emacs/doc/man/emacs.1

'\" t
.\" Copyright (C) 1995, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004,
.\"   2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
.\"
.\" This file is part of GNU Emacs.
.\"
.\" GNU Emacs is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
.\" it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
.\" the Free Software Foundation; either version 3, or (at your option)
.\" any later version.
.\"
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.\" but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
.\" MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
.\" GNU General Public License for more details.
.\"
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.\" along with GNU Emacs; see the file COPYING.  If not, write to the
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'\" t
.TH EMACS 1 "2007 April 13" "GNU Emacs 23.1.50"
.
.
.SH NAME
emacs \- GNU project Emacs
.
.
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B emacs
[
.I command-line switches
] [
.I files ...\&
]
.
.
.SH DESCRIPTION
.I GNU Emacs
is a version of
.IR Emacs ,
written by the author of the original (PDP-10)
.IR Emacs ,
Richard Stallman.
.br
The primary documentation of GNU Emacs is in the GNU Emacs Manual,
which you can read using Info, either from Emacs or as a standalone
program.
Please look there for complete and up-to-date documentation.
This man page is updated only when someone volunteers to do so; the
Emacs maintainers' priority goal is to minimize the amount of time
this man page takes away from other more useful projects.
.br
The user functionality of GNU Emacs encompasses
everything other
.I Emacs
editors do, and it is easily extensible since its
editing commands are written in Lisp.
.PP
.I Emacs
has an extensive interactive help facility,
but the facility assumes that you know how to manipulate
.I Emacs
windows and buffers.
CTRL-h or F1 enters the Help facility.
Help Tutorial (CTRL-h t) starts an interactive tutorial which can
teach beginners the fundamentals of
.I Emacs
in a few minutes.
Help Apropos (CTRL-h a) helps you
find a command given its functionality, Help Character (CTRL-h c)
describes a given character's effect, and Help Function (CTRL-h f)
describes a given Lisp function specified by name.
.PP
.IR Emacs 's
Undo can undo several steps of modification to your buffers, so it is
easy to recover from editing mistakes.
.PP
.IR "GNU Emacs" 's
many special packages handle mail reading (RMail) and sending (Mail),
outline editing (Outline), compiling (Compile), running subshells
within
.I Emacs
windows (Shell), running a Lisp read-eval-print loop
(Lisp-Interaction-Mode), automated psychotherapy (Doctor), and much more.
.PP
There is an extensive reference manual, but
users of other Emacses
should have little trouble adapting even
without a copy.
Users new to
.I Emacs
will be able
to use basic features fairly rapidly by studying the tutorial and
using the self-documentation features.
.
.SS Emacs Options
The following options are of general interest:
.RS
.TP 8
.I file
Edit
.IR file .
.TP
.BI \-\-file " file\fR,\fP " \-\-find-file " file\fR,\fP " \-\-visit " file"
The same as specifying
.I file
directly as an argument.
.TP
.BI + number
Go to the line specified by
.I number
(do not insert a space between the "+" sign and
the number).
This applies only to the next file specified.
.TP
.BI + line:column
Go to the specified
.I line
and
.IR column .
.TP
.BR \-q ", " \-\-no\-init\-file
Do not load an init file.
.TP
.B \-\-no\-site\-file
Do not load the site-wide startup file.
.TP
.B \-\-no\-desktop
Do not load a saved desktop.
.TP
.BR \-nl ", " \-\-no\-shared\-memory
Do not use shared memory.
.TP
.BR \-Q ", " \-\-quick
Equivalent to "\-q \-\-no\-site\-file \-\-no\-splash".
.TP
.B \-\-no\-splash
Do not display a splash screen during start-up.
.TP
.B \-\-debug\-init
Enable
.I Emacs
Lisp debugger during the processing of the user init file
.BR ~/.emacs .
This is useful for debugging problems in the init file.
.TP
.BI \-u " user\fR,\fP " \-\-user " user"
Load
.IR user 's
init file.
.TP
.BI \-t " file\fR,\fP " \-\-terminal " file"
Use specified
.I file
as the terminal instead of using stdin/stdout.
This must be the first argument specified in the command line.
.TP
.BR \-\-multibyte ", " \-\-no-unibyte
Enable multibyte mode (enabled by default).
.TP
.BR \-\-unibyte ", " \-\-no-multibyte
Enable unibyte mode.
.TP
.B \-\-version
Display
.I Emacs
version information and exit.
.TP
.B \-\-help
Display this help and exit.
.RE
.PP
The following options are lisp-oriented
(these options are processed in the order encountered):
.RS
.TP 8
.BI \-f " function\fR,\fP " \-\-funcall " function"
Execute the lisp function
.IR function .
.TP
.BI \-l " file\fR,\fP " \-\-load " file"
Load the lisp code in the file
.IR file .
.TP
.BI \-\-eval " expr\fR,\fP " \-\-execute " expr"
Evaluate the Lisp expression
.IR expr .
.RE
.PP
The following options are useful when running
.I Emacs
as a batch editor:
.RS
.TP 8
.B \-\-batch
Edit in batch mode.
The editor will send messages to stderr.
This option must be the first in the argument list.
You must use \-l and \-f options to specify files to execute
and functions to call.
.TP
.BI \-\-script " file"
Run
.I file
as an Emacs Lisp script.
.TP
.BI \-\-insert " file"
Insert contents of
.I file
into the current buffer.
.TP
.B \-\-kill
Exit
.I Emacs
while in batch mode.
.TP
.BI \-L " dir\fR,\fP " \-\-directory " dir"
Add
.I dir
to the list of directories
.I Emacs
searches for Lisp files.
.RE
.
.\" START DELETING HERE IF YOU'RE NOT USING X
.SS Using Emacs with X
.I Emacs
has been tailored to work well with the X window system.
If you run
.I Emacs
from under X windows, it will create its own X window to
display in.
You will probably want to start the editor as a background
process so that you can continue using your original window.
.PP
.I Emacs
can be started with the following X switches:
.RS
.TP 8
.BI \-\-name " name"
Specify the name which should be assigned to the initial
.I Emacs
window.
This controls looking up X resources as well as the window title.
.TP
.BI \-T " name\fR,\fP " \-\-title " name"
Specify the title for the initial X window.
.TP
.BR \-r ", " \-rv ", " \-\-reverse\-video
Display the
.I Emacs
window in reverse video.
.TP
.BI \-fn " font\fR,\fP " \-\-font " font"
Set the
.I Emacs
window's font to that specified by
.IR font .
You will find the various
.I X
fonts in the
.I /usr/lib/X11/fonts
directory.
Note that
.I Emacs
will only accept fixed width fonts.
Under the X11 Release 4 font-naming conventions, any font with the
value "m" or "c" in the eleventh field of the font name is a fixed
width font.
Furthermore, fonts whose name are of the form
.IR width x height
are generally fixed width, as is the font
.IR fixed .
See
.BR xlsfonts (1)
for more information.

When you specify a font, be sure to put a space between the
switch and the font name.
.TP
.BI \-\-xrm " resources"
Set additional X resources.
.TP
.BI "\-\-color\fR,\fP \-\-color=" mode
Override color mode for character terminals;
.I mode
defaults to `auto', and can also be `never', `auto', `always',
or a mode name like `ansi8'.
.TP
.BI \-bw " pixels\fR,\fP " \-\-border\-width " pixels"
Set the
.I Emacs
window's border width to the number of pixels specified by
.IR pixels .
Defaults to one pixel on each side of the window.
.TP
.BI \-ib " pixels\fR,\fP " \-\-internal\-border " pixels"
Set the window's internal border width to the number of pixels specified
by
.IR pixels .
Defaults to one pixel of padding on each side of the window.
.TP
.BI \-g " geometry\fR,\fP " \-\-geometry " geometry"
Set the
.I Emacs
window's width, height, and position as specified.
The geometry specification is in the standard X format; see
.BR X (7)
for more information.
The width and height are specified in characters; the default is
80 by 24.
See the Emacs manual, section "Options for Window Size and Position",
for information on how window sizes interact
with selecting or deselecting the tool bar and menu bar.
.TP
.BI \-lsp " pixels\fR,\fP " \-\-line\-spacing " pixels"
Additional space to put between lines.
.TP
.BR \-vb ", " \-\-vertical\-scroll\-bars
Enable vertical scrollbars.
.TP
.BR \-fh ", " \-\-fullheight
Make the first frame as high as the screen.
.TP
.BR \-fs ", " \-\-fullscreen
Make the first frame fullscreen.
.TP
.BR \-fw ", " \-\-fullwidth
Make the first frame as wide as the screen.
.TP
.BI \-fg " color\fR,\fP " \-\-foreground\-color " color"
On color displays, set the color of the text.

Use the command
.I M\-x list\-colors\-display
for a list of valid color names.
.TP
.BI \-bg " color\fR,\fP " \-\-background\-color " color"
On color displays, set the color of the window's background.
.TP
.BI \-bd " color\fR,\fP " \-\-border\-color " color"
On color displays, set the color of the window's border.
.TP
.BI \-cr " color\fR,\fP " \-\-cursor\-color " color"
On color displays, set the color of the window's text cursor.
.TP
.BI \-ms " color\fR,\fP " \-\-mouse\-color " color"
On color displays, set the color of the window's mouse cursor.
.TP
.BI \-d " displayname\fR,\fP " \-\-display " displayname"
Create the
.I Emacs
window on the display specified by
.IR displayname .
Must be the first option specified in the command line.
.TP
.BR \-nbi ", " \-\-no\-bitmap\-icon
Do not use picture of gnu for Emacs icon.
.TP
.B \-\-iconic
Start
.I Emacs
in iconified state.
.TP
.BR \-nbc ", " \-\-no\-blinking\-cursor
Disable blinking cursor.
.TP
.BR \-nw ", " \-\-no\-window\-system
Tell
.I Emacs
not to use its special interface to X.
If you use this switch when invoking
.I Emacs
from an
.BR xterm (1)
window, display is done in that window.
.TP
.BR \-D ", " \-\-basic\-display
This option disables many display features; use it for
debugging Emacs.
.RE
.PP
You can set
.I X
default values for your
.I Emacs
windows in your
.I \.Xresources
file (see
.BR xrdb (1)).
Use the following format:
.IP
.RI emacs. keyword : value
.PP
where
.I value
specifies the default value of
.IR keyword .
.I Emacs
lets you set default values for the following keywords:
.RS
.TP 8
.BR background " (class " Background )
For color displays,
sets the window's background color.
.TP
.BR bitmapIcon " (class " BitmapIcon )
If
.BR bitmapIcon 's
value is set to
.IR on ,
the window will iconify into the "kitchen sink."
.TP
.BR borderColor " (class " BorderColor )
For color displays,
sets the color of the window's border.
.TP
.BR borderWidth " (class " BorderWidth )
Sets the window's border width in pixels.
.TP
.BR cursorColor " (class " Foreground )
For color displays,
sets the color of the window's text cursor.
.TP
.BR cursorBlink " (class " CursorBlink )
Specifies whether to make the cursor blink.
The default is
.IR on .
Use
.I off
or
.I false
to turn cursor blinking off.
.TP
.BR font " (class " Font )
Sets the window's text font.
.TP
.BR foreground " (class " Foreground )
For color displays,
sets the window's text color.
.TP
.BR fullscreen " (class " Fullscreen )
The desired fullscreen size.
The value can be one of
.IR fullboth ,
.IR fullwidth ,
or
.IR fullheight ,
which correspond to the command-line options `\-fs', `\-fw', and
`\-fh', respectively.
Note that this applies to the initial frame only.
.TP
.BR geometry " (class " Geometry )
Sets the geometry of the
.I Emacs
window (as described above).
.TP
.BR iconName " (class " Title )
Sets the icon name for the
.I Emacs
window icon.
.TP
.BR internalBorder " (class " BorderWidth )
Sets the window's internal border width in pixels.
.TP
.BR lineSpacing " (class " LineSpacing )
Additional space ("leading") between lines, in pixels.
.TP
.BR menuBar " (class " MenuBar )
Gives frames menu bars if
.IR on ;
don't have menu bars if
.IR off .
See the Emacs manual, sections "Lucid Resources" and "LessTif
Resources", for how to control the appearance of the menu bar
if you have one.
.TP
.BR minibuffer " (class " Minibuffer )
If
.IR none ,
don't make a minibuffer in this frame.
It will use a separate minibuffer frame instead.
.TP
.BR paneFont " (class " Font )
Font name for menu pane titles, in non-toolkit versions of
.IR Emacs .
.TP
.BR pointerColor " (class " Foreground )
For color displays,
sets the color of the window's mouse cursor.
.TP
.BR privateColormap " (class " PrivateColormap )
If
.IR on ,
use a private color map, in the case where the "default
visual" of class
.B PseudoColor
and
.B Emacs
is using it.
.TP
.BR reverseVideo " (class " ReverseVideo )
If
.BR reverseVideo 's
value is set to
.IR on ,
the window will be displayed in reverse video.
.TP
.BR screenGamma " (class "ScreenGamma )
Gamma correction for colors, equivalent to the frame parameter
`screen\-gamma'.
.TP
.BR scrollBarWidth " (class "ScrollBarWidth )
The scroll bar width in pixels, equivalent to the frame parameter
`scroll\-bar\-width'.
.TP
.BR selectionFont " (class " SelectionFont )
Font name for pop-up menu items, in non-toolkit versions of
.IR Emacs .
(For toolkit versions, see the Emacs manual, sections
"Lucid Resources" and "LessTif Resources".)
.TP
.BR selectionTimeout " (class " SelectionTimeout )
Number of milliseconds to wait for a selection reply.
A value of 0 means wait as long as necessary.
.TP
.BR synchronous " (class " Synchronous )
Run Emacs in synchronous mode if
.IR on .
Synchronous mode is useful for debugging X problems.
.TP
.BR title " (class " Title )
Sets the title of the
.I Emacs
window.
.TP
.BR toolBar " (class " ToolBar )
Number of lines to reserve for the tool bar.
.TP
.BR useXIM " (class " UseXIM )
Turns off use of X input methods (XIM) if
.I false
or
.IR off .
.TP
.BR verticalScrollBars " (class " ScrollBars )
Gives frames scroll bars if
.IR on ;
suppresses scroll bars if
.IR off .
.TP
.BR visualClass " (class " VisualClass )
Specify the "visual" that X should use.
This tells X how to handle colors.
The value should start with one of
.IR TrueColor ,
.IR PseudoColor ,
.IR DirectColor ,
.IR StaticColor ,
.IR GrayScale ,
and
.IR StaticGray ,
followed by
.BI \- depth\fR,\fP
where
.I depth
is the number of color planes.
.RE
.PP
If you try to set color values while using a black and white display,
the window's characteristics will default as follows:
the foreground color will be set to black,
the background color will be set to white,
the border color will be set to grey,
and the text and mouse cursors will be set to black.
.
.SS Using the Mouse
.PP
The following lists some of the mouse button bindings for the
.I Emacs
window under X11.
.
.RS
.TS
l l
- -
l l.
MOUSE BUTTON	FUNCTION
left	Set point.
middle	Paste text.
right	Cut text into X cut buffer.
SHIFT-middle	Cut text into X cut buffer.
SHIFT-right	Paste text.
CTRL-middle	Cut text into X cut buffer and kill it.
CTRL-right	T{
Select this window, then split it into two windows.
Same as typing CTRL\-x 2.
T}
.\" START DELETING HERE IF YOU'RE NOT USING X MENUS
CTRL-SHIFT-left	T{
X buffer menu \(em hold the buttons and keys
down, wait for menu to appear, select buffer, and release.
Move mouse out of menu and release to cancel.
T}
CTRL-SHIFT-middle	T{
X help menu \(em pop up index card menu for Emacs help.
T}
.\" STOP DELETING HERE IF YOU'RE NOT USING X MENUS
CTRL-SHIFT-right	T{
Select window with mouse, and delete all other windows.
Same as typing CTRL\-x 1.
T}
.\" STOP DELETING HERE IF YOU'RE NOT USING X
.TE
.RE
.
.
.SH MANUALS
You can order printed copies of the GNU Emacs Manual from the Free
Software Foundation, which develops GNU software.
See the file ORDERS for ordering information.
.br
Your local Emacs maintainer might also have copies available.
As with all software and publications from FSF, everyone is permitted
to make and distribute copies of the Emacs manual.
The TeX source to the manual is also included in the Emacs source
distribution.
.
.
.SH FILES
/usr/local/share/info \(em files for the Info documentation browser.
The complete text of the Emacs reference manual is included in a
convenient tree structured form.
Also includes the Emacs Lisp Reference Manual, useful to anyone
wishing to write programs in the Emacs Lisp extension language.

/usr/local/share/emacs/$VERSION/lisp \(em Lisp source files and
compiled files that define most editing commands.
Some are preloaded; others are autoloaded from this directory when
used.

/usr/local/libexec/emacs/$VERSION/$ARCH \(em various programs that are
used with GNU Emacs.

/usr/local/share/emacs/$VERSION/etc \(em various files of information.

/usr/local/share/emacs/$VERSION/etc/DOC.* \(em contains the documentation
strings for the Lisp primitives and preloaded Lisp functions
of GNU Emacs.
They are stored here to reduce the size of Emacs proper.

/usr/local/share/emacs/$VERSION/etc/SERVICE lists people offering
various services to assist users of GNU Emacs, including education,
troubleshooting, porting and customization.
.
.
.SH BUGS
There is a mailing list, bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org, for reporting Emacs
bugs and fixes.
But before reporting something as a bug, please try to be sure that
it really is a bug, not a misunderstanding or a deliberate feature.
We ask you to read the section ``Reporting Emacs Bugs'' near the
end of the reference manual (or Info system) for hints on how and
when to report bugs.
Also, include the version number of the Emacs you are running in
\fIevery\fR bug report that you send in.

Do not expect a personal answer to a bug report.
The purpose of reporting bugs is to get them fixed for everyone
in the next release, if possible.
For personal assistance, look in the SERVICE file (see above) for
a list of people who offer it.

Please do not send anything but bug reports to this mailing list.
For more information about Emacs mailing lists, see the
file /usr/local/emacs/etc/MAILINGLISTS.
Bugs tend actually to be fixed if they can be isolated, so it is
in your interest to report them in such a way that they can be
easily reproduced.
.
.
.SH UNRESTRICTIONS
.I Emacs
is free; anyone may redistribute copies of
.I Emacs
to
anyone under the terms stated in the
.I Emacs
General Public License,
a copy of which accompanies each copy of
.I Emacs
and which also
appears in the reference manual.
.PP
Copies of
.I Emacs
may sometimes be received packaged with distributions of Unix systems,
but it is never included in the scope of any license covering those
systems.
Such inclusion violates the terms on which distribution is permitted.
In fact, the primary purpose of the General Public License is to
prohibit anyone from attaching any other restrictions to
redistribution of
.IR Emacs .
.PP
Richard Stallman encourages you to improve and extend
.IR Emacs ,
and urges that
you contribute your extensions to the GNU library.
Eventually GNU (Gnu's Not Unix) will be a complete replacement
for Unix.
Everyone will be free to use, copy, study and change the GNU system.
.
.
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR emacsclient (1),
.BR etags (1),
.BR X (7),
.BR xlsfonts (1),
.BR xterm (1),
.BR xrdb (1)
.
.
.SH AUTHORS
.I Emacs
was written by Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation.
Joachim Martillo and Robert Krawitz added the X features.
.
.
.SH COPYING
Copyright
.if t \(co
.if n (C)
1995, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005,
      2006, 2007, 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
.PP
Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
document provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
preserved on all copies.
.PP
Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of
this document under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that
the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of
a permission notice identical to this one.
.PP
Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this
document into another language, under the above conditions for
modified versions, except that this permission notice may be stated
in a translation approved by the Free Software Foundation.
.
.\" arch-tag: 04dfd376-b46e-4924-919a-cecc3b257eaa