EMACS(1) UNIX System V(1990 November 13) 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 editors 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
fundamentals 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 function specified by name.
Emacs's Undo can undo several steps of modification to your buffers, so
it is easy to recover from editing mistakes.
GNU Emacs's many special packages handle mail reading (RMail) and sending
(Mail), outline editing (Outline), compiling (Compile), running subshells
within Emacs windows (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 features 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 using stdin/stdout.
This must be the first argument specified in the command line.
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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 specified 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 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.
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-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 number 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 information. The width and height are specified in
characters; 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 specified in the command line.
-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:
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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).
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.
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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 cancel.
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 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.
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 functions 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 education, 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
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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.
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 system) 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 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. 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 interest to report them in such a
way that they can be easily reproduced.
Bugs that I know about are: shell will not work with programs 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
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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 permitted. In fact, the primary purpose of the General
Public 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)
AUTHORS
Emacs was written by Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation.
Joachim Martillo and Robert Krawitz added the X features.
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