1 .\" Copyright (C) 1995, 1999, 2000, 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 .\" This file is part of GNU Emacs.
5 .\" GNU Emacs is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
6 .\" it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
7 .\" the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
10 .\" GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
11 .\" but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
12 .\" MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
13 .\" GNU General Public License for more details.
15 .\" You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
16 .\" along with GNU Emacs; see the file COPYING. If not, write to the
17 .\" Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330,
18 .\" Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
20 .TH EMACS 1 "1995 December 7"
23 emacs \- GNU project Emacs
27 .I command-line switches
36 written by the author of the original (PDP-10)
40 The primary documentation of GNU Emacs is in the GNU Emacs Manual,
41 which you can read on line using Info, a subsystem of Emacs. Please
42 look there for complete and up-to-date documentation. This man page
43 is updated only when someone volunteers to do so; the Emacs
44 maintainers' priority goal is to minimize the amount of time this man
45 page takes away from other more useful projects.
47 The user functionality of GNU Emacs encompasses
50 editors do, and it is easily extensible since its
51 editing commands are written in Lisp.
54 has an extensive interactive help facility,
55 but the facility assumes that you know how to manipulate
59 or CTRL-h) enters the Help facility. Help Tutorial (CTRL-h t)
60 requests an interactive tutorial which can teach beginners the fundamentals
64 Help Apropos (CTRL-h a) helps you
65 find a command given its functionality, Help Character (CTRL-h c)
66 describes a given character's effect, and Help Function (CTRL-h f)
67 describes a given Lisp function specified by name.
70 Undo can undo several steps of modification to your buffers, so it is
71 easy to recover from editing mistakes.
74 many special packages handle mail reading (RMail) and sending (Mail),
75 outline editing (Outline), compiling (Compile), running subshells
78 windows (Shell), running a Lisp read-eval-print loop
79 (Lisp-Interaction-Mode), and automated psychotherapy (Doctor).
81 There is an extensive reference manual, but
82 users of other Emacses
83 should have little trouble adapting even
84 without a copy. Users new to
87 to use basic features fairly rapidly by studying the tutorial and
88 using the self-documentation features.
92 The following options are of general interest:
99 Go to the line specified by
101 (do not insert a space between the "+" sign and
105 Do not load an init file.
115 as the terminal instead of using stdin/stdout.
116 This must be the first argument specified in the command line.
118 The following options are lisp-oriented
119 (these options are processed in the order encountered):
122 Execute the lisp function
126 Load the lisp code in the file
129 The following options are useful when running
134 Edit in batch mode. The editor will send messages to stderr. This
135 option must be the first in the argument list. You must use -l and -f
136 options to specify files to execute and functions to call.
142 .\" START DELETING HERE IF YOU'RE NOT USING X
144 .SM Using Emacs with X
147 has been tailored to work well with the X window system.
150 from under X windows, it will create its own X window to
151 display in. You will probably want to start the editor
152 as a background process
153 so that you can continue using your original window.
156 can be started with the following X switches:
159 Specifies the name which should be assigned to the initial
161 window. This controls looking up X resources as well as the window title.
164 Specifies the title for the initial X window.
169 window in reverse video.
172 Use the "kitchen sink" bitmap icon when iconifying the
176 .BI \-font " font, " \-fn " font"
179 window's font to that specified by
181 You will find the various
184 .I /usr/lib/X11/fonts
188 will only accept fixed width fonts.
189 Under the X11 Release 4 font-naming conventions, any font with the
190 value "m" or "c" in the eleventh field of the font name is a fixed
191 width font. Furthermore, fonts whose name are of the form
193 are generally fixed width, as is the font
197 for more information.
199 When you specify a font, be sure to put a space between the
200 switch and the font name.
205 window's border width to the number of pixels specified by
207 Defaults to one pixel on each side of the window.
210 Set the window's internal border width to the number of pixels specified
213 Defaults to one pixel of padding on each side of the window.
216 .BI \-geometry " geometry"
219 window's width, height, and position as specified. The geometry
220 specification is in the standard X format; see
222 for more information.
223 The width and height are specified in characters; the default is 80 by
228 On color displays, sets the color of the text.
231 .I /usr/lib/X11/rgb.txt
237 sets the color of the window's background.
241 sets the color of the window's border.
245 sets the color of the window's text cursor.
249 sets the color of the window's mouse cursor.
251 .BI \-d " displayname, " \-display " displayname"
254 window on the display specified by
256 Must be the first option specified in the command line.
261 not to use its special interface to X. If you use this
266 window, display is done in that window.
267 This must be the first option specified in the command line.
271 default values for your
277 Use the following format:
283 specifies the default value of
286 lets you set default values for the following keywords:
288 .B font (\fPclass\fB Font)
289 Sets the window's text font.
291 .B reverseVideo (\fPclass\fB ReverseVideo)
296 the window will be displayed in reverse video.
298 .B bitmapIcon (\fPclass\fB BitmapIcon)
303 the window will iconify into the "kitchen sink."
305 .B borderWidth (\fPclass\fB BorderWidth)
306 Sets the window's border width in pixels.
308 .B internalBorder (\fPclass\fB BorderWidth)
309 Sets the window's internal border width in pixels.
311 .B foreground (\fPclass\fB Foreground)
313 sets the window's text color.
315 .B background (\fPclass\fB Background)
317 sets the window's background color.
319 .B borderColor (\fPclass\fB BorderColor)
321 sets the color of the window's border.
323 .B cursorColor (\fPclass\fB Foreground)
325 sets the color of the window's text cursor.
327 .B pointerColor (\fPclass\fB Foreground)
329 sets the color of the window's mouse cursor.
331 .B geometry (\fPclass\fB Geometry)
332 Sets the geometry of the
334 window (as described above).
336 .B title (\fPclass\fB Title)
337 Sets the title of the
341 .B iconName (\fPclass\fB Title)
342 Sets the icon name for the
346 If you try to set color values while using a black and white display,
347 the window's characteristics will default as follows:
348 the foreground color will be set to black,
349 the background color will be set to white,
350 the border color will be set to grey,
351 and the text and mouse cursors will be set to black.
355 The following lists the mouse button bindings for the
359 .in +\w'CTRL-SHIFT-middle'u+4n
360 .ta \w'CTRL-SHIFT-middle'u+4n
361 .ti -\w'CTRL-SHIFT-middle'u+4n
362 MOUSE BUTTON FUNCTION
364 .ti -\w'CTRL-SHIFT-middle'u+4n
367 .ti -\w'CTRL-SHIFT-middle'u+4n
370 .ti -\w'CTRL-SHIFT-middle'u+4n
371 right Cut text into X cut buffer.
373 .ti -\w'CTRL-SHIFT-middle'u+4n
374 SHIFT-middle Cut text into X cut buffer.
376 .ti -\w'CTRL-SHIFT-middle'u+4n
377 SHIFT-right Paste text.
379 .ti -\w'CTRL-SHIFT-middle'u+4n
380 CTRL-middle Cut text into X cut buffer and kill it.
382 .ti -\w'CTRL-SHIFT-middle'u+4n
383 CTRL-right Select this window, then split it into
384 two windows. Same as typing CTRL-x 2.
385 .\" START DELETING HERE IF YOU'RE NOT USING X MENUS
387 .ti -\w'CTRL-SHIFT-middle'u+4n
388 CTRL-SHIFT-left X buffer menu--hold the buttons and keys
389 down, wait for menu to appear, select
390 buffer, and release. Move mouse out of
391 menu and release to cancel.
393 .ti -\w'CTRL-SHIFT-middle'u+4n
394 CTRL-SHIFT-middle X help menu--pop up index card menu for
396 .\" STOP DELETING HERE IF YOU'RE NOT USING X MENUS
398 .ti -\w'CTRL-SHIFT-middle'u+4n
399 CTRL-SHIFT-right Select window with mouse, and delete all
400 other windows. Same as typing CTRL-x 1.
401 .\" STOP DELETING HERE IF YOU'RE NOT USING X
404 You can order printed copies of the GNU Emacs Manual from the Free
405 Software Foundation, which develops GNU software. See the file ORDERS
406 for ordering information.
408 Your local Emacs maintainer might also have copies available. As
409 with all software and publications from FSF, everyone is permitted to
410 make and distribute copies of the Emacs manual. The TeX source to the
411 manual is also included in the Emacs source distribution.
414 /usr/local/info - files for the Info documentation browser
415 (a subsystem of Emacs) to refer to. Currently not much of Unix
416 is documented here, but the complete text of the Emacs reference
417 manual is included in a convenient tree structured form.
419 /usr/local/share/emacs/$VERSION/src - C source files and object files
421 /usr/local/share/emacs/$VERSION/lisp - Lisp source files and compiled files
422 that define most editing commands. Some are preloaded;
423 others are autoloaded from this directory when used.
425 /usr/local/share/emacs/$VERSION/etc - various programs that are used with
426 GNU Emacs, and some files of information.
428 /usr/local/share/emacs/$VERSION/etc/DOC.* - contains the documentation
429 strings for the Lisp primitives and preloaded Lisp functions
430 of GNU Emacs. They are stored here to reduce the size of
433 /usr/local/share/emacs/$VERSION/etc/OTHER.EMACSES discusses GNU Emacs
434 vs. other versions of Emacs.
436 /usr/local/share/emacs/$VERSION/etc/SERVICE lists people offering
437 various services to assist users of GNU Emacs, including education,
438 troubleshooting, porting and customization.
440 These files also have information useful to anyone wishing to write
441 programs in the Emacs Lisp extension language, which has not yet been fully
444 /usr/local/com/emacs/lock - holds lock files that are made for all
445 files being modified in Emacs, to prevent simultaneous modification
446 of one file by two users.
448 .\" START DELETING HERE IF YOU'RE NOT USING X
449 /usr/lib/X11/rgb.txt - list of valid X color names.
450 .\" STOP DELETING HERE IF YOU'RE NOT USING X
453 There is a mailing list, bug-gnu-emacs@prep.ai.mit.edu on the internet
454 (ucbvax!prep.ai.mit.edu!bug-gnu-emacs on UUCPnet), for reporting Emacs
455 bugs and fixes. But before reporting something as a bug, please try
456 to be sure that it really is a bug, not a misunderstanding or a
457 deliberate feature. We ask you to read the section ``Reporting Emacs
458 Bugs'' near the end of the reference manual (or Info system) for hints
459 on how and when to report bugs. Also, include the version number of
460 the Emacs you are running in \fIevery\fR bug report that you send in.
462 Do not expect a personal answer to a bug report. The purpose of reporting
463 bugs is to get them fixed for everyone in the next release, if possible.
464 For personal assistance, look in the SERVICE file (see above) for
465 a list of people who offer it.
467 Please do not send anything but bug reports to this mailing list.
468 Send requests to be added to mailing lists to the special list
469 info-gnu-emacs-request@prep.ai.mit.edu (or the corresponding UUCP
470 address). For more information about Emacs mailing lists, see the
471 file /usr/local/emacs/etc/MAILINGLISTS. Bugs tend actually to be
472 fixed if they can be isolated, so it is in your interest to report
473 them in such a way that they can be easily reproduced.
475 Bugs that I know about are: shell will not work with programs
476 running in Raw mode on some Unix versions.
480 is free; anyone may redistribute copies of
483 anyone under the terms stated in the
485 General Public License,
486 a copy of which accompanies each copy of
489 appears in the reference manual.
493 may sometimes be received packaged with distributions of Unix systems,
494 but it is never included in the scope of any license covering those
495 systems. Such inclusion violates the terms on which distribution
496 is permitted. In fact, the primary purpose of the General Public
497 License is to prohibit anyone from attaching any other restrictions
501 Richard Stallman encourages you to improve and extend
504 you contribute your extensions to the GNU library. Eventually GNU
505 (Gnu's Not Unix) will be a complete replacement for Berkeley
507 Everyone will be free to use, copy, study and change the GNU system.
509 X(1), xlsfonts(1), xterm(1), xrdb(1)
513 was written by Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation.
514 Joachim Martillo and Robert Krawitz added the X features.
519 1995, 1999, 2000, 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
521 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
522 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1
523 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
524 with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and no
527 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
528 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
529 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
530 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
531 A copy of the license is included in the
533 man page, and in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation
534 License" in the Emacs manual.