EMACS(1) EMACS(1)
NAME
emacs - GNU project Emacs
SYNOPSIS
emacs [ command-line switches ] [ file ... ]
DESCRIPTION
GNU Emacs is a new version of Emacs, written by the author
of the original (PDP-10) Emacs, Richard Stallman. Its
user functionality encompasses everything other Emacs edi-
tors do, and it is easily extensible since its editing
commands are written in Lisp.
Emacs has an extensive interactive help facility, but the
facility assumes that you know how to manipulate Emacs
windows and buffers. CTRL-h (backspace or CTRL-h) enters
the Help facility. Help Tutorial (CTRL-h t) requests an
interactive tutorial which can teach beginners the funda-
mentals of 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 func-
tion specified by name.
Emacs's Undo can undo several steps of modification to
your buffers, so it is easy to recover from editing mis-
takes.
GNU Emacs's many special packages handle mail reading
(RMail) and sending (Mail), outline editing (Outline),
compiling (Compile), running subshells within Emacs win-
dows (Shell), running a Lisp read-eval-print loop (Lisp-
Interaction-Mode), and automated psychotherapy (Doctor).
There is an extensive reference manual, but users of other
Emacses should have little trouble adapting even without a
copy. Users new to Emacs will be able to use basic fea-
tures fairly rapidly by studying the tutorial and using
the self-documentation features.
Emacs Options
The following options are of general interest:
file Edit file.
+number Go to the line specified by number (do not insert
a space between the "+" sign and the number).
-q Do not load an init file.
-u user Load user's init file.
-t file Use specified file as the terminal instead of
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using stdin/stdout. This must be the first argu-
ment specified in the command line.
The following options are lisp-oriented (these options are
processed in the order encountered):
-f function
Execute the lisp function function.
-l file Load the lisp code in the file file.
The following options are useful when running Emacs as a
batch editor:
-batch commandfile
Edit in batch mode using the commands found in
commandfile. The editor will send messages to
stdout. This option must be the first in the
argument list.
-kill Exit Emacs while in batch mode.
Using Emacs with X
Emacs has been tailored to work well with the X window
system. If you run 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.
Emacs can be started with the following X switches:
-rn name
Specifies the program name which should be used
when looking up defaults in the user's X
resources. This must be the first option speci-
fied in the command line.
-wn name
Specifies the name which should be assigned to the
Emacs window.
-r Display the Emacs window in reverse video.
-i Use the "kitchen sink" bitmap icon when iconifying
the Emacs window.
-font font, -fn font
Set the Emacs window's font to that specified by
font. You will find the various X fonts in the
/usr/lib/X11/fonts directory. Note that 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
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font name is a fixed width font. Furthermore,
fonts whose name are of the form widthxheight are
generally fixed width, as is the font fixed. See
xlsfonts(1) for more information.
When you specify a font, be sure to put a space
between the switch and the font name.
-b pixels
Set the Emacs window's border width to the number
of pixels specified by pixels. Defaults to one
pixel on each side of the window.
-ib pixels
Set the window's internal border width to the num-
ber of pixels specified by pixels. Defaults to
one pixel of padding on each side of the window.
-w geometry, -geometry geometry
Set the Emacs window's width, height, and position
as specified. The geometry specification is in
the standard X format; see X(1) for more informa-
tion. The width and height are specified in char-
acters; the default is 80 by 24.
-fg color
On color displays, sets the color of the text.
See the file /usr/lib/X11/rgb.txt for a list of
valid color names.
-bg color
On color displays, sets the color of the window's
background.
-bd color
On color displays, sets the color of the window's
border.
-cr color
On color displays, sets the color of the window's
text cursor.
-ms color
On color displays, sets the color of the window's
mouse cursor.
-d displayname, -display displayname
Create the Emacs window on the display specified
by displayname. Must be the first option speci-
fied in the command line.
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-nw Tells Emacs not to use its special interface to X.
If you use this switch when invoking Emacs from an
xterm(1) window, display is done in that window.
This must be the first option specified in the
command line.
You can set X default values for your Emacs windows in
your .Xresources file (see xrdb(1)). Use the following
format:
emacs.keyword:value
where value specifies the default value of keyword. Emacs
lets you set default values for the following keywords:
font (class Font)
Sets the window's text font.
reverseVideo (class ReverseVideo)
If reverseVideo's value is set to on, the window
will be displayed in reverse video.
bitmapIcon (class BitmapIcon)
If bitmapIcon's value is set to on, the window
will iconify into the "kitchen sink."
borderWidth (class BorderWidth)
Sets the window's border width in pixels.
internalBorder (class BorderWidth)
Sets the window's internal border width in pixels.
foreground (class Foreground)
For color displays, sets the window's text color.
background (class Background)
For color displays, sets the window's background
color.
borderColor (class BorderColor)
For color displays, sets the color of the window's
border.
cursorColor (class Foreground)
For color displays, sets the color of the window's
text cursor.
pointerColor (class Foreground)
For color displays, sets the color of the window's
mouse cursor.
geometry (class Geometry)
Sets the geometry of the Emacs window (as
described above).
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title (class Title)
Sets the title of the Emacs window.
iconName (class Title)
Sets the icon name for the Emacs window icon.
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.
Using the Mouse
The following lists the mouse button bindings for the
Emacs window under X11.
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 Select this window, then split it
into two windows. Same as typing
CTRL-x 2.
CTRL-SHIFT-left X buffer menu--hold the buttons and
keys down, wait for menu to appear,
select buffer, and release. Move
mouse out of menu and release to can-
cel.
CTRL-SHIFT-middle X help menu--pop up index card menu
for Emacs help.
CTRL-SHIFT-right Select window with mouse, and delete
all other windows. Same as typing
CTRL-x 1.
MANUALS
You can order printed copies of the GNU Emacs Manual for
$15.00/copy postpaid from the Free Software Foundation,
which develops GNU software (contact them for quantity
prices on the manual). Their address is:
Free Software Foundation
675 Mass Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02139
Your local Emacs maintainer might also have copies avail-
able. 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.
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FILES
/usr/local/emacs/src - C source files and object files
/usr/local/emacs/lisp - Lisp source files and compiled
files that define most editing commands. Some are
preloaded; others are autoloaded from this directory when
used.
/usr/local/emacs/man - sources for the Emacs reference
manual.
/usr/local/emacs/etc - various programs that are used with
GNU Emacs, and some files of information.
/usr/local/emacs/etc/DOC.* - contains the documentation
strings for the Lisp primitives and preloaded Lisp func-
tions of GNU Emacs. They are stored here to reduce the
size of Emacs proper.
/usr/local/emacs/etc/DIFF discusses GNU Emacs vs. Twenex
Emacs;
/usr/local/emacs/etc/CCADIFF discusses GNU Emacs vs. CCA
Emacs;
/usr/local/emacs/etc/GOSDIFF discusses GNU Emacs vs.
Gosling Emacs.
/usr/local/emacs/etc/SERVICE lists people offering various
services to assist users of GNU Emacs, including educa-
tion, troubleshooting, porting and customization.
These files also have information useful to anyone wishing
to write programs in the Emacs Lisp extension language,
which has not yet been fully documented.
/usr/local/emacs/info - files for the Info documentation
browser (a subsystem of Emacs) to refer to. Currently not
much of Unix is documented here, but the complete text of
the Emacs reference manual is included in a convenient
tree structured form.
/usr/local/emacs/lock - holds lock files that are made for
all files being modified in Emacs, to prevent simultaneous
modification of one file by two users.
/usr/local/emacs/cpp - the GNU cpp, needed for building
Emacs on certain versions of Unix where the standard cpp
cannot handle long names for macros.
/usr/local/emacs/shortnames - facilities for translating
long names to short names in C code, needed for building
Emacs on certain versions of Unix where the C compiler
cannot handle long names for functions or variables.
/usr/lib/X11/rgb.txt - list of valid X color names.
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BUGS
There is a mailing list, bug-gnu-emacs@prep.ai.mit.edu on
the internet (ucbvax!prep.ai.mit.edu!bug-gnu-emacs on
UUCPnet), 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 sys-
tem) for hints on how and when to report bugs. Also,
include the version number of the Emacs you are running in
every bug report that you send in.
Do not expect a personal answer to a bug report. The pur-
pose of reporting bugs is to get them fixed for everyone
in the next release, if possible. For personal assis-
tance, 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 mail-
ing list. Send requests to be added to mailing lists to
the special list info-gnu-emacs-request@prep.ai.mit.edu
(or the corresponding UUCP address). 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 inter-
est to report them in such a way that they can be easily
reproduced.
Bugs that I know about are: shell will not work with pro-
grams running in Raw mode on some Unix versions.
UNRESTRICTIONS
Emacs is free; anyone may redistribute copies of Emacs to
anyone under the terms stated in the Emacs General Public
License, a copy of which accompanies each copy of Emacs
and which also appears in the reference manual.
Copies of 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 per-
mitted. In fact, the primary purpose of the General Pub-
lic License is to prohibit anyone from attaching any other
restrictions to redistribution of Emacs.
Richard Stallman encourages you to improve and extend
Emacs, and urges that you contribute your extensions to
the GNU library. Eventually GNU (Gnu's Not Unix) will be
a complete replacement for Berkeley Unix. Everyone will
be able to use the GNU system for free.
SEE ALSO
X(1), xlsfonts(1), xterm(1), xrdb(1)
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AUTHORS
Emacs was written by Richard Stallman and the Free Soft-
ware Foundation. Joachim Martillo and Robert Krawitz
added the X features.
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