1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 2006-05-21
2 Copyright (C) 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006
3 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 See the end for copying conditions.
6 Please send Emacs bug reports to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.
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12 +++ indicates that the appropriate manual has already been updated.
13 --- means no change in the manuals is called for.
14 When you add a new item, please add it without either +++ or ---
15 so we will look at it and add it to the manual.
18 * Installation Changes in Emacs 22.1
21 ** Emacs now supports new configure options `--program-prefix',
22 `--program-suffix' and `--program-transform-name' that affect the names of
26 ** Emacs can now be built without sound support.
29 ** You can build Emacs with Gtk+ widgets by specifying `--with-x-toolkit=gtk'
30 when you run configure. This requires Gtk+ 2.4 or newer. This port
31 provides a way to display multilingual text in menus (with some caveats).
34 ** The `emacsserver' program has been removed, replaced with Lisp code.
37 ** By default, Emacs now uses a setgid helper program to update game
38 scores. The directory ${localstatedir}/games/emacs is the normal
39 place for game scores to be stored. You can control this with the
40 configure option `--with-game-dir'. The specific user that Emacs uses
41 to own the game scores is controlled by `--with-game-user'. If access
42 to a game user is not available, then scores will be stored separately
43 in each user's home directory.
46 ** Leim is now part of the Emacs distribution.
47 You no longer need to download a separate tarball in order to build
51 ** The Emacs Lisp Reference Manual is now part of the distribution.
53 The Emacs Lisp Reference Manual in Info format is built as part of the
54 Emacs build procedure and installed together with the Emacs User
55 Manual. A menu item was added to the menu bar that makes it easy
56 accessible (Help->More Manuals->Emacs Lisp Reference).
59 ** The Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp manual is now part of
62 This manual is now part of the standard distribution and is installed,
63 together with the Emacs User Manual, into the Info directory. A menu
64 item was added to the menu bar that makes it easy accessible
65 (Help->More Manuals->Introduction to Emacs Lisp).
68 ** New translations of the Emacs Tutorial are available in the
69 following languages: Brasilian Portuguese, Bulgarian, Chinese (both
70 with simplified and traditional characters), French, and Italian.
71 Type `C-u C-h t' to choose one of them in case your language setup
72 doesn't automatically select the right one.
75 ** A Portuguese translation of Emacs' reference card has been added.
76 Its name is `pt-br-refcard.tex'. The corresponding PostScript file is
81 ** A French translation of the `Emacs Survival Guide' is available.
84 ** Emacs now includes support for loading image libraries on demand.
85 (Currently this feature is only used on MS Windows.) You can configure
86 the supported image types and their associated dynamic libraries by
87 setting the variable `image-library-alist'.
90 ** Support for Cygwin was added.
93 ** Support for FreeBSD/Alpha has been added.
96 ** Support for GNU/Linux systems on S390 machines was added.
99 ** Support for MacOS X was added.
100 See the files mac/README and mac/INSTALL for build instructions.
103 ** Support for GNU/Linux systems on X86-64 machines was added.
106 ** Mac OS 9 port now uses the Carbon API by default. You can also
107 create non-Carbon build by specifying `NonCarbon' as a target. See
108 the files mac/README and mac/INSTALL for build instructions.
111 ** Building with -DENABLE_CHECKING does not automatically build with union
112 types any more. Add -DUSE_LISP_UNION_TYPE if you want union types.
115 ** When pure storage overflows while dumping, Emacs now prints how
116 much pure storage it will approximately need.
118 ** The script etc/emacs-buffer.gdb can be used with gdb to retrieve the
119 contents of buffers from a core dump and save them to files easily, should
123 ** The Emacs terminal emulation in term.el uses a different terminfo name.
124 The Emacs terminal emulation in term.el now uses "eterm-color" as its
125 terminfo name, since term.el now supports color.
128 ** Emacs Lisp source files are compressed by default if `gzip' is available.
131 * Startup Changes in Emacs 22.1
134 ** New command line option -Q or --quick.
135 This is like using -q --no-site-file, but in addition it also disables
136 the fancy startup screen.
139 ** New command line option -D or --basic-display.
140 Disables the menu-bar, the tool-bar, the scroll-bars, tool tips, and
144 ** New command line option -nbc or --no-blinking-cursor disables
145 the blinking cursor on graphical terminals.
148 ** The option --script FILE runs Emacs in batch mode and loads FILE.
149 It is useful for writing Emacs Lisp shell script files, because they
150 can start with this line:
152 #!/usr/bin/emacs --script
155 ** The option --directory DIR now modifies `load-path' immediately.
156 Directories are added to the front of `load-path' in the order they
157 appear on the command line. For example, with this command line:
159 emacs -batch -L .. -L /tmp --eval "(require 'foo)"
161 Emacs looks for library `foo' in the parent directory, then in /tmp, then
162 in the other directories in `load-path'. (-L is short for --directory.)
165 ** The command line option --no-windows has been changed to
166 --no-window-system. The old one still works, but is deprecated.
169 ** If the environment variable DISPLAY specifies an unreachable X display,
170 Emacs will now startup as if invoked with the --no-window-system option.
173 ** The -f option, used from the command line to call a function,
174 now reads arguments for the function interactively if it is
175 an interactively callable function.
178 ** When you specify a frame size with --geometry, the size applies to
179 all frames you create. A position specified with --geometry only
180 affects the initial frame.
183 ** Emacs can now be invoked in full-screen mode on a windowed display.
184 When Emacs is invoked on a window system, the new command-line options
185 `--fullwidth', `--fullheight', and `--fullscreen' produce a frame
186 whose width, height, or both width and height take up the entire
187 screen size. (For now, this does not work with some window managers.)
190 ** Emacs now displays a splash screen by default even if command-line
191 arguments were given. The new command-line option --no-splash
192 disables the splash screen; see also the variable
193 `inhibit-startup-message' (which is also aliased as
194 `inhibit-splash-screen').
197 ** The default is now to use a bitmap as the icon, so the command-line options
198 --icon-type, -i has been replaced with options --no-bitmap-icon, -nbi to turn
202 ** New user option `inhibit-startup-buffer-menu'.
203 When loading many files, for instance with `emacs *', Emacs normally
204 displays a buffer menu. This option turns the buffer menu off.
208 If the init file ~/.emacs does not exist, Emacs will try
209 ~/.emacs.d/init.el or ~/.emacs.d/init.elc. You can also put the shell
210 init file .emacs_SHELL under ~/.emacs.d.
213 ** Emacs now reads the standard abbrevs file ~/.abbrev_defs
214 automatically at startup, if it exists. When Emacs offers to save
215 modified buffers, it saves the abbrevs too if they have changed. It
216 can do this either silently or asking for confirmation first,
217 according to the value of `save-abbrevs'.
219 * Incompatible Editing Changes in Emacs 22.1
222 ** M-g is now a prefix key.
223 M-g g and M-g M-g run goto-line.
224 M-g n and M-g M-n run next-error (like C-x `).
225 M-g p and M-g M-p run previous-error.
228 ** C-u M-g M-g switches to the most recent previous buffer,
229 and goes to the specified line in that buffer.
231 When goto-line starts to execute, if there's a number in the buffer at
232 point then it acts as the default argument for the minibuffer.
235 ** The old bindings C-M-delete and C-M-backspace have been deleted,
236 since there are situations where one or the other will shut down
237 the operating system or your X server.
240 ** line-move-ignore-invisible now defaults to t.
243 ** When the undo information of the current command gets really large
244 (beyond the value of `undo-outer-limit'), Emacs discards it and warns
248 ** `apply-macro-to-region-lines' now operates on all lines that begin
249 in the region, rather than on all complete lines in the region.
252 ** A prefix argument is no longer required to repeat a jump to a
253 previous mark if you set `set-mark-command-repeat-pop' to t. I.e. C-u
254 C-SPC C-SPC C-SPC ... cycles through the mark ring. Use C-u C-u C-SPC
255 to set the mark immediately after a jump.
258 ** The info-search bindings on C-h C-f, C-h C-k and C-h C-i
259 have been moved to C-h F, C-h K and C-h S.
262 ** In incremental search, C-w is changed. M-%, C-M-w and C-M-y are special.
264 See below under "incremental search changes".
267 ** C-x C-f RET, typing nothing in the minibuffer, is no longer a special case.
269 Since the default input is the current directory, this has the effect
270 of specifying the current directory. Normally that means to visit the
271 directory with Dired.
273 You can get the old behavior by typing C-x C-f M-n RET, which fetches
274 the actual file name into the minibuffer.
277 ** The completion commands TAB, SPC and ? in the minibuffer apply only
278 to the text before point. If there is text in the buffer after point,
279 it remains unchanged.
282 ** When Emacs prompts for file names, SPC no longer completes the file name.
283 This is so filenames with embedded spaces could be input without the
284 need to quote the space with a C-q. The underlying changes in the
285 keymaps that are active in the minibuffer are described below under
286 "New keymaps for typing file names".
289 ** M-o now is the prefix key for setting text properties;
290 M-o M-o requests refontification.
293 ** You can now follow links by clicking Mouse-1 on the link.
295 See below for more details.
298 ** In Dired's ! command (dired-do-shell-command), `*' and `?' now
299 control substitution of the file names only when they are surrounded
300 by whitespace. This means you can now use them as shell wildcards
301 too. If you want to use just plain `*' as a wildcard, type `*""'; the
302 doublequotes make no difference in the shell, but they prevent
303 special treatment in `dired-do-shell-command'.
305 * Editing Changes in Emacs 22.1
308 ** !MEM FULL! at the start of the mode line indicates that Emacs
309 cannot get any more memory for Lisp data. This often means it could
310 crash soon if you do things that use more memory. On most systems,
311 killing buffers will get out of this state. If killing buffers does
312 not make !MEM FULL! disappear, you should save your work and start
316 ** The max size of buffers and integers has been doubled.
317 On 32bit machines, it is now 256M (i.e. 268435455).
320 ** You can now switch buffers in a cyclic order with C-x C-left
321 (previous-buffer) and C-x C-right (next-buffer). C-x left and
322 C-x right can be used as well. The functions keep a different buffer
323 cycle for each frame, using the frame-local buffer list.
326 ** `undo-only' does an undo which does not redo any previous undo.
329 ** M-SPC (just-one-space) when given a numeric argument N
330 converts whitespace around point to N spaces.
333 ** C-x 5 C-o displays a specified buffer in another frame
334 but does not switch to that frame. It's the multi-frame
335 analogue of C-x 4 C-o.
338 ** New commands to operate on pairs of open and close characters:
339 `insert-pair', `delete-pair', `raise-sexp'.
342 ** New command `kill-whole-line' kills an entire line at once.
343 By default, it is bound to C-S-<backspace>.
346 ** Yanking text now discards certain text properties that can
347 be inconvenient when you did not expect them. The variable
348 `yank-excluded-properties' specifies which ones. Insertion
349 of register contents and rectangles also discards these properties.
352 ** The default values of paragraph-start and indent-line-function have
353 been changed to reflect those used in Text mode rather than those used
354 in Indented-Text mode.
357 ** M-x setenv now expands environment variable references.
359 Substrings of the form `$foo' and `${foo}' in the specified new value
360 now refer to the value of environment variable foo. To include a `$'
361 in the value, use `$$'.
364 ** `special-display-buffer-names' and `special-display-regexps' now
365 understand two new boolean pseudo-frame-parameters `same-frame' and
369 ** The default for the paper size (variable ps-paper-type) is taken
372 ** The command `list-faces-display' now accepts a prefix arg.
373 When passed, the function prompts for a regular expression and lists
374 only faces matching this regexp.
376 ** Mark command changes:
379 *** A prefix argument is no longer required to repeat a jump to a
380 previous mark, i.e. C-u C-SPC C-SPC C-SPC ... cycles through the
381 mark ring. Use C-u C-u C-SPC to set the mark immediately after a jump.
384 *** Marking commands extend the region when invoked multiple times.
386 If you type C-M-SPC (mark-sexp), M-@ (mark-word), M-h
387 (mark-paragraph), or C-M-h (mark-defun) repeatedly, the marked region
388 extends each time, so you can mark the next two sexps with M-C-SPC
389 M-C-SPC, for example. This feature also works for
390 mark-end-of-sentence, if you bind that to a key. It also extends the
391 region when the mark is active in Transient Mark mode, regardless of
392 the last command. To start a new region with one of marking commands
393 in Transient Mark mode, you can deactivate the active region with C-g,
394 or set the new mark with C-SPC.
397 *** M-h (mark-paragraph) now accepts a prefix arg.
399 With positive arg, M-h marks the current and the following paragraphs;
400 if the arg is negative, it marks the current and the preceding
404 *** Some commands do something special in Transient Mark mode when the
405 mark is active--for instance, they limit their operation to the
406 region. Even if you don't normally use Transient Mark mode, you might
407 want to get this behavior from a particular command. There are two
408 ways you can enable Transient Mark mode and activate the mark, for one
411 One method is to type C-SPC C-SPC; this enables Transient Mark mode
412 and sets the mark at point. The other method is to type C-u C-x C-x.
413 This enables Transient Mark mode temporarily but does not alter the
416 After these commands, Transient Mark mode remains enabled until you
417 deactivate the mark. That typically happens when you type a command
418 that alters the buffer, but you can also deactivate the mark by typing
422 *** Movement commands `beginning-of-buffer', `end-of-buffer',
423 `beginning-of-defun', `end-of-defun' do not set the mark if the mark
424 is already active in Transient Mark mode.
426 ** Help command changes:
429 *** Changes in C-h bindings:
431 C-h e displays the *Messages* buffer.
433 C-h d runs apropos-documentation.
435 C-h followed by a control character is used for displaying files
438 C-h C-f displays the FAQ.
439 C-h C-e displays the PROBLEMS file.
441 The info-search bindings on C-h C-f, C-h C-k and C-h C-i
442 have been moved to C-h F, C-h K and C-h S.
444 C-h c, C-h k, C-h w, and C-h f now handle remapped interactive commands.
445 - C-h c and C-h k report the actual command (after possible remapping)
446 run by the key sequence.
447 - C-h w and C-h f on a command which has been remapped now report the
448 command it is remapped to, and the keys which can be used to run
451 For example, if C-k is bound to kill-line, and kill-line is remapped
452 to new-kill-line, these commands now report:
453 - C-h c and C-h k C-k reports:
454 C-k runs the command new-kill-line
455 - C-h w and C-h f kill-line reports:
456 kill-line is remapped to new-kill-line which is on C-k, <deleteline>
457 - C-h w and C-h f new-kill-line reports:
458 new-kill-line is on C-k
461 *** Help commands `describe-function' and `describe-key' now show function
462 arguments in lowercase italics on displays that support it. To change the
463 default, customize face `help-argument-name' or redefine the function
464 `help-default-arg-highlight'.
467 *** C-h v and C-h f commands now include a hyperlink to the C source for
468 variables and functions defined in C (if the C source is available).
471 *** Help mode now only makes hyperlinks for faces when the face name is
472 preceded or followed by the word `face'. It no longer makes
473 hyperlinks for variables without variable documentation, unless
474 preceded by one of the words `variable' or `option'. It now makes
475 hyperlinks to Info anchors (or nodes) if the anchor (or node) name is
476 enclosed in single quotes and preceded by `info anchor' or `Info
477 anchor' (in addition to earlier `info node' and `Info node'). In
478 addition, it now makes hyperlinks to URLs as well if the URL is
479 enclosed in single quotes and preceded by `URL'.
482 *** The new command `describe-char' (C-u C-x =) pops up a buffer with
483 description various information about a character, including its
484 encodings and syntax, its text properties, how to input, overlays, and
485 widgets at point. You can get more information about some of them, by
486 clicking on mouse-sensitive areas or moving there and pressing RET.
489 *** The command `list-text-properties-at' has been deleted because
490 C-u C-x = gives the same information and more.
493 *** New command `display-local-help' displays any local help at point
494 in the echo area. It is bound to `C-h .'. It normally displays the
495 same string that would be displayed on mouse-over using the
496 `help-echo' property, but, in certain cases, it can display a more
497 keyboard oriented alternative.
500 *** New user option `help-at-pt-display-when-idle' allows to
501 automatically show the help provided by `display-local-help' on
502 point-over, after suitable idle time. The amount of idle time is
503 determined by the user option `help-at-pt-timer-delay' and defaults
504 to one second. This feature is turned off by default.
507 *** The apropos commands now accept a list of words to match.
508 When more than one word is specified, at least two of those words must
509 be present for an item to match. Regular expression matching is still
513 *** The new option `apropos-sort-by-scores' causes the matching items
514 to be sorted according to their score. The score for an item is a
515 number calculated to indicate how well the item matches the words or
516 regular expression that you entered to the apropos command. The best
517 match is listed first, and the calculated score is shown for each
520 ** Incremental Search changes:
523 *** Vertical scrolling is now possible within incremental search.
524 To enable this feature, customize the new user option
525 `isearch-allow-scroll'. User written commands which satisfy stringent
526 constraints can be marked as "scrolling commands". See the Emacs manual
530 *** C-w in incremental search now grabs either a character or a word,
531 making the decision in a heuristic way. This new job is done by the
532 command `isearch-yank-word-or-char'. To restore the old behavior,
533 bind C-w to `isearch-yank-word' in `isearch-mode-map'.
536 *** C-y in incremental search now grabs the next line if point is already
537 at the end of a line.
540 *** C-M-w deletes and C-M-y grabs a character in isearch mode.
541 Another method to grab a character is to enter the minibuffer by `M-e'
542 and to type `C-f' at the end of the search string in the minibuffer.
545 *** M-% typed in isearch mode invokes `query-replace' or
546 `query-replace-regexp' (depending on search mode) with the current
547 search string used as the string to replace.
550 *** Isearch no longer adds `isearch-resume' commands to the command
551 history by default. To enable this feature, customize the new
552 user option `isearch-resume-in-command-history'.
554 ** Replace command changes:
557 *** New user option `query-replace-skip-read-only': when non-nil,
558 `query-replace' and related functions simply ignore
559 a match if part of it has a read-only property.
562 *** When used interactively, the commands `query-replace-regexp' and
563 `replace-regexp' allow \,expr to be used in a replacement string,
564 where expr is an arbitrary Lisp expression evaluated at replacement
565 time. In many cases, this will be more convenient than using
566 `query-replace-regexp-eval'. `\#' in a replacement string now refers
567 to the count of replacements already made by the replacement command.
568 All regular expression replacement commands now allow `\?' in the
569 replacement string to specify a position where the replacement string
570 can be edited for each replacement.
573 *** query-replace uses isearch lazy highlighting when the new user option
574 `query-replace-lazy-highlight' is non-nil.
577 *** The current match in query-replace is highlighted in new face
578 `query-replace' which by default inherits from isearch face.
580 ** Local variables lists:
583 *** In processing a local variables list, Emacs strips the prefix and
584 suffix from every line before processing all the lines.
587 *** Text properties in local variables.
589 A file local variables list cannot specify a string with text
590 properties--any specified text properties are discarded.
593 *** If the local variables list contains any variable-value pairs that
594 are not known to be safe, Emacs shows a prompt asking whether to apply
595 the local variables list as a whole. In earlier versions, a prompt
596 was only issued for variables explicitly marked as risky (for the
597 definition of risky variables, see `risky-local-variable-p').
599 At the prompt, you can choose to save the contents of this local
600 variables list to `safe-local-variable-values'. This new customizable
601 option is a list of variable-value pairs that are known to be safe.
602 Variables can also be marked as safe with the existing
603 `safe-local-variable' property (see `safe-local-variable-p').
604 However, risky variables will not be added to
605 `safe-local-variable-values' in this way.
608 *** The variable `enable-local-variables' controls how local variable
609 lists are handled. t, the default, specifies the standard querying
610 behavior. :safe means use only safe values, and ignore the rest.
611 nil means ignore them all. Anything else means always query.
614 *** The variable `safe-local-eval-forms' specifies a list of forms that
615 are ok to evaluate when they appear in an `eval' local variables
616 specification. Normally Emacs asks for confirmation before evaluating
617 such a form, but if the form appears in this list, no confirmation is
621 *** If a function has a non-nil `safe-local-eval-function' property,
622 that means it is ok to evaluate some calls to that function when it
623 appears in an `eval' local variables specification. If the property
624 is t, then any form calling that function with constant arguments is
625 ok. If the property is a function or list of functions, they are called
626 with the form as argument, and if any returns t, the form is ok to call.
628 If the form is not "ok to call", that means Emacs asks for
629 confirmation as before.
631 ** File operation changes:
634 *** Unquoted `$' in file names do not signal an error any more when
635 the corresponding environment variable does not exist.
636 Instead, the `$ENVVAR' text is left as is, so that `$$' quoting
637 is only rarely needed.
640 *** find-file-read-only visits multiple files in read-only mode,
641 when the file name contains wildcard characters.
644 *** find-alternate-file replaces the current file with multiple files,
645 when the file name contains wildcard characters.
648 *** Auto Compression mode is now enabled by default.
651 *** C-x C-f RET, typing nothing in the minibuffer, is no longer a special case.
653 Since the default input is the current directory, this has the effect
654 of specifying the current directory. Normally that means to visit the
655 directory with Dired.
658 *** When you are root, and you visit a file whose modes specify
659 read-only, the Emacs buffer is now read-only too. Type C-x C-q if you
660 want to make the buffer writable. (As root, you can in fact alter the
664 *** C-x s (save-some-buffers) now offers an option `d' to diff a buffer
665 against its file, so you can see what changes you would be saving.
668 *** The commands copy-file, rename-file, make-symbolic-link and
669 add-name-to-file, when given a directory as the "new name" argument,
670 convert it to a file name by merging in the within-directory part of
671 the existing file's name. (This is the same convention that shell
672 commands cp, mv, and ln follow.) Thus, M-x copy-file RET ~/foo RET
673 /tmp RET copies ~/foo to /tmp/foo.
676 *** When used interactively, `format-write-file' now asks for confirmation
677 before overwriting an existing file, unless a prefix argument is
678 supplied. This behavior is analogous to `write-file'.
681 *** The variable `auto-save-file-name-transforms' now has a third element that
682 controls whether or not the function `make-auto-save-file-name' will
683 attempt to construct a unique auto-save name (e.g. for remote files).
686 *** The new option `write-region-inhibit-fsync' disables calls to fsync
687 in `write-region'. This can be useful on laptops to avoid spinning up
688 the hard drive upon each file save. Enabling this variable may result
689 in data loss, use with care.
692 *** If the user visits a file larger than `large-file-warning-threshold',
693 Emacs asks for confirmation.
696 *** require-final-newline now has two new possible values:
698 `visit' means add a newline (as an undoable change) if it's needed
699 when visiting the file.
701 `visit-save' means add a newline (as an undoable change) if it's
702 needed when visiting the file, and also add a newline if it's needed
703 when saving the file.
706 *** The new option mode-require-final-newline controls how certain
707 major modes enable require-final-newline. Any major mode that's
708 designed for a kind of file that should normally end in a newline
709 sets require-final-newline based on mode-require-final-newline.
710 So you can customize mode-require-final-newline to control what these
713 ** Minibuffer changes:
716 *** The new file-name-shadow-mode is turned ON by default, so that when
717 entering a file name, any prefix which Emacs will ignore is dimmed.
720 *** There's a new face `minibuffer-prompt'.
721 Emacs adds this face to the list of text properties stored in the
722 variable `minibuffer-prompt-properties', which is used to display the
726 *** Enhanced visual feedback in `*Completions*' buffer.
728 Completions lists use faces to highlight what all completions
729 have in common and where they begin to differ.
731 The common prefix shared by all possible completions uses the face
732 `completions-common-part', while the first character that isn't the
733 same uses the face `completions-first-difference'. By default,
734 `completions-common-part' inherits from `default', and
735 `completions-first-difference' inherits from `bold'. The idea of
736 `completions-common-part' is that you can use it to make the common
737 parts less visible than normal, so that the rest of the differing
738 parts is, by contrast, slightly highlighted.
740 Above fontification is always done when listing completions is
741 triggered at minibuffer. If you want to fontify completions whose
742 listing is triggered at the other normal buffer, you have to pass
743 the common prefix of completions to `display-completion-list' as
747 *** File-name completion can now ignore specified directories.
748 If an element of the list in `completion-ignored-extensions' ends in a
749 slash `/', it indicates a subdirectory that should be ignored when
750 completing file names. Elements of `completion-ignored-extensions'
751 which do not end in a slash are never considered when a completion
752 candidate is a directory.
755 *** The completion commands TAB, SPC and ? in the minibuffer apply only
756 to the text before point. If there is text in the buffer after point,
757 it remains unchanged.
760 *** New user option `history-delete-duplicates'.
761 If set to t when adding a new history element, all previous identical
762 elements are deleted from the history list.
764 ** Redisplay changes:
767 *** The mode line position information now comes before the major mode.
768 When the file is maintained under version control, that information
769 appears between the position information and the major mode.
772 *** New face `escape-glyph' highlights control characters and escape glyphs.
775 *** Non-breaking space and hyphens are now displayed with a special
776 face, either nobreak-space or escape-glyph. You can turn this off or
777 specify a different mode by setting the variable `nobreak-char-display'.
780 *** The parameters of automatic hscrolling can now be customized.
781 The variable `hscroll-margin' determines how many columns away from
782 the window edge point is allowed to get before automatic hscrolling
783 will horizontally scroll the window. The default value is 5.
785 The variable `hscroll-step' determines how many columns automatic
786 hscrolling scrolls the window when point gets too close to the
787 window edge. If its value is zero, the default, Emacs scrolls the
788 window so as to center point. If its value is an integer, it says how
789 many columns to scroll. If the value is a floating-point number, it
790 gives the fraction of the window's width to scroll the window.
792 The variable `automatic-hscrolling' was renamed to
793 `auto-hscroll-mode'. The old name is still available as an alias.
796 *** Moving or scrolling through images (and other lines) taller than
797 the window now works sensibly, by automatically adjusting the window's
801 *** The new face `mode-line-inactive' is used to display the mode line
802 of non-selected windows. The `mode-line' face is now used to display
803 the mode line of the currently selected window.
805 The new variable `mode-line-in-non-selected-windows' controls whether
806 the `mode-line-inactive' face is used.
809 *** You can now customize the use of window fringes. To control this
810 for all frames, use M-x fringe-mode or the Show/Hide submenu of the
811 top-level Options menu, or customize the `fringe-mode' variable. To
812 control this for a specific frame, use the command M-x
816 *** Angle icons in the fringes can indicate the buffer boundaries. In
817 addition, up and down arrow bitmaps in the fringe indicate which ways
818 the window can be scrolled.
820 This behavior is activated by setting the buffer-local variable
821 `indicate-buffer-boundaries' to a non-nil value. The default value of
822 this variable is found in `default-indicate-buffer-boundaries'.
824 If value is `left' or `right', both angle and arrow bitmaps are
825 displayed in the left or right fringe, resp.
827 The value can also be an alist which specifies the presence and
828 position of each bitmap individually.
830 For example, ((top . left) (t . right)) places the top angle bitmap
831 in left fringe, the bottom angle bitmap in right fringe, and both
832 arrow bitmaps in right fringe. To show just the angle bitmaps in the
833 left fringe, but no arrow bitmaps, use ((top . left) (bottom . left)).
836 *** On window systems, lines which are exactly as wide as the window
837 (not counting the final newline character) are no longer broken into
838 two lines on the display (with just the newline on the second line).
839 Instead, the newline now "overflows" into the right fringe, and the
840 cursor will be displayed in the fringe when positioned on that newline.
842 The new user option 'overflow-newline-into-fringe' can be set to nil to
843 revert to the old behavior of continuing such lines.
846 *** When a window has display margin areas, the fringes are now
847 displayed between the margins and the buffer's text area, rather than
848 outside those margins.
851 *** A window can now have individual fringe and scroll-bar settings,
852 in addition to the individual display margin settings.
854 Such individual settings are now preserved when windows are split
855 horizontally or vertically, a saved window configuration is restored,
856 or when the frame is resized.
858 ** Cursor display changes:
861 *** On X, MS Windows, and Mac OS, the blinking cursor's "off" state is
862 now controlled by the variable `blink-cursor-alist'.
865 *** The X resource cursorBlink can be used to turn off cursor blinking.
868 *** Emacs can produce an underscore-like (horizontal bar) cursor.
869 The underscore cursor is set by putting `(cursor-type . hbar)' in
870 default-frame-alist. It supports variable heights, like the `bar'
874 *** Display of hollow cursors now obeys the buffer-local value (if any)
875 of `cursor-in-non-selected-windows' in the buffer that the cursor
879 *** The variable `cursor-in-non-selected-windows' can now be set to any
880 of the recognized cursor types.
883 *** On text terminals, the variable `visible-cursor' controls whether Emacs
884 uses the "very visible" cursor (the default) or the normal cursor.
889 *** `mode-line-highlight' is the standard face indicating mouse sensitive
890 elements on mode-line (and header-line) like `highlight' face on text
893 *** `mode-line-buffer-id' is the standard face for buffer identification
894 parts of the mode line.
897 *** `shadow' face defines the appearance of the "shadowed" text, i.e.
898 the text which should be less noticeable than the surrounding text.
899 This can be achieved by using shades of grey in contrast with either
900 black or white default foreground color. This generic shadow face
901 allows customization of the appearance of shadowed text in one place,
902 so package-specific faces can inherit from it.
905 *** `vertical-border' face is used for the vertical divider between windows.
907 ** Font-Lock changes:
910 *** M-o now is the prefix key for setting text properties;
911 M-o M-o requests refontification.
914 *** All modes now support using M-x font-lock-mode to toggle
915 fontification, even those such as Occur, Info, and comint-derived
916 modes that do their own fontification in a special way.
918 The variable `Info-fontify' is no longer applicable; to disable
919 fontification in Info, remove `turn-on-font-lock' from
923 *** font-lock: in modes like C and Lisp where the fontification assumes that
924 an open-paren in column 0 is always outside of any string or comment,
925 font-lock now highlights any such open-paren-in-column-zero in bold-red
926 if it is inside a string or a comment, to indicate that it can cause
927 trouble with fontification and/or indentation.
930 *** New standard font-lock face `font-lock-preprocessor-face'.
933 *** New standard font-lock face `font-lock-comment-delimiter-face'.
936 *** Easy to overlook single character negation can now be font-locked.
937 You can use the new variable `font-lock-negation-char-face' and the face of
938 the same name to customize this. Currently the cc-modes, sh-script-mode,
939 cperl-mode and make-mode support this.
942 *** The default settings for JIT stealth lock parameters are changed.
943 The default value for the user option jit-lock-stealth-time is now 16
944 instead of 3, and the default value of jit-lock-stealth-nice is now
945 0.5 instead of 0.125. The new defaults should lower the CPU usage
946 when Emacs is fontifying in the background.
949 *** jit-lock can now be delayed with `jit-lock-defer-time'.
951 If this variable is non-nil, its value should be the amount of Emacs
952 idle time in seconds to wait before starting fontification. For
953 example, if you set `jit-lock-defer-time' to 0.25, fontification will
954 only happen after 0.25s of idle time.
957 *** contextual refontification is now separate from stealth fontification.
959 jit-lock-defer-contextually is renamed jit-lock-contextually and
960 jit-lock-context-time determines the delay after which contextual
961 refontification takes place.
966 *** A menu item "Show/Hide" was added to the top-level menu "Options".
967 This menu allows you to turn various display features on and off (such
968 as the fringes, the tool bar, the speedbar, and the menu bar itself).
969 You can also move the vertical scroll bar to either side here or turn
970 it off completely. There is also a menu-item to toggle displaying of
971 current date and time, current line and column number in the mode-line.
974 *** Speedbar has moved from the "Tools" top level menu to "Show/Hide".
977 *** You can exit dialog windows and menus by typing C-g.
980 *** The menu item "Open File..." has been split into two items, "New File..."
981 and "Open File...". "Open File..." now opens only existing files. This is
982 to support existing GUI file selection dialogs better.
985 *** The file selection dialog for Gtk+, Mac, W32 and Motif/Lesstif can be
986 disabled by customizing the variable `use-file-dialog'.
989 *** The pop up menus for Lucid now stay up if you do a fast click and can
990 be navigated with the arrow keys (like Gtk+, Mac and W32).
993 *** The menu bar for Motif/Lesstif/Lucid/Gtk+ can be navigated with keys.
994 Pressing F10 shows the first menu in the menu bar. Navigation is done with
995 the arrow keys, select with the return key and cancel with the escape keys.
998 *** The Lucid menus can display multilingual text in your locale. You have
999 to explicitly specify a fontSet resource for this to work, for example
1000 `-xrm "Emacs*fontSet: -*-helvetica-medium-r-*--*-120-*-*-*-*-*-*,*"'.
1003 *** Dialogs for Lucid/Athena and Lesstif/Motif now pops down when pressing
1004 ESC, like they do for Gtk+, Mac and W32.
1007 *** For the Gtk+ version, you can make Emacs use the old file dialog
1008 by setting the variable `x-use-old-gtk-file-dialog' to t. Default is to use
1014 *** If you set the new variable `mouse-autoselect-window' to a non-nil
1015 value, windows are automatically selected as you move the mouse from
1016 one Emacs window to another, even within a frame. A minibuffer window
1017 can be selected only when it is active.
1020 *** On X, when the window manager requires that you click on a frame to
1021 select it (give it focus), the selected window and cursor position
1022 normally changes according to the mouse click position. If you set
1023 the variable x-mouse-click-focus-ignore-position to t, the selected
1024 window and cursor position do not change when you click on a frame
1028 *** You can now follow links by clicking Mouse-1 on the link.
1030 Traditionally, Emacs uses a Mouse-1 click to set point and a Mouse-2
1031 click to follow a link, whereas most other applications use a Mouse-1
1032 click for both purposes, depending on whether you click outside or
1033 inside a link. Now the behavior of a Mouse-1 click has been changed
1034 to match this context-sentitive dual behavior. (If you prefer the old
1035 behavior, set the user option `mouse-1-click-follows-link' to nil.)
1037 Depending on the current mode, a Mouse-2 click in Emacs can do much
1038 more than just follow a link, so the new Mouse-1 behavior is only
1039 activated for modes which explicitly mark a clickable text as a "link"
1040 (see the new function `mouse-on-link-p' for details). The Lisp
1041 packages that are included in release 22.1 have been adapted to do
1042 this, but external packages may not yet support this. However, there
1043 is no risk in using such packages, as the worst thing that could
1044 happen is that you get the original Mouse-1 behavior when you click
1045 on a link, which typically means that you set point where you click.
1047 If you want to get the original Mouse-1 action also inside a link, you
1048 just need to press the Mouse-1 button a little longer than a normal
1049 click (i.e. press and hold the Mouse-1 button for half a second before
1052 Dragging the Mouse-1 inside a link still performs the original
1053 drag-mouse-1 action, typically copy the text.
1055 You can customize the new Mouse-1 behavior via the new user options
1056 `mouse-1-click-follows-link' and `mouse-1-click-in-non-selected-windows'.
1059 *** Emacs normally highlights mouse sensitive text whenever the mouse
1060 is over the text. By setting the new variable `mouse-highlight', you
1061 can optionally enable mouse highlighting only after you move the
1062 mouse, so that highlighting disappears when you press a key. You can
1063 also disable mouse highlighting.
1066 *** You can now customize if selecting a region by dragging the mouse
1067 shall not copy the selected text to the kill-ring by setting the new
1068 variable mouse-drag-copy-region to nil.
1071 *** mouse-wheels can now scroll a specific fraction of the window
1072 (rather than a fixed number of lines) and the scrolling is `progressive'.
1075 *** Emacs ignores mouse-2 clicks while the mouse wheel is being moved.
1077 People tend to push the mouse wheel (which counts as a mouse-2 click)
1078 unintentionally while turning the wheel, so these clicks are now
1079 ignored. You can customize this with the mouse-wheel-click-event and
1080 mouse-wheel-inhibit-click-time variables.
1083 *** Under X, mouse-wheel-mode is turned on by default.
1085 ** Multilingual Environment (Mule) changes:
1088 *** Language environment and various default coding systems are setup
1089 more correctly according to the current locale name. If the locale
1090 name doesn't specify a charset, the default is what glibc defines.
1091 This change can result in using the different coding systems as
1092 default in some locale (e.g. vi_VN).
1095 *** The keyboard-coding-system is now automatically set based on your
1096 current locale settings if you are not using a window system. This
1097 can mean that the META key doesn't work but generates non-ASCII
1098 characters instead, depending on how the terminal (or terminal
1099 emulator) works. Use `set-keyboard-coding-system' (or customize
1100 keyboard-coding-system) if you prefer META to work (the old default)
1101 or if the locale doesn't describe the character set actually generated
1102 by the keyboard. See Info node `Single-Byte Character Support'.
1105 *** The new command `revert-buffer-with-coding-system' (C-x RET r)
1106 revisits the current file using a coding system that you specify.
1109 *** New command `recode-region' decodes the region again by a specified
1113 *** The new command `recode-file-name' changes the encoding of the name
1117 *** New command `ucs-insert' inserts a character specified by its
1121 *** The new command `set-file-name-coding-system' (C-x RET F) sets
1122 coding system for encoding and decoding file names. A new menu item
1123 (Options->Mule->Set Coding Systems->For File Name) invokes this
1127 *** New command quail-show-key shows what key (or key sequence) to type
1128 in the current input method to input a character at point.
1131 *** Limited support for character `unification' has been added.
1132 Emacs now knows how to translate between different representations of
1133 the same characters in various Emacs charsets according to standard
1134 Unicode mappings. This applies mainly to characters in the ISO 8859
1135 sets plus some other 8-bit sets, but can be extended. For instance,
1136 translation works amongst the Emacs ...-iso8859-... charsets and the
1137 mule-unicode-... ones.
1139 By default this translation happens automatically on encoding.
1140 Self-inserting characters are translated to make the input conformant
1141 with the encoding of the buffer in which it's being used, where
1144 You can force a more complete unification with the user option
1145 unify-8859-on-decoding-mode. That maps all the Latin-N character sets
1146 into Unicode characters (from the latin-iso8859-1 and
1147 mule-unicode-0100-24ff charsets) on decoding. Note that this mode
1148 will often effectively clobber data with an iso-2022 encoding.
1151 *** There is support for decoding Greek and Cyrillic characters into
1152 either Unicode (the mule-unicode charsets) or the iso-8859 charsets,
1153 when possible. The latter are more space-efficient. This is
1154 controlled by user option utf-fragment-on-decoding.
1157 *** New language environments: French, Ukrainian, Tajik,
1158 Bulgarian, Belarusian, Ukrainian, UTF-8, Windows-1255, Welsh, Latin-6,
1159 Latin-7, Lithuanian, Latvian, Swedish, Slovenian, Croatian, Georgian,
1160 Italian, Russian, Malayalam, Tamil, Russian, Chinese-EUC-TW. (Set up
1161 automatically according to the locale.)
1164 *** New input methods: latin-alt-postfix, latin-postfix, latin-prefix,
1165 ukrainian-computer, belarusian, bulgarian-bds, russian-computer,
1166 vietnamese-telex, lithuanian-numeric, lithuanian-keyboard,
1167 latvian-keyboard, welsh, georgian, rfc1345, ucs, sgml,
1168 bulgarian-phonetic, dutch, slovenian, croatian, malayalam-inscript,
1172 *** New input method chinese-sisheng for inputting Chinese Pinyin
1176 *** Improved Thai support. A new minor mode `thai-word-mode' (which is
1177 automatically activated if you select Thai as a language
1178 environment) changes key bindings of most word-oriented commands to
1179 versions which recognize Thai words. Affected commands are
1183 M-DEL (backward-kill-word)
1184 M-t (transpose-words)
1185 M-q (fill-paragraph)
1188 *** Indian support has been updated.
1189 The in-is13194 coding system is now Unicode-based. CDAC fonts are
1190 assumed. There is a framework for supporting various
1191 Indian scripts, but currently only Devanagari, Malayalam and Tamil are
1195 *** A UTF-7 coding system is available in the library `utf-7'.
1198 *** The utf-8/16 coding systems have been enhanced.
1199 By default, untranslatable utf-8 sequences are simply composed into
1200 single quasi-characters. User option `utf-translate-cjk-mode' (it is
1201 turned on by default) arranges to translate many utf-8 CJK character
1202 sequences into real Emacs characters in a similar way to the Mule-UCS
1203 system. As this loads a fairly big data on demand, people who are not
1204 interested in CJK characters may want to customize it to nil.
1205 You can augment/amend the CJK translation via hash tables
1206 `ucs-mule-cjk-to-unicode' and `ucs-unicode-to-mule-cjk'. The utf-8
1207 coding system now also encodes characters from most of Emacs's
1208 one-dimensional internal charsets, specifically the ISO-8859 ones.
1209 The utf-16 coding system is affected similarly.
1212 *** A new coding system `euc-tw' has been added for traditional Chinese
1213 in CNS encoding; it accepts both Big 5 and CNS as input; on saving,
1214 Big 5 is then converted to CNS.
1217 *** Many new coding systems are available in the `code-pages' library.
1218 These include complete versions of most of those in codepage.el, based
1219 on Unicode mappings. `codepage-setup' is now obsolete and is used
1220 only in the MS-DOS port of Emacs. All coding systems defined in
1221 `code-pages' are auto-loaded.
1224 *** New variable `utf-translate-cjk-unicode-range' controls which
1225 Unicode characters to translate in `utf-translate-cjk-mode'.
1228 *** iso-10646-1 (`Unicode') fonts can be used to display any range of
1229 characters encodable by the utf-8 coding system. Just specify the
1230 fontset appropriately.
1232 ** Customize changes:
1235 *** Custom themes are collections of customize options. Create a
1236 custom theme with M-x customize-create-theme. Use M-x load-theme to
1237 load and enable a theme, and M-x disable-theme to disable it. Use M-x
1238 enable-theme to enable a disabled theme.
1241 *** The commands M-x customize-face and M-x customize-face-other-window
1242 now look at the character after point. If a face or faces are
1243 specified for that character, the commands by default customize those
1247 *** The face-customization widget has been reworked to be less confusing.
1248 In particular, when you enable a face attribute using the corresponding
1249 check-box, there's no longer a redundant `*' option in value selection
1250 for that attribute; the values you can choose are only those which make
1251 sense for the attribute. When an attribute is de-selected by unchecking
1252 its check-box, then the (now ignored, but still present temporarily in
1253 case you re-select the attribute) value is hidden.
1256 *** When you set or reset a variable's value in a Customize buffer,
1257 the previous value becomes the "backup value" of the variable.
1258 You can go back to that backup value by selecting "Use Backup Value"
1259 under the "[State]" button.
1261 ** Buffer Menu changes:
1264 *** New command `Buffer-menu-toggle-files-only' toggles display of file
1265 buffers only in the Buffer Menu. It is bound to T in Buffer Menu
1269 *** `buffer-menu' and `list-buffers' now list buffers whose names begin
1270 with a space, when those buffers are visiting files. Normally buffers
1271 whose names begin with space are omitted.
1274 *** The new options `buffers-menu-show-directories' and
1275 `buffers-menu-show-status' let you control how buffers are displayed
1276 in the menu dropped down when you click "Buffers" from the menu bar.
1278 `buffers-menu-show-directories' controls whether the menu displays
1279 leading directories as part of the file name visited by the buffer.
1280 If its value is `unless-uniquify', the default, directories are
1281 shown unless uniquify-buffer-name-style' is non-nil. The value of nil
1282 and t turn the display of directories off and on, respectively.
1284 `buffers-menu-show-status' controls whether the Buffers menu includes
1285 the modified and read-only status of the buffers. By default it is
1286 t, and the status is shown.
1288 Setting these variables directly does not take effect until next time
1289 the Buffers menu is regenerated.
1294 *** New faces dired-header, dired-mark, dired-marked, dired-flagged,
1295 dired-ignored, dired-directory, dired-symlink, dired-warning
1296 introduced for Dired mode instead of font-lock faces.
1299 *** New Dired command `dired-compare-directories' marks files
1300 with different file attributes in two dired buffers.
1303 *** New Dired command `dired-do-touch' (bound to T) changes timestamps
1304 of marked files with the value entered in the minibuffer.
1307 *** The Dired command `dired-goto-file' is now bound to j, not M-g.
1308 This is to avoid hiding the global key binding of M-g.
1311 *** In Dired's ! command (dired-do-shell-command), `*' and `?' now
1312 control substitution of the file names only when they are surrounded
1313 by whitespace. This means you can now use them as shell wildcards
1314 too. If you want to use just plain `*' as a wildcard, type `*""'; the
1315 double quotes make no difference in the shell, but they prevent
1316 special treatment in `dired-do-shell-command'.
1319 *** In Dired, the w command now stores the current line's file name
1320 into the kill ring. With a zero prefix arg, it stores the absolute file name.
1323 *** In Dired-x, Omitting files is now a minor mode, dired-omit-mode.
1325 The mode toggling command is bound to M-o. A new command
1326 dired-mark-omitted, bound to * O, marks omitted files. The variable
1327 dired-omit-files-p is obsoleted, use the mode toggling function
1331 *** The variables dired-free-space-program and dired-free-space-args
1332 have been renamed to directory-free-space-program and
1333 directory-free-space-args, and they now apply whenever Emacs puts a
1334 directory listing into a buffer.
1339 *** The comint prompt can now be made read-only, using the new user
1340 option `comint-prompt-read-only'. This is not enabled by default,
1341 except in IELM buffers. The read-only status of IELM prompts can be
1342 controlled with the new user option `ielm-prompt-read-only', which
1343 overrides `comint-prompt-read-only'.
1345 The new commands `comint-kill-whole-line' and `comint-kill-region'
1346 support editing comint buffers with read-only prompts.
1348 `comint-kill-whole-line' is like `kill-whole-line', but ignores both
1349 read-only and field properties. Hence, it always kill entire
1350 lines, including any prompts.
1352 `comint-kill-region' is like `kill-region', except that it ignores
1353 read-only properties, if it is safe to do so. This means that if any
1354 part of a prompt is deleted, then the entire prompt must be deleted
1355 and that all prompts must stay at the beginning of a line. If this is
1356 not the case, then `comint-kill-region' behaves just like
1357 `kill-region' if read-only properties are involved: it copies the text
1358 to the kill-ring, but does not delete it.
1361 *** The new command `comint-insert-previous-argument' in comint-derived
1362 modes (shell-mode, etc.) inserts arguments from previous command lines,
1363 like bash's `ESC .' binding. It is bound by default to `C-c .', but
1364 otherwise behaves quite similarly to the bash version.
1367 *** `comint-use-prompt-regexp-instead-of-fields' has been renamed
1368 `comint-use-prompt-regexp'. The old name has been kept as an alias,
1369 but declared obsolete.
1371 ** M-x Compile changes:
1374 *** M-x compile has become more robust and reliable
1376 Quite a few more kinds of messages are recognized. Messages that are
1377 recognized as warnings or informational come in orange or green, instead of
1378 red. Informational messages are by default skipped with `next-error'
1379 (controlled by `compilation-skip-threshold').
1381 Location data is collected on the fly as the *compilation* buffer changes.
1382 This means you could modify messages to make them point to different files.
1383 This also means you can not go to locations of messages you may have deleted.
1385 The variable `compilation-error-regexp-alist' has now become customizable. If
1386 you had added your own regexps to this, you'll probably need to include a
1387 leading `^', otherwise they'll match anywhere on a line. There is now also a
1388 `compilation-mode-font-lock-keywords' and it nicely handles all the checks
1389 that configure outputs and -o options so you see at a glance where you are.
1391 The new file etc/compilation.txt gives examples of each type of message.
1394 *** New user option `compilation-environment'.
1395 This option allows you to specify environment variables for inferior
1396 compilation processes without affecting the environment that all
1397 subprocesses inherit.
1400 *** New user option `compilation-disable-input'.
1401 If this is non-nil, send end-of-file as compilation process input.
1404 *** New options `next-error-highlight' and `next-error-highlight-no-select'
1405 specify the method of highlighting of the corresponding source line
1406 in new face `next-error'.
1409 *** A new minor mode `next-error-follow-minor-mode' can be used in
1410 compilation-mode, grep-mode, occur-mode, and diff-mode (i.e. all the
1411 modes that can use `next-error'). In this mode, cursor motion in the
1412 buffer causes automatic display in another window of the corresponding
1413 matches, compilation errors, etc. This minor mode can be toggled with
1417 *** When the left fringe is displayed, an arrow points to current message in
1418 the compilation buffer.
1421 *** The new variable `compilation-context-lines' controls lines of leading
1422 context before the current message. If nil and the left fringe is displayed,
1423 it doesn't scroll the compilation output window. If there is no left fringe,
1424 no arrow is displayed and a value of nil means display the message at the top
1427 ** Occur mode changes:
1430 *** In the *Occur* buffer, `o' switches to it in another window, and
1431 C-o displays the current line's occurrence in another window without
1435 *** You can now use next-error (C-x `) and previous-error to advance to
1436 the next/previous matching line found by M-x occur.
1439 *** The new command `multi-occur' is just like `occur', except it can
1440 search multiple buffers. There is also a new command
1441 `multi-occur-in-matching-buffers' which allows you to specify the
1442 buffers to search by their filenames or buffer names. Internally,
1443 Occur mode has been rewritten, and now uses font-lock, among other
1449 *** Grep has been decoupled from compilation mode setup.
1451 There's a new separate package grep.el, with its own submenu and
1452 customization group.
1455 *** `grep-find' is now also available under the name `find-grep' where
1456 people knowing `find-grep-dired' would probably expect it.
1459 *** New commands `lgrep' (local grep) and `rgrep' (recursive grep) are
1460 more user-friendly versions of `grep' and `grep-find', which prompt
1461 separately for the regular expression to match, the files to search,
1462 and the base directory for the search (rgrep only). Case sensitivitivy
1463 of the search is controlled by the current value of `case-fold-search'.
1465 These commands build the shell commands based on the new variables
1466 `grep-template' (lgrep) and `grep-find-template' (rgrep).
1468 The files to search can use aliases defined in `grep-files-aliases'.
1470 Subdirectories listed in `grep-find-ignored-directories' such as those
1471 typically used by various version control systems, like CVS and arch,
1472 are automatically skipped by `rgrep'.
1475 *** The grep commands provide highlighting support.
1477 Hits are fontified in green, and hits in binary files in orange. Grep buffers
1478 can be saved and automatically revisited.
1481 *** The new variables `grep-window-height' and `grep-scroll-output' override
1482 the corresponding compilation mode settings, for grep commands only.
1485 *** New option `grep-highlight-matches' highlights matches in *grep*
1486 buffer. It uses a special feature of some grep programs which accept
1487 --color option to output markers around matches. When going to the next
1488 match with `next-error' the exact match is highlighted in the source
1489 buffer. Otherwise, if `grep-highlight-matches' is nil, the whole
1490 source line is highlighted.
1493 *** New key bindings in grep output window:
1494 SPC and DEL scrolls window up and down. C-n and C-p moves to next and
1495 previous match in the grep window. RET jumps to the source line of
1496 the current match. `n' and `p' shows next and previous match in
1497 other window, but does not switch buffer. `{' and `}' jumps to the
1498 previous or next file in the grep output. TAB also jumps to the next
1502 *** M-x grep now tries to avoid appending `/dev/null' to the command line
1503 by using GNU grep `-H' option instead. M-x grep automatically
1504 detects whether this is possible or not the first time it is invoked.
1505 When `-H' is used, the grep command line supplied by the user is passed
1506 unchanged to the system to execute, which allows more complicated
1507 command lines to be used than was possible before.
1509 ** X Windows Support:
1512 *** Emacs now supports drag and drop for X. Dropping a file on a window
1513 opens it, dropping text inserts the text. Dropping a file on a dired
1514 buffer copies or moves the file to that directory.
1517 *** Under X11, it is possible to swap Alt and Meta (and Super and Hyper).
1518 The new variables `x-alt-keysym', `x-hyper-keysym', `x-meta-keysym',
1519 and `x-super-keysym' can be used to choose which keysyms Emacs should
1520 use for the modifiers. For example, the following two lines swap
1522 (setq x-alt-keysym 'meta)
1523 (setq x-meta-keysym 'alt)
1526 *** The X resource useXIM can be used to turn off use of XIM, which can
1527 speed up Emacs with slow networking to the X server.
1529 If the configure option `--without-xim' was used to turn off use of
1530 XIM by default, the X resource useXIM can be used to turn it on.
1533 *** The new variable `x-select-request-type' controls how Emacs
1534 requests X selection. The default value is nil, which means that
1535 Emacs requests X selection with types COMPOUND_TEXT and UTF8_STRING,
1536 and use the more appropriately result.
1539 *** The scrollbar under LessTif or Motif has a smoother drag-scrolling.
1540 On the other hand, the size of the thumb does not represent the actual
1541 amount of text shown any more (only a crude approximation of it).
1546 *** If you enable Xterm Mouse mode, Emacs will respond to mouse clicks
1547 on the mode line, header line and display margin, when run in an xterm.
1550 *** Improved key bindings support when running in an xterm.
1551 When emacs is running in an xterm more key bindings are available. The
1552 following should work:
1553 {C,S,C-S,A}-{right,left,up,down,prior,next,delete,insert,F1-12}.
1554 These key bindings work on xterm from X.org 6.8, they might not work on
1555 some older versions of xterm, or on some proprietary versions.
1557 ** Character terminal color support changes:
1560 *** The new command-line option --color=MODE lets you specify a standard
1561 mode for a tty color support. It is meant to be used on character
1562 terminals whose capabilities are not set correctly in the terminal
1563 database, or with terminal emulators which support colors, but don't
1564 set the TERM environment variable to a name of a color-capable
1565 terminal. "emacs --color" uses the same color commands as GNU `ls'
1566 when invoked with "ls --color", so if your terminal can support colors
1567 in "ls --color", it will support "emacs --color" as well. See the
1568 user manual for the possible values of the MODE parameter.
1571 *** Emacs now supports several character terminals which provide more
1572 than 8 colors. For example, for `xterm', 16-color, 88-color, and
1573 256-color modes are supported. Emacs automatically notes at startup
1574 the extended number of colors, and defines the appropriate entries for
1575 all of these colors.
1578 *** Emacs now uses the full range of available colors for the default
1579 faces when running on a color terminal, including 16-, 88-, and
1580 256-color xterms. This means that when you run "emacs -nw" on an
1581 88-color or 256-color xterm, you will see essentially the same face
1585 *** There's a new support for colors on `rxvt' terminal emulator.
1587 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 22.1
1589 ** ERC is now part of the Emacs distribution.
1591 ERC is a powerful, modular, and extensible IRC client for Emacs.
1593 To see what modules are available, type
1594 M-x customize-option erc-modules RET.
1596 To start an IRC session, type M-x erc-select, and follow the prompts
1597 for server, port, and nick.
1600 ** Rcirc is now part of the Emacs distribution.
1602 Rcirc is an Internet relay chat (IRC) client. It supports
1603 simultaneous connections to multiple IRC servers. Each discussion
1604 takes place in its own buffer. For each connection you can join
1605 several channels (many-to-many) and participate in private
1606 (one-to-one) chats. Both channel and private chats are contained in
1609 To start an IRC session, type M-x irc, and follow the prompts for
1610 server, port, nick and initial channels.
1613 ** Newsticker is now part of the Emacs distribution.
1615 Newsticker asynchronously retrieves headlines (RSS) from a list of news
1616 sites, prepares these headlines for reading, and allows for loading the
1617 corresponding articles in a web browser. Its documentation is in a
1621 ** savehist saves minibuffer histories between sessions.
1622 To use this feature, turn on savehist-mode in your `.emacs' file.
1625 ** Filesets are collections of files. You can define a fileset in
1626 various ways, such as based on a directory tree or based on
1627 program files that include other program files.
1629 Once you have defined a fileset, you can perform various operations on
1630 all the files in it, such as visiting them or searching and replacing
1634 ** Calc is now part of the Emacs distribution.
1636 Calc is an advanced desk calculator and mathematical tool written in
1637 Emacs Lisp. The prefix for Calc has been changed to `C-x *' and Calc
1638 can be started with `C-x * *'. The Calc manual is separate from the
1639 Emacs manual; within Emacs, type "C-h i m calc RET" to read the
1640 manual. A reference card is available in `etc/calccard.tex' and
1644 ** The new package ibuffer provides a powerful, completely
1645 customizable replacement for buff-menu.el.
1648 ** Ido mode is now part of the Emacs distribution.
1650 The ido (interactively do) package is an extension of the iswitchb
1651 package to do interactive opening of files and directories in addition
1652 to interactive buffer switching. Ido is a superset of iswitchb (with
1653 a few exceptions), so don't enable both packages.
1656 ** Image files are normally visited in Image mode, which lets you toggle
1657 between viewing the image and viewing the text using C-c C-c.
1660 ** CUA mode is now part of the Emacs distribution.
1662 The new cua package provides CUA-like keybindings using C-x for
1663 cut (kill), C-c for copy, C-v for paste (yank), and C-z for undo.
1664 With cua, the region can be set and extended using shifted movement
1665 keys (like pc-selection-mode) and typed text replaces the active
1666 region (like delete-selection-mode). Do not enable these modes with
1667 cua-mode. Customize the variable `cua-mode' to enable cua.
1669 In addition, cua provides unified rectangle support with visible
1670 rectangle highlighting: Use C-return to start a rectangle, extend it
1671 using the movement commands (or mouse-3), and cut or copy it using C-x
1672 or C-c (using C-w and M-w also works).
1674 Use M-o and M-c to `open' or `close' the rectangle, use M-b or M-f, to
1675 fill it with blanks or another character, use M-u or M-l to upcase or
1676 downcase the rectangle, use M-i to increment the numbers in the
1677 rectangle, use M-n to fill the rectangle with a numeric sequence (such
1678 as 10 20 30...), use M-r to replace a regexp in the rectangle, and use
1679 M-' or M-/ to restrict command on the rectangle to a subset of the
1680 rows. See the commentary in cua-base.el for more rectangle commands.
1682 Cua also provides unified support for registers: Use a numeric
1683 prefix argument between 0 and 9, i.e. M-0 .. M-9, for C-x, C-c, and
1684 C-v to cut or copy into register 0-9, or paste from register 0-9.
1686 The last text deleted (not killed) is automatically stored in
1687 register 0. This includes text deleted by typing text.
1689 Finally, cua provides a global mark which is set using S-C-space.
1690 When the global mark is active, any text which is cut or copied is
1691 automatically inserted at the global mark position. See the
1692 commentary in cua-base.el for more global mark related commands.
1694 The features of cua also works with the standard emacs bindings for
1695 kill, copy, yank, and undo. If you want to use cua mode, but don't
1696 want the C-x, C-c, C-v, and C-z bindings, you can customize the
1697 `cua-enable-cua-keys' variable.
1699 Note: This version of cua mode is not backwards compatible with older
1700 versions of cua.el and cua-mode.el. To ensure proper operation, you
1701 must remove older versions of cua.el or cua-mode.el as well as the
1702 loading and customization of those packages from the .emacs file.
1705 ** Org mode is now part of the Emacs distribution
1707 Org mode is a mode for keeping notes, maintaining ToDo lists, and
1708 doing project planning with a fast and effective plain-text system.
1709 It also contains a plain-text table editor with spreadsheet-like
1712 The Org mode table editor can be integrated into any major mode by
1713 activating the minor Orgtbl-mode.
1715 The documentation for org-mode is in a separate manual; within Emacs,
1716 type "C-h i m org RET" to read that manual. A reference card is
1717 available in `etc/orgcard.tex' and `etc/orgcard.ps'.
1720 ** The new package dns-mode.el add syntax highlight of DNS master files.
1721 The key binding C-c C-s (`dns-mode-soa-increment-serial') can be used
1722 to increment the SOA serial.
1725 ** The new global minor mode `file-name-shadow-mode' modifies the way
1726 filenames being entered by the user in the minibuffer are displayed, so
1727 that it's clear when part of the entered filename will be ignored due to
1728 emacs' filename parsing rules. The ignored portion can be made dim,
1729 invisible, or otherwise less visually noticeable. The display method can
1730 be displayed by customizing the variable `file-name-shadow-properties'.
1733 ** The new package flymake.el does on-the-fly syntax checking of program
1734 source files. See the Flymake's Info manual for more details.
1737 ** The new keypad setup package provides several common bindings for
1738 the numeric keypad which is available on most keyboards. The numeric
1739 keypad typically has the digits 0 to 9, a decimal point, keys marked
1740 +, -, /, and *, an Enter key, and a NumLock toggle key. The keypad
1741 package only controls the use of the digit and decimal keys.
1743 By customizing the variables `keypad-setup', `keypad-shifted-setup',
1744 `keypad-numlock-setup', and `keypad-numlock-shifted-setup', or by
1745 using the function `keypad-setup', you can rebind all digit keys and
1746 the decimal key of the keypad in one step for each of the four
1747 possible combinations of the Shift key state (not pressed/pressed) and
1748 the NumLock toggle state (off/on).
1750 The choices for the keypad keys in each of the above states are:
1751 `Plain numeric keypad' where the keys generates plain digits,
1752 `Numeric keypad with decimal key' where the character produced by the
1753 decimal key can be customized individually (for internationalization),
1754 `Numeric Prefix Arg' where the keypad keys produce numeric prefix args
1755 for emacs editing commands, `Cursor keys' and `Shifted Cursor keys'
1756 where the keys work like (shifted) arrow keys, home/end, etc., and
1757 `Unspecified/User-defined' where the keypad keys (kp-0, kp-1, etc.)
1758 are left unspecified and can be bound individually through the global
1762 ** The new kmacro package provides a simpler user interface to
1763 emacs' keyboard macro facilities.
1765 Basically, it uses two function keys (default F3 and F4) like this:
1766 F3 starts a macro, F4 ends the macro, and pressing F4 again executes
1767 the last macro. While defining the macro, F3 inserts a counter value
1768 which automatically increments every time the macro is executed.
1770 There is now a keyboard macro ring which stores the most recently
1773 The C-x C-k sequence is now a prefix for the kmacro keymap which
1774 defines bindings for moving through the keyboard macro ring,
1775 C-x C-k C-p and C-x C-k C-n, editing the last macro C-x C-k C-e,
1776 manipulating the macro counter and format via C-x C-k C-c,
1777 C-x C-k C-a, and C-x C-k C-f. See the commentary in kmacro.el
1780 The normal macro bindings C-x (, C-x ), and C-x e now interfaces to
1781 the keyboard macro ring.
1783 The C-x e command now automatically terminates the current macro
1784 before calling it, if used while defining a macro.
1786 In addition, when ending or calling a macro with C-x e, the macro can
1787 be repeated immediately by typing just the `e'. You can customize
1788 this behavior via the variables kmacro-call-repeat-key and
1789 kmacro-call-repeat-with-arg.
1791 Keyboard macros can now be debugged and edited interactively.
1792 C-x C-k SPC steps through the last keyboard macro one key sequence
1793 at a time, prompting for the actions to take.
1796 ** New minor mode, Visible mode, toggles invisibility in the current buffer.
1797 When enabled, it makes all invisible text visible. When disabled, it
1798 restores the previous value of `buffer-invisibility-spec'.
1801 ** The wdired.el package allows you to use normal editing commands on Dired
1802 buffers to change filenames, permissions, etc...
1805 ** The new package longlines.el provides a minor mode for editing text
1806 files composed of long lines, based on the `use-hard-newlines'
1807 mechanism. The long lines are broken up by inserting soft newlines,
1808 which are automatically removed when saving the file to disk or
1809 copying into the kill ring, clipboard, etc. By default, Longlines
1810 mode inserts soft newlines automatically during editing, a behavior
1811 referred to as "soft word wrap" in other text editors. This is
1812 similar to Refill mode, but more reliable. To turn the word wrap
1813 feature off, set `longlines-auto-wrap' to nil.
1816 ** The printing package is now part of the Emacs distribution.
1818 If you enable the printing package by including (require 'printing) in
1819 the .emacs file, the normal Print item on the File menu is replaced
1820 with a Print sub-menu which allows you to preview output through
1821 ghostview, use ghostscript to print (if you don't have a PostScript
1822 printer) or send directly to printer a PostScript code generated by
1823 `ps-print' package. Use M-x pr-help for more information.
1826 ** The minor mode Reveal mode makes text visible on the fly as you
1827 move your cursor into hidden regions of the buffer.
1828 It should work with any package that uses overlays to hide parts
1829 of a buffer, such as outline-minor-mode, hs-minor-mode, hide-ifdef-mode, ...
1831 There is also Global Reveal mode which affects all buffers.
1834 ** The ruler-mode.el library provides a minor mode for displaying an
1835 "active" ruler in the header line. You can use the mouse to visually
1836 change the `fill-column', `window-margins' and `tab-stop-list'
1840 ** SES mode (ses-mode) is a new major mode for creating and editing
1841 spreadsheet files. Besides the usual Emacs features (intuitive command
1842 letters, undo, cell formulas in Lisp, plaintext files, etc.) it also offers
1843 viral immunity and import/export of tab-separated values.
1846 ** The new global minor mode `size-indication-mode' (off by default)
1847 shows the size of accessible part of the buffer on the mode line.
1850 ** The new package table.el implements editable, WYSIWYG, embedded
1851 `text tables' in Emacs buffers. It simulates the effect of putting
1852 these tables in a special major mode. The package emulates WYSIWYG
1853 table editing available in modern word processors. The package also
1854 can generate a table source in typesetting and markup languages such
1855 as latex and html from the visually laid out text table.
1857 ** The tumme.el package allows you to easily view, tag and in other ways
1858 manipulate image files and their thumbnails, using dired as the main interface.
1859 Tumme provides functionality to generate simple image galleries.
1862 ** Tramp is now part of the distribution.
1864 This package is similar to Ange-FTP: it allows you to edit remote
1865 files. But whereas Ange-FTP uses FTP to access the remote host,
1866 Tramp uses a shell connection. The shell connection is always used
1867 for filename completion and directory listings and suchlike, but for
1868 the actual file transfer, you can choose between the so-called
1869 `inline' methods (which transfer the files through the shell
1870 connection using base64 or uu encoding) and the `out-of-band' methods
1871 (which invoke an external copying program such as `rcp' or `scp' or
1872 `rsync' to do the copying).
1874 Shell connections can be acquired via `rsh', `ssh', `telnet' and also
1875 `su' and `sudo'. Ange-FTP is still supported via the `ftp' method.
1877 If you want to disable Tramp you should set
1879 (setq tramp-default-method "ftp")
1881 Removing Tramp, and re-enabling Ange-FTP, can be achieved by M-x
1885 ** The URL package (which had been part of W3) is now part of Emacs.
1888 ** `cfengine-mode' is a major mode for editing GNU Cfengine
1889 configuration files.
1892 ** The new package conf-mode.el handles thousands of configuration files, with
1893 varying syntaxes for comments (;, #, //, /* */ or !), assignment (var = value,
1894 var : value, var value or keyword var value) and sections ([section] or
1895 section { }). Many files under /etc/, or with suffixes like .cf through
1896 .config, .properties (Java), .desktop (KDE/Gnome), .ini and many others are
1900 ** GDB-Script-mode is used for files like .gdbinit.
1903 ** The new python.el package is used to edit Python and Jython programs.
1906 ** The TCL package tcl-mode.el was replaced by tcl.el.
1907 This was actually done in Emacs-21.1, and was not documented.
1909 ** The new package scroll-lock.el provides the Scroll Lock minor mode
1910 for pager-like scrolling. Keys which normally move point by line or
1911 paragraph will scroll the buffer by the respective amount of lines
1912 instead and point will be kept vertically fixed relative to window
1913 boundaries during scrolling.
1915 ** The file t-mouse.el is now part of Emacs and provides access to mouse
1916 events from the console. It still requires gpm to work but has been updated
1917 for Emacs 22. In particular, the mode-line is now position sensitive.
1919 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 22.1:
1924 *** Bindings for Tumme added
1925 Several new keybindings, all starting with the C-t prefix, have been
1926 added to Dired. They are all bound to commands in Tumme. As a starting
1927 point, mark some image files in a dired buffer and do C-t d to display
1928 thumbnails of them in a separate buffer.
1930 ** Changes in Hi Lock
1933 *** hi-lock-mode now only affects a single buffer, and a new function
1934 `global-hi-lock-mode' enables Hi Lock in all buffers. By default, if
1935 hi-lock-mode is used in what appears to be the initialization file, a
1936 warning message suggests to use global-hi-lock-mode instead. However,
1937 if the new variable `hi-lock-archaic-interface-deduce' is non-nil,
1938 using hi-lock-mode in an initialization file will turn on Hi Lock in all
1939 buffers and no warning will be issued (for compatibility with the
1940 behavior in older versions of Emacs).
1942 ** Changes in Allout
1944 *** Topic cryptography added, enabling easy gpg topic encryption and
1945 decryption. Per-topic basis enables interspersing encrypted-text and
1946 clear-text within a single file to your heart's content, using symmetric
1947 and/or public key modes. Time-limited key caching, user-provided
1948 symmetric key hinting and consistency verification, auto-encryption of
1949 pending topics on save, and more, make it easy to use encryption in
1952 *** `allout-view-change-hook' marked as being deprecated - use
1953 `allout-exposure-change-hook' instead. Both are currently being used, but
1954 `allout-view-change-hook' will be ignored in a subsequent allout version.
1956 *** Default command prefix changed to "\C-c " (control-c space), to avoid
1957 intruding on user's keybinding space. Customize the
1958 `allout-command-prefix' variable to your preference.
1960 *** Allout now uses text overlay's `invisible' property (and others) for
1961 concealed text, instead of selective-display. This simplifies the code, in
1962 particular avoiding the need for kludges for isearch dynamic-display,
1963 discretionary handling of edits of concealed text, undo concerns, etc.
1965 *** Many substantial fixes and refinements, including:
1967 - repaired inhibition of inadvertent edits to concealed text
1968 - repaired retention of topic body hanging indent upon topic depth shifts
1969 - refuse to create "containment discontinuities", where a
1970 topic is shifted deeper than the offspring-depth of its' container
1971 - bulleting variation is simpler and more accommodating, both in the
1972 default behavior and in ability to vary when creating new topics
1973 - many internal fixes and refinements
1974 - many module and function docstring clarifications
1975 - version number incremented to 2.2
1977 ** The variable `woman-topic-at-point' was renamed
1978 to `woman-use-topic-at-point' and behaves differently: if this
1979 variable is non-nil, the `woman' command uses the word at point
1980 automatically, without asking for a confirmation. Otherwise, the word
1981 at point is suggested as default, but not inserted at the prompt.
1984 ** Changes to cmuscheme
1986 *** Emacs now offers to start Scheme if the user tries to
1987 evaluate a Scheme expression but no Scheme subprocess is running.
1989 *** If a file `.emacs_NAME' (where NAME is the name of the Scheme interpreter)
1990 exists in the user's home directory or in ~/.emacs.d, its
1991 contents are sent to the Scheme subprocess upon startup.
1993 *** There are new commands to instruct the Scheme interpreter to trace
1994 procedure calls (`scheme-trace-procedure') and to expand syntactic forms
1995 (`scheme-expand-current-form'). The commands actually sent to the Scheme
1996 subprocess are controlled by the user options `scheme-trace-command',
1997 `scheme-untrace-command' and `scheme-expand-current-form'.
2000 ** Changes in Makefile mode
2002 *** Makefile mode has submodes for automake, gmake, makepp, BSD make and imake.
2004 The former two couldn't be differentiated before, and the latter three
2005 are new. Font-locking is robust now and offers new customizable
2008 *** The variable `makefile-query-one-target-method' has been renamed
2009 to `makefile-query-one-target-method-function'. The old name is still
2013 ** In Outline mode, `hide-body' no longer hides lines at the top
2014 of the file that precede the first header line.
2017 ** Telnet now prompts you for a port number with C-u M-x telnet.
2020 ** The terminal emulation code in term.el has been improved; it can
2021 run most curses applications now.
2024 ** M-x diff uses Diff mode instead of Compilation mode.
2027 ** Diff mode key bindings changed.
2029 These are the new bindings:
2031 C-c C-e diff-ediff-patch (old M-A)
2032 C-c C-n diff-restrict-view (old M-r)
2033 C-c C-r diff-reverse-direction (old M-R)
2034 C-c C-u diff-context->unified (old M-U)
2035 C-c C-w diff-refine-hunk (old C-c C-r)
2037 To convert unified to context format, use C-u C-c C-u.
2038 In addition, C-c C-u now operates on the region
2039 in Transient Mark mode when the mark is active.
2042 ** You can now customize `fill-nobreak-predicate' to control where
2043 filling can break lines. The value is now normally a list of
2044 functions, but it can also be a single function, for compatibility.
2046 Emacs provide two predicates, `fill-single-word-nobreak-p' and
2047 `fill-french-nobreak-p', for use as the value of
2048 `fill-nobreak-predicate'.
2051 ** M-x view-file and commands that use it now avoid interfering
2052 with special modes such as Tar mode.
2055 ** Commands `winner-redo' and `winner-undo', from winner.el, are now
2056 bound to C-c <left> and C-c <right>, respectively. This is an
2057 incompatible change.
2060 ** `global-whitespace-mode' is a new alias for `whitespace-global-mode'.
2063 ** M-x compare-windows now can automatically skip non-matching text to
2064 resync points in both windows.
2067 ** New user option `add-log-always-start-new-record'.
2069 When this option is enabled, M-x add-change-log-entry always
2070 starts a new record regardless of when the last record is.
2073 ** PO translation files are decoded according to their MIME headers
2074 when Emacs visits them.
2076 ** Info mode changes:
2079 *** A numeric prefix argument of `info' selects an Info buffer
2080 with the number appended to the `*info*' buffer name (e.g. "*info*<2>").
2083 *** isearch in Info uses Info-search and searches through multiple nodes.
2085 Before leaving the initial Info node isearch fails once with the error
2086 message [initial node], and with subsequent C-s/C-r continues through
2087 other nodes. When isearch fails for the rest of the manual, it wraps
2088 around the whole manual to the top/final node. The user option
2089 `Info-isearch-search' controls whether to use Info-search for isearch,
2090 or the default isearch search function that wraps around the current
2094 *** New search commands: `Info-search-case-sensitively' (bound to S),
2095 `Info-search-backward', and `Info-search-next' which repeats the last
2096 search without prompting for a new search string.
2099 *** New command `Info-history-forward' (bound to r and new toolbar icon)
2100 moves forward in history to the node you returned from after using
2101 `Info-history-back' (renamed from `Info-last').
2104 *** New command `Info-history' (bound to L) displays a menu of visited nodes.
2107 *** New command `Info-toc' (bound to T) creates a node with table of contents
2108 from the tree structure of menus of the current Info file.
2111 *** New command `info-apropos' searches the indices of the known
2112 Info files on your system for a string, and builds a menu of the
2116 *** New command `Info-copy-current-node-name' (bound to w) copies
2117 the current Info node name into the kill ring. With a zero prefix
2118 arg, puts the node name inside the `info' function call.
2121 *** New face `info-xref-visited' distinguishes visited nodes from unvisited
2122 and a new option `Info-fontify-visited-nodes' to control this.
2125 *** http and ftp links in Info are now operational: they look like cross
2126 references and following them calls `browse-url'.
2129 *** Info now hides node names in menus and cross references by default.
2131 If you prefer the old behavior, you can set the new user option
2132 `Info-hide-note-references' to nil.
2135 *** Images in Info pages are supported.
2137 Info pages show embedded images, in Emacs frames with image support.
2138 Info documentation that includes images, processed with makeinfo
2139 version 4.7 or newer, compiles to Info pages with embedded images.
2142 *** The default value for `Info-scroll-prefer-subnodes' is now nil.
2145 *** `Info-index' offers completion.
2147 ** Lisp mode changes:
2150 *** Lisp mode now uses `font-lock-doc-face' for doc strings.
2153 *** C-u C-M-q in Emacs Lisp mode pretty-prints the list after point.
2155 *** New features in evaluation commands
2158 **** The function `eval-defun' (C-M-x) called on defface reinitializes
2159 the face to the value specified in the defface expression.
2162 **** Typing C-x C-e twice prints the value of the integer result
2163 in additional formats (octal, hexadecimal, character) specified
2164 by the new function `eval-expression-print-format'. The same
2165 function also defines the result format for `eval-expression' (M-:),
2166 `eval-print-last-sexp' (C-j) and some edebug evaluation functions.
2171 *** The CC Mode manual has been extensively revised.
2172 The information about using CC Mode has been separated from the larger
2173 and more difficult chapters about configuration.
2175 *** Changes in Key Sequences
2176 **** c-toggle-auto-hungry-state is no longer bound to C-c C-t.
2178 **** c-toggle-hungry-state is no longer bound to C-c C-d.
2179 This binding has been taken over by c-hungry-delete-forwards.
2181 **** c-toggle-auto-state (C-c C-t) has been renamed to c-toggle-auto-newline.
2182 c-toggle-auto-state remains as an alias.
2184 **** The new commands c-hungry-backspace and c-hungry-delete-forwards
2185 have key bindings C-c C-DEL (or C-c DEL, for the benefit of TTYs) and
2186 C-c C-d (or C-c C-<delete> or C-c <delete>) respectively. These
2187 commands delete entire blocks of whitespace with a single
2188 key-sequence. [N.B. "DEL" is the <backspace> key.]
2190 **** The new command c-toggle-electric-mode is bound to C-c C-l.
2192 **** The new command c-subword-mode is bound to C-c C-w.
2194 *** C-c C-s (`c-show-syntactic-information') now highlights the anchor
2198 **** Electric Minor Mode toggles the electric action of non-alphabetic keys.
2199 The new command c-toggle-electric-mode is bound to C-c C-l. Turning the
2200 mode off can be helpful for editing chaotically indented code and for
2201 users new to CC Mode, who sometimes find electric indentation
2202 disconcerting. Its current state is displayed in the mode line with an
2205 **** Subword Minor Mode makes Emacs recognize word boundaries at upper case
2206 letters in StudlyCapsIdentifiers. You enable this feature by C-c C-w. It can
2207 also be used in non-CC Mode buffers. :-) Contributed by Masatake YAMATO.
2211 **** `comment-close-slash'.
2212 With this clean-up, a block (i.e. c-style) comment can be terminated by
2213 typing a slash at the start of a line.
2215 **** `c-one-liner-defun'
2216 This clean-up compresses a short enough defun (for example, an AWK
2217 pattern/action pair) onto a single line. "Short enough" is configurable.
2219 *** Font lock support.
2220 CC Mode now provides font lock support for all its languages. This
2221 supersedes the font lock patterns that have been in the core font lock
2222 package for C, C++, Java and Objective-C. Like indentation, font
2223 locking is done in a uniform way across all languages (except the new
2224 AWK mode - see below). That means that the new font locking will be
2225 different from the old patterns in various details for most languages.
2227 The main goal of the font locking in CC Mode is accuracy, to provide a
2228 dependable aid in recognizing the various constructs. Some, like
2229 strings and comments, are easy to recognize while others like
2230 declarations and types can be very tricky. CC Mode can go to great
2231 lengths to recognize declarations and casts correctly, especially when
2232 the types aren't recognized by standard patterns. This is a fairly
2233 demanding analysis which can be slow on older hardware, and it can
2234 therefore be disabled by choosing a lower decoration level with the
2235 variable font-lock-maximum-decoration.
2237 Note that the most demanding font lock level has been tuned with lazy
2238 fontification in mind; Just-In-Time-Lock mode should be enabled for
2239 the highest font lock level (by default, it is). Fontifying a file
2240 with several thousand lines in one go can take the better part of a
2243 **** The (c|c++|objc|java|idl|pike)-font-lock-extra-types variables
2244 are now used by CC Mode to recognize identifiers that are certain to
2245 be types. (They are also used in cases that aren't related to font
2246 locking.) At the maximum decoration level, types are often recognized
2247 properly anyway, so these variables should be fairly restrictive and
2248 not contain patterns for uncertain types.
2250 **** Support for documentation comments.
2251 There is a "plugin" system to fontify documentation comments like
2252 Javadoc and the markup within them. It's independent of the host
2253 language, so it's possible to e.g. turn on Javadoc font locking in C
2254 buffers. See the variable c-doc-comment-style for details.
2256 Currently three kinds of doc comment styles are recognized: Sun's
2257 Javadoc, Autodoc (which is used in Pike) and GtkDoc (used in C). (The
2258 last was contributed by Masatake YAMATO). This is by no means a
2259 complete list of the most common tools; if your doc comment extractor
2260 of choice is missing then please drop a note to bug-cc-mode@gnu.org.
2262 **** Better handling of C++ templates.
2263 As a side effect of the more accurate font locking, C++ templates are
2264 now handled much better. The angle brackets that delimit them are
2265 given parenthesis syntax so that they can be navigated like other
2268 This also improves indentation of templates, although there still is
2269 work to be done in that area. E.g. it's required that multiline
2270 template clauses are written in full and then refontified to be
2271 recognized, and the indentation of nested templates is a bit odd and
2272 not as configurable as it ought to be.
2274 **** Improved handling of Objective-C and CORBA IDL.
2275 Especially the support for Objective-C and IDL has gotten an overhaul.
2276 The special "@" declarations in Objective-C are handled correctly.
2277 All the keywords used in CORBA IDL, PSDL, and CIDL are recognized and
2278 handled correctly, also wrt indentation.
2280 *** Support for the AWK language.
2281 Support for the AWK language has been introduced. The implementation is
2282 based around GNU AWK version 3.1, but it should work pretty well with
2283 any AWK. As yet, not all features of CC Mode have been adapted for AWK.
2286 **** Indentation Engine
2287 The CC Mode indentation engine fully supports AWK mode.
2289 AWK mode handles code formatted in the conventional AWK fashion: `{'s
2290 which start actions, user-defined functions, or compound statements are
2291 placed on the same line as the associated construct; the matching `}'s
2292 are normally placed under the start of the respective pattern, function
2293 definition, or structured statement.
2295 The predefined line-up functions haven't yet been adapted for AWK
2296 mode, though some of them may work serendipitously. There shouldn't
2297 be any problems writing custom indentation functions for AWK mode.
2300 There is a single level of font locking in AWK mode, rather than the
2301 three distinct levels the other modes have. There are several
2302 idiosyncrasies in AWK mode's font-locking due to the peculiarities of
2303 the AWK language itself.
2305 **** Comment and Movement Commands
2306 These commands all work for AWK buffers. The notion of "defun" has
2307 been augmented to include AWK pattern-action pairs - the standard
2308 "defun" commands on key sequences C-M-a, C-M-e, and C-M-h use this
2309 extended definition.
2311 **** "awk" style, Auto-newline Insertion and Clean-ups
2312 A new style, "awk" has been introduced, and this is now the default
2313 style for AWK code. With auto-newline enabled, the clean-up
2314 c-one-liner-defun (see above) is useful.
2316 *** New syntactic symbols in IDL mode.
2317 The top level constructs "module" and "composition" (from CIDL) are
2318 now handled like "namespace" in C++: They are given syntactic symbols
2319 module-open, module-close, inmodule, composition-open,
2320 composition-close, and incomposition.
2322 *** New functions to do hungry delete without enabling hungry delete mode.
2323 The new functions `c-hungry-backspace' and `c-hungry-delete-forward'
2324 provide hungry deletion without having to toggle a mode. They are
2325 bound to C-c C-DEL and C-c C-d (and several variants, for the benefit
2326 of different keyboard setups. See "Changes in key sequences" above).
2328 *** Better control over `require-final-newline'.
2330 The variable `c-require-final-newline' specifies which of the modes
2331 implemented by CC mode should insert final newlines. Its value is a
2332 list of modes, and only those modes should do it. By default the list
2333 includes C, C++ and Objective-C modes.
2335 Whichever modes are in this list will set `require-final-newline'
2336 based on `mode-require-final-newline'.
2338 *** Format change for syntactic context elements.
2340 The elements in the syntactic context returned by `c-guess-basic-syntax'
2341 and stored in `c-syntactic-context' has been changed somewhat to allow
2342 attaching more information. They are now lists instead of single cons
2343 cells. E.g. a line that previously had the syntactic analysis
2345 ((inclass . 11) (topmost-intro . 13))
2349 ((inclass 11) (topmost-intro 13))
2351 In some cases there are more than one position given for a syntactic
2354 This change might affect code that calls `c-guess-basic-syntax'
2355 directly, and custom lineup functions if they use
2356 `c-syntactic-context'. However, the argument given to lineup
2357 functions is still a single cons cell with nil or an integer in the
2360 *** API changes for derived modes.
2362 There have been extensive changes "under the hood" which can affect
2363 derived mode writers. Some of these changes are likely to cause
2364 incompatibilities with existing derived modes, but on the other hand
2365 care has now been taken to make it possible to extend and modify CC
2366 Mode with less risk of such problems in the future.
2368 **** New language variable system.
2369 These are variables whose values vary between CC Mode's different
2370 languages. See the comment blurb near the top of cc-langs.el.
2372 **** New initialization functions.
2373 The initialization procedure has been split up into more functions to
2374 give better control: `c-basic-common-init', `c-font-lock-init', and
2375 `c-init-language-vars'.
2377 *** Changes in analysis of nested syntactic constructs.
2378 The syntactic analysis engine has better handling of cases where
2379 several syntactic constructs appear nested on the same line. They are
2380 now handled as if each construct started on a line of its own.
2382 This means that CC Mode now indents some cases differently, and
2383 although it's more consistent there might be cases where the old way
2384 gave results that's more to one's liking. So if you find a situation
2385 where you think that the indentation has become worse, please report
2386 it to bug-cc-mode@gnu.org.
2388 **** New syntactic symbol substatement-label.
2389 This symbol is used when a label is inserted between a statement and
2390 its substatement. E.g:
2396 *** Better handling of multiline macros.
2398 **** Syntactic indentation inside macros.
2399 The contents of multiline #define's are now analyzed and indented
2400 syntactically just like other code. This can be disabled by the new
2401 variable `c-syntactic-indentation-in-macros'. A new syntactic symbol
2402 `cpp-define-intro' has been added to control the initial indentation
2405 **** New lineup function `c-lineup-cpp-define'.
2407 Now used by default to line up macro continuation lines. The behavior
2408 of this function closely mimics the indentation one gets if the macro
2409 is indented while the line continuation backslashes are temporarily
2410 removed. If syntactic indentation in macros is turned off, it works
2411 much line `c-lineup-dont-change', which was used earlier, but handles
2412 empty lines within the macro better.
2414 **** Automatically inserted newlines continues the macro if used within one.
2415 This applies to the newlines inserted by the auto-newline mode, and to
2416 `c-context-line-break' and `c-context-open-line'.
2418 **** Better alignment of line continuation backslashes.
2419 `c-backslash-region' tries to adapt to surrounding backslashes. New
2420 variable `c-backslash-max-column' puts a limit on how far out
2421 backslashes can be moved.
2423 **** Automatic alignment of line continuation backslashes.
2424 This is controlled by the new variable `c-auto-align-backslashes'. It
2425 affects `c-context-line-break', `c-context-open-line' and newlines
2426 inserted in Auto-Newline mode.
2428 **** Line indentation works better inside macros.
2429 Regardless whether syntactic indentation and syntactic indentation
2430 inside macros are enabled or not, line indentation now ignores the
2431 line continuation backslashes. This is most noticeable when syntactic
2432 indentation is turned off and there are empty lines (save for the
2433 backslash) in the macro.
2435 *** indent-for-comment is more customizable.
2436 The behavior of M-; (indent-for-comment) is now configurable through
2437 the variable `c-indent-comment-alist'. The indentation behavior is
2438 based on the preceding code on the line, e.g. to get two spaces after
2439 #else and #endif but indentation to `comment-column' in most other
2440 cases (something which was hardcoded earlier).
2442 *** New function `c-context-open-line'.
2443 It's the open-line equivalent of `c-context-line-break'.
2445 *** New lineup functions
2447 **** `c-lineup-string-cont'
2448 This lineup function lines up a continued string under the one it
2451 result = prefix + "A message "
2452 "string."; <- c-lineup-string-cont
2454 **** `c-lineup-cascaded-calls'
2455 Lines up series of calls separated by "->" or ".".
2457 **** `c-lineup-knr-region-comment'
2458 Gives (what most people think is) better indentation of comments in
2459 the "K&R region" between the function header and its body.
2461 **** `c-lineup-gcc-asm-reg'
2462 Provides better indentation inside asm blocks.
2464 **** `c-lineup-argcont'
2465 Lines up continued function arguments after the preceding comma.
2467 *** Better caching of the syntactic context.
2468 CC Mode caches the positions of the opening parentheses (of any kind)
2469 of the lists surrounding the point. Those positions are used in many
2470 places as anchor points for various searches. The cache is now
2471 improved so that it can be reused to a large extent when the point is
2472 moved. The less it moves, the less needs to be recalculated.
2474 The effect is that CC Mode should be fast most of the time even when
2475 opening parens are hung (i.e. aren't in column zero). It's typically
2476 only the first time after the point is moved far down in a complex
2477 file that it'll take noticeable time to find out the syntactic
2480 *** Statements are recognized in a more robust way.
2481 Statements are recognized most of the time even when they occur in an
2482 "invalid" context, e.g. in a function argument. In practice that can
2483 happen when macros are involved.
2485 *** Improved the way `c-indent-exp' chooses the block to indent.
2486 It now indents the block for the closest sexp following the point
2487 whose closing paren ends on a different line. This means that the
2488 point doesn't have to be immediately before the block to indent.
2489 Also, only the block and the closing line is indented; the current
2490 line is left untouched.
2492 *** Added toggle for syntactic indentation.
2493 The function `c-toggle-syntactic-indentation' can be used to toggle
2494 syntactic indentation.
2496 ** In sh-script, a continuation line is only indented if the backslash was
2497 preceded by a SPC or a TAB.
2500 ** Perl mode has a new variable `perl-indent-continued-arguments'.
2503 ** The old Octave mode bindings C-c f and C-c i have been changed
2504 to C-c C-f and C-c C-i. The C-c C-i subcommands now have duplicate
2505 bindings on control characters--thus, C-c C-i C-b is the same as
2506 C-c C-i b, and so on.
2508 ** Fortran mode changes:
2511 *** Fortran mode does more font-locking by default. Use level 3
2512 highlighting for the old default.
2515 *** Fortran mode has a new variable `fortran-directive-re'.
2516 Adapt this to match the format of any compiler directives you use.
2517 Lines that match are never indented, and are given distinctive font-locking.
2520 *** F90 mode and Fortran mode have new navigation commands
2521 `f90-end-of-block', `f90-beginning-of-block', `f90-next-block',
2522 `f90-previous-block', `fortran-end-of-block',
2523 `fortran-beginning-of-block'.
2526 *** F90 mode and Fortran mode have support for `hs-minor-mode' (hideshow).
2527 It cannot deal with every code format, but ought to handle a sizeable
2531 *** The new function `f90-backslash-not-special' can be used to change
2532 the syntax of backslashes in F90 buffers.
2535 ** Reftex mode changes
2538 *** Changes to RefTeX's table of contents
2540 The new command keys "<" and ">" in the TOC buffer promote/demote the
2541 section at point or all sections in the current region, with full
2542 support for multifile documents.
2544 The new command `reftex-toc-recenter' (`C-c -') shows the current
2545 section in the TOC buffer without selecting the TOC window.
2546 Recentering can happen automatically in idle time when the option
2547 `reftex-auto-recenter-toc' is turned on. The highlight in the TOC
2548 buffer stays when the focus moves to a different window. A dedicated
2549 frame can show the TOC with the current section always automatically
2550 highlighted. The frame is created and deleted from the toc buffer
2553 The toc window can be split off horizontally instead of vertically.
2554 See new option `reftex-toc-split-windows-horizontally'.
2556 Labels can be renamed globally from the table of contents using the
2559 The new command `reftex-goto-label' jumps directly to a label
2563 *** Changes related to citations and BibTeX database files
2565 Commands that insert a citation now prompt for optional arguments when
2566 called with a prefix argument. Related new options are
2567 `reftex-cite-prompt-optional-args' and `reftex-cite-cleanup-optional-args'.
2569 The new command `reftex-create-bibtex-file' creates a BibTeX database
2570 with all entries referenced in the current document. The keys "e" and
2571 "E" allow to produce a BibTeX database file from entries marked in a
2572 citation selection buffer.
2574 The command `reftex-citation' uses the word in the buffer before the
2575 cursor as a default search string.
2577 The support for chapterbib has been improved. Different chapters can
2578 now use BibTeX or an explicit `thebibliography' environment.
2580 The macros which specify the bibliography file (like \bibliography)
2581 can be configured with the new option `reftex-bibliography-commands'.
2583 Support for jurabib has been added.
2586 *** Global index matched may be verified with a user function
2588 During global indexing, a user function can verify an index match.
2589 See new option `reftex-index-verify-function'.
2592 *** Parsing documents with many labels can be sped up.
2594 Operating in a document with thousands of labels can be sped up
2595 considerably by allowing RefTeX to derive the type of a label directly
2596 from the label prefix like `eq:' or `fig:'. The option
2597 `reftex-trust-label-prefix' needs to be configured in order to enable
2598 this feature. While the speed-up is significant, this may reduce the
2599 quality of the context offered by RefTeX to describe a label.
2602 *** Miscellaneous changes
2604 The macros which input a file in LaTeX (like \input, \include) can be
2605 configured in the new option `reftex-include-file-commands'.
2607 RefTeX supports global incremental search.
2610 ** Prolog mode has a new variable `prolog-font-lock-keywords'
2611 to support use of font-lock.
2613 ** HTML/SGML changes:
2616 *** Emacs now tries to set up buffer coding systems for HTML/XML files
2620 *** SGML mode has indentation and supports XML syntax.
2621 The new variable `sgml-xml-mode' tells SGML mode to use XML syntax.
2622 When this option is enabled, SGML tags are inserted in XML style,
2623 i.e., there is always a closing tag.
2624 By default, its setting is inferred on a buffer-by-buffer basis
2625 from the file name or buffer contents.
2627 *** The variable `sgml-transformation' has been renamed to
2628 `sgml-transformation-function'. The old name is still available as
2632 *** `xml-mode' is now an alias for `sgml-mode', which has XML support.
2637 *** C-c C-c prompts for a command to run, and tries to offer a good default.
2640 *** The user option `tex-start-options-string' has been replaced
2641 by two new user options: `tex-start-options', which should hold
2642 command-line options to feed to TeX, and `tex-start-commands' which should hold
2643 TeX commands to use at startup.
2646 *** verbatim environments are now highlighted in courier by font-lock
2647 and super/sub-scripts are made into super/sub-scripts.
2650 *** New major mode Doctex mode, for *.dtx files.
2654 *** The new command `bibtex-url' browses a URL for the BibTeX entry at
2655 point (bound to C-c C-l and mouse-2, RET on clickable fields).
2657 *** The new command `bibtex-entry-update' (bound to C-c C-u) updates
2658 an existing BibTeX entry by inserting fields that may occur but are not
2661 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' option `required-fields', enabled by default.
2663 *** `bibtex-maintain-sorted-entries' can take values `plain',
2664 `crossref', and `entry-class' which control the sorting scheme used
2665 for BibTeX entries. `bibtex-sort-entry-class' controls the sorting
2666 scheme `entry-class'. TAB completion for reference keys and
2667 automatic detection of duplicates does not require anymore that
2668 `bibtex-maintain-sorted-entries' is non-nil.
2670 *** If the new variable `bibtex-parse-keys-fast' is non-nil,
2671 use fast but simplified algorithm for parsing BibTeX keys.
2673 *** If the new variable `bibtex-autoadd-commas' is non-nil,
2674 automatically add missing commas at end of BibTeX fields.
2676 *** The new variable `bibtex-autofill-types' contains a list of entry
2677 types for which fields are filled automatically (if possible).
2679 *** The new command `bibtex-complete' completes word fragment before
2680 point according to context (bound to M-tab).
2682 *** The new commands `bibtex-find-entry' and `bibtex-find-crossref'
2683 locate entries and crossref'd entries (bound to C-c C-s and C-c C-x).
2684 Crossref fields are clickable (bound to mouse-2, RET).
2686 *** In BibTeX mode the command `fill-paragraph' (M-q) fills
2687 individual fields of a BibTeX entry.
2689 *** The new variables `bibtex-files' and `bibtex-file-path' define a set
2690 of BibTeX files that are searched for entry keys.
2692 *** The new command `bibtex-validate-globally' checks for duplicate keys
2693 in multiple BibTeX files.
2695 *** The new command `bibtex-copy-summary-as-kill' pushes summary
2696 of BibTeX entry to kill ring (bound to C-c C-t).
2698 *** The new variables bibtex-expand-strings and
2699 bibtex-autokey-expand-strings control the expansion of strings when
2700 extracting the content of a BibTeX field.
2702 *** The variables `bibtex-autokey-name-case-convert' and
2703 `bibtex-autokey-titleword-case-convert' have been renamed to
2704 `bibtex-autokey-name-case-convert-function' and
2705 `bibtex-autokey-titleword-case-convert-function'. The old names are
2706 still available as aliases.
2708 ** In Artist mode the variable `artist-text-renderer' has been
2709 renamed to `artist-text-renderer-function'. The old name is still
2713 ** In Enriched mode, `set-left-margin' and `set-right-margin' are now
2714 by default bound to `C-c [' and `C-c ]' instead of the former `C-c C-l'
2720 *** In GUD mode, when talking to GDB, C-x C-a C-j "jumps" the program
2721 counter to the specified source line (the one where point is).
2724 *** GUD mode has its own tool bar for controlling execution of the inferior
2725 and other common debugger commands.
2728 *** The new package gdb-ui.el provides an enhanced graphical interface to
2729 GDB. You can interact with GDB through the GUD buffer in the usual way, but
2730 there are also further buffers which control the execution and describe the
2731 state of your program. It can separate the input/output of your program from
2732 that of GDB and watches expressions in the speedbar. It also uses features of
2733 Emacs 21/22 such as the toolbar, and bitmaps in the fringe to indicate
2736 To use this package just type M-x gdb. See the Emacs manual if you want the
2739 *** The variable tooltip-gud-tips-p has been removed. GUD tooltips can now be
2740 toggled independently of normal tooltips with the minor mode
2744 *** In graphical mode, with a C program, GUD Tooltips have been extended to
2745 display the #define directive associated with an identifier when program is
2749 ** GUD mode improvements for jdb:
2751 *** Search for source files using jdb classpath and class information.
2752 Fast startup since there is no need to scan all source files up front.
2753 There is also no need to create and maintain lists of source
2754 directories to scan. Look at `gud-jdb-use-classpath' and
2755 `gud-jdb-classpath' customization variables documentation.
2757 *** Supports the standard breakpoint (gud-break, gud-clear)
2758 set/clear operations from Java source files under the classpath, stack
2759 traversal (gud-up, gud-down), and run until current stack finish
2762 *** Supports new jdb (Java 1.2 and later) in addition to oldjdb
2765 *** The previous method of searching for source files has been
2766 preserved in case someone still wants/needs to use it.
2767 Set `gud-jdb-use-classpath' to nil.
2769 *** Added Customization Variables
2771 **** `gud-jdb-command-name'. What command line to use to invoke jdb.
2773 **** `gud-jdb-use-classpath'. Allows selection of java source file searching
2774 method: set to t for new method, nil to scan `gud-jdb-directories' for
2775 java sources (previous method).
2777 **** `gud-jdb-directories'. List of directories to scan and search for Java
2778 classes using the original gud-jdb method (if `gud-jdb-use-classpath'
2781 *** Minor Improvements
2783 **** The STARTTLS wrapper (starttls.el) can now use GNUTLS
2784 instead of the OpenSSL based `starttls' tool. For backwards
2785 compatibility, it prefers `starttls', but you can toggle
2786 `starttls-use-gnutls' to switch to GNUTLS (or simply remove the
2789 **** Do not allow debugger output history variable to grow without bounds.
2791 ** Auto-Revert changes:
2794 *** You can now use Auto Revert mode to `tail' a file.
2796 If point is at the end of a file buffer before reverting, Auto Revert
2797 mode keeps it at the end after reverting. Similarly if point is
2798 displayed at the end of a file buffer in any window, it stays at
2799 the end of the buffer in that window. This allows to tail a file:
2800 just put point at the end of the buffer and it stays there. This
2801 rule applies to file buffers. For non-file buffers, the behavior can
2804 If you are sure that the file will only change by growing at the end,
2805 then you can tail the file more efficiently by using the new minor
2806 mode Auto Revert Tail mode. The function `auto-revert-tail-mode'
2810 *** Auto Revert mode is now more careful to avoid excessive reverts and
2811 other potential problems when deciding which non-file buffers to
2812 revert. This matters especially if Global Auto Revert mode is enabled
2813 and `global-auto-revert-non-file-buffers' is non-nil. Auto Revert
2814 mode only reverts a non-file buffer if the buffer has a non-nil
2815 `revert-buffer-function' and a non-nil `buffer-stale-function', which
2816 decides whether the buffer should be reverted. Currently, this means
2817 that auto reverting works for Dired buffers (although this may not
2818 work properly on all operating systems) and for the Buffer Menu.
2821 *** If the new user option `auto-revert-check-vc-info' is non-nil, Auto
2822 Revert mode reliably updates version control info (such as the version
2823 control number in the mode line), in all version controlled buffers in
2824 which it is active. If the option is nil, the default, then this info
2825 only gets updated whenever the buffer gets reverted.
2830 The recent file list is now automatically cleaned up when recentf mode is
2831 enabled. The new option `recentf-auto-cleanup' controls when to do
2834 The ten most recent files can be quickly opened by using the shortcut
2835 keys 1 to 9, and 0, when the recent list is displayed in a buffer via
2836 the `recentf-open-files', or `recentf-open-more-files' commands.
2838 The `recentf-keep' option replaces `recentf-keep-non-readable-files-p'
2839 and provides a more general mechanism to customize which file names to
2840 keep in the recent list.
2842 With the more advanced option `recentf-filename-handlers', you can
2843 specify functions that successively transform recent file names. For
2844 example, if set to `file-truename' plus `abbreviate-file-name', the
2845 same file will not be in the recent list with different symbolic
2846 links, and the file name will be abbreviated.
2848 To follow naming convention, `recentf-menu-append-commands-flag'
2849 replaces the misnamed option `recentf-menu-append-commands-p'. The
2850 old name remains available as alias, but has been marked obsolete.
2856 *** Desktop saving is now a minor mode, `desktop-save-mode'.
2859 *** The variable `desktop-enable' is obsolete.
2861 Customize `desktop-save-mode' to enable desktop saving.
2864 *** Buffers are saved in the desktop file in the same order as that in the
2868 *** The desktop package can be customized to restore only some buffers
2869 immediately, remaining buffers are restored lazily (when Emacs is
2874 - desktop-revert reverts to the last loaded desktop.
2875 - desktop-change-dir kills current desktop and loads a new.
2876 - desktop-save-in-desktop-dir saves desktop in the directory from which
2878 - desktop-lazy-complete runs the desktop load to completion.
2879 - desktop-lazy-abort aborts lazy loading of the desktop.
2882 *** New customizable variables:
2883 - desktop-save. Determines whether the desktop should be saved when it is
2885 - desktop-file-name-format. Format in which desktop file names should be saved.
2886 - desktop-path. List of directories in which to lookup the desktop file.
2887 - desktop-locals-to-save. List of local variables to save.
2888 - desktop-globals-to-clear. List of global variables that `desktop-clear' will clear.
2889 - desktop-clear-preserve-buffers-regexp. Regexp identifying buffers that `desktop-clear'
2891 - desktop-restore-eager. Number of buffers to restore immediately. Remaining buffers are
2892 restored lazily (when Emacs is idle).
2893 - desktop-lazy-verbose. Verbose reporting of lazily created buffers.
2894 - desktop-lazy-idle-delay. Idle delay before starting to create buffers.
2897 *** New command line option --no-desktop
2901 - desktop-after-read-hook run after a desktop is loaded.
2902 - desktop-no-desktop-file-hook run when no desktop file is found.
2905 ** The saveplace.el package now filters out unreadable files.
2907 When you exit Emacs, the saved positions in visited files no longer
2908 include files that aren't readable, e.g. files that don't exist.
2909 Customize the new option `save-place-forget-unreadable-files' to nil
2910 to get the old behavior. The new options `save-place-save-skipped'
2911 and `save-place-skip-check-regexp' allow further fine-tuning of this
2917 *** When comparing directories.
2918 Typing D brings up a buffer that lists the differences between the contents of
2919 directories. Now it is possible to use this buffer to copy the missing files
2920 from one directory to another.
2923 *** When comparing files or buffers.
2924 Typing the = key now offers to perform the word-by-word comparison of the
2925 currently highlighted regions in an inferior Ediff session. If you answer 'n'
2926 then it reverts to the old behavior and asks the user to select regions for
2930 *** The new command `ediff-backup' compares a file with its most recent
2931 backup using `ediff'. If you specify the name of a backup file,
2932 `ediff-backup' compares it with the file of which it is a backup.
2937 *** New regular expressions features
2939 **** New syntax for regular expressions, multi-line regular expressions.
2941 The syntax --ignore-case-regexp=/regex/ is now undocumented and retained
2942 only for backward compatibility. The new equivalent syntax is
2943 --regex=/regex/i. More generally, it is --regex=/TAGREGEX/TAGNAME/MODS,
2944 where `/TAGNAME' is optional, as usual, and MODS is a string of 0 or
2945 more characters among `i' (ignore case), `m' (multi-line) and `s'
2946 (single-line). The `m' and `s' modifiers behave as in Perl regular
2947 expressions: `m' allows regexps to match more than one line, while `s'
2948 (which implies `m') means that `.' matches newlines. The ability to
2949 span newlines allows writing of much more powerful regular expressions
2950 and rapid prototyping for tagging new languages.
2952 **** Regular expressions can use char escape sequences as in GCC.
2954 The escaped character sequence \a, \b, \d, \e, \f, \n, \r, \t, \v,
2955 respectively, stand for the ASCII characters BEL, BS, DEL, ESC, FF, NL,
2958 **** Regular expressions can be bound to a given language.
2960 The syntax --regex={LANGUAGE}REGEX means that REGEX is used to make tags
2961 only for files of language LANGUAGE, and ignored otherwise. This is
2962 particularly useful when storing regexps in a file.
2964 **** Regular expressions can be read from a file.
2966 The --regex=@regexfile option means read the regexps from a file, one
2967 per line. Lines beginning with space or tab are ignored.
2969 *** New language parsing features
2971 **** The `::' qualifier triggers C++ parsing in C file.
2973 Previously, only the `template' and `class' keywords had this effect.
2975 **** The GCC __attribute__ keyword is now recognized and ignored.
2977 **** New language HTML.
2979 Tags are generated for `title' as well as `h1', `h2', and `h3'. Also,
2980 when `name=' is used inside an anchor and whenever `id=' is used.
2982 **** In Makefiles, constants are tagged.
2984 If you want the old behavior instead, thus avoiding to increase the
2985 size of the tags file, use the --no-globals option.
2987 **** New language Lua.
2989 All functions are tagged.
2991 **** In Perl, packages are tags.
2993 Subroutine tags are named from their package. You can jump to sub tags
2994 as you did before, by the sub name, or additionally by looking for
2997 **** In Prolog, etags creates tags for rules in addition to predicates.
2999 **** New language PHP.
3001 Functions, classes and defines are tags. If the --members option is
3002 specified to etags, variables are tags also.
3004 **** New default keywords for TeX.
3006 The new keywords are def, newcommand, renewcommand, newenvironment and
3009 *** Honor #line directives.
3011 When Etags parses an input file that contains C preprocessor's #line
3012 directives, it creates tags using the file name and line number
3013 specified in those directives. This is useful when dealing with code
3014 created from Cweb source files. When Etags tags the generated file, it
3015 writes tags pointing to the source file.
3017 *** New option --parse-stdin=FILE.
3019 This option is mostly useful when calling etags from programs. It can
3020 be used (only once) in place of a file name on the command line. Etags
3021 reads from standard input and marks the produced tags as belonging to
3027 *** The key C-x C-q only changes the read-only state of the buffer
3028 (toggle-read-only). It no longer checks files in or out.
3030 We made this change because we held a poll and found that many users
3031 were unhappy with the previous behavior. If you do prefer this
3032 behavior, you can bind `vc-toggle-read-only' to C-x C-q in your
3035 (global-set-key "\C-x\C-q" 'vc-toggle-read-only)
3037 The function `vc-toggle-read-only' will continue to exist.
3040 *** The new variable `vc-cvs-global-switches' specifies switches that
3041 are passed to any CVS command invoked by VC.
3043 These switches are used as "global options" for CVS, which means they
3044 are inserted before the command name. For example, this allows you to
3045 specify a compression level using the `-z#' option for CVS.
3048 *** New backends for Subversion and Meta-CVS.
3051 *** VC-Annotate mode enhancements
3053 In VC-Annotate mode, you can now use the following key bindings for
3054 enhanced functionality to browse the annotations of past revisions, or
3055 to view diffs or log entries directly from vc-annotate-mode:
3057 P: annotates the previous revision
3058 N: annotates the next revision
3059 J: annotates the revision at line
3060 A: annotates the revision previous to line
3061 D: shows the diff of the revision at line with its previous revision
3062 L: shows the log of the revision at line
3063 W: annotates the workfile (most up to date) version
3068 *** In pcl-cvs mode, there is a new `d y' command to view the diffs
3069 between the local version of the file and yesterday's head revision
3073 *** In pcl-cvs mode, there is a new `d r' command to view the changes
3074 anyone has committed to the repository since you last executed
3075 `checkout', `update' or `commit'. That means using cvs diff options
3079 ** The new variable `mail-default-directory' specifies
3080 `default-directory' for mail buffers. This directory is used for
3081 auto-save files of mail buffers. It defaults to "~/".
3084 ** The mode line can indicate new mail in a directory or file.
3086 See the documentation of the user option
3087 `display-time-mail-directory'.
3092 *** Rmail now displays 5-digit message ids in its summary buffer.
3094 *** The new commands rmail-end-of-message and rmail-summary end-of-message,
3095 by default bound to `/', go to the end of the current mail message in
3096 Rmail and Rmail summary buffers.
3099 *** Support for `movemail' from GNU mailutils was added to Rmail.
3101 This version of `movemail' allows to read mail from a wide range of
3102 mailbox formats, including remote POP3 and IMAP4 mailboxes with or
3103 without TLS encryption. If GNU mailutils is installed on the system
3104 and its version of `movemail' can be found in exec-path, it will be
3105 used instead of the native one.
3110 *** Gnus now includes Sieve and PGG
3112 Sieve is a library for managing Sieve scripts. PGG is a library to handle
3116 *** There are many news features, bug fixes and improvements.
3118 See the file GNUS-NEWS or the node "Oort Gnus" in the Gnus manual for details.
3123 Upgraded to MH-E version 8.0. There have been major changes since
3124 version 5.0.2; see MH-E-NEWS for details.
3126 ** Calendar changes:
3129 *** You can now use < and >, instead of C-x < and C-x >, to scroll
3130 the calendar left or right. (The old key bindings still work too.)
3133 *** There is a new calendar package, icalendar.el, that can be used to
3134 convert Emacs diary entries to/from the iCalendar format.
3137 *** Diary sexp entries can have custom marking in the calendar.
3138 Diary sexp functions which only apply to certain days (such as
3139 `diary-block' or `diary-cyclic') now take an optional parameter MARK,
3140 which is the name of a face or a single-character string indicating
3141 how to highlight the day in the calendar display. Specifying a
3142 single-character string as @var{mark} places the character next to the
3143 day in the calendar. Specifying a face highlights the day with that
3144 face. This lets you have different colors or markings for vacations,
3145 appointments, paydays or anything else using a sexp.
3148 *** The new function `calendar-goto-day-of-year' (g D) prompts for a
3149 year and day number, and moves to that date. Negative day numbers
3150 count backward from the end of the year.
3153 *** The new Calendar function `calendar-goto-iso-week' (g w)
3154 prompts for a year and a week number, and moves to the first
3155 day of that ISO week.
3158 *** The new variable `calendar-minimum-window-height' affects the
3159 window generated by the function `generate-calendar-window'.
3162 *** The functions `holiday-easter-etc' and `holiday-advent' now take
3163 optional arguments, in order to only report on the specified holiday
3164 rather than all. This makes customization of variables such as
3165 `christian-holidays' simpler.
3168 *** The function `simple-diary-display' now by default sets a header line.
3169 This can be controlled through the variables `diary-header-line-flag'
3170 and `diary-header-line-format'.
3173 *** The procedure for activating appointment reminders has changed:
3174 use the new function `appt-activate'. The new variable
3175 `appt-display-format' controls how reminders are displayed, replacing
3176 `appt-issue-message', `appt-visible', and `appt-msg-window'.
3179 *** The new functions `diary-from-outlook', `diary-from-outlook-gnus',
3180 and `diary-from-outlook-rmail' can be used to import diary entries
3181 from Outlook-format appointments in mail messages. The variable
3182 `diary-outlook-formats' can be customized to recognize additional
3186 ** Speedbar changes:
3188 *** Speedbar items can now be selected by clicking mouse-1, based on
3189 the `mouse-1-click-follows-link' mechanism.
3191 *** SPC and DEL are no longer bound to scroll up/down in the speedbar
3194 *** The new command `speedbar-toggle-line-expansion', bound to SPC,
3195 contracts or expands the line under the cursor.
3197 *** New command `speedbar-create-directory', bound to `M'.
3199 *** The new commands `speedbar-expand-line-descendants' and
3200 `speedbar-contract-line-descendants', bound to `[' and `]'
3201 respectively, expand and contract the line under cursor with all of
3204 *** The new user option `speedbar-query-confirmation-method' controls
3205 how querying is performed for file operations. A value of 'always
3206 means to always query before file operations; 'none-but-delete means
3207 to not query before any file operations, except before a file
3210 *** The new user option `speedbar-select-frame-method' specifies how
3211 to select a frame for displaying a file opened with the speedbar. A
3212 value of 'attached means to use the attached frame (the frame that
3213 speedbar was started from.) A number such as 1 or -1 means to pass
3214 that number to `other-frame'.
3216 *** The new user option `speedbar-use-tool-tips-flag', if non-nil,
3217 means to display tool-tips for speedbar items.
3219 *** The frame management code in speedbar.el has been split into a new
3220 `dframe' library. Emacs Lisp code that makes use of the speedbar
3221 should use `dframe-attached-frame' instead of
3222 `speedbar-attached-frame', `dframe-timer' instead of `speedbar-timer',
3223 `dframe-close-frame' instead of `speedbar-close-frame', and
3224 `dframe-activity-change-focus-flag' instead of
3225 `speedbar-activity-change-focus-flag'. The variables
3226 `speedbar-update-speed' and `speedbar-navigating-speed' are also
3227 obsolete; use `dframe-update-speed' instead.
3232 *** The variable `sql-product' controls the highlighting of different
3233 SQL dialects. This variable can be set globally via Customize, on a
3234 buffer-specific basis via local variable settings, or for the current
3235 session using the new SQL->Product submenu. (This menu replaces the
3236 SQL->Highlighting submenu.)
3238 The following values are supported:
3240 ansi ANSI Standard (default)
3254 The current product name will be shown on the mode line following the
3257 The technique of setting `sql-mode-font-lock-defaults' directly in
3258 your `.emacs' will no longer establish the default highlighting -- Use
3259 `sql-product' to accomplish this.
3261 ANSI keywords are always highlighted.
3263 *** The function `sql-add-product-keywords' can be used to add
3264 font-lock rules to the product specific rules. For example, to have
3265 all identifiers ending in `_t' under MS SQLServer treated as a type,
3266 you would use the following line in your .emacs file:
3268 (sql-add-product-keywords 'ms
3269 '(("\\<\\w+_t\\>" . font-lock-type-face)))
3271 *** Oracle support includes keyword highlighting for Oracle 9i.
3273 Most SQL and PL/SQL keywords are implemented. SQL*Plus commands are
3274 highlighted in `font-lock-doc-face'.
3276 *** Microsoft SQLServer support has been significantly improved.
3278 Keyword highlighting for SqlServer 2000 is implemented.
3279 sql-interactive-mode defaults to use osql, rather than isql, because
3280 osql flushes its error stream more frequently. Thus error messages
3281 are displayed when they occur rather than when the session is
3284 If the username and password are not provided to `sql-ms', osql is
3285 called with the `-E' command line argument to use the operating system
3286 credentials to authenticate the user.
3288 *** Postgres support is enhanced.
3289 Keyword highlighting of Postgres 7.3 is implemented. Prompting for
3290 the username and the pgsql `-U' option is added.
3292 *** MySQL support is enhanced.
3293 Keyword highlighting of MySql 4.0 is implemented.
3295 *** Imenu support has been enhanced to locate tables, views, indexes,
3296 packages, procedures, functions, triggers, sequences, rules, and
3299 *** Added SQL->Start SQLi Session menu entry which calls the
3300 appropriate `sql-interactive-mode' wrapper for the current setting of
3304 *** sql.el supports the SQLite interpreter--call 'sql-sqlite'.
3309 *** New ffap commands and keybindings:
3311 C-x C-r (`ffap-read-only'),
3312 C-x C-v (`ffap-alternate-file'), C-x C-d (`ffap-list-directory'),
3313 C-x 4 r (`ffap-read-only-other-window'), C-x 4 d (`ffap-dired-other-window'),
3314 C-x 5 r (`ffap-read-only-other-frame'), C-x 5 d (`ffap-dired-other-frame').
3317 *** FFAP accepts wildcards in a file name by default.
3319 C-x C-f passes the file name to `find-file' with non-nil WILDCARDS
3320 argument, which visits multiple files, and C-x d passes it to `dired'.
3323 ** Changes in Skeleton
3325 *** In skeleton.el, `-' marks the `skeleton-point' without interregion interaction.
3327 `@' has reverted to only setting `skeleton-positions' and no longer
3328 sets `skeleton-point'. Skeletons which used @ to mark
3329 `skeleton-point' independent of `_' should now use `-' instead. The
3330 updated `skeleton-insert' docstring explains these new features along
3331 with other details of skeleton construction.
3333 *** The variables `skeleton-transformation', `skeleton-filter', and
3334 `skeleton-pair-filter' have been renamed to
3335 `skeleton-transformation-function', `skeleton-filter-function', and
3336 `skeleton-pair-filter-function'. The old names are still available
3340 ** Hideshow mode changes
3342 *** New variable `hs-set-up-overlay' allows customization of the overlay
3343 used to effect hiding for hideshow minor mode. Integration with isearch
3344 handles the overlay property `display' specially, preserving it during
3345 temporary overlay showing in the course of an isearch operation.
3347 *** New variable `hs-allow-nesting' non-nil means that hiding a block does
3348 not discard the hidden state of any "internal" blocks; when the parent
3349 block is later shown, the internal blocks remain hidden. Default is nil.
3352 ** `hide-ifdef-mode' now uses overlays rather than selective-display
3353 to hide its text. This should be mostly transparent but slightly
3354 changes the behavior of motion commands like C-e and C-p.
3357 ** `partial-completion-mode' now handles partial completion on directory names.
3360 ** The type-break package now allows `type-break-file-name' to be nil
3361 and if so, doesn't store any data across sessions. This is handy if
3362 you don't want the `.type-break' file in your home directory or are
3363 annoyed by the need for interaction when you kill Emacs.
3366 ** `ps-print' can now print characters from the mule-unicode charsets.
3368 Printing text with characters from the mule-unicode-* sets works with
3369 `ps-print', provided that you have installed the appropriate BDF
3370 fonts. See the file INSTALL for URLs where you can find these fonts.
3373 ** New command `strokes-global-set-stroke-string'.
3374 This is like `strokes-global-set-stroke', but it allows you to bind
3375 the stroke directly to a string to insert. This is convenient for
3376 using strokes as an input method.
3378 ** Emacs server changes:
3381 *** You can have several Emacs servers on the same machine.
3383 % emacs --eval '(setq server-name "foo")' -f server-start &
3384 % emacs --eval '(setq server-name "bar")' -f server-start &
3385 % emacsclient -s foo file1
3386 % emacsclient -s bar file2
3389 *** The `emacsclient' command understands the options `--eval' and
3390 `--display' which tell Emacs respectively to evaluate the given Lisp
3391 expression and to use the given display when visiting files.
3394 *** User option `server-mode' can be used to start a server process.
3397 ** LDAP support now defaults to ldapsearch from OpenLDAP version 2.
3400 ** You can now disable pc-selection-mode after enabling it.
3402 M-x pc-selection-mode behaves like a proper minor mode, and with no
3403 argument it toggles the mode. Turning off PC-Selection mode restores
3404 the global key bindings that were replaced by turning on the mode.
3407 ** `uniquify-strip-common-suffix' tells uniquify to prefer
3408 `file|dir1' and `file|dir2' to `file|dir1/subdir' and `file|dir2/subdir'.
3411 ** Support for `magic cookie' standout modes has been removed.
3413 Emacs still works on terminals that require magic cookies in order to
3414 use standout mode, but they can no longer display mode-lines in
3418 ** The game `mpuz' is enhanced.
3420 `mpuz' now allows the 2nd factor not to have two identical digits. By
3421 default, all trivial operations involving whole lines are performed
3422 automatically. The game uses faces for better visual feedback.
3424 ** battery.el changes:
3427 *** display-battery-mode replaces display-battery.
3430 *** battery.el now works on recent versions of OS X.
3433 ** calculator.el now has radix grouping mode.
3435 To enable this, set `calculator-output-radix' non-nil. In this mode a
3436 separator character is used every few digits, making it easier to see
3437 byte boundaries etc. For more info, see the documentation of the
3438 variable `calculator-radix-grouping-mode'.
3441 ** fast-lock.el and lazy-lock.el are obsolete. Use jit-lock.el instead.
3444 ** iso-acc.el is now obsolete. Use one of the latin input methods instead.
3447 ** cplus-md.el has been deleted.
3451 *** The new function `ewoc-delete' deletes specified nodes.
3453 *** `ewoc-create' now takes optional arg NOSEP, which inhibits insertion of
3454 a newline after each pretty-printed entry and after the header and footer.
3455 This allows you to create multiple-entry ewocs on a single line and to
3456 effect "invisible" nodes by arranging for the pretty-printer to not print
3457 anything for those nodes.
3459 For example, these two sequences of expressions behave identically:
3462 (defun PP (data) (insert (format "%S" data)))
3463 (ewoc-create 'PP "start\n")
3466 (defun PP (data) (insert (format "%S\n" data)))
3467 (ewoc-create 'PP "start\n\n" "\n" t)
3470 * Changes in Emacs 22.1 on non-free operating systems
3473 ** The HOME directory defaults to Application Data under the user profile.
3475 If you used a previous version of Emacs without setting the HOME
3476 environment variable and a `.emacs' was saved, then Emacs will continue
3477 using C:/ as the default HOME. But if you are installing Emacs afresh,
3478 the default location will be the "Application Data" (or similar
3479 localized name) subdirectory of your user profile. A typical location
3480 of this directory is "C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data",
3481 where USERNAME is your user name.
3483 This change means that users can now have their own `.emacs' files on
3484 shared computers, and the default HOME directory is less likely to be
3485 read-only on computers that are administered by someone else.
3488 ** Passing resources on the command line now works on MS Windows.
3490 You can use --xrm to pass resource settings to Emacs, overriding any
3491 existing values. For example:
3493 emacs --xrm "Emacs.Background:red" --xrm "Emacs.Geometry:100x20"
3495 will start up Emacs on an initial frame of 100x20 with red background,
3496 irrespective of geometry or background setting on the Windows registry.
3499 ** On MS Windows, the "system caret" now follows the cursor.
3501 This enables Emacs to work better with programs that need to track
3502 the cursor, for example screen magnifiers and text to speech programs.
3505 ** Tooltips now work on MS Windows.
3507 See the Emacs 21.1 NEWS entry for tooltips for details.
3510 ** Images are now supported on MS Windows.
3512 PBM and XBM images are supported out of the box. Other image formats
3513 depend on external libraries. All of these libraries have been ported
3514 to Windows, and can be found in both source and binary form at
3515 http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/. Note that libpng also depends on
3516 zlib, and tiff depends on the version of jpeg that it was compiled
3517 against. For additional information, see nt/INSTALL.
3520 ** Sound is now supported on MS Windows.
3522 WAV format is supported on all versions of Windows, other formats such
3523 as AU, AIFF and MP3 may be supported in the more recent versions of
3524 Windows, or when other software provides hooks into the system level
3525 sound support for those formats.
3528 ** Different shaped mouse pointers are supported on MS Windows.
3530 The mouse pointer changes shape depending on what is under the pointer.
3533 ** Pointing devices with more than 3 buttons are now supported on MS Windows.
3535 The new variable `w32-pass-extra-mouse-buttons-to-system' controls
3536 whether Emacs should handle the extra buttons itself (the default), or
3537 pass them to Windows to be handled with system-wide functions.
3540 ** Emacs takes note of colors defined in Control Panel on MS-Windows.
3542 The Control Panel defines some default colors for applications in much
3543 the same way as wildcard X Resources do on X. Emacs now adds these
3544 colors to the colormap prefixed by System (eg SystemMenu for the
3545 default Menu background, SystemMenuText for the foreground), and uses
3546 some of them to initialize some of the default faces.
3547 `list-colors-display' shows the list of System color names, in case
3548 you wish to use them in other faces.
3551 ** On MS Windows NT/W2K/XP, Emacs uses Unicode for clipboard operations.
3553 Those systems use Unicode internally, so this allows Emacs to share
3554 multilingual text with other applications. On other versions of
3555 MS Windows, Emacs now uses the appropriate locale coding-system, so
3556 the clipboard should work correctly for your local language without
3560 ** Running in a console window in Windows now uses the console size.
3562 Previous versions of Emacs erred on the side of having a usable Emacs
3563 through telnet, even though that was inconvenient if you use Emacs in
3564 a local console window with a scrollback buffer. The default value of
3565 w32-use-full-screen-buffer is now nil, which favors local console
3566 windows. Recent versions of Windows telnet also work well with this
3567 setting. If you are using an older telnet server then Emacs detects
3568 that the console window dimensions that are reported are not sane, and
3569 defaults to 80x25. If you use such a telnet server regularly at a size
3570 other than 80x25, you can still manually set
3571 w32-use-full-screen-buffer to t.
3574 ** On Mac OS, `keyboard-coding-system' changes based on the keyboard script.
3577 ** The variable `mac-keyboard-text-encoding' and the constants
3578 `kTextEncodingMacRoman', `kTextEncodingISOLatin1', and
3579 `kTextEncodingISOLatin2' are obsolete.
3581 ** The variable `mac-command-key-is-meta' is obsolete. Use
3582 `mac-command-modifier' and `mac-option-modifier' instead.
3584 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 22.1
3586 ** The function find-operation-coding-system accepts a cons (FILENAME
3587 . BUFFER) in an argument correponding to the target.
3590 ** The variables post-command-idle-hook and post-command-idle-delay have
3591 been removed. Use run-with-idle-timer instead.
3594 ** `suppress-keymap' now works by remapping `self-insert-command' to
3595 the command `undefined'. (In earlier Emacs versions, it used
3596 `substitute-key-definition' to rebind self inserting characters to
3600 ** Mode line display ignores text properties as well as the
3601 :propertize and :eval forms in the value of a variable whose
3602 `risky-local-variable' property is nil.
3605 The function `comint-send-input' now accepts 3 optional arguments:
3607 (comint-send-input &optional no-newline artificial)
3609 Callers sending input not from the user should use bind the 3rd
3610 argument `artificial' to a non-nil value, to prevent Emacs from
3611 deleting the part of subprocess output that matches the input.
3614 ** Support for Mocklisp has been removed.
3617 ** The variable `memory-full' now remains t until
3618 there is no longer a shortage of memory.
3621 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 22.1
3623 ** General Lisp changes:
3625 *** The function `expt' handles negative exponents differently.
3626 The value for `(expt A B)', if both A and B are integers and B is
3627 negative, is now a float. For example: (expt 2 -2) => 0.25.
3630 *** The function `eql' is now available without requiring the CL package.
3633 *** `makehash' is now obsolete. Use `make-hash-table' instead.
3636 *** `add-to-list' takes an optional third argument, APPEND.
3638 If APPEND is non-nil, the new element gets added at the end of the
3639 list instead of at the beginning. This change actually occurred in
3640 Emacs 21.1, but was not documented then.
3643 *** New function `add-to-ordered-list' is like `add-to-list' but
3644 associates a numeric ordering of each element added to the list.
3647 *** New function `copy-tree' makes a copy of a tree.
3649 It recursively copies through both CARs and CDRs.
3652 *** New function `delete-dups' deletes `equal' duplicate elements from a list.
3654 It modifies the list destructively, like `delete'. Of several `equal'
3655 occurrences of an element in the list, the one that's kept is the
3659 *** New function `add-to-history' adds an element to a history list.
3661 Lisp packages should use this function to add elements to their
3664 If `history-delete-duplicates' is non-nil, it removes duplicates of
3665 the new element from the history list it updates.
3668 *** New function `rassq-delete-all'.
3670 (rassq-delete-all VALUE ALIST) deletes, from ALIST, each element whose
3671 CDR is `eq' to the specified value.
3674 *** The function `number-sequence' makes a list of equally-separated numbers.
3676 For instance, (number-sequence 4 9) returns (4 5 6 7 8 9). By
3677 default, the separation is 1, but you can specify a different
3678 separation as the third argument. (number-sequence 1.5 6 2) returns
3682 *** New variables `most-positive-fixnum' and `most-negative-fixnum'.
3684 They hold the largest and smallest possible integer values.
3687 *** Minor change in the function `format'.
3689 Some flags that were accepted but not implemented (such as "*") are no
3693 *** Functions `get' and `plist-get' no longer give errors for bad plists.
3695 They return nil for a malformed property list or if the list is
3699 *** New functions `lax-plist-get' and `lax-plist-put'.
3701 They are like `plist-get' and `plist-put', except that they compare
3702 the property name using `equal' rather than `eq'.
3705 *** New variable `print-continuous-numbering'.
3707 When this is non-nil, successive calls to print functions use a single
3708 numbering scheme for circular structure references. This is only
3709 relevant when `print-circle' is non-nil.
3711 When you bind `print-continuous-numbering' to t, you should
3712 also bind `print-number-table' to nil.
3715 *** New function `macroexpand-all' expands all macros in a form.
3717 It is similar to the Common-Lisp function of the same name.
3718 One difference is that it guarantees to return the original argument
3719 if no expansion is done, which can be tested using `eq'.
3722 *** The function `atan' now accepts an optional second argument.
3724 When called with 2 arguments, as in `(atan Y X)', `atan' returns the
3725 angle in radians between the vector [X, Y] and the X axis. (This is
3726 equivalent to the standard C library function `atan2'.)
3729 *** A function or macro's doc string can now specify the calling pattern.
3731 You put this info in the doc string's last line. It should be
3732 formatted so as to match the regexp "\n\n(fn .*)\\'". If you don't
3733 specify this explicitly, Emacs determines it from the actual argument
3734 names. Usually that default is right, but not always.
3737 *** New macro `with-local-quit' temporarily allows quitting.
3739 A quit inside the body of `with-local-quit' is caught by the
3740 `with-local-quit' form itself, but another quit will happen later once
3741 the code that has inhibited quitting exits.
3743 This is for use around potentially blocking or long-running code
3744 inside timer functions and `post-command-hook' functions.
3747 *** New macro `define-obsolete-function-alias'.
3749 This combines `defalias' and `make-obsolete'.
3752 *** New function `unsafep' determines whether a Lisp form is safe.
3754 It returns nil if the given Lisp form can't possibly do anything
3755 dangerous; otherwise it returns a reason why the form might be unsafe
3756 (calls unknown function, alters global variable, etc.).
3759 *** New macro `eval-at-startup' specifies expressions to
3760 evaluate when Emacs starts up. If this is done after startup,
3761 it evaluates those expressions immediately.
3763 This is useful in packages that can be preloaded.
3765 *** `list-faces-display' takes an optional argument, REGEXP.
3767 If it is non-nil, the function lists only faces matching this regexp.
3770 *** New functions `string-or-null-p' and `booleanp'.
3772 `string-or-null-p' returns non-nil iff OBJECT is a string or nil.
3773 `booleanp' returns non-nil iff OBJECT is a t or nil.
3775 ** Lisp code indentation features:
3778 *** The `defmacro' form can contain indentation and edebug declarations.
3780 These declarations specify how to indent the macro calls in Lisp mode
3781 and how to debug them with Edebug. You write them like this:
3783 (defmacro NAME LAMBDA-LIST [DOC-STRING] [DECLARATION ...] ...)
3785 DECLARATION is a list `(declare DECLARATION-SPECIFIER ...)'. The
3786 possible declaration specifiers are:
3789 Set NAME's `lisp-indent-function' property to INDENT.
3792 Set NAME's `edebug-form-spec' property to DEBUG. (This is
3793 equivalent to writing a `def-edebug-spec' for the macro,
3794 but this is cleaner.)
3797 *** cl-indent now allows customization of Indentation of backquoted forms.
3799 See the new user option `lisp-backquote-indentation'.
3802 *** cl-indent now handles indentation of simple and extended `loop' forms.
3804 The new user options `lisp-loop-keyword-indentation',
3805 `lisp-loop-forms-indentation', and `lisp-simple-loop-indentation' can
3806 be used to customize the indentation of keywords and forms in loop
3810 ** Variable aliases:
3812 *** New function: defvaralias ALIAS-VAR BASE-VAR [DOCSTRING]
3814 This function defines the symbol ALIAS-VAR as a variable alias for
3815 symbol BASE-VAR. This means that retrieving the value of ALIAS-VAR
3816 returns the value of BASE-VAR, and changing the value of ALIAS-VAR
3817 changes the value of BASE-VAR.
3819 DOCSTRING, if present, is the documentation for ALIAS-VAR; else it has
3820 the same documentation as BASE-VAR.
3822 *** New function: indirect-variable VARIABLE
3824 This function returns the variable at the end of the chain of aliases
3825 of VARIABLE. If VARIABLE is not a symbol, or if VARIABLE is not
3826 defined as an alias, the function returns VARIABLE.
3828 It might be noteworthy that variables aliases work for all kinds of
3829 variables, including buffer-local and frame-local variables.
3832 *** The macro `define-obsolete-variable-alias' combines `defvaralias' and
3833 `make-obsolete-variable'.
3835 ** defcustom changes:
3838 *** The package-version keyword has been added to provide
3839 `customize-changed-options' functionality to packages in the future.
3840 Developers who make use of this keyword must also update the new
3841 variable `customize-package-emacs-version-alist'.
3844 *** The new customization type `float' requires a floating point number.
3849 *** The escape sequence \s is now interpreted as a SPACE character.
3851 Exception: In a character constant, if it is followed by a `-' in a
3852 character constant (e.g. ?\s-A), it is still interpreted as the super
3853 modifier. In strings, \s is always interpreted as a space.
3856 *** A hex escape in a string constant forces the string to be multibyte.
3859 *** An octal escape in a string constant forces the string to be unibyte.
3862 *** `split-string' now includes null substrings in the returned list if
3863 the optional argument SEPARATORS is non-nil and there are matches for
3864 SEPARATORS at the beginning or end of the string. If SEPARATORS is
3865 nil, or if the new optional third argument OMIT-NULLS is non-nil, all
3866 empty matches are omitted from the returned list.
3869 *** New function `string-to-multibyte' converts a unibyte string to a
3870 multibyte string with the same individual character codes.
3873 *** New function `substring-no-properties' returns a substring without
3877 *** The new function `assoc-string' replaces `assoc-ignore-case' and
3878 `assoc-ignore-representation', which are still available, but have
3879 been declared obsolete.
3882 ** Displaying warnings to the user.
3884 See the functions `warn' and `display-warning', or the Lisp Manual.
3885 If you want to be sure the warning will not be overlooked, this
3886 facility is much better than using `message', since it displays
3887 warnings in a separate window.
3890 ** Progress reporters.
3892 These provide a simple and uniform way for commands to present
3893 progress messages for the user.
3895 See the new functions `make-progress-reporter',
3896 `progress-reporter-update', `progress-reporter-force-update',
3897 `progress-reporter-done', and `dotimes-with-progress-reporter'.
3899 ** Buffer positions:
3902 *** Function `compute-motion' now calculates the usable window
3903 width if the WIDTH argument is nil. If the TOPOS argument is nil,
3904 the usable window height and width is used.
3907 *** The `line-move', `scroll-up', and `scroll-down' functions will now
3908 modify the window vscroll to scroll through display rows that are
3909 taller that the height of the window, for example in the presence of
3910 large images. To disable this feature, bind the new variable
3911 `auto-window-vscroll' to nil.
3914 *** The argument to `forward-word', `backward-word' is optional.
3919 *** Argument to `forward-to-indentation' and `backward-to-indentation' is optional.
3924 *** New function `mouse-on-link-p' tests if a position is in a clickable link.
3926 This is the function used by the new `mouse-1-click-follows-link'
3930 *** New function `line-number-at-pos' returns the line number of a position.
3932 It an optional buffer position argument that defaults to point.
3935 *** `field-beginning' and `field-end' take new optional argument, LIMIT.
3937 This argument tells them not to search beyond LIMIT. Instead they
3938 give up and return LIMIT.
3941 *** Function `pos-visible-in-window-p' now returns the pixel coordinates
3942 and partial visibility state of the corresponding row, if the PARTIALLY
3946 *** New functions `posn-at-point' and `posn-at-x-y' return
3947 click-event-style position information for a given visible buffer
3948 position or for a given window pixel coordinate.
3950 ** Text modification:
3953 *** The new function `insert-for-yank' normally works like `insert', but
3954 removes the text properties in the `yank-excluded-properties' list
3955 and handles the `yank-handler' text property.
3958 *** The new function `insert-buffer-substring-as-yank' is like
3959 `insert-for-yank' except that it gets the text from another buffer as
3960 in `insert-buffer-substring'.
3963 *** The new function `insert-buffer-substring-no-properties' is like
3964 `insert-buffer-substring', but removes all text properties from the
3968 *** The new function `filter-buffer-substring' extracts a buffer
3969 substring, passes it through a set of filter functions, and returns
3970 the filtered substring. Use it instead of `buffer-substring' or
3971 `delete-and-extract-region' when copying text into a user-accessible
3972 data structure, such as the kill-ring, X clipboard, or a register.
3974 The list of filter function is specified by the new variable
3975 `buffer-substring-filters'. For example, Longlines mode adds to
3976 `buffer-substring-filters' to remove soft newlines from the copied
3980 *** Function `translate-region' accepts also a char-table as TABLE
3984 *** The new translation table `translation-table-for-input'
3985 is used for customizing self-insertion. The character to
3986 be inserted is translated through it.
3991 The new function `text-clone-create'. Text clones are chunks of text
3992 that are kept identical by transparently propagating changes from one
3996 *** The function `insert-string' is now obsolete.
4001 *** In determining an adaptive fill prefix, Emacs now tries the function in
4002 `adaptive-fill-function' _before_ matching the buffer line against
4003 `adaptive-fill-regexp' rather than _after_ it.
4006 ** Atomic change groups.
4008 To perform some changes in the current buffer "atomically" so that
4009 they either all succeed or are all undone, use `atomic-change-group'
4010 around the code that makes changes. For instance:
4012 (atomic-change-group
4014 (delete-region x y))
4016 If an error (or other nonlocal exit) occurs inside the body of
4017 `atomic-change-group', it unmakes all the changes in that buffer that
4018 were during the execution of the body. The change group has no effect
4019 on any other buffers--any such changes remain.
4021 If you need something more sophisticated, you can directly call the
4022 lower-level functions that `atomic-change-group' uses. Here is how.
4024 To set up a change group for one buffer, call `prepare-change-group'.
4025 Specify the buffer as argument; it defaults to the current buffer.
4026 This function returns a "handle" for the change group. You must save
4027 the handle to activate the change group and then finish it.
4029 Before you change the buffer again, you must activate the change
4030 group. Pass the handle to `activate-change-group' afterward to
4033 After you make the changes, you must finish the change group. You can
4034 either accept the changes or cancel them all. Call
4035 `accept-change-group' to accept the changes in the group as final;
4036 call `cancel-change-group' to undo them all.
4038 You should use `unwind-protect' to make sure the group is always
4039 finished. The call to `activate-change-group' should be inside the
4040 `unwind-protect', in case the user types C-g just after it runs.
4041 (This is one reason why `prepare-change-group' and
4042 `activate-change-group' are separate functions.) Once you finish the
4043 group, don't use the handle again--don't try to finish the same group
4046 To make a multibuffer change group, call `prepare-change-group' once
4047 for each buffer you want to cover, then use `nconc' to combine the
4048 returned values, like this:
4050 (nconc (prepare-change-group buffer-1)
4051 (prepare-change-group buffer-2))
4053 You can then activate the multibuffer change group with a single call
4054 to `activate-change-group', and finish it with a single call to
4055 `accept-change-group' or `cancel-change-group'.
4057 Nested use of several change groups for the same buffer works as you
4058 would expect. Non-nested use of change groups for the same buffer
4059 will lead to undesirable results, so don't let it happen; the first
4060 change group you start for any given buffer should be the last one
4063 ** Buffer-related changes:
4066 *** `list-buffers-noselect' now takes an additional argument, BUFFER-LIST.
4068 If it is non-nil, it specifies which buffers to list.
4071 *** `kill-buffer-hook' is now a permanent local.
4074 *** The new function `buffer-local-value' returns the buffer-local
4075 binding of VARIABLE (a symbol) in buffer BUFFER. If VARIABLE does not
4076 have a buffer-local binding in buffer BUFFER, it returns the default
4077 value of VARIABLE instead.
4079 *** The function `frame-or-buffer-changed-p' now lets you maintain
4080 various status records in parallel.
4082 It takes a variable (a symbol) as argument. If the variable is non-nil,
4083 then its value should be a vector installed previously by
4084 `frame-or-buffer-changed-p'. If the frame names, buffer names, buffer
4085 order, or their read-only or modified flags have changed, since the
4086 time the vector's contents were recorded by a previous call to
4087 `frame-or-buffer-changed-p', then the function returns t. Otherwise
4090 On the first call to `frame-or-buffer-changed-p', the variable's
4091 value should be nil. `frame-or-buffer-changed-p' stores a suitable
4092 vector into the variable and returns t.
4094 If the variable is itself nil, then `frame-or-buffer-changed-p' uses,
4095 for compatibility, an internal variable which exists only for this
4099 *** The function `read-buffer' follows the convention for reading from
4100 the minibuffer with a default value: if DEF is non-nil, the minibuffer
4101 prompt provided in PROMPT is edited to show the default value provided
4102 in DEF before the terminal colon and space.
4104 ** Searching and matching changes:
4107 *** New function `looking-back' checks whether a regular expression matches
4108 the text before point. Specifying the LIMIT argument bounds how far
4109 back the match can start; this is a way to keep it from taking too long.
4112 *** The new variable `search-spaces-regexp' controls how to search
4113 for spaces in a regular expression. If it is non-nil, it should be a
4114 regular expression, and any series of spaces stands for that regular
4115 expression. If it is nil, spaces stand for themselves.
4117 Spaces inside of constructs such as `[..]' and inside loops such as
4118 `*', `+', and `?' are never replaced with `search-spaces-regexp'.
4121 *** New regular expression operators, `\_<' and `\_>'.
4123 These match the beginning and end of a symbol. A symbol is a
4124 non-empty sequence of either word or symbol constituent characters, as
4125 specified by the syntax table.
4128 *** rx.el has new corresponding `symbol-end' and `symbol-start' elements.
4131 *** `skip-chars-forward' and `skip-chars-backward' now handle
4132 character classes such as `[:alpha:]', along with individual
4133 characters and ranges.
4136 *** In `replace-match', the replacement text no longer inherits
4137 properties from surrounding text.
4140 *** The list returned by `(match-data t)' now has the buffer as a final
4141 element, if the last match was on a buffer. `set-match-data'
4142 accepts such a list for restoring the match state.
4145 *** Functions `match-data' and `set-match-data' now have an optional
4146 argument `reseat'. When non-nil, all markers in the match data list
4147 passed to these functions will be reseated to point to nowhere.
4150 *** The default value of `sentence-end' is now defined using the new
4151 variable `sentence-end-without-space', which contains such characters
4152 that end a sentence without following spaces.
4154 The function `sentence-end' should be used to obtain the value of the
4155 variable `sentence-end'. If the variable `sentence-end' is nil, then
4156 this function returns the regexp constructed from the variables
4157 `sentence-end-without-period', `sentence-end-double-space' and
4158 `sentence-end-without-space'.
4163 *** `buffer-undo-list' can allows programmable elements.
4165 These elements have the form (apply FUNNAME . ARGS), where FUNNAME is
4166 a symbol other than t or nil. That stands for a high-level change
4167 that should be undone by evaluating (apply FUNNAME ARGS).
4169 These entries can also have the form (apply DELTA BEG END FUNNAME . ARGS)
4170 which indicates that the change which took place was limited to the
4171 range BEG...END and increased the buffer size by DELTA.
4174 *** If the buffer's undo list for the current command gets longer than
4175 `undo-outer-limit', garbage collection empties it. This is to prevent
4176 it from using up the available memory and choking Emacs.
4179 ** New `yank-handler' text property can be used to control how
4180 previously killed text on the kill ring is reinserted.
4182 The value of the `yank-handler' property must be a list with one to four
4183 elements with the following format:
4184 (FUNCTION PARAM NOEXCLUDE UNDO).
4186 The `insert-for-yank' function looks for a yank-handler property on
4187 the first character on its string argument (typically the first
4188 element on the kill-ring). If a `yank-handler' property is found,
4189 the normal behavior of `insert-for-yank' is modified in various ways:
4191 When FUNCTION is present and non-nil, it is called instead of `insert'
4192 to insert the string. FUNCTION takes one argument--the object to insert.
4193 If PARAM is present and non-nil, it replaces STRING as the object
4194 passed to FUNCTION (or `insert'); for example, if FUNCTION is
4195 `yank-rectangle', PARAM should be a list of strings to insert as a
4197 If NOEXCLUDE is present and non-nil, the normal removal of the
4198 `yank-excluded-properties' is not performed; instead FUNCTION is
4199 responsible for removing those properties. This may be necessary
4200 if FUNCTION adjusts point before or after inserting the object.
4201 If UNDO is present and non-nil, it is a function that will be called
4202 by `yank-pop' to undo the insertion of the current object. It is
4203 called with two arguments, the start and end of the current region.
4204 FUNCTION can set `yank-undo-function' to override the UNDO value.
4206 *** The functions `kill-new', `kill-append', and `kill-region' now have an
4207 optional argument to specify the `yank-handler' text property to put on
4210 *** The function `yank-pop' will now use a non-nil value of the variable
4211 `yank-undo-function' (instead of `delete-region') to undo the previous
4212 `yank' or `yank-pop' command (or a call to `insert-for-yank'). The function
4213 `insert-for-yank' automatically sets that variable according to the UNDO
4214 element of the string argument's `yank-handler' text property if present.
4216 *** The function `insert-for-yank' now supports strings where the
4217 `yank-handler' property does not span the first character of the
4218 string. The old behavior is available if you call
4219 `insert-for-yank-1' instead.
4221 ** Syntax table changes:
4224 *** The macro `with-syntax-table' no longer copies the syntax table.
4227 *** The new function `syntax-after' returns the syntax code
4228 of the character after a specified buffer position, taking account
4229 of text properties as well as the character code.
4232 *** `syntax-class' extracts the class of a syntax code (as returned
4236 *** The new function `syntax-ppss' provides an efficient way to find the
4237 current syntactic context at point.
4239 ** File operation changes:
4242 *** New vars `exec-suffixes' and `load-suffixes' used when
4243 searching for an executable or an Emacs Lisp file.
4246 *** The new primitive `set-file-times' sets a file's access and
4247 modification times. Magic file name handlers can handle this
4251 *** The new function `file-remote-p' tests a file name and returns
4252 non-nil if it specifies a remote file (one that Emacs accesses using
4253 its own special methods and not directly through the file system).
4254 The value in that case is an identifier for the remote file system.
4257 *** `buffer-auto-save-file-format' is the new name for what was
4258 formerly called `auto-save-file-format'. It is now a permanent local.
4261 *** Functions `file-name-sans-extension' and `file-name-extension' now
4262 ignore the leading dots in file names, so that file names such as
4263 `.emacs' are treated as extensionless.
4266 *** `visited-file-modtime' and `calendar-time-from-absolute' now return
4267 a list of two integers, instead of a cons.
4270 *** `file-chase-links' now takes an optional second argument LIMIT which
4271 specifies the maximum number of links to chase through. If after that
4272 many iterations the file name obtained is still a symbolic link,
4273 `file-chase-links' returns it anyway.
4276 *** The new hook `before-save-hook' is invoked by `basic-save-buffer'
4277 before saving buffers. This allows packages to perform various final
4278 tasks. For example, it can be used by the copyright package to make
4279 sure saved files have the current year in any copyright headers.
4282 *** If `buffer-save-without-query' is non-nil in some buffer,
4283 `save-some-buffers' will always save that buffer without asking (if
4287 *** New function `locate-file' searches for a file in a list of directories.
4288 `locate-file' accepts a name of a file to search (a string), and two
4289 lists: a list of directories to search in and a list of suffixes to
4290 try; typical usage might use `exec-path' and `load-path' for the list
4291 of directories, and `exec-suffixes' and `load-suffixes' for the list
4292 of suffixes. The function also accepts a predicate argument to
4293 further filter candidate files.
4295 One advantage of using this function is that the list of suffixes in
4296 `exec-suffixes' is OS-dependant, so this function will find
4297 executables without polluting Lisp code with OS dependencies.
4300 *** The precedence of file name handlers has been changed.
4302 Instead of choosing the first handler that matches,
4303 `find-file-name-handler' now gives precedence to a file name handler
4304 that matches nearest the end of the file name. More precisely, the
4305 handler whose (match-beginning 0) is the largest is chosen. In case
4306 of ties, the old "first matched" rule applies.
4309 *** A file name handler can declare which operations it handles.
4311 You do this by putting an `operation' property on the handler name
4312 symbol. The property value should be a list of the operations that
4313 the handler really handles. It won't be called for any other
4316 This is useful for autoloaded handlers, to prevent them from being
4317 autoloaded when not really necessary.
4320 *** The function `make-auto-save-file-name' is now handled by file
4321 name handlers. This will be exploited for remote files mainly.
4326 *** An interactive specification can now use the code letter 'U' to get
4327 the up-event that was discarded in case the last key sequence read for a
4328 previous `k' or `K' argument was a down-event; otherwise nil is used.
4331 *** The new interactive-specification `G' reads a file name
4332 much like `F', but if the input is a directory name (even defaulted),
4333 it returns just the directory name.
4336 *** Functions `y-or-n-p', `read-char', `read-key-sequence' and the like, that
4337 display a prompt but don't use the minibuffer, now display the prompt
4338 using the text properties (esp. the face) of the prompt string.
4341 *** (while-no-input BODY...) runs BODY, but only so long as no input
4342 arrives. If the user types or clicks anything, BODY stops as if a
4343 quit had occurred. `while-no-input' returns the value of BODY, if BODY
4344 finishes. It returns nil if BODY was aborted by a quit, and t if
4345 BODY was aborted by arrival of input.
4347 ** Minibuffer changes:
4350 *** The new function `minibufferp' returns non-nil if its optional
4351 buffer argument is a minibuffer. If the argument is omitted, it
4352 defaults to the current buffer.
4355 *** New function `minibuffer-selected-window' returns the window which
4356 was selected when entering the minibuffer.
4359 *** The `read-file-name' function now takes an additional argument which
4360 specifies a predicate which the file name read must satisfy. The
4361 new variable `read-file-name-predicate' contains the predicate argument
4362 while reading the file name from the minibuffer; the predicate in this
4363 variable is used by read-file-name-internal to filter the completion list.
4366 *** The new variable `read-file-name-function' can be used by Lisp code
4367 to override the built-in `read-file-name' function.
4370 *** The new variable `read-file-name-completion-ignore-case' specifies
4371 whether completion ignores case when reading a file name with the
4372 `read-file-name' function.
4375 *** The new function `read-directory-name' is for reading a directory name.
4377 It is like `read-file-name' except that the defaulting works better
4378 for directories, and completion inside it shows only directories.
4381 *** The new variable `history-add-new-input' specifies whether to add new
4382 elements in history. If set to nil, minibuffer reading functions don't
4383 add new elements to the history list, so it is possible to do this
4384 afterwards by calling `add-to-history' explicitly.
4386 ** Completion changes:
4389 *** The new function `minibuffer-completion-contents' returns the contents
4390 of the minibuffer just before point. That is what completion commands
4394 *** The functions `all-completions' and `try-completion' now accept lists
4395 of strings as well as hash-tables additionally to alists, obarrays
4396 and functions. Furthermore, the function `test-completion' is now
4397 exported to Lisp. The keys in alists and hash tables can be either
4398 strings or symbols, which are automatically converted with to strings.
4401 *** The new macro `dynamic-completion-table' supports using functions
4402 as a dynamic completion table.
4404 (dynamic-completion-table FUN)
4406 FUN is called with one argument, the string for which completion is required,
4407 and it should return an alist containing all the intended possible
4408 completions. This alist can be a full list of possible completions so that FUN
4409 can ignore the value of its argument. If completion is performed in the
4410 minibuffer, FUN will be called in the buffer from which the minibuffer was
4411 entered. `dynamic-completion-table' then computes the completion.
4414 *** The new macro `lazy-completion-table' initializes a variable
4415 as a lazy completion table.
4417 (lazy-completion-table VAR FUN)
4419 If the completion table VAR is used for the first time (e.g., by passing VAR
4420 as an argument to `try-completion'), the function FUN is called with no
4421 arguments. FUN must return the completion table that will be stored in VAR.
4422 If completion is requested in the minibuffer, FUN will be called in the buffer
4423 from which the minibuffer was entered. The return value of
4424 `lazy-completion-table' must be used to initialize the value of VAR.
4427 ** Enhancements to keymaps.
4429 *** New keymaps for typing file names
4431 Two new keymaps, `minibuffer-local-filename-completion-map' and
4432 `minibuffer-local-must-match-filename-map', apply whenever
4433 Emacs reads a file name in the minibuffer. These key maps override
4434 the usual binding of SPC to `minibuffer-complete-word' (so that file
4435 names with embedded spaces could be typed without the need to quote
4438 *** Cleaner way to enter key sequences.
4440 You can enter a constant key sequence in a more natural format, the
4441 same one used for saving keyboard macros, using the macro `kbd'. For
4444 (kbd "C-x C-f") => "\^x\^f"
4446 *** Interactive commands can be remapped through keymaps.
4448 This is an alternative to using `defadvice' or `substitute-key-definition'
4449 to modify the behavior of a key binding using the normal keymap
4450 binding and lookup functionality.
4452 When a key sequence is bound to a command, and that command is
4453 remapped to another command, that command is run instead of the
4457 Suppose that minor mode `my-mode' has defined the commands
4458 `my-kill-line' and `my-kill-word', and it wants C-k (and any other key
4459 bound to `kill-line') to run the command `my-kill-line' instead of
4460 `kill-line', and likewise it wants to run `my-kill-word' instead of
4463 Instead of rebinding C-k and the other keys in the minor mode map,
4464 command remapping allows you to directly map `kill-line' into
4465 `my-kill-line' and `kill-word' into `my-kill-word' using `define-key':
4467 (define-key my-mode-map [remap kill-line] 'my-kill-line)
4468 (define-key my-mode-map [remap kill-word] 'my-kill-word)
4470 When `my-mode' is enabled, its minor mode keymap is enabled too. So
4471 when the user types C-k, that runs the command `my-kill-line'.
4473 Only one level of remapping is supported. In the above example, this
4474 means that if `my-kill-line' is remapped to `other-kill', then C-k still
4475 runs `my-kill-line'.
4477 The following changes have been made to provide command remapping:
4479 - Command remappings are defined using `define-key' with a prefix-key
4480 `remap', i.e. `(define-key MAP [remap CMD] DEF)' remaps command CMD
4481 to definition DEF in keymap MAP. The definition is not limited to
4482 another command; it can be anything accepted for a normal binding.
4484 - The new function `command-remapping' returns the binding for a
4485 remapped command in the current keymaps, or nil if not remapped.
4487 - `key-binding' now remaps interactive commands unless the optional
4488 third argument NO-REMAP is non-nil.
4490 - `where-is-internal' now returns nil for a remapped command (e.g.
4491 `kill-line', when `my-mode' is enabled), and the actual key binding for
4492 the command it is remapped to (e.g. C-k for my-kill-line).
4493 It also has a new optional fifth argument, NO-REMAP, which inhibits
4494 remapping if non-nil (e.g. it returns "C-k" for `kill-line', and
4495 "<kill-line>" for `my-kill-line').
4497 - The new variable `this-original-command' contains the original
4498 command before remapping. It is equal to `this-command' when the
4499 command was not remapped.
4501 *** If text has a `keymap' property, that keymap takes precedence
4502 over minor mode keymaps.
4504 *** The `keymap' property now also works at the ends of overlays and
4505 text properties, according to their stickiness. This also means that it
4506 works with empty overlays. The same hold for the `local-map' property.
4508 *** Dense keymaps now handle inheritance correctly.
4510 Previously a dense keymap would hide all of the simple-char key
4511 bindings of the parent keymap.
4513 *** `define-key-after' now accepts keys longer than 1.
4515 *** New function `current-active-maps' returns a list of currently
4518 *** New function `describe-buffer-bindings' inserts the list of all
4519 defined keys and their definitions.
4521 *** New function `keymap-prompt' returns the prompt string of a keymap.
4523 *** (map-keymap FUNCTION KEYMAP) applies the function to each binding
4526 *** New variable `emulation-mode-map-alists'.
4528 Lisp packages using many minor mode keymaps can now maintain their own
4529 keymap alist separate from `minor-mode-map-alist' by adding their
4530 keymap alist to this list.
4535 *** The new function `copy-abbrev-table' copies an abbrev table.
4537 It returns a new abbrev table that is a copy of a given abbrev table.
4540 *** `define-abbrev' now accepts an optional argument SYSTEM-FLAG.
4542 If non-nil, this marks the abbrev as a "system" abbrev, which means
4543 that it won't be stored in the user's abbrevs file if he saves the
4544 abbrevs. Major modes that predefine some abbrevs should always
4548 ** Enhancements to process support
4550 *** Function `list-processes' now has an optional argument; if non-nil,
4551 it lists only the processes whose query-on-exit flag is set.
4553 *** New fns `set-process-query-on-exit-flag' and `process-query-on-exit-flag'.
4555 These replace the old function `process-kill-without-query'. That
4556 function is still supported, but new code should use the new
4559 *** Function `signal-process' now accepts a process object or process
4560 name in addition to a process id to identify the signaled process.
4562 *** Processes now have an associated property list where programs can
4563 maintain process state and other per-process related information.
4565 Use the new functions `process-get' and `process-put' to access, add,
4566 and modify elements on this property list. Use the new functions
4567 `process-plist' and `set-process-plist' to access and replace the
4568 entire property list of a process.
4570 *** Function `accept-process-output' has a new optional fourth arg
4571 JUST-THIS-ONE. If non-nil, only output from the specified process
4572 is handled, suspending output from other processes. If value is an
4573 integer, also inhibit running timers. This feature is generally not
4574 recommended, but may be necessary for specific applications, such as
4577 *** Adaptive read buffering of subprocess output.
4579 On some systems, when emacs reads the output from a subprocess, the
4580 output data is read in very small blocks, potentially resulting in
4581 very poor performance. This behavior can be remedied to some extent
4582 by setting the new variable `process-adaptive-read-buffering' to a
4583 non-nil value (the default), as it will automatically delay reading
4584 from such processes, allowing them to produce more output before
4585 emacs tries to read it.
4587 *** The new function `call-process-shell-command'.
4589 This executes a shell command synchronously in a separate process.
4591 *** The new function `process-file' is similar to `call-process', but
4592 obeys file handlers. The file handler is chosen based on
4593 `default-directory'.
4595 *** A process filter function gets the output as multibyte string
4596 if the process specifies t for its filter's multibyteness.
4598 That multibyteness is decided by the value of
4599 `default-enable-multibyte-characters' when the process is created, and
4600 you can change it later with `set-process-filter-multibyte'.
4602 *** The new function `set-process-filter-multibyte' sets the
4603 multibyteness of the strings passed to the process's filter.
4605 *** The new function `process-filter-multibyte-p' returns the
4606 multibyteness of the strings passed to the process's filter.
4608 *** If a process's coding system is `raw-text' or `no-conversion' and its
4609 buffer is multibyte, the output of the process is at first converted
4610 to multibyte by `string-to-multibyte' then inserted in the buffer.
4611 Previously, it was converted to multibyte by `string-as-multibyte',
4612 which was not compatible with the behavior of file reading.
4615 ** Enhanced networking support.
4617 *** The new `make-network-process' function makes network connections.
4618 It allows opening of stream and datagram connections to a server, as well as
4619 create a stream or datagram server inside emacs.
4621 - A server is started using :server t arg.
4622 - Datagram connection is selected using :type 'datagram arg.
4623 - A server can open on a random port using :service t arg.
4624 - Local sockets are supported using :family 'local arg.
4625 - IPv6 is supported (when available). You may explicitly select IPv6
4626 using :family 'ipv6 arg.
4627 - Non-blocking connect is supported using :nowait t arg.
4628 - The process' property list can be initialized using :plist PLIST arg;
4629 a copy of the server process' property list is automatically inherited
4630 by new client processes created to handle incoming connections.
4632 To test for the availability of a given feature, use featurep like this:
4633 (featurep 'make-network-process '(:type datagram))
4634 (featurep 'make-network-process '(:family ipv6))
4636 *** The old `open-network-stream' now uses `make-network-process'.
4638 *** New functions `process-datagram-address', `set-process-datagram-address'.
4640 These functions are used with datagram-based network processes to get
4641 and set the current address of the remote partner.
4643 *** New function `format-network-address'.
4645 This function reformats the Lisp representation of a network address
4646 to a printable string. For example, an IP address A.B.C.D and port
4647 number P is represented as a five element vector [A B C D P], and the
4648 printable string returned for this vector is "A.B.C.D:P". See the doc
4649 string for other formatting options.
4651 *** `process-contact' has an optional KEY argument.
4653 Depending on this argument, you can get the complete list of network
4654 process properties or a specific property. Using :local or :remote as
4655 the KEY, you get the address of the local or remote end-point.
4657 An Inet address is represented as a 5 element vector, where the first
4658 4 elements contain the IP address and the fifth is the port number.
4660 *** New functions `stop-process' and `continue-process'.
4662 These functions stop and restart communication through a network
4663 connection. For a server process, no connections are accepted in the
4664 stopped state. For a client process, no input is received in the
4667 *** New function `network-interface-list'.
4669 This function returns a list of network interface names and their
4670 current network addresses.
4672 *** New function `network-interface-info'.
4674 This function returns the network address, hardware address, current
4675 status, and other information about a specific network interface.
4677 *** Deleting a network process with `delete-process' calls the sentinel.
4679 The status message passed to the sentinel for a deleted network
4680 process is "deleted". The message passed to the sentinel when the
4681 connection is closed by the remote peer has been changed to
4682 "connection broken by remote peer".
4684 ** Using window objects:
4687 *** New function `window-body-height'.
4689 This is like `window-height' but does not count the mode line or the
4693 *** New function `window-body-height'.
4695 This is like `window-height' but does not count the mode line
4699 *** You can now make a window as short as one line.
4701 A window that is just one line tall does not display either a mode
4702 line or a header line, even if the variables `mode-line-format' and
4703 `header-line-format' call for them. A window that is two lines tall
4704 cannot display both a mode line and a header line at once; if the
4705 variables call for both, only the mode line actually appears.
4708 *** The new function `window-inside-edges' returns the edges of the
4709 actual text portion of the window, not including the scroll bar or
4710 divider line, the fringes, the display margins, the header line and
4714 *** The new functions `window-pixel-edges' and `window-inside-pixel-edges'
4715 return window edges in units of pixels, rather than columns and lines.
4718 *** The new macro `with-selected-window' temporarily switches the
4719 selected window without impacting the order of `buffer-list'.
4720 It saves and restores the current buffer, too.
4723 *** `select-window' takes an optional second argument NORECORD.
4725 This is like `switch-to-buffer'.
4728 *** `save-selected-window' now saves and restores the selected window
4729 of every frame. This way, it restores everything that can be changed
4730 by calling `select-window'. It also saves and restores the current
4734 *** `set-window-buffer' has an optional argument KEEP-MARGINS.
4736 If non-nil, that says to preserve the window's current margin, fringe,
4737 and scroll-bar settings.
4740 *** The new function `window-tree' returns a frame's window tree.
4743 *** The functions `get-lru-window' and `get-largest-window' take an optional
4744 argument `dedicated'. If non-nil, those functions do not ignore
4748 *** The new function `adjust-window-trailing-edge' moves the right
4749 or bottom edge of a window. It does not move other window edges.
4752 ** Customizable fringe bitmaps
4754 *** New buffer-local variables `fringe-indicator-alist' and
4755 `fringe-cursor-alist' maps between logical (internal) fringe indicator
4756 and cursor symbols and the actual fringe bitmaps to be displayed.
4757 This decouples the logical meaning of the fringe indicators from the
4758 physical appearance, as well as allowing different fringe bitmaps to
4759 be used in different windows showing different buffers.
4761 *** New function `define-fringe-bitmap' can now be used to create new
4762 fringe bitmaps, as well as change the built-in fringe bitmaps.
4764 To change a built-in bitmap, do (require 'fringe) and use the symbol
4765 identifying the bitmap such as `left-truncation' or `continued-line'.
4767 *** New function `destroy-fringe-bitmap' deletes a fringe bitmap
4768 or restores a built-in one to its default value.
4770 *** New function `set-fringe-bitmap-face' specifies the face to be
4771 used for a specific fringe bitmap. The face is automatically merged
4772 with the `fringe' face, so normally, the face should only specify the
4773 foreground color of the bitmap.
4775 *** There are new display properties, `left-fringe' and `right-fringe',
4776 that can be used to show a specific bitmap in the left or right fringe
4777 bitmap of the display line.
4779 Format is `display (left-fringe BITMAP [FACE])', where BITMAP is a
4780 symbol identifying a fringe bitmap, either built-in or defined with
4781 `define-fringe-bitmap', and FACE is an optional face name to be used
4782 for displaying the bitmap instead of the default `fringe' face.
4783 When specified, FACE is automatically merged with the `fringe' face.
4785 *** New function `fringe-bitmaps-at-pos' returns the current fringe
4786 bitmaps in the display line at a given buffer position.
4788 ** Other window fringe features:
4791 *** Controlling the default left and right fringe widths.
4793 The default left and right fringe widths for all windows of a frame
4794 can now be controlled by setting the `left-fringe' and `right-fringe'
4795 frame parameters to an integer value specifying the width in pixels.
4796 Setting the width to 0 effectively removes the corresponding fringe.
4798 The actual default fringe widths for the frame may deviate from the
4799 specified widths, since the combined fringe widths must match an
4800 integral number of columns. The extra width is distributed evenly
4801 between the left and right fringe. To force a specific fringe width,
4802 specify the width as a negative integer (if both widths are negative,
4803 only the left fringe gets the specified width).
4805 Setting the width to nil (the default), restores the default fringe
4806 width which is the minimum number of pixels necessary to display any
4807 of the currently defined fringe bitmaps. The width of the built-in
4808 fringe bitmaps is 8 pixels.
4811 *** Per-window fringe and scrollbar settings
4813 **** Windows can now have their own individual fringe widths and
4816 To control the fringe widths of a window, either set the buffer-local
4817 variables `left-fringe-width', `right-fringe-width', or call
4818 `set-window-fringes'.
4820 To control the fringe position in a window, that is, whether fringes
4821 are positioned between the display margins and the window's text area,
4822 or at the edges of the window, either set the buffer-local variable
4823 `fringes-outside-margins' or call `set-window-fringes'.
4825 The function `window-fringes' can be used to obtain the current
4826 settings. To make `left-fringe-width', `right-fringe-width', and
4827 `fringes-outside-margins' take effect, you must set them before
4828 displaying the buffer in a window, or use `set-window-buffer' to force
4829 an update of the display margins.
4831 **** Windows can now have their own individual scroll-bar settings
4832 controlling the width and position of scroll-bars.
4834 To control the scroll-bar of a window, either set the buffer-local
4835 variables `scroll-bar-mode' and `scroll-bar-width', or call
4836 `set-window-scroll-bars'. The function `window-scroll-bars' can be
4837 used to obtain the current settings. To make `scroll-bar-mode' and
4838 `scroll-bar-width' take effect, you must set them before displaying
4839 the buffer in a window, or use `set-window-buffer' to force an update
4840 of the display margins.
4842 ** Redisplay features:
4845 *** `sit-for' can now be called with args (SECONDS &optional NODISP).
4848 *** New function `force-window-update' can initiate a full redisplay of
4849 one or all windows. Normally, this is not needed as changes in window
4850 contents are detected automatically. However, certain implicit
4851 changes to mode lines, header lines, or display properties may require
4852 forcing an explicit window update.
4855 *** (char-displayable-p CHAR) returns non-nil if Emacs ought to be able
4856 to display CHAR. More precisely, if the selected frame's fontset has
4857 a font to display the character set that CHAR belongs to.
4859 Fontsets can specify a font on a per-character basis; when the fontset
4860 does that, this value cannot be accurate.
4863 *** You can define multiple overlay arrows via the new
4864 variable `overlay-arrow-variable-list'.
4866 It contains a list of variables which contain overlay arrow position
4867 markers, including the original `overlay-arrow-position' variable.
4869 Each variable on this list can have individual `overlay-arrow-string'
4870 and `overlay-arrow-bitmap' properties that specify an overlay arrow
4871 string (for non-window terminals) or fringe bitmap (for window
4872 systems) to display at the corresponding overlay arrow position.
4873 If either property is not set, the default `overlay-arrow-string' or
4874 'overlay-arrow-fringe-bitmap' will be used.
4877 *** New `line-height' and `line-spacing' properties for newline characters
4879 A newline can now have `line-height' and `line-spacing' text or overlay
4880 properties that control the height of the corresponding display row.
4882 If the `line-height' property value is t, the newline does not
4883 contribute to the height of the display row; instead the height of the
4884 newline glyph is reduced. Also, a `line-spacing' property on this
4885 newline is ignored. This can be used to tile small images or image
4886 slices without adding blank areas between the images.
4888 If the `line-height' property value is a positive integer, the value
4889 specifies the minimum line height in pixels. If necessary, the line
4890 height it increased by increasing the line's ascent.
4892 If the `line-height' property value is a float, the minimum line
4893 height is calculated by multiplying the default frame line height by
4896 If the `line-height' property value is a cons (FACE . RATIO), the
4897 minimum line height is calculated as RATIO * height of named FACE.
4898 RATIO is int or float. If FACE is t, it specifies the current face.
4900 If the `line-height' property value is a cons (nil . RATIO), the line
4901 height is calculated as RATIO * actual height of the line's contents.
4903 If the `line-height' value is a cons (HEIGHT . TOTAL), HEIGHT specifies
4904 the line height as described above, while TOTAL is any of the forms
4905 described above and specifies the total height of the line, causing a
4906 varying number of pixels to be inserted after the line to make it line
4907 exactly that many pixels high.
4909 If the `line-spacing' property value is an positive integer, the value
4910 is used as additional pixels to insert after the display line; this
4911 overrides the default frame `line-spacing' and any buffer local value of
4912 the `line-spacing' variable.
4914 If the `line-spacing' property is a float or cons, the line spacing
4915 is calculated as specified above for the `line-height' property.
4918 *** The buffer local `line-spacing' variable can now have a float value,
4919 which is used as a height relative to the default frame line height.
4922 *** Enhancements to stretch display properties
4924 The display property stretch specification form `(space PROPS)', where
4925 PROPS is a property list, now allows pixel based width and height
4926 specifications, as well as enhanced horizontal text alignment.
4928 The value of these properties can now be a (primitive) expression
4929 which is evaluated during redisplay. The following expressions
4932 EXPR ::= NUM | (NUM) | UNIT | ELEM | POS | IMAGE | FORM
4933 NUM ::= INTEGER | FLOAT | SYMBOL
4934 UNIT ::= in | mm | cm | width | height
4935 ELEM ::= left-fringe | right-fringe | left-margin | right-margin
4937 POS ::= left | center | right
4938 FORM ::= (NUM . EXPR) | (OP EXPR ...)
4941 The form `NUM' specifies a fractional width or height of the default
4942 frame font size. The form `(NUM)' specifies an absolute number of
4943 pixels. If a symbol is specified, its buffer-local variable binding
4944 is used. The `in', `mm', and `cm' units specifies the number of
4945 pixels per inch, milli-meter, and centi-meter, resp. The `width' and
4946 `height' units correspond to the width and height of the current face
4947 font. An image specification corresponds to the width or height of
4950 The `left-fringe', `right-fringe', `left-margin', `right-margin',
4951 `scroll-bar', and `text' elements specify to the width of the
4952 corresponding area of the window.
4954 The `left', `center', and `right' positions can be used with :align-to
4955 to specify a position relative to the left edge, center, or right edge
4956 of the text area. One of the above window elements (except `text')
4957 can also be used with :align-to to specify that the position is
4958 relative to the left edge of the given area. Once the base offset for
4959 a relative position has been set (by the first occurrence of one of
4960 these symbols), further occurrences of these symbols are interpreted as
4961 the width of the area.
4963 For example, to align to the center of the left-margin, use
4964 :align-to (+ left-margin (0.5 . left-margin))
4966 If no specific base offset is set for alignment, it is always relative
4967 to the left edge of the text area. For example, :align-to 0 in a
4968 header line aligns with the first text column in the text area.
4970 The value of the form `(NUM . EXPR)' is the value of NUM multiplied by
4971 the value of the expression EXPR. For example, (2 . in) specifies a
4972 width of 2 inches, while (0.5 . IMAGE) specifies half the width (or
4973 height) of the specified image.
4975 The form `(+ EXPR ...)' adds up the value of the expressions.
4976 The form `(- EXPR ...)' negates or subtracts the value of the expressions.
4979 *** Normally, the cursor is displayed at the end of any overlay and
4980 text property string that may be present at the current window
4981 position. The cursor can now be placed on any character of such
4982 strings by giving that character a non-nil `cursor' text property.
4985 *** The display space :width and :align-to text properties are now
4986 supported on text terminals.
4989 *** Support for displaying image slices
4991 **** New display property (slice X Y WIDTH HEIGHT) can be used with
4992 an image property to display only a specific slice of the image.
4994 **** Function `insert-image' has new optional fourth arg to
4995 specify image slice (X Y WIDTH HEIGHT).
4997 **** New function `insert-sliced-image' inserts a given image as a
4998 specified number of evenly sized slices (rows x columns).
5001 *** Images can now have an associated image map via the :map property.
5003 An image map is an alist where each element has the format (AREA ID PLIST).
5004 An AREA is specified as either a rectangle, a circle, or a polygon:
5005 A rectangle is a cons (rect . ((X0 . Y0) . (X1 . Y1))) specifying the
5006 pixel coordinates of the upper left and bottom right corners.
5007 A circle is a cons (circle . ((X0 . Y0) . R)) specifying the center
5008 and the radius of the circle; R can be a float or integer.
5009 A polygon is a cons (poly . [X0 Y0 X1 Y1 ...]) where each pair in the
5010 vector describes one corner in the polygon.
5012 When the mouse pointer is above a hot-spot area of an image, the
5013 PLIST of that hot-spot is consulted; if it contains a `help-echo'
5014 property it defines a tool-tip for the hot-spot, and if it contains
5015 a `pointer' property, it defines the shape of the mouse cursor when
5016 it is over the hot-spot. See the variable `void-area-text-pointer'
5017 for possible pointer shapes.
5019 When you click the mouse when the mouse pointer is over a hot-spot,
5020 an event is composed by combining the ID of the hot-spot with the
5021 mouse event, e.g. [area4 mouse-1] if the hot-spot's ID is `area4'.
5024 *** The function `find-image' now searches in etc/images/ and etc/.
5025 The new variable `image-load-path' is a list of locations in which to
5026 search for image files. The default is to search in etc/images, then
5027 in etc/, and finally in the directories specified by `load-path'.
5028 Subdirectories of etc/ and etc/images are not recursively searched; if
5029 you put an image file in a subdirectory, you have to specify it
5030 explicitly; for example, if an image is put in etc/images/foo/bar.xpm:
5032 (defimage foo-image '((:type xpm :file "foo/bar.xpm")))
5034 Note that all images formerly located in the lisp directory have been
5035 moved to etc/images.
5038 *** New function `image-load-path-for-library' returns a suitable
5039 search path for images relative to library. This function is useful in
5040 external packages to save users from having to update
5044 *** The new variable `max-image-size' defines the maximum size of
5045 images that Emacs will load and display.
5047 ** Mouse pointer features:
5051 *** The mouse pointer shape in void text areas (i.e. after the end of a
5052 line or below the last line in the buffer) of the text window is now
5053 controlled by the new variable `void-text-area-pointer'. The default
5054 is to use the `arrow' (non-text) pointer. Other choices are `text'
5055 (or nil), `hand', `vdrag', `hdrag', `modeline', and `hourglass'.
5058 *** The mouse pointer shape over an image can now be controlled by the
5059 :pointer image property.
5062 *** The mouse pointer shape over ordinary text or images can now be
5063 controlled/overridden via the `pointer' text property.
5065 ** Mouse event enhancements:
5068 *** Mouse events for clicks on window fringes now specify `left-fringe'
5069 or `right-fringe' as the area.
5072 *** All mouse events now include a buffer position regardless of where
5073 you clicked. For mouse clicks in window margins and fringes, this is
5074 a sensible buffer position corresponding to the surrounding text.
5077 *** `posn-point' now returns buffer position for non-text area events.
5080 *** Function `mouse-set-point' now works for events outside text area.
5083 *** New function `posn-area' returns window area clicked on (nil means
5087 *** Mouse events include actual glyph column and row for all event types
5091 *** New function `posn-actual-col-row' returns the actual glyph coordinates
5092 of the mouse event position.
5095 *** Mouse events can now indicate an image object clicked on.
5098 *** Mouse events include relative X and Y pixel coordinates relative to
5099 the top left corner of the object (image or character) clicked on.
5102 *** Mouse events include the pixel width and height of the object
5103 (image or character) clicked on.
5106 *** New functions 'posn-object', 'posn-object-x-y', 'posn-object-width-height'.
5108 These return the image or string object of a mouse click, the X and Y
5109 pixel coordinates relative to the top left corner of that object, and
5110 the total width and height of that object.
5112 ** Text property and overlay changes:
5115 *** Arguments for `remove-overlays' are now optional, so that you can
5116 remove all overlays in the buffer with just (remove-overlays).
5119 *** New variable `char-property-alias-alist'.
5121 This variable allows you to create alternative names for text
5122 properties. It works at the same level as `default-text-properties',
5123 although it applies to overlays as well. This variable was introduced
5124 to implement the `font-lock-face' property.
5127 *** New function `get-char-property-and-overlay' accepts the same
5128 arguments as `get-char-property' and returns a cons whose car is the
5129 return value of `get-char-property' called with those arguments and
5130 whose cdr is the overlay in which the property was found, or nil if
5131 it was found as a text property or not found at all.
5134 *** The new function `remove-list-of-text-properties'.
5136 It is like `remove-text-properties' except that it takes a list of
5137 property names as argument rather than a property list.
5142 *** The new face attribute condition `min-colors' can be used to tailor
5143 the face color to the number of colors supported by a display, and
5144 define the foreground and background colors accordingly so that they
5145 look best on a terminal that supports at least this many colors. This
5146 is now the preferred method for defining default faces in a way that
5147 makes a good use of the capabilities of the display.
5150 *** New function `display-supports-face-attributes-p' can be used to test
5151 whether a given set of face attributes is actually displayable.
5153 A new predicate `supports' has also been added to the `defface' face
5154 specification language, which can be used to do this test for faces
5155 defined with `defface'.
5158 *** The special treatment of faces whose names are of the form `fg:COLOR'
5159 or `bg:COLOR' has been removed. Lisp programs should use the
5160 `defface' facility for defining faces with specific colors, or use
5161 the feature of specifying the face attributes :foreground and :background
5162 directly in the `face' property instead of using a named face.
5165 *** The first face specification element in a defface can specify
5166 `default' instead of frame classification. Then its attributes act as
5167 defaults that apply to all the subsequent cases (and can be overridden
5171 *** The variable `face-font-rescale-alist' specifies how much larger
5172 (or smaller) font we should use. For instance, if the value is
5173 '((SOME-FONTNAME-PATTERN . 1.3)) and a face requests a font of 10
5174 point, we actually use a font of 13 point if the font matches
5175 SOME-FONTNAME-PATTERN.
5178 *** The function `face-differs-from-default-p' now truly checks
5179 whether the given face displays differently from the default face or
5180 not (previously it did only a very cursory check).
5183 *** `face-attribute', `face-foreground', `face-background', `face-stipple'.
5185 These now accept a new optional argument, INHERIT, which controls how
5186 face inheritance is used when determining the value of a face
5190 *** New functions `face-attribute-relative-p' and `merge-face-attribute'
5191 help with handling relative face attributes.
5194 *** The priority of faces in an :inherit attribute face list is reversed.
5196 If a face contains an :inherit attribute with a list of faces, earlier
5197 faces in the list override later faces in the list; in previous
5198 releases of Emacs, the order was the opposite. This change was made
5199 so that :inherit face lists operate identically to face lists in text
5203 *** On terminals, faces with the :inverse-video attribute are displayed
5204 with swapped foreground and background colors even when one of them is
5205 not specified. In previous releases of Emacs, if either foreground
5206 or background color was unspecified, colors were not swapped. This
5207 was inconsistent with the face behavior under X.
5210 *** `set-fontset-font', `fontset-info', `fontset-font' now operate on
5211 the default fontset if the argument NAME is nil..
5213 ** Font-Lock changes:
5216 *** New special text property `font-lock-face'.
5218 This property acts like the `face' property, but it is controlled by
5219 M-x font-lock-mode. It is not, strictly speaking, a builtin text
5220 property. Instead, it is implemented inside font-core.el, using the
5221 new variable `char-property-alias-alist'.
5224 *** font-lock can manage arbitrary text-properties beside `face'.
5226 **** the FACENAME returned in `font-lock-keywords' can be a list of the
5227 form (face FACE PROP1 VAL1 PROP2 VAL2 ...) so you can set other
5228 properties than `face'.
5230 **** `font-lock-extra-managed-props' can be set to make sure those
5231 extra properties are automatically cleaned up by font-lock.
5234 *** jit-lock obeys a new text-property `jit-lock-defer-multiline'.
5236 If a piece of text with that property gets contextually refontified
5237 (see `jit-lock-defer-contextually'), then all of that text will
5238 be refontified. This is useful when the syntax of a textual element
5239 depends on text several lines further down (and when `font-lock-multiline'
5240 is not appropriate to solve that problem). For example in Perl:
5248 Adding/removing the last `e' changes the `bar' from being a piece of
5249 text to being a piece of code, so you'd put a `jit-lock-defer-multiline'
5250 property over the second half of the command to force (deferred)
5251 refontification of `bar' whenever the `e' is added/removed.
5253 ** Major mode mechanism changes:
5256 *** `set-auto-mode' now gives the interpreter magic line (if present)
5257 precedence over the file name. Likewise an `<?xml' or `<!DOCTYPE'
5258 declaration will give the buffer XML or SGML mode, based on the new
5259 variable `magic-mode-alist'.
5262 *** Use the new function `run-mode-hooks' to run the major mode's mode hook.
5265 *** All major mode functions should now run the new normal hook
5266 `after-change-major-mode-hook', at their very end, after the mode
5267 hooks. `run-mode-hooks' does this automatically.
5270 *** If a major mode function has a non-nil `no-clone-indirect'
5271 property, `clone-indirect-buffer' signals an error if you use
5275 *** Major modes can define `eldoc-documentation-function'
5276 locally to provide Eldoc functionality by some method appropriate to
5280 *** `define-derived-mode' by default creates a new empty abbrev table.
5281 It does not copy abbrevs from the parent mode's abbrev table.
5284 *** The new function `run-mode-hooks' and the new macro `delay-mode-hooks'
5285 are used by `define-derived-mode' to make sure the mode hook for the
5286 parent mode is run at the end of the child mode.
5288 ** Minor mode changes:
5291 *** `define-minor-mode' now accepts arbitrary additional keyword arguments
5292 and simply passes them to `defcustom', if applicable.
5295 *** `minor-mode-list' now holds a list of minor mode commands.
5298 *** `define-global-minor-mode'.
5300 This is a new name for what was formerly called
5301 `easy-mmode-define-global-mode'. The old name remains as an alias.
5303 ** Command loop changes:
5306 *** The new function `called-interactively-p' does what many people
5307 have mistakenly believed `interactive-p' to do: it returns t if the
5308 calling function was called through `call-interactively'.
5310 Only use this when you cannot solve the problem by adding a new
5311 INTERACTIVE argument to the command.
5314 *** The function `commandp' takes an additional optional argument.
5316 If it is non-nil, then `commandp' checks for a function that could be
5317 called with `call-interactively', and does not return t for keyboard
5321 *** When a command returns, the command loop moves point out from
5322 within invisible text, in the same way it moves out from within text
5323 covered by an image or composition property.
5325 This makes it generally unnecessary to mark invisible text as intangible.
5326 This is particularly good because the intangible property often has
5327 unexpected side-effects since the property applies to everything
5328 (including `goto-char', ...) whereas this new code is only run after
5329 `post-command-hook' and thus does not care about intermediate states.
5332 *** If a command sets `transient-mark-mode' to `only', that
5333 enables Transient Mark mode for the following command only.
5334 During that following command, the value of `transient-mark-mode'
5335 is `identity'. If it is still `identity' at the end of the command,
5336 the next return to the command loop changes to nil.
5339 *** Both the variable and the function `disabled-command-hook' have
5340 been renamed to `disabled-command-function'. The variable
5341 `disabled-command-hook' has been kept as an obsolete alias.
5344 *** `emacsserver' now runs `pre-command-hook' and `post-command-hook'
5345 when it receives a request from emacsclient.
5347 ** Lisp file loading changes:
5350 *** `load-history' can now have elements of the form (t . FUNNAME),
5351 which means FUNNAME was previously defined as an autoload (before the
5352 current file redefined it).
5355 *** `load-history' now records (defun . FUNNAME) when a function is
5356 defined. For a variable, it records just the variable name.
5359 *** The function `symbol-file' can now search specifically for function,
5360 variable or face definitions.
5363 *** `provide' and `featurep' now accept an optional second argument
5364 to test/provide subfeatures. Also `provide' now checks `after-load-alist'
5365 and runs any code associated with the provided feature.
5368 *** The variable `recursive-load-depth-limit' has been deleted.
5369 Emacs now signals an error if the same file is loaded with more
5370 than 3 levels of nesting.
5373 ** Byte compiler changes:
5375 *** The byte compiler now displays the actual line and character
5376 position of errors, where possible. Additionally, the form of its
5377 warning and error messages have been brought into line with GNU standards
5378 for these. As a result, you can use next-error and friends on the
5379 compilation output buffer.
5381 *** The new macro `with-no-warnings' suppresses all compiler warnings
5382 inside its body. In terms of execution, it is equivalent to `progn'.
5384 *** You can avoid warnings for possibly-undefined symbols with a
5385 simple convention that the compiler understands. (This is mostly
5386 useful in code meant to be portable to different Emacs versions.)
5387 Write forms like the following, or code that macroexpands into such
5390 (if (fboundp 'foo) <then> <else>)
5391 (if (boundp 'foo) <then> <else)
5393 In the first case, using `foo' as a function inside the <then> form
5394 won't produce a warning if it's not defined as a function, and in the
5395 second case, using `foo' as a variable won't produce a warning if it's
5396 unbound. The test must be in exactly one of the above forms (after
5397 macro expansion), but such tests can be nested. Note that `when' and
5398 `unless' expand to `if', but `cond' doesn't.
5400 *** `(featurep 'xemacs)' is treated by the compiler as nil. This
5401 helps to avoid noisy compiler warnings in code meant to run under both
5402 Emacs and XEmacs and can sometimes make the result significantly more
5403 efficient. Since byte code from recent versions of XEmacs won't
5404 generally run in Emacs and vice versa, this optimization doesn't lose
5407 *** The local variable `no-byte-compile' in Lisp files is now obeyed.
5410 *** When a Lisp file uses CL functions at run-time, compiling the file
5411 now issues warnings about these calls, unless the file performs
5412 (require 'cl) when loaded.
5414 ** Frame operations:
5417 *** New functions `frame-current-scroll-bars' and `window-current-scroll-bars'.
5419 These functions return the current locations of the vertical and
5420 horizontal scroll bars in a frame or window.
5423 *** The new function `modify-all-frames-parameters' modifies parameters
5424 for all (existing and future) frames.
5427 *** The new frame parameter `tty-color-mode' specifies the mode to use
5428 for color support on character terminal frames. Its value can be a
5429 number of colors to support, or a symbol. See the Emacs Lisp
5430 Reference manual for more detailed documentation.
5433 *** When using non-toolkit scroll bars with the default width,
5434 the `scroll-bar-width' frame parameter value is nil.
5439 *** Already true in Emacs 21.1, but not emphasized clearly enough:
5441 Multibyte buffers can now faithfully record all 256 character codes
5442 from 0 to 255. As a result, most of the past reasons to use unibyte
5443 buffers no longer exist. We only know of three reasons to use them
5446 1. If you prefer to use unibyte text all of the time.
5448 2. For reading files into temporary buffers, when you want to avoid
5449 the time it takes to convert the format.
5451 3. For binary files where format conversion would be pointless and
5455 *** `set-buffer-file-coding-system' now takes an additional argument,
5456 NOMODIFY. If it is non-nil, it means don't mark the buffer modified.
5459 *** The new variable `auto-coding-functions' lets you specify functions
5460 to examine a file being visited and deduce the proper coding system
5461 for it. (If the coding system is detected incorrectly for a specific
5462 file, you can put a `coding:' tags to override it.)
5465 *** The new function `merge-coding-systems' fills in unspecified aspects
5466 of one coding system from another coding system.
5469 *** New coding system property `mime-text-unsuitable' indicates that
5470 the coding system's `mime-charset' is not suitable for MIME text
5474 *** New function `decode-coding-inserted-region' decodes a region as if
5475 it is read from a file without decoding.
5478 *** New CCL functions `lookup-character' and `lookup-integer' access
5479 hash tables defined by the Lisp function `define-translation-hash-table'.
5482 *** New function `quail-find-key' returns a list of keys to type in the
5483 current input method to input a character.
5485 ** Mode line changes:
5488 *** New function `format-mode-line'.
5490 This returns the mode line or header line of the selected (or a
5491 specified) window as a string with or without text properties.
5494 *** The new mode-line construct `(:propertize ELT PROPS...)' can be
5495 used to add text properties to mode-line elements.
5498 *** The new `%i' and `%I' constructs for `mode-line-format' can be used
5499 to display the size of the accessible part of the buffer on the mode
5503 *** Mouse-face on mode-line (and header-line) is now supported.
5505 ** Menu manipulation changes:
5508 *** To manipulate the File menu using easy-menu, you must specify the
5509 proper name "file". In previous Emacs versions, you had to specify
5510 "files", even though the menu item itself was changed to say "File"
5511 several versions ago.
5514 *** The dummy function keys made by easy-menu are now always lower case.
5515 If you specify the menu item name "Ada", for instance, it uses `ada'
5516 as the "key" bound by that key binding.
5518 This is relevant only if Lisp code looks for the bindings that were
5519 made with easy-menu.
5522 *** `easy-menu-define' now allows you to use nil for the symbol name
5523 if you don't need to give the menu a name. If you install the menu
5524 into other keymaps right away (MAPS is non-nil), it usually doesn't
5525 need to have a name.
5527 ** Operating system access:
5530 *** The new primitive `get-internal-run-time' returns the processor
5531 run time used by Emacs since start-up.
5534 *** Functions `user-uid' and `user-real-uid' now return floats if the
5535 user UID doesn't fit in a Lisp integer. Function `user-full-name'
5536 accepts a float as UID parameter.
5539 *** New function `locale-info' accesses locale information.
5542 *** On MS Windows, locale-coding-system is used to interact with the OS.
5543 The Windows specific variable w32-system-coding-system, which was
5544 formerly used for that purpose is now an alias for locale-coding-system.
5547 *** New function `redirect-debugging-output' can be used to redirect
5548 debugging output on the stderr file handle to a file.
5553 *** A number of hooks have been renamed to better follow the conventions:
5555 `find-file-hooks' to `find-file-hook',
5556 `find-file-not-found-hooks' to `find-file-not-found-functions',
5557 `write-file-hooks' to `write-file-functions',
5558 `write-contents-hooks' to `write-contents-functions',
5559 `x-lost-selection-hooks' to `x-lost-selection-functions',
5560 `x-sent-selection-hooks' to `x-sent-selection-functions',
5561 `delete-frame-hook' to `delete-frame-functions'.
5563 In each case the old name remains as an alias for the moment.
5566 *** Variable `local-write-file-hooks' is marked obsolete.
5568 Use the LOCAL arg of `add-hook'.
5571 *** New function `x-send-client-message' sends a client message when
5577 *** New variable `gc-cons-percentage' automatically grows the GC cons threshold
5578 as the heap size increases.
5581 *** New variables `gc-elapsed' and `gcs-done' provide extra information
5582 on garbage collection.
5585 *** The normal hook `post-gc-hook' is run at the end of garbage collection.
5587 The hook is run with GC inhibited, so use it with care.
5589 * New Packages for Lisp Programming in Emacs 22.1
5592 ** The new library button.el implements simple and fast `clickable
5593 buttons' in emacs buffers. Buttons are much lighter-weight than the
5594 `widgets' implemented by widget.el, and can be used by lisp code that
5595 doesn't require the full power of widgets. Emacs uses buttons for
5596 such things as help and apropos buffers.
5599 ** The new library tree-widget.el provides a widget to display a set
5600 of hierarchical data as an outline. For example, the tree-widget is
5601 well suited to display a hierarchy of directories and files.
5604 ** The new library bindat.el provides functions to unpack and pack
5605 binary data structures, such as network packets, to and from Lisp
5609 ** master-mode.el implements a minor mode for scrolling a slave
5610 buffer without leaving your current buffer, the master buffer.
5612 It can be used by sql.el, for example: the SQL buffer is the master
5613 and its SQLi buffer is the slave. This allows you to scroll the SQLi
5614 buffer containing the output from the SQL buffer containing the
5617 This is how to use sql.el and master.el together: the variable
5618 sql-buffer contains the slave buffer. It is a local variable in the
5621 (add-hook 'sql-mode-hook
5622 (function (lambda ()
5624 (master-set-slave sql-buffer))))
5625 (add-hook 'sql-set-sqli-hook
5626 (function (lambda ()
5627 (master-set-slave sql-buffer))))
5630 ** The new library benchmark.el does timing measurements on Lisp code.
5632 This includes measuring garbage collection time.
5635 ** The new library testcover.el does test coverage checking.
5637 This is so you can tell whether you've tested all paths in your Lisp
5638 code. It works with edebug.
5640 The function `testcover-start' instruments all functions in a given
5641 file. Then test your code. The function `testcover-mark-all' adds
5642 overlay "splotches" to the Lisp file's buffer to show where coverage
5643 is lacking. The command `testcover-next-mark' (bind it to a key!)
5644 will move point forward to the next spot that has a splotch.
5646 Normally, a red splotch indicates the form was never completely
5647 evaluated; a brown splotch means it always evaluated to the same
5648 value. The red splotches are skipped for forms that can't possibly
5649 complete their evaluation, such as `error'. The brown splotches are
5650 skipped for forms that are expected to always evaluate to the same
5651 value, such as (setq x 14).
5653 For difficult cases, you can add do-nothing macros to your code to
5654 help out the test coverage tool. The macro `noreturn' suppresses a
5655 red splotch. It is an error if the argument to `noreturn' does
5656 return. The macro `1value' suppresses a brown splotch for its argument.
5657 This macro is a no-op except during test-coverage -- then it signals
5658 an error if the argument actually returns differing values.
5660 * Installation changes in Emacs 21.3
5662 ** Support for GNU/Linux on little-endian MIPS and on IBM S390 has
5666 * Changes in Emacs 21.3
5668 ** The obsolete C mode (c-mode.el) has been removed to avoid problems
5671 ** UTF-16 coding systems are available, encoding the same characters
5674 ** There is a new language environment for UTF-8 (set up automatically
5677 ** Translation tables are available between equivalent characters in
5678 different Emacs charsets -- for instance `e with acute' coming from the
5679 Latin-1 and Latin-2 charsets. User options `unify-8859-on-encoding-mode'
5680 and `unify-8859-on-decoding-mode' respectively turn on translation
5681 between ISO 8859 character sets (`unification') on encoding
5682 (e.g. writing a file) and decoding (e.g. reading a file). Note that
5683 `unify-8859-on-encoding-mode' is useful and safe, but
5684 `unify-8859-on-decoding-mode' can cause text to change when you read
5685 it and write it out again without edits, so it is not generally advisable.
5686 By default `unify-8859-on-encoding-mode' is turned on.
5688 ** In Emacs running on the X window system, the default value of
5689 `selection-coding-system' is now `compound-text-with-extensions'.
5691 If you want the old behavior, set selection-coding-system to
5692 compound-text, which may be significantly more efficient. Using
5693 compound-text-with-extensions seems to be necessary only for decoding
5694 text from applications under XFree86 4.2, whose behavior is actually
5695 contrary to the compound text specification.
5698 * Installation changes in Emacs 21.2
5700 ** Support for BSD/OS 5.0 has been added.
5702 ** Support for AIX 5.1 was added.
5705 * Changes in Emacs 21.2
5707 ** Emacs now supports compound-text extended segments in X selections.
5709 X applications can use `extended segments' to encode characters in
5710 compound text that belong to character sets which are not part of the
5711 list of approved standard encodings for X, e.g. Big5. To paste
5712 selections with such characters into Emacs, use the new coding system
5713 compound-text-with-extensions as the value of selection-coding-system.
5715 ** The default values of `tooltip-delay' and `tooltip-hide-delay'
5718 ** On terminals whose erase-char is ^H (Backspace), Emacs
5719 now uses normal-erase-is-backspace-mode.
5721 ** When the *scratch* buffer is recreated, its mode is set from
5722 initial-major-mode, which normally is lisp-interaction-mode,
5723 instead of using default-major-mode.
5725 ** The new option `Info-scroll-prefer-subnodes' causes Info to behave
5726 like the stand-alone Info reader (from the GNU Texinfo package) as far
5727 as motion between nodes and their subnodes is concerned. If it is t
5728 (the default), Emacs behaves as before when you type SPC in a menu: it
5729 visits the subnode pointed to by the first menu entry. If this option
5730 is nil, SPC scrolls to the end of the current node, and only then goes
5731 to the first menu item, like the stand-alone reader does.
5733 This change was already in Emacs 21.1, but wasn't advertised in the
5737 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 21.2
5739 ** The meanings of scroll-up-aggressively and scroll-down-aggressively
5740 have been interchanged, so that the former now controls scrolling up,
5741 and the latter now controls scrolling down.
5743 ** The variable `compilation-parse-errors-filename-function' can
5744 be used to transform filenames found in compilation output.
5747 * Installation Changes in Emacs 21.1
5749 See the INSTALL file for information on installing extra libraries and
5750 fonts to take advantage of the new graphical features and extra
5751 charsets in this release.
5753 ** Support for GNU/Linux on IA64 machines has been added.
5755 ** Support for LynxOS has been added.
5757 ** There are new configure options associated with the support for
5758 images and toolkit scrollbars. Use the --help option in `configure'
5761 ** You can build a 64-bit Emacs for SPARC/Solaris systems which
5762 support 64-bit executables and also on Irix 6.5. This increases the
5763 maximum buffer size. See etc/MACHINES for instructions. Changes to
5764 build on other 64-bit systems should be straightforward modulo any
5765 necessary changes to unexec.
5767 ** There is a new configure option `--disable-largefile' to omit
5768 Unix-98-style support for large files if that is available.
5770 ** There is a new configure option `--without-xim' that instructs
5771 Emacs to not use X Input Methods (XIM), if these are available.
5773 ** `movemail' defaults to supporting POP. You can turn this off using
5774 the --without-pop configure option, should that be necessary.
5776 ** This version can be built for the Macintosh, but does not implement
5777 all of the new display features described below. The port currently
5778 lacks unexec, asynchronous processes, and networking support. See the
5779 "Emacs and the Mac OS" appendix in the Emacs manual, for the
5780 description of aspects specific to the Mac.
5782 ** Note that the MS-Windows port does not yet implement various of the
5783 new display features described below.
5786 * Changes in Emacs 21.1
5788 ** Emacs has a new redisplay engine.
5790 The new redisplay handles characters of variable width and height.
5791 Italic text can be used without redisplay problems. Fonts containing
5792 oversized characters, i.e. characters larger than the logical height
5793 of a font can be used. Images of various formats can be displayed in
5796 ** Emacs has a new face implementation.
5798 The new faces no longer fundamentally use X font names to specify the
5799 font. Instead, each face has several independent attributes--family,
5800 height, width, weight and slant--that it may or may not specify.
5801 These attributes can be merged from various faces, and then together
5804 Faces are supported on terminals that can display color or fonts.
5805 These terminal capabilities are auto-detected. Details can be found
5806 under Lisp changes, below.
5808 ** Emacs can display faces on TTY frames.
5810 Emacs automatically detects terminals that are able to display colors.
5811 Faces with a weight greater than normal are displayed extra-bright, if
5812 the terminal supports it. Faces with a weight less than normal and
5813 italic faces are displayed dimmed, if the terminal supports it.
5814 Underlined faces are displayed underlined if possible. Other face
5815 attributes such as `overline', `strike-through', and `box' are ignored
5818 The command-line options `-fg COLOR', `-bg COLOR', and `-rv' are now
5819 supported on character terminals.
5821 Emacs automatically remaps all X-style color specifications to one of
5822 the colors supported by the terminal. This means you could have the
5823 same color customizations that work both on a windowed display and on
5824 a TTY or when Emacs is invoked with the -nw option.
5826 ** New default font is Courier 12pt under X.
5830 Emacs supports playing sound files on GNU/Linux and FreeBSD (Voxware
5831 driver and native BSD driver, a.k.a. Luigi's driver). Currently
5832 supported file formats are RIFF-WAVE (*.wav) and Sun Audio (*.au).
5833 You must configure Emacs with the option `--with-sound=yes' to enable
5836 ** Emacs now resizes mini-windows if appropriate.
5838 If a message is longer than one line, or minibuffer contents are
5839 longer than one line, Emacs can resize the minibuffer window unless it
5840 is on a frame of its own. You can control resizing and the maximum
5841 minibuffer window size by setting the following variables:
5843 - User option: max-mini-window-height
5845 Maximum height for resizing mini-windows. If a float, it specifies a
5846 fraction of the mini-window frame's height. If an integer, it
5847 specifies a number of lines.
5851 - User option: resize-mini-windows
5853 How to resize mini-windows. If nil, don't resize. If t, always
5854 resize to fit the size of the text. If `grow-only', let mini-windows
5855 grow only, until they become empty, at which point they are shrunk
5858 Default is `grow-only'.
5862 Emacs now runs with the LessTif toolkit (see
5863 <http://www.lesstif.org>). You will need version 0.92.26, or later.
5865 ** LessTif/Motif file selection dialog.
5867 When Emacs is configured to use LessTif or Motif, reading a file name
5868 from a menu will pop up a file selection dialog if `use-dialog-box' is
5871 ** File selection dialog on MS-Windows is supported.
5873 When a file is visited by clicking File->Open, the MS-Windows version
5874 now pops up a standard file selection dialog where you can select a
5875 file to visit. File->Save As also pops up that dialog.
5877 ** Toolkit scroll bars.
5879 Emacs now uses toolkit scroll bars if available. When configured for
5880 LessTif/Motif, it will use that toolkit's scroll bar. Otherwise, when
5881 configured for Lucid and Athena widgets, it will use the Xaw3d scroll
5882 bar if Xaw3d is available. You can turn off the use of toolkit scroll
5883 bars by specifying `--with-toolkit-scroll-bars=no' when configuring
5886 When you encounter problems with the Xaw3d scroll bar, watch out how
5887 Xaw3d is compiled on your system. If the Makefile generated from
5888 Xaw3d's Imakefile contains a `-DNARROWPROTO' compiler option, and your
5889 Emacs system configuration file `s/your-system.h' does not contain a
5890 define for NARROWPROTO, you might consider adding it. Take
5891 `s/freebsd.h' as an example.
5893 Alternatively, if you don't have access to the Xaw3d source code, take
5894 a look at your system's imake configuration file, for example in the
5895 directory `/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/config' (paths are different on
5896 different systems). You will find files `*.cf' there. If your
5897 system's cf-file contains a line like `#define NeedWidePrototypes NO',
5898 add a `#define NARROWPROTO' to your Emacs system configuration file.
5900 The reason for this is that one Xaw3d function uses `double' or
5901 `float' function parameters depending on the setting of NARROWPROTO.
5902 This is not a problem when Imakefiles are used because each system's
5903 imake configuration file contains the necessary information. Since
5904 Emacs doesn't use imake, this has do be done manually.
5906 ** Tool bar support.
5908 Emacs supports a tool bar at the top of a frame under X. For details
5909 of how to define a tool bar, see the page describing Lisp-level
5910 changes. Tool-bar global minor mode controls whether or not it is
5911 displayed and is on by default. The appearance of the bar is improved
5912 if Emacs has been built with XPM image support. Otherwise monochrome
5915 To make the tool bar more useful, we need contributions of extra icons
5916 for specific modes (with copyright assignments).
5920 Tooltips are small X windows displaying a help string at the current
5921 mouse position. The Lisp package `tooltip' implements them. You can
5922 turn them off via the user option `tooltip-mode'.
5924 Tooltips also provides support for GUD debugging. If activated,
5925 variable values can be displayed in tooltips by pointing at them with
5926 the mouse in source buffers. You can customize various aspects of the
5927 tooltip display in the group `tooltip'.
5929 ** Automatic Hscrolling
5931 Horizontal scrolling now happens automatically if
5932 `automatic-hscrolling' is set (the default). This setting can be
5935 If a window is scrolled horizontally with set-window-hscroll, or
5936 scroll-left/scroll-right (C-x <, C-x >), this serves as a lower bound
5937 for automatic horizontal scrolling. Automatic scrolling will scroll
5938 the text more to the left if necessary, but won't scroll the text more
5939 to the right than the column set with set-window-hscroll etc.
5941 ** When using a windowing terminal, each Emacs window now has a cursor
5942 of its own. By default, when a window is selected, the cursor is
5943 solid; otherwise, it is hollow. The user-option
5944 `cursor-in-non-selected-windows' controls how to display the
5945 cursor in non-selected windows. If nil, no cursor is shown, if
5946 non-nil a hollow box cursor is shown.
5948 ** Fringes to the left and right of windows are used to display
5949 truncation marks, continuation marks, overlay arrows and alike. The
5950 foreground, background, and stipple of these areas can be changed by
5951 customizing face `fringe'.
5953 ** The mode line under X is now drawn with shadows by default.
5954 You can change its appearance by modifying the face `mode-line'.
5955 In particular, setting the `:box' attribute to nil turns off the 3D
5956 appearance of the mode line. (The 3D appearance makes the mode line
5957 occupy more space, and thus might cause the first or the last line of
5958 the window to be partially obscured.)
5960 The variable `mode-line-inverse-video', which was used in older
5961 versions of emacs to make the mode-line stand out, is now deprecated.
5962 However, setting it to nil will cause the `mode-line' face to be
5963 ignored, and mode-lines to be drawn using the default text face.
5965 ** Mouse-sensitive mode line.
5967 Different parts of the mode line have been made mouse-sensitive on all
5968 systems which support the mouse. Moving the mouse to a
5969 mouse-sensitive part in the mode line changes the appearance of the
5970 mouse pointer to an arrow, and help about available mouse actions is
5971 displayed either in the echo area, or in the tooltip window if you
5974 Currently, the following actions have been defined:
5976 - Mouse-1 on the buffer name in the mode line goes to the next buffer.
5978 - Mouse-3 on the buffer-name goes to the previous buffer.
5980 - Mouse-2 on the read-only or modified status in the mode line (`%' or
5981 `*') toggles the status.
5983 - Mouse-3 on the major mode name displays a major mode menu.
5985 - Mouse-3 on the mode name displays a minor-mode menu.
5987 ** Hourglass pointer
5989 Emacs can optionally display an hourglass pointer under X. You can
5990 turn the display on or off by customizing group `cursor'.
5994 M-x blink-cursor-mode toggles a blinking cursor under X and on
5995 terminals having terminal capabilities `vi', `vs', and `ve'. Blinking
5996 and related parameters like frequency and delay can be customized in
5999 ** New font-lock support mode `jit-lock-mode'.
6001 This support mode is roughly equivalent to `lazy-lock' but is
6002 generally faster. It supports stealth and deferred fontification.
6003 See the documentation of the function `jit-lock-mode' for more
6006 Font-lock uses jit-lock-mode as default support mode, so you don't
6007 have to do anything to activate it.
6009 ** The default binding of the Delete key has changed.
6011 The new user-option `normal-erase-is-backspace' can be set to
6012 determine the effect of the Delete and Backspace function keys.
6014 On window systems, the default value of this option is chosen
6015 according to the keyboard used. If the keyboard has both a Backspace
6016 key and a Delete key, and both are mapped to their usual meanings, the
6017 option's default value is set to t, so that Backspace can be used to
6018 delete backward, and Delete can be used to delete forward. On
6019 keyboards which either have only one key (usually labeled DEL), or two
6020 keys DEL and BS which produce the same effect, the option's value is
6021 set to nil, and these keys delete backward.
6023 If not running under a window system, setting this option accomplishes
6024 a similar effect by mapping C-h, which is usually generated by the
6025 Backspace key, to DEL, and by mapping DEL to C-d via
6026 `keyboard-translate'. The former functionality of C-h is available on
6027 the F1 key. You should probably not use this setting on a text-only
6028 terminal if you don't have both Backspace, Delete and F1 keys.
6030 Programmatically, you can call function normal-erase-is-backspace-mode
6031 to toggle the behavior of the Delete and Backspace keys.
6033 ** The default for user-option `next-line-add-newlines' has been
6034 changed to nil, i.e. C-n will no longer add newlines at the end of a
6037 ** The <home> and <end> keys now move to the beginning or end of the
6038 current line, respectively. C-<home> and C-<end> move to the
6039 beginning and end of the buffer.
6041 ** Emacs now checks for recursive loads of Lisp files. If the
6042 recursion depth exceeds `recursive-load-depth-limit', an error is
6045 ** When an error is signaled during the loading of the user's init
6046 file, Emacs now pops up the *Messages* buffer.
6048 ** Emacs now refuses to load compiled Lisp files which weren't
6049 compiled with Emacs. Set `load-dangerous-libraries' to t to change
6052 The reason for this change is an incompatible change in XEmacs's byte
6053 compiler. Files compiled with XEmacs can contain byte codes that let
6056 ** Toggle buttons and radio buttons in menus.
6058 When compiled with LessTif (or Motif) support, Emacs uses toolkit
6059 widgets for radio and toggle buttons in menus. When configured for
6060 Lucid, Emacs draws radio buttons and toggle buttons similar to Motif.
6062 ** The menu bar configuration has changed. The new configuration is
6063 more CUA-compliant. The most significant change is that Options is
6064 now a separate menu-bar item, with Mule and Customize as its submenus.
6066 ** Item Save Options on the Options menu allows saving options set
6069 ** Highlighting of trailing whitespace.
6071 When `show-trailing-whitespace' is non-nil, Emacs displays trailing
6072 whitespace in the face `trailing-whitespace'. Trailing whitespace is
6073 defined as spaces or tabs at the end of a line. To avoid busy
6074 highlighting when entering new text, trailing whitespace is not
6075 displayed if point is at the end of the line containing the
6078 ** C-x 5 1 runs the new command delete-other-frames which deletes
6079 all frames except the selected one.
6081 ** The new user-option `confirm-kill-emacs' can be customized to
6082 let Emacs ask for confirmation before exiting.
6084 ** The header line in an Info buffer is now displayed as an emacs
6085 header-line (which is like a mode-line, but at the top of the window),
6086 so that it remains visible even when the buffer has been scrolled.
6087 This behavior may be disabled by customizing the option
6088 `Info-use-header-line'.
6090 ** Polish, Czech, German, and French translations of Emacs' reference card
6091 have been added. They are named `pl-refcard.tex', `cs-refcard.tex',
6092 `de-refcard.tex' and `fr-refcard.tex'. Postscript files are included.
6094 ** An `Emacs Survival Guide', etc/survival.tex, is available.
6096 ** A reference card for Dired has been added. Its name is
6097 `dired-ref.tex'. A French translation is available in
6100 ** C-down-mouse-3 is bound differently. Now if the menu bar is not
6101 displayed it pops up a menu containing the items which would be on the
6102 menu bar. If the menu bar is displayed, it pops up the major mode
6103 menu or the Edit menu if there is no major mode menu.
6105 ** Variable `load-path' is no longer customizable through Customize.
6107 You can no longer use `M-x customize-variable' to customize `load-path'
6108 because it now contains a version-dependent component. You can still
6109 use `add-to-list' and `setq' to customize this variable in your
6110 `~/.emacs' init file or to modify it from any Lisp program in general.
6112 ** C-u C-x = provides detailed information about the character at
6113 point in a pop-up window.
6115 ** Emacs can now support 'wheeled' mice (such as the MS IntelliMouse)
6116 under XFree86. To enable this, use the `mouse-wheel-mode' command, or
6117 customize the variable `mouse-wheel-mode'.
6119 The variables `mouse-wheel-follow-mouse' and `mouse-wheel-scroll-amount'
6120 determine where and by how much buffers are scrolled.
6122 ** Emacs' auto-save list files are now by default stored in a
6123 sub-directory `.emacs.d/auto-save-list/' of the user's home directory.
6124 (On MS-DOS, this subdirectory's name is `_emacs.d/auto-save.list/'.)
6125 You can customize `auto-save-list-file-prefix' to change this location.
6127 ** The function `getenv' is now callable interactively.
6129 ** The new user-option `even-window-heights' can be set to nil
6130 to prevent `display-buffer' from evening out window heights.
6132 ** The new command M-x delete-trailing-whitespace RET will delete the
6133 trailing whitespace within the current restriction. You can also add
6134 this function to `write-file-hooks' or `local-write-file-hooks'.
6136 ** When visiting a file with M-x find-file-literally, no newlines will
6137 be added to the end of the buffer even if `require-final-newline' is
6140 ** The new user-option `find-file-suppress-same-file-warnings' can be
6141 set to suppress warnings ``X and Y are the same file'' when visiting a
6142 file that is already visited under a different name.
6144 ** The new user-option `electric-help-shrink-window' can be set to
6145 nil to prevent adjusting the help window size to the buffer size.
6147 ** New command M-x describe-character-set reads a character set name
6148 and displays information about that.
6150 ** The new variable `auto-mode-interpreter-regexp' contains a regular
6151 expression matching interpreters, for file mode determination.
6153 This regular expression is matched against the first line of a file to
6154 determine the file's mode in `set-auto-mode' when Emacs can't deduce a
6155 mode from the file's name. If it matches, the file is assumed to be
6156 interpreted by the interpreter matched by the second group of the
6157 regular expression. The mode is then determined as the mode
6158 associated with that interpreter in `interpreter-mode-alist'.
6160 ** New function executable-make-buffer-file-executable-if-script-p is
6161 suitable as an after-save-hook as an alternative to `executable-chmod'.
6163 ** The most preferred coding-system is now used to save a buffer if
6164 buffer-file-coding-system is `undecided' and it is safe for the buffer
6165 contents. (The most preferred is set by set-language-environment or
6166 by M-x prefer-coding-system.) Thus if you visit an ASCII file and
6167 insert a non-ASCII character from your current language environment,
6168 the file will be saved silently with the appropriate coding.
6169 Previously you would be prompted for a safe coding system.
6171 ** The many obsolete language `setup-...-environment' commands have
6172 been removed -- use `set-language-environment'.
6174 ** The new Custom option `keyboard-coding-system' specifies a coding
6175 system for keyboard input.
6177 ** New variable `inhibit-iso-escape-detection' determines if Emacs'
6178 coding system detection algorithm should pay attention to ISO2022's
6179 escape sequences. If this variable is non-nil, the algorithm ignores
6180 such escape sequences. The default value is nil, and it is
6181 recommended not to change it except for the special case that you
6182 always want to read any escape code verbatim. If you just want to
6183 read a specific file without decoding escape codes, use C-x RET c
6184 (`universal-coding-system-argument'). For instance, C-x RET c latin-1
6185 RET C-x C-f filename RET.
6187 ** Variable `default-korean-keyboard' is initialized properly from the
6188 environment variable `HANGUL_KEYBOARD_TYPE'.
6190 ** New command M-x list-charset-chars reads a character set name and
6191 displays all characters in that character set.
6193 ** M-x set-terminal-coding-system (C-x RET t) now allows CCL-based
6194 coding systems such as cpXXX and cyrillic-koi8.
6196 ** Emacs now attempts to determine the initial language environment
6197 and preferred and locale coding systems systematically from the
6198 LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, and LANG environment variables during startup.
6200 ** New language environments `Polish', `Latin-8' and `Latin-9'.
6201 Latin-8 and Latin-9 correspond respectively to the ISO character sets
6202 8859-14 (Celtic) and 8859-15 (updated Latin-1, with the Euro sign).
6203 GNU Intlfonts doesn't support these yet but recent X releases have
6204 8859-15. See etc/INSTALL for information on obtaining extra fonts.
6205 There are new Leim input methods for Latin-8 and Latin-9 prefix (only)
6208 ** New language environments `Dutch' and `Spanish'.
6209 These new environments mainly select appropriate translations
6212 ** In Ethiopic language environment, special key bindings for
6213 function keys are changed as follows. This is to conform to "Emacs
6214 Lisp Coding Convention".
6216 new command old-binding
6217 --- ------- -----------
6218 f3 ethio-fidel-to-sera-buffer f5
6219 S-f3 ethio-fidel-to-sera-region f5
6220 C-f3 ethio-fidel-to-sera-mail-or-marker f5
6222 f4 ethio-sera-to-fidel-buffer unchanged
6223 S-f4 ethio-sera-to-fidel-region unchanged
6224 C-f4 ethio-sera-to-fidel-mail-or-marker unchanged
6226 S-f5 ethio-toggle-punctuation f3
6227 S-f6 ethio-modify-vowel f6
6228 S-f7 ethio-replace-space f7
6229 S-f8 ethio-input-special-character f8
6230 S-f9 ethio-replace-space unchanged
6231 C-f9 ethio-toggle-space f2
6233 ** There are new Leim input methods.
6234 New input methods "turkish-postfix", "turkish-alt-postfix",
6235 "greek-mizuochi", "TeX", and "greek-babel" are now part of the Leim
6238 ** The rule of input method "slovak" is slightly changed. Now the
6239 rules for translating "q" and "Q" to "`" (backquote) are deleted, thus
6240 typing them inserts "q" and "Q" respectively. Rules for translating
6241 "=q", "+q", "=Q", and "+Q" to "`" are also deleted. Now, to input
6242 "`", you must type "=q".
6244 ** When your terminal can't display characters from some of the ISO
6245 8859 character sets but can display Latin-1, you can display
6246 more-or-less mnemonic sequences of ASCII/Latin-1 characters instead of
6247 empty boxes (under a window system) or question marks (not under a
6248 window system). Customize the option `latin1-display' to turn this
6251 ** M-; now calls comment-dwim which tries to do something clever based
6252 on the context. M-x kill-comment is now an alias to comment-kill,
6253 defined in newcomment.el. You can choose different styles of region
6254 commenting with the variable `comment-style'.
6256 ** New user options `display-time-mail-face' and
6257 `display-time-use-mail-icon' control the appearance of mode-line mail
6258 indicator used by the display-time package. On a suitable display the
6259 indicator can be an icon and is mouse-sensitive.
6261 ** On window-systems, additional space can be put between text lines
6262 on the display using several methods
6264 - By setting frame parameter `line-spacing' to PIXELS. PIXELS must be
6265 a positive integer, and specifies that PIXELS number of pixels should
6266 be put below text lines on the affected frame or frames.
6268 - By setting X resource `lineSpacing', class `LineSpacing'. This is
6269 equivalent to specifying the frame parameter.
6271 - By specifying `--line-spacing=N' or `-lsp N' on the command line.
6273 - By setting buffer-local variable `line-spacing'. The meaning is
6274 the same, but applies to the a particular buffer only.
6276 ** The new command `clone-indirect-buffer' can be used to create
6277 an indirect buffer that is a twin copy of the current buffer. The
6278 command `clone-indirect-buffer-other-window', bound to C-x 4 c,
6279 does the same but displays the indirect buffer in another window.
6281 ** New user options `backup-directory-alist' and
6282 `make-backup-file-name-function' control the placement of backups,
6283 typically in a single directory or in an invisible sub-directory.
6285 ** New commands iso-iso2sgml and iso-sgml2iso convert between Latin-1
6286 characters and the corresponding SGML (HTML) entities.
6288 ** New X resources recognized
6290 *** The X resource `synchronous', class `Synchronous', specifies
6291 whether Emacs should run in synchronous mode. Synchronous mode
6292 is useful for debugging X problems.
6296 emacs.synchronous: true
6298 *** The X resource `visualClass, class `VisualClass', specifies the
6299 visual Emacs should use. The resource's value should be a string of
6300 the form `CLASS-DEPTH', where CLASS is the name of the visual class,
6301 and DEPTH is the requested color depth as a decimal number. Valid
6302 visual class names are
6311 Visual class names specified as X resource are case-insensitive, i.e.
6312 `pseudocolor', `Pseudocolor' and `PseudoColor' all have the same
6315 The program `xdpyinfo' can be used to list the visual classes
6316 supported on your display, and which depths they have. If
6317 `visualClass' is not specified, Emacs uses the display's default
6322 emacs.visualClass: TrueColor-8
6324 *** The X resource `privateColormap', class `PrivateColormap',
6325 specifies that Emacs should use a private colormap if it is using the
6326 default visual, and that visual is of class PseudoColor. Recognized
6327 resource values are `true' or `on'.
6331 emacs.privateColormap: true
6333 ** Faces and frame parameters.
6335 There are four new faces `scroll-bar', `border', `cursor' and `mouse'.
6336 Setting the frame parameters `scroll-bar-foreground' and
6337 `scroll-bar-background' sets foreground and background color of face
6338 `scroll-bar' and vice versa. Setting frame parameter `border-color'
6339 sets the background color of face `border' and vice versa. Likewise
6340 for frame parameters `cursor-color' and face `cursor', and frame
6341 parameter `mouse-color' and face `mouse'.
6343 Changing frame parameter `font' sets font-related attributes of the
6344 `default' face and vice versa. Setting frame parameters
6345 `foreground-color' or `background-color' sets the colors of the
6346 `default' face and vice versa.
6350 The face `menu' can be used to change colors and font of Emacs' menus.
6352 ** New frame parameter `screen-gamma' for gamma correction.
6354 The new frame parameter `screen-gamma' specifies gamma-correction for
6355 colors. Its value may be nil, the default, in which case no gamma
6356 correction occurs, or a number > 0, usually a float, that specifies
6357 the screen gamma of a frame's display.
6359 PC monitors usually have a screen gamma of 2.2. smaller values result
6360 in darker colors. You might want to try a screen gamma of 1.5 for LCD
6361 color displays. The viewing gamma Emacs uses is 0.4545. (1/2.2).
6363 The X resource name of this parameter is `screenGamma', class
6366 ** Tabs and variable-width text.
6368 Tabs are now displayed with stretch properties; the width of a tab is
6369 defined as a multiple of the normal character width of a frame, and is
6370 independent of the fonts used in the text where the tab appears.
6371 Thus, tabs can be used to line up text in different fonts.
6373 ** Enhancements of the Lucid menu bar
6375 *** The Lucid menu bar now supports the resource "margin".
6377 emacs.pane.menubar.margin: 5
6379 The default margin is 4 which makes the menu bar appear like the
6382 *** Arrows that indicate sub-menus are now drawn with shadows, as in
6385 ** A block cursor can be drawn as wide as the glyph under it under X.
6387 As an example: if a block cursor is over a tab character, it will be
6388 drawn as wide as that tab on the display. To do this, set
6389 `x-stretch-cursor' to a non-nil value.
6391 ** Empty display lines at the end of a buffer may be marked with a
6392 bitmap (this is similar to the tilde displayed by vi and Less).
6394 This behavior is activated by setting the buffer-local variable
6395 `indicate-empty-lines' to a non-nil value. The default value of this
6396 variable is found in `default-indicate-empty-lines'.
6398 ** There is a new "aggressive" scrolling method.
6400 When scrolling up because point is above the window start, if the
6401 value of the buffer-local variable `scroll-up-aggressively' is a
6402 number, Emacs chooses a new window start so that point ends up that
6403 fraction of the window's height from the top of the window.
6405 When scrolling down because point is below the window end, if the
6406 value of the buffer-local variable `scroll-down-aggressively' is a
6407 number, Emacs chooses a new window start so that point ends up that
6408 fraction of the window's height from the bottom of the window.
6410 ** You can now easily create new *Info* buffers using either
6411 M-x clone-buffer, C-u m <entry> RET or C-u g <entry> RET.
6412 M-x clone-buffer can also be used on *Help* and several other special
6415 ** The command `Info-search' now uses a search history.
6417 ** Listing buffers with M-x list-buffers (C-x C-b) now shows
6418 abbreviated file names. Abbreviations can be customized by changing
6419 `directory-abbrev-alist'.
6421 ** A new variable, backup-by-copying-when-privileged-mismatch, gives
6422 the highest file uid for which backup-by-copying-when-mismatch will be
6423 forced on. The assumption is that uids less than or equal to this
6424 value are special uids (root, bin, daemon, etc.--not real system
6425 users) and that files owned by these users should not change ownership,
6426 even if your system policy allows users other than root to edit them.
6428 The default is 200; set the variable to nil to disable the feature.
6430 ** The rectangle commands now avoid inserting undesirable spaces,
6431 notably at the end of lines.
6433 All these functions have been rewritten to avoid inserting unwanted
6434 spaces, and an optional prefix now allows them to behave the old way.
6436 ** The function `replace-rectangle' is an alias for `string-rectangle'.
6438 ** The new command M-x string-insert-rectangle is like `string-rectangle',
6439 but inserts text instead of replacing it.
6441 ** The new command M-x query-replace-regexp-eval acts like
6442 query-replace-regexp, but takes a Lisp expression which is evaluated
6443 after each match to get the replacement text.
6445 ** M-x query-replace recognizes a new command `e' (or `E') that lets
6446 you edit the replacement string.
6448 ** The new command mail-abbrev-complete-alias, bound to `M-TAB'
6449 (if you load the library `mailabbrev'), lets you complete mail aliases
6450 in the text, analogous to lisp-complete-symbol.
6452 ** The variable `echo-keystrokes' may now have a floating point value.
6454 ** If your init file is compiled (.emacs.elc), `user-init-file' is set
6455 to the source name (.emacs.el), if that exists, after loading it.
6457 ** The help string specified for a menu-item whose definition contains
6458 the property `:help HELP' is now displayed under X, on MS-Windows, and
6459 MS-DOS, either in the echo area or with tooltips. Many standard menus
6460 displayed by Emacs now have help strings.
6463 ** New user option `read-mail-command' specifies a command to use to
6464 read mail from the menu etc.
6466 ** The environment variable `EMACSLOCKDIR' is no longer used on MS-Windows.
6467 This environment variable was used when creating lock files. Emacs on
6468 MS-Windows does not use this variable anymore. This change was made
6469 before Emacs 21.1, but wasn't documented until now.
6471 ** Highlighting of mouse-sensitive regions is now supported in the
6472 MS-DOS version of Emacs.
6474 ** The new command `msdos-set-mouse-buttons' forces the MS-DOS version
6475 of Emacs to behave as if the mouse had a specified number of buttons.
6476 This comes handy with mice that don't report their number of buttons
6477 correctly. One example is the wheeled mice, which report 3 buttons,
6478 but clicks on the middle button are not passed to the MS-DOS version
6481 ** Customize changes
6483 *** Customize now supports comments about customized items. Use the
6484 `State' menu to add comments, or give a prefix argument to
6485 M-x customize-set-variable or M-x customize-set-value. Note that
6486 customization comments will cause the customizations to fail in
6487 earlier versions of Emacs.
6489 *** The new option `custom-buffer-done-function' says whether to kill
6490 Custom buffers when you've done with them or just bury them (the
6493 *** If Emacs was invoked with the `-q' or `--no-init-file' options, it
6494 does not allow you to save customizations in your `~/.emacs' init
6495 file. This is because saving customizations from such a session would
6496 wipe out all the other customizationss you might have on your init
6499 ** If Emacs was invoked with the `-q' or `--no-init-file' options, it
6500 does not save disabled and enabled commands for future sessions, to
6501 avoid overwriting existing customizations of this kind that are
6502 already in your init file.
6504 ** New features in evaluation commands
6506 *** The commands to evaluate Lisp expressions, such as C-M-x in Lisp
6507 modes, C-j in Lisp Interaction mode, and M-:, now bind the variables
6508 print-level, print-length, and debug-on-error based on the new
6509 customizable variables eval-expression-print-level,
6510 eval-expression-print-length, and eval-expression-debug-on-error.
6512 The default values for the first two of these variables are 12 and 4
6513 respectively, which means that `eval-expression' now prints at most
6514 the first 12 members of a list and at most 4 nesting levels deep (if
6515 the list is longer or deeper than that, an ellipsis `...' is
6518 <RET> or <mouse-2> on the printed text toggles between an abbreviated
6519 printed representation and an unabbreviated one.
6521 The default value of eval-expression-debug-on-error is t, so any error
6522 during evaluation produces a backtrace.
6524 *** The function `eval-defun' (C-M-x) now loads Edebug and instruments
6525 code when called with a prefix argument.
6529 Note: This release contains changes that might not be compatible with
6530 current user setups (although it's believed that these
6531 incompatibilities will only show in very uncommon circumstances).
6532 However, since the impact is uncertain, these changes may be rolled
6533 back depending on user feedback. Therefore there's no forward
6534 compatibility guarantee wrt the new features introduced in this
6537 *** The hardcoded switch to "java" style in Java mode is gone.
6538 CC Mode used to automatically set the style to "java" when Java mode
6539 is entered. This has now been removed since it caused too much
6542 However, to keep backward compatibility to a certain extent, the
6543 default value for c-default-style now specifies the "java" style for
6544 java-mode, but "gnu" for all other modes (as before). So you won't
6545 notice the change if you haven't touched that variable.
6547 *** New cleanups, space-before-funcall and compact-empty-funcall.
6548 Two new cleanups have been added to c-cleanup-list:
6550 space-before-funcall causes a space to be inserted before the opening
6551 parenthesis of a function call, which gives the style "foo (bar)".
6553 compact-empty-funcall causes any space before a function call opening
6554 parenthesis to be removed if there are no arguments to the function.
6555 It's typically useful together with space-before-funcall to get the
6556 style "foo (bar)" and "foo()".
6558 *** Some keywords now automatically trigger reindentation.
6559 Keywords like "else", "while", "catch" and "finally" have been made
6560 "electric" to make them reindent automatically when they continue an
6561 earlier statement. An example:
6563 for (i = 0; i < 17; i++)
6565 res += a[i]->offset;
6568 Here, the "else" should be indented like the preceding "if", since it
6569 continues that statement. CC Mode will automatically reindent it after
6570 the "else" has been typed in full, since it's not until then it's
6571 possible to decide whether it's a new statement or a continuation of
6574 CC Mode uses Abbrev mode to achieve this, which is therefore turned on
6577 *** M-a and M-e now moves by sentence in multiline strings.
6578 Previously these two keys only moved by sentence in comments, which
6579 meant that sentence movement didn't work in strings containing
6580 documentation or other natural language text.
6582 The reason it's only activated in multiline strings (i.e. strings that
6583 contain a newline, even when escaped by a '\') is to avoid stopping in
6584 the short strings that often reside inside statements. Multiline
6585 strings almost always contain text in a natural language, as opposed
6586 to other strings that typically contain format specifications,
6587 commands, etc. Also, it's not that bothersome that M-a and M-e misses
6588 sentences in single line strings, since they're short anyway.
6590 *** Support for autodoc comments in Pike mode.
6591 Autodoc comments for Pike are used to extract documentation from the
6592 source, like Javadoc in Java. Pike mode now recognize this markup in
6593 comment prefixes and paragraph starts.
6595 *** The comment prefix regexps on c-comment-prefix may be mode specific.
6596 When c-comment-prefix is an association list, it specifies the comment
6597 line prefix on a per-mode basis, like c-default-style does. This
6598 change came about to support the special autodoc comment prefix in
6601 *** Better handling of syntactic errors.
6602 The recovery after unbalanced parens earlier in the buffer has been
6603 improved; CC Mode now reports them by dinging and giving a message
6604 stating the offending line, but still recovers and indent the
6605 following lines in a sane way (most of the time). An "else" with no
6606 matching "if" is handled similarly. If an error is discovered while
6607 indenting a region, the whole region is still indented and the error
6608 is reported afterwards.
6610 *** Lineup functions may now return absolute columns.
6611 A lineup function can give an absolute column to indent the line to by
6612 returning a vector with the desired column as the first element.
6614 *** More robust and warning-free byte compilation.
6615 Although this is strictly not a user visible change (well, depending
6616 on the view of a user), it's still worth mentioning that CC Mode now
6617 can be compiled in the standard ways without causing trouble. Some
6618 code have also been moved between the subpackages to enhance the
6619 modularity somewhat. Thanks to Martin Buchholz for doing the
6622 *** c-style-variables-are-local-p now defaults to t.
6623 This is an incompatible change that has been made to make the behavior
6624 of the style system wrt global variable settings less confusing for
6625 non-advanced users. If you know what this variable does you might
6626 want to set it to nil in your .emacs, otherwise you probably don't
6629 Defaulting c-style-variables-are-local-p to t avoids the confusing
6630 situation that occurs when a user sets some style variables globally
6631 and edits both a Java and a non-Java file in the same Emacs session.
6632 If the style variables aren't buffer local in this case, loading of
6633 the second file will cause the default style (either "gnu" or "java"
6634 by default) to override the global settings made by the user.
6636 *** New initialization procedure for the style system.
6637 When the initial style for a buffer is determined by CC Mode (from the
6638 variable c-default-style), the global values of style variables now
6639 take precedence over the values specified by the chosen style. This
6640 is different than the old behavior: previously, the style-specific
6641 settings would override the global settings. This change makes it
6642 possible to do simple configuration in the intuitive way with
6643 Customize or with setq lines in one's .emacs file.
6645 By default, the global value of every style variable is the new
6646 special symbol set-from-style, which causes the value to be taken from
6647 the style system. This means that in effect, only an explicit setting
6648 of a style variable will cause the "overriding" behavior described
6651 Also note that global settings override style-specific settings *only*
6652 when the initial style of a buffer is chosen by a CC Mode major mode
6653 function. When a style is chosen in other ways --- for example, by a
6654 call like (c-set-style "gnu") in a hook, or via M-x c-set-style ---
6655 then the style-specific values take precedence over any global style
6656 values. In Lisp terms, global values override style-specific values
6657 only when the new second argument to c-set-style is non-nil; see the
6658 function documentation for more info.
6660 The purpose of these changes is to make it easier for users,
6661 especially novice users, to do simple customizations with Customize or
6662 with setq in their .emacs files. On the other hand, the new system is
6663 intended to be compatible with advanced users' customizations as well,
6664 such as those that choose styles in hooks or whatnot. This new system
6665 is believed to be almost entirely compatible with current
6666 configurations, in spite of the changed precedence between style and
6667 global variable settings when a buffer's default style is set.
6669 (Thanks to Eric Eide for clarifying this explanation a bit.)
6671 **** c-offsets-alist is now a customizable variable.
6672 This became possible as a result of the new initialization behavior.
6674 This variable is treated slightly differently from the other style
6675 variables; instead of using the symbol set-from-style, it will be
6676 completed with the syntactic symbols it doesn't already contain when
6677 the style is first initialized. This means it now defaults to the
6678 empty list to make all syntactic elements get their values from the
6681 **** Compatibility variable to restore the old behavior.
6682 In case your configuration doesn't work with this change, you can set
6683 c-old-style-variable-behavior to non-nil to get the old behavior back
6686 *** Improvements to line breaking and text filling.
6687 CC Mode now handles this more intelligently and seamlessly wrt the
6688 surrounding code, especially inside comments. For details see the new
6689 chapter about this in the manual.
6691 **** New variable to recognize comment line prefix decorations.
6692 The variable c-comment-prefix-regexp has been added to properly
6693 recognize the line prefix in both block and line comments. It's
6694 primarily used to initialize the various paragraph recognition and
6695 adaptive filling variables that the text handling functions uses.
6697 **** New variable c-block-comment-prefix.
6698 This is a generalization of the now obsolete variable
6699 c-comment-continuation-stars to handle arbitrary strings.
6701 **** CC Mode now uses adaptive fill mode.
6702 This to make it adapt better to the paragraph style inside comments.
6704 It's also possible to use other adaptive filling packages inside CC
6705 Mode, notably Kyle E. Jones' Filladapt mode (http://wonderworks.com/).
6706 A new convenience function c-setup-filladapt sets up Filladapt for use
6709 Note though that the 2.12 version of Filladapt lacks a feature that
6710 causes it to work suboptimally when c-comment-prefix-regexp can match
6711 the empty string (which it commonly does). A patch for that is
6712 available from the CC Mode web site (http://www.python.org/emacs/
6715 **** The variables `c-hanging-comment-starter-p' and
6716 `c-hanging-comment-ender-p', which controlled how comment starters and
6717 enders were filled, are not used anymore. The new version of the
6718 function `c-fill-paragraph' keeps the comment starters and enders as
6719 they were before the filling.
6721 **** It's now possible to selectively turn off auto filling.
6722 The variable c-ignore-auto-fill is used to ignore auto fill mode in
6723 specific contexts, e.g. in preprocessor directives and in string
6726 **** New context sensitive line break function c-context-line-break.
6727 It works like newline-and-indent in normal code, and adapts the line
6728 prefix according to the comment style when used inside comments. If
6729 you're normally using newline-and-indent, you might want to switch to
6732 *** Fixes to IDL mode.
6733 It now does a better job in recognizing only the constructs relevant
6734 to IDL. E.g. it no longer matches "class" as the beginning of a
6735 struct block, but it does match the CORBA 2.3 "valuetype" keyword.
6736 Thanks to Eric Eide.
6738 *** Improvements to the Whitesmith style.
6739 It now keeps the style consistently on all levels and both when
6740 opening braces hangs and when they don't.
6742 **** New lineup function c-lineup-whitesmith-in-block.
6744 *** New lineup functions c-lineup-template-args and c-indent-multi-line-block.
6745 See their docstrings for details. c-lineup-template-args does a
6746 better job of tracking the brackets used as parens in C++ templates,
6747 and is used by default to line up continued template arguments.
6749 *** c-lineup-comment now preserves alignment with a comment on the
6750 previous line. It used to instead preserve comments that started in
6751 the column specified by comment-column.
6753 *** c-lineup-C-comments handles "free form" text comments.
6754 In comments with a long delimiter line at the start, the indentation
6755 is kept unchanged for lines that start with an empty comment line
6756 prefix. This is intended for the type of large block comments that
6757 contain documentation with its own formatting. In these you normally
6758 don't want CC Mode to change the indentation.
6760 *** The `c' syntactic symbol is now relative to the comment start
6761 instead of the previous line, to make integers usable as lineup
6764 *** All lineup functions have gotten docstrings.
6766 *** More preprocessor directive movement functions.
6767 c-down-conditional does the reverse of c-up-conditional.
6768 c-up-conditional-with-else and c-down-conditional-with-else are
6769 variants of these that also stops at "#else" lines (suggested by Don
6772 *** Minor improvements to many movement functions in tricky situations.
6776 *** New variable `dired-recursive-deletes' determines if the delete
6777 command will delete non-empty directories recursively. The default
6778 is, delete only empty directories.
6780 *** New variable `dired-recursive-copies' determines if the copy
6781 command will copy directories recursively. The default is, do not
6782 copy directories recursively.
6784 *** In command `dired-do-shell-command' (usually bound to `!') a `?'
6785 in the shell command has a special meaning similar to `*', but with
6786 the difference that the command will be run on each file individually.
6788 *** The new command `dired-find-alternate-file' (usually bound to `a')
6789 replaces the Dired buffer with the buffer for an alternate file or
6792 *** The new command `dired-show-file-type' (usually bound to `y') shows
6793 a message in the echo area describing what type of file the point is on.
6794 This command invokes the external program `file' do its work, and so
6795 will only work on systems with that program, and will be only as
6796 accurate or inaccurate as it is.
6798 *** Dired now properly handles undo changes of adding/removing `-R'
6801 *** Dired commands that prompt for a destination file now allow the use
6802 of the `M-n' command in the minibuffer to insert the source filename,
6803 which the user can then edit. This only works if there is a single
6804 source file, not when operating on multiple marked files.
6808 The Gnus NEWS entries are short, but they reflect sweeping changes in
6809 four areas: Article display treatment, MIME treatment,
6810 internationalization and mail-fetching.
6812 *** The mail-fetching functions have changed. See the manual for the
6813 many details. In particular, all procmail fetching variables are gone.
6815 If you used procmail like in
6817 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
6818 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
6819 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/mail/incoming/")
6820 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "\\.in")
6822 this now has changed to
6825 '((directory :path "~/mail/incoming/"
6828 More information is available in the info doc at Select Methods ->
6829 Getting Mail -> Mail Sources
6831 *** Gnus is now a MIME-capable reader. This affects many parts of
6832 Gnus, and adds a slew of new commands. See the manual for details.
6833 Separate MIME packages like RMIME, mime-compose etc., will probably no
6834 longer work; remove them and use the native facilities.
6836 The FLIM/SEMI package still works with Emacs 21, but if you want to
6837 use the native facilities, you must remove any mailcap.el[c] that was
6838 installed by FLIM/SEMI version 1.13 or earlier.
6840 *** Gnus has also been multilingualized. This also affects too many
6841 parts of Gnus to summarize here, and adds many new variables. There
6842 are built-in facilities equivalent to those of gnus-mule.el, which is
6843 now just a compatibility layer.
6845 *** gnus-mule.el is now just a compatibility layer over the built-in
6848 *** gnus-auto-select-first can now be a function to be
6849 called to position point.
6851 *** The user can now decide which extra headers should be included in
6852 summary buffers and NOV files.
6854 *** `gnus-article-display-hook' has been removed. Instead, a number
6855 of variables starting with `gnus-treat-' have been added.
6857 *** The Gnus posting styles have been redone again and now work in a
6858 subtly different manner.
6860 *** New web-based backends have been added: nnslashdot, nnwarchive
6861 and nnultimate. nnweb has been revamped, again, to keep up with
6862 ever-changing layouts.
6864 *** Gnus can now read IMAP mail via nnimap.
6866 *** There is image support of various kinds and some sound support.
6868 ** Changes in Texinfo mode.
6870 *** A couple of new key bindings have been added for inserting Texinfo
6874 -------------------------
6878 C-c C-c q @quotation
6880 C-c C-o @<block> ... @end <block>
6883 *** The " key now inserts either " or `` or '' depending on context.
6885 ** Changes in Outline mode.
6887 There is now support for Imenu to index headings. A new command
6888 `outline-headers-as-kill' copies the visible headings in the region to
6889 the kill ring, e.g. to produce a table of contents.
6891 ** Changes to Emacs Server
6893 *** The new option `server-kill-new-buffers' specifies what to do
6894 with buffers when done with them. If non-nil, the default, buffers
6895 are killed, unless they were already present before visiting them with
6896 Emacs Server. If nil, `server-temp-file-regexp' specifies which
6897 buffers to kill, as before.
6899 Please note that only buffers are killed that still have a client,
6900 i.e. buffers visited with `emacsclient --no-wait' are never killed in
6903 ** Both emacsclient and Emacs itself now accept command line options
6904 of the form +LINE:COLUMN in addition to +LINE.
6906 ** Changes to Show Paren mode.
6908 *** Overlays used by Show Paren mode now use a priority property.
6909 The new user option show-paren-priority specifies the priority to
6910 use. Default is 1000.
6912 ** New command M-x check-parens can be used to find unbalanced paren
6913 groups and strings in buffers in Lisp mode (or other modes).
6915 ** Changes to hideshow.el
6917 *** Generalized block selection and traversal
6919 A block is now recognized by its start and end regexps (both strings),
6920 and an integer specifying which sub-expression in the start regexp
6921 serves as the place where a `forward-sexp'-like function can operate.
6922 See the documentation of variable `hs-special-modes-alist'.
6924 *** During incremental search, if Hideshow minor mode is active,
6925 hidden blocks are temporarily shown. The variable `hs-headline' can
6926 be used in the mode line format to show the line at the beginning of
6929 *** User option `hs-hide-all-non-comment-function' specifies a
6930 function to be called at each top-level block beginning, instead of
6931 the normal block-hiding function.
6933 *** The command `hs-show-region' has been removed.
6935 *** The key bindings have changed to fit the Emacs conventions,
6936 roughly imitating those of Outline minor mode. Notably, the prefix
6937 for all bindings is now `C-c @'. For details, see the documentation
6938 for `hs-minor-mode'.
6940 *** The variable `hs-show-hidden-short-form' has been removed, and
6941 hideshow.el now always behaves as if this variable were set to t.
6943 ** Changes to Change Log mode and Add-Log functions
6945 *** If you invoke `add-change-log-entry' from a backup file, it makes
6946 an entry appropriate for the file's parent. This is useful for making
6947 log entries by comparing a version with deleted functions.
6949 **** New command M-x change-log-merge merges another log into the
6952 *** New command M-x change-log-redate fixes any old-style date entries
6955 *** Change Log mode now adds a file's version number to change log
6956 entries if user-option `change-log-version-info-enabled' is non-nil.
6957 Unless the file is under version control the search for a file's
6958 version number is performed based on regular expressions from
6959 `change-log-version-number-regexp-list' which can be customized.
6960 Version numbers are only found in the first 10 percent of a file.
6962 *** Change Log mode now defines its own faces for font-lock highlighting.
6964 ** Changes to cmuscheme
6966 *** The user-option `scheme-program-name' has been renamed
6967 `cmuscheme-program-name' due to conflicts with xscheme.el.
6969 ** Changes in Font Lock
6971 *** The new function `font-lock-remove-keywords' can be used to remove
6972 font-lock keywords from the current buffer or from a specific major mode.
6974 *** Multi-line patterns are now supported. Modes using this, should
6975 set font-lock-multiline to t in their font-lock-defaults.
6977 *** `font-lock-syntactic-face-function' allows major-modes to choose
6978 the face used for each string/comment.
6980 *** A new standard face `font-lock-doc-face'.
6981 Meant for Lisp docstrings, Javadoc comments and other "documentation in code".
6983 ** Changes to Shell mode
6985 *** The `shell' command now accepts an optional argument to specify the buffer
6986 to use, which defaults to "*shell*". When used interactively, a
6987 non-default buffer may be specified by giving the `shell' command a
6988 prefix argument (causing it to prompt for the buffer name).
6990 ** Comint (subshell) changes
6992 These changes generally affect all modes derived from comint mode, which
6993 include shell-mode, gdb-mode, scheme-interaction-mode, etc.
6995 *** Comint now by default interprets some carriage-control characters.
6996 Comint now removes CRs from CR LF sequences, and treats single CRs and
6997 BSs in the output in a way similar to a terminal (by deleting to the
6998 beginning of the line, or deleting the previous character,
6999 respectively). This is achieved by adding `comint-carriage-motion' to
7000 the `comint-output-filter-functions' hook by default.
7002 *** By default, comint no longer uses the variable `comint-prompt-regexp'
7003 to distinguish prompts from user-input. Instead, it notices which
7004 parts of the text were output by the process, and which entered by the
7005 user, and attaches `field' properties to allow emacs commands to use
7006 this information. Common movement commands, notably beginning-of-line,
7007 respect field boundaries in a fairly natural manner. To disable this
7008 feature, and use the old behavior, customize the user option
7009 `comint-use-prompt-regexp-instead-of-fields'.
7011 *** Comint now includes new features to send commands to running processes
7012 and redirect the output to a designated buffer or buffers.
7014 *** The command M-x comint-redirect-send-command reads a command and
7015 buffer name from the mini-buffer. The command is sent to the current
7016 buffer's process, and its output is inserted into the specified buffer.
7018 The command M-x comint-redirect-send-command-to-process acts like
7019 M-x comint-redirect-send-command but additionally reads the name of
7020 the buffer whose process should be used from the mini-buffer.
7022 *** Packages based on comint now highlight user input and program prompts,
7023 and support choosing previous input with mouse-2. To control these features,
7024 see the user-options `comint-highlight-input' and `comint-highlight-prompt'.
7026 *** The new command `comint-write-output' (usually bound to `C-c C-s')
7027 saves the output from the most recent command to a file. With a prefix
7028 argument, it appends to the file.
7030 *** The command `comint-kill-output' has been renamed `comint-delete-output'
7031 (usually bound to `C-c C-o'); the old name is aliased to it for
7034 *** The new function `comint-add-to-input-history' adds commands to the input
7037 *** The new variable `comint-input-history-ignore' is a regexp for
7038 identifying history lines that should be ignored, like tcsh time-stamp
7039 strings, starting with a `#'. The default value of this variable is "^#".
7041 ** Changes to Rmail mode
7043 *** The new user-option rmail-user-mail-address-regexp can be
7044 set to fine tune the identification of the correspondent when
7045 receiving new mail. If it matches the address of the sender, the
7046 recipient is taken as correspondent of a mail. If nil, the default,
7047 `user-login-name' and `user-mail-address' are used to exclude yourself
7050 Usually you don't have to set this variable, except if you collect
7051 mails sent by you under different user names. Then it should be a
7052 regexp matching your mail addresses.
7054 *** The new user-option rmail-confirm-expunge controls whether and how
7055 to ask for confirmation before expunging deleted messages from an
7056 Rmail file. You can choose between no confirmation, confirmation
7057 with y-or-n-p, or confirmation with yes-or-no-p. Default is to ask
7058 for confirmation with yes-or-no-p.
7060 *** RET is now bound in the Rmail summary to rmail-summary-goto-msg,
7063 *** There is a new user option `rmail-digest-end-regexps' that
7064 specifies the regular expressions to detect the line that ends a
7067 *** The new user option `rmail-automatic-folder-directives' specifies
7068 in which folder to put messages automatically.
7070 *** The new function `rmail-redecode-body' allows to fix a message
7071 with non-ASCII characters if Emacs happens to decode it incorrectly
7072 due to missing or malformed "charset=" header.
7074 ** The new user-option `mail-envelope-from' can be used to specify
7075 an envelope-from address different from user-mail-address.
7077 ** The variable mail-specify-envelope-from controls whether to
7078 use the -f option when sending mail.
7080 ** The Rmail command `o' (`rmail-output-to-rmail-file') now writes the
7081 current message in the internal `emacs-mule' encoding, rather than in
7082 the encoding taken from the variable `buffer-file-coding-system'.
7083 This allows to save messages whose characters cannot be safely encoded
7084 by the buffer's coding system, and makes sure the message will be
7085 displayed correctly when you later visit the target Rmail file.
7087 If you want your Rmail files be encoded in a specific coding system
7088 other than `emacs-mule', you can customize the variable
7089 `rmail-file-coding-system' to set its value to that coding system.
7091 ** Changes to TeX mode
7093 *** The default mode has been changed from `plain-tex-mode' to
7096 *** latex-mode now has a simple indentation algorithm.
7098 *** M-f and M-p jump around \begin...\end pairs.
7100 *** Added support for outline-minor-mode.
7102 ** Changes to RefTeX mode
7104 *** RefTeX has new support for index generation. Index entries can be
7105 created with `C-c <', with completion available on index keys.
7106 Pressing `C-c /' indexes the word at the cursor with a default
7107 macro. `C-c >' compiles all index entries into an alphabetically
7108 sorted *Index* buffer which looks like the final index. Entries
7109 can be edited from that buffer.
7111 *** Label and citation key selection now allow to select several
7112 items and reference them together (use `m' to mark items, `a' or
7113 `A' to use all marked entries).
7115 *** reftex.el has been split into a number of smaller files to reduce
7116 memory use when only a part of RefTeX is being used.
7118 *** a new command `reftex-view-crossref-from-bibtex' (bound to `C-c &'
7119 in BibTeX-mode) can be called in a BibTeX database buffer in order
7120 to show locations in LaTeX documents where a particular entry has
7123 ** Emacs Lisp mode now allows multiple levels of outline headings.
7124 The level of a heading is determined from the number of leading
7125 semicolons in a heading line. Toplevel forms starting with a `('
7126 in column 1 are always made leaves.
7128 ** The M-x time-stamp command (most commonly used on write-file-hooks)
7129 has the following new features:
7131 *** The patterns for finding the time stamp and for updating a pattern
7132 may match text spanning multiple lines. For example, some people like
7133 to have the filename and date on separate lines. The new variable
7134 time-stamp-inserts-lines controls the matching for multi-line patterns.
7136 *** More than one time stamp can be updated in the same file. This
7137 feature is useful if you need separate time stamps in a program source
7138 file to both include in formatted documentation and insert in the
7139 compiled binary. The same time-stamp will be written at each matching
7140 pattern. The variable time-stamp-count enables this new feature; it
7143 ** Partial Completion mode now completes environment variables in
7148 *** The command `ispell' now spell-checks a region if
7149 transient-mark-mode is on, and the mark is active. Otherwise it
7150 spell-checks the current buffer.
7152 *** Support for synchronous subprocesses - DOS/Windoze - has been
7155 *** An "alignment error" bug was fixed when a manual spelling
7156 correction is made and re-checked.
7158 *** Italian, Portuguese, and Slovak dictionary definitions have been added.
7160 *** Region skipping performance has been vastly improved in some
7163 *** Spell checking HTML buffers has been improved and isn't so strict
7166 *** The buffer-local words are now always placed on a new line at the
7169 *** Spell checking now works in the MS-DOS version of Emacs.
7171 *** The variable `ispell-format-word' has been renamed to
7172 `ispell-format-word-function'. The old name is still available as
7175 ** Makefile mode changes
7177 *** The mode now uses the abbrev table `makefile-mode-abbrev-table'.
7179 *** Conditionals and include statements are now highlighted when
7180 Fontlock mode is active.
7184 *** Isearch now puts a call to `isearch-resume' in the command history,
7185 so that searches can be resumed.
7187 *** In Isearch mode, C-M-s and C-M-r are now bound like C-s and C-r,
7188 respectively, i.e. you can repeat a regexp isearch with the same keys
7189 that started the search.
7191 *** In Isearch mode, mouse-2 in the echo area now yanks the current
7192 selection into the search string rather than giving an error.
7194 *** There is a new lazy highlighting feature in incremental search.
7196 Lazy highlighting is switched on/off by customizing variable
7197 `isearch-lazy-highlight'. When active, all matches for the current
7198 search string are highlighted. The current match is highlighted as
7199 before using face `isearch' or `region'. All other matches are
7200 highlighted using face `isearch-lazy-highlight-face' which defaults to
7201 `secondary-selection'.
7203 The extra highlighting makes it easier to anticipate where the cursor
7204 will end up each time you press C-s or C-r to repeat a pending search.
7205 Highlighting of these additional matches happens in a deferred fashion
7206 using "idle timers," so the cycles needed do not rob isearch of its
7207 usual snappy response.
7209 If `isearch-lazy-highlight-cleanup' is set to t, highlights for
7210 matches are automatically cleared when you end the search. If it is
7211 set to nil, you can remove the highlights manually with `M-x
7212 isearch-lazy-highlight-cleanup'.
7216 VC has been overhauled internally. It is now modular, making it
7217 easier to plug-in arbitrary version control backends. (See Lisp
7218 Changes for details on the new structure.) As a result, the mechanism
7219 to enable and disable support for particular version systems has
7220 changed: everything is now controlled by the new variable
7221 `vc-handled-backends'. Its value is a list of symbols that identify
7222 version systems; the default is '(RCS CVS SCCS). When finding a file,
7223 each of the backends in that list is tried in order to see whether the
7224 file is registered in that backend.
7226 When registering a new file, VC first tries each of the listed
7227 backends to see if any of them considers itself "responsible" for the
7228 directory of the file (e.g. because a corresponding subdirectory for
7229 master files exists). If none of the backends is responsible, then
7230 the first backend in the list that could register the file is chosen.
7231 As a consequence, the variable `vc-default-back-end' is now obsolete.
7233 The old variable `vc-master-templates' is also obsolete, although VC
7234 still supports it for backward compatibility. To define templates for
7235 RCS or SCCS, you should rather use the new variables
7236 vc-{rcs,sccs}-master-templates. (There is no such feature under CVS
7237 where it doesn't make sense.)
7239 The variables `vc-ignore-vc-files' and `vc-handle-cvs' are also
7240 obsolete now, you must set `vc-handled-backends' to nil or exclude
7241 `CVS' from the list, respectively, to achieve their effect now.
7245 The variable `vc-checkout-carefully' is obsolete: the corresponding
7246 checks are always done now.
7248 VC Dired buffers are now kept up-to-date during all version control
7251 `vc-diff' output is now displayed in `diff-mode'.
7252 `vc-print-log' uses `log-view-mode'.
7253 `vc-log-mode' (used for *VC-Log*) has been replaced by `log-edit-mode'.
7255 The command C-x v m (vc-merge) now accepts an empty argument as the
7256 first revision number. This means that any recent changes on the
7257 current branch should be picked up from the repository and merged into
7258 the working file (``merge news'').
7260 The commands C-x v s (vc-create-snapshot) and C-x v r
7261 (vc-retrieve-snapshot) now ask for a directory name from which to work
7264 *** Multiple Backends
7266 VC now lets you register files in more than one backend. This is
7267 useful, for example, if you are working with a slow remote CVS
7268 repository. You can then use RCS for local editing, and occasionally
7269 commit your changes back to CVS, or pick up changes from CVS into your
7272 To make this work, the ``more local'' backend (RCS in our example)
7273 should come first in `vc-handled-backends', and the ``more remote''
7274 backend (CVS) should come later. (The default value of
7275 `vc-handled-backends' already has it that way.)
7277 You can then commit changes to another backend (say, RCS), by typing
7278 C-u C-x v v RCS RET (i.e. vc-next-action now accepts a backend name as
7279 a revision number). VC registers the file in the more local backend
7280 if that hasn't already happened, and commits to a branch based on the
7281 current revision number from the more remote backend.
7283 If a file is registered in multiple backends, you can switch to
7284 another one using C-x v b (vc-switch-backend). This does not change
7285 any files, it only changes VC's perspective on the file. Use this to
7286 pick up changes from CVS while working under RCS locally.
7288 After you are done with your local RCS editing, you can commit your
7289 changes back to CVS using C-u C-x v v CVS RET. In this case, the
7290 local RCS archive is removed after the commit, and the log entry
7291 buffer is initialized to contain the entire RCS change log of the file.
7295 There is a new user option, `vc-cvs-stay-local'. If it is `t' (the
7296 default), then VC avoids network queries for files registered in
7297 remote repositories. The state of such files is then only determined
7298 by heuristics and past information. `vc-cvs-stay-local' can also be a
7299 regexp to match against repository hostnames; only files from hosts
7300 that match it are treated locally. If the variable is nil, then VC
7301 queries the repository just as often as it does for local files.
7303 If `vc-cvs-stay-local' is on, then VC also makes local backups of
7304 repository versions. This means that ordinary diffs (C-x v =) and
7305 revert operations (C-x v u) can be done completely locally, without
7306 any repository interactions at all. The name of a local version
7307 backup of FILE is FILE.~REV.~, where REV is the repository version
7308 number. This format is similar to that used by C-x v ~
7309 (vc-version-other-window), except for the trailing dot. As a matter
7310 of fact, the two features can each use the files created by the other,
7311 the only difference being that files with a trailing `.' are deleted
7312 automatically after commit. (This feature doesn't work on MS-DOS,
7313 since DOS disallows more than a single dot in the trunk of a file
7316 If `vc-cvs-stay-local' is on, and there have been changes in the
7317 repository, VC notifies you about it when you actually try to commit.
7318 If you want to check for updates from the repository without trying to
7319 commit, you can either use C-x v m RET to perform an update on the
7320 current file, or you can use C-x v r RET to get an update for an
7321 entire directory tree.
7323 The new user option `vc-cvs-use-edit' indicates whether VC should call
7324 "cvs edit" to make files writeable; it defaults to `t'. (This option
7325 is only meaningful if the CVSREAD variable is set, or if files are
7326 "watched" by other developers.)
7328 The commands C-x v s (vc-create-snapshot) and C-x v r
7329 (vc-retrieve-snapshot) are now also implemented for CVS. If you give
7330 an empty snapshot name to the latter, that performs a `cvs update',
7331 starting at the given directory.
7333 *** Lisp Changes in VC
7335 VC has been restructured internally to make it modular. You can now
7336 add support for arbitrary version control backends by writing a
7337 library that provides a certain set of backend-specific functions, and
7338 then telling VC to use that library. For example, to add support for
7339 a version system named SYS, you write a library named vc-sys.el, which
7340 provides a number of functions vc-sys-... (see commentary at the top
7341 of vc.el for a detailed list of them). To make VC use that library,
7342 you need to put it somewhere into Emacs' load path and add the symbol
7343 `SYS' to the list `vc-handled-backends'.
7345 ** The customizable EDT emulation package now supports the EDT
7346 SUBS command and EDT scroll margins. It also works with more
7347 terminal/keyboard configurations and it now works under XEmacs.
7348 See etc/edt-user.doc for more information.
7350 ** New modes and packages
7352 *** The new global minor mode `minibuffer-electric-default-mode'
7353 automatically hides the `(default ...)' part of minibuffer prompts when
7354 the default is not applicable.
7356 *** Artist is an Emacs lisp package that allows you to draw lines,
7357 rectangles and ellipses by using your mouse and/or keyboard. The
7358 shapes are made up with the ascii characters |, -, / and \.
7362 - Intersecting: When a `|' intersects with a `-', a `+' is
7363 drawn, like this: | \ /
7367 - Rubber-banding: When drawing lines you can interactively see the
7368 result while holding the mouse button down and moving the mouse. If
7369 your machine is not fast enough (a 386 is a bit too slow, but a
7370 pentium is well enough), you can turn this feature off. You will
7371 then see 1's and 2's which mark the 1st and 2nd endpoint of the line
7374 - Arrows: After having drawn a (straight) line or a (straight)
7375 poly-line, you can set arrows on the line-ends by typing < or >.
7377 - Flood-filling: You can fill any area with a certain character by
7380 - Cut copy and paste: You can cut, copy and paste rectangular
7381 regions. Artist also interfaces with the rect package (this can be
7382 turned off if it causes you any trouble) so anything you cut in
7383 artist can be yanked with C-x r y and vice versa.
7385 - Drawing with keys: Everything you can do with the mouse, you can
7386 also do without the mouse.
7388 - Aspect-ratio: You can set the variable artist-aspect-ratio to
7389 reflect the height-width ratio for the font you are using. Squares
7390 and circles are then drawn square/round. Note, that once your
7391 ascii-file is shown with font with a different height-width ratio,
7392 the squares won't be square and the circles won't be round.
7394 - Drawing operations: The following drawing operations are implemented:
7396 lines straight-lines
7398 poly-lines straight poly-lines
7400 text (see-thru) text (overwrite)
7401 spray-can setting size for spraying
7402 vaporize line vaporize lines
7403 erase characters erase rectangles
7405 Straight lines are lines that go horizontally, vertically or
7406 diagonally. Plain lines go in any direction. The operations in
7407 the right column are accessed by holding down the shift key while
7410 It is possible to vaporize (erase) entire lines and connected lines
7411 (rectangles for example) as long as the lines being vaporized are
7412 straight and connected at their endpoints. Vaporizing is inspired
7413 by the drawrect package by Jari Aalto <jari.aalto@poboxes.com>.
7415 - Picture mode compatibility: Artist is picture mode compatible (this
7418 *** The new package Eshell is an operating system command shell
7419 implemented entirely in Emacs Lisp. Use `M-x eshell' to invoke it.
7420 It functions similarly to bash and zsh, and allows running of Lisp
7421 functions and external commands using the same syntax. It supports
7422 history lists, aliases, extended globbing, smart scrolling, etc. It
7423 will work on any platform Emacs has been ported to. And since most of
7424 the basic commands -- ls, rm, mv, cp, ln, du, cat, etc. -- have been
7425 rewritten in Lisp, it offers an operating-system independent shell,
7426 all within the scope of your Emacs process.
7428 *** The new package timeclock.el is a mode is for keeping track of time
7429 intervals. You can use it for whatever purpose you like, but the
7430 typical scenario is to keep track of how much time you spend working
7431 on certain projects.
7433 *** The new package hi-lock.el provides commands to highlight matches
7434 of interactively entered regexps. For example,
7436 M-x highlight-regexp RET clearly RET RET
7438 will highlight all occurrences of `clearly' using a yellow background
7439 face. New occurrences of `clearly' will be highlighted as they are
7440 typed. `M-x unhighlight-regexp RET' will remove the highlighting.
7441 Any existing face can be used for highlighting and a set of
7442 appropriate faces is provided. The regexps can be written into the
7443 current buffer in a form that will be recognized the next time the
7444 corresponding file is read. There are commands to highlight matches
7445 to phrases and to highlight entire lines containing a match.
7447 *** The new package zone.el plays games with Emacs' display when
7450 *** The new package tildify.el allows to add hard spaces or other text
7451 fragments in accordance with the current major mode.
7453 *** The new package xml.el provides a simple but generic XML
7454 parser. It doesn't parse the DTDs however.
7456 *** The comment operations are now provided by the newcomment.el
7457 package which allows different styles of comment-region and should
7458 be more robust while offering the same functionality.
7459 `comment-region' now doesn't always comment a-line-at-a-time, but only
7460 comments the region, breaking the line at point if necessary.
7462 *** The Ebrowse package implements a C++ class browser and tags
7463 facilities tailored for use with C++. It is documented in a
7464 separate Texinfo file.
7466 *** The PCL-CVS package available by either running M-x cvs-examine or
7467 by visiting a CVS administrative directory (with a prefix argument)
7468 provides an alternative interface to VC-dired for CVS. It comes with
7469 `log-view-mode' to view RCS and SCCS logs and `log-edit-mode' used to
7470 enter check-in log messages.
7472 *** The new package called `woman' allows to browse Unix man pages
7473 without invoking external programs.
7475 The command `M-x woman' formats manual pages entirely in Emacs Lisp
7476 and then displays them, like `M-x manual-entry' does. Unlike
7477 `manual-entry', `woman' does not invoke any external programs, so it
7478 is useful on systems such as MS-DOS/MS-Windows where the `man' and
7479 Groff or `troff' commands are not readily available.
7481 The command `M-x woman-find-file' asks for the file name of a man
7482 page, then formats and displays it like `M-x woman' does.
7484 *** The new command M-x re-builder offers a convenient interface for
7485 authoring regular expressions with immediate visual feedback.
7487 The buffer from which the command was called becomes the target for
7488 the regexp editor popping up in a separate window. Matching text in
7489 the target buffer is immediately color marked during the editing.
7490 Each sub-expression of the regexp will show up in a different face so
7491 even complex regexps can be edited and verified on target data in a
7494 On displays not supporting faces the matches instead blink like
7495 matching parens to make them stand out. On such a setup you will
7496 probably also want to use the sub-expression mode when the regexp
7497 contains such to get feedback about their respective limits.
7499 *** glasses-mode is a minor mode that makes
7500 unreadableIdentifiersLikeThis readable. It works as glasses, without
7501 actually modifying content of a buffer.
7503 *** The package ebnf2ps translates an EBNF to a syntactic chart in
7506 Currently accepts ad-hoc EBNF, ISO EBNF and Bison/Yacc.
7508 The ad-hoc default EBNF syntax has the following elements:
7510 ; comment (until end of line)
7514 $A default non-terminal
7515 $"C" default terminal
7516 $?C? default special
7517 A = B. production (A is the header and B the body)
7518 C D sequence (C occurs before D)
7519 C | D alternative (C or D occurs)
7520 A - B exception (A excluding B, B without any non-terminal)
7521 n * A repetition (A repeats n (integer) times)
7522 (C) group (expression C is grouped together)
7523 [C] optional (C may or not occurs)
7524 C+ one or more occurrences of C
7525 {C}+ one or more occurrences of C
7526 {C}* zero or more occurrences of C
7527 {C} zero or more occurrences of C
7528 C / D equivalent to: C {D C}*
7529 {C || D}+ equivalent to: C {D C}*
7530 {C || D}* equivalent to: [C {D C}*]
7531 {C || D} equivalent to: [C {D C}*]
7533 Please, see ebnf2ps documentation for EBNF syntax and how to use it.
7535 *** The package align.el will align columns within a region, using M-x
7536 align. Its mode-specific rules, based on regular expressions,
7537 determine where the columns should be split. In C and C++, for
7538 example, it will align variable names in declaration lists, or the
7539 equal signs of assignments.
7541 *** `paragraph-indent-minor-mode' is a new minor mode supporting
7542 paragraphs in the same style as `paragraph-indent-text-mode'.
7544 *** bs.el is a new package for buffer selection similar to
7545 list-buffers or electric-buffer-list. Use M-x bs-show to display a
7546 buffer menu with this package. See the Custom group `bs'.
7548 *** find-lisp.el is a package emulating the Unix find command in Lisp.
7550 *** calculator.el is a small calculator package that is intended to
7551 replace desktop calculators such as xcalc and calc.exe. Actually, it
7552 is not too small - it has more features than most desktop calculators,
7553 and can be customized easily to get many more functions. It should
7554 not be confused with "calc" which is a much bigger mathematical tool
7555 which answers different needs.
7557 *** The minor modes cwarn-mode and global-cwarn-mode highlights
7558 suspicious C and C++ constructions. Currently, assignments inside
7559 expressions, semicolon following `if', `for' and `while' (except, of
7560 course, after a `do .. while' statement), and C++ functions with
7561 reference parameters are recognized. The modes require font-lock mode
7564 *** smerge-mode.el provides `smerge-mode', a simple minor-mode for files
7565 containing diff3-style conflict markers, such as generated by RCS.
7567 *** 5x5.el is a simple puzzle game.
7569 *** hl-line.el provides `hl-line-mode', a minor mode to highlight the
7570 current line in the current buffer. It also provides
7571 `global-hl-line-mode' to provide the same behavior in all buffers.
7573 *** ansi-color.el translates ANSI terminal escapes into text-properties.
7575 Please note: if `ansi-color-for-comint-mode' and
7576 `global-font-lock-mode' are non-nil, loading ansi-color.el will
7577 disable font-lock and add `ansi-color-apply' to
7578 `comint-preoutput-filter-functions' for all shell-mode buffers. This
7579 displays the output of "ls --color=yes" using the correct foreground
7580 and background colors.
7582 *** delphi.el provides a major mode for editing the Delphi (Object
7585 *** quickurl.el provides a simple method of inserting a URL based on
7588 *** sql.el provides an interface to SQL data bases.
7590 *** fortune.el uses the fortune program to create mail/news signatures.
7592 *** whitespace.el is a package for warning about and cleaning bogus
7593 whitespace in a file.
7595 *** PostScript mode (ps-mode) is a new major mode for editing PostScript
7596 files. It offers: interaction with a PostScript interpreter, including
7597 (very basic) error handling; fontification, easily customizable for
7598 interpreter messages; auto-indentation; insertion of EPSF templates and
7599 often used code snippets; viewing of BoundingBox; commenting out /
7600 uncommenting regions; conversion of 8bit characters to PostScript octal
7601 codes. All functionality is accessible through a menu.
7603 *** delim-col helps to prettify columns in a text region or rectangle.
7605 Here is an example of columns:
7608 dog pineapple car EXTRA
7609 porcupine strawberry airplane
7611 Doing the following settings:
7613 (setq delimit-columns-str-before "[ ")
7614 (setq delimit-columns-str-after " ]")
7615 (setq delimit-columns-str-separator ", ")
7616 (setq delimit-columns-separator "\t")
7619 Selecting the lines above and typing:
7621 M-x delimit-columns-region
7625 [ horse , apple , bus , ]
7626 [ dog , pineapple , car , EXTRA ]
7627 [ porcupine, strawberry, airplane, ]
7629 delim-col has the following options:
7631 delimit-columns-str-before Specify a string to be inserted
7634 delimit-columns-str-separator Specify a string to be inserted
7635 between each column.
7637 delimit-columns-str-after Specify a string to be inserted
7640 delimit-columns-separator Specify a regexp which separates
7643 delim-col has the following commands:
7645 delimit-columns-region Prettify all columns in a text region.
7646 delimit-columns-rectangle Prettify all columns in a text rectangle.
7648 *** Recentf mode maintains a menu for visiting files that were
7649 operated on recently. User option recentf-menu-filter specifies a
7650 menu filter function to change the menu appearance. For example, the
7651 recent file list can be displayed:
7653 - organized by major modes, directories or user defined rules.
7654 - sorted by file paths, file names, ascending or descending.
7655 - showing paths relative to the current default-directory
7657 The `recentf-filter-changer' menu filter function allows to
7658 dynamically change the menu appearance.
7660 *** elide-head.el provides a mechanism for eliding boilerplate header
7663 *** footnote.el provides `footnote-mode', a minor mode supporting use
7664 of footnotes. It is intended for use with Message mode, but isn't
7665 specific to Message mode.
7667 *** diff-mode.el provides `diff-mode', a major mode for
7668 viewing/editing context diffs (patches). It is selected for files
7669 with extension `.diff', `.diffs', `.patch' and `.rej'.
7671 *** EUDC, the Emacs Unified Directory Client, provides a common user
7672 interface to access directory servers using different directory
7673 protocols. It has a separate manual.
7675 *** autoconf.el provides a major mode for editing configure.in files
7676 for Autoconf, selected automatically.
7678 *** windmove.el provides moving between windows.
7680 *** crm.el provides a facility to read multiple strings from the
7681 minibuffer with completion.
7683 *** todo-mode.el provides management of TODO lists and integration
7684 with the diary features.
7686 *** autoarg.el provides a feature reported from Twenex Emacs whereby
7687 numeric keys supply prefix args rather than self inserting.
7689 *** The function `turn-off-auto-fill' unconditionally turns off Auto
7692 *** pcomplete.el is a library that provides programmable completion
7693 facilities for Emacs, similar to what zsh and tcsh offer. The main
7694 difference is that completion functions are written in Lisp, meaning
7695 they can be profiled, debugged, etc.
7697 *** antlr-mode is a new major mode for editing ANTLR grammar files.
7698 It is automatically turned on for files whose names have the extension
7701 ** Changes in sort.el
7703 The function sort-numeric-fields interprets numbers starting with `0'
7704 as octal and numbers starting with `0x' or `0X' as hexadecimal. The
7705 new user-option sort-numeric-base can be used to specify a default
7708 ** Changes to Ange-ftp
7710 *** Ange-ftp allows you to specify of a port number in remote file
7711 names cleanly. It is appended to the host name, separated by a hash
7712 sign, e.g. `/foo@bar.org#666:mumble'. (This syntax comes from EFS.)
7714 *** If the new user-option `ange-ftp-try-passive-mode' is set, passive
7715 ftp mode will be used if the ftp client supports that.
7717 *** Ange-ftp handles the output of the w32-style clients which
7718 output ^M at the end of lines.
7720 ** The recommended way of using Iswitchb is via the new global minor
7721 mode `iswitchb-mode'.
7723 ** Just loading the msb package doesn't switch on Msb mode anymore.
7724 If you have `(require 'msb)' in your .emacs, please replace it with
7727 ** Changes in Flyspell mode
7729 *** Flyspell mode has various new options. See the `flyspell' Custom
7732 *** The variable `flyspell-generic-check-word-p' has been renamed
7733 to `flyspell-generic-check-word-predicate'. The old name is still
7736 ** The user option `backward-delete-char-untabify-method' controls the
7737 behavior of `backward-delete-char-untabify'. The following values
7740 `untabify' -- turn a tab to many spaces, then delete one space;
7741 `hungry' -- delete all whitespace, both tabs and spaces;
7742 `all' -- delete all whitespace, including tabs, spaces and newlines;
7743 nil -- just delete one character.
7745 Default value is `untabify'.
7747 [This change was made in Emacs 20.3 but not mentioned then.]
7749 ** In Cperl mode `cperl-invalid-face' should now be a normal face
7750 symbol, not double-quoted.
7752 ** Some packages are declared obsolete, to be removed in a future
7753 version. They are: auto-show, c-mode, hilit19, hscroll, ooutline,
7754 profile, rnews, rnewspost, and sc. Their implementations have been
7755 moved to lisp/obsolete.
7757 ** auto-compression mode is no longer enabled just by loading jka-compr.el.
7758 To control it, set `auto-compression-mode' via Custom or use the
7759 `auto-compression-mode' command.
7761 ** `browse-url-gnome-moz' is a new option for
7762 `browse-url-browser-function', invoking Mozilla in GNOME, and
7763 `browse-url-kde' can be chosen for invoking the KDE browser.
7765 ** The user-option `browse-url-new-window-p' has been renamed to
7766 `browse-url-new-window-flag'.
7768 ** The functions `keep-lines', `flush-lines' and `how-many' now
7769 operate on the active region in Transient Mark mode.
7771 ** `gnus-user-agent' is a new possibility for `mail-user-agent'. It
7772 is like `message-user-agent', but with all the Gnus paraphernalia.
7774 ** The Strokes package has been updated. If your Emacs has XPM
7775 support, you can use it for pictographic editing. In Strokes mode,
7776 use C-mouse-2 to compose a complex stoke and insert it into the
7777 buffer. You can encode or decode a strokes buffer with new commands
7778 M-x strokes-encode-buffer and M-x strokes-decode-buffer. There is a
7779 new command M-x strokes-list-strokes.
7781 ** Hexl contains a new command `hexl-insert-hex-string' which inserts
7782 a string of hexadecimal numbers read from the mini-buffer.
7784 ** Hexl mode allows to insert non-ASCII characters.
7786 The non-ASCII characters are encoded using the same encoding as the
7787 file you are visiting in Hexl mode.
7789 ** Shell script mode changes.
7791 Shell script mode (sh-script) can now indent scripts for shells
7792 derived from sh and rc. The indentation style is customizable, and
7793 sh-script can attempt to "learn" the current buffer's style.
7797 *** In DOS, etags looks for file.cgz if it cannot find file.c.
7799 *** New option --ignore-case-regex is an alternative to --regex. It is now
7800 possible to bind a regexp to a language, by prepending the regexp with
7801 {lang}, where lang is one of the languages that `etags --help' prints out.
7802 This feature is useful especially for regex files, where each line contains
7803 a regular expression. The manual contains details.
7805 *** In C and derived languages, etags creates tags for function
7806 declarations when given the --declarations option.
7808 *** In C++, tags are created for "operator". The tags have the form
7809 "operator+", without spaces between the keyword and the operator.
7811 *** You shouldn't generally need any more the -C or -c++ option: etags
7812 automatically switches to C++ parsing when it meets the `class' or
7813 `template' keywords.
7815 *** Etags now is able to delve at arbitrary deeps into nested structures in
7816 C-like languages. Previously, it was limited to one or two brace levels.
7818 *** New language Ada: tags are functions, procedures, packages, tasks, and
7821 *** In Fortran, `procedure' is not tagged.
7823 *** In Java, tags are created for "interface".
7825 *** In Lisp, "(defstruct (foo", "(defun (operator" and similar constructs
7828 *** In makefiles, tags the targets.
7830 *** In Perl, the --globals option tags global variables. my and local
7831 variables are tagged.
7833 *** New language Python: def and class at the beginning of a line are tags.
7835 *** .ss files are Scheme files, .pdb is Postscript with C syntax, .psw is
7838 ** Changes in etags.el
7840 *** The new user-option tags-case-fold-search can be used to make
7841 tags operations case-sensitive or case-insensitive. The default
7842 is to use the same setting as case-fold-search.
7844 *** You can display additional output with M-x tags-apropos by setting
7845 the new variable tags-apropos-additional-actions.
7847 If non-nil, the variable's value should be a list of triples (TITLE
7848 FUNCTION TO-SEARCH). For each triple, M-x tags-apropos processes
7849 TO-SEARCH and lists tags from it. TO-SEARCH should be an alist,
7850 obarray, or symbol. If it is a symbol, the symbol's value is used.
7852 TITLE is a string to use to label the list of tags from TO-SEARCH.
7854 FUNCTION is a function to call when an entry is selected in the Tags
7855 List buffer. It is called with one argument, the selected symbol.
7857 A useful example value for this variable might be something like:
7859 '(("Emacs Lisp" Info-goto-emacs-command-node obarray)
7860 ("Common Lisp" common-lisp-hyperspec common-lisp-hyperspec-obarray)
7861 ("SCWM" scwm-documentation scwm-obarray))
7863 *** The face tags-tag-face can be used to customize the appearance
7864 of tags in the output of M-x tags-apropos.
7866 *** Setting tags-apropos-verbose to a non-nil value displays the
7867 names of tags files in the *Tags List* buffer.
7869 *** You can now search for tags that are part of the filename itself.
7870 If you have tagged the files topfile.c subdir/subfile.c
7871 /tmp/tempfile.c, you can now search for tags "topfile.c", "subfile.c",
7872 "dir/sub", "tempfile", "tempfile.c". If the tag matches the file name,
7873 point will go to the beginning of the file.
7875 *** Compressed files are now transparently supported if
7876 auto-compression-mode is active. You can tag (with Etags) and search
7877 (with find-tag) both compressed and uncompressed files.
7879 *** Tags commands like M-x tags-search no longer change point
7880 in buffers where no match is found. In buffers where a match is
7881 found, the original value of point is pushed on the marker ring.
7883 ** Fortran mode has a new command `fortran-strip-sequence-nos' to
7884 remove text past column 72. The syntax class of `\' in Fortran is now
7885 appropriate for C-style escape sequences in strings.
7887 ** SGML mode's default `sgml-validate-command' is now `nsgmls'.
7889 ** A new command `view-emacs-problems' (C-h P) displays the PROBLEMS file.
7891 ** The Dabbrev package has a new user-option `dabbrev-ignored-regexps'
7892 containing a list of regular expressions. Buffers matching a regular
7893 expression from that list, are not checked.
7895 ** Emacs can now figure out modification times of remote files.
7896 When you do C-x C-f /user@host:/path/file RET and edit the file,
7897 and someone else modifies the file, you will be prompted to revert
7898 the buffer, just like for the local files.
7900 ** The buffer menu (C-x C-b) no longer lists the *Buffer List* buffer.
7902 ** When invoked with a prefix argument, the command `list-abbrevs' now
7903 displays local abbrevs, only.
7905 ** Refill minor mode provides preliminary support for keeping
7906 paragraphs filled as you modify them.
7908 ** The variable `double-click-fuzz' specifies how much the mouse
7909 may be moved between clicks that are recognized as a pair. Its value
7910 is measured in pixels.
7912 ** The new global minor mode `auto-image-file-mode' allows image files
7913 to be visited as images.
7915 ** Two new user-options `grep-command' and `grep-find-command'
7916 were added to compile.el.
7918 ** Withdrawn packages
7920 *** mldrag.el has been removed. mouse.el provides the same
7921 functionality with aliases for the mldrag functions.
7923 *** eval-reg.el has been obsoleted by changes to edebug.el and removed.
7925 *** ph.el has been obsoleted by EUDC and removed.
7928 * Incompatible Lisp changes
7930 There are a few Lisp changes which are not backwards-compatible and
7931 may require changes to existing code. Here is a list for reference.
7932 See the sections below for details.
7934 ** Since `format' preserves text properties, the idiom
7935 `(format "%s" foo)' no longer works to copy and remove properties.
7936 Use `copy-sequence' to copy the string, then use `set-text-properties'
7937 to remove the properties of the copy.
7939 ** Since the `keymap' text property now has significance, some code
7940 which uses both `local-map' and `keymap' properties (for portability)
7941 may, for instance, give rise to duplicate menus when the keymaps from
7942 these properties are active.
7944 ** The change in the treatment of non-ASCII characters in search
7945 ranges may affect some code.
7947 ** A non-nil value for the LOCAL arg of add-hook makes the hook
7948 buffer-local even if `make-local-hook' hasn't been called, which might
7949 make a difference to some code.
7951 ** The new treatment of the minibuffer prompt might affect code which
7952 operates on the minibuffer.
7954 ** The new character sets `eight-bit-control' and `eight-bit-graphic'
7955 cause `no-conversion' and `emacs-mule-unix' coding systems to produce
7956 different results when reading files with non-ASCII characters
7957 (previously, both coding systems would produce the same results).
7958 Specifically, `no-conversion' interprets each 8-bit byte as a separate
7959 character. This makes `no-conversion' inappropriate for reading
7960 multibyte text, e.g. buffers written to disk in their internal MULE
7961 encoding (auto-saving does that, for example). If a Lisp program
7962 reads such files with `no-conversion', each byte of the multibyte
7963 sequence, including the MULE leading codes such as \201, is treated as
7964 a separate character, which prevents them from being interpreted in
7965 the buffer as multibyte characters.
7967 Therefore, Lisp programs that read files which contain the internal
7968 MULE encoding should use `emacs-mule-unix'. `no-conversion' is only
7969 appropriate for reading truly binary files.
7971 ** Code that relies on the obsolete `before-change-function' and
7972 `after-change-function' to detect buffer changes will now fail. Use
7973 `before-change-functions' and `after-change-functions' instead.
7975 ** Code that uses `concat' with integer args now gets an error, as
7976 long promised. So does any code that uses derivatives of `concat',
7977 such as `mapconcat'.
7979 ** The function base64-decode-string now always returns a unibyte
7982 ** Not a Lisp incompatibility as such but, with the introduction of
7983 extra private charsets, there is now only one slot free for a new
7984 dimension-2 private charset. User code which tries to add more than
7985 one extra will fail unless you rebuild Emacs with some standard
7986 charset(s) removed; that is probably inadvisable because it changes
7987 the emacs-mule encoding. Also, files stored in the emacs-mule
7988 encoding using Emacs 20 with additional private charsets defined will
7989 probably not be read correctly by Emacs 21.
7991 ** The variable `directory-sep-char' is slated for removal.
7992 Not really a change (yet), but a projected one that you should be
7993 aware of: The variable `directory-sep-char' is deprecated, and should
7994 not be used. It was always ignored on GNU/Linux and Unix systems and
7995 on MS-DOS, but the MS-Windows port tried to support it by adapting the
7996 behavior of certain primitives to the value of this variable. It
7997 turned out that such support cannot be reliable, so it was decided to
7998 remove this variable in the near future. Lisp programs are well
7999 advised not to set it to anything but '/', because any different value
8000 will not have any effect when support for this variable is removed.
8003 * Lisp changes made after edition 2.6 of the Emacs Lisp Manual,
8004 (Display-related features are described in a page of their own below.)
8006 ** Function assq-delete-all replaces function assoc-delete-all.
8008 ** The new function animate-string, from lisp/play/animate.el
8009 allows the animated display of strings.
8011 ** The new function `interactive-form' can be used to obtain the
8012 interactive form of a function.
8014 ** The keyword :set-after in defcustom allows to specify dependencies
8015 between custom options. Example:
8017 (defcustom default-input-method nil
8018 "*Default input method for multilingual text (a string).
8019 This is the input method activated automatically by the command
8020 `toggle-input-method' (\\[toggle-input-method])."
8022 :type '(choice (const nil) string)
8023 :set-after '(current-language-environment))
8025 This specifies that default-input-method should be set after
8026 current-language-environment even if default-input-method appears
8027 first in a custom-set-variables statement.
8029 ** The new hook `kbd-macro-termination-hook' is run at the end of
8030 function execute-kbd-macro. Functions on this hook are called with no
8031 args. The hook is run independent of how the macro was terminated
8032 (signal or normal termination).
8034 ** Functions `butlast' and `nbutlast' for removing trailing elements
8035 from a list are now available without requiring the CL package.
8037 ** The new user-option `even-window-heights' can be set to nil
8038 to prevent `display-buffer' from evening out window heights.
8040 ** The user-option `face-font-registry-alternatives' specifies
8041 alternative font registry names to try when looking for a font.
8043 ** Function `md5' calculates the MD5 "message digest"/"checksum".
8045 ** Function `delete-frame' runs `delete-frame-hook' before actually
8046 deleting the frame. The hook is called with one arg, the frame
8049 ** `add-hook' now makes the hook local if called with a non-nil LOCAL arg.
8051 ** The treatment of non-ASCII characters in search ranges has changed.
8052 If a range in a regular expression or the arg of
8053 skip-chars-forward/backward starts with a unibyte character C and ends
8054 with a multibyte character C2, the range is divided into two: one is
8055 C..?\377, the other is C1..C2, where C1 is the first character of C2's
8058 ** The new function `display-message-or-buffer' displays a message in
8059 the echo area or pops up a buffer, depending on the length of the
8062 ** The new macro `with-auto-compression-mode' allows evaluating an
8063 expression with auto-compression-mode enabled.
8065 ** In image specifications, `:heuristic-mask' has been replaced
8066 with the more general `:mask' property.
8068 ** Image specifications accept more `:conversion's.
8070 ** A `?' can be used in a symbol name without escaping it with a
8073 ** Reading from the mini-buffer now reads from standard input if Emacs
8074 is running in batch mode. For example,
8076 (message "%s" (read t))
8078 will read a Lisp expression from standard input and print the result
8081 ** The argument of `down-list', `backward-up-list', `up-list',
8082 `kill-sexp', `backward-kill-sexp' and `mark-sexp' is now optional.
8084 ** If `display-buffer-reuse-frames' is set, function `display-buffer'
8085 will raise frames displaying a buffer, instead of creating a new
8088 ** Two new functions for removing elements from lists/sequences
8091 - Function: remove ELT SEQ
8093 Return a copy of SEQ with all occurrences of ELT removed. SEQ must be
8094 a list, vector, or string. The comparison is done with `equal'.
8096 - Function: remq ELT LIST
8098 Return a copy of LIST with all occurrences of ELT removed. The
8099 comparison is done with `eq'.
8101 ** The function `delete' now also works with vectors and strings.
8103 ** The meaning of the `:weakness WEAK' argument of make-hash-table
8104 has been changed: WEAK can now have new values `key-or-value' and
8105 `key-and-value', in addition to `nil', `key', `value', and `t'.
8107 ** Function `aset' stores any multibyte character in any string
8108 without signaling "Attempt to change char length of a string". It may
8109 convert a unibyte string to multibyte if necessary.
8111 ** The value of the `help-echo' text property is called as a function
8112 or evaluated, if it is not a string already, to obtain a help string.
8114 ** Function `make-obsolete' now has an optional arg to say when the
8115 function was declared obsolete.
8117 ** Function `plist-member' is renamed from `widget-plist-member' (which is
8118 retained as an alias).
8120 ** Easy-menu's :filter now takes the unconverted form of the menu and
8121 the result is automatically converted to Emacs' form.
8123 ** The new function `window-list' has been defined
8125 - Function: window-list &optional FRAME WINDOW MINIBUF
8127 Return a list of windows on FRAME, starting with WINDOW. FRAME nil or
8128 omitted means use the selected frame. WINDOW nil or omitted means use
8129 the selected window. MINIBUF t means include the minibuffer window,
8130 even if it isn't active. MINIBUF nil or omitted means include the
8131 minibuffer window only if it's active. MINIBUF neither nil nor t
8132 means never include the minibuffer window.
8134 ** There's a new function `get-window-with-predicate' defined as follows
8136 - Function: get-window-with-predicate PREDICATE &optional MINIBUF ALL-FRAMES DEFAULT
8138 Return a window satisfying PREDICATE.
8140 This function cycles through all visible windows using `walk-windows',
8141 calling PREDICATE on each one. PREDICATE is called with a window as
8142 argument. The first window for which PREDICATE returns a non-nil
8143 value is returned. If no window satisfies PREDICATE, DEFAULT is
8146 Optional second arg MINIBUF t means count the minibuffer window even
8147 if not active. MINIBUF nil or omitted means count the minibuffer iff
8148 it is active. MINIBUF neither t nor nil means not to count the
8149 minibuffer even if it is active.
8151 Several frames may share a single minibuffer; if the minibuffer
8152 counts, all windows on all frames that share that minibuffer count
8153 too. Therefore, if you are using a separate minibuffer frame
8154 and the minibuffer is active and MINIBUF says it counts,
8155 `walk-windows' includes the windows in the frame from which you
8156 entered the minibuffer, as well as the minibuffer window.
8158 ALL-FRAMES is the optional third argument.
8159 ALL-FRAMES nil or omitted means cycle within the frames as specified above.
8160 ALL-FRAMES = `visible' means include windows on all visible frames.
8161 ALL-FRAMES = 0 means include windows on all visible and iconified frames.
8162 ALL-FRAMES = t means include windows on all frames including invisible frames.
8163 If ALL-FRAMES is a frame, it means include windows on that frame.
8164 Anything else means restrict to the selected frame.
8166 ** The function `single-key-description' now encloses function key and
8167 event names in angle brackets. When called with a second optional
8168 argument non-nil, angle brackets won't be printed.
8170 ** If the variable `message-truncate-lines' is bound to t around a
8171 call to `message', the echo area will not be resized to display that
8172 message; it will be truncated instead, as it was done in 20.x.
8173 Default value is nil.
8175 ** The user option `line-number-display-limit' can now be set to nil,
8178 ** The new user option `line-number-display-limit-width' controls
8179 the maximum width of lines in a buffer for which Emacs displays line
8180 numbers in the mode line. The default is 200.
8182 ** `select-safe-coding-system' now also checks the most preferred
8183 coding-system if buffer-file-coding-system is `undecided' and
8184 DEFAULT-CODING-SYSTEM is not specified,
8186 ** The function `subr-arity' provides information about the argument
8187 list of a primitive.
8189 ** `where-is-internal' now also accepts a list of keymaps.
8191 ** The text property `keymap' specifies a key map which overrides the
8192 buffer's local map and the map specified by the `local-map' property.
8193 This is probably what most current uses of `local-map' want, rather
8194 than replacing the local map.
8196 ** The obsolete variables `before-change-function' and
8197 `after-change-function' are no longer acted upon and have been
8198 removed. Use `before-change-functions' and `after-change-functions'
8201 ** The function `apropos-mode' runs the hook `apropos-mode-hook'.
8203 ** `concat' no longer accepts individual integer arguments,
8204 as promised long ago.
8206 ** The new function `float-time' returns the current time as a float.
8208 ** The new variable auto-coding-regexp-alist specifies coding systems
8209 for reading specific files, analogous to auto-coding-alist, but
8210 patterns are checked against file contents instead of file names.
8213 * Lisp changes in Emacs 21.1 (see following page for display-related features)
8215 ** The new package rx.el provides an alternative sexp notation for
8216 regular expressions.
8218 - Function: rx-to-string SEXP
8220 Translate SEXP into a regular expression in string notation.
8224 Translate SEXP into a regular expression in string notation.
8226 The following are valid subforms of regular expressions in sexp
8230 matches string STRING literally.
8233 matches character CHAR literally.
8236 matches any character except a newline.
8239 matches any character
8242 matches any character in SET. SET may be a character or string.
8243 Ranges of characters can be specified as `A-Z' in strings.
8249 matches any character not in SET
8252 matches the empty string, but only at the beginning of a line
8253 in the text being matched
8256 is similar to `line-start' but matches only at the end of a line
8259 matches the empty string, but only at the beginning of the
8260 string being matched against.
8263 matches the empty string, but only at the end of the
8264 string being matched against.
8267 matches the empty string, but only at the beginning of the
8268 buffer being matched against.
8271 matches the empty string, but only at the end of the
8272 buffer being matched against.
8275 matches the empty string, but only at point.
8278 matches the empty string, but only at the beginning or end of a
8282 matches the empty string, but only at the end of a word.
8285 matches the empty string, but only at the beginning or end of a
8288 `(not word-boundary)'
8289 matches the empty string, but not at the beginning or end of a
8293 matches 0 through 9.
8296 matches ASCII control characters.
8299 matches 0 through 9, a through f and A through F.
8302 matches space and tab only.
8305 matches graphic characters--everything except ASCII control chars,
8309 matches printing characters--everything except ASCII control chars
8313 matches letters and digits. (But at present, for multibyte characters,
8314 it matches anything that has word syntax.)
8317 matches letters. (But at present, for multibyte characters,
8318 it matches anything that has word syntax.)
8321 matches ASCII (unibyte) characters.
8324 matches non-ASCII (multibyte) characters.
8327 matches anything lower-case.
8330 matches anything upper-case.
8333 matches punctuation. (But at present, for multibyte characters,
8334 it matches anything that has non-word syntax.)
8337 matches anything that has whitespace syntax.
8340 matches anything that has word syntax.
8343 matches a character with syntax SYNTAX. SYNTAX must be one
8344 of the following symbols.
8346 `whitespace' (\\s- in string notation)
8347 `punctuation' (\\s.)
8350 `open-parenthesis' (\\s()
8351 `close-parenthesis' (\\s))
8352 `expression-prefix' (\\s')
8353 `string-quote' (\\s\")
8354 `paired-delimiter' (\\s$)
8356 `character-quote' (\\s/)
8357 `comment-start' (\\s<)
8358 `comment-end' (\\s>)
8360 `(not (syntax SYNTAX))'
8361 matches a character that has not syntax SYNTAX.
8363 `(category CATEGORY)'
8364 matches a character with category CATEGORY. CATEGORY must be
8365 either a character to use for C, or one of the following symbols.
8367 `consonant' (\\c0 in string notation)
8369 `upper-diacritical-mark' (\\c2)
8370 `lower-diacritical-mark' (\\c3)
8374 `vowel-modifying-diacritical-mark' (\\c7)
8376 `semivowel-lower' (\\c9)
8377 `not-at-end-of-line' (\\c<)
8378 `not-at-beginning-of-line' (\\c>)
8379 `alpha-numeric-two-byte' (\\cA)
8380 `chinse-two-byte' (\\cC)
8381 `greek-two-byte' (\\cG)
8382 `japanese-hiragana-two-byte' (\\cH)
8383 `indian-two-byte' (\\cI)
8384 `japanese-katakana-two-byte' (\\cK)
8385 `korean-hangul-two-byte' (\\cN)
8386 `cyrillic-two-byte' (\\cY)
8395 `japanese-katakana' (\\ck)
8399 `japanese-roman' (\\cr)
8406 `(not (category CATEGORY))'
8407 matches a character that has not category CATEGORY.
8409 `(and SEXP1 SEXP2 ...)'
8410 matches what SEXP1 matches, followed by what SEXP2 matches, etc.
8412 `(submatch SEXP1 SEXP2 ...)'
8413 like `and', but makes the match accessible with `match-end',
8414 `match-beginning', and `match-string'.
8416 `(group SEXP1 SEXP2 ...)'
8417 another name for `submatch'.
8419 `(or SEXP1 SEXP2 ...)'
8420 matches anything that matches SEXP1 or SEXP2, etc. If all
8421 args are strings, use `regexp-opt' to optimize the resulting
8424 `(minimal-match SEXP)'
8425 produce a non-greedy regexp for SEXP. Normally, regexps matching
8426 zero or more occurrences of something are \"greedy\" in that they
8427 match as much as they can, as long as the overall regexp can
8428 still match. A non-greedy regexp matches as little as possible.
8430 `(maximal-match SEXP)'
8431 produce a greedy regexp for SEXP. This is the default.
8433 `(zero-or-more SEXP)'
8434 matches zero or more occurrences of what SEXP matches.
8437 like `zero-or-more'.
8440 like `zero-or-more', but always produces a greedy regexp.
8443 like `zero-or-more', but always produces a non-greedy regexp.
8445 `(one-or-more SEXP)'
8446 matches one or more occurrences of A.
8452 like `one-or-more', but always produces a greedy regexp.
8455 like `one-or-more', but always produces a non-greedy regexp.
8457 `(zero-or-one SEXP)'
8458 matches zero or one occurrences of A.
8464 like `zero-or-one', but always produces a greedy regexp.
8467 like `zero-or-one', but always produces a non-greedy regexp.
8470 matches N occurrences of what SEXP matches.
8473 matches N to M occurrences of what SEXP matches.
8476 evaluate FORM and insert result. If result is a string,
8480 include REGEXP in string notation in the result.
8482 *** The features `md5' and `overlay' are now provided by default.
8484 *** The special form `save-restriction' now works correctly even if the
8485 buffer is widened inside the save-restriction and changes made outside
8486 the original restriction. Previously, doing this would cause the saved
8487 restriction to be restored incorrectly.
8489 *** The functions `find-charset-region' and `find-charset-string' include
8490 `eight-bit-control' and/or `eight-bit-graphic' in the returned list
8491 when they find 8-bit characters. Previously, they included `ascii' in a
8492 multibyte buffer and `unknown' in a unibyte buffer.
8494 *** The functions `set-buffer-multibyte', `string-as-multibyte' and
8495 `string-as-unibyte' change the byte sequence of a buffer or a string
8496 if it contains a character from the `eight-bit-control' character set.
8498 *** The handling of multibyte sequences in a multibyte buffer is
8499 changed. Previously, a byte sequence matching the pattern
8500 [\200-\237][\240-\377]+ was interpreted as a single character
8501 regardless of the length of the trailing bytes [\240-\377]+. Thus, if
8502 the sequence was longer than what the leading byte indicated, the
8503 extra trailing bytes were ignored by Lisp functions. Now such extra
8504 bytes are independent 8-bit characters belonging to the charset
8507 ** Fontsets are now implemented using char-tables.
8509 A fontset can now be specified for each independent character, for
8510 a group of characters or for a character set rather than just for a
8511 character set as previously.
8513 *** The arguments of the function `set-fontset-font' are changed.
8514 They are NAME, CHARACTER, FONTNAME, and optional FRAME. The function
8515 modifies fontset NAME to use FONTNAME for CHARACTER.
8517 CHARACTER may be a cons (FROM . TO), where FROM and TO are non-generic
8518 characters. In that case FONTNAME is used for all characters in the
8519 range FROM and TO (inclusive). CHARACTER may be a charset. In that
8520 case FONTNAME is used for all character in the charset.
8522 FONTNAME may be a cons (FAMILY . REGISTRY), where FAMILY is the family
8523 name of a font and REGISTRY is a registry name of a font.
8525 *** Variable x-charset-registry has been deleted. The default charset
8526 registries of character sets are set in the default fontset
8529 *** The function `create-fontset-from-fontset-spec' ignores the second
8530 argument STYLE-VARIANT. It never creates style-variant fontsets.
8532 ** The method of composing characters is changed. Now character
8533 composition is done by a special text property `composition' in
8534 buffers and strings.
8536 *** Charset composition is deleted. Emacs never creates a `composite
8537 character' which is an independent character with a unique character
8538 code. Thus the following functions handling `composite characters'
8539 have been deleted: composite-char-component,
8540 composite-char-component-count, composite-char-composition-rule,
8541 composite-char-composition-rule and decompose-composite-char delete.
8542 The variables leading-code-composition and min-composite-char have
8545 *** Three more glyph reference points are added. They can be used to
8546 specify a composition rule. See the documentation of the variable
8547 `reference-point-alist' for more detail.
8549 *** The function `compose-region' takes new arguments COMPONENTS and
8550 MODIFICATION-FUNC. With COMPONENTS, you can specify not only a
8551 composition rule but also characters to be composed. Such characters
8552 may differ between buffer and string text.
8554 *** The function `compose-string' takes new arguments START, END,
8555 COMPONENTS, and MODIFICATION-FUNC.
8557 *** The function `compose-string' puts text property `composition'
8558 directly on the argument STRING instead of returning a new string.
8559 Likewise, the function `decompose-string' just removes text property
8560 `composition' from STRING.
8562 *** The new function `find-composition' returns information about
8563 a composition at a specified position in a buffer or a string.
8565 *** The function `decompose-composite-char' is now labeled as
8568 ** The new coding system `mac-roman' is primarily intended for use on
8569 the Macintosh but may be used generally for Macintosh-encoded text.
8571 ** The new character sets `mule-unicode-0100-24ff',
8572 `mule-unicode-2500-33ff', and `mule-unicode-e000-ffff' have been
8573 introduced for Unicode characters in the range U+0100..U+24FF,
8574 U+2500..U+33FF, U+E000..U+FFFF respectively.
8576 Note that the character sets are not yet unified in Emacs, so
8577 characters which belong to charsets such as Latin-2, Greek, Hebrew,
8578 etc. and the same characters in the `mule-unicode-*' charsets are
8579 different characters, as far as Emacs is concerned. For example, text
8580 which includes Unicode characters from the Latin-2 locale cannot be
8581 encoded by Emacs with ISO 8859-2 coding system.
8583 ** The new coding system `mule-utf-8' has been added.
8584 It provides limited support for decoding/encoding UTF-8 text. For
8585 details, please see the documentation string of this coding system.
8587 ** The new character sets `japanese-jisx0213-1' and
8588 `japanese-jisx0213-2' have been introduced for the new Japanese
8589 standard JIS X 0213 Plane 1 and Plane 2.
8591 ** The new character sets `latin-iso8859-14' and `latin-iso8859-15'
8592 have been introduced.
8594 ** The new character sets `eight-bit-control' and `eight-bit-graphic'
8595 have been introduced for 8-bit characters in the ranges 0x80..0x9F and
8596 0xA0..0xFF respectively. Note that the multibyte representation of
8597 eight-bit-control is never exposed; this leads to an exception in the
8598 emacs-mule coding system, which encodes everything else to the
8599 buffer/string internal representation. Note that to search for
8600 eight-bit-graphic characters in a multibyte buffer, the search string
8601 must be multibyte, otherwise such characters will be converted to
8602 their multibyte equivalent.
8604 ** If the APPEND argument of `write-region' is an integer, it seeks to
8605 that offset in the file before writing.
8607 ** The function `add-minor-mode' has been added for convenience and
8608 compatibility with XEmacs (and is used internally by define-minor-mode).
8610 ** The function `shell-command' now sets the default directory of the
8611 `*Shell Command Output*' buffer to the default directory of the buffer
8612 from which the command was issued.
8614 ** The functions `query-replace', `query-replace-regexp',
8615 `query-replace-regexp-eval' `map-query-replace-regexp',
8616 `replace-string', `replace-regexp', and `perform-replace' take two
8617 additional optional arguments START and END that specify the region to
8620 ** The new function `count-screen-lines' is a more flexible alternative
8621 to `window-buffer-height'.
8623 - Function: count-screen-lines &optional BEG END COUNT-FINAL-NEWLINE WINDOW
8625 Return the number of screen lines in the region between BEG and END.
8626 The number of screen lines may be different from the number of actual
8627 lines, due to line breaking, display table, etc.
8629 Optional arguments BEG and END default to `point-min' and `point-max'
8632 If region ends with a newline, ignore it unless optional third argument
8633 COUNT-FINAL-NEWLINE is non-nil.
8635 The optional fourth argument WINDOW specifies the window used for
8636 obtaining parameters such as width, horizontal scrolling, and so
8637 on. The default is to use the selected window's parameters.
8639 Like `vertical-motion', `count-screen-lines' always uses the current
8640 buffer, regardless of which buffer is displayed in WINDOW. This makes
8641 possible to use `count-screen-lines' in any buffer, whether or not it
8642 is currently displayed in some window.
8644 ** The new function `mapc' is like `mapcar' but doesn't collect the
8645 argument function's results.
8647 ** The functions base64-decode-region and base64-decode-string now
8648 signal an error instead of returning nil if decoding fails. Also,
8649 `base64-decode-string' now always returns a unibyte string (in Emacs
8650 20, it returned a multibyte string when the result was a valid multibyte
8653 ** The function sendmail-user-agent-compose now recognizes a `body'
8654 header in the list of headers passed to it.
8656 ** The new function member-ignore-case works like `member', but
8657 ignores differences in case and text representation.
8659 ** The buffer-local variable cursor-type can be used to specify the
8660 cursor to use in windows displaying a buffer. Values are interpreted
8663 t use the cursor specified for the frame (default)
8664 nil don't display a cursor
8665 `bar' display a bar cursor with default width
8666 (bar . WIDTH) display a bar cursor with width WIDTH
8667 others display a box cursor.
8669 ** The variable open-paren-in-column-0-is-defun-start controls whether
8670 an open parenthesis in column 0 is considered to be the start of a
8671 defun. If set, the default, it is considered a defun start. If not
8672 set, an open parenthesis in column 0 has no special meaning.
8674 ** The new function `string-to-syntax' can be used to translate syntax
8675 specifications in string form as accepted by `modify-syntax-entry' to
8676 the cons-cell form that is used for the values of the `syntax-table'
8677 text property, and in `font-lock-syntactic-keywords'.
8681 (string-to-syntax "()")
8684 ** Emacs' reader supports CL read syntax for integers in bases
8687 *** `#BINTEGER' or `#bINTEGER' reads INTEGER in binary (radix 2).
8688 INTEGER optionally contains a sign.
8695 *** `#OINTEGER' or `#oINTEGER' reads INTEGER in octal (radix 8).
8700 *** `#XINTEGER' or `#xINTEGER' reads INTEGER in hexadecimal (radix 16).
8705 *** `#RADIXrINTEGER' reads INTEGER in radix RADIX, 2 <= RADIX <= 36.
8712 ** The function `documentation-property' now evaluates the value of
8713 the given property to obtain a string if it doesn't refer to etc/DOC
8716 ** If called for a symbol, the function `documentation' now looks for
8717 a `function-documentation' property of that symbol. If it has a non-nil
8718 value, the documentation is taken from that value. If the value is
8719 not a string, it is evaluated to obtain a string.
8721 ** The last argument of `define-key-after' defaults to t for convenience.
8723 ** The new function `replace-regexp-in-string' replaces all matches
8724 for a regexp in a string.
8726 ** `mouse-position' now runs the abnormal hook
8727 `mouse-position-function'.
8729 ** The function string-to-number now returns a float for numbers
8730 that don't fit into a Lisp integer.
8732 ** The variable keyword-symbols-constants-flag has been removed.
8733 Keywords are now always considered constants.
8735 ** The new function `delete-and-extract-region' deletes text and
8738 ** The function `clear-this-command-keys' now also clears the vector
8739 returned by function `recent-keys'.
8741 ** Variables `beginning-of-defun-function' and `end-of-defun-function'
8742 can be used to define handlers for the functions that find defuns.
8743 Major modes can define these locally instead of rebinding C-M-a
8744 etc. if the normal conventions for defuns are not appropriate for the
8747 ** easy-mmode-define-minor-mode now takes an additional BODY argument
8748 and is renamed `define-minor-mode'.
8750 ** If an abbrev has a hook function which is a symbol, and that symbol
8751 has a non-nil `no-self-insert' property, the return value of the hook
8752 function specifies whether an expansion has been done or not. If it
8753 returns nil, abbrev-expand also returns nil, meaning "no expansion has
8756 When abbrev expansion is done by typing a self-inserting character,
8757 and the abbrev has a hook with the `no-self-insert' property, and the
8758 hook function returns non-nil meaning expansion has been done,
8759 then the self-inserting character is not inserted.
8761 ** The function `intern-soft' now accepts a symbol as first argument.
8762 In this case, that exact symbol is looked up in the specified obarray,
8763 and the function's value is nil if it is not found.
8765 ** The new macro `with-syntax-table' can be used to evaluate forms
8766 with the syntax table of the current buffer temporarily set to a
8769 (with-syntax-table TABLE &rest BODY)
8771 Evaluate BODY with syntax table of current buffer set to a copy of
8772 TABLE. The current syntax table is saved, BODY is evaluated, and the
8773 saved table is restored, even in case of an abnormal exit. Value is
8776 ** Regular expressions now support intervals \{n,m\} as well as
8777 Perl's shy-groups \(?:...\) and non-greedy *? +? and ?? operators.
8778 Also back-references like \2 are now considered as an error if the
8779 corresponding subgroup does not exist (or is not closed yet).
8780 Previously it would have been silently turned into `2' (ignoring the `\').
8782 ** The optional argument BUFFER of function file-local-copy has been
8783 removed since it wasn't used by anything.
8785 ** The file name argument of function `file-locked-p' is now required
8786 instead of being optional.
8788 ** The new built-in error `text-read-only' is signaled when trying to
8789 modify read-only text.
8791 ** New functions and variables for locales.
8793 The new variable `locale-coding-system' specifies how to encode and
8794 decode strings passed to low-level message functions like strerror and
8795 time functions like strftime. The new variables
8796 `system-messages-locale' and `system-time-locale' give the system
8797 locales to be used when invoking these two types of functions.
8799 The new function `set-locale-environment' sets the language
8800 environment, preferred coding system, and locale coding system from
8801 the system locale as specified by the LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, and LANG
8802 environment variables. Normally, it is invoked during startup and need
8803 not be invoked thereafter. It uses the new variables
8804 `locale-language-names', `locale-charset-language-names', and
8805 `locale-preferred-coding-systems' to make its decisions.
8807 ** syntax tables now understand nested comments.
8808 To declare a comment syntax as allowing nesting, just add an `n'
8809 modifier to either of the characters of the comment end and the comment
8812 ** The function `pixmap-spec-p' has been renamed `bitmap-spec-p'
8813 because `bitmap' is more in line with the usual X terminology.
8815 ** New function `propertize'
8817 The new function `propertize' can be used to conveniently construct
8818 strings with text properties.
8820 - Function: propertize STRING &rest PROPERTIES
8822 Value is a copy of STRING with text properties assigned as specified
8823 by PROPERTIES. PROPERTIES is a sequence of pairs PROPERTY VALUE, with
8824 PROPERTY being the name of a text property and VALUE being the
8825 specified value of that property. Example:
8827 (propertize "foo" 'face 'bold 'read-only t)
8829 ** push and pop macros.
8831 Simple versions of the push and pop macros of Common Lisp
8832 are now defined in Emacs Lisp. These macros allow only symbols
8833 as the place that holds the list to be changed.
8835 (push NEWELT LISTNAME) add NEWELT to the front of LISTNAME's value.
8836 (pop LISTNAME) return first elt of LISTNAME, and remove it
8837 (thus altering the value of LISTNAME).
8839 ** New dolist and dotimes macros.
8841 Simple versions of the dolist and dotimes macros of Common Lisp
8842 are now defined in Emacs Lisp.
8844 (dolist (VAR LIST [RESULT]) BODY...)
8845 Execute body once for each element of LIST,
8846 using the variable VAR to hold the current element.
8847 Then return the value of RESULT, or nil if RESULT is omitted.
8849 (dotimes (VAR COUNT [RESULT]) BODY...)
8850 Execute BODY with VAR bound to successive integers running from 0,
8851 inclusive, to COUNT, exclusive.
8852 Then return the value of RESULT, or nil if RESULT is omitted.
8854 ** Regular expressions now support Posix character classes such as
8855 [:alpha:], [:space:] and so on. These must be used within a character
8856 class--for instance, [-[:digit:].+] matches digits or a period
8859 [:digit:] matches 0 through 9
8860 [:cntrl:] matches ASCII control characters
8861 [:xdigit:] matches 0 through 9, a through f and A through F.
8862 [:blank:] matches space and tab only
8863 [:graph:] matches graphic characters--everything except ASCII control chars,
8865 [:print:] matches printing characters--everything except ASCII control chars
8867 [:alnum:] matches letters and digits.
8868 (But at present, for multibyte characters,
8869 it matches anything that has word syntax.)
8870 [:alpha:] matches letters.
8871 (But at present, for multibyte characters,
8872 it matches anything that has word syntax.)
8873 [:ascii:] matches ASCII (unibyte) characters.
8874 [:nonascii:] matches non-ASCII (multibyte) characters.
8875 [:lower:] matches anything lower-case.
8876 [:punct:] matches punctuation.
8877 (But at present, for multibyte characters,
8878 it matches anything that has non-word syntax.)
8879 [:space:] matches anything that has whitespace syntax.
8880 [:upper:] matches anything upper-case.
8881 [:word:] matches anything that has word syntax.
8883 ** Emacs now has built-in hash tables.
8885 The following functions are defined for hash tables:
8887 - Function: make-hash-table ARGS
8889 The argument list ARGS consists of keyword/argument pairs. All arguments
8890 are optional. The following arguments are defined:
8894 TEST must be a symbol specifying how to compare keys. Default is `eql'.
8895 Predefined are `eq', `eql' and `equal'. If TEST is not predefined,
8896 it must have been defined with `define-hash-table-test'.
8900 SIZE must be an integer > 0 giving a hint to the implementation how
8901 many elements will be put in the hash table. Default size is 65.
8903 :rehash-size REHASH-SIZE
8905 REHASH-SIZE specifies by how much to grow a hash table once it becomes
8906 full. If REHASH-SIZE is an integer, add that to the hash table's old
8907 size to get the new size. Otherwise, REHASH-SIZE must be a float >
8908 1.0, and the new size is computed by multiplying REHASH-SIZE with the
8909 old size. Default rehash size is 1.5.
8911 :rehash-threshold THRESHOLD
8913 THRESHOLD must be a float > 0 and <= 1.0 specifying when to resize the
8914 hash table. It is resized when the ratio of (number of entries) /
8915 (size of hash table) is >= THRESHOLD. Default threshold is 0.8.
8919 WEAK must be either nil, one of the symbols `key, `value',
8920 `key-or-value', `key-and-value', or t, meaning the same as
8921 `key-and-value'. Entries are removed from weak tables during garbage
8922 collection if their key and/or value are not referenced elsewhere
8923 outside of the hash table. Default are non-weak hash tables.
8925 - Function: makehash &optional TEST
8927 Similar to make-hash-table, but only TEST can be specified.
8929 - Function: hash-table-p TABLE
8931 Returns non-nil if TABLE is a hash table object.
8933 - Function: copy-hash-table TABLE
8935 Returns a copy of TABLE. Only the table itself is copied, keys and
8938 - Function: hash-table-count TABLE
8940 Returns the number of entries in TABLE.
8942 - Function: hash-table-rehash-size TABLE
8944 Returns the rehash size of TABLE.
8946 - Function: hash-table-rehash-threshold TABLE
8948 Returns the rehash threshold of TABLE.
8950 - Function: hash-table-rehash-size TABLE
8952 Returns the size of TABLE.
8954 - Function: hash-table-test TABLE
8956 Returns the test TABLE uses to compare keys.
8958 - Function: hash-table-weakness TABLE
8960 Returns the weakness specified for TABLE.
8962 - Function: clrhash TABLE
8966 - Function: gethash KEY TABLE &optional DEFAULT
8968 Look up KEY in TABLE and return its associated VALUE or DEFAULT if
8971 - Function: puthash KEY VALUE TABLE
8973 Associate KEY with VALUE in TABLE. If KEY is already associated with
8974 another value, replace the old value with VALUE.
8976 - Function: remhash KEY TABLE
8978 Remove KEY from TABLE if it is there.
8980 - Function: maphash FUNCTION TABLE
8982 Call FUNCTION for all elements in TABLE. FUNCTION must take two
8983 arguments KEY and VALUE.
8985 - Function: sxhash OBJ
8987 Return a hash code for Lisp object OBJ.
8989 - Function: define-hash-table-test NAME TEST-FN HASH-FN
8991 Define a new hash table test named NAME. If NAME is specified as
8992 a test in `make-hash-table', the table created will use TEST-FN for
8993 comparing keys, and HASH-FN to compute hash codes for keys. Test
8994 and hash function are stored as symbol property `hash-table-test'
8995 of NAME with a value of (TEST-FN HASH-FN).
8997 TEST-FN must take two arguments and return non-nil if they are the same.
8999 HASH-FN must take one argument and return an integer that is the hash
9000 code of the argument. The function should use the whole range of
9001 integer values for hash code computation, including negative integers.
9003 Example: The following creates a hash table whose keys are supposed to
9004 be strings that are compared case-insensitively.
9006 (defun case-fold-string= (a b)
9007 (compare-strings a nil nil b nil nil t))
9009 (defun case-fold-string-hash (a)
9010 (sxhash (upcase a)))
9012 (define-hash-table-test 'case-fold 'case-fold-string=
9013 'case-fold-string-hash))
9015 (make-hash-table :test 'case-fold)
9017 ** The Lisp reader handles circular structure.
9019 It now works to use the #N= and #N# constructs to represent
9020 circular structures. For example, #1=(a . #1#) represents
9021 a cons cell which is its own cdr.
9023 ** The Lisp printer handles circular structure.
9025 If you bind print-circle to a non-nil value, the Lisp printer outputs
9026 #N= and #N# constructs to represent circular and shared structure.
9028 ** If the second argument to `move-to-column' is anything but nil or
9029 t, that means replace a tab with spaces if necessary to reach the
9030 specified column, but do not add spaces at the end of the line if it
9031 is too short to reach that column.
9033 ** perform-replace has a new feature: the REPLACEMENTS argument may
9034 now be a cons cell (FUNCTION . DATA). This means to call FUNCTION
9035 after each match to get the replacement text. FUNCTION is called with
9036 two arguments: DATA, and the number of replacements already made.
9038 If the FROM-STRING contains any upper-case letters,
9039 perform-replace also turns off `case-fold-search' temporarily
9040 and inserts the replacement text without altering case in it.
9042 ** The function buffer-size now accepts an optional argument
9043 to specify which buffer to return the size of.
9045 ** The calendar motion commands now run the normal hook
9046 calendar-move-hook after moving point.
9048 ** The new variable small-temporary-file-directory specifies a
9049 directory to use for creating temporary files that are likely to be
9050 small. (Certain Emacs features use this directory.) If
9051 small-temporary-file-directory is nil, they use
9052 temporary-file-directory instead.
9054 ** The variable `inhibit-modification-hooks', if non-nil, inhibits all
9055 the hooks that track changes in the buffer. This affects
9056 `before-change-functions' and `after-change-functions', as well as
9057 hooks attached to text properties and overlay properties.
9059 ** assq-delete-all is a new function that deletes all the
9060 elements of an alist which have a car `eq' to a particular value.
9062 ** make-temp-file provides a more reliable way to create a temporary file.
9064 make-temp-file is used like make-temp-name, except that it actually
9065 creates the file before it returns. This prevents a timing error,
9066 ensuring that no other job can use the same name for a temporary file.
9068 ** New exclusive-open feature in `write-region'
9070 The optional seventh arg is now called MUSTBENEW. If non-nil, it insists
9071 on a check for an existing file with the same name. If MUSTBENEW
9072 is `excl', that means to get an error if the file already exists;
9073 never overwrite. If MUSTBENEW is neither nil nor `excl', that means
9074 ask for confirmation before overwriting, but do go ahead and
9075 overwrite the file if the user gives confirmation.
9077 If the MUSTBENEW argument in `write-region' is `excl',
9078 that means to use a special feature in the `open' system call
9079 to get an error if the file exists at that time.
9080 The error reported is `file-already-exists'.
9082 ** Function `format' now handles text properties.
9084 Text properties of the format string are applied to the result string.
9085 If the result string is longer than the format string, text properties
9086 ending at the end of the format string are extended to the end of the
9089 Text properties from string arguments are applied to the result
9090 string where arguments appear in the result string.
9094 (let ((s1 "hello, %s")
9096 (put-text-property 0 (length s1) 'face 'bold s1)
9097 (put-text-property 0 (length s2) 'face 'italic s2)
9100 results in a bold-face string with an italic `world' at the end.
9102 ** Messages can now be displayed with text properties.
9104 Text properties are handled as described above for function `format'.
9105 The following example displays a bold-face message with an italic
9108 (let ((msg "hello, %s!")
9110 (put-text-property 0 (length msg) 'face 'bold msg)
9111 (put-text-property 0 (length arg) 'face 'italic arg)
9116 Emacs supports playing sound files on GNU/Linux and the free BSDs
9117 (Voxware driver and native BSD driver, aka as Luigi's driver).
9119 Currently supported file formats are RIFF-WAVE (*.wav) and Sun Audio
9120 (*.au). You must configure Emacs with the option `--with-sound=yes'
9121 to enable sound support.
9123 Sound files can be played by calling (play-sound SOUND). SOUND is a
9124 list of the form `(sound PROPERTY...)'. The function is only defined
9125 when sound support is present for the system on which Emacs runs. The
9126 functions runs `play-sound-functions' with one argument which is the
9127 sound to play, before playing the sound.
9129 The following sound properties are supported:
9133 FILE is a file name. If FILE isn't an absolute name, it will be
9134 searched relative to `data-directory'.
9138 DATA is a string containing sound data. Either :file or :data
9139 may be present, but not both.
9143 VOLUME must be an integer in the range 0..100 or a float in the range
9144 0..1. This property is optional.
9148 DEVICE is a string specifying the system device on which to play the
9149 sound. The default device is system-dependent.
9151 Other properties are ignored.
9153 An alternative interface is called as
9154 (play-sound-file FILE &optional VOLUME DEVICE).
9156 ** `multimedia' is a new Finder keyword and Custom group.
9158 ** keywordp is a new predicate to test efficiently for an object being
9161 ** Changes to garbage collection
9163 *** The function garbage-collect now additionally returns the number
9164 of live and free strings.
9166 *** There is a new variable `strings-consed' holding the number of
9167 strings that have been consed so far.
9170 * Lisp-level Display features added after release 2.6 of the Emacs
9173 ** The user-option `resize-mini-windows' controls how Emacs resizes
9176 ** The function `pos-visible-in-window-p' now has a third optional
9177 argument, PARTIALLY. If a character is only partially visible, nil is
9178 returned, unless PARTIALLY is non-nil.
9180 ** On window systems, `glyph-table' is no longer used.
9182 ** Help strings in menu items are now used to provide `help-echo' text.
9184 ** The function `image-size' can be used to determine the size of an
9187 - Function: image-size SPEC &optional PIXELS FRAME
9189 Return the size of an image as a pair (WIDTH . HEIGHT).
9191 SPEC is an image specification. PIXELS non-nil means return sizes
9192 measured in pixels, otherwise return sizes measured in canonical
9193 character units (fractions of the width/height of the frame's default
9194 font). FRAME is the frame on which the image will be displayed.
9195 FRAME nil or omitted means use the selected frame.
9197 ** The function `image-mask-p' can be used to determine if an image
9200 - Function: image-mask-p SPEC &optional FRAME
9202 Return t if image SPEC has a mask bitmap.
9203 FRAME is the frame on which the image will be displayed. FRAME nil
9204 or omitted means use the selected frame.
9206 ** The function `find-image' can be used to find a usable image
9207 satisfying one of a list of specifications.
9209 ** The STRING argument of `put-image' and `insert-image' is now
9212 ** Image specifications may contain the property `:ascent center' (see
9216 * New Lisp-level Display features in Emacs 21.1
9218 ** The function tty-suppress-bold-inverse-default-colors can be used
9219 to make Emacs avoid displaying text with bold black foreground on TTYs.
9221 Some terminals, notably PC consoles, emulate bold text by displaying
9222 text in brighter colors. On such a console, a bold black foreground
9223 is displayed in a gray color. If this turns out to be hard to read on
9224 your monitor---the problem occurred with the mode line on
9225 laptops---you can instruct Emacs to ignore the text's boldness, and to
9226 just display it black instead.
9228 This situation can't be detected automatically. You will have to put
9231 (tty-suppress-bold-inverse-default-colors t)
9235 ** New face implementation.
9237 Emacs faces have been reimplemented from scratch. They don't use XLFD
9238 font names anymore and face merging now works as expected.
9242 Each face can specify the following display attributes:
9244 1. Font family or fontset alias name.
9246 2. Relative proportionate width, aka character set width or set
9247 width (swidth), e.g. `semi-compressed'.
9249 3. Font height in 1/10pt
9251 4. Font weight, e.g. `bold'.
9253 5. Font slant, e.g. `italic'.
9255 6. Foreground color.
9257 7. Background color.
9259 8. Whether or not characters should be underlined, and in what color.
9261 9. Whether or not characters should be displayed in inverse video.
9263 10. A background stipple, a bitmap.
9265 11. Whether or not characters should be overlined, and in what color.
9267 12. Whether or not characters should be strike-through, and in what
9270 13. Whether or not a box should be drawn around characters, its
9271 color, the width of the box lines, and 3D appearance.
9273 Faces are frame-local by nature because Emacs allows to define the
9274 same named face (face names are symbols) differently for different
9275 frames. Each frame has an alist of face definitions for all named
9276 faces. The value of a named face in such an alist is a Lisp vector
9277 with the symbol `face' in slot 0, and a slot for each of the face
9278 attributes mentioned above.
9280 There is also a global face alist `face-new-frame-defaults'. Face
9281 definitions from this list are used to initialize faces of newly
9284 A face doesn't have to specify all attributes. Those not specified
9285 have a nil value. Faces specifying all attributes are called
9290 The display style of a given character in the text is determined by
9291 combining several faces. This process is called `face merging'. Any
9292 aspect of the display style that isn't specified by overlays or text
9293 properties is taken from the `default' face. Since it is made sure
9294 that the default face is always fully-specified, face merging always
9295 results in a fully-specified face.
9297 *** Face realization.
9299 After all face attributes for a character have been determined by
9300 merging faces of that character, that face is `realized'. The
9301 realization process maps face attributes to what is physically
9302 available on the system where Emacs runs. The result is a `realized
9303 face' in form of an internal structure which is stored in the face
9304 cache of the frame on which it was realized.
9306 Face realization is done in the context of the charset of the
9307 character to display because different fonts and encodings are used
9308 for different charsets. In other words, for characters of different
9309 charsets, different realized faces are needed to display them.
9311 Except for composite characters, faces are always realized for a
9312 specific character set and contain a specific font, even if the face
9313 being realized specifies a fontset. The reason is that the result of
9314 the new font selection stage is better than what can be done with
9315 statically defined font name patterns in fontsets.
9317 In unibyte text, Emacs' charsets aren't applicable; function
9318 `char-charset' reports ASCII for all characters, including those >
9319 0x7f. The X registry and encoding of fonts to use is determined from
9320 the variable `face-default-registry' in this case. The variable is
9321 initialized at Emacs startup time from the font the user specified for
9324 Currently all unibyte text, i.e. all buffers with
9325 `enable-multibyte-characters' nil are displayed with fonts of the same
9326 registry and encoding `face-default-registry'. This is consistent
9327 with the fact that languages can also be set globally, only.
9329 **** Clearing face caches.
9331 The Lisp function `clear-face-cache' can be called to clear face caches
9332 on all frames. If called with a non-nil argument, it will also unload
9337 Font selection tries to find the best available matching font for a
9338 given (charset, face) combination. This is done slightly differently
9339 for faces specifying a fontset, or a font family name.
9341 If the face specifies a fontset name, that fontset determines a
9342 pattern for fonts of the given charset. If the face specifies a font
9343 family, a font pattern is constructed. Charset symbols have a
9344 property `x-charset-registry' for that purpose that maps a charset to
9345 an XLFD registry and encoding in the font pattern constructed.
9347 Available fonts on the system on which Emacs runs are then matched
9348 against the font pattern. The result of font selection is the best
9349 match for the given face attributes in this font list.
9351 Font selection can be influenced by the user.
9353 The user can specify the relative importance he gives the face
9354 attributes width, height, weight, and slant by setting
9355 face-font-selection-order (faces.el) to a list of face attribute
9356 names. The default is (:width :height :weight :slant), and means
9357 that font selection first tries to find a good match for the font
9358 width specified by a face, then---within fonts with that width---tries
9359 to find a best match for the specified font height, etc.
9361 Setting `face-font-family-alternatives' allows the user to specify
9362 alternative font families to try if a family specified by a face
9365 Setting `face-font-registry-alternatives' allows the user to specify
9366 all alternative font registry names to try for a face specifying a
9369 Please note that the interpretations of the above two variables are
9372 Setting face-ignored-fonts allows the user to ignore specific fonts.
9377 Emacs can make use of scalable fonts but doesn't do so by default,
9378 since the use of too many or too big scalable fonts may crash XFree86
9381 To enable scalable font use, set the variable
9382 `scalable-fonts-allowed'. A value of nil, the default, means never use
9383 scalable fonts. A value of t means any scalable font may be used.
9384 Otherwise, the value must be a list of regular expressions. A
9385 scalable font may then be used if it matches a regular expression from
9388 (setq scalable-fonts-allowed '("muleindian-2$"))
9390 allows the use of scalable fonts with registry `muleindian-2'.
9392 *** Functions and variables related to font selection.
9394 - Function: x-family-fonts &optional FAMILY FRAME
9396 Return a list of available fonts of family FAMILY on FRAME. If FAMILY
9397 is omitted or nil, list all families. Otherwise, FAMILY must be a
9398 string, possibly containing wildcards `?' and `*'.
9400 If FRAME is omitted or nil, use the selected frame. Each element of
9401 the result is a vector [FAMILY WIDTH POINT-SIZE WEIGHT SLANT FIXED-P
9402 FULL REGISTRY-AND-ENCODING]. FAMILY is the font family name.
9403 POINT-SIZE is the size of the font in 1/10 pt. WIDTH, WEIGHT, and
9404 SLANT are symbols describing the width, weight and slant of the font.
9405 These symbols are the same as for face attributes. FIXED-P is non-nil
9406 if the font is fixed-pitch. FULL is the full name of the font, and
9407 REGISTRY-AND-ENCODING is a string giving the registry and encoding of
9408 the font. The result list is sorted according to the current setting
9409 of the face font sort order.
9411 - Function: x-font-family-list
9413 Return a list of available font families on FRAME. If FRAME is
9414 omitted or nil, use the selected frame. Value is a list of conses
9415 (FAMILY . FIXED-P) where FAMILY is a font family, and FIXED-P is
9416 non-nil if fonts of that family are fixed-pitch.
9418 - Variable: font-list-limit
9420 Limit for font matching. If an integer > 0, font matching functions
9421 won't load more than that number of fonts when searching for a
9422 matching font. The default is currently 100.
9424 *** Setting face attributes.
9426 For the most part, the new face implementation is interface-compatible
9427 with the old one. Old face attribute related functions are now
9428 implemented in terms of the new functions `set-face-attribute' and
9431 Face attributes are identified by their names which are keyword
9432 symbols. All attributes can be set to `unspecified'.
9434 The following attributes are recognized:
9438 VALUE must be a string specifying the font family, e.g. ``courier'',
9439 or a fontset alias name. If a font family is specified, wild-cards `*'
9440 and `?' are allowed.
9444 VALUE specifies the relative proportionate width of the font to use.
9445 It must be one of the symbols `ultra-condensed', `extra-condensed',
9446 `condensed', `semi-condensed', `normal', `semi-expanded', `expanded',
9447 `extra-expanded', or `ultra-expanded'.
9451 VALUE must be either an integer specifying the height of the font to use
9452 in 1/10 pt, a floating point number specifying the amount by which to
9453 scale any underlying face, or a function, which is called with the old
9454 height (from the underlying face), and should return the new height.
9458 VALUE specifies the weight of the font to use. It must be one of the
9459 symbols `ultra-bold', `extra-bold', `bold', `semi-bold', `normal',
9460 `semi-light', `light', `extra-light', `ultra-light'.
9464 VALUE specifies the slant of the font to use. It must be one of the
9465 symbols `italic', `oblique', `normal', `reverse-italic', or
9468 `:foreground', `:background'
9470 VALUE must be a color name, a string.
9474 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be underlined. If
9475 VALUE is t, underline with foreground color of the face. If VALUE is
9476 a string, underline with that color. If VALUE is nil, explicitly
9481 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be overlined. If
9482 VALUE is t, overline with foreground color of the face. If VALUE is a
9483 string, overline with that color. If VALUE is nil, explicitly don't
9488 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be drawn with a line
9489 striking through them. If VALUE is t, use the foreground color of the
9490 face. If VALUE is a string, strike-through with that color. If VALUE
9491 is nil, explicitly don't strike through.
9495 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should have a box drawn
9496 around them. If VALUE is nil, explicitly don't draw boxes. If
9497 VALUE is t, draw a box with lines of width 1 in the foreground color
9498 of the face. If VALUE is a string, the string must be a color name,
9499 and the box is drawn in that color with a line width of 1. Otherwise,
9500 VALUE must be a property list of the form `(:line-width WIDTH
9501 :color COLOR :style STYLE)'. If a keyword/value pair is missing from
9502 the property list, a default value will be used for the value, as
9503 specified below. WIDTH specifies the width of the lines to draw; it
9504 defaults to 1. COLOR is the name of the color to draw in, default is
9505 the foreground color of the face for simple boxes, and the background
9506 color of the face for 3D boxes. STYLE specifies whether a 3D box
9507 should be draw. If STYLE is `released-button', draw a box looking
9508 like a released 3D button. If STYLE is `pressed-button' draw a box
9509 that appears like a pressed button. If STYLE is nil, the default if
9510 the property list doesn't contain a style specification, draw a 2D
9515 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be displayed in
9516 inverse video. VALUE must be one of t or nil.
9520 If VALUE is a string, it must be the name of a file of pixmap data.
9521 The directories listed in the `x-bitmap-file-path' variable are
9522 searched. Alternatively, VALUE may be a list of the form (WIDTH
9523 HEIGHT DATA) where WIDTH and HEIGHT are the size in pixels, and DATA
9524 is a string containing the raw bits of the bitmap. VALUE nil means
9525 explicitly don't use a stipple pattern.
9527 For convenience, attributes `:family', `:width', `:height', `:weight',
9528 and `:slant' may also be set in one step from an X font name:
9532 Set font-related face attributes from VALUE. VALUE must be a valid
9533 XLFD font name. If it is a font name pattern, the first matching font
9534 is used--this is for compatibility with the behavior of previous
9537 For compatibility with Emacs 20, keywords `:bold' and `:italic' can
9538 be used to specify that a bold or italic font should be used. VALUE
9539 must be t or nil in that case. A value of `unspecified' is not allowed."
9541 Please see also the documentation of `set-face-attribute' and
9546 VALUE is the name of a face from which to inherit attributes, or a list
9547 of face names. Attributes from inherited faces are merged into the face
9548 like an underlying face would be, with higher priority than underlying faces.
9550 *** Face attributes and X resources
9552 The following X resource names can be used to set face attributes
9555 Face attribute X resource class
9556 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
9557 :family attributeFamily . Face.AttributeFamily
9558 :width attributeWidth Face.AttributeWidth
9559 :height attributeHeight Face.AttributeHeight
9560 :weight attributeWeight Face.AttributeWeight
9561 :slant attributeSlant Face.AttributeSlant
9562 foreground attributeForeground Face.AttributeForeground
9563 :background attributeBackground . Face.AttributeBackground
9564 :overline attributeOverline Face.AttributeOverline
9565 :strike-through attributeStrikeThrough Face.AttributeStrikeThrough
9566 :box attributeBox Face.AttributeBox
9567 :underline attributeUnderline Face.AttributeUnderline
9568 :inverse-video attributeInverse Face.AttributeInverse
9569 :stipple attributeStipple Face.AttributeStipple
9570 or attributeBackgroundPixmap
9571 Face.AttributeBackgroundPixmap
9572 :font attributeFont Face.AttributeFont
9573 :bold attributeBold Face.AttributeBold
9574 :italic attributeItalic . Face.AttributeItalic
9575 :font attributeFont Face.AttributeFont
9577 *** Text property `face'.
9579 The value of the `face' text property can now be a single face
9580 specification or a list of such specifications. Each face
9581 specification can be
9583 1. A symbol or string naming a Lisp face.
9585 2. A property list of the form (KEYWORD VALUE ...) where each
9586 KEYWORD is a face attribute name, and VALUE is an appropriate value
9587 for that attribute. Please see the doc string of `set-face-attribute'
9588 for face attribute names.
9590 3. Conses of the form (FOREGROUND-COLOR . COLOR) or
9591 (BACKGROUND-COLOR . COLOR) where COLOR is a color name. This is
9592 for compatibility with previous Emacs versions.
9594 ** Support functions for colors on text-only terminals.
9596 The function `tty-color-define' can be used to define colors for use
9597 on TTY and MSDOS frames. It maps a color name to a color number on
9598 the terminal. Emacs defines a couple of common color mappings by
9599 default. You can get defined colors with a call to
9600 `defined-colors'. The function `tty-color-clear' can be
9601 used to clear the mapping table.
9603 ** Unified support for colors independent of frame type.
9605 The new functions `defined-colors', `color-defined-p', `color-values',
9606 and `display-color-p' work for any type of frame. On frames whose
9607 type is neither x nor w32, these functions transparently map X-style
9608 color specifications to the closest colors supported by the frame
9609 display. Lisp programs should use these new functions instead of the
9610 old `x-defined-colors', `x-color-defined-p', `x-color-values', and
9611 `x-display-color-p'. (The old function names are still available for
9612 compatibility; they are now aliases of the new names.) Lisp programs
9613 should no more look at the value of the variable window-system to
9614 modify their color-related behavior.
9616 The primitives `color-gray-p' and `color-supported-p' also work for
9619 ** Platform-independent functions to describe display capabilities.
9621 The new functions `display-mouse-p', `display-popup-menus-p',
9622 `display-graphic-p', `display-selections-p', `display-screens',
9623 `display-pixel-width', `display-pixel-height', `display-mm-width',
9624 `display-mm-height', `display-backing-store', `display-save-under',
9625 `display-planes', `display-color-cells', `display-visual-class', and
9626 `display-grayscale-p' describe the basic capabilities of a particular
9627 display. Lisp programs should call these functions instead of testing
9628 the value of the variables `window-system' or `system-type', or calling
9629 platform-specific functions such as `x-display-pixel-width'.
9631 The new function `display-images-p' returns non-nil if a particular
9632 display can display image files.
9634 ** The minibuffer prompt is now actually inserted in the minibuffer.
9636 This makes it possible to scroll through the prompt, if you want to.
9637 To disallow this completely (like previous versions of emacs), customize
9638 the variable `minibuffer-prompt-properties', and turn on the
9639 `Inviolable' option.
9641 The function `minibuffer-prompt-end' returns the current position of the
9642 end of the minibuffer prompt, if the minibuffer is current.
9643 Otherwise, it returns `(point-min)'.
9645 ** New `field' abstraction in buffers.
9647 There is now code to support an abstraction called `fields' in emacs
9648 buffers. A field is a contiguous region of text with the same `field'
9649 property (which can be a text property or an overlay).
9651 Many emacs functions, such as forward-word, forward-sentence,
9652 forward-paragraph, beginning-of-line, etc., stop moving when they come
9653 to the boundary between fields; beginning-of-line and end-of-line will
9654 not let the point move past the field boundary, but other movement
9655 commands continue into the next field if repeated. Stopping at field
9656 boundaries can be suppressed programmatically by binding
9657 `inhibit-field-text-motion' to a non-nil value around calls to these
9660 Now that the minibuffer prompt is inserted into the minibuffer, it is in
9661 a separate field from the user-input part of the buffer, so that common
9662 editing commands treat the user's text separately from the prompt.
9664 The following functions are defined for operating on fields:
9666 - Function: constrain-to-field NEW-POS OLD-POS &optional ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE ONLY-IN-LINE INHIBIT-CAPTURE-PROPERTY
9668 Return the position closest to NEW-POS that is in the same field as OLD-POS.
9670 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
9671 If NEW-POS is nil, then the current point is used instead, and set to the
9672 constrained position if that is different.
9674 If OLD-POS is at the boundary of two fields, then the allowable
9675 positions for NEW-POS depends on the value of the optional argument
9676 ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE: If ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE is nil, then NEW-POS is
9677 constrained to the field that has the same `field' char-property
9678 as any new characters inserted at OLD-POS, whereas if ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE
9679 is non-nil, NEW-POS is constrained to the union of the two adjacent
9680 fields. Additionally, if two fields are separated by another field with
9681 the special value `boundary', then any point within this special field is
9682 also considered to be `on the boundary'.
9684 If the optional argument ONLY-IN-LINE is non-nil and constraining
9685 NEW-POS would move it to a different line, NEW-POS is returned
9686 unconstrained. This useful for commands that move by line, like
9687 C-n or C-a, which should generally respect field boundaries
9688 only in the case where they can still move to the right line.
9690 If the optional argument INHIBIT-CAPTURE-PROPERTY is non-nil, and OLD-POS has
9691 a non-nil property of that name, then any field boundaries are ignored.
9693 Field boundaries are not noticed if `inhibit-field-text-motion' is non-nil.
9695 - Function: delete-field &optional POS
9697 Delete the field surrounding POS.
9698 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
9699 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
9701 - Function: field-beginning &optional POS ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE
9703 Return the beginning of the field surrounding POS.
9704 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
9705 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
9706 If ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE is non-nil and POS is at the beginning of its
9707 field, then the beginning of the *previous* field is returned.
9709 - Function: field-end &optional POS ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE
9711 Return the end of the field surrounding POS.
9712 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
9713 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
9714 If ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE is non-nil and POS is at the end of its field,
9715 then the end of the *following* field is returned.
9717 - Function: field-string &optional POS
9719 Return the contents of the field surrounding POS as a string.
9720 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
9721 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
9723 - Function: field-string-no-properties &optional POS
9725 Return the contents of the field around POS, without text-properties.
9726 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
9727 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
9731 Emacs can now display images. Images are inserted into text by giving
9732 strings or buffer text a `display' text property containing one of
9733 (AREA IMAGE) or IMAGE. The display of the `display' property value
9734 replaces the display of the characters having that property.
9736 If the property value has the form (AREA IMAGE), AREA must be one of
9737 `(margin left-margin)', `(margin right-margin)' or `(margin nil)'. If
9738 AREA is `(margin nil)', IMAGE will be displayed in the text area of a
9739 window, otherwise it will be displayed in the left or right marginal
9742 IMAGE is an image specification.
9744 *** Image specifications
9746 Image specifications are lists of the form `(image PROPS)' where PROPS
9747 is a property list whose keys are keyword symbols. Each
9748 specifications must contain a property `:type TYPE' with TYPE being a
9749 symbol specifying the image type, e.g. `xbm'. Properties not
9750 described below are ignored.
9752 The following is a list of properties all image types share.
9756 ASCENT must be a number in the range 0..100, or the symbol `center'.
9757 If it is a number, it specifies the percentage of the image's height
9758 to use for its ascent.
9760 If not specified, ASCENT defaults to the value 50 which means that the
9761 image will be centered with the base line of the row it appears in.
9763 If ASCENT is `center' the image is vertically centered around a
9764 centerline which is the vertical center of text drawn at the position
9765 of the image, in the manner specified by the text properties and
9766 overlays that apply to the image.
9770 MARGIN must be either a number >= 0 specifying how many pixels to put
9771 as margin around the image, or a pair (X . Y) with X specifying the
9772 horizontal margin and Y specifying the vertical margin. Default is 0.
9776 RELIEF is analogous to the `:relief' attribute of faces. Puts a relief
9781 Apply an image algorithm to the image before displaying it.
9783 ALGO `laplace' or `emboss' means apply a Laplace or ``emboss''
9784 edge-detection algorithm to the image.
9786 ALGO `(edge-detection :matrix MATRIX :color-adjust ADJUST)' means
9787 apply a general edge-detection algorithm. MATRIX must be either a
9788 nine-element list or a nine-element vector of numbers. A pixel at
9789 position x/y in the transformed image is computed from original pixels
9790 around that position. MATRIX specifies, for each pixel in the
9791 neighborhood of x/y, a factor with which that pixel will influence the
9792 transformed pixel; element 0 specifies the factor for the pixel at
9793 x-1/y-1, element 1 the factor for the pixel at x/y-1 etc. as shown
9796 (x-1/y-1 x/y-1 x+1/y-1
9798 x-1/y+1 x/y+1 x+1/y+1)
9800 The resulting pixel is computed from the color intensity of the color
9801 resulting from summing up the RGB values of surrounding pixels,
9802 multiplied by the specified factors, and dividing that sum by the sum
9803 of the factors' absolute values.
9805 Laplace edge-detection currently uses a matrix of
9811 Emboss edge-detection uses a matrix of
9817 ALGO `disabled' means transform the image so that it looks
9822 If MASK is `heuristic' or `(heuristic BG)', build a clipping mask for
9823 the image, so that the background of a frame is visible behind the
9824 image. If BG is not specified, or if BG is t, determine the
9825 background color of the image by looking at the 4 corners of the
9826 image, assuming the most frequently occurring color from the corners is
9827 the background color of the image. Otherwise, BG must be a list `(RED
9828 GREEN BLUE)' specifying the color to assume for the background of the
9831 If MASK is nil, remove a mask from the image, if it has one. Images
9832 in some formats include a mask which can be removed by specifying
9837 Load image from FILE. If FILE is not absolute after expanding it,
9838 search for the image in `data-directory'. Some image types support
9839 building images from data. When this is done, no `:file' property
9840 may be present in the image specification.
9844 Get image data from DATA. (As of this writing, this is not yet
9845 supported for image type `postscript'). Either :file or :data may be
9846 present in an image specification, but not both. All image types
9847 support strings as DATA, some types allow additional types of DATA.
9849 *** Supported image types
9851 **** XBM, image type `xbm'.
9853 XBM images don't require an external library. Additional image
9854 properties supported are:
9858 FG must be a string specifying the image foreground color, or nil
9859 meaning to use the default. Default is the frame's foreground color.
9863 BG must be a string specifying the image background color, or nil
9864 meaning to use the default. Default is the frame's background color.
9866 XBM images can be constructed from data instead of file. In this
9867 case, the image specification must contain the following properties
9868 instead of a `:file' property.
9872 WIDTH specifies the width of the image in pixels.
9876 HEIGHT specifies the height of the image in pixels.
9882 1. a string large enough to hold the bitmap data, i.e. it must
9883 have a size >= (WIDTH + 7) / 8 * HEIGHT
9885 2. a bool-vector of size >= WIDTH * HEIGHT
9887 3. a vector of strings or bool-vectors, one for each line of the
9890 4. a string that's an in-memory XBM file. Neither width nor
9891 height may be specified in this case because these are defined
9894 **** XPM, image type `xpm'
9896 XPM images require the external library `libXpm', package
9897 `xpm-3.4k.tar.gz', version 3.4k or later. Make sure the library is
9898 found when Emacs is configured by supplying appropriate paths via
9899 `--x-includes' and `--x-libraries'.
9901 Additional image properties supported are:
9903 `:color-symbols SYMBOLS'
9905 SYMBOLS must be a list of pairs (NAME . COLOR), with NAME being the
9906 name of color as it appears in an XPM file, and COLOR being an X color
9909 XPM images can be built from memory instead of files. In that case,
9910 add a `:data' property instead of a `:file' property.
9912 The XPM library uses libz in its implementation so that it is able
9913 to display compressed images.
9915 **** PBM, image type `pbm'
9917 PBM images don't require an external library. Color, gray-scale and
9918 mono images are supported. Additional image properties supported for
9923 FG must be a string specifying the image foreground color, or nil
9924 meaning to use the default. Default is the frame's foreground color.
9928 BG must be a string specifying the image background color, or nil
9929 meaning to use the default. Default is the frame's background color.
9931 **** JPEG, image type `jpeg'
9933 Support for JPEG images requires the external library `libjpeg',
9934 package `jpegsrc.v6a.tar.gz', or later. There are no additional image
9937 **** TIFF, image type `tiff'
9939 Support for TIFF images requires the external library `libtiff',
9940 package `tiff-v3.4-tar.gz', or later. There are no additional image
9943 **** GIF, image type `gif'
9945 Support for GIF images requires the external library `libungif', package
9946 `libungif-4.1.0', or later.
9948 Additional image properties supported are:
9952 INDEX must be an integer >= 0. Load image number INDEX from a
9953 multi-image GIF file. If INDEX is too large, the image displays
9956 This could be used to implement limited support for animated GIFs.
9957 For example, the following function displays a multi-image GIF file
9958 at point-min in the current buffer, switching between sub-images
9961 (defun show-anim (file max)
9962 "Display multi-image GIF file FILE which contains MAX subimages."
9963 (display-anim (current-buffer) file 0 max t))
9965 (defun display-anim (buffer file idx max first-time)
9968 (let ((img (create-image file nil nil :index idx)))
9971 (goto-char (point-min))
9972 (unless first-time (delete-char 1))
9973 (insert-image img "x"))
9974 (run-with-timer 0.1 nil 'display-anim buffer file (1+ idx) max nil)))
9976 **** PNG, image type `png'
9978 Support for PNG images requires the external library `libpng',
9979 package `libpng-1.0.2.tar.gz', or later. There are no additional image
9982 **** Ghostscript, image type `postscript'.
9984 Additional image properties supported are:
9988 WIDTH is width of the image in pt (1/72 inch). WIDTH must be an
9989 integer. This is a required property.
9993 HEIGHT specifies the height of the image in pt (1/72 inch). HEIGHT
9994 must be a integer. This is an required property.
9998 BOX must be a list or vector of 4 integers giving the bounding box of
9999 the PS image, analogous to the `BoundingBox' comment found in PS
10000 files. This is an required property.
10002 Part of the Ghostscript interface is implemented in Lisp. See
10005 *** Lisp interface.
10007 The variable `image-types' contains a list of those image types
10008 which are supported in the current configuration.
10010 Images are stored in an image cache and removed from the cache when
10011 they haven't been displayed for `image-cache-eviction-delay seconds.
10012 The function `clear-image-cache' can be used to clear the image cache
10013 manually. Images in the cache are compared with `equal', i.e. all
10014 images with `equal' specifications share the same image.
10016 *** Simplified image API, image.el
10018 The new Lisp package image.el contains functions that simplify image
10019 creation and putting images into text. The function `create-image'
10020 can be used to create images. The macro `defimage' can be used to
10021 define an image based on available image types. The functions
10022 `put-image' and `insert-image' can be used to insert an image into a
10025 ** Display margins.
10027 Windows can now have margins which are used for special text
10030 To give a window margins, either set the buffer-local variables
10031 `left-margin-width' and `right-margin-width', or call
10032 `set-window-margins'. The function `window-margins' can be used to
10033 obtain the current settings. To make `left-margin-width' and
10034 `right-margin-width' take effect, you must set them before displaying
10035 the buffer in a window, or use `set-window-buffer' to force an update
10036 of the display margins.
10038 You can put text in margins by giving it a `display' text property
10039 containing a pair of the form `(LOCATION . VALUE)', where LOCATION is
10040 one of `left-margin' or `right-margin' or nil. VALUE can be either a
10041 string, an image specification or a stretch specification (see later
10046 Emacs displays short help messages in the echo area, when the mouse
10047 moves over a tool-bar item or a piece of text that has a text property
10048 `help-echo'. This feature also applies to strings in the mode line
10049 that have a `help-echo' property.
10051 If the value of the `help-echo' property is a function, that function
10052 is called with three arguments WINDOW, OBJECT and POSITION. WINDOW is
10053 the window in which the help was found.
10055 If OBJECT is a buffer, POS is the position in the buffer where the
10056 `help-echo' text property was found.
10058 If OBJECT is an overlay, that overlay has a `help-echo' property, and
10059 POS is the position in the overlay's buffer under the mouse.
10061 If OBJECT is a string (an overlay string or a string displayed with
10062 the `display' property), POS is the position in that string under the
10065 If the value of the `help-echo' property is neither a function nor a
10066 string, it is evaluated to obtain a help string.
10068 For tool-bar and menu-bar items, their key definition is used to
10069 determine the help to display. If their definition contains a
10070 property `:help FORM', FORM is evaluated to determine the help string.
10071 For tool-bar items without a help form, the caption of the item is
10072 used as help string.
10074 The hook `show-help-function' can be set to a function that displays
10075 the help string differently. For example, enabling a tooltip window
10076 causes the help display to appear there instead of in the echo area.
10078 ** Vertical fractional scrolling.
10080 The display of text in windows can be scrolled smoothly in pixels.
10081 This is useful, for example, for making parts of large images visible.
10083 The function `window-vscroll' returns the current value of vertical
10084 scrolling, a non-negative fraction of the canonical character height.
10085 The function `set-window-vscroll' can be used to set the vertical
10086 scrolling value. Here is an example of how these function might be
10089 (global-set-key [A-down]
10092 (set-window-vscroll (selected-window)
10093 (+ 0.5 (window-vscroll)))))
10094 (global-set-key [A-up]
10097 (set-window-vscroll (selected-window)
10098 (- (window-vscroll) 0.5)))))
10100 ** New hook `fontification-functions'.
10102 Functions from `fontification-functions' are called from redisplay
10103 when it encounters a region of text that is not yet fontified. This
10104 variable automatically becomes buffer-local when set. Each function
10105 is called with one argument, POS.
10107 At least one of the hook functions should fontify one or more
10108 characters starting at POS in the current buffer. It should mark them
10109 as fontified by giving them a non-nil value of the `fontified' text
10110 property. It may be reasonable for these functions to check for the
10111 `fontified' property and not put it back on, but they do not have to.
10113 ** Tool bar support.
10115 Emacs supports a tool bar at the top of a frame under X. The frame
10116 parameter `tool-bar-lines' (X resource "toolBar", class "ToolBar")
10117 controls how may lines to reserve for the tool bar. A zero value
10118 suppresses the tool bar. If the value is non-zero and
10119 `auto-resize-tool-bars' is non-nil the tool bar's size will be changed
10120 automatically so that all tool bar items are visible.
10122 *** Tool bar item definitions
10124 Tool bar items are defined using `define-key' with a prefix-key
10125 `tool-bar'. For example `(define-key global-map [tool-bar item1] ITEM)'
10126 where ITEM is a list `(menu-item CAPTION BINDING PROPS...)'.
10128 CAPTION is the caption of the item, If it's not a string, it is
10129 evaluated to get a string. The caption is currently not displayed in
10130 the tool bar, but it is displayed if the item doesn't have a `:help'
10131 property (see below).
10133 BINDING is the tool bar item's binding. Tool bar items with keymaps as
10134 binding are currently ignored.
10136 The following properties are recognized:
10140 FORM is evaluated and specifies whether the tool bar item is enabled
10145 FORM is evaluated and specifies whether the tool bar item is displayed.
10149 FUNCTION is called with one parameter, the same list BINDING in which
10150 FUNCTION is specified as the filter. The value FUNCTION returns is
10151 used instead of BINDING to display this item.
10153 `:button (TYPE SELECTED)'
10155 TYPE must be one of `:radio' or `:toggle'. SELECTED is evaluated
10156 and specifies whether the button is selected (pressed) or not.
10160 IMAGES is either a single image specification or a vector of four
10161 image specifications. If it is a vector, this table lists the
10162 meaning of each of the four elements:
10164 Index Use when item is
10165 ----------------------------------------
10166 0 enabled and selected
10167 1 enabled and deselected
10168 2 disabled and selected
10169 3 disabled and deselected
10171 If IMAGE is a single image specification, a Laplace edge-detection
10172 algorithm is used on that image to draw the image in disabled state.
10174 `:help HELP-STRING'.
10176 Gives a help string to display for the tool bar item. This help
10177 is displayed when the mouse is moved over the item.
10179 The function `toolbar-add-item' is a convenience function for adding
10180 toolbar items generally, and `tool-bar-add-item-from-menu' can be used
10181 to define a toolbar item with a binding copied from an item on the
10184 The default bindings use a menu-item :filter to derive the tool-bar
10185 dynamically from variable `tool-bar-map' which may be set
10186 buffer-locally to override the global map.
10188 *** Tool-bar-related variables.
10190 If `auto-resize-tool-bar' is non-nil, the tool bar will automatically
10191 resize to show all defined tool bar items. It will never grow larger
10192 than 1/4 of the frame's size.
10194 If `auto-raise-tool-bar-buttons' is non-nil, tool bar buttons will be
10195 raised when the mouse moves over them.
10197 You can add extra space between tool bar items by setting
10198 `tool-bar-button-margin' to a positive integer specifying a number of
10199 pixels, or a pair of integers (X . Y) specifying horizontal and
10200 vertical margins . Default is 1.
10202 You can change the shadow thickness of tool bar buttons by setting
10203 `tool-bar-button-relief' to an integer. Default is 3.
10205 *** Tool-bar clicks with modifiers.
10207 You can bind commands to clicks with control, shift, meta etc. on
10208 a tool bar item. If
10210 (define-key global-map [tool-bar shell]
10211 '(menu-item "Shell" shell
10212 :image (image :type xpm :file "shell.xpm")))
10214 is the original tool bar item definition, then
10216 (define-key global-map [tool-bar S-shell] 'some-command)
10218 makes a binding to run `some-command' for a shifted click on the same
10221 ** Mode line changes.
10223 *** Mouse-sensitive mode line.
10225 The mode line can be made mouse-sensitive by displaying strings there
10226 that have a `local-map' text property. There are three ways to display
10227 a string with a `local-map' property in the mode line.
10229 1. The mode line spec contains a variable whose string value has
10230 a `local-map' text property.
10232 2. The mode line spec contains a format specifier (e.g. `%12b'), and
10233 that format specifier has a `local-map' property.
10235 3. The mode line spec contains a list containing `:eval FORM'. FORM
10236 is evaluated. If the result is a string, and that string has a
10237 `local-map' property.
10239 The same mechanism is used to determine the `face' and `help-echo'
10240 properties of strings in the mode line. See `bindings.el' for an
10243 *** If a mode line element has the form `(:eval FORM)', FORM is
10244 evaluated and the result is used as mode line element.
10246 *** You can suppress mode-line display by setting the buffer-local
10247 variable mode-line-format to nil.
10249 *** A headerline can now be displayed at the top of a window.
10251 This mode line's contents are controlled by the new variable
10252 `header-line-format' and `default-header-line-format' which are
10253 completely analogous to `mode-line-format' and
10254 `default-mode-line-format'. A value of nil means don't display a top
10257 The appearance of top mode lines is controlled by the face
10260 The function `coordinates-in-window-p' returns `header-line' for a
10261 position in the header-line.
10263 ** Text property `display'
10265 The `display' text property is used to insert images into text,
10266 replace text with other text, display text in marginal area, and it is
10267 also used to control other aspects of how text displays. The value of
10268 the `display' property should be a display specification, as described
10269 below, or a list or vector containing display specifications.
10271 *** Replacing text, displaying text in marginal areas
10273 To replace the text having the `display' property with some other
10274 text, use a display specification of the form `(LOCATION STRING)'.
10276 If LOCATION is `(margin left-margin)', STRING is displayed in the left
10277 marginal area, if it is `(margin right-margin)', it is displayed in
10278 the right marginal area, and if LOCATION is `(margin nil)' STRING
10279 is displayed in the text. In the latter case you can also use the
10280 simpler form STRING as property value.
10282 *** Variable width and height spaces
10284 To display a space of fractional width or height, use a display
10285 specification of the form `(LOCATION STRECH)'. If LOCATION is
10286 `(margin left-margin)', the space is displayed in the left marginal
10287 area, if it is `(margin right-margin)', it is displayed in the right
10288 marginal area, and if LOCATION is `(margin nil)' the space is
10289 displayed in the text. In the latter case you can also use the
10290 simpler form STRETCH as property value.
10292 The stretch specification STRETCH itself is a list of the form `(space
10293 PROPS)', where PROPS is a property list which can contain the
10294 properties described below.
10296 The display of the fractional space replaces the display of the
10297 characters having the `display' property.
10301 Specifies that the space width should be WIDTH times the normal
10302 character width. WIDTH can be an integer or floating point number.
10304 - :relative-width FACTOR
10306 Specifies that the width of the stretch should be computed from the
10307 first character in a group of consecutive characters that have the
10308 same `display' property. The computation is done by multiplying the
10309 width of that character by FACTOR.
10313 Specifies that the space should be wide enough to reach HPOS. The
10314 value HPOS is measured in units of the normal character width.
10316 Exactly one of the above properties should be used.
10320 Specifies the height of the space, as HEIGHT, measured in terms of the
10321 normal line height.
10323 - :relative-height FACTOR
10325 The height of the space is computed as the product of the height
10326 of the text having the `display' property and FACTOR.
10330 Specifies that ASCENT percent of the height of the stretch should be
10331 used for the ascent of the stretch, i.e. for the part above the
10332 baseline. The value of ASCENT must be a non-negative number less or
10335 You should not use both `:height' and `:relative-height' together.
10339 A display specification for an image has the form `(LOCATION
10340 . IMAGE)', where IMAGE is an image specification. The image replaces,
10341 in the display, the characters having this display specification in
10342 their `display' text property. If LOCATION is `(margin left-margin)',
10343 the image will be displayed in the left marginal area, if it is
10344 `(margin right-margin)' it will be displayed in the right marginal
10345 area, and if LOCATION is `(margin nil)' the image will be displayed in
10346 the text. In the latter case you can also use the simpler form IMAGE
10347 as display specification.
10349 *** Other display properties
10351 - (space-width FACTOR)
10353 Specifies that space characters in the text having that property
10354 should be displayed FACTOR times as wide as normal; FACTOR must be an
10359 Display text having this property in a font that is smaller or larger.
10361 If HEIGHT is a list of the form `(+ N)', where N is an integer, that
10362 means to use a font that is N steps larger. If HEIGHT is a list of
10363 the form `(- N)', that means to use a font that is N steps smaller. A
10364 ``step'' is defined by the set of available fonts; each size for which
10365 a font is available counts as a step.
10367 If HEIGHT is a number, that means to use a font that is HEIGHT times
10368 as tall as the frame's default font.
10370 If HEIGHT is a symbol, it is called as a function with the current
10371 height as argument. The function should return the new height to use.
10373 Otherwise, HEIGHT is evaluated to get the new height, with the symbol
10374 `height' bound to the current specified font height.
10378 FACTOR must be a number, specifying a multiple of the current
10379 font's height. If it is positive, that means to display the characters
10380 raised. If it is negative, that means to display them lower down. The
10381 amount of raising or lowering is computed without taking account of the
10382 `height' subproperty.
10384 *** Conditional display properties
10386 All display specifications can be conditionalized. If a specification
10387 has the form `(when CONDITION . SPEC)', the specification SPEC applies
10388 only when CONDITION yields a non-nil value when evaluated. During the
10389 evaluation, `object' is bound to the string or buffer having the
10390 conditional display property; `position' and `buffer-position' are
10391 bound to the position within `object' and the buffer position where
10392 the display property was found, respectively. Both positions can be
10393 different when object is a string.
10395 The normal specification consisting of SPEC only is equivalent to
10398 ** New menu separator types.
10400 Emacs now supports more than one menu separator type. Menu items with
10401 item names consisting of dashes only (including zero dashes) are
10402 treated like before. In addition, the following item names are used
10403 to specify other menu separator types.
10405 - `--no-line' or `--space', or `--:space', or `--:noLine'
10407 No separator lines are drawn, but a small space is inserted where the
10410 - `--single-line' or `--:singleLine'
10412 A single line in the menu's foreground color.
10414 - `--double-line' or `--:doubleLine'
10416 A double line in the menu's foreground color.
10418 - `--single-dashed-line' or `--:singleDashedLine'
10420 A single dashed line in the menu's foreground color.
10422 - `--double-dashed-line' or `--:doubleDashedLine'
10424 A double dashed line in the menu's foreground color.
10426 - `--shadow-etched-in' or `--:shadowEtchedIn'
10428 A single line with 3D sunken appearance. This is the form
10429 displayed for item names consisting of dashes only.
10431 - `--shadow-etched-out' or `--:shadowEtchedOut'
10433 A single line with 3D raised appearance.
10435 - `--shadow-etched-in-dash' or `--:shadowEtchedInDash'
10437 A single dashed line with 3D sunken appearance.
10439 - `--shadow-etched-out-dash' or `--:shadowEtchedOutDash'
10441 A single dashed line with 3D raise appearance.
10443 - `--shadow-double-etched-in' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedIn'
10445 Two lines with 3D sunken appearance.
10447 - `--shadow-double-etched-out' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedOut'
10449 Two lines with 3D raised appearance.
10451 - `--shadow-double-etched-in-dash' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedInDash'
10453 Two dashed lines with 3D sunken appearance.
10455 - `--shadow-double-etched-out-dash' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedOutDash'
10457 Two dashed lines with 3D raised appearance.
10459 Under LessTif/Motif, the last four separator types are displayed like
10460 the corresponding single-line separators.
10462 ** New frame parameters for scroll bar colors.
10464 The new frame parameters `scroll-bar-foreground' and
10465 `scroll-bar-background' can be used to change scroll bar colors.
10466 Their value must be either a color name, a string, or nil to specify
10467 that scroll bars should use a default color. For toolkit scroll bars,
10468 default colors are toolkit specific. For non-toolkit scroll bars, the
10469 default background is the background color of the frame, and the
10470 default foreground is black.
10472 The X resource name of these parameters are `scrollBarForeground'
10473 (class ScrollBarForeground) and `scrollBarBackground' (class
10474 `ScrollBarBackground').
10476 Setting these parameters overrides toolkit specific X resource
10477 settings for scroll bar colors.
10479 ** You can set `redisplay-dont-pause' to a non-nil value to prevent
10480 display updates from being interrupted when input is pending.
10482 ** Changing a window's width may now change its window start if it
10483 starts on a continuation line. The new window start is computed based
10484 on the window's new width, starting from the start of the continued
10485 line as the start of the screen line with the minimum distance from
10486 the original window start.
10488 ** The variable `hscroll-step' and the functions
10489 `hscroll-point-visible' and `hscroll-window-column' have been removed
10490 now that proper horizontal scrolling is implemented.
10492 ** Windows can now be made fixed-width and/or fixed-height.
10494 A window is fixed-size if its buffer has a buffer-local variable
10495 `window-size-fixed' whose value is not nil. A value of `height' makes
10496 windows fixed-height, a value of `width' makes them fixed-width, any
10497 other non-nil value makes them both fixed-width and fixed-height.
10499 The following code makes all windows displaying the current buffer
10500 fixed-width and fixed-height.
10502 (set (make-local-variable 'window-size-fixed) t)
10504 A call to enlarge-window on a window gives an error if that window is
10505 fixed-width and it is tried to change the window's width, or if the
10506 window is fixed-height, and it is tried to change its height. To
10507 change the size of a fixed-size window, bind `window-size-fixed'
10508 temporarily to nil, for example
10510 (let ((window-size-fixed nil))
10511 (enlarge-window 10))
10513 Likewise, an attempt to split a fixed-height window vertically,
10514 or a fixed-width window horizontally results in a error.
10516 ** The cursor-type frame parameter is now supported on MS-DOS
10517 terminals. When Emacs starts, it by default changes the cursor shape
10518 to a solid box, as it does on Unix. The `cursor-type' frame parameter
10519 overrides this as it does on Unix, except that the bar cursor is
10520 horizontal rather than vertical (since the MS-DOS display doesn't
10521 support a vertical-bar cursor).
10525 * Emacs 20.7 is a bug-fix release with few user-visible changes
10527 ** It is now possible to use CCL-based coding systems for keyboard
10530 ** ange-ftp now handles FTP security extensions, like Kerberos.
10532 ** Rmail has been extended to recognize more forms of digest messages.
10534 ** Now, most coding systems set in keyboard coding system work not
10535 only for character input, but also in incremental search. The
10536 exceptions are such coding systems that handle 2-byte character sets
10537 (e.g euc-kr, euc-jp) and that use ISO's escape sequence
10538 (e.g. iso-2022-jp). They are ignored in incremental search.
10540 ** Support for Macintosh PowerPC-based machines running GNU/Linux has
10544 * Emacs 20.6 is a bug-fix release with one user-visible change
10546 ** Support for ARM-based non-RISCiX machines has been added.
10550 * Emacs 20.5 is a bug-fix release with no user-visible changes.
10552 ** Not new, but not mentioned before:
10553 M-w when Transient Mark mode is enabled disables the mark.
10555 * Changes in Emacs 20.4
10557 ** Init file may be called .emacs.el.
10559 You can now call the Emacs init file `.emacs.el'.
10560 Formerly the name had to be `.emacs'. If you use the name
10561 `.emacs.el', you can byte-compile the file in the usual way.
10563 If both `.emacs' and `.emacs.el' exist, the latter file
10564 is the one that is used.
10566 ** shell-command, and shell-command-on-region, now return
10567 the exit code of the command (unless it is asynchronous).
10568 Also, you can specify a place to put the error output,
10569 separate from the command's regular output.
10570 Interactively, the variable shell-command-default-error-buffer
10571 says where to put error output; set it to a buffer name.
10572 In calls from Lisp, an optional argument ERROR-BUFFER specifies
10575 When you specify a non-nil error buffer (or buffer name), any error
10576 output is inserted before point in that buffer, with \f\n to separate
10577 it from the previous batch of error output. The error buffer is not
10578 cleared, so error output from successive commands accumulates there.
10580 ** Setting the default value of enable-multibyte-characters to nil in
10581 the .emacs file, either explicitly using setq-default, or via Custom,
10582 is now essentially equivalent to using --unibyte: all buffers
10583 created during startup will be made unibyte after loading .emacs.
10585 ** C-x C-f now handles the wildcards * and ? in file names. For
10586 example, typing C-x C-f c*.c RET visits all the files whose names
10587 match c*.c. To visit a file whose name contains * or ?, add the
10588 quoting sequence /: to the beginning of the file name.
10590 ** The M-x commands keep-lines, flush-lines and count-matches
10591 now have the same feature as occur and query-replace:
10592 if the pattern contains any upper case letters, then
10593 they never ignore case.
10595 ** The end-of-line format conversion feature previously mentioned
10596 under `* Emacs 20.1 changes for MS-DOS and MS-Windows' actually
10597 applies to all operating systems. Emacs recognizes from the contents
10598 of a file what convention it uses to separate lines--newline, CRLF, or
10599 just CR--and automatically converts the contents to the normal Emacs
10600 convention (using newline to separate lines) for editing. This is a
10601 part of the general feature of coding system conversion.
10603 If you subsequently save the buffer, Emacs converts the text back to
10604 the same format that was used in the file before.
10606 You can turn off end-of-line conversion by setting the variable
10607 `inhibit-eol-conversion' to non-nil, e.g. with Custom in the MULE group.
10609 ** The character set property `prefered-coding-system' has been
10610 renamed to `preferred-coding-system', for the sake of correct spelling.
10611 This is a fairly internal feature, so few programs should be affected.
10613 ** Mode-line display of end-of-line format is changed.
10614 The indication of the end-of-line format of the file visited by a
10615 buffer is now more explicit when that format is not the usual one for
10616 your operating system. For example, the DOS-style end-of-line format
10617 is displayed as "(DOS)" on Unix and GNU/Linux systems. The usual
10618 end-of-line format is still displayed as a single character (colon for
10619 Unix, backslash for DOS and Windows, and forward slash for the Mac).
10621 The values of the variables eol-mnemonic-unix, eol-mnemonic-dos,
10622 eol-mnemonic-mac, and eol-mnemonic-undecided, which are strings,
10623 control what is displayed in the mode line for each end-of-line
10624 format. You can now customize these variables.
10626 ** In the previous version of Emacs, tar-mode didn't work well if a
10627 filename contained non-ASCII characters. Now this is fixed. Such a
10628 filename is decoded by file-name-coding-system if the default value of
10629 enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil.
10631 ** The command temp-buffer-resize-mode toggles a minor mode
10632 in which temporary buffers (such as help buffers) are given
10633 windows just big enough to hold the whole contents.
10635 ** If you use completion.el, you must now run the function
10636 dynamic-completion-mode to enable it. Just loading the file
10637 doesn't have any effect.
10639 ** In Flyspell mode, the default is now to make just one Ispell process,
10640 not one per buffer.
10642 ** If you use iswitchb but do not call (iswitchb-default-keybindings) to
10643 use the default keybindings, you will need to add the following line:
10644 (add-hook 'minibuffer-setup-hook 'iswitchb-minibuffer-setup)
10646 ** Auto-show mode is no longer enabled just by loading auto-show.el.
10647 To control it, set `auto-show-mode' via Custom or use the
10648 `auto-show-mode' command.
10650 ** Handling of X fonts' ascent/descent parameters has been changed to
10651 avoid redisplay problems. As a consequence, compared with previous
10652 versions the line spacing and frame size now differ with some font
10653 choices, typically increasing by a pixel per line. This change
10654 occurred in version 20.3 but was not documented then.
10656 ** If you select the bar cursor style, it uses the frame's
10657 cursor-color, rather than the cursor foreground pixel.
10659 ** In multibyte mode, Rmail decodes incoming MIME messages using the
10660 character set specified in the message. If you want to disable this
10661 feature, set the variable rmail-decode-mime-charset to nil.
10663 ** Not new, but not mentioned previously in NEWS: when you use #! at
10664 the beginning of a file to make it executable and specify an
10665 interpreter program, Emacs looks on the second line for the -*- mode
10666 and variable specification, as well as on the first line.
10668 ** Support for IBM codepage encoding of non-ASCII characters.
10670 The new command M-x codepage-setup creates a special coding system
10671 that can be used to convert text between a specific IBM codepage and
10672 one of the character sets built into Emacs which matches that
10673 codepage. For example, codepage 850 corresponds to Latin-1 character
10674 set, codepage 855 corresponds to Cyrillic-ISO character set, etc.
10676 Windows codepages 1250, 1251 and some others, where Windows deviates
10677 from the corresponding ISO character set, are also supported.
10679 IBM box-drawing characters and other glyphs which don't have
10680 equivalents in the corresponding ISO character set, are converted to
10681 a character defined by dos-unsupported-char-glyph on MS-DOS, and to
10682 `?' on other systems.
10684 IBM codepages are widely used on MS-DOS and MS-Windows, so this
10685 feature is most useful on those platforms, but it can also be used on
10688 Emacs compiled for MS-DOS automatically loads the support for the
10689 current codepage when it starts.
10693 *** When mail is sent using compose-mail (C-x m), and if
10694 `mail-send-nonascii' is set to the new default value `mime',
10695 appropriate MIME headers are added. The headers are added only if
10696 non-ASCII characters are present in the body of the mail, and no other
10697 MIME headers are already present. For example, the following three
10698 headers are added if the coding system used in the *mail* buffer is
10702 Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
10703 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
10705 *** The new variable default-sendmail-coding-system specifies the
10706 default way to encode outgoing mail. This has higher priority than
10707 default-buffer-file-coding-system but has lower priority than
10708 sendmail-coding-system and the local value of
10709 buffer-file-coding-system.
10711 You should not set this variable manually. Instead, set
10712 sendmail-coding-system to specify a fixed encoding for all outgoing
10715 *** When you try to send a message that contains non-ASCII characters,
10716 if the coding system specified by those variables doesn't handle them,
10717 Emacs will ask you to select a suitable coding system while showing a
10718 list of possible coding systems.
10722 *** c-default-style can now take an association list that maps major
10723 modes to style names. When this variable is an alist, Java mode no
10724 longer hardcodes a setting to "java" style. See the variable's
10725 docstring for details.
10727 *** It's now possible to put a list as the offset on a syntactic
10728 symbol. The list is evaluated recursively until a non-nil offset is
10729 found. This is useful to combine several lineup functions to act in a
10730 prioritized order on a single line. However, none of the supplied
10731 lineup functions use this feature currently.
10733 *** New syntactic symbol catch-clause, which is used on the "catch" and
10734 "finally" lines in try-catch constructs in C++ and Java.
10736 *** New cleanup brace-catch-brace on c-cleanup-list, which does for
10737 "catch" lines what brace-elseif-brace does for "else if" lines.
10739 *** The braces of Java anonymous inner classes are treated separately
10740 from the braces of other classes in auto-newline mode. Two new
10741 symbols inexpr-class-open and inexpr-class-close may be used on
10742 c-hanging-braces-alist to control the automatic newlines used for
10745 *** Support for the Pike language added, along with new Pike specific
10746 syntactic symbols: inlambda, lambda-intro-cont
10748 *** Support for Java anonymous classes via new syntactic symbol
10749 inexpr-class. New syntactic symbol inexpr-statement for Pike
10750 support and gcc-style statements inside expressions. New lineup
10751 function c-lineup-inexpr-block.
10753 *** New syntactic symbol brace-entry-open which is used in brace lists
10754 (i.e. static initializers) when a list entry starts with an open
10755 brace. These used to be recognized as brace-list-entry's.
10756 c-electric-brace also recognizes brace-entry-open braces
10757 (brace-list-entry's can no longer be electrified).
10759 *** New command c-indent-line-or-region, not bound by default.
10761 *** `#' is only electric when typed in the indentation of a line.
10763 *** Parentheses are now electric (via the new command c-electric-paren)
10764 for auto-reindenting lines when parens are typed.
10766 *** In "gnu" style, inline-open offset is now set to zero.
10768 *** Uniform handling of the inclass syntactic symbol. The indentation
10769 associated with it is now always relative to the class opening brace.
10770 This means that the indentation behavior has changed in some
10771 circumstances, but only if you've put anything besides 0 on the
10772 class-open syntactic symbol (none of the default styles do that).
10776 *** New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
10777 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See the
10778 Gnus manual for the full story.
10780 *** The nndraft backend has returned, but works differently than
10781 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the nndraft
10782 group, which is created automatically.
10784 *** `gnus-alter-header-function' can now be used to alter header
10787 *** `gnus-summary-goto-article' now accept Message-ID's.
10789 *** A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
10790 outside the region: `C-c C-v'.
10792 *** You can now post to component group in nnvirtual groups with
10795 *** `nntp-rlogin-program' -- new variable to ease customization.
10797 *** `C-u C-c C-c' in `gnus-article-edit-mode' will now inhibit
10798 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
10800 *** New element in `gnus-boring-article-headers' -- `long-to'.
10802 *** `M-i' symbolic prefix command. See the section "Symbolic
10803 Prefixes" in the Gnus manual for details.
10805 *** `L' and `I' in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
10806 `a' to add the score rule to the "all.SCORE" file.
10808 *** `gnus-simplify-subject-functions' variable to allow greater
10809 control over simplification.
10811 *** `A T' -- new command for fetching the current thread.
10813 *** `/ T' -- new command for including the current thread in the
10816 *** `M-RET' is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
10818 *** \\1-expressions are now valid in `nnmail-split-methods'.
10820 *** The `custom-face-lookup' function has been removed.
10821 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
10822 rewrite them to use `face-spec-set' instead.
10824 *** Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
10825 `a' forces normal posting method.
10827 *** New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper text
10830 *** For easier debugging of nntp, you can set `nntp-record-commands'
10831 to a non-nil value.
10833 *** nntp now uses ~/.authinfo, a .netrc-like file, for controlling
10834 where and how to send AUTHINFO to NNTP servers.
10836 *** A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
10839 *** A history of where mails have been split is available.
10841 *** A new article date command has been added -- `article-date-iso8601'.
10843 *** Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
10844 `gnus-score-thread-simplify'.
10846 *** A new function for citing in Message has been added --
10847 `message-cite-original-without-signature'.
10849 *** `article-strip-all-blank-lines' -- new article command.
10851 *** A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
10854 *** A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
10855 `gnus-adaptive-word-minimum' variable.
10857 *** The "lapsed date" article header can be kept continually
10858 updated by the `gnus-start-date-timer' command.
10860 *** Web listserv archives can be read with the nnlistserv backend.
10862 *** Old dejanews archives can now be read by nnweb.
10864 *** `gnus-posting-styles' has been re-activated.
10866 ** Changes to TeX and LaTeX mode
10868 *** The new variable `tex-start-options-string' can be used to give
10869 options for the TeX run. The default value causes TeX to run in
10870 nonstopmode. For an interactive TeX run set it to nil or "".
10872 *** The command `tex-feed-input' sends input to the Tex Shell. In a
10873 TeX buffer it is bound to the keys C-RET, C-c RET, and C-c C-m (some
10874 of these keys may not work on all systems). For instance, if you run
10875 TeX interactively and if the TeX run stops because of an error, you
10876 can continue it without leaving the TeX buffer by typing C-RET.
10878 *** The Tex Shell Buffer is now in `compilation-shell-minor-mode'.
10879 All error-parsing commands of the Compilation major mode are available
10880 but bound to keys that don't collide with the shell. Thus you can use
10881 the Tex Shell for command line executions like a usual shell.
10883 *** The commands `tex-validate-region' and `tex-validate-buffer' check
10884 the matching of braces and $'s. The errors are listed in a *Occur*
10885 buffer and you can use C-c C-c or mouse-2 to go to a particular
10888 ** Changes to RefTeX mode
10890 *** The table of contents buffer can now also display labels and
10891 file boundaries in addition to sections. Use `l', `i', and `c' keys.
10893 *** Labels derived from context (the section heading) are now
10894 lowercase by default. To make the label legal in LaTeX, latin-1
10895 characters will lose their accent. All Mule characters will be
10896 removed from the label.
10898 *** The automatic display of cross reference information can also use
10899 a window instead of the echo area. See variable `reftex-auto-view-crossref'.
10901 *** kpsewhich can be used by RefTeX to find TeX and BibTeX files. See the
10902 customization group `reftex-finding-files'.
10904 *** The option `reftex-bibfile-ignore-list' has been renamed to
10905 `reftex-bibfile-ignore-regexps' and indeed can be fed with regular
10908 *** Multiple Selection buffers are now hidden buffers.
10910 ** New/deleted modes and packages
10912 *** The package snmp-mode.el provides major modes for editing SNMP and
10913 SNMPv2 MIBs. It has entries on `auto-mode-alist'.
10915 *** The package sql.el provides a major mode, M-x sql-mode, for
10916 editing SQL files, and M-x sql-interactive-mode for interacting with
10917 SQL interpreters. It has an entry on `auto-mode-alist'.
10919 *** ispell4.el has been deleted. It got in the way of ispell.el and
10920 this was hard to fix reliably. It has long been obsolete -- use
10921 Ispell 3.1 and ispell.el.
10923 * MS-DOS changes in Emacs 20.4
10925 ** Emacs compiled for MS-DOS now supports MULE features better.
10926 This includes support for display of all ISO 8859-N character sets,
10927 conversion to and from IBM codepage encoding of non-ASCII characters,
10928 and automatic setup of the MULE environment at startup. For details,
10929 check out the section `MS-DOS and MULE' in the manual.
10931 The MS-DOS installation procedure automatically configures and builds
10932 Emacs with input method support if it finds an unpacked Leim
10933 distribution when the config.bat script is run.
10935 ** Formerly, the value of lpr-command did not affect printing on
10936 MS-DOS unless print-region-function was set to nil, but now it
10937 controls whether an external program is invoked or output is written
10938 directly to a printer port. Similarly, in the previous version of
10939 Emacs, the value of ps-lpr-command did not affect PostScript printing
10940 on MS-DOS unless ps-printer-name was set to something other than a
10941 string (eg. t or `pipe'), but now it controls whether an external
10942 program is used. (These changes were made so that configuration of
10943 printing variables would be almost identical across all platforms.)
10945 ** In the previous version of Emacs, PostScript and non-PostScript
10946 output was piped to external programs, but because most print programs
10947 available for MS-DOS and MS-Windows cannot read data from their standard
10948 input, on those systems the data to be output is now written to a
10949 temporary file whose name is passed as the last argument to the external
10952 An exception is made for `print', a standard program on Windows NT,
10953 and `nprint', a standard program on Novell Netware. For both of these
10954 programs, the command line is constructed in the appropriate syntax
10955 automatically, using only the value of printer-name or ps-printer-name
10956 as appropriate--the value of the relevant `-switches' variable is
10957 ignored, as both programs have no useful switches.
10959 ** The value of the variable dos-printer (cf. dos-ps-printer), if it has
10960 a value, overrides the value of printer-name (cf. ps-printer-name), on
10961 MS-DOS and MS-Windows only. This has been true since version 20.3, but
10962 was not documented clearly before.
10964 ** All the Emacs games now work on MS-DOS terminals.
10965 This includes Tetris and Snake.
10967 * Lisp changes in Emacs 20.4
10969 ** New functions line-beginning-position and line-end-position
10970 return the position of the beginning or end of the current line.
10971 They both accept an optional argument, which has the same
10972 meaning as the argument to beginning-of-line or end-of-line.
10974 ** find-file and allied functions now have an optional argument
10975 WILDCARD. If this is non-nil, they do wildcard processing,
10976 and visit all files that match the wildcard pattern.
10978 ** Changes in the file-attributes function.
10980 *** The file size returned by file-attributes may be an integer or a float.
10981 It is an integer if the size fits in a Lisp integer, float otherwise.
10983 *** The inode number returned by file-attributes may be an integer (if
10984 the number fits in a Lisp integer) or a cons cell containing two
10987 ** The new function directory-files-and-attributes returns a list of
10988 files in a directory and their attributes. It accepts the same
10989 arguments as directory-files and has similar semantics, except that
10990 file names and attributes are returned.
10992 ** The new function file-attributes-lessp is a helper function for
10993 sorting the list generated by directory-files-and-attributes. It
10994 accepts two arguments, each a list of a file name and its attributes.
10995 It compares the file names of each according to string-lessp and
10996 returns the result.
10998 ** The new function file-expand-wildcards expands a wildcard-pattern
10999 to produce a list of existing files that match the pattern.
11001 ** New functions for base64 conversion:
11003 The function base64-encode-region converts a part of the buffer
11004 into the base64 code used in MIME. base64-decode-region
11005 performs the opposite conversion. Line-breaking is supported
11008 Functions base64-encode-string and base64-decode-string do a similar
11009 job on the text in a string. They return the value as a new string.
11012 The new function process-running-child-p
11013 will tell you if a subprocess has given control of its
11014 terminal to its own child process.
11016 ** interrupt-process and such functions have a new feature:
11017 when the second argument is `lambda', they send a signal
11018 to the running child of the subshell, if any, but if the shell
11019 itself owns its terminal, no signal is sent.
11021 ** There are new widget types `plist' and `alist' which can
11022 be used for customizing variables whose values are plists or alists.
11024 ** easymenu.el now understands `:key-sequence' and `:style button'.
11025 :included is an alias for :visible.
11027 easy-menu-add-item now understands the values returned by
11028 easy-menu-remove-item and easy-menu-item-present-p. This can be used
11029 to move or copy menu entries.
11031 ** Multibyte editing changes
11033 *** The definitions of sref and char-bytes are changed. Now, sref is
11034 an alias of aref and char-bytes always returns 1. This change is to
11035 make some Emacs Lisp code which works on 20.2 and earlier also
11036 work on the latest Emacs. Such code uses a combination of sref and
11037 char-bytes in a loop typically as below:
11038 (setq char (sref str idx)
11039 idx (+ idx (char-bytes idx)))
11040 The byte-compiler now warns that this is obsolete.
11042 If you want to know how many bytes a specific multibyte character
11043 (say, CH) occupies in a multibyte buffer, use this code:
11044 (charset-bytes (char-charset ch))
11046 *** In multibyte mode, when you narrow a buffer to some region, and the
11047 region is preceded or followed by non-ASCII codes, inserting or
11048 deleting at the head or the end of the region may signal this error:
11050 Byte combining across boundary of accessible buffer text inhibited
11052 This is to avoid some bytes being combined together into a character
11053 across the boundary.
11055 *** The functions find-charset-region and find-charset-string include
11056 `unknown' in the returned list in the following cases:
11057 o The current buffer or the target string is unibyte and
11058 contains 8-bit characters.
11059 o The current buffer or the target string is multibyte and
11060 contains invalid characters.
11062 *** The functions decode-coding-region and encode-coding-region remove
11063 text properties of the target region. Ideally, they should correctly
11064 preserve text properties, but for the moment, it's hard. Removing
11065 text properties is better than preserving them in a less-than-correct
11068 *** prefer-coding-system sets EOL conversion of default coding systems.
11069 If the argument to prefer-coding-system specifies a certain type of
11070 end of line conversion, the default coding systems set by
11071 prefer-coding-system will specify that conversion type for end of line.
11073 *** The new function thai-compose-string can be used to properly
11074 compose Thai characters in a string.
11076 ** The primitive `define-prefix-command' now takes an optional third
11077 argument NAME, which should be a string. It supplies the menu name
11078 for the created keymap. Keymaps created in order to be displayed as
11079 menus should always use the third argument.
11081 ** The meanings of optional second arguments for read-char,
11082 read-event, and read-char-exclusive are flipped. Now the second
11083 arguments are INHERIT-INPUT-METHOD. These functions use the current
11084 input method (if any) if and only if INHERIT-INPUT-METHOD is non-nil.
11086 ** The new function clear-this-command-keys empties out the contents
11087 of the vector that (this-command-keys) returns. This is useful in
11088 programs that read passwords, to prevent the passwords from echoing
11089 inadvertently as part of the next command in certain cases.
11091 ** The new macro `with-temp-message' displays a temporary message in
11092 the echo area, while executing some Lisp code. Like `progn', it
11093 returns the value of the last form, but it also restores the previous
11094 echo area contents.
11096 (with-temp-message MESSAGE &rest BODY)
11098 ** The function `require' now takes an optional third argument
11099 NOERROR. If it is non-nil, then there is no error if the
11100 requested feature cannot be loaded.
11102 ** In the function modify-face, an argument of (nil) for the
11103 foreground color, background color or stipple pattern
11104 means to clear out that attribute.
11106 ** The `outer-window-id' frame property of an X frame
11107 gives the window number of the outermost X window for the frame.
11109 ** Temporary buffers made with with-output-to-temp-buffer are now
11110 read-only by default, and normally use the major mode Help mode
11111 unless you put them in some other non-Fundamental mode before the
11112 end of with-output-to-temp-buffer.
11114 ** The new functions gap-position and gap-size return information on
11115 the gap of the current buffer.
11117 ** The new functions position-bytes and byte-to-position provide a way
11118 to convert between character positions and byte positions in the
11121 ** vc.el defines two new macros, `edit-vc-file' and `with-vc-file', to
11122 facilitate working with version-controlled files from Lisp programs.
11123 These macros check out a given file automatically if needed, and check
11124 it back in after any modifications have been made.
11126 * Installation Changes in Emacs 20.3
11128 ** The default value of load-path now includes most subdirectories of
11129 the site-specific directories /usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp and
11130 /usr/local/share/emacs/VERSION/site-lisp, in addition to those
11131 directories themselves. Both immediate subdirectories and
11132 subdirectories multiple levels down are added to load-path.
11134 Not all subdirectories are included, though. Subdirectories whose
11135 names do not start with a letter or digit are excluded.
11136 Subdirectories named RCS or CVS are excluded. Also, a subdirectory
11137 which contains a file named `.nosearch' is excluded. You can use
11138 these methods to prevent certain subdirectories from being searched.
11140 Emacs finds these subdirectories and adds them to load-path when it
11141 starts up. While it would be cleaner to find the subdirectories each
11142 time Emacs loads a file, that would be much slower.
11144 This feature is an incompatible change. If you have stored some Emacs
11145 Lisp files in a subdirectory of the site-lisp directory specifically
11146 to prevent them from being used, you will need to rename the
11147 subdirectory to start with a non-alphanumeric character, or create a
11148 `.nosearch' file in it, in order to continue to achieve the desired
11151 ** Emacs no longer includes an old version of the C preprocessor from
11152 GCC. This was formerly used to help compile Emacs with C compilers
11153 that had limits on the significant length of an identifier, but in
11154 fact we stopped supporting such compilers some time ago.
11156 * Changes in Emacs 20.3
11158 ** The new command C-x z (repeat) repeats the previous command
11159 including its argument. If you repeat the z afterward,
11160 it repeats the command additional times; thus, you can
11161 perform many repetitions with one keystroke per repetition.
11163 ** Emacs now supports "selective undo" which undoes only within a
11164 specified region. To do this, set point and mark around the desired
11165 region and type C-u C-x u (or C-u C-_). You can then continue undoing
11166 further, within the same region, by repeating the ordinary undo
11167 command C-x u or C-_. This will keep undoing changes that were made
11168 within the region you originally specified, until either all of them
11169 are undone, or it encounters a change which crosses the edge of that
11172 In Transient Mark mode, undoing when a region is active requests
11175 ** If you specify --unibyte when starting Emacs, then all buffers are
11176 unibyte, except when a Lisp program specifically creates a multibyte
11177 buffer. Setting the environment variable EMACS_UNIBYTE has the same
11178 effect. The --no-unibyte option overrides EMACS_UNIBYTE and directs
11179 Emacs to run normally in multibyte mode.
11181 The option --unibyte does not affect the reading of Emacs Lisp files,
11182 though. If you want a Lisp file to be read in unibyte mode, use
11183 -*-unibyte: t;-*- on its first line. That will force Emacs to
11184 load that file in unibyte mode, regardless of how Emacs was started.
11186 ** toggle-enable-multibyte-characters no longer has a key binding and
11187 no longer appears in the menu bar. We've realized that changing the
11188 enable-multibyte-characters variable in an existing buffer is
11189 something that most users not do.
11191 ** You can specify a coding system to use for the next cut or paste
11192 operations through the window system with the command C-x RET X.
11193 The coding system can make a difference for communication with other
11196 C-x RET x specifies a coding system for all subsequent cutting and
11197 pasting operations.
11199 ** You can specify the printer to use for commands that do printing by
11200 setting the variable `printer-name'. Just what a printer name looks
11201 like depends on your operating system. You can specify a different
11202 printer for the Postscript printing commands by setting
11205 ** Emacs now supports on-the-fly spell checking by the means of a
11206 minor mode. It is called M-x flyspell-mode. You don't have to remember
11207 any other special commands to use it, and you will hardly notice it
11208 except when you make a spelling error. Flyspell works by highlighting
11209 incorrect words as soon as they are completed or as soon as the cursor
11212 Flyspell mode works with whichever dictionary you have selected for
11213 Ispell in Emacs. In TeX mode, it understands TeX syntax so as not
11214 to be confused by TeX commands.
11216 You can correct a misspelled word by editing it into something
11217 correct. You can also correct it, or accept it as correct, by
11218 clicking on the word with Mouse-2; that gives you a pop-up menu
11219 of various alternative replacements and actions.
11221 Flyspell mode also proposes "automatic" corrections. M-TAB replaces
11222 the current misspelled word with a possible correction. If several
11223 corrections are made possible, M-TAB cycles through them in
11224 alphabetical order, or in order of decreasing likelihood if
11225 flyspell-sort-corrections is nil.
11227 Flyspell mode also flags an error when a word is repeated, if
11228 flyspell-mark-duplications-flag is non-nil.
11230 ** Changes in input method usage.
11232 Now you can use arrow keys (right, left, down, up) for selecting among
11233 the alternatives just the same way as you do by C-f, C-b, C-n, and C-p
11236 You can use the ENTER key to accept the current conversion.
11238 If you type TAB to display a list of alternatives, you can select one
11239 of the alternatives with Mouse-2.
11241 The meaning of the variable `input-method-verbose-flag' is changed so
11242 that you can set it to t, nil, `default', or `complex-only'.
11244 If the value is nil, extra guidance is never given.
11246 If the value is t, extra guidance is always given.
11248 If the value is `complex-only', extra guidance is always given only
11249 when you are using complex input methods such as chinese-py.
11251 If the value is `default' (this is the default), extra guidance is
11252 given in the following case:
11253 o When you are using a complex input method.
11254 o When you are using a simple input method but not in the minibuffer.
11256 If you are using Emacs through a very slow line, setting
11257 input-method-verbose-flag to nil or to complex-only is a good choice,
11258 and if you are using an input method you are not familiar with,
11259 setting it to t is helpful.
11261 The old command select-input-method is now called set-input-method.
11263 In the language environment "Korean", you can use the following
11265 Shift-SPC toggle-korean-input-method
11266 C-F9 quail-hangul-switch-symbol-ksc
11267 F9 quail-hangul-switch-hanja
11268 These key bindings are canceled when you switch to another language
11271 ** The minibuffer history of file names now records the specified file
11272 names, not the entire minibuffer input. For example, if the
11273 minibuffer starts out with /usr/foo/, you might type in /etc/passwd to
11276 /usr/foo//etc/passwd
11278 which stands for the file /etc/passwd.
11280 Formerly, this used to put /usr/foo//etc/passwd in the history list.
11281 Now this puts just /etc/passwd in the history list.
11283 ** If you are root, Emacs sets backup-by-copying-when-mismatch to t
11284 at startup, so that saving a file will be sure to preserve
11285 its owner and group.
11287 ** find-func.el can now also find the place of definition of Emacs
11288 Lisp variables in user-loaded libraries.
11290 ** C-x r t (string-rectangle) now deletes the existing rectangle
11291 contents before inserting the specified string on each line.
11293 ** There is a new command delete-whitespace-rectangle
11294 which deletes whitespace starting from a particular column
11295 in all the lines on a rectangle. The column is specified
11296 by the left edge of the rectangle.
11298 ** You can now store a number into a register with C-u NUMBER C-x r n REG,
11299 increment it by INC with C-u INC C-x r + REG (to increment by one, omit
11300 C-u INC), and insert it in the buffer with C-x r g REG. This is useful
11301 for writing keyboard macros.
11303 ** The new command M-x speedbar displays a frame in which directories,
11304 files, and tags can be displayed, manipulated, and jumped to. The
11305 frame defaults to 20 characters in width, and is the same height as
11306 the frame that it was started from. Some major modes define
11307 additional commands for the speedbar, including Rmail, GUD/GDB, and
11310 ** query-replace-regexp is now bound to C-M-%.
11312 ** In Transient Mark mode, when the region is active, M-x
11313 query-replace and the other replace commands now operate on the region
11316 ** M-x write-region, when used interactively, now asks for
11317 confirmation before overwriting an existing file. When you call
11318 the function from a Lisp program, a new optional argument CONFIRM
11319 says whether to ask for confirmation in this case.
11321 ** If you use find-file-literally and the file is already visited
11322 non-literally, the command asks you whether to revisit the file
11323 literally. If you say no, it signals an error.
11325 ** Major modes defined with the "derived mode" feature
11326 now use the proper name for the mode hook: WHATEVER-mode-hook.
11327 Formerly they used the name WHATEVER-mode-hooks, but that is
11328 inconsistent with Emacs conventions.
11330 ** shell-command-on-region (and shell-command) reports success or
11331 failure if the command produces no output.
11333 ** Set focus-follows-mouse to nil if your window system or window
11334 manager does not transfer focus to another window when you just move
11337 ** mouse-menu-buffer-maxlen has been renamed to
11338 mouse-buffer-menu-maxlen to be consistent with the other related
11339 function and variable names.
11341 ** The new variable auto-coding-alist specifies coding systems for
11342 reading specific files. This has higher priority than
11343 file-coding-system-alist.
11345 ** If you set the variable unibyte-display-via-language-environment to
11346 t, then Emacs displays non-ASCII characters are displayed by
11347 converting them to the equivalent multibyte characters according to
11348 the current language environment. As a result, they are displayed
11349 according to the current fontset.
11351 ** C-q's handling of codes in the range 0200 through 0377 is changed.
11353 The codes in the range 0200 through 0237 are inserted as one byte of
11354 that code regardless of the values of nonascii-translation-table and
11355 nonascii-insert-offset.
11357 For the codes in the range 0240 through 0377, if
11358 enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil and nonascii-translation-table
11359 nor nonascii-insert-offset can't convert them to valid multibyte
11360 characters, they are converted to Latin-1 characters.
11362 ** If you try to find a file that is not read-accessible, you now get
11363 an error, rather than an empty buffer and a warning.
11365 ** In the minibuffer history commands M-r and M-s, an upper case
11366 letter in the regular expression forces case-sensitive search.
11368 ** In the *Help* buffer, cross-references to commands and variables
11369 are inferred and hyperlinked. Use C-h m in Help mode for the relevant
11372 ** M-x apropos-command, with a prefix argument, no longer looks for
11373 user option variables--instead it looks for noninteractive functions.
11375 Meanwhile, the command apropos-variable normally searches for
11376 user option variables; with a prefix argument, it looks at
11377 all variables that have documentation.
11379 ** When you type a long line in the minibuffer, and the minibuffer
11380 shows just one line, automatically scrolling works in a special way
11381 that shows you overlap with the previous line of text. The variable
11382 minibuffer-scroll-overlap controls how many characters of overlap
11383 it should show; the default is 20.
11385 Meanwhile, Resize Minibuffer mode is still available; in that mode,
11386 the minibuffer grows taller (up to a point) as needed to show the whole
11389 ** The new command M-x customize-changed-options lets you customize
11390 all the options whose meanings or default values have changed in
11391 recent Emacs versions. You specify a previous Emacs version number as
11392 argument, and the command creates a customization buffer showing all
11393 the customizable options which were changed since that version.
11394 Newly added options are included as well.
11396 If you don't specify a particular version number argument,
11397 then the customization buffer shows all the customizable options
11398 for which Emacs versions of changes are recorded.
11400 This function is also bound to the Changed Options entry in the
11403 ** When you run M-x grep with a prefix argument, it figures out
11404 the tag around point and puts that into the default grep command.
11406 ** The new command M-* (pop-tag-mark) pops back through a history of
11407 buffer positions from which M-. or other tag-finding commands were
11410 ** The new variable comment-padding specifies the number of spaces
11411 that `comment-region' will insert before the actual text of the comment.
11414 ** In Fortran mode the characters `.', `_' and `$' now have symbol
11415 syntax, not word syntax. Fortran mode now supports `imenu' and has
11416 new commands fortran-join-line (M-^) and fortran-narrow-to-subprogram
11417 (C-x n d). M-q can be used to fill a statement or comment block
11420 ** GUD now supports jdb, the Java debugger, and pdb, the Python debugger.
11422 ** If you set the variable add-log-keep-changes-together to a non-nil
11423 value, the command `C-x 4 a' will automatically notice when you make
11424 two entries in one day for one file, and combine them.
11426 ** You can use the command M-x diary-mail-entries to mail yourself a
11427 reminder about upcoming diary entries. See the documentation string
11428 for a sample shell script for calling this function automatically
11433 *** All you need to do to enable use of the Desktop package, is to set
11434 the variable desktop-enable to t with Custom.
11436 *** Minor modes are now restored. Which minor modes are restored
11437 and how modes are restored is controlled by `desktop-minor-mode-table'.
11439 ** There is no need to do anything special, now, to enable Gnus to
11440 read and post multi-lingual articles.
11442 ** Outline mode has now support for showing hidden outlines when
11443 doing an isearch. In order for this to happen search-invisible should
11444 be set to open (the default). If an isearch match is inside a hidden
11445 outline the outline is made visible. If you continue pressing C-s and
11446 the match moves outside the formerly invisible outline, the outline is
11447 made invisible again.
11449 ** Mail reading and sending changes
11451 *** The Rmail e command now switches to displaying the whole header of
11452 the message before it lets you edit the message. This is so that any
11453 changes you make in the header will not be lost if you subsequently
11456 *** The w command in Rmail, which writes the message body into a file,
11457 now works in the summary buffer as well. (The command to delete the
11458 summary buffer is now Q.) The default file name for the w command, if
11459 the message has no subject, is stored in the variable
11460 rmail-default-body-file.
11462 *** Most of the commands and modes that operate on mail and netnews no
11463 longer depend on the value of mail-header-separator. Instead, they
11464 handle whatever separator the buffer happens to use.
11466 *** If you set mail-signature to a value which is not t, nil, or a string,
11467 it should be an expression. When you send a message, this expression
11468 is evaluated to insert the signature.
11470 *** The new Lisp library feedmail.el (version 8) enhances processing of
11471 outbound email messages. It works in coordination with other email
11472 handling packages (e.g., rmail, VM, gnus) and is responsible for
11473 putting final touches on messages and actually submitting them for
11474 transmission. Users of the emacs program "fakemail" might be
11475 especially interested in trying feedmail.
11477 feedmail is not enabled by default. See comments at the top of
11478 feedmail.el for set-up instructions. Among the bigger features
11479 provided by feedmail are:
11481 **** you can park outgoing messages into a disk-based queue and
11482 stimulate sending some or all of them later (handy for laptop users);
11483 there is also a queue for draft messages
11485 **** you can get one last look at the prepped outbound message and
11486 be prompted for confirmation
11488 **** does smart filling of address headers
11490 **** can generate a MESSAGE-ID: line and a DATE: line; the date can be
11491 the time the message was written or the time it is being sent; this
11492 can make FCC copies more closely resemble copies that recipients get
11494 **** you can specify an arbitrary function for actually transmitting
11495 the message; included in feedmail are interfaces for /bin/[r]mail,
11496 /usr/lib/sendmail, and Emacs Lisp smtpmail; it's easy to write a new
11497 function for something else (10-20 lines of Lisp code).
11501 *** The Dired function dired-do-toggle, which toggles marked and unmarked
11502 files, is now bound to "t" instead of "T".
11504 *** dired-at-point has been added to ffap.el. It allows one to easily
11505 run Dired on the directory name at point.
11507 *** Dired has a new command: %g. It searches the contents of
11508 files in the directory and marks each file that contains a match
11509 for a specified regexp.
11513 *** New option vc-ignore-vc-files lets you turn off version control
11516 *** VC Dired has been completely rewritten. It is now much
11517 faster, especially for CVS, and works very similar to ordinary
11520 VC Dired is invoked by typing C-x v d and entering the name of the
11521 directory to display. By default, VC Dired gives you a recursive
11522 listing of all files at or below the given directory which are
11523 currently locked (for CVS, all files not up-to-date are shown).
11525 You can change the listing format by setting vc-dired-recurse to nil,
11526 then it shows only the given directory, and you may also set
11527 vc-dired-terse-display to nil, then it shows all files under version
11528 control plus the names of any subdirectories, so that you can type `i'
11529 on such lines to insert them manually, as in ordinary Dired.
11531 All Dired commands operate normally in VC Dired, except for `v', which
11532 is redefined as the version control prefix. That means you may type
11533 `v l', `v =' etc. to invoke `vc-print-log', `vc-diff' and the like on
11534 the file named in the current Dired buffer line. `v v' invokes
11535 `vc-next-action' on this file, or on all files currently marked.
11537 The new command `v t' (vc-dired-toggle-terse-mode) allows you to
11538 toggle between terse display (only locked files) and full display (all
11539 VC files plus subdirectories). There is also a special command,
11540 `* l', to mark all files currently locked.
11542 Giving a prefix argument to C-x v d now does the same thing as in
11543 ordinary Dired: it allows you to supply additional options for the ls
11544 command in the minibuffer, to fine-tune VC Dired's output.
11546 *** Under CVS, if you merge changes from the repository into a working
11547 file, and CVS detects conflicts, VC now offers to start an ediff
11548 session to resolve them.
11550 Alternatively, you can use the new command `vc-resolve-conflicts' to
11551 resolve conflicts in a file at any time. It works in any buffer that
11552 contains conflict markers as generated by rcsmerge (which is what CVS
11555 *** You can now transfer changes between branches, using the new
11556 command vc-merge (C-x v m). It is implemented for RCS and CVS. When
11557 you invoke it in a buffer under version-control, you can specify
11558 either an entire branch or a pair of versions, and the changes on that
11559 branch or between the two versions are merged into the working file.
11560 If this results in any conflicts, they may be resolved interactively,
11563 ** Changes in Font Lock
11565 *** The face and variable previously known as font-lock-reference-face
11566 are now called font-lock-constant-face to better reflect their typical
11567 use for highlighting constants and labels. (Its face properties are
11568 unchanged.) The variable font-lock-reference-face remains for now for
11569 compatibility reasons, but its value is font-lock-constant-face.
11571 ** Frame name display changes
11573 *** The command set-frame-name lets you set the name of the current
11574 frame. You can use the new command select-frame-by-name to select and
11575 raise a frame; this is mostly useful on character-only terminals, or
11576 when many frames are invisible or iconified.
11578 *** On character-only terminal (not a window system), changing the
11579 frame name is now reflected on the mode line and in the Buffers/Frames
11582 ** Comint (subshell) changes
11584 *** In Comint modes, the commands to kill, stop or interrupt a
11585 subjob now also kill pending input. This is for compatibility
11586 with ordinary shells, where the signal characters do this.
11588 *** There are new commands in Comint mode.
11590 C-c C-x fetches the "next" line from the input history;
11591 that is, the line after the last line you got.
11592 You can use this command to fetch successive lines, one by one.
11594 C-c SPC accumulates lines of input. More precisely, it arranges to
11595 send the current line together with the following line, when you send
11596 the following line.
11598 C-c C-a if repeated twice consecutively now moves to the process mark,
11599 which separates the pending input from the subprocess output and the
11600 previously sent input.
11602 C-c M-r now runs comint-previous-matching-input-from-input;
11603 it searches for a previous command, using the current pending input
11604 as the search string.
11606 *** New option compilation-scroll-output can be set to scroll
11607 automatically in compilation-mode windows.
11611 *** Multiline macros are now handled, both as they affect indentation,
11612 and as recognized syntax. New syntactic symbol cpp-macro-cont is
11613 assigned to second and subsequent lines of a multiline macro
11616 *** A new style "user" which captures all non-hook-ified
11617 (i.e. top-level) .emacs file variable settings and customizations.
11618 Style "cc-mode" is an alias for "user" and is deprecated. "gnu"
11619 style is still the default however.
11621 *** "java" style now conforms to Sun's JDK coding style.
11623 *** There are new commands c-beginning-of-defun, c-end-of-defun which
11624 are alternatives which you could bind to C-M-a and C-M-e if you prefer
11625 them. They do not have key bindings by default.
11627 *** New and improved implementations of M-a (c-beginning-of-statement)
11628 and M-e (c-end-of-statement).
11630 *** C++ namespace blocks are supported, with new syntactic symbols
11631 namespace-open, namespace-close, and innamespace.
11633 *** File local variable settings of c-file-style and c-file-offsets
11634 makes the style variables local to that buffer only.
11636 *** New indentation functions c-lineup-close-paren,
11637 c-indent-one-line-block, c-lineup-dont-change.
11639 *** Improvements (hopefully!) to the way CC Mode is loaded. You
11640 should now be able to do a (require 'cc-mode) to get the entire
11641 package loaded properly for customization in your .emacs file. A new
11642 variable c-initialize-on-load controls this and is t by default.
11644 ** Changes to hippie-expand.
11646 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-dabbrev-skip-space'. If
11647 non-nil, trailing spaces may be included in the abbreviation to search for,
11648 which then gives the same behavior as the original `dabbrev-expand'.
11650 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-dabbrev-as-symbol'. If
11651 non-nil, characters of syntax '_' is considered part of the word when
11652 expanding dynamically.
11654 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-no-restriction'. If
11655 non-nil, narrowed buffers are widened before they are searched.
11657 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-only-buffers'. If
11658 non-empty, buffers searched are restricted to the types specified in
11659 this list. Useful for example when constructing new special-purpose
11660 expansion functions with `make-hippie-expand-function'.
11662 *** Text properties of the expansion are no longer copied.
11664 ** Changes in BibTeX mode.
11666 *** Any titleword matching a regexp in the new variable
11667 bibtex-autokey-titleword-ignore (case sensitive) is ignored during
11668 automatic key generation. This replaces variable
11669 bibtex-autokey-titleword-first-ignore, which only checked for matches
11670 against the first word in the title.
11672 *** Autokey generation now uses all words from the title, not just
11673 capitalized words. To avoid conflicts with existing customizations,
11674 bibtex-autokey-titleword-ignore is set up such that words starting with
11675 lowerkey characters will still be ignored. Thus, if you want to use
11676 lowercase words from the title, you will have to overwrite the
11677 bibtex-autokey-titleword-ignore standard setting.
11679 *** Case conversion of names and title words for automatic key
11680 generation is more flexible. Variable bibtex-autokey-preserve-case is
11681 replaced by bibtex-autokey-titleword-case-convert and
11682 bibtex-autokey-name-case-convert.
11684 ** Changes in vcursor.el.
11686 *** Support for character terminals is available: there is a new keymap
11687 and the vcursor will appear as an arrow between buffer text. A
11688 variable `vcursor-interpret-input' allows input from the vcursor to be
11689 entered exactly as if typed. Numerous functions, including
11690 `vcursor-compare-windows', have been rewritten to improve consistency
11691 in the selection of windows and corresponding keymaps.
11693 *** vcursor options can now be altered with M-x customize under the
11694 Editing group once the package is loaded.
11696 *** Loading vcursor now does not define keys by default, as this is
11697 generally a bad side effect. Use M-x customize to set
11698 vcursor-key-bindings to t to restore the old behavior.
11700 *** vcursor-auto-disable can be `copy', which turns off copying from the
11701 vcursor, but doesn't disable it, after any non-vcursor command.
11705 *** You can now spell check comments and strings in the current
11706 buffer with M-x ispell-comments-and-strings. Comments and strings
11707 are identified by syntax tables in effect.
11709 *** Generic region skipping implemented.
11710 A single buffer can be broken into a number of regions where text will
11711 and will not be checked. The definitions of the regions can be user
11712 defined. New applications and improvements made available by this
11715 o URLs are automatically skipped
11716 o EMail message checking is vastly improved.
11718 *** Ispell can highlight the erroneous word even on non-window terminals.
11720 ** Changes to RefTeX mode
11722 RefTeX has been updated in order to make it more usable with very
11723 large projects (like a several volume math book). The parser has been
11724 re-written from scratch. To get maximum speed from RefTeX, check the
11725 section `Optimizations' in the manual.
11727 *** New recursive parser.
11729 The old version of RefTeX created a single large buffer containing the
11730 entire multifile document in order to parse the document. The new
11731 recursive parser scans the individual files.
11733 *** Parsing only part of a document.
11735 Reparsing of changed document parts can now be made faster by enabling
11736 partial scans. To use this feature, read the documentation string of
11737 the variable `reftex-enable-partial-scans' and set the variable to t.
11739 (setq reftex-enable-partial-scans t)
11741 *** Storing parsing information in a file.
11743 This can improve startup times considerably. To turn it on, use
11745 (setq reftex-save-parse-info t)
11747 *** Using multiple selection buffers
11749 If the creation of label selection buffers is too slow (this happens
11750 for large documents), you can reuse these buffers by setting
11752 (setq reftex-use-multiple-selection-buffers t)
11754 *** References to external documents.
11756 The LaTeX package `xr' allows to cross-reference labels in external
11757 documents. RefTeX can provide information about the external
11758 documents as well. To use this feature, set up the \externaldocument
11759 macros required by the `xr' package and rescan the document with
11760 RefTeX. The external labels can then be accessed with the `x' key in
11761 the selection buffer provided by `reftex-reference' (bound to `C-c )').
11762 The `x' key also works in the table of contents buffer.
11764 *** Many more labeled LaTeX environments are recognized by default.
11766 The built-in command list now covers all the standard LaTeX commands,
11767 and all of the major packages included in the LaTeX distribution.
11769 Also, RefTeX now understands the \appendix macro and changes
11770 the enumeration of sections in the *toc* buffer accordingly.
11772 *** Mouse support for selection and *toc* buffers
11774 The mouse can now be used to select items in the selection and *toc*
11775 buffers. See also the new option `reftex-highlight-selection'.
11777 *** New keymaps for selection and table of contents modes.
11779 The selection processes for labels and citation keys, and the table of
11780 contents buffer now have their own keymaps: `reftex-select-label-map',
11781 `reftex-select-bib-map', `reftex-toc-map'. The selection processes
11782 have a number of new keys predefined. In particular, TAB lets you
11783 enter a label with completion. Check the on-the-fly help (press `?'
11784 at the selection prompt) or read the Info documentation to find out
11787 *** Support for the varioref package
11789 The `v' key in the label selection buffer toggles \ref versus \vref.
11793 Three new hooks can be used to redefine the way labels, references,
11794 and citations are created. These hooks are
11795 `reftex-format-label-function', `reftex-format-ref-function',
11796 `reftex-format-cite-function'.
11798 *** Citations outside LaTeX
11800 The command `reftex-citation' may also be used outside LaTeX (e.g. in
11801 a mail buffer). See the Info documentation for details.
11803 *** Short context is no longer fontified.
11805 The short context in the label menu no longer copies the
11806 fontification from the text in the buffer. If you prefer it to be
11809 (setq reftex-refontify-context t)
11811 ** file-cache-minibuffer-complete now accepts a prefix argument.
11812 With a prefix argument, it does not try to do completion of
11813 the file name within its directory; it only checks for other
11814 directories that contain the same file name.
11816 Thus, given the file name Makefile, and assuming that a file
11817 Makefile.in exists in the same directory, ordinary
11818 file-cache-minibuffer-complete will try to complete Makefile to
11819 Makefile.in and will therefore never look for other directories that
11820 have Makefile. A prefix argument tells it not to look for longer
11821 names such as Makefile.in, so that instead it will look for other
11822 directories--just as if the name were already complete in its present
11825 ** New modes and packages
11827 *** There is a new alternative major mode for Perl, Cperl mode.
11828 It has many more features than Perl mode, and some people prefer
11829 it, but some do not.
11831 *** There is a new major mode, M-x vhdl-mode, for editing files of VHDL
11834 *** M-x which-function-mode enables a minor mode that displays the
11835 current function name continuously in the mode line, as you move
11836 around in a buffer.
11838 Which Function mode is effective in major modes which support Imenu.
11840 *** Gametree is a major mode for editing game analysis trees. The author
11841 uses it for keeping notes about his postal Chess games, but it should
11842 be helpful for other two-player games as well, as long as they have an
11843 established system of notation similar to Chess.
11845 *** The new minor mode checkdoc-minor-mode provides Emacs Lisp
11846 documentation string checking for style and spelling. The style
11847 guidelines are found in the Emacs Lisp programming manual.
11849 *** The net-utils package makes some common networking features
11850 available in Emacs. Some of these functions are wrappers around
11851 system utilities (ping, nslookup, etc.); others are implementations of
11852 simple protocols (finger, whois) in Emacs Lisp. There are also
11853 functions to make simple connections to TCP/IP ports for debugging and
11856 *** highlight-changes-mode is a minor mode that uses colors to
11857 identify recently changed parts of the buffer text.
11859 *** The new package `midnight' lets you specify things to be done
11860 within Emacs at midnight--by default, kill buffers that you have not
11861 used in a considerable time. To use this feature, customize
11862 the user option `midnight-mode' to t.
11864 *** The file generic-x.el defines a number of simple major modes.
11866 apache-generic-mode: For Apache and NCSA httpd configuration files
11867 samba-generic-mode: Samba configuration files
11868 fvwm-generic-mode: For fvwm initialization files
11869 x-resource-generic-mode: For X resource files
11870 hosts-generic-mode: For hosts files (.rhosts, /etc/hosts, etc.)
11871 mailagent-rules-generic-mode: For mailagent .rules files
11872 javascript-generic-mode: For JavaScript files
11873 vrml-generic-mode: For VRML files
11874 java-manifest-generic-mode: For Java MANIFEST files
11875 java-properties-generic-mode: For Java property files
11876 mailrc-generic-mode: For .mailrc files
11878 Platform-specific modes:
11880 prototype-generic-mode: For Solaris/Sys V prototype files
11881 pkginfo-generic-mode: For Solaris/Sys V pkginfo files
11882 alias-generic-mode: For C shell alias files
11883 inf-generic-mode: For MS-Windows INF files
11884 ini-generic-mode: For MS-Windows INI files
11885 reg-generic-mode: For MS-Windows Registry files
11886 bat-generic-mode: For MS-Windows BAT scripts
11887 rc-generic-mode: For MS-Windows Resource files
11888 rul-generic-mode: For InstallShield scripts
11890 * Lisp changes in Emacs 20.3 since the Emacs Lisp Manual was published
11892 ** If you want a Lisp file to be read in unibyte mode,
11893 use -*-unibyte: t;-*- on its first line.
11894 That will force Emacs to read that file in unibyte mode.
11895 Otherwise, the file will be loaded and byte-compiled in multibyte mode.
11897 Thus, each lisp file is read in a consistent way regardless of whether
11898 you started Emacs with --unibyte, so that a Lisp program gives
11899 consistent results regardless of how Emacs was started.
11901 ** The new function assoc-default is useful for searching an alist,
11902 and using a default value if the key is not found there. You can
11903 specify a comparison predicate, so this function is useful for
11904 searching comparing a string against an alist of regular expressions.
11906 ** The functions unibyte-char-to-multibyte and
11907 multibyte-char-to-unibyte convert between unibyte and multibyte
11908 character codes, in a way that is appropriate for the current language
11911 ** The functions read-event, read-char and read-char-exclusive now
11912 take two optional arguments. PROMPT, if non-nil, specifies a prompt
11913 string. SUPPRESS-INPUT-METHOD, if non-nil, says to disable the
11914 current input method for reading this one event.
11916 ** Two new variables print-escape-nonascii and print-escape-multibyte
11917 now control whether to output certain characters as
11918 backslash-sequences. print-escape-nonascii applies to single-byte
11919 non-ASCII characters; print-escape-multibyte applies to multibyte
11920 characters. Both of these variables are used only when printing
11921 in readable fashion (prin1 uses them, princ does not).
11923 * Lisp changes in Emacs 20.3 before the Emacs Lisp Manual was published
11925 ** Compiled Emacs Lisp files made with the modified "MBSK" version
11926 of Emacs 20.2 do not work in Emacs 20.3.
11928 ** Buffer positions are now measured in characters, as they were
11929 in Emacs 19 and before. This means that (forward-char 1)
11930 always increases point by 1.
11932 The function chars-in-region now just subtracts its arguments. It is
11933 considered obsolete. The function char-boundary-p has been deleted.
11935 See below for additional changes relating to multibyte characters.
11937 ** defcustom, defface and defgroup now accept the keyword `:version'.
11938 Use this to specify in which version of Emacs a certain variable's
11939 default value changed. For example,
11941 (defcustom foo-max 34 "*Maximum number of foo's allowed."
11946 (defgroup foo-group nil "The foo group."
11949 If an entire new group is added or the variables in it have the
11950 default values changed, then just add a `:version' to that group. It
11951 is recommended that new packages added to the distribution contain a
11952 `:version' in the top level group.
11954 This information is used to control the customize-changed-options command.
11956 ** It is now an error to change the value of a symbol whose name
11957 starts with a colon--if it is interned in the standard obarray.
11959 However, setting such a symbol to its proper value, which is that
11960 symbol itself, is not an error. This is for the sake of programs that
11961 support previous Emacs versions by explicitly setting these variables
11964 If you set the variable keyword-symbols-constant-flag to nil,
11965 this error is suppressed, and you can set these symbols to any
11968 ** There is a new debugger command, R.
11969 It evaluates an expression like e, but saves the result
11970 in the buffer *Debugger-record*.
11972 ** Frame-local variables.
11974 You can now make a variable local to various frames. To do this, call
11975 the function make-variable-frame-local; this enables frames to have
11976 local bindings for that variable.
11978 These frame-local bindings are actually frame parameters: you create a
11979 frame-local binding in a specific frame by calling
11980 modify-frame-parameters and specifying the variable name as the
11983 Buffer-local bindings take precedence over frame-local bindings.
11984 Thus, if the current buffer has a buffer-local binding, that binding is
11985 active; otherwise, if the selected frame has a frame-local binding,
11986 that binding is active; otherwise, the default binding is active.
11988 It would not be hard to implement window-local bindings, but it is not
11989 clear that this would be very useful; windows tend to come and go in a
11990 very transitory fashion, so that trying to produce any specific effect
11991 through a window-local binding would not be very robust.
11993 ** `sregexq' and `sregex' are two new functions for constructing
11994 "symbolic regular expressions." These are Lisp expressions that, when
11995 evaluated, yield conventional string-based regexps. The symbolic form
11996 makes it easier to construct, read, and maintain complex patterns.
11997 See the documentation in sregex.el.
11999 ** parse-partial-sexp's return value has an additional element which
12000 is used to pass information along if you pass it to another call to
12001 parse-partial-sexp, starting its scan where the first call ended.
12002 The contents of this field are not yet finalized.
12004 ** eval-region now accepts a fourth optional argument READ-FUNCTION.
12005 If it is non-nil, that function is used instead of `read'.
12007 ** unload-feature by default removes the feature's functions from
12008 known hooks to avoid trouble, but a package providing FEATURE can
12009 define a hook FEATURE-unload-hook to be run by unload-feature instead.
12011 ** read-from-minibuffer no longer returns the argument DEFAULT-VALUE
12012 when the user enters empty input. It now returns the null string, as
12013 it did in Emacs 19. The default value is made available in the
12014 history via M-n, but it is not applied here as a default.
12016 The other, more specialized minibuffer-reading functions continue to
12017 return the default value (not the null string) when the user enters
12020 ** The new variable read-buffer-function controls which routine to use
12021 for selecting buffers. For example, if you set this variable to
12022 `iswitchb-read-buffer', iswitchb will be used to read buffer names.
12023 Other functions can also be used if they accept the same arguments as
12024 `read-buffer' and return the selected buffer name as a string.
12026 ** The new function read-passwd reads a password from the terminal,
12027 echoing a period for each character typed. It takes three arguments:
12028 a prompt string, a flag which says "read it twice to make sure", and a
12029 default password to use if the user enters nothing.
12031 ** The variable fill-nobreak-predicate gives major modes a way to
12032 specify not to break a line at certain places. Its value is a
12033 function which is called with no arguments, with point located at the
12034 place where a break is being considered. If the function returns
12035 non-nil, then the line won't be broken there.
12037 ** window-end now takes an optional second argument, UPDATE.
12038 If this is non-nil, then the function always returns an accurate
12039 up-to-date value for the buffer position corresponding to the
12040 end of the window, even if this requires computation.
12042 ** other-buffer now takes an optional argument FRAME
12043 which specifies which frame's buffer list to use.
12044 If it is nil, that means use the selected frame's buffer list.
12046 ** The new variable buffer-display-time, always local in every buffer,
12047 holds the value of (current-time) as of the last time that a window
12048 was directed to display this buffer.
12050 ** It is now meaningful to compare two window-configuration objects
12051 with `equal'. Two window-configuration objects are equal if they
12052 describe equivalent arrangements of windows, in the same frame--in
12053 other words, if they would give the same results if passed to
12054 set-window-configuration.
12056 ** compare-window-configurations is a new function that compares two
12057 window configurations loosely. It ignores differences in saved buffer
12058 positions and scrolling, and considers only the structure and sizes of
12059 windows and the choice of buffers to display.
12061 ** The variable minor-mode-overriding-map-alist allows major modes to
12062 override the key bindings of a minor mode. The elements of this alist
12063 look like the elements of minor-mode-map-alist: (VARIABLE . KEYMAP).
12065 If the VARIABLE in an element of minor-mode-overriding-map-alist has a
12066 non-nil value, the paired KEYMAP is active, and totally overrides the
12067 map (if any) specified for the same variable in minor-mode-map-alist.
12069 minor-mode-overriding-map-alist is automatically local in all buffers,
12070 and it is meant to be set by major modes.
12072 ** The function match-string-no-properties is like match-string
12073 except that it discards all text properties from the result.
12075 ** The function load-average now accepts an optional argument
12076 USE-FLOATS. If it is non-nil, the load average values are returned as
12077 floating point numbers, rather than as integers to be divided by 100.
12079 ** The new variable temporary-file-directory specifies the directory
12080 to use for creating temporary files. The default value is determined
12081 in a reasonable way for your operating system; on GNU and Unix systems
12082 it is based on the TMP and TMPDIR environment variables.
12086 *** easymenu.el now uses the new menu item format and supports the
12087 keywords :visible and :filter. The existing keyword :keys is now
12090 The variable `easy-menu-precalculate-equivalent-keybindings' controls
12091 a new feature which calculates keyboard equivalents for the menu when
12092 you define the menu. The default is t. If you rarely use menus, you
12093 can set the variable to nil to disable this precalculation feature;
12094 then the calculation is done only if you use the menu bar.
12096 *** A new format for menu items is supported.
12098 In a keymap, a key binding that has the format
12099 (STRING . REAL-BINDING) or (STRING HELP-STRING . REAL-BINDING)
12100 defines a menu item. Now a menu item definition may also be a list that
12101 starts with the symbol `menu-item'.
12104 (menu-item ITEM-NAME) or
12105 (menu-item ITEM-NAME REAL-BINDING . ITEM-PROPERTY-LIST)
12106 where ITEM-NAME is an expression which evaluates to the menu item
12107 string, and ITEM-PROPERTY-LIST has the form of a property list.
12108 The supported properties include
12110 :enable FORM Evaluate FORM to determine whether the
12112 :visible FORM Evaluate FORM to determine whether the
12113 item should appear in the menu.
12115 FILTER-FN is a function of one argument,
12116 which will be REAL-BINDING.
12117 It should return a binding to use instead.
12119 DESCRIPTION is a string that describes an equivalent keyboard
12120 binding for REAL-BINDING. DESCRIPTION is expanded with
12121 `substitute-command-keys' before it is used.
12122 :key-sequence KEY-SEQUENCE
12123 KEY-SEQUENCE is a key-sequence for an equivalent
12126 This means that the command normally has no
12127 keyboard equivalent.
12128 :help HELP HELP is the extra help string (not currently used).
12129 :button (TYPE . SELECTED)
12130 TYPE is :toggle or :radio.
12131 SELECTED is a form, to be evaluated, and its
12132 value says whether this button is currently selected.
12134 Buttons are at the moment only simulated by prefixes in the menu.
12135 Eventually ordinary X-buttons may be supported.
12137 (menu-item ITEM-NAME) defines unselectable item.
12141 *** The new event type `mouse-wheel' is generated by a wheel on a
12142 mouse (such as the MS Intellimouse). The event contains a delta that
12143 corresponds to the amount and direction that the wheel is rotated,
12144 which is typically used to implement a scroll or zoom. The format is:
12146 (mouse-wheel POSITION DELTA)
12148 where POSITION is a list describing the position of the event in the
12149 same format as a mouse-click event, and DELTA is a signed number
12150 indicating the number of increments by which the wheel was rotated. A
12151 negative DELTA indicates that the wheel was rotated backwards, towards
12152 the user, and a positive DELTA indicates that the wheel was rotated
12153 forward, away from the user.
12155 As of now, this event type is generated only on MS Windows.
12157 *** The new event type `drag-n-drop' is generated when a group of
12158 files is selected in an application outside of Emacs, and then dragged
12159 and dropped onto an Emacs frame. The event contains a list of
12160 filenames that were dragged and dropped, which are then typically
12161 loaded into Emacs. The format is:
12163 (drag-n-drop POSITION FILES)
12165 where POSITION is a list describing the position of the event in the
12166 same format as a mouse-click event, and FILES is the list of filenames
12167 that were dragged and dropped.
12169 As of now, this event type is generated only on MS Windows.
12171 ** Changes relating to multibyte characters.
12173 *** The variable enable-multibyte-characters is now read-only;
12174 any attempt to set it directly signals an error. The only way
12175 to change this value in an existing buffer is with set-buffer-multibyte.
12177 *** In a string constant, `\ ' now stands for "nothing at all". You
12178 can use it to terminate a hex escape which is followed by a character
12179 that could otherwise be read as part of the hex escape.
12181 *** String indices are now measured in characters, as they were
12182 in Emacs 19 and before.
12184 The function chars-in-string has been deleted.
12185 The function concat-chars has been renamed to `string'.
12187 *** The function set-buffer-multibyte sets the flag in the current
12188 buffer that says whether the buffer uses multibyte representation or
12189 unibyte representation. If the argument is nil, it selects unibyte
12190 representation. Otherwise it selects multibyte representation.
12192 This function does not change the contents of the buffer, viewed
12193 as a sequence of bytes. However, it does change the contents
12194 viewed as characters; a sequence of two bytes which is treated as
12195 one character when the buffer uses multibyte representation
12196 will count as two characters using unibyte representation.
12198 This function sets enable-multibyte-characters to record which
12199 representation is in use. It also adjusts various data in the buffer
12200 (including its markers, overlays and text properties) so that they are
12201 consistent with the new representation.
12203 *** string-make-multibyte takes a string and converts it to multibyte
12204 representation. Most of the time, you don't need to care
12205 about the representation, because Emacs converts when necessary;
12206 however, it makes a difference when you compare strings.
12208 The conversion of non-ASCII characters works by adding the value of
12209 nonascii-insert-offset to each character, or by translating them
12210 using the table nonascii-translation-table.
12212 *** string-make-unibyte takes a string and converts it to unibyte
12213 representation. Most of the time, you don't need to care about the
12214 representation, but it makes a difference when you compare strings.
12216 The conversion from multibyte to unibyte representation
12217 loses information; the only time Emacs performs it automatically
12218 is when inserting a multibyte string into a unibyte buffer.
12220 *** string-as-multibyte takes a string, and returns another string
12221 which contains the same bytes, but treats them as multibyte.
12223 *** string-as-unibyte takes a string, and returns another string
12224 which contains the same bytes, but treats them as unibyte.
12226 *** The new function compare-strings lets you compare
12227 portions of two strings. Unibyte strings are converted to multibyte,
12228 so that a unibyte string can match a multibyte string.
12229 You can specify whether to ignore case or not.
12231 *** assoc-ignore-case now uses compare-strings so that
12232 it can treat unibyte and multibyte strings as equal.
12234 *** Regular expression operations and buffer string searches now
12235 convert the search pattern to multibyte or unibyte to accord with the
12236 buffer or string being searched.
12238 One consequence is that you cannot always use \200-\377 inside of
12239 [...] to match all non-ASCII characters. This does still work when
12240 searching or matching a unibyte buffer or string, but not when
12241 searching or matching a multibyte string. Unfortunately, there is no
12242 obvious choice of syntax to use within [...] for that job. But, what
12243 you want is just to match all non-ASCII characters, the regular
12244 expression [^\0-\177] works for it.
12246 *** Structure of coding system changed.
12248 All coding systems (including aliases and subsidiaries) are named
12249 by symbols; the symbol's `coding-system' property is a vector
12250 which defines the coding system. Aliases share the same vector
12251 as the principal name, so that altering the contents of this
12252 vector affects the principal name and its aliases. You can define
12253 your own alias name of a coding system by the function
12254 define-coding-system-alias.
12256 The coding system definition includes a property list of its own. Use
12257 the new functions `coding-system-get' and `coding-system-put' to
12258 access such coding system properties as post-read-conversion,
12259 pre-write-conversion, character-translation-table-for-decode,
12260 character-translation-table-for-encode, mime-charset, and
12261 safe-charsets. For instance, (coding-system-get 'iso-latin-1
12262 'mime-charset) gives the corresponding MIME-charset parameter
12265 Among the coding system properties listed above, safe-charsets is new.
12266 The value of this property is a list of character sets which this
12267 coding system can correctly encode and decode. For instance:
12268 (coding-system-get 'iso-latin-1 'safe-charsets) => (ascii latin-iso8859-1)
12270 Here, "correctly encode" means that the encoded character sets can
12271 also be handled safely by systems other than Emacs as far as they
12272 are capable of that coding system. Though, Emacs itself can encode
12273 the other character sets and read it back correctly.
12275 *** The new function select-safe-coding-system can be used to find a
12276 proper coding system for encoding the specified region or string.
12277 This function requires a user interaction.
12279 *** The new functions find-coding-systems-region and
12280 find-coding-systems-string are helper functions used by
12281 select-safe-coding-system. They return a list of all proper coding
12282 systems to encode a text in some region or string. If you don't want
12283 a user interaction, use one of these functions instead of
12284 select-safe-coding-system.
12286 *** The explicit encoding and decoding functions, such as
12287 decode-coding-region and encode-coding-string, now set
12288 last-coding-system-used to reflect the actual way encoding or decoding
12291 *** The new function detect-coding-with-language-environment can be
12292 used to detect a coding system of text according to priorities of
12293 coding systems used by some specific language environment.
12295 *** The functions detect-coding-region and detect-coding-string always
12296 return a list if the arg HIGHEST is nil. Thus, if only ASCII
12297 characters are found, they now return a list of single element
12298 `undecided' or its subsidiaries.
12300 *** The new functions coding-system-change-eol-conversion and
12301 coding-system-change-text-conversion can be used to get a different
12302 coding system than what specified only in how end-of-line or text is
12305 *** The new function set-selection-coding-system can be used to set a
12306 coding system for communicating with other X clients.
12308 *** The function `map-char-table' now passes as argument only valid
12309 character codes, plus generic characters that stand for entire
12310 character sets or entire subrows of a character set. In other words,
12311 each time `map-char-table' calls its FUNCTION argument, the key value
12312 either will be a valid individual character code, or will stand for a
12313 range of characters.
12315 *** The new function `char-valid-p' can be used for checking whether a
12316 Lisp object is a valid character code or not.
12318 *** The new function `charset-after' returns a charset of a character
12319 in the current buffer at position POS.
12321 *** Input methods are now implemented using the variable
12322 input-method-function. If this is non-nil, its value should be a
12323 function; then, whenever Emacs reads an input event that is a printing
12324 character with no modifier bits, it calls that function, passing the
12325 event as an argument. Often this function will read more input, first
12326 binding input-method-function to nil.
12328 The return value should be a list of the events resulting from input
12329 method processing. These events will be processed sequentially as
12330 input, before resorting to unread-command-events. Events returned by
12331 the input method function are not passed to the input method function,
12332 not even if they are printing characters with no modifier bits.
12334 The input method function is not called when reading the second and
12335 subsequent events of a key sequence.
12337 *** You can customize any language environment by using
12338 set-language-environment-hook and exit-language-environment-hook.
12340 The hook `exit-language-environment-hook' should be used to undo
12341 customizations that you made with set-language-environment-hook. For
12342 instance, if you set up a special key binding for a specific language
12343 environment by set-language-environment-hook, you should set up
12344 exit-language-environment-hook to restore the normal key binding.
12346 * Changes in Emacs 20.1
12348 ** Emacs has a new facility for customization of its many user
12349 options. It is called M-x customize. With this facility you can look
12350 at the many user options in an organized way; they are grouped into a
12353 M-x customize also knows what sorts of values are legitimate for each
12354 user option and ensures that you don't use invalid values.
12356 With M-x customize, you can set options either for the present Emacs
12357 session or permanently. (Permanent settings are stored automatically
12358 in your .emacs file.)
12360 ** Scroll bars are now on the left side of the window.
12361 You can change this with M-x customize-option scroll-bar-mode.
12363 ** The mode line no longer includes the string `Emacs'.
12364 This makes more space in the mode line for other information.
12366 ** When you select a region with the mouse, it is highlighted
12367 immediately afterward. At that time, if you type the DELETE key, it
12370 The BACKSPACE key, and the ASCII character DEL, do not do this; they
12371 delete the character before point, as usual.
12373 ** In an incremental search the whole current match is highlighted
12374 on terminals which support this. (You can disable this feature
12375 by setting search-highlight to nil.)
12377 ** In the minibuffer, in some cases, you can now use M-n to
12378 insert the default value into the minibuffer as text. In effect,
12379 the default value (if the minibuffer routines know it) is tacked
12380 onto the history "in the future". (The more normal use of the
12381 history list is to use M-p to insert minibuffer input used in the
12384 ** In Text mode, now only blank lines separate paragraphs.
12385 This makes it possible to get the full benefit of Adaptive Fill mode
12386 in Text mode, and other modes derived from it (such as Mail mode).
12387 TAB in Text mode now runs the command indent-relative; this
12388 makes a practical difference only when you use indented paragraphs.
12390 As a result, the old Indented Text mode is now identical to Text mode,
12391 and is an alias for it.
12393 If you want spaces at the beginning of a line to start a paragraph,
12394 use the new mode, Paragraph Indent Text mode.
12396 ** Scrolling changes
12398 *** Scroll commands to scroll a whole screen now preserve the screen
12399 position of the cursor, if scroll-preserve-screen-position is non-nil.
12401 In this mode, if you scroll several screens back and forth, finishing
12402 on the same screen where you started, the cursor goes back to the line
12405 *** If you set scroll-conservatively to a small number, then when you
12406 move point a short distance off the screen, Emacs will scroll the
12407 screen just far enough to bring point back on screen, provided that
12408 does not exceed `scroll-conservatively' lines.
12410 *** The new variable scroll-margin says how close point can come to the
12411 top or bottom of a window. It is a number of screen lines; if point
12412 comes within that many lines of the top or bottom of the window, Emacs
12413 recenters the window.
12415 ** International character set support (MULE)
12417 Emacs now supports a wide variety of international character sets,
12418 including European variants of the Latin alphabet, as well as Chinese,
12419 Devanagari (Hindi and Marathi), Ethiopian, Greek, IPA, Japanese,
12420 Korean, Lao, Russian, Thai, Tibetan, and Vietnamese scripts. These
12421 features have been merged from the modified version of Emacs known as
12422 MULE (for "MULti-lingual Enhancement to GNU Emacs")
12424 Users of these scripts have established many more-or-less standard
12425 coding systems for storing files. Emacs uses a single multibyte
12426 character encoding within Emacs buffers; it can translate from a wide
12427 variety of coding systems when reading a file and can translate back
12428 into any of these coding systems when saving a file.
12430 Keyboards, even in the countries where these character sets are used,
12431 generally don't have keys for all the characters in them. So Emacs
12432 supports various "input methods", typically one for each script or
12433 language, to make it possible to type them.
12435 The Emacs internal multibyte encoding represents a non-ASCII
12436 character as a sequence of bytes in the range 0200 through 0377.
12438 The new prefix key C-x RET is used for commands that pertain
12439 to multibyte characters, coding systems, and input methods.
12441 You can disable multibyte character support as follows:
12443 (setq-default enable-multibyte-characters nil)
12445 Calling the function standard-display-european turns off multibyte
12446 characters, unless you specify a non-nil value for the second
12447 argument, AUTO. This provides compatibility for people who are
12448 already using standard-display-european to continue using unibyte
12449 characters for their work until they want to change.
12453 An input method is a kind of character conversion which is designed
12454 specifically for interactive input. In Emacs, typically each language
12455 has its own input method (though sometimes several languages which use
12456 the same characters can share one input method). Some languages
12457 support several input methods.
12459 The simplest kind of input method works by mapping ASCII letters into
12460 another alphabet. This is how the Greek and Russian input methods
12463 A more powerful technique is composition: converting sequences of
12464 characters into one letter. Many European input methods use
12465 composition to produce a single non-ASCII letter from a sequence which
12466 consists of a letter followed by diacritics. For example, a' is one
12467 sequence of two characters that might be converted into a single
12470 The input methods for syllabic scripts typically use mapping followed
12471 by conversion. The input methods for Thai and Korean work this way.
12472 First, letters are mapped into symbols for particular sounds or tone
12473 marks; then, sequences of these which make up a whole syllable are
12474 mapped into one syllable sign--most often a "composite character".
12476 None of these methods works very well for Chinese and Japanese, so
12477 they are handled specially. First you input a whole word using
12478 phonetic spelling; then, after the word is in the buffer, Emacs
12479 converts it into one or more characters using a large dictionary.
12481 Since there is more than one way to represent a phonetically spelled
12482 word using Chinese characters, Emacs can only guess which one to use;
12483 typically these input methods give you a way to say "guess again" if
12484 the first guess is wrong.
12486 *** The command C-x RET m (toggle-enable-multibyte-characters)
12487 turns multibyte character support on or off for the current buffer.
12489 If multibyte character support is turned off in a buffer, then each
12490 byte is a single character, even codes 0200 through 0377--exactly as
12491 they did in Emacs 19.34. This includes the features for support for
12492 the European characters, ISO Latin-1 and ISO Latin-2.
12494 However, there is no need to turn off multibyte character support to
12495 use ISO Latin-1 or ISO Latin-2; the Emacs multibyte character set
12496 includes all the characters in these character sets, and Emacs can
12497 translate automatically to and from either one.
12499 *** Visiting a file in unibyte mode.
12501 Turning off multibyte character support in the buffer after visiting a
12502 file with multibyte code conversion will display the multibyte
12503 sequences already in the buffer, byte by byte. This is probably not
12506 If you want to edit a file of unibyte characters (Latin-1, for
12507 example), you can do it by specifying `no-conversion' as the coding
12508 system when reading the file. This coding system also turns off
12509 multibyte characters in that buffer.
12511 If you turn off multibyte character support entirely, this turns off
12512 character conversion as well.
12514 *** Displaying international characters on X Windows.
12516 A font for X typically displays just one alphabet or script.
12517 Therefore, displaying the entire range of characters Emacs supports
12518 requires using many fonts.
12520 Therefore, Emacs now supports "fontsets". Each fontset is a
12521 collection of fonts, each assigned to a range of character codes.
12523 A fontset has a name, like a font. Individual fonts are defined by
12524 the X server; fontsets are defined within Emacs itself. But once you
12525 have defined a fontset, you can use it in a face or a frame just as
12526 you would use a font.
12528 If a fontset specifies no font for a certain character, or if it
12529 specifies a font that does not exist on your system, then it cannot
12530 display that character. It will display an empty box instead.
12532 The fontset height and width are determined by the ASCII characters
12533 (that is, by the font in the fontset which is used for ASCII
12536 *** Defining fontsets.
12538 Emacs does not use any fontset by default. Its default font is still
12539 chosen as in previous versions. You can tell Emacs to use a fontset
12540 with the `-fn' option or the `Font' X resource.
12542 Emacs creates a standard fontset automatically according to the value
12543 of standard-fontset-spec. This fontset's short name is
12544 `fontset-standard'. Bold, italic, and bold-italic variants of the
12545 standard fontset are created automatically.
12547 If you specify a default ASCII font with the `Font' resource or `-fn'
12548 argument, a fontset is generated from it. This works by replacing the
12549 FOUNDARY, FAMILY, ADD_STYLE, and AVERAGE_WIDTH fields of the font name
12550 with `*' then using this to specify a fontset. This fontset's short
12551 name is `fontset-startup'.
12553 Emacs checks resources of the form Fontset-N where N is 0, 1, 2...
12554 The resource value should have this form:
12555 FONTSET-NAME, [CHARSET-NAME:FONT-NAME]...
12556 FONTSET-NAME should have the form of a standard X font name, except:
12557 * most fields should be just the wild card "*".
12558 * the CHARSET_REGISTRY field should be "fontset"
12559 * the CHARSET_ENCODING field can be any nickname of the fontset.
12560 The construct CHARSET-NAME:FONT-NAME can be repeated any number
12561 of times; each time specifies the font for one character set.
12562 CHARSET-NAME should be the name of a character set, and FONT-NAME
12563 should specify an actual font to use for that character set.
12565 Each of these fontsets has an alias which is made from the
12566 last two font name fields, CHARSET_REGISTRY and CHARSET_ENCODING.
12567 You can refer to the fontset by that alias or by its full name.
12569 For any character sets that you don't mention, Emacs tries to choose a
12570 font by substituting into FONTSET-NAME. For instance, with the
12571 following resource,
12572 Emacs*Fontset-0: -*-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-24-*-*-*-*-*-fontset-24
12573 the font for ASCII is generated as below:
12574 -*-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-24-*-ISO8859-1
12575 Here is the substitution rule:
12576 Change CHARSET_REGISTRY and CHARSET_ENCODING to that of the charset
12577 defined in the variable x-charset-registries. For instance, ASCII has
12578 the entry (ascii . "ISO8859-1") in this variable. Then, reduce
12579 sequences of wild cards -*-...-*- with a single wildcard -*-.
12580 (This is to prevent use of auto-scaled fonts.)
12582 The function which processes the fontset resource value to create the
12583 fontset is called create-fontset-from-fontset-spec. You can also call
12584 that function explicitly to create a fontset.
12586 With the X resource Emacs.Font, you can specify a fontset name just
12587 like an actual font name. But be careful not to specify a fontset
12588 name in a wildcard resource like Emacs*Font--that tries to specify the
12589 fontset for other purposes including menus, and they cannot handle
12592 *** The command M-x set-language-environment sets certain global Emacs
12593 defaults for a particular choice of language.
12595 Selecting a language environment typically specifies a default input
12596 method and which coding systems to recognize automatically when
12597 visiting files. However, it does not try to reread files you have
12598 already visited; the text in those buffers is not affected. The
12599 language environment may also specify a default choice of coding
12600 system for new files that you create.
12602 It makes no difference which buffer is current when you use
12603 set-language-environment, because these defaults apply globally to the
12604 whole Emacs session.
12606 For example, M-x set-language-environment RET Latin-1 RET
12607 chooses the Latin-1 character set. In the .emacs file, you can do this
12608 with (set-language-environment "Latin-1").
12610 *** The command C-x RET f (set-buffer-file-coding-system)
12611 specifies the file coding system for the current buffer. This
12612 specifies what sort of character code translation to do when saving
12613 the file. As an argument, you must specify the name of one of the
12614 coding systems that Emacs supports.
12616 *** The command C-x RET c (universal-coding-system-argument)
12617 lets you specify a coding system when you read or write a file.
12618 This command uses the minibuffer to read a coding system name.
12619 After you exit the minibuffer, the specified coding system
12620 is used for *the immediately following command*.
12622 So if the immediately following command is a command to read or
12623 write a file, it uses the specified coding system for that file.
12625 If the immediately following command does not use the coding system,
12626 then C-x RET c ultimately has no effect.
12628 For example, C-x RET c iso-8859-1 RET C-x C-f temp RET
12629 visits the file `temp' treating it as ISO Latin-1.
12631 *** You can specify the coding system for a file using the -*-
12632 construct. Include `coding: CODINGSYSTEM;' inside the -*-...-*-
12633 to specify use of coding system CODINGSYSTEM. You can also
12634 specify the coding system in a local variable list at the end
12637 *** The command C-x RET t (set-terminal-coding-system) specifies
12638 the coding system for terminal output. If you specify a character
12639 code for terminal output, all characters output to the terminal are
12640 translated into that character code.
12642 This feature is useful for certain character-only terminals built in
12643 various countries to support the languages of those countries.
12645 By default, output to the terminal is not translated at all.
12647 *** The command C-x RET k (set-keyboard-coding-system) specifies
12648 the coding system for keyboard input.
12650 Character code translation of keyboard input is useful for terminals
12651 with keys that send non-ASCII graphic characters--for example,
12652 some terminals designed for ISO Latin-1 or subsets of it.
12654 By default, keyboard input is not translated at all.
12656 Character code translation of keyboard input is similar to using an
12657 input method, in that both define sequences of keyboard input that
12658 translate into single characters. However, input methods are designed
12659 to be convenient for interactive use, while the code translations are
12660 designed to work with terminals.
12662 *** The command C-x RET p (set-buffer-process-coding-system)
12663 specifies the coding system for input and output to a subprocess.
12664 This command applies to the current buffer; normally, each subprocess
12665 has its own buffer, and thus you can use this command to specify
12666 translation to and from a particular subprocess by giving the command
12667 in the corresponding buffer.
12669 By default, process input and output are not translated at all.
12671 *** The variable file-name-coding-system specifies the coding system
12672 to use for encoding file names before operating on them.
12673 It is also used for decoding file names obtained from the system.
12675 *** The command C-\ (toggle-input-method) activates or deactivates
12676 an input method. If no input method has been selected before, the
12677 command prompts for you to specify the language and input method you
12680 C-u C-\ (select-input-method) lets you switch to a different input
12681 method. C-h C-\ (or C-h I) describes the current input method.
12683 *** Some input methods remap the keyboard to emulate various keyboard
12684 layouts commonly used for particular scripts. How to do this
12685 remapping properly depends on your actual keyboard layout. To specify
12686 which layout your keyboard has, use M-x quail-set-keyboard-layout.
12688 *** The command C-h C (describe-coding-system) displays
12689 the coding systems currently selected for various purposes, plus
12690 related information.
12692 *** The command C-h h (view-hello-file) displays a file called
12693 HELLO, which has examples of text in many languages, using various
12696 *** The command C-h L (describe-language-support) displays
12697 information about the support for a particular language.
12698 You specify the language as an argument.
12700 *** The mode line now contains a letter or character that identifies
12701 the coding system used in the visited file. It normally follows the
12704 A dash indicates the default state of affairs: no code conversion
12705 (except CRLF => newline if appropriate). `=' means no conversion
12706 whatsoever. The ISO 8859 coding systems are represented by digits
12707 1 through 9. Other coding systems are represented by letters:
12709 A alternativnyj (Russian)
12711 C cn-gb-2312 (Chinese)
12712 C iso-2022-cn (Chinese)
12713 D in-is13194-devanagari (Indian languages)
12714 E euc-japan (Japanese)
12715 I iso-2022-cjk or iso-2022-ss2 (Chinese, Japanese, Korean)
12716 J junet (iso-2022-7) or old-jis (iso-2022-jp-1978-irv) (Japanese)
12717 K euc-korea (Korean)
12720 S shift_jis (Japanese)
12723 V viscii or vscii (Vietnamese)
12724 i iso-2022-lock (Chinese, Japanese, Korean)
12725 k iso-2022-kr (Korean)
12726 v viqr (Vietnamese)
12729 When you are using a character-only terminal (not a window system),
12730 two additional characters appear in between the dash and the file
12731 coding system. These two characters describe the coding system for
12732 keyboard input, and the coding system for terminal output.
12734 *** The new variable rmail-file-coding-system specifies the code
12735 conversion to use for RMAIL files. The default value is nil.
12737 When you read mail with Rmail, each message is decoded automatically
12738 into Emacs' internal format. This has nothing to do with
12739 rmail-file-coding-system. That variable controls reading and writing
12740 Rmail files themselves.
12742 *** The new variable sendmail-coding-system specifies the code
12743 conversion for outgoing mail. The default value is nil.
12745 Actually, there are three different ways of specifying the coding system
12748 - If you use C-x RET f in the mail buffer, that takes priority.
12749 - Otherwise, if you set sendmail-coding-system non-nil, that specifies it.
12750 - Otherwise, the default coding system for new files is used,
12751 if that is non-nil. That comes from your language environment.
12752 - Otherwise, Latin-1 is used.
12754 *** The command C-h t (help-with-tutorial) accepts a prefix argument
12755 to specify the language for the tutorial file. Currently, English,
12756 Japanese, Korean and Thai are supported. We welcome additional
12759 ** An easy new way to visit a file with no code or format conversion
12760 of any kind: Use M-x find-file-literally. There is also a command
12761 insert-file-literally which inserts a file into the current buffer
12762 without any conversion.
12764 ** C-q's handling of octal character codes is changed.
12765 You can now specify any number of octal digits.
12766 RET terminates the digits and is discarded;
12767 any other non-digit terminates the digits and is then used as input.
12769 ** There are new commands for looking up Info documentation for
12770 functions, variables and file names used in your programs.
12772 Type M-x info-lookup-symbol to look up a symbol in the buffer at point.
12773 Type M-x info-lookup-file to look up a file in the buffer at point.
12775 Precisely which Info files are used to look it up depends on the major
12776 mode. For example, in C mode, the GNU libc manual is used.
12778 ** M-TAB in most programming language modes now runs the command
12779 complete-symbol. This command performs completion on the symbol name
12780 in the buffer before point.
12782 With a numeric argument, it performs completion based on the set of
12783 symbols documented in the Info files for the programming language that
12786 With no argument, it does completion based on the current tags tables,
12787 just like the old binding of M-TAB (complete-tag).
12789 ** File locking works with NFS now.
12791 The lock file for FILENAME is now a symbolic link named .#FILENAME,
12792 in the same directory as FILENAME.
12794 This means that collision detection between two different machines now
12795 works reasonably well; it also means that no file server or directory
12796 can become a bottleneck.
12798 The new method does have drawbacks. It means that collision detection
12799 does not operate when you edit a file in a directory where you cannot
12800 create new files. Collision detection also doesn't operate when the
12801 file server does not support symbolic links. But these conditions are
12802 rare, and the ability to have collision detection while using NFS is
12803 so useful that the change is worth while.
12805 When Emacs or a system crashes, this may leave behind lock files which
12806 are stale. So you may occasionally get warnings about spurious
12807 collisions. When you determine that the collision is spurious, just
12808 tell Emacs to go ahead anyway.
12810 ** If you wish to use Show Paren mode to display matching parentheses,
12811 it is no longer sufficient to load paren.el. Instead you must call
12814 ** If you wish to use Delete Selection mode to replace a highlighted
12815 selection when you insert new text, it is no longer sufficient to load
12816 delsel.el. Instead you must call the function delete-selection-mode.
12818 ** If you wish to use Partial Completion mode to complete partial words
12819 within symbols or filenames, it is no longer sufficient to load
12820 complete.el. Instead you must call the function partial-completion-mode.
12822 ** If you wish to use uniquify to rename buffers for you,
12823 it is no longer sufficient to load uniquify.el. You must also
12824 set uniquify-buffer-name-style to one of the non-nil legitimate values.
12826 ** Changes in View mode.
12828 *** Several new commands are available in View mode.
12829 Do H in view mode for a list of commands.
12831 *** There are two new commands for entering View mode:
12832 view-file-other-frame and view-buffer-other-frame.
12834 *** Exiting View mode does a better job of restoring windows to their
12837 *** New customization variable view-scroll-auto-exit. If non-nil,
12838 scrolling past end of buffer makes view mode exit.
12840 *** New customization variable view-exits-all-viewing-windows. If
12841 non-nil, view-mode will at exit restore all windows viewing buffer,
12842 not just the selected window.
12844 *** New customization variable view-read-only. If non-nil, visiting a
12845 read-only file automatically enters View mode, and toggle-read-only
12846 turns View mode on or off.
12848 *** New customization variable view-remove-frame-by-deleting controls
12849 how to remove a not needed frame at view mode exit. If non-nil,
12850 delete the frame, if nil make an icon of it.
12852 ** C-x v l, the command to print a file's version control log,
12853 now positions point at the entry for the file's current branch version.
12855 ** C-x v =, the command to compare a file with the last checked-in version,
12856 has a new feature. If the file is currently not locked, so that it is
12857 presumably identical to the last checked-in version, the command now asks
12858 which version to compare with.
12860 ** When using hideshow.el, incremental search can temporarily show hidden
12861 blocks if a match is inside the block.
12863 The block is hidden again if the search is continued and the next match
12864 is outside the block. By customizing the variable
12865 isearch-hide-immediately you can choose to hide all the temporarily
12866 shown blocks only when exiting from incremental search.
12868 By customizing the variable hs-isearch-open you can choose what kind
12869 of blocks to temporarily show during isearch: comment blocks, code
12870 blocks, all of them or none.
12872 ** The new command C-x 4 0 (kill-buffer-and-window) kills the
12873 current buffer and deletes the selected window. It asks for
12874 confirmation first.
12876 ** C-x C-w, which saves the buffer into a specified file name,
12877 now changes the major mode according to that file name.
12878 However, the mode will not be changed if
12879 (1) a local variables list or the `-*-' line specifies a major mode, or
12880 (2) the current major mode is a "special" mode,
12881 not suitable for ordinary files, or
12882 (3) the new file name does not particularly specify any mode.
12884 This applies to M-x set-visited-file-name as well.
12886 However, if you set change-major-mode-with-file-name to nil, then
12887 these commands do not change the major mode.
12889 ** M-x occur changes.
12891 *** If the argument to M-x occur contains upper case letters,
12892 it performs a case-sensitive search.
12894 *** In the *Occur* buffer made by M-x occur,
12895 if you type g or M-x revert-buffer, this repeats the search
12896 using the same regular expression and the same buffer as before.
12898 ** In Transient Mark mode, the region in any one buffer is highlighted
12899 in just one window at a time. At first, it is highlighted in the
12900 window where you set the mark. The buffer's highlighting remains in
12901 that window unless you select to another window which shows the same
12902 buffer--then the highlighting moves to that window.
12904 ** The feature to suggest key bindings when you use M-x now operates
12905 after the command finishes. The message suggesting key bindings
12906 appears temporarily in the echo area. The previous echo area contents
12907 come back after a few seconds, in case they contain useful information.
12909 ** Each frame now independently records the order for recently
12910 selected buffers, so that the default for C-x b is now based on the
12911 buffers recently selected in the selected frame.
12913 ** Outline mode changes.
12915 *** Outline mode now uses overlays (this is the former noutline.el).
12917 *** Incremental searches skip over invisible text in Outline mode.
12919 ** When a minibuffer window is active but not the selected window, if
12920 you try to use the minibuffer, you used to get a nested minibuffer.
12921 Now, this not only gives an error, it also cancels the minibuffer that
12922 was already active.
12924 The motive for this change is so that beginning users do not
12925 unknowingly move away from minibuffers, leaving them active, and then
12926 get confused by it.
12928 If you want to be able to have recursive minibuffers, you must
12929 set enable-recursive-minibuffers to non-nil.
12931 ** Changes in dynamic abbrevs.
12933 *** Expanding dynamic abbrevs with M-/ is now smarter about case
12934 conversion. If the expansion has mixed case not counting the first
12935 character, and the abbreviation matches the beginning of the expansion
12936 including case, then the expansion is copied verbatim.
12938 The expansion is also copied verbatim if the abbreviation itself has
12939 mixed case. And using SPC M-/ to copy an additional word always
12940 copies it verbatim except when the previous copied word is all caps.
12942 *** The values of `dabbrev-case-replace' and `dabbrev-case-fold-search'
12943 are no longer Lisp expressions. They have simply three possible
12946 `dabbrev-case-replace' has these three values: nil (don't preserve
12947 case), t (do), or `case-replace' (do like M-x query-replace).
12948 `dabbrev-case-fold-search' has these three values: nil (don't ignore
12949 case), t (do), or `case-fold-search' (do like search).
12951 ** Minibuffer history lists are truncated automatically now to a
12952 certain length. The variable history-length specifies how long they
12953 can be. The default value is 30.
12955 ** Changes in Mail mode.
12957 *** The key C-x m no longer runs the `mail' command directly.
12958 Instead, it runs the command `compose-mail', which invokes the mail
12959 composition mechanism you have selected with the variable
12960 `mail-user-agent'. The default choice of user agent is
12961 `sendmail-user-agent', which gives behavior compatible with the old
12964 C-x 4 m now runs compose-mail-other-window, and C-x 5 m runs
12965 compose-mail-other-frame.
12967 *** While composing a reply to a mail message, from Rmail, you can use
12968 the command C-c C-r to cite just the region from the message you are
12969 replying to. This copies the text which is the selected region in the
12970 buffer that shows the original message.
12972 *** The command C-c C-i inserts a file at the end of the message,
12973 with separator lines around the contents.
12975 *** The command M-x expand-mail-aliases expands all mail aliases
12976 in suitable mail headers. Emacs automatically extracts mail alias
12977 definitions from your mail alias file (e.g., ~/.mailrc). You do not
12978 need to expand mail aliases yourself before sending mail.
12980 *** New features in the mail-complete command.
12982 **** The mail-complete command now inserts the user's full name,
12983 for local users or if that is known. The variable mail-complete-style
12984 controls the style to use, and whether to do this at all.
12985 Its values are like those of mail-from-style.
12987 **** The variable mail-passwd-command lets you specify a shell command
12988 to run to fetch a set of password-entries that add to the ones in
12991 **** The variable mail-passwd-file now specifies a list of files to read
12992 to get the list of user ids. By default, one file is used:
12995 ** You can "quote" a file name to inhibit special significance of
12996 special syntax, by adding `/:' to the beginning. Thus, if you have a
12997 directory named `/foo:', you can prevent it from being treated as a
12998 reference to a remote host named `foo' by writing it as `/:/foo:'.
13000 Emacs uses this new construct automatically when necessary, such as
13001 when you start it with a working directory whose name might otherwise
13002 be taken to be magic.
13004 ** There is a new command M-x grep-find which uses find to select
13005 files to search through, and grep to scan them. The output is
13006 available in a Compile mode buffer, as with M-x grep.
13008 M-x grep now uses the -e option if the grep program supports that.
13009 (-e prevents problems if the search pattern starts with a dash.)
13011 ** In Dired, the & command now flags for deletion the files whose names
13012 suggest they are probably not needed in the long run.
13014 In Dired, * is now a prefix key for mark-related commands.
13016 new key dired.el binding old key
13017 ------- ---------------- -------
13018 * c dired-change-marks c
13020 * * dired-mark-executables * (binding deleted)
13021 * / dired-mark-directories / (binding deleted)
13022 * @ dired-mark-symlinks @ (binding deleted)
13024 * DEL dired-unmark-backward DEL
13025 * ? dired-unmark-all-files C-M-?
13026 * ! dired-unmark-all-marks
13027 * % dired-mark-files-regexp % m
13028 * C-n dired-next-marked-file M-}
13029 * C-p dired-prev-marked-file M-{
13033 *** When Rmail cannot convert your incoming mail into Babyl format, it
13034 saves the new mail in the file RMAILOSE.n, where n is an integer
13035 chosen to make a unique name. This way, Rmail will not keep crashing
13036 each time you run it.
13038 *** In Rmail, the variable rmail-summary-line-count-flag now controls
13039 whether to include the line count in the summary. Non-nil means yes.
13041 *** In Rmail summary buffers, d and C-d (the commands to delete
13042 messages) now take repeat counts as arguments. A negative argument
13043 means to move in the opposite direction.
13045 *** In Rmail, the t command now takes an optional argument which lets
13046 you specify whether to show the message headers in full or pruned.
13048 *** In Rmail, the new command w (rmail-output-body-to-file) writes
13049 just the body of the current message into a file, without the headers.
13050 It takes the file name from the message subject, by default, but you
13051 can edit that file name in the minibuffer before it is actually used
13056 *** nntp.el has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
13058 *** Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
13061 *** Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like
13062 `and', `or', `not', and parent redirection.
13064 *** Article washing status can be displayed in the
13067 *** gnus.el has been split into many smaller files.
13069 *** Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID.
13071 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
13073 *** New variables for specifying what score and adapt files
13074 are to be considered home score and adapt files. See
13075 `gnus-home-score-file' and `gnus-home-adapt-files'.
13077 *** Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics.
13079 *** Article editing has been revamped and is now usable.
13081 *** Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions.
13082 See `gnus-signature-separator' and `gnus-signature-limit'.
13084 *** Summary pick mode has been made to look more nn-like.
13085 Line numbers are displayed and the `.' command can be
13086 used to pick articles.
13088 *** Commands for moving the .newsrc.eld from one server to
13089 another have been added.
13091 `M-x gnus-change-server'
13093 *** A way to specify that "uninteresting" fields be suppressed when
13094 generating lines in buffers.
13096 *** Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with
13099 *** Scoring can be done on words using the new score type `w'.
13101 *** Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis:
13103 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
13105 *** Scores can be decayed.
13107 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
13109 *** Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The
13110 Date is normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first.
13112 *** A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
13115 `M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups'
13117 *** A new command for reading collections of documents
13118 (nndoc with nnvirtual on top) has been added -- `C-M-d'.
13120 *** Process mark sets can be pushed and popped.
13122 *** A new mail-to-news backend makes it possible to post
13123 even when the NNTP server doesn't allow posting.
13125 *** A new backend for reading searches from Web search engines
13126 (DejaNews, Alta Vista, InReference) has been added.
13128 Use the `G w' command in the group buffer to create such
13131 *** Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard
13132 sorting functions, and each topic can be sorted independently.
13134 See the commands under the `T S' submap.
13136 *** Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently.
13138 See the commands under the `G P' submap.
13140 *** Cached articles can be pulled into the groups.
13142 Use the `Y c' command.
13144 *** Score files are now applied in a more reliable order.
13146 *** Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated.
13148 `M-x nnmail-split-history'
13150 *** More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk
13151 from incoming mail before saving the mail.
13153 See `nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook'.
13155 *** The nnml mail backend now understands compressed article files.
13157 *** To enable Gnus to read/post multi-lingual articles, you must execute
13158 the following code, for instance, in your .emacs.
13160 (add-hook 'gnus-startup-hook 'gnus-mule-initialize)
13162 Then, when you start Gnus, it will decode non-ASCII text automatically
13163 and show appropriate characters. (Note: if you are using gnus-mime
13164 from the SEMI package, formerly known as TM, you should NOT add this
13165 hook to gnus-startup-hook; gnus-mime has its own method of handling
13168 Since it is impossible to distinguish all coding systems
13169 automatically, you may need to specify a choice of coding system for a
13170 particular news group. This can be done by:
13172 (gnus-mule-add-group NEWSGROUP 'CODING-SYSTEM)
13174 Here NEWSGROUP should be a string which names a newsgroup or a tree
13175 of newsgroups. If NEWSGROUP is "XXX.YYY", all news groups under
13176 "XXX.YYY" (including "XXX.YYY.ZZZ") will use the specified coding
13177 system. CODING-SYSTEM specifies which coding system to use (for both
13178 for reading and posting).
13180 CODING-SYSTEM can also be a cons cell of the form
13181 (READ-CODING-SYSTEM . POST-CODING-SYSTEM)
13182 Then READ-CODING-SYSTEM is used when you read messages from the
13183 newsgroups, while POST-CODING-SYSTEM is used when you post messages
13186 Emacs knows the right coding systems for certain newsgroups by
13187 default. Here are some of these default settings:
13189 (gnus-mule-add-group "fj" 'iso-2022-7)
13190 (gnus-mule-add-group "alt.chinese.text" 'hz-gb-2312)
13191 (gnus-mule-add-group "alt.hk" 'hz-gb-2312)
13192 (gnus-mule-add-group "alt.chinese.text.big5" 'cn-big5)
13193 (gnus-mule-add-group "soc.culture.vietnamese" '(nil . viqr))
13195 When you reply by mail to an article, these settings are ignored;
13196 the mail is encoded according to sendmail-coding-system, as usual.
13198 ** CC mode changes.
13200 *** If you edit primarily one style of C (or C++, Objective-C, Java)
13201 code, you may want to make the CC Mode style variables have global
13202 values so that you can set them directly in your .emacs file. To do
13203 this, set c-style-variables-are-local-p to nil in your .emacs file.
13204 Note that this only takes effect if you do it *before* cc-mode.el is
13207 If you typically edit more than one style of C (or C++, Objective-C,
13208 Java) code in a single Emacs session, you may want to make the CC Mode
13209 style variables have buffer local values. By default, all buffers
13210 share the same style variable settings; to make them buffer local, set
13211 c-style-variables-are-local-p to t in your .emacs file. Note that you
13212 must do this *before* CC Mode is loaded.
13214 *** The new variable c-indentation-style holds the C style name
13215 of the current buffer.
13217 *** The variable c-block-comments-indent-p has been deleted, because
13218 it is no longer necessary. C mode now handles all the supported styles
13219 of block comments, with no need to say which one you will use.
13221 *** There is a new indentation style "python", which specifies the C
13222 style that the Python developers like.
13224 *** There is a new c-cleanup-list option: brace-elseif-brace.
13225 This says to put ...} else if (...) {... on one line,
13226 just as brace-else-brace says to put ...} else {... on one line.
13228 ** VC Changes [new]
13230 *** In vc-retrieve-snapshot (C-x v r), if you don't specify a snapshot
13231 name, it retrieves the *latest* versions of all files in the current
13232 directory and its subdirectories (aside from files already locked).
13234 This feature is useful if your RCS directory is a link to a common
13235 master directory, and you want to pick up changes made by other
13238 You can do the same thing for an individual file by typing C-u C-x C-q
13239 RET in a buffer visiting that file.
13241 *** VC can now handle files under CVS that are being "watched" by
13242 other developers. Such files are made read-only by CVS. To get a
13243 writable copy, type C-x C-q in a buffer visiting such a file. VC then
13244 calls "cvs edit", which notifies the other developers of it.
13246 *** vc-version-diff (C-u C-x v =) now suggests reasonable defaults for
13247 version numbers, based on the current state of the file.
13249 ** Calendar changes.
13251 *** A new function, list-holidays, allows you list holidays or
13252 subclasses of holidays for ranges of years. Related menu items allow
13253 you do this for the year of the selected date, or the
13254 following/previous years.
13256 *** There is now support for the Baha'i calendar system. Use `pb' in
13257 the *Calendar* buffer to display the current Baha'i date. The Baha'i
13258 calendar, or "Badi calendar" is a system of 19 months with 19 days
13259 each, and 4 intercalary days (5 during a Gregorian leap year). The
13260 calendar begins May 23, 1844, with each of the months named after a
13261 supposed attribute of God.
13263 ** ps-print changes
13265 There are some new user variables and subgroups for customizing the page
13268 *** Headers & Footers (subgroup)
13270 Some printer systems print a header page and force the first page to
13271 be printed on the back of the header page when using duplex. If your
13272 printer system has this behavior, set variable
13273 `ps-banner-page-when-duplexing' to t.
13275 If variable `ps-banner-page-when-duplexing' is non-nil, it prints a
13276 blank page as the very first printed page. So, it behaves as if the
13277 very first character of buffer (or region) were a form feed ^L (\014).
13279 The variable `ps-spool-config' specifies who is responsible for
13280 setting duplex mode and page size. Valid values are:
13282 lpr-switches duplex and page size are configured by `ps-lpr-switches'.
13283 Don't forget to set `ps-lpr-switches' to select duplex
13284 printing for your printer.
13286 setpagedevice duplex and page size are configured by ps-print using the
13287 setpagedevice PostScript operator.
13289 nil duplex and page size are configured by ps-print *not* using
13290 the setpagedevice PostScript operator.
13292 The variable `ps-spool-tumble' specifies how the page images on
13293 opposite sides of a sheet are oriented with respect to each other. If
13294 `ps-spool-tumble' is nil, ps-print produces output suitable for
13295 bindings on the left or right. If `ps-spool-tumble' is non-nil,
13296 ps-print produces output suitable for bindings at the top or bottom.
13297 This variable takes effect only if `ps-spool-duplex' is non-nil.
13298 The default value is nil.
13300 The variable `ps-header-frame-alist' specifies a header frame
13301 properties alist. Valid frame properties are:
13303 fore-color Specify the foreground frame color.
13304 Value should be a float number between 0.0 (black
13305 color) and 1.0 (white color), or a string which is a
13306 color name, or a list of 3 float numbers which
13307 correspond to the Red Green Blue color scale, each
13308 float number between 0.0 (dark color) and 1.0 (bright
13309 color). The default is 0 ("black").
13311 back-color Specify the background frame color (similar to fore-color).
13312 The default is 0.9 ("gray90").
13314 shadow-color Specify the shadow color (similar to fore-color).
13315 The default is 0 ("black").
13317 border-color Specify the border color (similar to fore-color).
13318 The default is 0 ("black").
13320 border-width Specify the border width.
13321 The default is 0.4.
13323 Any other property is ignored.
13325 Don't change this alist directly; instead use Custom, or the
13326 `ps-value', `ps-get', `ps-put' and `ps-del' functions (see there for
13329 Ps-print can also print footers. The footer variables are:
13330 `ps-print-footer', `ps-footer-offset', `ps-print-footer-frame',
13331 `ps-footer-font-family', `ps-footer-font-size', `ps-footer-line-pad',
13332 `ps-footer-lines', `ps-left-footer', `ps-right-footer' and
13333 `ps-footer-frame-alist'. These variables are similar to those
13334 controlling headers.
13336 *** Color management (subgroup)
13338 If `ps-print-color-p' is non-nil, the buffer's text will be printed in
13341 *** Face Management (subgroup)
13343 If you need to print without worrying about face background colors,
13344 set the variable `ps-use-face-background' which specifies if face
13345 background should be used. Valid values are:
13347 t always use face background color.
13348 nil never use face background color.
13349 (face...) list of faces whose background color will be used.
13351 *** N-up printing (subgroup)
13353 The variable `ps-n-up-printing' specifies the number of pages per
13356 The variable `ps-n-up-margin' specifies the margin in points (pt)
13357 between the sheet border and the n-up printing.
13359 If variable `ps-n-up-border-p' is non-nil, a border is drawn around
13362 The variable `ps-n-up-filling' specifies how the page matrix is filled
13363 on each sheet of paper. Following are the valid values for
13364 `ps-n-up-filling' with a filling example using a 3x4 page matrix:
13366 `left-top' 1 2 3 4 `left-bottom' 9 10 11 12
13370 `right-top' 4 3 2 1 `right-bottom' 12 11 10 9
13374 `top-left' 1 4 7 10 `bottom-left' 3 6 9 12
13378 `top-right' 10 7 4 1 `bottom-right' 12 9 6 3
13382 Any other value is treated as `left-top'.
13384 *** Zebra stripes (subgroup)
13386 The variable `ps-zebra-color' controls the zebra stripes grayscale or
13389 The variable `ps-zebra-stripe-follow' specifies how zebra stripes
13390 continue on next page. Visually, valid values are (the character `+'
13391 to the right of each column indicates that a line is printed):
13393 `nil' `follow' `full' `full-follow'
13394 Current Page -------- ----------- --------- ----------------
13395 1 XXXXX + 1 XXXXXXXX + 1 XXXXXX + 1 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
13396 2 XXXXX + 2 XXXXXXXX + 2 XXXXXX + 2 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
13397 3 XXXXX + 3 XXXXXXXX + 3 XXXXXX + 3 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
13401 7 XXXXX + 7 XXXXXXXX + 7 XXXXXX + 7 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
13402 8 XXXXX + 8 XXXXXXXX + 8 XXXXXX + 8 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
13403 9 XXXXX + 9 XXXXXXXX + 9 XXXXXX + 9 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
13406 -------- ----------- --------- ----------------
13407 Next Page -------- ----------- --------- ----------------
13408 12 XXXXX + 12 + 10 XXXXXX + 10 +
13409 13 XXXXX + 13 XXXXXXXX + 11 XXXXXX + 11 +
13410 14 XXXXX + 14 XXXXXXXX + 12 XXXXXX + 12 +
13411 15 + 15 XXXXXXXX + 13 + 13 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
13412 16 + 16 + 14 + 14 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
13413 17 + 17 + 15 + 15 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
13414 18 XXXXX + 18 + 16 XXXXXX + 16 +
13415 19 XXXXX + 19 XXXXXXXX + 17 XXXXXX + 17 +
13416 20 XXXXX + 20 XXXXXXXX + 18 XXXXXX + 18 +
13419 -------- ----------- --------- ----------------
13421 Any other value is treated as `nil'.
13424 *** Printer management (subgroup)
13426 The variable `ps-printer-name-option' determines the option used by
13427 some utilities to indicate the printer name; it's used only when
13428 `ps-printer-name' is a non-empty string. If you're using the lpr
13429 utility to print, for example, `ps-printer-name-option' should be set
13432 The variable `ps-manual-feed' indicates if the printer requires manual
13433 paper feeding. If it's nil, automatic feeding takes place. If it's
13434 non-nil, manual feeding takes place.
13436 The variable `ps-end-with-control-d' specifies whether C-d (\x04)
13437 should be inserted at end of the generated PostScript. Non-nil means
13440 *** Page settings (subgroup)
13442 If variable `ps-warn-paper-type' is nil, it's *not* treated as an
13443 error if the PostScript printer doesn't have a paper with the size
13444 indicated by `ps-paper-type'; the default paper size will be used
13445 instead. If `ps-warn-paper-type' is non-nil, an error is signaled if
13446 the PostScript printer doesn't support a paper with the size indicated
13447 by `ps-paper-type'. This is used when `ps-spool-config' is set to
13450 The variable `ps-print-upside-down' determines the orientation for
13451 printing pages: nil means `normal' printing, non-nil means
13452 `upside-down' printing (that is, the page is rotated by 180 degrees).
13454 The variable `ps-selected-pages' specifies which pages to print. If
13455 it's nil, all pages are printed. If it's a list, list elements may be
13456 integers specifying a single page to print, or cons cells (FROM . TO)
13457 specifying to print from page FROM to TO. Invalid list elements, that
13458 is integers smaller than one, or elements whose FROM is greater than
13459 its TO, are ignored.
13461 The variable `ps-even-or-odd-pages' specifies how to print even/odd
13462 pages. Valid values are:
13464 nil print all pages.
13466 `even-page' print only even pages.
13468 `odd-page' print only odd pages.
13470 `even-sheet' print only even sheets.
13471 That is, if `ps-n-up-printing' is 1, it behaves like
13472 `even-page', but for values greater than 1, it'll
13473 print only the even sheet of paper.
13475 `odd-sheet' print only odd sheets.
13476 That is, if `ps-n-up-printing' is 1, it behaves like
13477 `odd-page'; but for values greater than 1, it'll print
13478 only the odd sheet of paper.
13480 Any other value is treated as nil.
13482 If you set `ps-selected-pages' (see there for documentation), pages
13483 are filtered by `ps-selected-pages', and then by
13484 `ps-even-or-odd-pages'. For example, if we have:
13486 (setq ps-selected-pages '(1 4 (6 . 10) (12 . 16) 20))
13488 and we combine this with `ps-even-or-odd-pages' and
13489 `ps-n-up-printing', we get:
13491 `ps-n-up-printing' = 1:
13492 `ps-even-or-odd-pages' PAGES PRINTED
13493 nil 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 20
13494 even-page 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 20
13495 odd-page 1, 7, 9, 13, 15
13496 even-sheet 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 20
13497 odd-sheet 1, 7, 9, 13, 15
13499 `ps-n-up-printing' = 2:
13500 `ps-even-or-odd-pages' PAGES PRINTED
13501 nil 1/4, 6/7, 8/9, 10/12, 13/14, 15/16, 20
13502 even-page 4/6, 8/10, 12/14, 16/20
13503 odd-page 1/7, 9/13, 15
13504 even-sheet 6/7, 10/12, 15/16
13505 odd-sheet 1/4, 8/9, 13/14, 20
13507 *** Miscellany (subgroup)
13509 The variable `ps-error-handler-message' specifies where error handler
13510 messages should be sent.
13512 It is also possible to add a user-defined PostScript prologue code in
13513 front of all generated prologue code by setting the variable
13514 `ps-user-defined-prologue'.
13516 The variable `ps-line-number-font' specifies the font for line numbers.
13518 The variable `ps-line-number-font-size' specifies the font size in
13519 points for line numbers.
13521 The variable `ps-line-number-color' specifies the color for line
13522 numbers. See `ps-zebra-color' for documentation.
13524 The variable `ps-line-number-step' specifies the interval in which
13525 line numbers are printed. For example, if `ps-line-number-step' is set
13526 to 2, the printing will look like:
13538 integer an integer specifying the interval in which line numbers are
13539 printed. If it's smaller than or equal to zero, 1
13542 `zebra' specifies that only the line number of the first line in a
13543 zebra stripe is to be printed.
13545 Any other value is treated as `zebra'.
13547 The variable `ps-line-number-start' specifies the starting point in
13548 the interval given by `ps-line-number-step'. For example, if
13549 `ps-line-number-step' is set to 3, and `ps-line-number-start' is set to
13550 3, the output will look like:
13564 The variable `ps-postscript-code-directory' specifies the directory
13565 where the PostScript prologue file used by ps-print is found.
13567 The variable `ps-line-spacing' determines the line spacing in points,
13568 for ordinary text, when generating PostScript (similar to
13571 The variable `ps-paragraph-spacing' determines the paragraph spacing,
13572 in points, for ordinary text, when generating PostScript (similar to
13575 The variable `ps-paragraph-regexp' specifies the paragraph delimiter.
13577 The variable `ps-begin-cut-regexp' and `ps-end-cut-regexp' specify the
13578 start and end of a region to cut out when printing.
13580 ** hideshow changes.
13582 *** now supports hiding of blocks of single line comments (like // for
13585 *** Support for java-mode added.
13587 *** When doing `hs-hide-all' it is now possible to also hide the comments
13588 in the file if `hs-hide-comments-when-hiding-all' is set.
13590 *** The new function `hs-hide-initial-comment' hides the comments at
13591 the beginning of the files. Finally those huge RCS logs don't stay in your
13592 way! This is run by default when entering the `hs-minor-mode'.
13594 *** Now uses overlays instead of `selective-display', so is more
13595 robust and a lot faster.
13597 *** A block beginning can span multiple lines.
13599 *** The new variable `hs-show-hidden-short-form' if t, directs hideshow
13600 to show only the beginning of a block when it is hidden. See the
13601 documentation for more details.
13603 ** Changes in Enriched mode.
13605 *** When you visit a file in enriched-mode, Emacs will make sure it is
13606 filled to the current fill-column. This behavior is now independent
13607 of the size of the window. When you save the file, the fill-column in
13608 use is stored as well, so that the whole buffer need not be refilled
13609 the next time unless the fill-column is different.
13611 *** use-hard-newlines is now a minor mode. When it is enabled, Emacs
13612 distinguishes between hard and soft newlines, and treats hard newlines
13613 as paragraph boundaries. Otherwise all newlines inserted are marked
13614 as soft, and paragraph boundaries are determined solely from the text.
13620 The variables font-lock-face-attributes, font-lock-display-type and
13621 font-lock-background-mode are now obsolete; the recommended way to specify
13622 the faces to use for Font Lock mode is with M-x customize-group on the new
13623 custom group font-lock-faces. If you set font-lock-face-attributes in your
13624 ~/.emacs file, Font Lock mode will respect its value. However, you should
13625 consider converting from setting that variable to using M-x customize.
13627 You can still use X resources to specify Font Lock face appearances.
13629 *** Maximum decoration
13631 Fontification now uses the maximum level of decoration supported by
13632 default. Previously, fontification used a mode-specific default level
13633 of decoration, which is typically the minimum level of decoration
13634 supported. You can set font-lock-maximum-decoration to nil
13635 to get the old behavior.
13639 Support is now provided for Java, Objective-C, AWK and SIMULA modes.
13641 Note that Font Lock mode can be turned on without knowing exactly what modes
13642 support Font Lock mode, via the command global-font-lock-mode.
13644 *** Configurable support
13646 Support for C, C++, Objective-C and Java can be more easily configured for
13647 additional types and classes via the new variables c-font-lock-extra-types,
13648 c++-font-lock-extra-types, objc-font-lock-extra-types and, you guessed it,
13649 java-font-lock-extra-types. These value of each of these variables should be a
13650 list of regexps matching the extra type names. For example, the default value
13651 of c-font-lock-extra-types is ("\\sw+_t") which means fontification follows the
13652 convention that C type names end in _t. This results in slower fontification.
13654 Of course, you can change the variables that specify fontification in whatever
13655 way you wish, typically by adding regexps. However, these new variables make
13656 it easier to make specific and common changes for the fontification of types.
13658 *** Adding highlighting patterns to existing support
13660 You can use the new function font-lock-add-keywords to add your own
13661 highlighting patterns, such as for project-local or user-specific constructs,
13664 For example, to highlight `FIXME:' words in C comments, put:
13666 (font-lock-add-keywords 'c-mode '(("\\<FIXME:" 0 font-lock-warning-face t)))
13672 Font Lock now defines two new faces, font-lock-builtin-face and
13673 font-lock-warning-face. These are intended to highlight builtin keywords,
13674 distinct from a language's normal keywords, and objects that should be brought
13675 to user attention, respectively. Various modes now use these new faces.
13677 *** Changes to fast-lock support mode
13679 The fast-lock package, one of the two Font Lock support modes, can now process
13680 cache files silently. You can use the new variable fast-lock-verbose, in the
13681 same way as font-lock-verbose, to control this feature.
13683 *** Changes to lazy-lock support mode
13685 The lazy-lock package, one of the two Font Lock support modes, can now fontify
13686 according to the true syntactic context relative to other lines. You can use
13687 the new variable lazy-lock-defer-contextually to control this feature. If
13688 non-nil, changes to the buffer will cause subsequent lines in the buffer to be
13689 refontified after lazy-lock-defer-time seconds of idle time. If nil, then only
13690 the modified lines will be refontified; this is the same as the previous Lazy
13691 Lock mode behavior and the behavior of Font Lock mode.
13693 This feature is useful in modes where strings or comments can span lines.
13694 For example, if a string or comment terminating character is deleted, then if
13695 this feature is enabled subsequent lines in the buffer will be correctly
13696 refontified to reflect their new syntactic context. Previously, only the line
13697 containing the deleted character would be refontified and you would have to use
13698 the command M-o M-o (font-lock-fontify-block) to refontify some lines.
13700 As a consequence of this new feature, two other variables have changed:
13702 Variable `lazy-lock-defer-driven' is renamed `lazy-lock-defer-on-scrolling'.
13703 Variable `lazy-lock-defer-time' can now only be a time, i.e., a number.
13704 Buffer modes for which on-the-fly deferral applies can be specified via the
13705 new variable `lazy-lock-defer-on-the-fly'.
13707 If you set these variables in your ~/.emacs, then you may have to change those
13710 ** Ada mode changes.
13712 *** There is now better support for using find-file.el with Ada mode.
13713 If you switch between spec and body, the cursor stays in the same
13714 procedure (modulo overloading). If a spec has no body file yet, but
13715 you try to switch to its body file, Ada mode now generates procedure
13718 *** There are two new commands:
13719 - `ada-make-local' : invokes gnatmake on the current buffer
13720 - `ada-check-syntax' : check syntax of current buffer.
13722 The user options `ada-compiler-make', `ada-make-options',
13723 `ada-language-version', `ada-compiler-syntax-check', and
13724 `ada-compile-options' are used within these commands.
13726 *** Ada mode can now work with Outline minor mode. The outline level
13727 is calculated from the indenting, not from syntactic constructs.
13728 Outlining does not work if your code is not correctly indented.
13730 *** The new function `ada-gnat-style' converts the buffer to the style of
13731 formatting used in GNAT. It places two blanks after a comment start,
13732 places one blank between a word end and an opening '(', and puts one
13733 space between a comma and the beginning of a word.
13735 ** Scheme mode changes.
13737 *** Scheme mode indentation now uses many of the facilities of Lisp
13738 mode; therefore, the variables to customize it are the variables used
13739 for Lisp mode which have names starting with `lisp-'. The variables
13740 with names starting with `scheme-' which used to do this no longer
13743 If you want to use different indentation for Scheme and Lisp, this is
13744 still possible, but now you must do it by adding a hook to
13745 scheme-mode-hook, which could work by setting the `lisp-' indentation
13746 variables as buffer-local variables.
13748 *** DSSSL mode is a variant of Scheme mode, for editing DSSSL scripts.
13749 Use M-x dsssl-mode.
13751 ** Changes to the emacsclient program
13753 *** If a socket can't be found, and environment variables LOGNAME or
13754 USER are set, emacsclient now looks for a socket based on the UID
13755 associated with the name. That is an emacsclient running as root
13756 can connect to an Emacs server started by a non-root user.
13758 *** The emacsclient program now accepts an option --no-wait which tells
13759 it to return immediately without waiting for you to "finish" the
13762 *** The new option --alternate-editor allows to specify an editor to
13763 use if Emacs is not running. The environment variable
13764 ALTERNATE_EDITOR can be used for the same effect; the command line
13765 option takes precedence.
13767 ** M-x eldoc-mode enables a minor mode in which the echo area
13768 constantly shows the parameter list for function being called at point
13769 (in Emacs Lisp and Lisp Interaction modes only).
13771 ** C-x n d now runs the new command narrow-to-defun,
13772 which narrows the accessible parts of the buffer to just
13775 ** Emacs now handles the `--' argument in the standard way; all
13776 following arguments are treated as ordinary file names.
13778 ** On MSDOS and Windows, the bookmark file is now called _emacs.bmk,
13779 and the saved desktop file is now called _emacs.desktop (truncated if
13782 ** When you kill a buffer that visits a file,
13783 if there are any registers that save positions in the file,
13784 these register values no longer become completely useless.
13785 If you try to go to such a register with C-x j, then you are
13786 asked whether to visit the file again. If you say yes,
13787 it visits the file and then goes to the same position.
13789 ** When you visit a file that changes frequently outside Emacs--for
13790 example, a log of output from a process that continues to run--it may
13791 be useful for Emacs to revert the file without querying you whenever
13792 you visit the file afresh with C-x C-f.
13794 You can request this behavior for certain files by setting the
13795 variable revert-without-query to a list of regular expressions. If a
13796 file's name matches any of these regular expressions, find-file and
13797 revert-buffer revert the buffer without asking for permission--but
13798 only if you have not edited the buffer text yourself.
13800 ** set-default-font has been renamed to set-frame-font
13801 since it applies only to the current frame.
13803 ** In TeX mode, you can use the variable tex-main-file to specify the
13804 file for tex-file to run TeX on. (By default, tex-main-file is nil,
13805 and tex-file runs TeX on the current visited file.)
13807 This is useful when you are editing a document that consists of
13808 multiple files. In each of the included files, you can set up a local
13809 variable list which specifies the top-level file of your document for
13810 tex-main-file. Then tex-file will run TeX on the whole document
13811 instead of just the file you are editing.
13815 RefTeX mode is a new minor mode with special support for \label, \ref
13816 and \cite macros in LaTeX documents. RefTeX distinguishes labels of
13817 different environments (equation, figure, ...) and has full support for
13818 multifile documents. To use it, select a buffer with a LaTeX document and
13819 turn the mode on with M-x reftex-mode. Here are the main user commands:
13822 Creates a label semi-automatically. RefTeX is context sensitive and
13823 knows which kind of label is needed.
13825 C-c ) reftex-reference
13826 Offers in a menu all labels in the document, along with context of the
13827 label definition. The selected label is referenced as \ref{LABEL}.
13829 C-c [ reftex-citation
13830 Prompts for a regular expression and displays a list of matching BibTeX
13831 database entries. The selected entry is cited with a \cite{KEY} macro.
13833 C-c & reftex-view-crossref
13834 Views the cross reference of a \ref or \cite command near point.
13837 Shows a table of contents of the (multifile) document. From there you
13838 can quickly jump to every section.
13840 Under X, RefTeX installs a "Ref" menu in the menu bar, with additional
13841 commands. Press `?' to get help when a prompt mentions this feature.
13842 Full documentation and customization examples are in the file
13843 reftex.el. You can use the finder to view the file documentation:
13844 C-h p --> tex --> reftex.el
13846 ** Changes in BibTeX mode.
13848 *** Info documentation is now available.
13850 *** Don't allow parentheses in string constants anymore. This confused
13851 both the BibTeX program and Emacs BibTeX mode.
13853 *** Renamed variable bibtex-mode-user-optional-fields to
13854 bibtex-user-optional-fields.
13856 *** Removed variable bibtex-include-OPTannote
13857 (use bibtex-user-optional-fields instead).
13859 *** New interactive functions to copy and kill fields and complete
13860 entries to the BibTeX kill ring, from where they can be yanked back by
13861 appropriate functions.
13863 *** New interactive functions for repositioning and marking of
13864 entries. They are bound by default to C-M-l and C-M-h.
13866 *** New hook bibtex-clean-entry-hook. It is called after entry has
13869 *** New variable bibtex-field-delimiters, which replaces variables
13870 bibtex-field-{left|right}-delimiter.
13872 *** New variable bibtex-entry-delimiters to determine how entries
13873 shall be delimited.
13875 *** Allow preinitialization of fields. See documentation of
13876 bibtex-user-optional-fields, bibtex-entry-field-alist, and
13877 bibtex-include-OPTkey for details.
13879 *** Book and InBook entries require either an author or an editor
13880 field. This is now supported by bibtex.el. Alternative fields are
13881 prefixed with `ALT'.
13883 *** New variable bibtex-entry-format, which replaces variable
13884 bibtex-clean-entry-zap-empty-opts and allows specification of many
13885 formatting options performed on cleaning an entry (see variable
13888 *** Even more control on how automatic keys are generated. See
13889 documentation of bibtex-generate-autokey for details. Transcriptions
13890 for foreign languages other than German are now handled, too.
13892 *** New boolean user option bibtex-comma-after-last-field to decide if
13893 comma should be inserted at end of last field.
13895 *** New boolean user option bibtex-align-at-equal-sign to determine if
13896 alignment should be made at left side of field contents or at equal
13897 signs. New user options to control entry layout (e.g. indentation).
13899 *** New function bibtex-fill-entry to realign entries.
13901 *** New function bibtex-reformat to reformat region or buffer.
13903 *** New function bibtex-convert-alien to convert a BibTeX database
13904 from alien sources.
13906 *** New function bibtex-complete-key (similar to bibtex-complete-string)
13907 to complete prefix to a key defined in buffer. Mainly useful in
13910 *** New function bibtex-count-entries to count entries in buffer or
13913 *** Added support for imenu.
13915 *** The function `bibtex-validate' now checks current region instead
13916 of buffer if mark is active. Now it shows all errors of buffer in a
13917 `compilation mode' buffer. You can use the normal commands (e.g.
13918 `next-error') for compilation modes to jump to errors.
13920 *** New variable `bibtex-string-file-path' to determine where the files
13921 from `bibtex-string-files' are searched.
13923 ** Iso Accents mode now supports Latin-3 as an alternative.
13925 ** The command next-error now opens blocks hidden by hideshow.
13927 ** The function using-unix-filesystems has been replaced by the
13928 functions add-untranslated-filesystem and remove-untranslated-filesystem.
13929 Each of these functions takes the name of a drive letter or directory
13932 When a filesystem is added as untranslated, all files on it are read
13933 and written in binary mode (no cr/lf translation is performed).
13935 ** browse-url changes
13937 *** New methods for: Grail (browse-url-generic), MMM (browse-url-mmm),
13938 Lynx in a separate xterm (browse-url-lynx-xterm) or in an Emacs window
13939 (browse-url-lynx-emacs), remote W3 (browse-url-w3-gnudoit), generic
13940 non-remote-controlled browsers (browse-url-generic) and associated
13941 customization variables.
13943 *** New commands `browse-url-of-region' and `browse-url'.
13945 *** URLs marked up with <URL:...> (RFC1738) work if broken across
13946 lines. Browsing methods can be associated with URL regexps
13947 (e.g. mailto: URLs) via `browse-url-browser-function'.
13949 ** Changes in Ediff
13951 *** Clicking Mouse-2 on a brief command description in Ediff control panel
13952 pops up the Info file for this command.
13954 *** There is now a variable, ediff-autostore-merges, which controls whether
13955 the result of a merge is saved in a file. By default, this is done only when
13956 merge is done from a session group (eg, when merging files in two different
13959 *** Since Emacs 19.31 (this hasn't been announced before), Ediff can compare
13960 and merge groups of files residing in different directories, or revisions of
13961 files in the same directory.
13963 *** Since Emacs 19.31, Ediff can apply multi-file patches interactively.
13964 The patches must be in the context format or GNU unified format. (The bug
13965 related to the GNU format has now been fixed.)
13967 ** Changes in Viper
13969 *** The startup file is now .viper instead of .vip
13970 *** All variable/function names have been changed to start with viper-
13972 *** C-\ now simulates the meta-key in all Viper states.
13973 *** C-z in Insert state now escapes to Vi for the duration of the next
13974 Viper command. In Vi and Insert states, C-z behaves as before.
13975 *** C-c \ escapes to Vi for one command if Viper is in Insert or Emacs states.
13976 *** _ is no longer the meta-key in Vi state.
13977 *** The variable viper-insert-state-cursor-color can be used to change cursor
13978 color when Viper is in insert state.
13979 *** If search lands the cursor near the top or the bottom of the window,
13980 Viper pulls the window up or down to expose more context. The variable
13981 viper-adjust-window-after-search controls this behavior.
13985 *** In C, C++, Objective C and Java, Etags tags global variables by
13986 default. The resulting tags files are inflated by 30% on average.
13987 Use --no-globals to turn this feature off. Etags can also tag
13988 variables which are members of structure-like constructs, but it does
13989 not by default. Use --members to turn this feature on.
13991 *** C++ member functions are now recognized as tags.
13993 *** Java is tagged like C++. In addition, "extends" and "implements"
13994 constructs are tagged. Files are recognized by the extension .java.
13996 *** Etags can now handle programs written in Postscript. Files are
13997 recognized by the extensions .ps and .pdb (Postscript with C syntax).
13998 In Postscript, tags are lines that start with a slash.
14000 *** Etags now handles Objective C and Objective C++ code. The usual C and
14001 C++ tags are recognized in these languages; in addition, etags
14002 recognizes special Objective C syntax for classes, class categories,
14003 methods and protocols.
14005 *** Etags also handles Cobol. Files are recognized by the extension
14006 .cobol. The tagged lines are those containing a word that begins in
14007 column 8 and ends in a full stop, i.e. anything that could be a
14010 *** Regexps in Etags now support intervals, as in ed or grep. The syntax of
14011 an interval is \{M,N\}, and it means to match the preceding expression
14012 at least M times and as many as N times.
14014 ** The format for specifying a custom format for time-stamp to insert
14015 in files has changed slightly.
14017 With the new enhancements to the functionality of format-time-string,
14018 time-stamp-format will change to be eventually compatible with it.
14019 This conversion is being done in two steps to maintain compatibility
14020 with old time-stamp-format values.
14022 In the new scheme, alternate case is signified by the number-sign
14023 (`#') modifier, rather than changing the case of the format character.
14024 This feature is as yet incompletely implemented for compatibility
14027 In the old time-stamp-format, all numeric fields defaulted to their
14028 natural width. (With format-time-string, each format has a
14029 fixed-width default.) In this version, you can specify the colon
14030 (`:') modifier to a numeric conversion to mean "give me the historical
14031 time-stamp-format width default." Do not use colon if you are
14032 specifying an explicit width, as in "%02d".
14034 Numbers are no longer truncated to the requested width, except in the
14035 case of "%02y", which continues to give a two-digit year. Digit
14036 truncation probably wasn't being used for anything else anyway.
14038 The new formats will work with old versions of Emacs. New formats are
14039 being recommended now to allow time-stamp-format to change in the
14040 future to be compatible with format-time-string. The new forms being
14041 recommended now will continue to work then.
14043 See the documentation string for the variable time-stamp-format for
14046 ** There are some additional major modes:
14048 dcl-mode, for editing VMS DCL files.
14049 m4-mode, for editing files of m4 input.
14050 meta-mode, for editing MetaFont and MetaPost source files.
14052 ** In Shell mode, the command shell-copy-environment-variable lets you
14053 copy the value of a specified environment variable from the subshell
14056 ** New Lisp packages include:
14058 *** battery.el displays battery status for laptops.
14060 *** M-x bruce (named after Lenny Bruce) is a program that might
14061 be used for adding some indecent words to your email.
14063 *** M-x crisp-mode enables an emulation for the CRiSP editor.
14065 *** M-x dirtrack arranges for better tracking of directory changes
14068 *** The new library elint.el provides for linting of Emacs Lisp code.
14069 See the documentation for `elint-initialize', `elint-current-buffer'
14072 *** M-x expand-add-abbrevs defines a special kind of abbrev which is
14073 meant for programming constructs. These abbrevs expand like ordinary
14074 ones, when you type SPC, but only at the end of a line and not within
14075 strings or comments.
14077 These abbrevs can act as templates: you can define places within an
14078 abbrev for insertion of additional text. Once you expand the abbrev,
14079 you can then use C-x a p and C-x a n to move back and forth to these
14080 insertion points. Thus you can conveniently insert additional text
14083 *** filecache.el remembers the location of files so that you
14084 can visit them by short forms of their names.
14086 *** find-func.el lets you find the definition of the user-loaded
14087 Emacs Lisp function at point.
14089 *** M-x handwrite converts text to a "handwritten" picture.
14091 *** M-x iswitchb-buffer is a command for switching to a buffer, much like
14092 switch-buffer, but it reads the argument in a more helpful way.
14094 *** M-x landmark implements a neural network for landmark learning.
14096 *** M-x locate provides a convenient interface to the `locate' program.
14098 *** M4 mode is a new mode for editing files of m4 input.
14100 *** mantemp.el creates C++ manual template instantiations
14101 from the GCC error messages which indicate which instantiations are needed.
14103 *** mouse-copy.el provides a one-click copy and move feature.
14104 You can drag a region with M-mouse-1, and it is automatically
14105 inserted at point. M-Shift-mouse-1 deletes the text from its
14106 original place after inserting the copy.
14108 *** mouse-drag.el lets you do scrolling by dragging Mouse-2
14111 You click the mouse and move; that distance either translates into the
14112 velocity to scroll (with mouse-drag-throw) or the distance to scroll
14113 (with mouse-drag-drag). Horizontal scrolling is enabled when needed.
14115 Enable mouse-drag with:
14116 (global-set-key [down-mouse-2] 'mouse-drag-throw)
14118 (global-set-key [down-mouse-2] 'mouse-drag-drag)
14120 *** mspools.el is useful for determining which mail folders have
14121 mail waiting to be read in them. It works with procmail.
14123 *** Octave mode is a major mode for editing files of input for Octave.
14124 It comes with a facility for communicating with an Octave subprocess.
14128 The ogonek package provides functions for changing the coding of
14129 Polish diacritic characters in buffers. Codings known from various
14130 platforms are supported such as ISO8859-2, Mazovia, IBM Latin2, and
14131 TeX. For example, you can change the coding from Mazovia to
14132 ISO8859-2. Another example is a change of coding from ISO8859-2 to
14133 prefix notation (in which `/a' stands for the aogonek character, for
14134 instance) and vice versa.
14136 To use this package load it using
14137 M-x load-library [enter] ogonek
14138 Then, you may get an explanation by calling one of
14139 M-x ogonek-jak -- in Polish
14140 M-x ogonek-how -- in English
14141 The info specifies the commands and variables provided as well as the
14142 ways of customization in `.emacs'.
14144 *** Interface to ph.
14146 Emacs provides a client interface to CCSO Nameservers (ph/qi)
14148 The CCSO nameserver is used in many universities to provide directory
14149 services about people. ph.el provides a convenient Emacs interface to
14152 *** uce.el is useful for replying to unsolicited commercial email.
14154 *** vcursor.el implements a "virtual cursor" feature.
14155 You can move the virtual cursor with special commands
14156 while the real cursor does not move.
14158 *** webjump.el is a "hot list" package which you can set up
14159 for visiting your favorite web sites.
14161 *** M-x winner-mode is a minor mode which saves window configurations,
14162 so you can move back to other configurations that you have recently used.
14166 Movemail no longer needs to be installed setuid root in order for POP
14167 mail retrieval to function properly. This is because it no longer
14168 supports the RPOP (reserved-port POP) protocol; instead, it uses the
14169 user's POP password to authenticate to the mail server.
14171 This change was made earlier, but not reported in NEWS before.
14173 * Emacs 20.1 changes for MS-DOS and MS-Windows.
14175 ** Changes in handling MS-DOS/MS-Windows text files.
14177 Emacs handles three different conventions for representing
14178 end-of-line: CRLF for MSDOS, LF for Unix and GNU, and CR (used on the
14179 Macintosh). Emacs determines which convention is used in a specific
14180 file based on the contents of that file (except for certain special
14181 file names), and when it saves the file, it uses the same convention.
14183 To save the file and change the end-of-line convention, you can use
14184 C-x RET f (set-buffer-file-coding-system) to specify a different
14185 coding system for the buffer. Then, when you save the file, the newly
14186 specified coding system will take effect. For example, to save with
14187 LF, specify undecided-unix (or some other ...-unix coding system); to
14188 save with CRLF, specify undecided-dos.
14190 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 20.1
14192 ** Byte-compiled files made with Emacs 20 will, in general, work in
14193 Emacs 19 as well, as long as the source code runs in Emacs 19. And
14194 vice versa: byte-compiled files made with Emacs 19 should also run in
14195 Emacs 20, as long as the program itself works in Emacs 20.
14197 ** Windows-specific functions and variables have been renamed
14198 to start with w32- instead of win32-.
14200 In hacker language, calling something a "win" is a form of praise. We
14201 don't want to praise a non-free Microsoft system, so we don't call it
14204 ** Basic Lisp changes
14206 *** A symbol whose name starts with a colon now automatically
14207 evaluates to itself. Therefore such a symbol can be used as a constant.
14209 *** The defined purpose of `defconst' has been changed. It should now
14210 be used only for values that should not be changed whether by a program
14213 The actual behavior of defconst has not been changed.
14215 *** There are new macros `when' and `unless'
14217 (when CONDITION BODY...) is short for (if CONDITION (progn BODY...))
14218 (unless CONDITION BODY...) is short for (if CONDITION nil BODY...)
14220 *** Emacs now defines functions caar, cadr, cdar and cddr with their
14221 usual Lisp meanings. For example, caar returns the car of the car of
14224 *** equal, when comparing strings, now ignores their text properties.
14226 *** The new function `functionp' tests whether an object is a function.
14228 *** arrayp now returns t for char-tables and bool-vectors.
14230 *** Certain primitives which use characters (as integers) now get an
14231 error if the integer is not a valid character code. These primitives
14232 include insert-char, char-to-string, and the %c construct in the
14235 *** The `require' function now insists on adding a suffix, either .el
14236 or .elc, to the file name. Thus, (require 'foo) will not use a file
14237 whose name is just foo. It insists on foo.el or foo.elc.
14239 *** The `autoload' function, when the file name does not contain
14240 either a directory name or the suffix .el or .elc, insists on
14241 adding one of these suffixes.
14243 *** string-to-number now takes an optional second argument BASE
14244 which specifies the base to use when converting an integer.
14245 If BASE is omitted, base 10 is used.
14247 We have not implemented other radices for floating point numbers,
14248 because that would be much more work and does not seem useful.
14250 *** substring now handles vectors as well as strings.
14252 *** The Common Lisp function eql is no longer defined normally.
14253 You must load the `cl' library to define it.
14255 *** The new macro `with-current-buffer' lets you evaluate an expression
14256 conveniently with a different current buffer. It looks like this:
14258 (with-current-buffer BUFFER BODY-FORMS...)
14260 BUFFER is the expression that says which buffer to use.
14261 BODY-FORMS say what to do in that buffer.
14263 *** The new primitive `save-current-buffer' saves and restores the
14264 choice of current buffer, like `save-excursion', but without saving or
14265 restoring the value of point or the mark. `with-current-buffer'
14266 works using `save-current-buffer'.
14268 *** The new macro `with-temp-file' lets you do some work in a new buffer and
14269 write the output to a specified file. Like `progn', it returns the value
14272 *** The new macro `with-temp-buffer' lets you do some work in a new buffer,
14273 which is discarded after use. Like `progn', it returns the value of the
14274 last form. If you wish to return the buffer contents, use (buffer-string)
14277 *** The new function split-string takes a string, splits it at certain
14278 characters, and returns a list of the substrings in between the
14281 For example, (split-string "foo bar lose" " +") returns ("foo" "bar" "lose").
14283 *** The new macro with-output-to-string executes some Lisp expressions
14284 with standard-output set up so that all output feeds into a string.
14285 Then it returns that string.
14287 For example, if the current buffer name is `foo',
14289 (with-output-to-string
14290 (princ "The buffer is ")
14291 (princ (buffer-name)))
14293 returns "The buffer is foo".
14295 ** Non-ASCII characters are now supported, if enable-multibyte-characters
14298 These characters have character codes above 256. When inserted in the
14299 buffer or stored in a string, they are represented as multibyte
14300 characters that occupy several buffer positions each.
14302 *** When enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil, a single character in
14303 a buffer or string can be two or more bytes (as many as four).
14305 Buffers and strings are still made up of unibyte elements;
14306 character positions and string indices are always measured in bytes.
14307 Therefore, moving forward one character can increase the buffer
14308 position by 2, 3 or 4. The function forward-char moves by whole
14309 characters, and therefore is no longer equivalent to
14310 (lambda (n) (goto-char (+ (point) n))).
14312 ASCII characters (codes 0 through 127) are still single bytes, always.
14313 Sequences of byte values 128 through 255 are used to represent
14314 non-ASCII characters. These sequences are called "multibyte
14317 The first byte of a multibyte character is always in the range 128
14318 through 159 (octal 0200 through 0237). These values are called
14319 "leading codes". The second and subsequent bytes are always in the
14320 range 160 through 255 (octal 0240 through 0377). The first byte, the
14321 leading code, determines how many bytes long the sequence is.
14323 *** The function forward-char moves over characters, and therefore
14324 (forward-char 1) may increase point by more than 1 if it moves over a
14325 multibyte character. Likewise, delete-char always deletes a
14326 character, which may be more than one buffer position.
14328 This means that some Lisp programs, which assume that a character is
14329 always one buffer position, need to be changed.
14331 However, all ASCII characters are always one buffer position.
14333 *** The regexp [\200-\377] no longer matches all non-ASCII characters,
14334 because when enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil, these characters
14335 have codes that are not in the range octal 200 to octal 377. However,
14336 the regexp [^\000-\177] does match all non-ASCII characters,
14339 *** The function char-boundary-p returns non-nil if position POS is
14340 between two characters in the buffer (not in the middle of a
14343 When the value is non-nil, it says what kind of character follows POS:
14345 0 if POS is at an ASCII character or at the end of range,
14346 1 if POS is before a 2-byte length multi-byte form,
14347 2 if POS is at a head of 3-byte length multi-byte form,
14348 3 if POS is at a head of 4-byte length multi-byte form,
14349 4 if POS is at a head of multi-byte form of a composite character.
14351 *** The function char-bytes returns how many bytes the character CHAR uses.
14353 *** Strings can contain multibyte characters. The function
14354 `length' returns the string length counting bytes, which may be
14355 more than the number of characters.
14357 You can include a multibyte character in a string constant by writing
14358 it literally. You can also represent it with a hex escape,
14359 \xNNNNNNN..., using as many digits as necessary. Any character which
14360 is not a valid hex digit terminates this construct. If you want to
14361 follow it with a character that is a hex digit, write backslash and
14362 newline in between; that will terminate the hex escape.
14364 *** The function concat-chars takes arguments which are characters
14365 and returns a string containing those characters.
14367 *** The function sref access a multibyte character in a string.
14368 (sref STRING INDX) returns the character in STRING at INDEX. INDEX
14369 counts from zero. If INDEX is at a position in the middle of a
14370 character, sref signals an error.
14372 *** The function chars-in-string returns the number of characters
14373 in a string. This is less than the length of the string, if the
14374 string contains multibyte characters (the length counts bytes).
14376 *** The function chars-in-region returns the number of characters
14377 in a region from BEG to END. This is less than (- END BEG) if the
14378 region contains multibyte characters (the length counts bytes).
14380 *** The function string-to-list converts a string to a list of
14381 the characters in it. string-to-vector converts a string
14382 to a vector of the characters in it.
14384 *** The function store-substring alters part of the contents
14385 of a string. You call it as follows:
14387 (store-substring STRING IDX OBJ)
14389 This says to alter STRING, by storing OBJ starting at index IDX in
14390 STRING. OBJ may be either a character or a (smaller) string.
14391 This function really does alter the contents of STRING.
14392 Since it is impossible to change the length of an existing string,
14393 it is an error if OBJ doesn't fit within STRING's actual length.
14395 *** char-width returns the width (in columns) of the character CHAR,
14396 if it were displayed in the current buffer and the selected window.
14398 *** string-width returns the width (in columns) of the text in STRING,
14399 if it were displayed in the current buffer and the selected window.
14401 *** truncate-string-to-width shortens a string, if necessary,
14402 to fit within a certain number of columns. (Of course, it does
14403 not alter the string that you give it; it returns a new string
14404 which contains all or just part of the existing string.)
14406 (truncate-string-to-width STR END-COLUMN &optional START-COLUMN PADDING)
14408 This returns the part of STR up to column END-COLUMN.
14410 The optional argument START-COLUMN specifies the starting column.
14411 If this is non-nil, then the first START-COLUMN columns of the string
14412 are not included in the resulting value.
14414 The optional argument PADDING, if non-nil, is a padding character to be added
14415 at the beginning and end the resulting string, to extend it to exactly
14416 WIDTH columns. If PADDING is nil, that means do not pad; then, if STRING
14417 is narrower than WIDTH, the value is equal to STRING.
14419 If PADDING and START-COLUMN are both non-nil, and if there is no clean
14420 place in STRING that corresponds to START-COLUMN (because one
14421 character extends across that column), then the padding character
14422 PADDING is added one or more times at the beginning of the result
14423 string, so that its columns line up as if it really did start at
14424 column START-COLUMN.
14426 *** When the functions in the list after-change-functions are called,
14427 the third argument is the number of bytes in the pre-change text, not
14428 necessarily the number of characters. It is, in effect, the
14429 difference in buffer position between the beginning and the end of the
14430 changed text, before the change.
14432 *** The characters Emacs uses are classified in various character
14433 sets, each of which has a name which is a symbol. In general there is
14434 one character set for each script, not for each language.
14436 **** The function charsetp tests whether an object is a character set name.
14438 **** The variable charset-list holds a list of character set names.
14440 **** char-charset, given a character code, returns the name of the character
14441 set that the character belongs to. (The value is a symbol.)
14443 **** split-char, given a character code, returns a list containing the
14444 name of the character set, followed by one or two byte-values
14445 which identify the character within that character set.
14447 **** make-char, given a character set name and one or two subsequent
14448 byte-values, constructs a character code. This is roughly the
14449 opposite of split-char.
14451 **** find-charset-region returns a list of the character sets
14452 of all the characters between BEG and END.
14454 **** find-charset-string returns a list of the character sets
14455 of all the characters in a string.
14457 *** Here are the Lisp facilities for working with coding systems
14458 and specifying coding systems.
14460 **** The function coding-system-list returns a list of all coding
14461 system names (symbols). With optional argument t, it returns a list
14462 of all distinct base coding systems, not including variants.
14463 (Variant coding systems are those like latin-1-dos, latin-1-unix
14464 and latin-1-mac which specify the end-of-line conversion as well
14465 as what to do about code conversion.)
14467 **** coding-system-p tests a symbol to see if it is a coding system
14468 name. It returns t if so, nil if not.
14470 **** file-coding-system-alist specifies which coding systems to use
14471 for certain file names. It works like network-coding-system-alist,
14472 except that the PATTERN is matched against the file name.
14474 Each element has the format (PATTERN . VAL), where PATTERN determines
14475 which file names the element applies to. PATTERN should be a regexp
14476 to match against a file name.
14478 VAL is a coding system, a cons cell containing two coding systems, or
14479 a function symbol. If VAL is a coding system, it is used for both
14480 decoding what received from the network stream and encoding what sent
14481 to the network stream. If VAL is a cons cell containing two coding
14482 systems, the car specifies the coding system for decoding, and the cdr
14483 specifies the coding system for encoding.
14485 If VAL is a function symbol, the function must return a coding system
14486 or a cons cell containing two coding systems, which is used as above.
14488 **** The variable network-coding-system-alist specifies
14489 the coding system to use for network sockets.
14491 Each element has the format (PATTERN . VAL), where PATTERN determines
14492 which network sockets the element applies to. PATTERN should be
14493 either a port number or a regular expression matching some network
14496 VAL is a coding system, a cons cell containing two coding systems, or
14497 a function symbol. If VAL is a coding system, it is used for both
14498 decoding what received from the network stream and encoding what sent
14499 to the network stream. If VAL is a cons cell containing two coding
14500 systems, the car specifies the coding system for decoding, and the cdr
14501 specifies the coding system for encoding.
14503 If VAL is a function symbol, the function must return a coding system
14504 or a cons cell containing two coding systems, which is used as above.
14506 **** process-coding-system-alist specifies which coding systems to use
14507 for certain subprocess. It works like network-coding-system-alist,
14508 except that the PATTERN is matched against the program name used to
14509 start the subprocess.
14511 **** The variable default-process-coding-system specifies the coding
14512 systems to use for subprocess (and net connection) input and output,
14513 when nothing else specifies what to do. The value is a cons cell
14514 (OUTPUT-CODING . INPUT-CODING). OUTPUT-CODING applies to output
14515 to the subprocess, and INPUT-CODING applies to input from it.
14517 **** The variable coding-system-for-write, if non-nil, specifies the
14518 coding system to use for writing a file, or for output to a synchronous
14521 It also applies to any asynchronous subprocess or network connection,
14522 but in a different way: the value of coding-system-for-write when you
14523 start the subprocess or connection affects that subprocess or
14524 connection permanently or until overridden.
14526 The variable coding-system-for-write takes precedence over
14527 file-coding-system-alist, process-coding-system-alist and
14528 network-coding-system-alist, and all other methods of specifying a
14529 coding system for output. But most of the time this variable is nil.
14530 It exists so that Lisp programs can bind it to a specific coding
14531 system for one operation at a time.
14533 **** coding-system-for-read applies similarly to input from
14534 files, subprocesses or network connections.
14536 **** The function process-coding-system tells you what
14537 coding systems(s) an existing subprocess is using.
14538 The value is a cons cell,
14539 (DECODING-CODING-SYSTEM . ENCODING-CODING-SYSTEM)
14540 where DECODING-CODING-SYSTEM is used for decoding output from
14541 the subprocess, and ENCODING-CODING-SYSTEM is used for encoding
14542 input to the subprocess.
14544 **** The function set-process-coding-system can be used to
14545 change the coding systems in use for an existing subprocess.
14547 ** Emacs has a new facility to help users manage the many
14548 customization options. To make a Lisp program work with this facility,
14549 you need to use the new macros defgroup and defcustom.
14551 You use defcustom instead of defvar, for defining a user option
14552 variable. The difference is that you specify two additional pieces of
14553 information (usually): the "type" which says what values are
14554 legitimate, and the "group" which specifies the hierarchy for
14557 Thus, instead of writing
14559 (defvar foo-blurgoze nil
14560 "*Non-nil means that foo will act very blurgozely.")
14562 you would now write this:
14564 (defcustom foo-blurgoze nil
14565 "*Non-nil means that foo will act very blurgozely."
14569 The type `boolean' means that this variable has only
14570 two meaningful states: nil and non-nil. Other type values
14571 describe other possibilities; see the manual for Custom
14572 for a description of them.
14574 The "group" argument is used to specify a group which the option
14575 should belong to. You define a new group like this:
14577 (defgroup ispell nil
14578 "Spell checking using Ispell."
14581 The "group" argument in defgroup specifies the parent group. The root
14582 group is called `emacs'; it should not contain any variables itself,
14583 but only other groups. The immediate subgroups of `emacs' correspond
14584 to the keywords used by C-h p. Under these subgroups come
14585 second-level subgroups that belong to individual packages.
14587 Each Emacs package should have its own set of groups. A simple
14588 package should have just one group; a more complex package should
14589 have a hierarchy of its own groups. The sole or root group of a
14590 package should be a subgroup of one or more of the "keyword"
14591 first-level subgroups.
14593 ** New `widget' library for inserting UI components in buffers.
14595 This library, used by the new custom library, is documented in a
14596 separate manual that accompanies Emacs.
14600 The easy-mmode package provides macros and functions that make
14601 developing minor modes easier. Roughly, the programmer has to code
14602 only the functionality of the minor mode. All the rest--toggles,
14603 predicate, and documentation--can be done in one call to the macro
14604 `easy-mmode-define-minor-mode' (see the documentation). See also
14605 `easy-mmode-define-keymap'.
14607 ** Text property changes
14609 *** The `intangible' property now works on overlays as well as on a
14612 *** The new functions next-char-property-change and
14613 previous-char-property-change scan through the buffer looking for a
14614 place where either a text property or an overlay might change. The
14615 functions take two arguments, POSITION and LIMIT. POSITION is the
14616 starting position for the scan. LIMIT says where to stop the scan.
14618 If no property change is found before LIMIT, the value is LIMIT. If
14619 LIMIT is nil, scan goes to the beginning or end of the accessible part
14620 of the buffer. If no property change is found, the value is the
14621 position of the beginning or end of the buffer.
14623 *** In the `local-map' text property or overlay property, the property
14624 value can now be a symbol whose function definition is a keymap. This
14625 is an alternative to using the keymap itself.
14627 ** Changes in invisibility features
14629 *** Isearch can now temporarily show parts of the buffer which are
14630 hidden by an overlay with a invisible property, when the search match
14631 is inside that portion of the buffer. To enable this the overlay
14632 should have a isearch-open-invisible property which is a function that
14633 would be called having the overlay as an argument, the function should
14634 make the overlay visible.
14636 During incremental search the overlays are shown by modifying the
14637 invisible and intangible properties, if beside this more actions are
14638 needed the overlay should have a isearch-open-invisible-temporary
14639 which is a function. The function is called with 2 arguments: one is
14640 the overlay and the second is nil when it should show the overlay and
14641 t when it should hide it.
14643 *** add-to-invisibility-spec, remove-from-invisibility-spec
14645 Modes that use overlays to hide portions of a buffer should set the
14646 invisible property of the overlay to the mode's name (or another symbol)
14647 and modify the `buffer-invisibility-spec' to include that symbol.
14648 Use `add-to-invisibility-spec' and `remove-from-invisibility-spec' to
14649 manipulate the `buffer-invisibility-spec'.
14650 Here is an example of how to do this:
14652 ;; If we want to display an ellipsis:
14653 (add-to-invisibility-spec '(my-symbol . t))
14654 ;; If you don't want ellipsis:
14655 (add-to-invisibility-spec 'my-symbol)
14658 (overlay-put (make-overlay beginning end) 'invisible 'my-symbol)
14661 ;; When done with the overlays:
14662 (remove-from-invisibility-spec '(my-symbol . t))
14663 ;; Or respectively:
14664 (remove-from-invisibility-spec 'my-symbol)
14666 ** Changes in syntax parsing.
14668 *** The syntax-directed buffer-scan functions (such as
14669 `parse-partial-sexp', `forward-word' and similar functions) can now
14670 obey syntax information specified by text properties, if the variable
14671 `parse-sexp-lookup-properties' is non-nil.
14673 If the value of `parse-sexp-lookup-properties' is nil, the behavior
14674 is as before: the syntax-table of the current buffer is always
14675 used to determine the syntax of the character at the position.
14677 When `parse-sexp-lookup-properties' is non-nil, the syntax of a
14678 character in the buffer is calculated thus:
14680 a) if the `syntax-table' text-property of that character
14681 is a cons, this cons becomes the syntax-type;
14683 Valid values of `syntax-table' text-property are: nil, a valid
14684 syntax-table, and a valid syntax-table element, i.e.,
14685 a cons cell of the form (SYNTAX-CODE . MATCHING-CHAR).
14687 b) if the character's `syntax-table' text-property
14688 is a syntax table, this syntax table is used
14689 (instead of the syntax-table of the current buffer) to
14690 determine the syntax type of the character.
14692 c) otherwise the syntax-type is determined by the syntax-table
14693 of the current buffer.
14695 *** The meaning of \s in regular expressions is also affected by the
14696 value of `parse-sexp-lookup-properties'. The details are the same as
14697 for the syntax-directed buffer-scan functions.
14699 *** There are two new syntax-codes, `!' and `|' (numeric values 14
14700 and 15). A character with a code `!' starts a comment which is ended
14701 only by another character with the same code (unless quoted). A
14702 character with a code `|' starts a string which is ended only by
14703 another character with the same code (unless quoted).
14705 These codes are mainly meant for use as values of the `syntax-table'
14708 *** The function `parse-partial-sexp' has new semantics for the sixth
14709 arg COMMENTSTOP. If it is `syntax-table', parse stops after the start
14710 of a comment or a string, or after end of a comment or a string.
14712 *** The state-list which the return value from `parse-partial-sexp'
14713 (and can also be used as an argument) now has an optional ninth
14714 element: the character address of the start of last comment or string;
14715 nil if none. The fourth and eighth elements have special values if the
14716 string/comment is started by a "!" or "|" syntax-code.
14718 *** Since new features of `parse-partial-sexp' allow a complete
14719 syntactic parsing, `font-lock' no longer supports
14720 `font-lock-comment-start-regexp'.
14722 ** Changes in face features
14724 *** The face functions are now unconditionally defined in Emacs, even
14725 if it does not support displaying on a device that supports faces.
14727 *** The function face-documentation returns the documentation string
14728 of a face (or nil if it doesn't have one).
14730 *** The function face-bold-p returns t if a face should be bold.
14731 set-face-bold-p sets that flag.
14733 *** The function face-italic-p returns t if a face should be italic.
14734 set-face-italic-p sets that flag.
14736 *** You can now specify foreground and background colors for text
14737 by adding elements of the form (foreground-color . COLOR-NAME)
14738 and (background-color . COLOR-NAME) to the list of faces in
14739 the `face' property (either the character's text property or an
14742 This means that you no longer need to create named faces to use
14743 arbitrary colors in a Lisp package.
14745 ** Changes in file-handling functions
14747 *** File-access primitive functions no longer discard an extra redundant
14748 directory name from the beginning of the file name. In other words,
14749 they no longer do anything special with // or /~. That conversion
14750 is now done only in substitute-in-file-name.
14752 This makes it possible for a Lisp program to open a file whose name
14755 *** If copy-file is unable to set the date of the output file,
14756 it now signals an error with the condition file-date-error.
14758 *** The inode number returned by file-attributes may be an integer (if
14759 the number fits in a Lisp integer) or a list of integers.
14761 *** insert-file-contents can now read from a special file,
14762 as long as the arguments VISIT and REPLACE are nil.
14764 *** The RAWFILE arg to find-file-noselect, if non-nil, now suppresses
14765 character code conversion as well as other things.
14767 Meanwhile, this feature does work with remote file names
14768 (formerly it did not).
14770 *** Lisp packages which create temporary files should use the TMPDIR
14771 environment variable to decide which directory to put them in.
14773 *** interpreter-mode-alist elements now specify regexps
14774 instead of constant strings.
14776 *** expand-file-name no longer treats `//' or `/~' specially. It used
14777 to delete all the text of a file name up through the first slash of
14778 any `//' or `/~' sequence. Now it passes them straight through.
14780 substitute-in-file-name continues to treat those sequences specially,
14781 in the same way as before.
14783 *** The variable `format-alist' is more general now.
14784 The FROM-FN and TO-FN in a format definition can now be strings
14785 which specify shell commands to use as filters to perform conversion.
14787 *** The new function access-file tries to open a file, and signals an
14788 error if that fails. If the open succeeds, access-file does nothing
14789 else, and returns nil.
14791 *** The function insert-directory now signals an error if the specified
14792 directory cannot be listed.
14794 ** Changes in minibuffer input
14796 *** The functions read-buffer, read-variable, read-command, read-string
14797 read-file-name, read-from-minibuffer and completing-read now take an
14798 additional argument which specifies the default value. If this
14799 argument is non-nil, it should be a string; that string is used in two
14802 It is returned if the user enters empty input.
14803 It is available through the history command M-n.
14805 *** The functions read-string, read-from-minibuffer,
14806 read-no-blanks-input and completing-read now take an additional
14807 argument INHERIT-INPUT-METHOD. If this is non-nil, then the
14808 minibuffer inherits the current input method and the setting of
14809 enable-multibyte-characters from the previously current buffer.
14811 In an interactive spec, you can use M instead of s to read an
14812 argument in this way.
14814 *** All minibuffer input functions discard text properties
14815 from the text you enter in the minibuffer, unless the variable
14816 minibuffer-allow-text-properties is non-nil.
14818 ** Echo area features
14820 *** Clearing the echo area now runs the normal hook
14821 echo-area-clear-hook. Note that the echo area can be used while the
14822 minibuffer is active; in that case, the minibuffer is still active
14823 after the echo area is cleared.
14825 *** The function current-message returns the message currently displayed
14826 in the echo area, or nil if there is none.
14828 ** Keyboard input features
14830 *** tty-erase-char is a new variable that reports which character was
14831 set up as the terminal's erase character when time Emacs was started.
14833 *** num-nonmacro-input-events is the total number of input events
14834 received so far from the terminal. It does not count those generated
14835 by keyboard macros.
14837 ** Frame-related changes
14839 *** make-frame runs the normal hook before-make-frame-hook just before
14840 creating a frame, and just after creating a frame it runs the abnormal
14841 hook after-make-frame-functions with the new frame as arg.
14843 *** The new hook window-configuration-change-hook is now run every time
14844 the window configuration has changed. The frame whose configuration
14845 has changed is the selected frame when the hook is run.
14847 *** Each frame now independently records the order for recently
14848 selected buffers, in its buffer-list frame parameter, so that the
14849 value of other-buffer is now based on the buffers recently displayed
14850 in the selected frame.
14852 *** The value of the frame parameter vertical-scroll-bars
14853 is now `left', `right' or nil. A non-nil value specifies
14854 which side of the window to put the scroll bars on.
14856 ** X Windows features
14858 *** You can examine X resources for other applications by binding
14859 x-resource-class around a call to x-get-resource. The usual value of
14860 x-resource-class is "Emacs", which is the correct value for Emacs.
14862 *** In menus, checkboxes and radio buttons now actually work.
14863 The menu displays the current status of the box or button.
14865 *** The function x-list-fonts now takes an optional fourth argument
14866 MAXIMUM which sets a limit on how many matching fonts to return.
14867 A smaller value of MAXIMUM makes the function faster.
14869 If the only question is whether *any* font matches the pattern,
14870 it is good to supply 1 for this argument.
14872 ** Subprocess features
14874 *** A reminder: it is no longer necessary for subprocess filter
14875 functions and sentinels to do save-match-data, because Emacs does this
14878 *** The new function shell-command-to-string executes a shell command
14879 and returns the output from the command as a string.
14881 *** The new function process-contact returns t for a child process,
14882 and (HOSTNAME SERVICE) for a net connection.
14884 ** An error in running pre-command-hook or post-command-hook
14885 does clear the variable to nil. The documentation was wrong before.
14887 ** In define-key-after, if AFTER is t, the new binding now always goes
14888 at the end of the keymap. If the keymap is a menu, this means it
14889 goes after the other menu items.
14891 ** If you have a program that makes several changes in the same area
14892 of the buffer, you can use the macro combine-after-change-calls
14893 around that Lisp code to make it faster when after-change hooks
14896 The macro arranges to call the after-change functions just once for a
14897 series of several changes--if that seems safe.
14899 Don't alter the variables after-change-functions and
14900 after-change-function within the body of a combine-after-change-calls
14903 ** If you define an abbrev (with define-abbrev) whose EXPANSION
14904 is not a string, then the abbrev does not expand in the usual sense,
14905 but its hook is still run.
14907 ** Normally, the Lisp debugger is not used (even if you have enabled it)
14908 for errors that are handled by condition-case.
14910 If you set debug-on-signal to a non-nil value, then the debugger is called
14911 regardless of whether there is a handler for the condition. This is
14912 useful for debugging problems that happen inside of a condition-case.
14914 This mode of operation seems to be unreliable in other ways. Errors that
14915 are normal and ought to be handled, perhaps in timers or process
14916 filters, will instead invoke the debugger. So don't say you weren't
14919 ** The new variable ring-bell-function lets you specify your own
14920 way for Emacs to "ring the bell".
14922 ** If run-at-time's TIME argument is t, the action is repeated at
14923 integral multiples of REPEAT from the epoch; this is useful for
14924 functions like display-time.
14926 ** You can use the function locate-library to find the precise file
14927 name of a Lisp library. This isn't new, but wasn't documented before.
14929 ** Commands for entering view mode have new optional arguments that
14930 can be used from Lisp. Low-level entrance to and exit from view mode
14931 is done by functions view-mode-enter and view-mode-exit.
14933 ** batch-byte-compile-file now makes Emacs return a nonzero status code
14934 if there is an error in compilation.
14936 ** pop-to-buffer, switch-to-buffer-other-window and
14937 switch-to-buffer-other-frame now accept an additional optional
14938 argument NORECORD, much like switch-to-buffer. If it is non-nil,
14939 they don't put the buffer at the front of the buffer list.
14941 ** If your .emacs file leaves the *scratch* buffer non-empty,
14942 Emacs does not display the startup message, so as to avoid changing
14943 the *scratch* buffer.
14945 ** The new function regexp-opt returns an efficient regexp to match a string.
14946 The arguments are STRINGS and (optionally) PAREN. This function can be used
14947 where regexp matching or searching is intensively used and speed is important,
14948 e.g., in Font Lock mode.
14950 ** The variable buffer-display-count is local to each buffer,
14951 and is incremented each time the buffer is displayed in a window.
14952 It starts at 0 when the buffer is created.
14954 ** The new function compose-mail starts composing a mail message
14955 using the user's chosen mail composition agent (specified with the
14956 variable mail-user-agent). It has variants compose-mail-other-window
14957 and compose-mail-other-frame.
14959 ** The `user-full-name' function now takes an optional parameter which
14960 can either be a number (the UID) or a string (the login name). The
14961 full name of the specified user will be returned.
14963 ** Lisp packages that load files of customizations, or any other sort
14964 of user profile, should obey the variable init-file-user in deciding
14965 where to find it. They should load the profile of the user name found
14966 in that variable. If init-file-user is nil, meaning that the -q
14967 option was used, then Lisp packages should not load the customization
14970 ** format-time-string now allows you to specify the field width
14971 and type of padding. This works as in printf: you write the field
14972 width as digits in the middle of a %-construct. If you start
14973 the field width with 0, it means to pad with zeros.
14975 For example, %S normally specifies the number of seconds since the
14976 minute; %03S means to pad this with zeros to 3 positions, %_3S to pad
14977 with spaces to 3 positions. Plain %3S pads with zeros, because that
14978 is how %S normally pads to two positions.
14980 ** thing-at-point now supports a new kind of "thing": url.
14982 ** imenu.el changes.
14984 You can now specify a function to be run when selecting an
14985 item from menu created by imenu.
14987 An example of using this feature: if we define imenu items for the
14988 #include directives in a C file, we can open the included file when we
14989 select one of those items.
14991 * For older news, see the file ONEWS
14993 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
14994 Copyright information:
14996 Copyright (C) 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004,
14997 2005, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
14999 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
15000 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
15001 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
15002 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
15004 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
15005 of this document, or of portions of it,
15006 under the above conditions, provided also that they
15007 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
15011 paragraph-separate: "[
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15014 arch-tag: 1aca9dfa-2ac4-4d14-bebf-0007cee12793