minibuffer to read a coding system name.
10721 After you exit the minibuffer, the specified coding system
10722 is used for *the immediately following command*.
10724 So if the immediately following command is a command to read or
10725 write a file, it uses the specified coding system for that file.
10727 If the immediately following command does not use the coding system,
10728 then C-x RET c ultimately has no effect.
10730 For example, C-x RET c iso-8859-1 RET C-x C-f temp RET
10731 visits the file `temp' treating it as ISO Latin-1.
10733 *** You can specify the coding system for a file using the -*-
10734 construct. Include `coding: CODINGSYSTEM;' inside the -*-...-*-
10735 to specify use of coding system CODINGSYSTEM. You can also
10736 specify the coding system in a local variable list at the end
10739 *** The command C-x RET t (set-terminal-coding-system) specifies
10740 the coding system for terminal output. If you specify a character
10741 code for terminal output, all characters output to the terminal are
10742 translated into that character code.
10744 This feature is useful for certain character-only terminals built in
10745 various countries to support the languages of those countries.
10747 By default, output to the terminal is not translated at all.
10749 *** The command C-x RET k (set-keyboard-coding-system) specifies
10750 the coding system for keyboard input.
10752 Character code translation of keyboard input is useful for terminals
10753 with keys that send non-ASCII graphic characters--for example,
10754 some terminals designed for ISO Latin-1 or subsets of it.
10756 By default, keyboard input is not translated at all.
10758 Character code translation of keyboard input is similar to using an
10759 input method, in that both define sequences of keyboard input that
10760 translate into single characters. However, input methods are designed
10761 to be convenient for interactive use, while the code translations are
10762 designed to work with terminals.
10764 *** The command C-x RET p (set-buffer-process-coding-system)
10765 specifies the coding system for input and output to a subprocess.
10766 This command applies to the current buffer; normally, each subprocess
10767 has its own buffer, and thus you can use this command to specify
10768 translation to and from a particular subprocess by giving the command
10769 in the corresponding buffer.
10771 By default, process input and output are not translated at all.
10773 *** The variable file-name-coding-system specifies the coding system
10774 to use for encoding file names before operating on them.
10775 It is also used for decoding file names obtained from the system.
10777 *** The command C-\ (toggle-input-method) activates or deactivates
10778 an input method. If no input method has been selected before, the
10779 command prompts for you to specify the language and input method you
10782 C-u C-\ (select-input-method) lets you switch to a different input
10783 method. C-h C-\ (or C-h I) describes the current input method.
10785 *** Some input methods remap the keyboard to emulate various keyboard
10786 layouts commonly used for particular scripts. How to do this
10787 remapping properly depends on your actual keyboard layout. To specify
10788 which layout your keyboard has, use M-x quail-set-keyboard-layout.
10790 *** The command C-h C (describe-coding-system) displays
10791 the coding systems currently selected for various purposes, plus
10792 related information.
10794 *** The command C-h h (view-hello-file) displays a file called
10795 HELLO, which has examples of text in many languages, using various
10798 *** The command C-h L (describe-language-support) displays
10799 information about the support for a particular language.
10800 You specify the language as an argument.
10802 *** The mode line now contains a letter or character that identifies
10803 the coding system used in the visited file. It normally follows the
10806 A dash indicates the default state of affairs: no code conversion
10807 (except CRLF => newline if appropriate). `=' means no conversion
10808 whatsoever. The ISO 8859 coding systems are represented by digits
10809 1 through 9. Other coding systems are represented by letters:
10811 A alternativnyj (Russian)
10813 C cn-gb-2312 (Chinese)
10814 C iso-2022-cn (Chinese)
10815 D in-is13194-devanagari (Indian languages)
10816 E euc-japan (Japanese)
10817 I iso-2022-cjk or iso-2022-ss2 (Chinese, Japanese, Korean)
10818 J junet (iso-2022-7) or old-jis (iso-2022-jp-1978-irv) (Japanese)
10819 K euc-korea (Korean)
10822 S shift_jis (Japanese)
10825 V viscii or vscii (Vietnamese)
10826 i iso-2022-lock (Chinese, Japanese, Korean)
10827 k iso-2022-kr (Korean)
10828 v viqr (Vietnamese)
10831 When you are using a character-only terminal (not a window system),
10832 two additional characters appear in between the dash and the file
10833 coding system. These two characters describe the coding system for
10834 keyboard input, and the coding system for terminal output.
10836 *** The new variable rmail-file-coding-system specifies the code
10837 conversion to use for RMAIL files. The default value is nil.
10839 When you read mail with Rmail, each message is decoded automatically
10840 into Emacs' internal format. This has nothing to do with
10841 rmail-file-coding-system. That variable controls reading and writing
10842 Rmail files themselves.
10844 *** The new variable sendmail-coding-system specifies the code
10845 conversion for outgoing mail. The default value is nil.
10847 Actually, there are three different ways of specifying the coding system
10850 - If you use C-x RET f in the mail buffer, that takes priority.
10851 - Otherwise, if you set sendmail-coding-system non-nil, that specifies it.
10852 - Otherwise, the default coding system for new files is used,
10853 if that is non-nil. That comes from your language environment.
10854 - Otherwise, Latin-1 is used.
10856 *** The command C-h t (help-with-tutorial) accepts a prefix argument
10857 to specify the language for the tutorial file. Currently, English,
10858 Japanese, Korean and Thai are supported. We welcome additional
10861 ** An easy new way to visit a file with no code or format conversion
10862 of any kind: Use M-x find-file-literally. There is also a command
10863 insert-file-literally which inserts a file into the current buffer
10864 without any conversion.
10866 ** C-q's handling of octal character codes is changed.
10867 You can now specify any number of octal digits.
10868 RET terminates the digits and is discarded;
10869 any other non-digit terminates the digits and is then used as input.
10871 ** There are new commands for looking up Info documentation for
10872 functions, variables and file names used in your programs.
10874 Type M-x info-lookup-symbol to look up a symbol in the buffer at point.
10875 Type M-x info-lookup-file to look up a file in the buffer at point.
10877 Precisely which Info files are used to look it up depends on the major
10878 mode. For example, in C mode, the GNU libc manual is used.
10880 ** M-TAB in most programming language modes now runs the command
10881 complete-symbol. This command performs completion on the symbol name
10882 in the buffer before point.
10884 With a numeric argument, it performs completion based on the set of
10885 symbols documented in the Info files for the programming language that
10888 With no argument, it does completion based on the current tags tables,
10889 just like the old binding of M-TAB (complete-tag).
10891 ** File locking works with NFS now.
10893 The lock file for FILENAME is now a symbolic link named .#FILENAME,
10894 in the same directory as FILENAME.
10896 This means that collision detection between two different machines now
10897 works reasonably well; it also means that no file server or directory
10898 can become a bottleneck.
10900 The new method does have drawbacks. It means that collision detection
10901 does not operate when you edit a file in a directory where you cannot
10902 create new files. Collision detection also doesn't operate when the
10903 file server does not support symbolic links. But these conditions are
10904 rare, and the ability to have collision detection while using NFS is
10905 so useful that the change is worth while.
10907 When Emacs or a system crashes, this may leave behind lock files which
10908 are stale. So you may occasionally get warnings about spurious
10909 collisions. When you determine that the collision is spurious, just
10910 tell Emacs to go ahead anyway.
10912 ** If you wish to use Show Paren mode to display matching parentheses,
10913 it is no longer sufficient to load paren.el. Instead you must call
10916 ** If you wish to use Delete Selection mode to replace a highlighted
10917 selection when you insert new text, it is no longer sufficient to load
10918 delsel.el. Instead you must call the function delete-selection-mode.
10920 ** If you wish to use Partial Completion mode to complete partial words
10921 within symbols or filenames, it is no longer sufficient to load
10922 complete.el. Instead you must call the function partial-completion-mode.
10924 ** If you wish to use uniquify to rename buffers for you,
10925 it is no longer sufficient to load uniquify.el. You must also
10926 set uniquify-buffer-name-style to one of the non-nil legitimate values.
10928 ** Changes in View mode.
10930 *** Several new commands are available in View mode.
10931 Do H in view mode for a list of commands.
10933 *** There are two new commands for entering View mode:
10934 view-file-other-frame and view-buffer-other-frame.
10936 *** Exiting View mode does a better job of restoring windows to their
10939 *** New customization variable view-scroll-auto-exit. If non-nil,
10940 scrolling past end of buffer makes view mode exit.
10942 *** New customization variable view-exits-all-viewing-windows. If
10943 non-nil, view-mode will at exit restore all windows viewing buffer,
10944 not just the selected window.
10946 *** New customization variable view-read-only. If non-nil, visiting a
10947 read-only file automatically enters View mode, and toggle-read-only
10948 turns View mode on or off.
10950 *** New customization variable view-remove-frame-by-deleting controls
10951 how to remove a not needed frame at view mode exit. If non-nil,
10952 delete the frame, if nil make an icon of it.
10954 ** C-x v l, the command to print a file's version control log,
10955 now positions point at the entry for the file's current branch version.
10957 ** C-x v =, the command to compare a file with the last checked-in version,
10958 has a new feature. If the file is currently not locked, so that it is
10959 presumably identical to the last checked-in version, the command now asks
10960 which version to compare with.
10962 ** When using hideshow.el, incremental search can temporarily show hidden
10963 blocks if a match is inside the block.
10965 The block is hidden again if the search is continued and the next match
10966 is outside the block. By customizing the variable
10967 isearch-hide-immediately you can choose to hide all the temporarily
10968 shown blocks only when exiting from incremental search.
10970 By customizing the variable hs-isearch-open you can choose what kind
10971 of blocks to temporarily show during isearch: comment blocks, code
10972 blocks, all of them or none.
10974 ** The new command C-x 4 0 (kill-buffer-and-window) kills the
10975 current buffer and deletes the selected window. It asks for
10976 confirmation first.
10978 ** C-x C-w, which saves the buffer into a specified file name,
10979 now changes the major mode according to that file name.
10980 However, the mode will not be changed if
10981 (1) a local variables list or the `-*-' line specifies a major mode, or
10982 (2) the current major mode is a "special" mode,
10983 not suitable for ordinary files, or
10984 (3) the new file name does not particularly specify any mode.
10986 This applies to M-x set-visited-file-name as well.
10988 However, if you set change-major-mode-with-file-name to nil, then
10989 these commands do not change the major mode.
10991 ** M-x occur changes.
10993 *** If the argument to M-x occur contains upper case letters,
10994 it performs a case-sensitive search.
10996 *** In the *Occur* buffer made by M-x occur,
10997 if you type g or M-x revert-buffer, this repeats the search
10998 using the same regular expression and the same buffer as before.
11000 ** In Transient Mark mode, the region in any one buffer is highlighted
11001 in just one window at a time. At first, it is highlighted in the
11002 window where you set the mark. The buffer's highlighting remains in
11003 that window unless you select to another window which shows the same
11004 buffer--then the highlighting moves to that window.
11006 ** The feature to suggest key bindings when you use M-x now operates
11007 after the command finishes. The message suggesting key bindings
11008 appears temporarily in the echo area. The previous echo area contents
11009 come back after a few seconds, in case they contain useful information.
11011 ** Each frame now independently records the order for recently
11012 selected buffers, so that the default for C-x b is now based on the
11013 buffers recently selected in the selected frame.
11015 ** Outline mode changes.
11017 *** Outline mode now uses overlays (this is the former noutline.el).
11019 *** Incremental searches skip over invisible text in Outline mode.
11021 ** When a minibuffer window is active but not the selected window, if
11022 you try to use the minibuffer, you used to get a nested minibuffer.
11023 Now, this not only gives an error, it also cancels the minibuffer that
11024 was already active.
11026 The motive for this change is so that beginning users do not
11027 unknowingly move away from minibuffers, leaving them active, and then
11028 get confused by it.
11030 If you want to be able to have recursive minibuffers, you must
11031 set enable-recursive-minibuffers to non-nil.
11033 ** Changes in dynamic abbrevs.
11035 *** Expanding dynamic abbrevs with M-/ is now smarter about case
11036 conversion. If the expansion has mixed case not counting the first
11037 character, and the abbreviation matches the beginning of the expansion
11038 including case, then the expansion is copied verbatim.
11040 The expansion is also copied verbatim if the abbreviation itself has
11041 mixed case. And using SPC M-/ to copy an additional word always
11042 copies it verbatim except when the previous copied word is all caps.
11044 *** The values of `dabbrev-case-replace' and `dabbrev-case-fold-search'
11045 are no longer Lisp expressions. They have simply three possible
11048 `dabbrev-case-replace' has these three values: nil (don't preserve
11049 case), t (do), or `case-replace' (do like M-x query-replace).
11050 `dabbrev-case-fold-search' has these three values: nil (don't ignore
11051 case), t (do), or `case-fold-search' (do like search).
11053 ** Minibuffer history lists are truncated automatically now to a
11054 certain length. The variable history-length specifies how long they
11055 can be. The default value is 30.
11057 ** Changes in Mail mode.
11059 *** The key C-x m no longer runs the `mail' command directly.
11060 Instead, it runs the command `compose-mail', which invokes the mail
11061 composition mechanism you have selected with the variable
11062 `mail-user-agent'. The default choice of user agent is
11063 `sendmail-user-agent', which gives behavior compatible with the old
11066 C-x 4 m now runs compose-mail-other-window, and C-x 5 m runs
11067 compose-mail-other-frame.
11069 *** While composing a reply to a mail message, from Rmail, you can use
11070 the command C-c C-r to cite just the region from the message you are
11071 replying to. This copies the text which is the selected region in the
11072 buffer that shows the original message.
11074 *** The command C-c C-i inserts a file at the end of the message,
11075 with separator lines around the contents.
11077 *** The command M-x expand-mail-aliases expands all mail aliases
11078 in suitable mail headers. Emacs automatically extracts mail alias
11079 definitions from your mail alias file (e.g., ~/.mailrc). You do not
11080 need to expand mail aliases yourself before sending mail.
11082 *** New features in the mail-complete command.
11084 **** The mail-complete command now inserts the user's full name,
11085 for local users or if that is known. The variable mail-complete-style
11086 controls the style to use, and whether to do this at all.
11087 Its values are like those of mail-from-style.
11089 **** The variable mail-passwd-command lets you specify a shell command
11090 to run to fetch a set of password-entries that add to the ones in
11093 **** The variable mail-passwd-file now specifies a list of files to read
11094 to get the list of user ids. By default, one file is used:
11097 ** You can "quote" a file name to inhibit special significance of
11098 special syntax, by adding `/:' to the beginning. Thus, if you have a
11099 directory named `/foo:', you can prevent it from being treated as a
11100 reference to a remote host named `foo' by writing it as `/:/foo:'.
11102 Emacs uses this new construct automatically when necessary, such as
11103 when you start it with a working directory whose name might otherwise
11104 be taken to be magic.
11106 ** There is a new command M-x grep-find which uses find to select
11107 files to search through, and grep to scan them. The output is
11108 available in a Compile mode buffer, as with M-x grep.
11110 M-x grep now uses the -e option if the grep program supports that.
11111 (-e prevents problems if the search pattern starts with a dash.)
11113 ** In Dired, the & command now flags for deletion the files whose names
11114 suggest they are probably not needed in the long run.
11116 In Dired, * is now a prefix key for mark-related commands.
11118 new key dired.el binding old key
11119 ------- ---------------- -------
11120 * c dired-change-marks c
11122 * * dired-mark-executables * (binding deleted)
11123 * / dired-mark-directories / (binding deleted)
11124 * @ dired-mark-symlinks @ (binding deleted)
11126 * DEL dired-unmark-backward DEL
11127 * ? dired-unmark-all-files C-M-?
11128 * ! dired-unmark-all-marks
11129 * % dired-mark-files-regexp % m
11130 * C-n dired-next-marked-file M-}
11131 * C-p dired-prev-marked-file M-{
11135 *** When Rmail cannot convert your incoming mail into Babyl format, it
11136 saves the new mail in the file RMAILOSE.n, where n is an integer
11137 chosen to make a unique name. This way, Rmail will not keep crashing
11138 each time you run it.
11140 *** In Rmail, the variable rmail-summary-line-count-flag now controls
11141 whether to include the line count in the summary. Non-nil means yes.
11143 *** In Rmail summary buffers, d and C-d (the commands to delete
11144 messages) now take repeat counts as arguments. A negative argument
11145 means to move in the opposite direction.
11147 *** In Rmail, the t command now takes an optional argument which lets
11148 you specify whether to show the message headers in full or pruned.
11150 *** In Rmail, the new command w (rmail-output-body-to-file) writes
11151 just the body of the current message into a file, without the headers.
11152 It takes the file name from the message subject, by default, but you
11153 can edit that file name in the minibuffer before it is actually used
11158 *** nntp.el has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
11160 *** Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
11163 *** Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like
11164 `and', `or', `not', and parent redirection.
11166 *** Article washing status can be displayed in the
11169 *** gnus.el has been split into many smaller files.
11171 *** Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID.
11173 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
11175 *** New variables for specifying what score and adapt files
11176 are to be considered home score and adapt files. See
11177 `gnus-home-score-file' and `gnus-home-adapt-files'.
11179 *** Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics.
11181 *** Article editing has been revamped and is now usable.
11183 *** Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions.
11184 See `gnus-signature-separator' and `gnus-signature-limit'.
11186 *** Summary pick mode has been made to look more nn-like.
11187 Line numbers are displayed and the `.' command can be
11188 used to pick articles.
11190 *** Commands for moving the .newsrc.eld from one server to
11191 another have been added.
11193 `M-x gnus-change-server'
11195 *** A way to specify that "uninteresting" fields be suppressed when
11196 generating lines in buffers.
11198 *** Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with
11201 *** Scoring can be done on words using the new score type `w'.
11203 *** Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis:
11205 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
11207 *** Scores can be decayed.
11209 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
11211 *** Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The
11212 Date is normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first.
11214 *** A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
11217 `M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups'
11219 *** A new command for reading collections of documents
11220 (nndoc with nnvirtual on top) has been added -- `C-M-d'.
11222 *** Process mark sets can be pushed and popped.
11224 *** A new mail-to-news backend makes it possible to post
11225 even when the NNTP server doesn't allow posting.
11227 *** A new backend for reading searches from Web search engines
11228 (DejaNews, Alta Vista, InReference) has been added.
11230 Use the `G w' command in the group buffer to create such
11233 *** Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard
11234 sorting functions, and each topic can be sorted independently.
11236 See the commands under the `T S' submap.
11238 *** Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently.
11240 See the commands under the `G P' submap.
11242 *** Cached articles can be pulled into the groups.
11244 Use the `Y c' command.
11246 *** Score files are now applied in a more reliable order.
11248 *** Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated.
11250 `M-x nnmail-split-history'
11252 *** More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk
11253 from incoming mail before saving the mail.
11255 See `nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook'.
11257 *** The nnml mail backend now understands compressed article files.
11259 *** To enable Gnus to read/post multi-lingual articles, you must execute
11260 the following code, for instance, in your .emacs.
11262 (add-hook 'gnus-startup-hook 'gnus-mule-initialize)
11264 Then, when you start Gnus, it will decode non-ASCII text automatically
11265 and show appropriate characters. (Note: if you are using gnus-mime
11266 from the SEMI package, formerly known as TM, you should NOT add this
11267 hook to gnus-startup-hook; gnus-mime has its own method of handling
11270 Since it is impossible to distinguish all coding systems
11271 automatically, you may need to specify a choice of coding system for a
11272 particular news group. This can be done by:
11274 (gnus-mule-add-group NEWSGROUP 'CODING-SYSTEM)
11276 Here NEWSGROUP should be a string which names a newsgroup or a tree
11277 of newsgroups. If NEWSGROUP is "XXX.YYY", all news groups under
11278 "XXX.YYY" (including "XXX.YYY.ZZZ") will use the specified coding
11279 system. CODING-SYSTEM specifies which coding system to use (for both
11280 for reading and posting).
11282 CODING-SYSTEM can also be a cons cell of the form
11283 (READ-CODING-SYSTEM . POST-CODING-SYSTEM)
11284 Then READ-CODING-SYSTEM is used when you read messages from the
11285 newsgroups, while POST-CODING-SYSTEM is used when you post messages
11288 Emacs knows the right coding systems for certain newsgroups by
11289 default. Here are some of these default settings:
11291 (gnus-mule-add-group "fj" 'iso-2022-7)
11292 (gnus-mule-add-group "alt.chinese.text" 'hz-gb-2312)
11293 (gnus-mule-add-group "alt.hk" 'hz-gb-2312)
11294 (gnus-mule-add-group "alt.chinese.text.big5" 'cn-big5)
11295 (gnus-mule-add-group "soc.culture.vietnamese" '(nil . viqr))
11297 When you reply by mail to an article, these settings are ignored;
11298 the mail is encoded according to sendmail-coding-system, as usual.
11300 ** CC mode changes.
11302 *** If you edit primarily one style of C (or C++, Objective-C, Java)
11303 code, you may want to make the CC Mode style variables have global
11304 values so that you can set them directly in your .emacs file. To do
11305 this, set c-style-variables-are-local-p to nil in your .emacs file.
11306 Note that this only takes effect if you do it *before* cc-mode.el is
11309 If you typically edit more than one style of C (or C++, Objective-C,
11310 Java) code in a single Emacs session, you may want to make the CC Mode
11311 style variables have buffer local values. By default, all buffers
11312 share the same style variable settings; to make them buffer local, set
11313 c-style-variables-are-local-p to t in your .emacs file. Note that you
11314 must do this *before* CC Mode is loaded.
11316 *** The new variable c-indentation-style holds the C style name
11317 of the current buffer.
11319 *** The variable c-block-comments-indent-p has been deleted, because
11320 it is no longer necessary. C mode now handles all the supported styles
11321 of block comments, with no need to say which one you will use.
11323 *** There is a new indentation style "python", which specifies the C
11324 style that the Python developers like.
11326 *** There is a new c-cleanup-list option: brace-elseif-brace.
11327 This says to put ...} else if (...) {... on one line,
11328 just as brace-else-brace says to put ...} else {... on one line.
11330 ** VC Changes [new]
11332 *** In vc-retrieve-snapshot (C-x v r), if you don't specify a snapshot
11333 name, it retrieves the *latest* versions of all files in the current
11334 directory and its subdirectories (aside from files already locked).
11336 This feature is useful if your RCS directory is a link to a common
11337 master directory, and you want to pick up changes made by other
11340 You can do the same thing for an individual file by typing C-u C-x C-q
11341 RET in a buffer visiting that file.
11343 *** VC can now handle files under CVS that are being "watched" by
11344 other developers. Such files are made read-only by CVS. To get a
11345 writable copy, type C-x C-q in a buffer visiting such a file. VC then
11346 calls "cvs edit", which notifies the other developers of it.
11348 *** vc-version-diff (C-u C-x v =) now suggests reasonable defaults for
11349 version numbers, based on the current state of the file.
11351 ** Calendar changes.
11353 *** A new function, list-holidays, allows you list holidays or
11354 subclasses of holidays for ranges of years. Related menu items allow
11355 you do this for the year of the selected date, or the
11356 following/previous years.
11358 *** There is now support for the Baha'i calendar system. Use `pb' in
11359 the *Calendar* buffer to display the current Baha'i date. The Baha'i
11360 calendar, or "Badi calendar" is a system of 19 months with 19 days
11361 each, and 4 intercalary days (5 during a Gregorian leap year). The
11362 calendar begins May 23, 1844, with each of the months named after a
11363 supposed attribute of God.
11365 ** ps-print changes
11367 There are some new user variables and subgroups for customizing the page
11370 *** Headers & Footers (subgroup)
11372 Some printer systems print a header page and force the first page to
11373 be printed on the back of the header page when using duplex. If your
11374 printer system has this behavior, set variable
11375 `ps-banner-page-when-duplexing' to t.
11377 If variable `ps-banner-page-when-duplexing' is non-nil, it prints a
11378 blank page as the very first printed page. So, it behaves as if the
11379 very first character of buffer (or region) were a form feed ^L (\014).
11381 The variable `ps-spool-config' specifies who is responsible for
11382 setting duplex mode and page size. Valid values are:
11384 lpr-switches duplex and page size are configured by `ps-lpr-switches'.
11385 Don't forget to set `ps-lpr-switches' to select duplex
11386 printing for your printer.
11388 setpagedevice duplex and page size are configured by ps-print using the
11389 setpagedevice PostScript operator.
11391 nil duplex and page size are configured by ps-print *not* using
11392 the setpagedevice PostScript operator.
11394 The variable `ps-spool-tumble' specifies how the page images on
11395 opposite sides of a sheet are oriented with respect to each other. If
11396 `ps-spool-tumble' is nil, ps-print produces output suitable for
11397 bindings on the left or right. If `ps-spool-tumble' is non-nil,
11398 ps-print produces output suitable for bindings at the top or bottom.
11399 This variable takes effect only if `ps-spool-duplex' is non-nil.
11400 The default value is nil.
11402 The variable `ps-header-frame-alist' specifies a header frame
11403 properties alist. Valid frame properties are:
11405 fore-color Specify the foreground frame color.
11406 Value should be a float number between 0.0 (black
11407 color) and 1.0 (white color), or a string which is a
11408 color name, or a list of 3 float numbers which
11409 correspond to the Red Green Blue color scale, each
11410 float number between 0.0 (dark color) and 1.0 (bright
11411 color). The default is 0 ("black").
11413 back-color Specify the background frame color (similar to fore-color).
11414 The default is 0.9 ("gray90").
11416 shadow-color Specify the shadow color (similar to fore-color).
11417 The default is 0 ("black").
11419 border-color Specify the border color (similar to fore-color).
11420 The default is 0 ("black").
11422 border-width Specify the border width.
11423 The default is 0.4.
11425 Any other property is ignored.
11427 Don't change this alist directly; instead use Custom, or the
11428 `ps-value', `ps-get', `ps-put' and `ps-del' functions (see there for
11431 Ps-print can also print footers. The footer variables are:
11432 `ps-print-footer', `ps-footer-offset', `ps-print-footer-frame',
11433 `ps-footer-font-family', `ps-footer-font-size', `ps-footer-line-pad',
11434 `ps-footer-lines', `ps-left-footer', `ps-right-footer' and
11435 `ps-footer-frame-alist'. These variables are similar to those
11436 controlling headers.
11438 *** Color management (subgroup)
11440 If `ps-print-color-p' is non-nil, the buffer's text will be printed in
11443 *** Face Management (subgroup)
11445 If you need to print without worrying about face background colors,
11446 set the variable `ps-use-face-background' which specifies if face
11447 background should be used. Valid values are:
11449 t always use face background color.
11450 nil never use face background color.
11451 (face...) list of faces whose background color will be used.
11453 *** N-up printing (subgroup)
11455 The variable `ps-n-up-printing' specifies the number of pages per
11458 The variable `ps-n-up-margin' specifies the margin in points (pt)
11459 between the sheet border and the n-up printing.
11461 If variable `ps-n-up-border-p' is non-nil, a border is drawn around
11464 The variable `ps-n-up-filling' specifies how the page matrix is filled
11465 on each sheet of paper. Following are the valid values for
11466 `ps-n-up-filling' with a filling example using a 3x4 page matrix:
11468 `left-top' 1 2 3 4 `left-bottom' 9 10 11 12
11472 `right-top' 4 3 2 1 `right-bottom' 12 11 10 9
11476 `top-left' 1 4 7 10 `bottom-left' 3 6 9 12
11480 `top-right' 10 7 4 1 `bottom-right' 12 9 6 3
11484 Any other value is treated as `left-top'.
11486 *** Zebra stripes (subgroup)
11488 The variable `ps-zebra-color' controls the zebra stripes grayscale or
11491 The variable `ps-zebra-stripe-follow' specifies how zebra stripes
11492 continue on next page. Visually, valid values are (the character `+'
11493 to the right of each column indicates that a line is printed):
11495 `nil' `follow' `full' `full-follow'
11496 Current Page -------- ----------- --------- ----------------
11497 1 XXXXX + 1 XXXXXXXX + 1 XXXXXX + 1 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
11498 2 XXXXX + 2 XXXXXXXX + 2 XXXXXX + 2 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
11499 3 XXXXX + 3 XXXXXXXX + 3 XXXXXX + 3 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
11503 7 XXXXX + 7 XXXXXXXX + 7 XXXXXX + 7 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
11504 8 XXXXX + 8 XXXXXXXX + 8 XXXXXX + 8 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
11505 9 XXXXX + 9 XXXXXXXX + 9 XXXXXX + 9 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
11508 -------- ----------- --------- ----------------
11509 Next Page -------- ----------- --------- ----------------
11510 12 XXXXX + 12 + 10 XXXXXX + 10 +
11511 13 XXXXX + 13 XXXXXXXX + 11 XXXXXX + 11 +
11512 14 XXXXX + 14 XXXXXXXX + 12 XXXXXX + 12 +
11513 15 + 15 XXXXXXXX + 13 + 13 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
11514 16 + 16 + 14 + 14 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
11515 17 + 17 + 15 + 15 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
11516 18 XXXXX + 18 + 16 XXXXXX + 16 +
11517 19 XXXXX + 19 XXXXXXXX + 17 XXXXXX + 17 +
11518 20 XXXXX + 20 XXXXXXXX + 18 XXXXXX + 18 +
11521 -------- ----------- --------- ----------------
11523 Any other value is treated as `nil'.
11526 *** Printer management (subgroup)
11528 The variable `ps-printer-name-option' determines the option used by
11529 some utilities to indicate the printer name; it's used only when
11530 `ps-printer-name' is a non-empty string. If you're using the lpr
11531 utility to print, for example, `ps-printer-name-option' should be set
11534 The variable `ps-manual-feed' indicates if the printer requires manual
11535 paper feeding. If it's nil, automatic feeding takes place. If it's
11536 non-nil, manual feeding takes place.
11538 The variable `ps-end-with-control-d' specifies whether C-d (\x04)
11539 should be inserted at end of the generated PostScript. Non-nil means
11542 *** Page settings (subgroup)
11544 If variable `ps-warn-paper-type' is nil, it's *not* treated as an
11545 error if the PostScript printer doesn't have a paper with the size
11546 indicated by `ps-paper-type'; the default paper size will be used
11547 instead. If `ps-warn-paper-type' is non-nil, an error is signaled if
11548 the PostScript printer doesn't support a paper with the size indicated
11549 by `ps-paper-type'. This is used when `ps-spool-config' is set to
11552 The variable `ps-print-upside-down' determines the orientation for
11553 printing pages: nil means `normal' printing, non-nil means
11554 `upside-down' printing (that is, the page is rotated by 180 degrees).
11556 The variable `ps-selected-pages' specifies which pages to print. If
11557 it's nil, all pages are printed. If it's a list, list elements may be
11558 integers specifying a single page to print, or cons cells (FROM . TO)
11559 specifying to print from page FROM to TO. Invalid list elements, that
11560 is integers smaller than one, or elements whose FROM is greater than
11561 its TO, are ignored.
11563 The variable `ps-even-or-odd-pages' specifies how to print even/odd
11564 pages. Valid values are:
11566 nil print all pages.
11568 `even-page' print only even pages.
11570 `odd-page' print only odd pages.
11572 `even-sheet' print only even sheets.
11573 That is, if `ps-n-up-printing' is 1, it behaves like
11574 `even-page', but for values greater than 1, it'll
11575 print only the even sheet of paper.
11577 `odd-sheet' print only odd sheets.
11578 That is, if `ps-n-up-printing' is 1, it behaves like
11579 `odd-page'; but for values greater than 1, it'll print
11580 only the odd sheet of paper.
11582 Any other value is treated as nil.
11584 If you set `ps-selected-pages' (see there for documentation), pages
11585 are filtered by `ps-selected-pages', and then by
11586 `ps-even-or-odd-pages'. For example, if we have:
11588 (setq ps-selected-pages '(1 4 (6 . 10) (12 . 16) 20))
11590 and we combine this with `ps-even-or-odd-pages' and
11591 `ps-n-up-printing', we get:
11593 `ps-n-up-printing' = 1:
11594 `ps-even-or-odd-pages' PAGES PRINTED
11595 nil 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 20
11596 even-page 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 20
11597 odd-page 1, 7, 9, 13, 15
11598 even-sheet 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 20
11599 odd-sheet 1, 7, 9, 13, 15
11601 `ps-n-up-printing' = 2:
11602 `ps-even-or-odd-pages' PAGES PRINTED
11603 nil 1/4, 6/7, 8/9, 10/12, 13/14, 15/16, 20
11604 even-page 4/6, 8/10, 12/14, 16/20
11605 odd-page 1/7, 9/13, 15
11606 even-sheet 6/7, 10/12, 15/16
11607 odd-sheet 1/4, 8/9, 13/14, 20
11609 *** Miscellany (subgroup)
11611 The variable `ps-error-handler-message' specifies where error handler
11612 messages should be sent.
11614 It is also possible to add a user-defined PostScript prologue code in
11615 front of all generated prologue code by setting the variable
11616 `ps-user-defined-prologue'.
11618 The variable `ps-line-number-font' specifies the font for line numbers.
11620 The variable `ps-line-number-font-size' specifies the font size in
11621 points for line numbers.
11623 The variable `ps-line-number-color' specifies the color for line
11624 numbers. See `ps-zebra-color' for documentation.
11626 The variable `ps-line-number-step' specifies the interval in which
11627 line numbers are printed. For example, if `ps-line-number-step' is set
11628 to 2, the printing will look like:
11640 integer an integer specifying the interval in which line numbers are
11641 printed. If it's smaller than or equal to zero, 1
11644 `zebra' specifies that only the line number of the first line in a
11645 zebra stripe is to be printed.
11647 Any other value is treated as `zebra'.
11649 The variable `ps-line-number-start' specifies the starting point in
11650 the interval given by `ps-line-number-step'. For example, if
11651 `ps-line-number-step' is set to 3, and `ps-line-number-start' is set to
11652 3, the output will look like:
11666 The variable `ps-postscript-code-directory' specifies the directory
11667 where the PostScript prologue file used by ps-print is found.
11669 The variable `ps-line-spacing' determines the line spacing in points,
11670 for ordinary text, when generating PostScript (similar to
11673 The variable `ps-paragraph-spacing' determines the paragraph spacing,
11674 in points, for ordinary text, when generating PostScript (similar to
11677 The variable `ps-paragraph-regexp' specifies the paragraph delimiter.
11679 The variable `ps-begin-cut-regexp' and `ps-end-cut-regexp' specify the
11680 start and end of a region to cut out when printing.
11682 ** hideshow changes.
11684 *** now supports hiding of blocks of single line comments (like // for
11687 *** Support for java-mode added.
11689 *** When doing `hs-hide-all' it is now possible to also hide the comments
11690 in the file if `hs-hide-comments-when-hiding-all' is set.
11692 *** The new function `hs-hide-initial-comment' hides the comments at
11693 the beginning of the files. Finally those huge RCS logs don't stay in your
11694 way! This is run by default when entering the `hs-minor-mode'.
11696 *** Now uses overlays instead of `selective-display', so is more
11697 robust and a lot faster.
11699 *** A block beginning can span multiple lines.
11701 *** The new variable `hs-show-hidden-short-form' if t, directs hideshow
11702 to show only the beginning of a block when it is hidden. See the
11703 documentation for more details.
11705 ** Changes in Enriched mode.
11707 *** When you visit a file in enriched-mode, Emacs will make sure it is
11708 filled to the current fill-column. This behavior is now independent
11709 of the size of the window. When you save the file, the fill-column in
11710 use is stored as well, so that the whole buffer need not be refilled
11711 the next time unless the fill-column is different.
11713 *** use-hard-newlines is now a minor mode. When it is enabled, Emacs
11714 distinguishes between hard and soft newlines, and treats hard newlines
11715 as paragraph boundaries. Otherwise all newlines inserted are marked
11716 as soft, and paragraph boundaries are determined solely from the text.
11722 The variables font-lock-face-attributes, font-lock-display-type and
11723 font-lock-background-mode are now obsolete; the recommended way to specify the
11724 faces to use for Font Lock mode is with M-x customize-group on the new custom
11725 group font-lock-highlighting-faces. If you set font-lock-face-attributes in
11726 your ~/.emacs file, Font Lock mode will respect its value. However, you should
11727 consider converting from setting that variable to using M-x customize.
11729 You can still use X resources to specify Font Lock face appearances.
11731 *** Maximum decoration
11733 Fontification now uses the maximum level of decoration supported by
11734 default. Previously, fontification used a mode-specific default level
11735 of decoration, which is typically the minimum level of decoration
11736 supported. You can set font-lock-maximum-decoration to nil
11737 to get the old behavior.
11741 Support is now provided for Java, Objective-C, AWK and SIMULA modes.
11743 Note that Font Lock mode can be turned on without knowing exactly what modes
11744 support Font Lock mode, via the command global-font-lock-mode.
11746 *** Configurable support
11748 Support for C, C++, Objective-C and Java can be more easily configured for
11749 additional types and classes via the new variables c-font-lock-extra-types,
11750 c++-font-lock-extra-types, objc-font-lock-extra-types and, you guessed it,
11751 java-font-lock-extra-types. These value of each of these variables should be a
11752 list of regexps matching the extra type names. For example, the default value
11753 of c-font-lock-extra-types is ("\\sw+_t") which means fontification follows the
11754 convention that C type names end in _t. This results in slower fontification.
11756 Of course, you can change the variables that specify fontification in whatever
11757 way you wish, typically by adding regexps. However, these new variables make
11758 it easier to make specific and common changes for the fontification of types.
11760 *** Adding highlighting patterns to existing support
11762 You can use the new function font-lock-add-keywords to add your own
11763 highlighting patterns, such as for project-local or user-specific constructs,
11766 For example, to highlight `FIXME:' words in C comments, put:
11768 (font-lock-add-keywords 'c-mode '(("\\<FIXME:" 0 font-lock-warning-face t)))
11774 Font Lock now defines two new faces, font-lock-builtin-face and
11775 font-lock-warning-face. These are intended to highlight builtin keywords,
11776 distinct from a language's normal keywords, and objects that should be brought
11777 to user attention, respectively. Various modes now use these new faces.
11779 *** Changes to fast-lock support mode
11781 The fast-lock package, one of the two Font Lock support modes, can now process
11782 cache files silently. You can use the new variable fast-lock-verbose, in the
11783 same way as font-lock-verbose, to control this feature.
11785 *** Changes to lazy-lock support mode
11787 The lazy-lock package, one of the two Font Lock support modes, can now fontify
11788 according to the true syntactic context relative to other lines. You can use
11789 the new variable lazy-lock-defer-contextually to control this feature. If
11790 non-nil, changes to the buffer will cause subsequent lines in the buffer to be
11791 refontified after lazy-lock-defer-time seconds of idle time. If nil, then only
11792 the modified lines will be refontified; this is the same as the previous Lazy
11793 Lock mode behavior and the behavior of Font Lock mode.
11795 This feature is useful in modes where strings or comments can span lines.
11796 For example, if a string or comment terminating character is deleted, then if
11797 this feature is enabled subsequent lines in the buffer will be correctly
11798 refontified to reflect their new syntactic context. Previously, only the line
11799 containing the deleted character would be refontified and you would have to use
11800 the command M-g M-g (font-lock-fontify-block) to refontify some lines.
11802 As a consequence of this new feature, two other variables have changed:
11804 Variable `lazy-lock-defer-driven' is renamed `lazy-lock-defer-on-scrolling'.
11805 Variable `lazy-lock-defer-time' can now only be a time, i.e., a number.
11806 Buffer modes for which on-the-fly deferral applies can be specified via the
11807 new variable `lazy-lock-defer-on-the-fly'.
11809 If you set these variables in your ~/.emacs, then you may have to change those
11812 ** Ada mode changes.
11814 *** There is now better support for using find-file.el with Ada mode.
11815 If you switch between spec and body, the cursor stays in the same
11816 procedure (modulo overloading). If a spec has no body file yet, but
11817 you try to switch to its body file, Ada mode now generates procedure
11820 *** There are two new commands:
11821 - `ada-make-local' : invokes gnatmake on the current buffer
11822 - `ada-check-syntax' : check syntax of current buffer.
11824 The user options `ada-compiler-make', `ada-make-options',
11825 `ada-language-version', `ada-compiler-syntax-check', and
11826 `ada-compile-options' are used within these commands.
11828 *** Ada mode can now work with Outline minor mode. The outline level
11829 is calculated from the indenting, not from syntactic constructs.
11830 Outlining does not work if your code is not correctly indented.
11832 *** The new function `ada-gnat-style' converts the buffer to the style of
11833 formatting used in GNAT. It places two blanks after a comment start,
11834 places one blank between a word end and an opening '(', and puts one
11835 space between a comma and the beginning of a word.
11837 ** Scheme mode changes.
11839 *** Scheme mode indentation now uses many of the facilities of Lisp
11840 mode; therefore, the variables to customize it are the variables used
11841 for Lisp mode which have names starting with `lisp-'. The variables
11842 with names starting with `scheme-' which used to do this no longer
11845 If you want to use different indentation for Scheme and Lisp, this is
11846 still possible, but now you must do it by adding a hook to
11847 scheme-mode-hook, which could work by setting the `lisp-' indentation
11848 variables as buffer-local variables.
11850 *** DSSSL mode is a variant of Scheme mode, for editing DSSSL scripts.
11851 Use M-x dsssl-mode.
11853 ** Changes to the emacsclient program
11855 *** If a socket can't be found, and environment variables LOGNAME or
11856 USER are set, emacsclient now looks for a socket based on the UID
11857 associated with the name. That is an emacsclient running as root
11858 can connect to an Emacs server started by a non-root user.
11860 *** The emacsclient program now accepts an option --no-wait which tells
11861 it to return immediately without waiting for you to "finish" the
11864 *** The new option --alternate-editor allows to specify an editor to
11865 use if Emacs is not running. The environment variable
11866 ALTERNATE_EDITOR can be used for the same effect; the command line
11867 option takes precedence.
11869 ** M-x eldoc-mode enables a minor mode in which the echo area
11870 constantly shows the parameter list for function being called at point
11871 (in Emacs Lisp and Lisp Interaction modes only).
11873 ** C-x n d now runs the new command narrow-to-defun,
11874 which narrows the accessible parts of the buffer to just
11877 ** Emacs now handles the `--' argument in the standard way; all
11878 following arguments are treated as ordinary file names.
11880 ** On MSDOS and Windows, the bookmark file is now called _emacs.bmk,
11881 and the saved desktop file is now called _emacs.desktop (truncated if
11884 ** When you kill a buffer that visits a file,
11885 if there are any registers that save positions in the file,
11886 these register values no longer become completely useless.
11887 If you try to go to such a register with C-x j, then you are
11888 asked whether to visit the file again. If you say yes,
11889 it visits the file and then goes to the same position.
11891 ** When you visit a file that changes frequently outside Emacs--for
11892 example, a log of output from a process that continues to run--it may
11893 be useful for Emacs to revert the file without querying you whenever
11894 you visit the file afresh with C-x C-f.
11896 You can request this behavior for certain files by setting the
11897 variable revert-without-query to a list of regular expressions. If a
11898 file's name matches any of these regular expressions, find-file and
11899 revert-buffer revert the buffer without asking for permission--but
11900 only if you have not edited the buffer text yourself.
11902 ** set-default-font has been renamed to set-frame-font
11903 since it applies only to the current frame.
11905 ** In TeX mode, you can use the variable tex-main-file to specify the
11906 file for tex-file to run TeX on. (By default, tex-main-file is nil,
11907 and tex-file runs TeX on the current visited file.)
11909 This is useful when you are editing a document that consists of
11910 multiple files. In each of the included files, you can set up a local
11911 variable list which specifies the top-level file of your document for
11912 tex-main-file. Then tex-file will run TeX on the whole document
11913 instead of just the file you are editing.
11917 RefTeX mode is a new minor mode with special support for \label, \ref
11918 and \cite macros in LaTeX documents. RefTeX distinguishes labels of
11919 different environments (equation, figure, ...) and has full support for
11920 multifile documents. To use it, select a buffer with a LaTeX document and
11921 turn the mode on with M-x reftex-mode. Here are the main user commands:
11924 Creates a label semi-automatically. RefTeX is context sensitive and
11925 knows which kind of label is needed.
11927 C-c ) reftex-reference
11928 Offers in a menu all labels in the document, along with context of the
11929 label definition. The selected label is referenced as \ref{LABEL}.
11931 C-c [ reftex-citation
11932 Prompts for a regular expression and displays a list of matching BibTeX
11933 database entries. The selected entry is cited with a \cite{KEY} macro.
11935 C-c & reftex-view-crossref
11936 Views the cross reference of a \ref or \cite command near point.
11939 Shows a table of contents of the (multifile) document. From there you
11940 can quickly jump to every section.
11942 Under X, RefTeX installs a "Ref" menu in the menu bar, with additional
11943 commands. Press `?' to get help when a prompt mentions this feature.
11944 Full documentation and customization examples are in the file
11945 reftex.el. You can use the finder to view the file documentation:
11946 C-h p --> tex --> reftex.el
11948 ** Changes in BibTeX mode.
11950 *** Info documentation is now available.
11952 *** Don't allow parentheses in string constants anymore. This confused
11953 both the BibTeX program and Emacs BibTeX mode.
11955 *** Renamed variable bibtex-mode-user-optional-fields to
11956 bibtex-user-optional-fields.
11958 *** Removed variable bibtex-include-OPTannote
11959 (use bibtex-user-optional-fields instead).
11961 *** New interactive functions to copy and kill fields and complete
11962 entries to the BibTeX kill ring, from where they can be yanked back by
11963 appropriate functions.
11965 *** New interactive functions for repositioning and marking of
11966 entries. They are bound by default to C-M-l and C-M-h.
11968 *** New hook bibtex-clean-entry-hook. It is called after entry has
11971 *** New variable bibtex-field-delimiters, which replaces variables
11972 bibtex-field-{left|right}-delimiter.
11974 *** New variable bibtex-entry-delimiters to determine how entries
11975 shall be delimited.
11977 *** Allow preinitialization of fields. See documentation of
11978 bibtex-user-optional-fields, bibtex-entry-field-alist, and
11979 bibtex-include-OPTkey for details.
11981 *** Book and InBook entries require either an author or an editor
11982 field. This is now supported by bibtex.el. Alternative fields are
11983 prefixed with `ALT'.
11985 *** New variable bibtex-entry-format, which replaces variable
11986 bibtex-clean-entry-zap-empty-opts and allows specification of many
11987 formatting options performed on cleaning an entry (see variable
11990 *** Even more control on how automatic keys are generated. See
11991 documentation of bibtex-generate-autokey for details. Transcriptions
11992 for foreign languages other than German are now handled, too.
11994 *** New boolean user option bibtex-comma-after-last-field to decide if
11995 comma should be inserted at end of last field.
11997 *** New boolean user option bibtex-align-at-equal-sign to determine if
11998 alignment should be made at left side of field contents or at equal
11999 signs. New user options to control entry layout (e.g. indentation).
12001 *** New function bibtex-fill-entry to realign entries.
12003 *** New function bibtex-reformat to reformat region or buffer.
12005 *** New function bibtex-convert-alien to convert a BibTeX database
12006 from alien sources.
12008 *** New function bibtex-complete-key (similar to bibtex-complete-string)
12009 to complete prefix to a key defined in buffer. Mainly useful in
12012 *** New function bibtex-count-entries to count entries in buffer or
12015 *** Added support for imenu.
12017 *** The function `bibtex-validate' now checks current region instead
12018 of buffer if mark is active. Now it shows all errors of buffer in a
12019 `compilation mode' buffer. You can use the normal commands (e.g.
12020 `next-error') for compilation modes to jump to errors.
12022 *** New variable `bibtex-string-file-path' to determine where the files
12023 from `bibtex-string-files' are searched.
12025 ** Iso Accents mode now supports Latin-3 as an alternative.
12027 ** The command next-error now opens blocks hidden by hideshow.
12029 ** The function using-unix-filesystems has been replaced by the
12030 functions add-untranslated-filesystem and remove-untranslated-filesystem.
12031 Each of these functions takes the name of a drive letter or directory
12034 When a filesystem is added as untranslated, all files on it are read
12035 and written in binary mode (no cr/lf translation is performed).
12037 ** browse-url changes
12039 *** New methods for: Grail (browse-url-generic), MMM (browse-url-mmm),
12040 Lynx in a separate xterm (browse-url-lynx-xterm) or in an Emacs window
12041 (browse-url-lynx-emacs), remote W3 (browse-url-w3-gnudoit), generic
12042 non-remote-controlled browsers (browse-url-generic) and associated
12043 customization variables.
12045 *** New commands `browse-url-of-region' and `browse-url'.
12047 *** URLs marked up with <URL:...> (RFC1738) work if broken across
12048 lines. Browsing methods can be associated with URL regexps
12049 (e.g. mailto: URLs) via `browse-url-browser-function'.
12051 ** Changes in Ediff
12053 *** Clicking Mouse-2 on a brief command description in Ediff control panel
12054 pops up the Info file for this command.
12056 *** There is now a variable, ediff-autostore-merges, which controls whether
12057 the result of a merge is saved in a file. By default, this is done only when
12058 merge is done from a session group (eg, when merging files in two different
12061 *** Since Emacs 19.31 (this hasn't been announced before), Ediff can compare
12062 and merge groups of files residing in different directories, or revisions of
12063 files in the same directory.
12065 *** Since Emacs 19.31, Ediff can apply multi-file patches interactively.
12066 The patches must be in the context format or GNU unified format. (The bug
12067 related to the GNU format has now been fixed.)
12069 ** Changes in Viper
12071 *** The startup file is now .viper instead of .vip
12072 *** All variable/function names have been changed to start with viper-
12074 *** C-\ now simulates the meta-key in all Viper states.
12075 *** C-z in Insert state now escapes to Vi for the duration of the next
12076 Viper command. In Vi and Insert states, C-z behaves as before.
12077 *** C-c \ escapes to Vi for one command if Viper is in Insert or Emacs states.
12078 *** _ is no longer the meta-key in Vi state.
12079 *** The variable viper-insert-state-cursor-color can be used to change cursor
12080 color when Viper is in insert state.
12081 *** If search lands the cursor near the top or the bottom of the window,
12082 Viper pulls the window up or down to expose more context. The variable
12083 viper-adjust-window-after-search controls this behavior.
12087 *** In C, C++, Objective C and Java, Etags tags global variables by
12088 default. The resulting tags files are inflated by 30% on average.
12089 Use --no-globals to turn this feature off. Etags can also tag
12090 variables which are members of structure-like constructs, but it does
12091 not by default. Use --members to turn this feature on.
12093 *** C++ member functions are now recognized as tags.
12095 *** Java is tagged like C++. In addition, "extends" and "implements"
12096 constructs are tagged. Files are recognised by the extension .java.
12098 *** Etags can now handle programs written in Postscript. Files are
12099 recognised by the extensions .ps and .pdb (Postscript with C syntax).
12100 In Postscript, tags are lines that start with a slash.
12102 *** Etags now handles Objective C and Objective C++ code. The usual C and
12103 C++ tags are recognized in these languages; in addition, etags
12104 recognizes special Objective C syntax for classes, class categories,
12105 methods and protocols.
12107 *** Etags also handles Cobol. Files are recognised by the extension
12108 .cobol. The tagged lines are those containing a word that begins in
12109 column 8 and ends in a full stop, i.e. anything that could be a
12112 *** Regexps in Etags now support intervals, as in ed or grep. The syntax of
12113 an interval is \{M,N\}, and it means to match the preceding expression
12114 at least M times and as many as N times.
12116 ** The format for specifying a custom format for time-stamp to insert
12117 in files has changed slightly.
12119 With the new enhancements to the functionality of format-time-string,
12120 time-stamp-format will change to be eventually compatible with it.
12121 This conversion is being done in two steps to maintain compatibility
12122 with old time-stamp-format values.
12124 In the new scheme, alternate case is signified by the number-sign
12125 (`#') modifier, rather than changing the case of the format character.
12126 This feature is as yet incompletely implemented for compatibility
12129 In the old time-stamp-format, all numeric fields defaulted to their
12130 natural width. (With format-time-string, each format has a
12131 fixed-width default.) In this version, you can specify the colon
12132 (`:') modifier to a numeric conversion to mean "give me the historical
12133 time-stamp-format width default." Do not use colon if you are
12134 specifying an explicit width, as in "%02d".
12136 Numbers are no longer truncated to the requested width, except in the
12137 case of "%02y", which continues to give a two-digit year. Digit
12138 truncation probably wasn't being used for anything else anyway.
12140 The new formats will work with old versions of Emacs. New formats are
12141 being recommended now to allow time-stamp-format to change in the
12142 future to be compatible with format-time-string. The new forms being
12143 recommended now will continue to work then.
12145 See the documentation string for the variable time-stamp-format for
12148 ** There are some additional major modes:
12150 dcl-mode, for editing VMS DCL files.
12151 m4-mode, for editing files of m4 input.
12152 meta-mode, for editing MetaFont and MetaPost source files.
12154 ** In Shell mode, the command shell-copy-environment-variable lets you
12155 copy the value of a specified environment variable from the subshell
12158 ** New Lisp packages include:
12160 *** battery.el displays battery status for laptops.
12162 *** M-x bruce (named after Lenny Bruce) is a program that might
12163 be used for adding some indecent words to your email.
12165 *** M-x crisp-mode enables an emulation for the CRiSP editor.
12167 *** M-x dirtrack arranges for better tracking of directory changes
12170 *** The new library elint.el provides for linting of Emacs Lisp code.
12171 See the documentation for `elint-initialize', `elint-current-buffer'
12174 *** M-x expand-add-abbrevs defines a special kind of abbrev which is
12175 meant for programming constructs. These abbrevs expand like ordinary
12176 ones, when you type SPC, but only at the end of a line and not within
12177 strings or comments.
12179 These abbrevs can act as templates: you can define places within an
12180 abbrev for insertion of additional text. Once you expand the abbrev,
12181 you can then use C-x a p and C-x a n to move back and forth to these
12182 insertion points. Thus you can conveniently insert additional text
12185 *** filecache.el remembers the location of files so that you
12186 can visit them by short forms of their names.
12188 *** find-func.el lets you find the definition of the user-loaded
12189 Emacs Lisp function at point.
12191 *** M-x handwrite converts text to a "handwritten" picture.
12193 *** M-x iswitchb-buffer is a command for switching to a buffer, much like
12194 switch-buffer, but it reads the argument in a more helpful way.
12196 *** M-x landmark implements a neural network for landmark learning.
12198 *** M-x locate provides a convenient interface to the `locate' program.
12200 *** M4 mode is a new mode for editing files of m4 input.
12202 *** mantemp.el creates C++ manual template instantiations
12203 from the GCC error messages which indicate which instantiations are needed.
12205 *** mouse-copy.el provides a one-click copy and move feature.
12206 You can drag a region with M-mouse-1, and it is automatically
12207 inserted at point. M-Shift-mouse-1 deletes the text from its
12208 original place after inserting the copy.
12210 *** mouse-drag.el lets you do scrolling by dragging Mouse-2
12213 You click the mouse and move; that distance either translates into the
12214 velocity to scroll (with mouse-drag-throw) or the distance to scroll
12215 (with mouse-drag-drag). Horizontal scrolling is enabled when needed.
12217 Enable mouse-drag with:
12218 (global-set-key [down-mouse-2] 'mouse-drag-throw)
12220 (global-set-key [down-mouse-2] 'mouse-drag-drag)
12222 *** mspools.el is useful for determining which mail folders have
12223 mail waiting to be read in them. It works with procmail.
12225 *** Octave mode is a major mode for editing files of input for Octave.
12226 It comes with a facility for communicating with an Octave subprocess.
12230 The ogonek package provides functions for changing the coding of
12231 Polish diacritic characters in buffers. Codings known from various
12232 platforms are supported such as ISO8859-2, Mazovia, IBM Latin2, and
12233 TeX. For example, you can change the coding from Mazovia to
12234 ISO8859-2. Another example is a change of coding from ISO8859-2 to
12235 prefix notation (in which `/a' stands for the aogonek character, for
12236 instance) and vice versa.
12238 To use this package load it using
12239 M-x load-library [enter] ogonek
12240 Then, you may get an explanation by calling one of
12241 M-x ogonek-jak -- in Polish
12242 M-x ogonek-how -- in English
12243 The info specifies the commands and variables provided as well as the
12244 ways of customization in `.emacs'.
12246 *** Interface to ph.
12248 Emacs provides a client interface to CCSO Nameservers (ph/qi)
12250 The CCSO nameserver is used in many universities to provide directory
12251 services about people. ph.el provides a convenient Emacs interface to
12254 *** uce.el is useful for replying to unsolicited commercial email.
12256 *** vcursor.el implements a "virtual cursor" feature.
12257 You can move the virtual cursor with special commands
12258 while the real cursor does not move.
12260 *** webjump.el is a "hot list" package which you can set up
12261 for visiting your favorite web sites.
12263 *** M-x winner-mode is a minor mode which saves window configurations,
12264 so you can move back to other configurations that you have recently used.
12268 Movemail no longer needs to be installed setuid root in order for POP
12269 mail retrieval to function properly. This is because it no longer
12270 supports the RPOP (reserved-port POP) protocol; instead, it uses the
12271 user's POP password to authenticate to the mail server.
12273 This change was made earlier, but not reported in NEWS before.
12275 * Emacs 20.1 changes for MS-DOS and MS-Windows.
12277 ** Changes in handling MS-DOS/MS-Windows text files.
12279 Emacs handles three different conventions for representing
12280 end-of-line: CRLF for MSDOS, LF for Unix and GNU, and CR (used on the
12281 Macintosh). Emacs determines which convention is used in a specific
12282 file based on the contents of that file (except for certain special
12283 file names), and when it saves the file, it uses the same convention.
12285 To save the file and change the end-of-line convention, you can use
12286 C-x RET f (set-buffer-file-coding-system) to specify a different
12287 coding system for the buffer. Then, when you save the file, the newly
12288 specified coding system will take effect. For example, to save with
12289 LF, specify undecided-unix (or some other ...-unix coding system); to
12290 save with CRLF, specify undecided-dos.
12292 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 20.1
12294 ** Byte-compiled files made with Emacs 20 will, in general, work in
12295 Emacs 19 as well, as long as the source code runs in Emacs 19. And
12296 vice versa: byte-compiled files made with Emacs 19 should also run in
12297 Emacs 20, as long as the program itself works in Emacs 20.
12299 ** Windows-specific functions and variables have been renamed
12300 to start with w32- instead of win32-.
12302 In hacker language, calling something a "win" is a form of praise. We
12303 don't want to praise a non-free Microsoft system, so we don't call it
12306 ** Basic Lisp changes
12308 *** A symbol whose name starts with a colon now automatically
12309 evaluates to itself. Therefore such a symbol can be used as a constant.
12311 *** The defined purpose of `defconst' has been changed. It should now
12312 be used only for values that should not be changed whether by a program
12315 The actual behavior of defconst has not been changed.
12317 *** There are new macros `when' and `unless'
12319 (when CONDITION BODY...) is short for (if CONDITION (progn BODY...))
12320 (unless CONDITION BODY...) is short for (if CONDITION nil BODY...)
12322 *** Emacs now defines functions caar, cadr, cdar and cddr with their
12323 usual Lisp meanings. For example, caar returns the car of the car of
12326 *** equal, when comparing strings, now ignores their text properties.
12328 *** The new function `functionp' tests whether an object is a function.
12330 *** arrayp now returns t for char-tables and bool-vectors.
12332 *** Certain primitives which use characters (as integers) now get an
12333 error if the integer is not a valid character code. These primitives
12334 include insert-char, char-to-string, and the %c construct in the
12337 *** The `require' function now insists on adding a suffix, either .el
12338 or .elc, to the file name. Thus, (require 'foo) will not use a file
12339 whose name is just foo. It insists on foo.el or foo.elc.
12341 *** The `autoload' function, when the file name does not contain
12342 either a directory name or the suffix .el or .elc, insists on
12343 adding one of these suffixes.
12345 *** string-to-number now takes an optional second argument BASE
12346 which specifies the base to use when converting an integer.
12347 If BASE is omitted, base 10 is used.
12349 We have not implemented other radices for floating point numbers,
12350 because that would be much more work and does not seem useful.
12352 *** substring now handles vectors as well as strings.
12354 *** The Common Lisp function eql is no longer defined normally.
12355 You must load the `cl' library to define it.
12357 *** The new macro `with-current-buffer' lets you evaluate an expression
12358 conveniently with a different current buffer. It looks like this:
12360 (with-current-buffer BUFFER BODY-FORMS...)
12362 BUFFER is the expression that says which buffer to use.
12363 BODY-FORMS say what to do in that buffer.
12365 *** The new primitive `save-current-buffer' saves and restores the
12366 choice of current buffer, like `save-excursion', but without saving or
12367 restoring the value of point or the mark. `with-current-buffer'
12368 works using `save-current-buffer'.
12370 *** The new macro `with-temp-file' lets you do some work in a new buffer and
12371 write the output to a specified file. Like `progn', it returns the value
12374 *** The new macro `with-temp-buffer' lets you do some work in a new buffer,
12375 which is discarded after use. Like `progn', it returns the value of the
12376 last form. If you wish to return the buffer contents, use (buffer-string)
12379 *** The new function split-string takes a string, splits it at certain
12380 characters, and returns a list of the substrings in between the
12383 For example, (split-string "foo bar lose" " +") returns ("foo" "bar" "lose").
12385 *** The new macro with-output-to-string executes some Lisp expressions
12386 with standard-output set up so that all output feeds into a string.
12387 Then it returns that string.
12389 For example, if the current buffer name is `foo',
12391 (with-output-to-string
12392 (princ "The buffer is ")
12393 (princ (buffer-name)))
12395 returns "The buffer is foo".
12397 ** Non-ASCII characters are now supported, if enable-multibyte-characters
12400 These characters have character codes above 256. When inserted in the
12401 buffer or stored in a string, they are represented as multibyte
12402 characters that occupy several buffer positions each.
12404 *** When enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil, a single character in
12405 a buffer or string can be two or more bytes (as many as four).
12407 Buffers and strings are still made up of unibyte elements;
12408 character positions and string indices are always measured in bytes.
12409 Therefore, moving forward one character can increase the buffer
12410 position by 2, 3 or 4. The function forward-char moves by whole
12411 characters, and therefore is no longer equivalent to
12412 (lambda (n) (goto-char (+ (point) n))).
12414 ASCII characters (codes 0 through 127) are still single bytes, always.
12415 Sequences of byte values 128 through 255 are used to represent
12416 non-ASCII characters. These sequences are called "multibyte
12419 The first byte of a multibyte character is always in the range 128
12420 through 159 (octal 0200 through 0237). These values are called
12421 "leading codes". The second and subsequent bytes are always in the
12422 range 160 through 255 (octal 0240 through 0377). The first byte, the
12423 leading code, determines how many bytes long the sequence is.
12425 *** The function forward-char moves over characters, and therefore
12426 (forward-char 1) may increase point by more than 1 if it moves over a
12427 multibyte character. Likewise, delete-char always deletes a
12428 character, which may be more than one buffer position.
12430 This means that some Lisp programs, which assume that a character is
12431 always one buffer position, need to be changed.
12433 However, all ASCII characters are always one buffer position.
12435 *** The regexp [\200-\377] no longer matches all non-ASCII characters,
12436 because when enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil, these characters
12437 have codes that are not in the range octal 200 to octal 377. However,
12438 the regexp [^\000-\177] does match all non-ASCII characters,
12441 *** The function char-boundary-p returns non-nil if position POS is
12442 between two characters in the buffer (not in the middle of a
12445 When the value is non-nil, it says what kind of character follows POS:
12447 0 if POS is at an ASCII character or at the end of range,
12448 1 if POS is before a 2-byte length multi-byte form,
12449 2 if POS is at a head of 3-byte length multi-byte form,
12450 3 if POS is at a head of 4-byte length multi-byte form,
12451 4 if POS is at a head of multi-byte form of a composite character.
12453 *** The function char-bytes returns how many bytes the character CHAR uses.
12455 *** Strings can contain multibyte characters. The function
12456 `length' returns the string length counting bytes, which may be
12457 more than the number of characters.
12459 You can include a multibyte character in a string constant by writing
12460 it literally. You can also represent it with a hex escape,
12461 \xNNNNNNN..., using as many digits as necessary. Any character which
12462 is not a valid hex digit terminates this construct. If you want to
12463 follow it with a character that is a hex digit, write backslash and
12464 newline in between; that will terminate the hex escape.
12466 *** The function concat-chars takes arguments which are characters
12467 and returns a string containing those characters.
12469 *** The function sref access a multibyte character in a string.
12470 (sref STRING INDX) returns the character in STRING at INDEX. INDEX
12471 counts from zero. If INDEX is at a position in the middle of a
12472 character, sref signals an error.
12474 *** The function chars-in-string returns the number of characters
12475 in a string. This is less than the length of the string, if the
12476 string contains multibyte characters (the length counts bytes).
12478 *** The function chars-in-region returns the number of characters
12479 in a region from BEG to END. This is less than (- END BEG) if the
12480 region contains multibyte characters (the length counts bytes).
12482 *** The function string-to-list converts a string to a list of
12483 the characters in it. string-to-vector converts a string
12484 to a vector of the characters in it.
12486 *** The function store-substring alters part of the contents
12487 of a string. You call it as follows:
12489 (store-substring STRING IDX OBJ)
12491 This says to alter STRING, by storing OBJ starting at index IDX in
12492 STRING. OBJ may be either a character or a (smaller) string.
12493 This function really does alter the contents of STRING.
12494 Since it is impossible to change the length of an existing string,
12495 it is an error if OBJ doesn't fit within STRING's actual length.
12497 *** char-width returns the width (in columns) of the character CHAR,
12498 if it were displayed in the current buffer and the selected window.
12500 *** string-width returns the width (in columns) of the text in STRING,
12501 if it were displayed in the current buffer and the selected window.
12503 *** truncate-string-to-width shortens a string, if necessary,
12504 to fit within a certain number of columns. (Of course, it does
12505 not alter the string that you give it; it returns a new string
12506 which contains all or just part of the existing string.)
12508 (truncate-string-to-width STR END-COLUMN &optional START-COLUMN PADDING)
12510 This returns the part of STR up to column END-COLUMN.
12512 The optional argument START-COLUMN specifies the starting column.
12513 If this is non-nil, then the first START-COLUMN columns of the string
12514 are not included in the resulting value.
12516 The optional argument PADDING, if non-nil, is a padding character to be added
12517 at the beginning and end the resulting string, to extend it to exactly
12518 WIDTH columns. If PADDING is nil, that means do not pad; then, if STRING
12519 is narrower than WIDTH, the value is equal to STRING.
12521 If PADDING and START-COLUMN are both non-nil, and if there is no clean
12522 place in STRING that corresponds to START-COLUMN (because one
12523 character extends across that column), then the padding character
12524 PADDING is added one or more times at the beginning of the result
12525 string, so that its columns line up as if it really did start at
12526 column START-COLUMN.
12528 *** When the functions in the list after-change-functions are called,
12529 the third argument is the number of bytes in the pre-change text, not
12530 necessarily the number of characters. It is, in effect, the
12531 difference in buffer position between the beginning and the end of the
12532 changed text, before the change.
12534 *** The characters Emacs uses are classified in various character
12535 sets, each of which has a name which is a symbol. In general there is
12536 one character set for each script, not for each language.
12538 **** The function charsetp tests whether an object is a character set name.
12540 **** The variable charset-list holds a list of character set names.
12542 **** char-charset, given a character code, returns the name of the character
12543 set that the character belongs to. (The value is a symbol.)
12545 **** split-char, given a character code, returns a list containing the
12546 name of the character set, followed by one or two byte-values
12547 which identify the character within that character set.
12549 **** make-char, given a character set name and one or two subsequent
12550 byte-values, constructs a character code. This is roughly the
12551 opposite of split-char.
12553 **** find-charset-region returns a list of the character sets
12554 of all the characters between BEG and END.
12556 **** find-charset-string returns a list of the character sets
12557 of all the characters in a string.
12559 *** Here are the Lisp facilities for working with coding systems
12560 and specifying coding systems.
12562 **** The function coding-system-list returns a list of all coding
12563 system names (symbols). With optional argument t, it returns a list
12564 of all distinct base coding systems, not including variants.
12565 (Variant coding systems are those like latin-1-dos, latin-1-unix
12566 and latin-1-mac which specify the end-of-line conversion as well
12567 as what to do about code conversion.)
12569 **** coding-system-p tests a symbol to see if it is a coding system
12570 name. It returns t if so, nil if not.
12572 **** file-coding-system-alist specifies which coding systems to use
12573 for certain file names. It works like network-coding-system-alist,
12574 except that the PATTERN is matched against the file name.
12576 Each element has the format (PATTERN . VAL), where PATTERN determines
12577 which file names the element applies to. PATTERN should be a regexp
12578 to match against a file name.
12580 VAL is a coding system, a cons cell containing two coding systems, or
12581 a function symbol. If VAL is a coding system, it is used for both
12582 decoding what received from the network stream and encoding what sent
12583 to the network stream. If VAL is a cons cell containing two coding
12584 systems, the car specifies the coding system for decoding, and the cdr
12585 specifies the coding system for encoding.
12587 If VAL is a function symbol, the function must return a coding system
12588 or a cons cell containing two coding systems, which is used as above.
12590 **** The variable network-coding-system-alist specifies
12591 the coding system to use for network sockets.
12593 Each element has the format (PATTERN . VAL), where PATTERN determines
12594 which network sockets the element applies to. PATTERN should be
12595 either a port number or a regular expression matching some network
12598 VAL is a coding system, a cons cell containing two coding systems, or
12599 a function symbol. If VAL is a coding system, it is used for both
12600 decoding what received from the network stream and encoding what sent
12601 to the network stream. If VAL is a cons cell containing two coding
12602 systems, the car specifies the coding system for decoding, and the cdr
12603 specifies the coding system for encoding.
12605 If VAL is a function symbol, the function must return a coding system
12606 or a cons cell containing two coding systems, which is used as above.
12608 **** process-coding-system-alist specifies which coding systems to use
12609 for certain subprocess. It works like network-coding-system-alist,
12610 except that the PATTERN is matched against the program name used to
12611 start the subprocess.
12613 **** The variable default-process-coding-system specifies the coding
12614 systems to use for subprocess (and net connection) input and output,
12615 when nothing else specifies what to do. The value is a cons cell
12616 (OUTPUT-CODING . INPUT-CODING). OUTPUT-CODING applies to output
12617 to the subprocess, and INPUT-CODING applies to input from it.
12619 **** The variable coding-system-for-write, if non-nil, specifies the
12620 coding system to use for writing a file, or for output to a synchronous
12623 It also applies to any asynchronous subprocess or network connection,
12624 but in a different way: the value of coding-system-for-write when you
12625 start the subprocess or connection affects that subprocess or
12626 connection permanently or until overridden.
12628 The variable coding-system-for-write takes precedence over
12629 file-coding-system-alist, process-coding-system-alist and
12630 network-coding-system-alist, and all other methods of specifying a
12631 coding system for output. But most of the time this variable is nil.
12632 It exists so that Lisp programs can bind it to a specific coding
12633 system for one operation at a time.
12635 **** coding-system-for-read applies similarly to input from
12636 files, subprocesses or network connections.
12638 **** The function process-coding-system tells you what
12639 coding systems(s) an existing subprocess is using.
12640 The value is a cons cell,
12641 (DECODING-CODING-SYSTEM . ENCODING-CODING-SYSTEM)
12642 where DECODING-CODING-SYSTEM is used for decoding output from
12643 the subprocess, and ENCODING-CODING-SYSTEM is used for encoding
12644 input to the subprocess.
12646 **** The function set-process-coding-system can be used to
12647 change the coding systems in use for an existing subprocess.
12649 ** Emacs has a new facility to help users manage the many
12650 customization options. To make a Lisp program work with this facility,
12651 you need to use the new macros defgroup and defcustom.
12653 You use defcustom instead of defvar, for defining a user option
12654 variable. The difference is that you specify two additional pieces of
12655 information (usually): the "type" which says what values are
12656 legitimate, and the "group" which specifies the hierarchy for
12659 Thus, instead of writing
12661 (defvar foo-blurgoze nil
12662 "*Non-nil means that foo will act very blurgozely.")
12664 you would now write this:
12666 (defcustom foo-blurgoze nil
12667 "*Non-nil means that foo will act very blurgozely."
12671 The type `boolean' means that this variable has only
12672 two meaningful states: nil and non-nil. Other type values
12673 describe other possibilities; see the manual for Custom
12674 for a description of them.
12676 The "group" argument is used to specify a group which the option
12677 should belong to. You define a new group like this:
12679 (defgroup ispell nil
12680 "Spell checking using Ispell."
12683 The "group" argument in defgroup specifies the parent group. The root
12684 group is called `emacs'; it should not contain any variables itself,
12685 but only other groups. The immediate subgroups of `emacs' correspond
12686 to the keywords used by C-h p. Under these subgroups come
12687 second-level subgroups that belong to individual packages.
12689 Each Emacs package should have its own set of groups. A simple
12690 package should have just one group; a more complex package should
12691 have a hierarchy of its own groups. The sole or root group of a
12692 package should be a subgroup of one or more of the "keyword"
12693 first-level subgroups.
12695 ** New `widget' library for inserting UI components in buffers.
12697 This library, used by the new custom library, is documented in a
12698 separate manual that accompanies Emacs.
12702 The easy-mmode package provides macros and functions that make
12703 developing minor modes easier. Roughly, the programmer has to code
12704 only the functionality of the minor mode. All the rest--toggles,
12705 predicate, and documentation--can be done in one call to the macro
12706 `easy-mmode-define-minor-mode' (see the documentation). See also
12707 `easy-mmode-define-keymap'.
12709 ** Text property changes
12711 *** The `intangible' property now works on overlays as well as on a
12714 *** The new functions next-char-property-change and
12715 previous-char-property-change scan through the buffer looking for a
12716 place where either a text property or an overlay might change. The
12717 functions take two arguments, POSITION and LIMIT. POSITION is the
12718 starting position for the scan. LIMIT says where to stop the scan.
12720 If no property change is found before LIMIT, the value is LIMIT. If
12721 LIMIT is nil, scan goes to the beginning or end of the accessible part
12722 of the buffer. If no property change is found, the value is the
12723 position of the beginning or end of the buffer.
12725 *** In the `local-map' text property or overlay property, the property
12726 value can now be a symbol whose function definition is a keymap. This
12727 is an alternative to using the keymap itself.
12729 ** Changes in invisibility features
12731 *** Isearch can now temporarily show parts of the buffer which are
12732 hidden by an overlay with a invisible property, when the search match
12733 is inside that portion of the buffer. To enable this the overlay
12734 should have a isearch-open-invisible property which is a function that
12735 would be called having the overlay as an argument, the function should
12736 make the overlay visible.
12738 During incremental search the overlays are shown by modifying the
12739 invisible and intangible properties, if beside this more actions are
12740 needed the overlay should have a isearch-open-invisible-temporary
12741 which is a function. The function is called with 2 arguments: one is
12742 the overlay and the second is nil when it should show the overlay and
12743 t when it should hide it.
12745 *** add-to-invisibility-spec, remove-from-invisibility-spec
12747 Modes that use overlays to hide portions of a buffer should set the
12748 invisible property of the overlay to the mode's name (or another symbol)
12749 and modify the `buffer-invisibility-spec' to include that symbol.
12750 Use `add-to-invisibility-spec' and `remove-from-invisibility-spec' to
12751 manipulate the `buffer-invisibility-spec'.
12752 Here is an example of how to do this:
12754 ;; If we want to display an ellipsis:
12755 (add-to-invisibility-spec '(my-symbol . t))
12756 ;; If you don't want ellipsis:
12757 (add-to-invisibility-spec 'my-symbol)
12760 (overlay-put (make-overlay beginning end) 'invisible 'my-symbol)
12763 ;; When done with the overlays:
12764 (remove-from-invisibility-spec '(my-symbol . t))
12765 ;; Or respectively:
12766 (remove-from-invisibility-spec 'my-symbol)
12768 ** Changes in syntax parsing.
12770 *** The syntax-directed buffer-scan functions (such as
12771 `parse-partial-sexp', `forward-word' and similar functions) can now
12772 obey syntax information specified by text properties, if the variable
12773 `parse-sexp-lookup-properties' is non-nil.
12775 If the value of `parse-sexp-lookup-properties' is nil, the behavior
12776 is as before: the syntax-table of the current buffer is always
12777 used to determine the syntax of the character at the position.
12779 When `parse-sexp-lookup-properties' is non-nil, the syntax of a
12780 character in the buffer is calculated thus:
12782 a) if the `syntax-table' text-property of that character
12783 is a cons, this cons becomes the syntax-type;
12785 Valid values of `syntax-table' text-property are: nil, a valid
12786 syntax-table, and a valid syntax-table element, i.e.,
12787 a cons cell of the form (SYNTAX-CODE . MATCHING-CHAR).
12789 b) if the character's `syntax-table' text-property
12790 is a syntax table, this syntax table is used
12791 (instead of the syntax-table of the current buffer) to
12792 determine the syntax type of the character.
12794 c) otherwise the syntax-type is determined by the syntax-table
12795 of the current buffer.
12797 *** The meaning of \s in regular expressions is also affected by the
12798 value of `parse-sexp-lookup-properties'. The details are the same as
12799 for the syntax-directed buffer-scan functions.
12801 *** There are two new syntax-codes, `!' and `|' (numeric values 14
12802 and 15). A character with a code `!' starts a comment which is ended
12803 only by another character with the same code (unless quoted). A
12804 character with a code `|' starts a string which is ended only by
12805 another character with the same code (unless quoted).
12807 These codes are mainly meant for use as values of the `syntax-table'
12810 *** The function `parse-partial-sexp' has new semantics for the sixth
12811 arg COMMENTSTOP. If it is `syntax-table', parse stops after the start
12812 of a comment or a string, or after end of a comment or a string.
12814 *** The state-list which the return value from `parse-partial-sexp'
12815 (and can also be used as an argument) now has an optional ninth
12816 element: the character address of the start of last comment or string;
12817 nil if none. The fourth and eighth elements have special values if the
12818 string/comment is started by a "!" or "|" syntax-code.
12820 *** Since new features of `parse-partial-sexp' allow a complete
12821 syntactic parsing, `font-lock' no longer supports
12822 `font-lock-comment-start-regexp'.
12824 ** Changes in face features
12826 *** The face functions are now unconditionally defined in Emacs, even
12827 if it does not support displaying on a device that supports faces.
12829 *** The function face-documentation returns the documentation string
12830 of a face (or nil if it doesn't have one).
12832 *** The function face-bold-p returns t if a face should be bold.
12833 set-face-bold-p sets that flag.
12835 *** The function face-italic-p returns t if a face should be italic.
12836 set-face-italic-p sets that flag.
12838 *** You can now specify foreground and background colors for text
12839 by adding elements of the form (foreground-color . COLOR-NAME)
12840 and (background-color . COLOR-NAME) to the list of faces in
12841 the `face' property (either the character's text property or an
12844 This means that you no longer need to create named faces to use
12845 arbitrary colors in a Lisp package.
12847 ** Changes in file-handling functions
12849 *** File-access primitive functions no longer discard an extra redundant
12850 directory name from the beginning of the file name. In other words,
12851 they no longer do anything special with // or /~. That conversion
12852 is now done only in substitute-in-file-name.
12854 This makes it possible for a Lisp program to open a file whose name
12857 *** If copy-file is unable to set the date of the output file,
12858 it now signals an error with the condition file-date-error.
12860 *** The inode number returned by file-attributes may be an integer (if
12861 the number fits in a Lisp integer) or a list of integers.
12863 *** insert-file-contents can now read from a special file,
12864 as long as the arguments VISIT and REPLACE are nil.
12866 *** The RAWFILE arg to find-file-noselect, if non-nil, now suppresses
12867 character code conversion as well as other things.
12869 Meanwhile, this feature does work with remote file names
12870 (formerly it did not).
12872 *** Lisp packages which create temporary files should use the TMPDIR
12873 environment variable to decide which directory to put them in.
12875 *** interpreter-mode-alist elements now specify regexps
12876 instead of constant strings.
12878 *** expand-file-name no longer treats `//' or `/~' specially. It used
12879 to delete all the text of a file name up through the first slash of
12880 any `//' or `/~' sequence. Now it passes them straight through.
12882 substitute-in-file-name continues to treat those sequences specially,
12883 in the same way as before.
12885 *** The variable `format-alist' is more general now.
12886 The FROM-FN and TO-FN in a format definition can now be strings
12887 which specify shell commands to use as filters to perform conversion.
12889 *** The new function access-file tries to open a file, and signals an
12890 error if that fails. If the open succeeds, access-file does nothing
12891 else, and returns nil.
12893 *** The function insert-directory now signals an error if the specified
12894 directory cannot be listed.
12896 ** Changes in minibuffer input
12898 *** The functions read-buffer, read-variable, read-command, read-string
12899 read-file-name, read-from-minibuffer and completing-read now take an
12900 additional argument which specifies the default value. If this
12901 argument is non-nil, it should be a string; that string is used in two
12904 It is returned if the user enters empty input.
12905 It is available through the history command M-n.
12907 *** The functions read-string, read-from-minibuffer,
12908 read-no-blanks-input and completing-read now take an additional
12909 argument INHERIT-INPUT-METHOD. If this is non-nil, then the
12910 minibuffer inherits the current input method and the setting of
12911 enable-multibyte-characters from the previously current buffer.
12913 In an interactive spec, you can use M instead of s to read an
12914 argument in this way.
12916 *** All minibuffer input functions discard text properties
12917 from the text you enter in the minibuffer, unless the variable
12918 minibuffer-allow-text-properties is non-nil.
12920 ** Echo area features
12922 *** Clearing the echo area now runs the normal hook
12923 echo-area-clear-hook. Note that the echo area can be used while the
12924 minibuffer is active; in that case, the minibuffer is still active
12925 after the echo area is cleared.
12927 *** The function current-message returns the message currently displayed
12928 in the echo area, or nil if there is none.
12930 ** Keyboard input features
12932 *** tty-erase-char is a new variable that reports which character was
12933 set up as the terminal's erase character when time Emacs was started.
12935 *** num-nonmacro-input-events is the total number of input events
12936 received so far from the terminal. It does not count those generated
12937 by keyboard macros.
12939 ** Frame-related changes
12941 *** make-frame runs the normal hook before-make-frame-hook just before
12942 creating a frame, and just after creating a frame it runs the abnormal
12943 hook after-make-frame-functions with the new frame as arg.
12945 *** The new hook window-configuration-change-hook is now run every time
12946 the window configuration has changed. The frame whose configuration
12947 has changed is the selected frame when the hook is run.
12949 *** Each frame now independently records the order for recently
12950 selected buffers, in its buffer-list frame parameter, so that the
12951 value of other-buffer is now based on the buffers recently displayed
12952 in the selected frame.
12954 *** The value of the frame parameter vertical-scroll-bars
12955 is now `left', `right' or nil. A non-nil value specifies
12956 which side of the window to put the scroll bars on.
12958 ** X Windows features
12960 *** You can examine X resources for other applications by binding
12961 x-resource-class around a call to x-get-resource. The usual value of
12962 x-resource-class is "Emacs", which is the correct value for Emacs.
12964 *** In menus, checkboxes and radio buttons now actually work.
12965 The menu displays the current status of the box or button.
12967 *** The function x-list-fonts now takes an optional fourth argument
12968 MAXIMUM which sets a limit on how many matching fonts to return.
12969 A smaller value of MAXIMUM makes the function faster.
12971 If the only question is whether *any* font matches the pattern,
12972 it is good to supply 1 for this argument.
12974 ** Subprocess features
12976 *** A reminder: it is no longer necessary for subprocess filter
12977 functions and sentinels to do save-match-data, because Emacs does this
12980 *** The new function shell-command-to-string executes a shell command
12981 and returns the output from the command as a string.
12983 *** The new function process-contact returns t for a child process,
12984 and (HOSTNAME SERVICE) for a net connection.
12986 ** An error in running pre-command-hook or post-command-hook
12987 does clear the variable to nil. The documentation was wrong before.
12989 ** In define-key-after, if AFTER is t, the new binding now always goes
12990 at the end of the keymap. If the keymap is a menu, this means it
12991 goes after the other menu items.
12993 ** If you have a program that makes several changes in the same area
12994 of the buffer, you can use the macro combine-after-change-calls
12995 around that Lisp code to make it faster when after-change hooks
12998 The macro arranges to call the after-change functions just once for a
12999 series of several changes--if that seems safe.
13001 Don't alter the variables after-change-functions and
13002 after-change-function within the body of a combine-after-change-calls
13005 ** If you define an abbrev (with define-abbrev) whose EXPANSION
13006 is not a string, then the abbrev does not expand in the usual sense,
13007 but its hook is still run.
13009 ** Normally, the Lisp debugger is not used (even if you have enabled it)
13010 for errors that are handled by condition-case.
13012 If you set debug-on-signal to a non-nil value, then the debugger is called
13013 regardless of whether there is a handler for the condition. This is
13014 useful for debugging problems that happen inside of a condition-case.
13016 This mode of operation seems to be unreliable in other ways. Errors that
13017 are normal and ought to be handled, perhaps in timers or process
13018 filters, will instead invoke the debugger. So don't say you weren't
13021 ** The new variable ring-bell-function lets you specify your own
13022 way for Emacs to "ring the bell".
13024 ** If run-at-time's TIME argument is t, the action is repeated at
13025 integral multiples of REPEAT from the epoch; this is useful for
13026 functions like display-time.
13028 ** You can use the function locate-library to find the precise file
13029 name of a Lisp library. This isn't new, but wasn't documented before.
13031 ** Commands for entering view mode have new optional arguments that
13032 can be used from Lisp. Low-level entrance to and exit from view mode
13033 is done by functions view-mode-enter and view-mode-exit.
13035 ** batch-byte-compile-file now makes Emacs return a nonzero status code
13036 if there is an error in compilation.
13038 ** pop-to-buffer, switch-to-buffer-other-window and
13039 switch-to-buffer-other-frame now accept an additional optional
13040 argument NORECORD, much like switch-to-buffer. If it is non-nil,
13041 they don't put the buffer at the front of the buffer list.
13043 ** If your .emacs file leaves the *scratch* buffer non-empty,
13044 Emacs does not display the startup message, so as to avoid changing
13045 the *scratch* buffer.
13047 ** The new function regexp-opt returns an efficient regexp to match a string.
13048 The arguments are STRINGS and (optionally) PAREN. This function can be used
13049 where regexp matching or searching is intensively used and speed is important,
13050 e.g., in Font Lock mode.
13052 ** The variable buffer-display-count is local to each buffer,
13053 and is incremented each time the buffer is displayed in a window.
13054 It starts at 0 when the buffer is created.
13056 ** The new function compose-mail starts composing a mail message
13057 using the user's chosen mail composition agent (specified with the
13058 variable mail-user-agent). It has variants compose-mail-other-window
13059 and compose-mail-other-frame.
13061 ** The `user-full-name' function now takes an optional parameter which
13062 can either be a number (the UID) or a string (the login name). The
13063 full name of the specified user will be returned.
13065 ** Lisp packages that load files of customizations, or any other sort
13066 of user profile, should obey the variable init-file-user in deciding
13067 where to find it. They should load the profile of the user name found
13068 in that variable. If init-file-user is nil, meaning that the -q
13069 option was used, then Lisp packages should not load the customization
13072 ** format-time-string now allows you to specify the field width
13073 and type of padding. This works as in printf: you write the field
13074 width as digits in the middle of a %-construct. If you start
13075 the field width with 0, it means to pad with zeros.
13077 For example, %S normally specifies the number of seconds since the
13078 minute; %03S means to pad this with zeros to 3 positions, %_3S to pad
13079 with spaces to 3 positions. Plain %3S pads with zeros, because that
13080 is how %S normally pads to two positions.
13082 ** thing-at-point now supports a new kind of "thing": url.
13084 ** imenu.el changes.
13086 You can now specify a function to be run when selecting an
13087 item from menu created by imenu.
13089 An example of using this feature: if we define imenu items for the
13090 #include directives in a C file, we can open the included file when we
13091 select one of those items.
13093 * For older news, see the file ONEWS
13095 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
13096 Copyright information:
13098 Copyright (C) 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
13100 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
13101 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
13102 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
13103 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
13105 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
13106 of this document, or of portions of it,
13107 under the above conditions, provided also that they
13108 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
13112 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"
13115 arch-tag: 1aca9dfa-2ac4-4d14-bebf-0007cee12793