1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 2003-05-21
2 Copyright (C) 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005
3 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 See the end for copying conditions.
6 Please send Emacs bug reports to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.
7 For older news, see the file ONEWS
8 You can narrow news to the specific version by calling
9 `view-emacs-news' with a prefix argument or by typing C-u C-h C-n.
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
20 ** Emacs includes now support for loading image libraries on demand.
21 (Currently this feature is only used on MS Windows.) You can configure
22 the supported image types and their associated dynamic libraries by
23 setting the variable `image-library-alist'.
26 ** New translations of the Emacs Tutorial are available in the following
27 languages: Brasilian, Bulgarian, Chinese (both with simplified and
28 traditional characters), French, and Italian. Type `C-u C-h t' to
29 choose one of them in case your language setup doesn't automatically
33 ** You can build Emacs with Gtk+ widgets by specifying `--with-x-toolkit=gtk'
34 when you run configure. This requires Gtk+ 2.0 or newer. This port
35 provides a way to display multilingual text in menus (with some caveats).
38 ** Emacs can now be built without sound support.
41 ** The `emacsserver' program has been removed, replaced with elisp code.
44 ** Emacs now supports new configure options `--program-prefix',
45 `--program-suffix' and `--program-transform-name' that affect the names of
49 ** By default, Emacs now uses a setgid helper program to update game
50 scores. The directory ${localstatedir}/games/emacs is the normal
51 place for game scores to be stored. This may be controlled by the
52 configure option `--with-game-dir'. The specific user that Emacs uses
53 to own the game scores is controlled by `--with-game-user'. If access
54 to a game user is not available, then scores will be stored separately
55 in each user's home directory.
58 ** Leim is now part of the Emacs distribution.
59 You no longer need to download a separate tarball in order to build
63 ** The Emacs Lisp Reference Manual is now part of the distribution.
65 The ELisp reference manual in Info format is built as part of the
66 Emacs build procedure and installed together with the Emacs User
67 Manual. A menu item was added to the menu bar that makes it easy
68 accessible (Help->More Manuals->Emacs Lisp Reference).
71 ** The Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp manual is now part of
74 This manual is now part of the standard distribution and is installed,
75 together with the Emacs User Manual, into the Info directory. A menu
76 item was added to the menu bar that makes it easy accessible
77 (Help->More Manuals->Introduction to Emacs Lisp).
80 ** Support for Cygwin was added.
83 ** Support for FreeBSD/Alpha has been added.
86 ** Support for GNU/Linux systems on S390 machines was added.
89 ** Support for MacOS X was added.
90 See the files mac/README and mac/INSTALL for build instructions.
93 ** Support for GNU/Linux systems on X86-64 machines was added.
96 ** Mac OS 9 port now uses the Carbon API by default. You can also
97 create non-Carbon build by specifying `NonCarbon' as a target. See
98 the files mac/README and mac/INSTALL for build instructions.
101 ** A French translation of the `Emacs Survival Guide' is available.
104 ** Building with -DENABLE_CHECKING does not automatically build with union
105 types any more. Add -DUSE_LISP_UNION_TYPE if you want union types.
108 * Changes in Emacs 22.1
110 ** Improved key bindings support when running in an xterm.
111 When emacs is running in an xterm more key bindings are available. The
112 following should work:
113 {C,S,C-S,A}-{right,left,up,down,prior,next,delete,insert,F1-12}.
114 These key bindings work on xterm from X.org 6.8, they might not work on
115 some older versions of xterm, or on some proprietary versions.
117 ** Improved Thai support. A new minor mode `thai-word-mode' (which is
118 automatically activated if you select Thai as a language
119 environment) changes key bindings of most word-oriented commands to
120 versions which recognize Thai words. Affected commands are
124 M-DEL (backward-kill-word)
125 M-t (transpose-words)
128 ** fast-lock.el and lazy-lock.el are obsolete. Use jit-lock.el instead.
131 ** The default settings for JIT stealth lock parameters are changed.
132 The default value for the user option jit-lock-stealth-time is now 16
133 instead of 3, and the default value of jit-lock-stealth-nice is now
134 0.5 instead of 0.125. The new defaults should lower the CPU usage
135 when Emacs is fontifying in the background.
137 ** iso-acc.el is now obsolete. Use one of the latin input methods instead.
140 ** Language environment and various default coding systems are setup
141 more correctly according to the current locale name. If the locale
142 name doesn't specify a charset, the default is what glibc defines.
143 This change may result in using the different coding systems as
144 default in some locale (e.g. vi_VN).
147 ** The commands copy-file, rename-file, make-symbolic-link and
148 add-name-to-file, when given a directory as the "new name" argument,
149 convert it to a file name by merging in the within-directory part of
150 the existing file's name. (This is the same convention that shell
151 commands cp, mv, and ln follow.) Thus, M-x copy-file RET ~/foo RET
152 /tmp RET copies ~/foo to /tmp/foo.
155 ** M-o now is the prefix key for setting text properties;
156 M-o M-o requests refontification.
159 ** M-g is now a prefix key.
161 M-g g and M-g M-g run goto-line.
162 M-g n and M-g M-n run next-error (like C-x `).
163 M-g p and M-g M-p run previous-error.
166 ** font-lock-lines-before specifies a number of lines before the
167 current line that should be refontified when you change the buffer.
168 The default value is 1.
171 ** C-u M-x goto-line now switches to the most recent previous buffer,
172 and goes to the specified line in that buffer.
174 When goto-line starts to execute, if there's a number in the buffer at
175 point then it acts as the default argument for the minibuffer.
178 ** Emacs now responds to mouse-clicks on the mode-line, header-line and
179 display margin, when run in an xterm.
182 ** M-SPC (just-one-space) when given a numeric argument N
183 converts whitespace around point to N spaces.
186 ** Control characters and escape glyphs are now shown in the new
190 ** Non-breaking space and hyphens are now prefixed with an escape
191 character, unless the new user variable `show-nonbreak-escape' is set
195 ** The type-break package now allows `type-break-file-name' to be nil
196 and if so, doesn't store any data across sessions. This is handy if
197 you don't want the .type-break file in your home directory or are
198 annoyed by the need for interaction when you kill Emacs.
201 ** display-battery has been replaced by display-battery-mode.
204 ** calculator.el now has radix grouping mode, which is available when
205 `calculator-output-radix' is non-nil. In this mode a separator
206 character is used every few digits, making it easier to see byte
207 boundries etc. For more info, see the documentation of the variable
208 `calculator-radix-grouping-mode'.
211 ** You can now follow links by clicking Mouse-1 on the link.
213 Traditionally, Emacs uses a Mouse-1 click to set point and a Mouse-2
214 click to follow a link, whereas most other applications use a Mouse-1
215 click for both purposes, depending on whether you click outside or
216 inside a link. Now the behavior of a Mouse-1 click has been changed
217 to match this context-sentitive dual behavior.
219 Depending on the current mode, a Mouse-2 click in Emacs may do much
220 more than just follow a link, so the new Mouse-1 behavior is only
221 activated for modes which explicitly mark a clickable text as a "link"
222 (see the new function `mouse-on-link-p' for details). The Lisp
223 packages that are included in release 22.1 have been adapted to do
224 this, but external packages may not yet support this. However, there
225 is no risk in using such packages, as the worst thing that could
226 happen is that you get the original Mouse-1 behavior when you click
227 on a link, which typically means that you set point where you click.
229 If you want to get the original Mouse-1 action also inside a link, you
230 just need to press the Mouse-1 button a little longer than a normal
231 click (i.e. press and hold the Mouse-1 button for half a second before
234 Dragging the Mouse-1 inside a link still performs the original
235 drag-mouse-1 action, typically copy the text.
237 You can customize the new Mouse-1 behavior via the new user options
238 `mouse-1-click-follows-link' and `mouse-1-click-in-non-selected-windows'.
241 ** require-final-newline now has two new possible values:
243 `visit' means add a newline (as an undoable change) if it's needed
244 when visiting the file.
246 `visit-save' means add a newline (as an undoable change) if it's
247 needed when visiting the file, and also add a newline if it's needed
248 when saving the file.
251 ** The new option mode-require-final-newline controls how certain
252 major modes enable require-final-newline. Any major mode that's
253 designed for a kind of file that should normally end in a newline
254 sets require-final-newline based on mode-require-final-newline.
255 So you can customize mode-require-final-newline to control what these
259 ** When the undo information of the current command gets really large
260 (beyond the value of `undo-outer-limit'), Emacs discards it and warns
264 ** line-move-ignore-invisible now defaults to t.
267 ** In Outline mode, hide-body no longer hides lines at the top
268 of the file that precede the first header line.
271 ** In Enriched mode, `set-left-margin' and `set-right-margin' are now
272 by default bound to `C-c [' and `C-c ]' instead of the former `C-c C-l'
276 ** In processing a local variables list, Emacs strips the prefix and
277 suffix are from every line before processing all the lines.
280 ** `apply-macro-to-region-lines' now operates on all lines that begin
281 in the region, rather than on all complete lines in the region.
284 ** global-whitespace-mode is a new alias for whitespace-global-mode.
287 ** There are now two new regular expression operators, \_< and \_>,
288 for matching the beginning and end of a symbol. A symbol is a
289 non-empty sequence of either word or symbol constituent characters, as
290 specified by the syntax table.
292 *** rx.el has new corresponding `symbol-end' and `symbol-start' elements.
295 ** Passing resources on the command line now works on MS Windows.
296 You can use --xrm to pass resource settings to Emacs, overriding any
297 existing values. For example:
299 emacs --xrm "Emacs.Background:red" --xrm "Emacs.Geometry:100x20"
301 will start up Emacs on an initial frame of 100x20 with red background,
302 irrespective of geometry or background setting on the Windows registry.
305 ** The terminal emulation code in term.el has been improved, it can
306 run most curses applications now.
308 ** New features in evaluation commands
311 *** The function `eval-defun' (C-M-x) called on defface reinitializes
312 the face to the value specified in the defface expression.
315 *** Typing C-x C-e twice prints the value of the integer result
316 in additional formats (octal, hexadecimal, character) specified
317 by the new function `eval-expression-print-format'. The same
318 function also defines the result format for `eval-expression' (M-:),
319 `eval-print-last-sexp' (C-j) and some edebug evaluation functions.
322 ** New input method chinese-sisheng for inputting Chinese Pinyin
326 ** New command quail-show-key shows what key (or key sequence) to type
327 in the current input method to input a character at point.
330 ** You can now switch buffers in a cyclic order with C-x C-left and
331 (prev-buffer) and C-x C-right (next-buffer). C-x left and C-x right
335 ** Commands winner-redo and winner-undo, from winner.el, are now bound to
336 C-c <left> and C-c <right>, respectively. This is an incompatible change.
339 ** Help commands `describe-function' and `describe-key' now show function
340 arguments in lowercase italics on displays that support it. To change the
341 default, customize face `help-argument-name' or redefine the function
342 `help-default-arg-highlight'.
345 ** The comint prompt can now be made read-only, using the new user
346 option `comint-prompt-read-only'. This is not enabled by default,
347 except in IELM buffers. The read-only status of IELM prompts can be
348 controlled with the new user option `ielm-prompt-read-only', which
349 overrides `comint-prompt-read-only'.
351 The new commands `comint-kill-whole-line' and `comint-kill-region'
352 support editing comint buffers with read-only prompts.
354 `comint-kill-whole-line' is like `kill-whole-line', but ignores both
355 read-only and field properties. Hence, it always kill entire
356 lines, including any prompts.
358 `comint-kill-region' is like `kill-region', except that it ignores
359 read-only properties, if it is safe to do so. This means that if any
360 part of a prompt is deleted, then the entire prompt must be deleted
361 and that all prompts must stay at the beginning of a line. If this is
362 not the case, then `comint-kill-region' behaves just like
363 `kill-region' if read-only are involved: it copies the text to the
364 kill-ring, but does not delete it.
367 ** You can now use next-error (C-x `) and previous-error to advance to
368 the next/previous matching line found by M-x occur.
371 ** Telnet now prompts you for a port number with C-u M-x telnet.
374 ** New command line option -Q or --quick.
376 This is like using -q --no-site-file, but in addition it also disables
377 the fancy startup screen.
380 ** New command line option -D or --basic-display.
382 Disables the menu-bar, the tool-bar, the scroll-bars, tool tips, and
386 ** New command line option -nbc or --no-blinking-cursor disables
387 the blinking cursor on graphical terminals.
390 ** C-h v and C-h f commands now include a hyperlink to the C source for
391 variables and functions defined in C (if the C source is available).
394 ** When used interactively, `format-write-file' now asks for confirmation
395 before overwriting an existing file, unless a prefix argument is
396 supplied. This behavior is analogous to `write-file'.
399 ** You can now use Auto Revert mode to `tail' a file.
400 If point is at the end of a file buffer before reverting, Auto Revert
401 mode keeps it at the end after reverting. Similarly if point is
402 displayed at the end of a file buffer in any window, it stays at
403 the end of the buffer in that window. This allows to tail a file:
404 just put point at the end of the buffer and it stays there. This
405 rule applies to file buffers. For non-file buffers, the behavior may
408 If you are sure that the file will only change by growing at the end,
409 then you can tail the file more efficiently by using the new minor
410 mode Auto Revert Tail mode. The function `auto-revert-tail-mode'
414 ** Auto Revert mode is now more careful to avoid excessive reverts and
415 other potential problems when deciding which non-file buffers to
416 revert. This matters especially if Global Auto Revert mode is enabled
417 and `global-auto-revert-non-file-buffers' is non-nil. Auto Revert
418 mode only reverts a non-file buffer if the buffer has a non-nil
419 `revert-buffer-function' and a non-nil `buffer-stale-function', which
420 decides whether the buffer should be reverted. Currently, this means
421 that auto reverting works for Dired buffers (although this may not
422 work properly on all operating systems) and for the Buffer Menu.
425 ** If the new user option `auto-revert-check-vc-info' is non-nil, Auto
426 Revert mode reliably updates version control info (such as the version
427 control number in the mode line), in all version controlled buffers in
428 which it is active. If the option is nil, the default, then this info
429 only gets updated whenever the buffer gets reverted.
432 ** New command `Buffer-menu-toggle-files-only' toggles display of file
433 buffers only in the Buffer Menu. It is bound to `T' in Buffer Menu
437 ** M-x compile has become more robust and reliable
439 Quite a few more kinds of messages are recognized. Messages that are
440 recognized as warnings or informational come in orange or green, instead of
441 red. Informational messages are by default skipped with `next-error'
442 (controlled by `compilation-skip-threshold').
444 Location data is collected on the fly as the *compilation* buffer changes.
445 This means you could modify messages to make them point to different files.
446 This also means you can not go to locations of messages you may have deleted.
448 The variable `compilation-error-regexp-alist' has now become customizable. If
449 you had added your own regexps to this, you'll probably need to include a
450 leading `^', otherwise they'll match anywhere on a line. There is now also a
451 `compilation-mode-font-lock-keywords' and it nicely handles all the checks
452 that configure outputs and -o options so you see at a glance where you are.
454 The new file etc/compilation.txt gives examples of each type of message.
456 ** Compilation mode enhancements:
459 *** New user option `compilation-environment'.
460 This option allows you to specify environment variables for inferior
461 compilation processes without affecting the environment that all
462 subprocesses inherit.
465 ** Grep has been decoupled from compilation mode setup.
468 *** There's a new separate package grep.el.
471 *** M-x grep has been adapted to new compile
473 Hits are fontified in green, and hits in binary files in orange. Grep buffers
474 can be saved and automatically revisited with the new Grep mode.
477 *** Grep commands now have their own submenu and customization group.
480 *** `grep-find' is now also available under the name `find-grep' where
481 people knowing `find-grep-dired' would probably expect it.
484 *** The new variables `grep-window-height', `grep-auto-highlight', and
485 `grep-scroll-output' can be used to override the corresponding
486 compilation mode settings for grep commands.
489 *** New option `grep-highlight-matches' highlightes matches in *grep*
490 buffer. It uses a special feature of some grep programs which accept
491 --color option to output markers around matches. When going to the next
492 match with `next-error' the exact match is highlighted in the source
493 buffer. Otherwise, if `grep-highlight-matches' is nil, the whole
494 source line is highlighted.
497 *** New key bindings in grep output window:
498 SPC and DEL scrolls window up and down. C-n and C-p moves to next and
499 previous match in the grep window. RET jumps to the source line of
500 the current match. `n' and `p' shows next and previous match in
501 other window, but does not switch buffer. `{' and `}' jumps to the
502 previous or next file in the grep output. TAB also jumps to the next
506 ** New options `next-error-highlight' and `next-error-highlight-no-select'
507 specify the method of highlighting of the corresponding source line
508 in new face `next-error'.
511 ** A new minor mode `next-error-follow-minor-mode' can be used in
512 compilation-mode, grep-mode, occur-mode, and diff-mode (i.e. all the
513 modes that can use `next-error'). In this mode, cursor motion in the
514 buffer causes automatic display in another window of the corresponding
515 matches, compilation errors, etc. This minor mode can be toggled with
519 ** M-x diff uses diff-mode instead of compilation-mode.
522 ** M-x compare-windows now can automatically skip non-matching text to
523 resync points in both windows.
526 ** New command `strokes-global-set-stroke-string'.
527 This is like `strokes-global-set-stroke', but it allows you to bind
528 the stroke directly to a string to insert. This is convenient for
529 using strokes as an input method.
534 *** Gnus now includes Sieve and PGG
535 Sieve is a library for managing Sieve scripts. PGG is a library to handle
539 *** There are many news features, bug fixes and improvements.
540 See the file GNUS-NEWS or the node "Oort Gnus" in the Gnus manual for details.
546 *** Desktop saving is now a minor mode, desktop-save-mode. Variable
547 desktop-enable is obsolete. Customize desktop-save-mode to enable desktop
551 *** Buffers are saved in the desktop file in the same order as that in the
555 *** The desktop package can be customized to restore only some buffers immediately,
556 remaining buffers are restored lazily (when Emacs is idle).
560 - desktop-revert reverts to the last loaded desktop.
561 - desktop-change-dir kills current desktop and loads a new.
562 - desktop-save-in-desktop-dir saves desktop in the directory from which
564 - desktop-lazy-complete runs the desktop load to completion.
565 - desktop-lazy-abort aborts lazy loading of the desktop.
568 *** New customizable variables:
569 - desktop-save. Determins whether the desktop should be saved when it is
571 - desktop-file-name-format. Format in which desktop file names should be saved.
572 - desktop-path. List of directories in which to lookup the desktop file.
573 - desktop-locals-to-save. List of local variables to save.
574 - desktop-globals-to-clear. List of global variables that `desktop-clear' will clear.
575 - desktop-clear-preserve-buffers-regexp. Regexp identifying buffers that `desktop-clear'
577 - desktop-restore-eager. Number of buffers to restore immediately. Remaining buffers are
578 restored lazily (when Emacs is idle).
579 - desktop-lazy-verbose. Verbose reporting of lazily created buffers.
580 - desktop-lazy-idle-delay. Idle delay before starting to create buffers.
583 *** New command line option --no-desktop
587 - desktop-after-read-hook run after a desktop is loaded.
588 - desktop-no-desktop-file-hook run when no desktop file is found.
591 ** The saveplace.el package now filters out unreadable files.
592 When you exit Emacs, the saved positions in visited files no longer
593 include files that aren't readable, e.g. files that don't exist.
594 Customize the new option `save-place-forget-unreadable-files' to nil
595 to get the old behavior. The new options `save-place-save-skipped'
596 and `save-place-skip-check-regexp' allow further fine-tuning of this
600 ** You can have several Emacs servers on the same machine.
602 % emacs --eval '(setq server-name "foo")' -f server-start &
603 % emacs --eval '(setq server-name "bar")' -f server-start &
604 % emacsclient -s foo file1
605 % emacsclient -s bar file2
608 ** On window systems, lines which are exactly as wide as the window
609 (not counting the final newline character) are no longer broken into
610 two lines on the display (with just the newline on the second line).
611 Instead, the newline now "overflows" into the right fringe, and the
612 cursor will be displayed in the fringe when positioned on that newline.
614 The new user option 'overflow-newline-into-fringe' may be set to nil to
615 revert to the old behavior of continuing such lines.
618 ** The buffer boundaries (i.e. first and last line in the buffer) may
619 now be marked with angle bitmaps in the fringes. In addition, up and
620 down arrow bitmaps may be shown at the top and bottom of the left or
621 right fringe if the window can be scrolled in either direction.
623 This behavior is activated by setting the buffer-local variable
624 `indicate-buffer-boundaries' to a non-nil value. The default value of
625 this variable is found in `default-indicate-buffer-boundaries'.
627 If value is `left' or `right', both angle and arrow bitmaps are
628 displayed in the left or right fringe, resp.
630 Value may also be an alist which specifies the presense and position
631 of each bitmap individually.
633 For example, ((top . left) (t . right)) places the top angle bitmap
634 in left fringe, the bottom angle bitmap in right fringe, and both
635 arrow bitmaps in right fringe. To show just the angle bitmaps in the
636 left fringe, but no arrow bitmaps, use ((top . left) (bottom . left)).
639 ** New command `display-local-help' displays any local help at point
640 in the echo area. It is bound to `C-h .'. It normally displays the
641 same string that would be displayed on mouse-over using the
642 `help-echo' property, but, in certain cases, it can display a more
643 keyboard oriented alternative.
646 ** New user option `help-at-pt-display-when-idle' allows to
647 automatically show the help provided by `display-local-help' on
648 point-over, after suitable idle time. The amount of idle time is
649 determined by the user option `help-at-pt-timer-delay' and defaults
650 to one second. This feature is turned off by default.
653 ** New commands `scan-buf-next-region' and `scan-buf-previous-region'
654 move to the start of the next (previous, respectively) region with
655 non-nil help-echo property and display any help found there in the
656 echo area, using `display-local-help'.
659 ** Help mode now only makes hyperlinks for faces when the face name is
660 preceded or followed by the word `face'. It no longer makes
661 hyperlinks for variables without variable documentation, unless
662 preceded by one of the words `variable' or `option'. It now makes
663 hyperlinks to Info anchors (or nodes) if the anchor (or node) name is
664 enclosed in single quotes and preceded by `info anchor' or `Info
665 anchor' (in addition to earlier `info node' and `Info node').
668 ** The max size of buffers and integers has been doubled.
669 On 32bit machines, it is now 256M (i.e. 268435455).
672 ** The -f option, used from the command line to call a function,
673 now reads arguments for the function interactively if it is
674 an interactively callable function.
679 *** The variable `sql-product' controls the highlightng of different
680 SQL dialects. This variable can be set globally via Customize, on a
681 buffer-specific basis via local variable settings, or for the current
682 session using the new SQL->Product submenu. (This menu replaces the
683 SQL->Highlighting submenu.)
685 The following values are supported:
687 ansi ANSI Standard (default)
701 The current product name will be shown on the mode line following the
704 The technique of setting `sql-mode-font-lock-defaults' directly in
705 your .emacs will no longer establish the default highlighting -- Use
706 `sql-product' to accomplish this.
708 ANSI keywords are always highlighted.
710 *** The function `sql-add-product-keywords' can be used to add
711 font-lock rules to the product specific rules. For example, to have
712 all identifiers ending in "_t" under MS SQLServer treated as a type,
713 you would use the following line in your .emacs file:
715 (sql-add-product-keywords 'ms
716 '(("\\<\\w+_t\\>" . font-lock-type-face)))
718 *** Oracle support includes keyword highlighting for Oracle 9i. Most
719 SQL and PL/SQL keywords are implemented. SQL*Plus commands are
720 highlighted in `font-lock-doc-face'.
722 *** Microsoft SQLServer support has been significantly improved.
723 Keyword highlighting for SqlServer 2000 is implemented.
724 sql-interactive-mode defaults to use osql, rather than isql, because
725 osql flushes its error stream more frequently. Thus error messages
726 are displayed when they occur rather than when the session is
729 If the username and password are not provided to `sql-ms', osql is
730 called with the -E command line argument to use the operating system
731 credentials to authenticate the user.
733 *** Postgres support is enhanced.
734 Keyword highlighting of Postgres 7.3 is implemented. Prompting for
735 the username and the pgsql `-U' option is added.
737 *** MySQL support is enhanced.
738 Keyword higlighting of MySql 4.0 is implemented.
740 *** Imenu support has been enhanced to locate tables, views, indexes,
741 packages, procedures, functions, triggers, sequences, rules, and
744 *** Added SQL->Start SQLi Session menu entry which calls the
745 appropriate sql-interactive-mode wrapper for the current setting of
749 ** M-x view-file and commands that use it now avoid interfering
750 with special modes such as Tar mode.
752 ** Enhancements to apropos commands:
755 *** The apropos commands now accept a list of words to match.
756 When more than one word is specified, at least two of those words must
757 be present for an item to match. Regular expression matching is still
761 *** The new option `apropos-sort-by-scores' causes the matching items
762 to be sorted according to their score. The score for an item is a
763 number calculated to indicate how well the item matches the words or
764 regular expression that you entered to the apropos command. The best
765 match is listed first, and the calculated score is shown for each
769 ** The old bindings C-M-delete and C-M-backspace have been deleted,
770 since there are situations where one or the other will shut down
771 the operating system or your X server.
774 ** New minor mode, Visible mode, toggles invisibility in the current buffer.
775 When enabled, it makes all invisible text visible. When disabled, it
776 restores the previous value of `buffer-invisibility-spec'.
779 ** New command `kill-whole-line' kills an entire line at once.
780 By default, it is bound to C-S-<backspace>.
783 ** New commands to operate on pairs of open and close characters:
784 `insert-pair', `delete-pair', `raise-sexp'.
787 ** A prefix argument of C-M-q in Emacs Lisp mode pretty-printifies the
788 list starting after point.
793 *** New faces dired-header, dired-mark, dired-marked, dired-flagged,
794 dired-ignored, dired-directory, dired-symlink, dired-warning
795 introduced for Dired mode instead of font-lock faces.
797 *** New Dired command `dired-compare-directories' marks files
798 with different file attributes in two dired buffers.
801 *** New Dired command `dired-do-touch' (bound to T) changes timestamps
802 of marked files with the value entered in the minibuffer.
805 *** In Dired's ! command (dired-do-shell-command), `*' and `?' now
806 control substitution of the file names only when they are surrounded
807 by whitespace. This means you can now use them as shell wildcards
808 too. If you want to use just plain `*' as a wildcard, type `*""'; the
809 doublequotes make no difference in the shell, but they prevent
810 special treatment in `dired-do-shell-command'.
813 *** In Dired, the w command now copies the current line's file name
814 into the kill ring. With a zero prefix arg, copies absolute file names.
820 *** Omitting files is now a minor mode, dired-omit-mode. The mode toggling
821 command is bound to M-o. A new command dired-mark-omitted, bound to M-O,
822 marks omitted files. The variable dired-omit-files-p is obsoleted, use the
823 mode toggling function instead.
826 ** find-file-read-only visits multiple files in read-only mode,
827 when the file name contains wildcard characters.
830 ** find-alternate-file replaces the current file with multiple files,
831 when the file name contains wildcard characters.
836 *** New ffap commands and keybindings: C-x C-r (`ffap-read-only'),
837 C-x C-v (`ffap-alternate-file'), C-x C-d (`ffap-list-directory'),
838 C-x 4 r (`ffap-read-only-other-window'), C-x 4 d (`ffap-dired-other-window'),
839 C-x 5 r (`ffap-read-only-other-frame'), C-x 5 d (`ffap-dired-other-frame').
842 *** FFAP accepts wildcards in a file name by default. C-x C-f passes
843 it to `find-file' with non-nil WILDCARDS argument, which visits
844 multiple files, and C-x d passes it to `dired'.
849 *** A numeric prefix argument of `info' selects an Info buffer
850 with the number appended to the *info* buffer name (e.g. "*info*<2>").
853 *** isearch in Info uses Info-search and searches through multiple nodes.
854 Before leaving the initial Info node isearch fails once with the error
855 message [initial node], and with subsequent C-s/C-r continues through
856 other nodes. When isearch fails for the rest of the manual, it wraps
857 aroung the whole manual to the top/final node. The user option
858 `Info-isearch-search' controls whether to use Info-search for isearch,
859 or the default isearch search function that wraps around the current
862 *** New search commands: `Info-search-case-sensitively' (bound to S),
863 `Info-search-backward', and `Info-search-next' which repeats the last
864 search without prompting for a new search string.
866 *** New command `Info-history-forward' (bound to r and new toolbar icon)
867 moves forward in history to the node you returned from after using
868 `Info-history-back' (renamed from `Info-last').
870 *** New command `Info-history' (bound to L) displays a menu of visited nodes.
872 *** New command `Info-toc' (bound to T) creates a node with table of contents
873 from the tree structure of menus of the current Info file.
875 *** New command `info-apropos' searches the indices of the known
876 Info files on your system for a string, and builds a menu of the
879 *** New command `Info-copy-current-node-name' (bound to w) copies
880 the current Info node name into the kill ring. With a zero prefix
881 arg, puts the node name inside the `info' function call.
884 *** New face `info-xref-visited' distinguishes visited nodes from unvisited
885 and a new option `Info-fontify-visited-nodes' to control this.
887 *** http and ftp links in Info are now operational: they look like cross
888 references and following them calls `browse-url'.
891 *** Info now hides node names in menus and cross references by default.
892 If you prefer the old behavior, you can set the new user option
893 `Info-hide-note-references' to nil.
896 *** Images in Info pages are supported.
897 Info pages show embedded images, in Emacs frames with image support.
898 Info documentation that includes images, processed with makeinfo
899 version 4.7 or newer, compiles to Info pages with embedded images.
902 *** The default value for `Info-scroll-prefer-subnodes' is now nil.
905 *** Info-index offers completion.
908 ** Support for the SQLite interpreter has been added to sql.el by calling
912 *** The new command bibtex-url browses a URL for the BibTeX entry at
913 point (bound to C-c C-l and mouse-2, RET on clickable fields).
915 *** The new command bibtex-entry-update (bound to C-c C-u) updates
916 an existing BibTeX entry.
918 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' option `required-fields', enabled by default.
920 *** bibtex-maintain-sorted-entries can take values `plain',
921 `crossref', and `entry-class' which control the sorting scheme used
922 for BibTeX entries. `bibtex-sort-entry-class' controls the sorting
923 scheme `entry-class'. TAB completion for reference keys and
924 automatic detection of duplicates does not require anymore that
925 bibtex-maintain-sorted-entries is non-nil.
927 *** If the new variable bibtex-parse-keys-fast is non-nil,
928 use fast but simplified algorithm for parsing BibTeX keys.
930 *** If the new variable bibtex-autoadd-commas is non-nil,
931 automatically add missing commas at end of BibTeX fields.
933 *** The new variable bibtex-autofill-types contains a list of entry
934 types for which fields are filled automatically (if possible).
936 *** The new command bibtex-complete completes word fragment before
937 point according to context (bound to M-tab).
939 *** The new commands bibtex-find-entry and bibtex-find-crossref
940 locate entries and crossref'd entries (bound to C-c C-s and C-c C-x).
941 Crossref fields are clickable (bound to mouse-2, RET).
943 *** In BibTeX mode the command fill-paragraph (bound to M-q) fills
944 individual fields of a BibTeX entry.
946 *** The new variables bibtex-files and bibtex-file-path define a set
947 of BibTeX files that are searched for entry keys.
949 *** The new command bibtex-validate-globally checks for duplicate keys
950 in multiple BibTeX files.
952 *** The new command bibtex-copy-summary-as-kill pushes summary
953 of BibTeX entry to kill ring (bound to C-c C-t).
956 ** When display margins are present in a window, the fringes are now
957 displayed between the margins and the buffer's text area, rather than
958 at the edges of the window.
961 ** A window may now have individual fringe and scroll-bar settings,
962 in addition to the individual display margin settings.
964 Such individual settings are now preserved when windows are split
965 horizontally or vertically, a saved window configuration is restored,
966 or when the frame is resized.
969 ** New functions frame-current-scroll-bars and window-current-scroll-bars.
971 These functions return the current locations of the vertical and
972 horizontal scroll bars in a frame or window.
975 ** Emacs now supports drag and drop for X. Dropping a file on a window
976 opens it, dropping text inserts the text. Dropping a file on a dired
977 buffer copies or moves the file to that directory.
980 ** Under X, mouse-wheel-mode is turned on by default.
983 ** The X resource useXIM can be used to turn off use of XIM, which may
984 speed up Emacs with slow networking to the X server.
986 If the configure option `--without-xim' was used to turn off use of
987 XIM by default, the X resource useXIM can be used to turn it on.
990 ** The X resource cursorBlink can be used to turn off cursor blinking.
993 ** `undo-only' does an undo which does not redo any previous undo.
996 ** `uniquify-strip-common-suffix' tells uniquify to prefer
997 `file|dir1' and `file|dir2' to `file|dir1/subdir' and `file|dir2/subdir'.
1000 ** If the user visits a file larger than `large-file-warning-threshold',
1001 Emacs prompts her for confirmation.
1004 ** A UTF-7 coding system is available in the library `utf-7'.
1007 ** GUD mode has its own tool bar for controlling execution of the inferior
1008 and other common debugger commands.
1013 The recent file list is now automatically cleanup when recentf mode is
1014 enabled. The new option `recentf-auto-cleanup' controls when to do
1017 The `recentf-keep' option replaces `recentf-keep-non-readable-files-p'
1018 and provides a more general mechanism to customize which file names to
1019 keep in the recent list.
1021 With the more advanced option: `recentf-filename-handler', you can
1022 specify a function that transforms filenames handled by recentf. For
1023 example, if set to `file-truename', the same file will not be in the
1024 recent list with different symbolic links.
1026 To follow naming convention, `recentf-menu-append-commands-flag'
1027 replaces the misnamed option `recentf-menu-append-commands-p'. The
1028 old name remains available as alias, but has been marked obsolete.
1031 ** The default for the paper size (variable ps-paper-type) is taken
1035 ** Init file changes
1037 You can now put the init files .emacs and .emacs_SHELL under
1038 ~/.emacs.d or directly under ~. Emacs will find them in either place.
1041 ** partial-completion-mode now does partial completion on directory names.
1044 ** skeleton.el now supports using - to mark the skeleton-point without
1045 interregion interaction. @ has reverted to only setting
1046 skeleton-positions and no longer sets skeleton-point. Skeletons
1047 which used @ to mark skeleton-point independent of _ should now use -
1048 instead. The updated skeleton-insert docstring explains these new
1049 features along with other details of skeleton construction.
1054 Upgraded to MH-E version 7.82. There have been major changes since
1055 version 5.0.2; see MH-E-NEWS for details.
1058 ** The `emacsclient' command understands the options `--eval' and
1059 `--display' which tell Emacs respectively to evaluate the given elisp
1060 expression and to use the given display when visiting files.
1063 ** User option `server-mode' can be used to start a server process.
1066 ** The mode line position information now comes before the major mode.
1067 When the file is maintained under version control, that information
1068 appears between the position information and the major mode.
1071 ** C-x s (save-some-buffers) now offers an option `d' to diff a buffer
1072 against its file, so you can see what changes you would be saving.
1075 ** You can now customize the use of window fringes. To control this
1076 for all frames, use M-x fringe-mode or the Show/Hide submenu of the
1077 top-level Options menu, or customize the `fringe-mode' variable. To
1078 control this for a specific frame, use the command M-x
1082 ** There is a new user option `mail-default-directory' that allows you
1083 to specify the value of `default-directory' for mail buffers. This
1084 directory is used for auto-save files of mail buffers. It defaults to
1088 ** When you are root, and you visit a file whose modes specify
1089 read-only, the Emacs buffer is now read-only too. Type C-x C-q if you
1090 want to make the buffer writable. (As root, you can in fact alter the
1094 ** The new command `revert-buffer-with-coding-system' (C-x RET r)
1095 revisits the current file using a coding system that you specify.
1098 ** The new command `recode-file-name' changes the encoding of the name
1102 ** `ps-print' can now print characters from the mule-unicode charsets.
1104 Printing text with characters from the mule-unicode-* sets works with
1105 ps-print, provided that you have installed the appropriate BDF fonts.
1106 See the file INSTALL for URLs where you can find these fonts.
1109 ** The new options `buffers-menu-show-directories' and
1110 `buffers-menu-show-status' let you control how buffers are displayed
1111 in the menu dropped down when you click "Buffers" from the menu bar.
1113 `buffers-menu-show-directories' controls whether the menu displays
1114 leading directories as part of the file name visited by the buffer.
1115 If its value is `unless-uniquify', the default, directories are
1116 shown unless uniquify-buffer-name-style' is non-nil. The value of nil
1117 and t turn the display of directories off and on, respectively.
1119 `buffers-menu-show-status' controls whether the Buffers menu includes
1120 the modified and read-only status of the buffers. By default it is
1121 t, and the status is shown.
1123 Setting these variables directly does not take effect until next time
1124 the Buffers menu is regenerated.
1127 ** The commands M-x customize-face and M-x customize-face-other-window
1128 now look at the character after point. If a face or faces are
1129 specified for that character, the commands by default customize those
1133 ** New language environments: French, Ukrainian, Tajik,
1134 Bulgarian, Belarusian, Ukrainian, UTF-8, Windows-1255, Welsh, Latin-6,
1135 Latin-7, Lithuanian, Latvian, Swedish, Slovenian, Croatian, Georgian,
1136 Italian, Russian, Malayalam, Tamil, Russian, Chinese-EUC-TW. (Set up
1137 automatically according to the locale.)
1140 ** Indian support has been updated.
1141 The in-is13194 coding system is now Unicode-based. CDAC fonts are
1142 assumed. There is a framework for supporting various
1143 Indian scripts, but currently only Devanagari, Malayalam and Tamil are
1147 ** New input methods: latin-alt-postfix, latin-postfix, latin-prefix,
1148 ukrainian-computer, belarusian, bulgarian-bds, russian-computer,
1149 vietnamese-telex, lithuanian-numeric, lithuanian-keyboard,
1150 latvian-keyboard, welsh, georgian, rfc1345, ucs, sgml,
1151 bulgarian-phonetic, dutch, slovenian, croatian, malayalam-inscript,
1155 ** A new coding system `euc-tw' has been added for traditional Chinese
1156 in CNS encoding; it accepts both Big 5 and CNS as input; on saving,
1157 Big 5 is then converted to CNS.
1160 ** Many new coding systems are available by loading the `code-pages'
1161 library. These include complete versions of most of those in
1162 codepage.el, based on Unicode mappings. `codepage-setup' is now
1163 obsolete and is used only in the MS-DOS port of Emacs. windows-1252
1164 and windows-1251 are preloaded since the former is so common and the
1165 latter is used by GNU locales.
1168 ** The utf-8/16 coding systems have been enhanced.
1169 By default, untranslatable utf-8 sequences are simply composed into
1170 single quasi-characters. User option `utf-translate-cjk-mode' (it is
1171 turned on by default) arranges to translate many utf-8 CJK character
1172 sequences into real Emacs characters in a similar way to the Mule-UCS
1173 system. As this loads a fairly big data on demand, people who are not
1174 interested in CJK characters may want to customize it to nil.
1175 You can augment/amend the CJK translation via hash tables
1176 `ucs-mule-cjk-to-unicode' and `ucs-unicode-to-mule-cjk'. The utf-8
1177 coding system now also encodes characters from most of Emacs's
1178 one-dimensional internal charsets, specifically the ISO-8859 ones.
1179 The utf-16 coding system is affected similarly.
1182 ** New variable `utf-translate-cjk-unicode-range' controls which
1183 Unicode characters to translate in `utf-translate-cjk-mode'.
1186 ** iso-10646-1 (`Unicode') fonts can be used to display any range of
1187 characters encodable by the utf-8 coding system. Just specify the
1188 fontset appropriately.
1191 ** New command `ucs-insert' inserts a character specified by its
1195 ** Limited support for character `unification' has been added.
1196 Emacs now knows how to translate between different representations of
1197 the same characters in various Emacs charsets according to standard
1198 Unicode mappings. This applies mainly to characters in the ISO 8859
1199 sets plus some other 8-bit sets, but can be extended. For instance,
1200 translation works amongst the Emacs ...-iso8859-... charsets and the
1201 mule-unicode-... ones.
1203 By default this translation happens automatically on encoding.
1204 Self-inserting characters are translated to make the input conformant
1205 with the encoding of the buffer in which it's being used, where
1208 You can force a more complete unification with the user option
1209 unify-8859-on-decoding-mode. That maps all the Latin-N character sets
1210 into Unicode characters (from the latin-iso8859-1 and
1211 mule-unicode-0100-24ff charsets) on decoding. Note that this mode
1212 will often effectively clobber data with an iso-2022 encoding.
1215 ** There is support for decoding Greek and Cyrillic characters into
1216 either Unicode (the mule-unicode charsets) or the iso-8859 charsets,
1217 when possible. The latter are more space-efficient. This is
1218 controlled by user option utf-fragment-on-decoding.
1221 ** The new command `set-file-name-coding-system' (C-x RET F) sets
1222 coding system for encoding and decoding file names. A new menu item
1223 (Options->Mule->Set Coding Systems->For File Name) invokes this
1227 ** The scrollbar under LessTif or Motif has a smoother drag-scrolling.
1228 On the other hand, the size of the thumb does not represent the actual
1229 amount of text shown any more (only a crude approximation of it).
1232 ** The pop up menus for Lucid now stay up if you do a fast click and can
1233 be navigated with the arrow keys (like Gtk+, Mac and W32).
1236 ** The Lucid menus can display multilingual text in your locale. You have
1237 to explicitly specify a fontSet resource for this to work, for example
1238 `-xrm "Emacs*fontSet: -*-helvetica-medium-r-*--*-120-*-*-*-*-*-*,*"'.
1241 ** Dialogs for Lucid/Athena and Lesstif/Motif now pops down when pressing
1242 ESC, like they do for Gtk+, Mac and W32.
1245 ** Dialogs and menus pop down when pressing C-g.
1248 ** The menu item "Open File..." has been split into two items, "New File..."
1249 and "Open File...". "Open File..." now opens only existing files. This is
1250 to support existing GUI file selection dialogs better.
1253 ** The file selection dialog for Gtk+, Mac, W32 and Motif/Lesstif can be
1254 disabled by customizing the variable `use-file-dialog'.
1257 ** For Gtk+ version 2.4, you can make Emacs use the old file dialog
1258 by setting the variable `x-use-old-gtk-file-dialog' to t. Default is to use
1262 ** Emacs can produce an underscore-like (horizontal bar) cursor.
1263 The underscore cursor is set by putting `(cursor-type . hbar)' in
1264 default-frame-alist. It supports variable heights, like the `bar'
1268 ** On X, MS Windows, and Mac OS, the blinking cursor's "off" state is
1269 now controlled by the variable `blink-cursor-alist'.
1271 ** Filesets are collections of files. You can define a fileset in
1272 various ways, such as based on a directory tree or based on
1273 program files that include other program files.
1275 Once you have defined a fileset, you can perform various operations on
1276 all the files in it, such as visiting them or searching and replacing
1280 ** PO translation files are decoded according to their MIME headers
1281 when Emacs visits them.
1284 ** The game `mpuz' is enhanced.
1286 `mpuz' now allows the 2nd factor not to have two identical digits. By
1287 default, all trivial operations involving whole lines are performed
1288 automatically. The game uses faces for better visual feedback.
1291 ** The new variable `x-select-request-type' controls how Emacs
1292 requests X selection. The default value is nil, which means that
1293 Emacs requests X selection with types COMPOUND_TEXT and UTF8_STRING,
1294 and use the more appropriately result.
1297 ** The parameters of automatic hscrolling can now be customized.
1298 The variable `hscroll-margin' determines how many columns away from
1299 the window edge point is allowed to get before automatic hscrolling
1300 will horizontally scroll the window. The default value is 5.
1302 The variable `hscroll-step' determines how many columns automatic
1303 hscrolling scrolls the window when point gets too close to the
1304 window edge. If its value is zero, the default, Emacs scrolls the
1305 window so as to center point. If its value is an integer, it says how
1306 many columns to scroll. If the value is a floating-point number, it
1307 gives the fraction of the window's width to scroll the window.
1309 The variable `automatic-hscrolling' was renamed to
1310 `auto-hscroll-mode'. The old name is still available as an alias.
1314 *** C-c C-c prompts for a command to run, and tries to offer a good default.
1317 *** The user option `tex-start-options-string' has been replaced
1318 by two new user options: `tex-start-options', which should hold
1319 command-line options to feed to TeX, and `tex-start-commands' which should hold
1320 TeX commands to use at startup.
1323 *** verbatim environments are now highlighted in courier by font-lock
1324 and super/sub-scripts are made into super/sub-scripts.
1327 *** New major mode doctex-mode for *.dtx files.
1330 ** New display feature: focus follows the mouse from one Emacs window
1331 to another, even within a frame. If you set the variable
1332 mouse-autoselect-window to non-nil value, moving the mouse to a
1333 different Emacs window will select that window (minibuffer window can
1334 be selected only when it is active). The default is nil, so that this
1335 feature is not enabled.
1338 ** On X, when the window manager requires that you click on a frame to
1339 select it (give it focus), the selected window and cursor position
1340 normally changes according to the mouse click position. If you set
1341 the variable x-mouse-click-focus-ignore-position to t, the selected
1342 window and cursor position do not change when you click on a frame
1346 ** The new command `describe-char' (C-u C-x =) pops up a buffer with
1347 description various information about a character, including its
1348 encodings and syntax, its text properties, how to input, overlays, and
1349 widgets at point. You can get more information about some of them, by
1350 clicking on mouse-sensitive areas or moving there and pressing RET.
1353 ** The new command `multi-occur' is just like `occur', except it can
1354 search multiple buffers. There is also a new command
1355 `multi-occur-by-filename-regexp' which allows you to specify the
1356 buffers to search by their filename. Internally, Occur mode has been
1357 rewritten, and now uses font-lock, among other changes.
1360 ** The default values of paragraph-start and indent-line-function have
1361 been changed to reflect those used in Text mode rather than those used
1362 in Indented-Text mode.
1365 ** New user option `query-replace-skip-read-only': when non-nil,
1366 `query-replace' and related functions simply ignore
1367 a match if part of it has a read-only property.
1370 ** When used interactively, the commands `query-replace-regexp' and
1371 `replace-regexp' allow \,expr to be used in a replacement string,
1372 where expr is an arbitrary Lisp expression evaluated at replacement
1373 time. In many cases, this will be more convenient than using
1374 `query-replace-regexp-eval'. `\#' in a replacement string now refers
1375 to the count of replacements already made by the replacement command.
1376 All regular expression replacement commands now allow `\?' in the
1377 replacement string to specify a position where the replacement string
1378 can be edited for each replacement.
1381 ** query-replace uses isearch lazy highlighting when the new user option
1382 `query-replace-lazy-highlight' is non-nil.
1385 ** The current match in query-replace is highlighted in new face
1386 `query-replace' which by default inherits from isearch face.
1389 ** Emacs normally highlights mouse sensitive text whenever the mouse
1390 is over the text. By setting the new variable `mouse-highlight', you
1391 can optionally enable mouse highlighting only after you move the
1392 mouse, so that highlighting disappears when you press a key. You can
1393 also disable mouse highlighting.
1396 ** You can now customize if selecting a region by dragging the mouse
1397 shall not copy the selected text to the kill-ring by setting the new
1398 variable mouse-drag-copy-region to nil.
1401 ** font-lock: in modes like C and Lisp where the fontification assumes that
1402 an open-paren in column 0 is always outside of any string or comment,
1403 font-lock now highlights any such open-paren-in-column-zero in bold-red
1404 if it is inside a string or a comment, to indicate that it can cause
1405 trouble with fontification and/or indentation.
1408 ** There's a new face `minibuffer-prompt'.
1409 Emacs adds this face to the list of text properties stored in the
1410 variable `minibuffer-prompt-properties', which is used to display the
1414 ** The new face `mode-line-inactive' is used to display the mode line
1415 of non-selected windows. The `mode-line' face is now used to display
1416 the mode line of the currently selected window.
1418 The new variable `mode-line-in-non-selected-windows' controls whether
1419 the `mode-line-inactive' face is used.
1422 ** A menu item "Show/Hide" was added to the top-level menu "Options".
1423 This menu allows you to turn various display features on and off (such
1424 as the fringes, the tool bar, the speedbar, and the menu bar itself).
1425 You can also move the vertical scroll bar to either side here or turn
1426 it off completely. There is also a menu-item to toggle displaying of
1427 current date and time, current line and column number in the
1431 ** Speedbar has moved from the "Tools" top level menu to "Show/Hide".
1434 ** Emacs can now indicate in the mode-line the presence of new e-mail
1435 in a directory or in a file. See the documentation of the user option
1436 `display-time-mail-directory'.
1439 ** LDAP support now defaults to ldapsearch from OpenLDAP version 2.
1442 ** You can now disable pc-selection-mode after enabling it.
1443 M-x pc-selection-mode behaves like a proper minor mode, and with no
1444 argument it toggles the mode.
1446 Turning off PC-Selection mode restores the global key bindings
1447 that were replaced by turning on the mode.
1450 ** Emacs now displays a splash screen by default even if command-line
1451 arguments were given. The new command-line option --no-splash
1452 disables the splash screen; see also the variable
1453 `inhibit-startup-message' (which is also aliased as
1454 `inhibit-splash-screen').
1456 ** Changes in support of colors on character terminals
1459 *** The new command-line option --color=MODE lets you specify a standard
1460 mode for a tty color support. It is meant to be used on character
1461 terminals whose capabilities are not set correctly in the terminal
1462 database, or with terminal emulators which support colors, but don't
1463 set the TERM environment variable to a name of a color-capable
1464 terminal. "emacs --color" uses the same color commands as GNU `ls'
1465 when invoked with "ls --color", so if your terminal can support colors
1466 in "ls --color", it will support "emacs --color" as well. See the
1467 user manual for the possible values of the MODE parameter.
1470 *** Emacs now supports several character terminals which provide more
1471 than 8 colors. For example, for `xterm', 16-color, 88-color, and
1472 256-color modes are supported. Emacs automatically notes at startup
1473 the extended number of colors, and defines the appropriate entries for
1474 all of these colors.
1477 *** Emacs now uses the full range of available colors for the default
1478 faces when running on a color terminal, including 16-, 88-, and
1479 256-color xterms. This means that when you run "emacs -nw" on an
1480 88-color or 256-color xterm, you will see essentially the same face
1484 *** There's a new support for colors on `rxvt' terminal emulator.
1487 ** Emacs can now be invoked in full-screen mode on a windowed display.
1489 When Emacs is invoked on a window system, the new command-line options
1490 `--fullwidth', `--fullheight', and `--fullscreen' produce a frame
1491 whose width, height, or both width and height take up the entire
1492 screen size. (For now, this does not work with some window managers.)
1495 ** Emacs now tries to set up buffer coding systems for HTML/XML files
1499 ** The new command `comint-insert-previous-argument' in comint-derived
1500 modes (shell-mode etc) inserts arguments from previous command lines,
1501 like bash's `ESC .' binding. It is bound by default to `C-c .', but
1502 otherwise behaves quite similarly to the bash version.
1505 ** Changes in C-h bindings:
1507 C-h e displays the *Messages* buffer.
1509 C-h followed by a control character is used for displaying files
1512 C-h C-f displays the FAQ.
1513 C-h C-e displays the PROBLEMS file.
1515 The info-search bindings on C-h C-f, C-h C-k and C-h C-i
1516 have been moved to C-h F, C-h K and C-h S.
1518 C-h c, C-h k, C-h w, and C-h f now handle remapped interactive commands.
1520 - C-h c and C-h k report the actual command (after possible remapping)
1521 run by the key sequence.
1523 - C-h w and C-h f on a command which has been remapped now report the
1524 command it is remapped to, and the keys which can be used to run
1527 For example, if C-k is bound to kill-line, and kill-line is remapped
1528 to new-kill-line, these commands now report:
1530 - C-h c and C-h k C-k reports:
1531 C-k runs the command new-kill-line
1533 - C-h w and C-h f kill-line reports:
1534 kill-line is remapped to new-kill-line which is on C-k, <deleteline>
1536 - C-h w and C-h f new-kill-line reports:
1537 new-kill-line is on C-k
1540 ** Vertical scrolling is now possible within incremental search.
1541 To enable this feature, customize the new user option
1542 `isearch-allow-scroll'. User written commands which satisfy stringent
1543 constraints can be marked as "scrolling commands". See the Emacs manual
1547 ** C-w in incremental search now grabs either a character or a word,
1548 making the decision in a heuristic way. This new job is done by the
1549 command `isearch-yank-word-or-char'. To restore the old behavior,
1550 bind C-w to `isearch-yank-word' in `isearch-mode-map'.
1553 ** C-y in incremental search now grabs the next line if point is already
1554 at the end of a line.
1557 ** C-M-w deletes and C-M-y grabs a character in isearch mode.
1558 Another method to grab a character is to enter the minibuffer by `M-e'
1559 and to type `C-f' at the end of the search string in the minibuffer.
1562 ** M-% typed in isearch mode invokes `query-replace' or
1563 `query-replace-regexp' (depending on search mode) with the current
1564 search string used as the string to replace.
1567 ** Isearch no longer adds `isearch-resume' commands to the command
1568 history by default. To enable this feature, customize the new
1569 user option `isearch-resume-in-command-history'.
1572 ** New user option `history-delete-duplicates'.
1573 If set to t when adding a new history element, all previous identical
1574 elements are deleted.
1577 ** Yanking text now discards certain text properties that can
1578 be inconvenient when you did not expect them. The variable
1579 `yank-excluded-properties' specifies which ones. Insertion
1580 of register contents and rectangles also discards these properties.
1583 ** Occur, Info, and comint-derived modes now support using
1584 M-x font-lock-mode to toggle fontification. The variable
1585 `Info-fontify' is no longer applicable; to disable fontification,
1586 remove `turn-on-font-lock' from `Info-mode-hook'.
1589 ** M-x grep now tries to avoid appending `/dev/null' to the command line
1590 by using GNU grep `-H' option instead. M-x grep automatically
1591 detects whether this is possible or not the first time it is invoked.
1592 When `-H' is used, the grep command line supplied by the user is passed
1593 unchanged to the system to execute, which allows more complicated
1594 command lines to be used than was possible before.
1597 ** The face-customization widget has been reworked to be less confusing.
1598 In particular, when you enable a face attribute using the corresponding
1599 check-box, there's no longer a redundant `*' option in value selection
1600 for that attribute; the values you can choose are only those which make
1601 sense for the attribute. When an attribute is de-selected by unchecking
1602 its check-box, then the (now ignored, but still present temporarily in
1603 case you re-select the attribute) value is hidden.
1606 ** When you set or reset a variable's value in a Customize buffer,
1607 the previous value becomes the "backup value" of the variable.
1608 You can go back to that backup value by selecting "Use Backup Value"
1609 under the "[State]" button.
1612 ** The new customization type `float' specifies numbers with floating
1613 point (no integers are allowed).
1616 ** In GUD mode, when talking to GDB, C-x C-a C-j "jumps" the program
1617 counter to the specified source line (the one where point is).
1620 ** GUD mode improvements for jdb:
1622 *** Search for source files using jdb classpath and class
1623 information. Fast startup since there is no need to scan all
1624 source files up front. There is also no need to create and maintain
1625 lists of source directories to scan. Look at `gud-jdb-use-classpath'
1626 and `gud-jdb-classpath' customization variables documentation.
1628 *** Supports the standard breakpoint (gud-break, gud-clear)
1629 set/clear operations from java source files under the classpath, stack
1630 traversal (gud-up, gud-down), and run until current stack finish
1633 *** Supports new jdb (Java 1.2 and later) in addition to oldjdb
1636 *** The previous method of searching for source files has been
1637 preserved in case someone still wants/needs to use it.
1638 Set gud-jdb-use-classpath to nil.
1640 Added Customization Variables
1642 *** gud-jdb-command-name. What command line to use to invoke jdb.
1644 *** gud-jdb-use-classpath. Allows selection of java source file searching
1645 method: set to t for new method, nil to scan gud-jdb-directories for
1646 java sources (previous method).
1648 *** gud-jdb-directories. List of directories to scan and search for java
1649 classes using the original gud-jdb method (if gud-jdb-use-classpath
1654 *** The STARTTLS elisp wrapper (starttls.el) can now use GNUTLS
1655 instead of the OpenSSL based "starttls" tool. For backwards
1656 compatibility, it prefers "starttls", but you can toggle
1657 `starttls-use-gnutls' to switch to GNUTLS (or simply remove the
1660 *** Do not allow debugger output history variable to grow without bounds.
1663 ** hide-ifdef-mode now uses overlays rather than selective-display
1664 to hide its text. This should be mostly transparent but slightly
1665 changes the behavior of motion commands like C-e and C-p.
1668 ** Unquoted `$' in file names do not signal an error any more when
1669 the corresponding environment variable does not exist.
1670 Instead, the `$ENVVAR' text is left as is, so that `$$' quoting
1671 is only rarely needed.
1675 *** jit-lock can now be delayed with `jit-lock-defer-time'.
1677 If this variable is non-nil, its value should be the amount of Emacs
1678 idle time in seconds to wait before starting fontification. For
1679 example, if you set `jit-lock-defer-time' to 0.25, fontification will
1680 only happen after 0.25s of idle time.
1682 *** contextual refontification is now separate from stealth fontification.
1684 jit-lock-defer-contextually is renamed jit-lock-contextually and
1685 jit-lock-context-time determines the delay after which contextual
1686 refontification takes place.
1689 ** Marking commands extend the region when invoked multiple times. If
1690 you hit M-C-SPC (mark-sexp), M-@ (mark-word), M-h (mark-paragraph), or
1691 C-M-h (mark-defun) repeatedly, the marked region extends each time, so
1692 you can mark the next two sexps with M-C-SPC M-C-SPC, for example.
1693 This feature also works for mark-end-of-sentence, if you bind that to
1694 a key. It also extends the region when the mark is active in Transient
1695 Mark mode, regardless of the last command. To start a new region with
1696 one of marking commands in Transient Mark mode, you can deactivate the
1697 active region with C-g, or set the new mark with C-SPC.
1700 ** Some commands do something special in Transient Mark mode when the
1701 mark is active--for instance, they limit their operation to the
1702 region. Even if you don't normally use Transient Mark mode, you might
1703 want to get this behavior from a particular command. There are two
1704 ways you can enable Transient Mark mode and activate the mark, for one
1707 One method is to type C-SPC C-SPC; this enables Transient Mark mode
1708 and sets the mark at point. The other method is to type C-u C-x C-x.
1709 This enables Transient Mark mode temporarily but does not alter the
1712 After these commands, Transient Mark mode remains enabled until you
1713 deactivate the mark. That typically happens when you type a command
1714 that alters the buffer, but you can also deactivate the mark by typing
1718 ** A prefix argument is no longer required to repeat a jump to a
1719 previous mark, i.e. C-u C-SPC C-SPC C-SPC ... cycles through the
1720 mark ring. Use C-u C-u C-SPC to set the mark immediately after a jump.
1723 ** Movement commands `beginning-of-buffer', `end-of-buffer',
1724 `beginning-of-defun', `end-of-defun' do not set the mark if the mark
1725 is already active in Transient Mark mode.
1728 ** In the *Occur* buffer, `o' switches to it in another window, and
1729 C-o displays the current line's occurrence in another window without
1733 ** When you specify a frame size with --geometry, the size applies to
1734 all frames you create. A position specified with --geometry only
1735 affects the initial frame.
1738 ** M-h (mark-paragraph) now accepts a prefix arg.
1739 With positive arg, M-h marks the current and the following paragraphs;
1740 if the arg is negative, it marks the current and the preceding
1744 ** The variables dired-free-space-program and dired-free-space-args
1745 have been renamed to directory-free-space-program and
1746 directory-free-space-args, and they now apply whenever Emacs puts a
1747 directory listing into a buffer.
1750 ** mouse-wheels can now scroll a specific fraction of the window
1751 (rather than a fixed number of lines) and the scrolling is `progressive'.
1754 ** Unexpected yanking of text due to accidental clicking on the mouse
1755 wheel button (typically mouse-2) during wheel scrolling is now avoided.
1756 This behavior can be customized via the mouse-wheel-click-event and
1757 mouse-wheel-inhibit-click-time variables.
1760 ** The keyboard-coding-system is now automatically set based on your
1761 current locale settings if you are not using a window system. This
1762 may mean that the META key doesn't work but generates non-ASCII
1763 characters instead, depending on how the terminal (or terminal
1764 emulator) works. Use `set-keyboard-coding-system' (or customize
1765 keyboard-coding-system) if you prefer META to work (the old default)
1766 or if the locale doesn't describe the character set actually generated
1767 by the keyboard. See Info node `Single-Byte Character Support'.
1770 ** Emacs now reads the standard abbrevs file ~/.abbrev_defs
1771 automatically at startup, if it exists. When Emacs offers to save
1772 modified buffers, it saves the abbrevs too if they have changed. It
1773 can do this either silently or asking for confirmation first,
1774 according to the value of `save-abbrevs'.
1777 ** Display of hollow cursors now obeys the buffer-local value (if any)
1778 of `cursor-in-non-selected-windows' in the buffer that the cursor
1782 ** The variable `cursor-in-non-selected-windows' can now be set to any
1783 of the recognized cursor types.
1786 ** The variable `auto-save-file-name-transforms' now has a third element that
1787 controls whether or not the function `make-auto-save-file-name' will
1788 attempt to construct a unique auto-save name (e.g. for remote files).
1791 ** There is a new calendar package, icalendar.el, that can be used to
1792 convert Emacs diary entries to/from the iCalendar format.
1795 ** Diary sexp entries can have custom marking in the calendar.
1796 Diary sexp functions which only apply to certain days (such as
1797 `diary-block' or `diary-cyclic') now take an optional parameter MARK,
1798 which is the name of a face or a single-character string indicating
1799 how to highlight the day in the calendar display. Specifying a
1800 single-character string as @var{mark} places the character next to the
1801 day in the calendar. Specifying a face highlights the day with that
1802 face. This lets you have different colors or markings for vacations,
1803 appointments, paydays or anything else using a sexp.
1806 ** The new function `calendar-goto-day-of-year' (g D) prompts for a
1807 year and day number, and moves to that date. Negative day numbers
1808 count backward from the end of the year.
1811 ** The new Calendar function `calendar-goto-iso-week' (g w)
1812 prompts for a year and a week number, and moves to the first
1813 day of that ISO week.
1816 ** The new variable `calendar-minimum-window-height' affects the
1817 window generated by the function `generate-calendar-window'.
1820 ** The functions `holiday-easter-etc' and `holiday-advent' now take
1821 optional arguments, in order to only report on the specified holiday
1822 rather than all. This makes customization of variables such as
1823 `christian-holidays' simpler.
1826 ** The function `simple-diary-display' now by default sets a header line.
1827 This can be controlled through the variables `diary-header-line-flag'
1828 and `diary-header-line-format'.
1831 ** The procedure for activating appointment reminders has changed: use
1832 the new function `appt-activate'. The new variable
1833 `appt-display-format' controls how reminders are displayed, replacing
1834 appt-issue-message, appt-visible, and appt-msg-window.
1837 ** The new functions `diary-from-outlook', `diary-from-outlook-gnus',
1838 and `diary-from-outlook-rmail' can be used to import diary entries
1839 from Outlook-format appointments in mail messages. The variable
1840 `diary-outlook-formats' can be customized to recognize additional
1847 *** The key C-x C-q no longer checks files in or out, it only changes
1848 the read-only state of the buffer (toggle-read-only). We made this
1849 change because we held a poll and found that many users were unhappy
1850 with the previous behavior. If you do prefer this behavior, you
1851 can bind `vc-toggle-read-only' to C-x C-q in your .emacs:
1853 (global-set-key "\C-x\C-q" 'vc-toggle-read-only)
1855 The function `vc-toggle-read-only' will continue to exist.
1858 *** There is a new user option `vc-cvs-global-switches' that allows
1859 you to specify switches that are passed to any CVS command invoked
1860 by VC. These switches are used as "global options" for CVS, which
1861 means they are inserted before the command name. For example, this
1862 allows you to specify a compression level using the "-z#" option for
1866 *** New backends for Subversion and Meta-CVS.
1871 *** When comparing directories.
1872 Typing D brings up a buffer that lists the differences between the contents of
1873 directories. Now it is possible to use this buffer to copy the missing files
1874 from one directory to another.
1877 *** When comparing files or buffers.
1878 Typing the = key now offers to perform the word-by-word comparison of the
1879 currently highlighted regions in an inferior Ediff session. If you answer 'n'
1880 then it reverts to the old behavior and asks the user to select regions for
1883 *** The new command `ediff-backup' compares a file with its most recent
1884 backup using `ediff'. If you specify the name of a backup file,
1885 `ediff-backup' compares it with the file of which it is a backup.
1890 *** New regular expressions features
1892 **** New syntax for regular expressions, multi-line regular expressions.
1893 The syntax --ignore-case-regexp=/regex/ is now undocumented and retained
1894 only for backward compatibility. The new equivalent syntax is
1895 --regex=/regex/i. More generally, it is --regex=/TAGREGEX/TAGNAME/MODS,
1896 where `/TAGNAME' is optional, as usual, and MODS is a string of 0 or
1897 more characters among `i' (ignore case), `m' (multi-line) and `s'
1898 (single-line). The `m' and `s' modifiers behave as in Perl regular
1899 expressions: `m' allows regexps to match more than one line, while `s'
1900 (which implies `m') means that `.' matches newlines. The ability to
1901 span newlines allows writing of much more powerful regular expressions
1902 and rapid prototyping for tagging new languages.
1904 **** Regular expressions can use char escape sequences as in Gcc.
1905 The escaped character sequence \a, \b, \d, \e, \f, \n, \r, \t, \v,
1906 respectively, stand for the ASCII characters BEL, BS, DEL, ESC, FF, NL,
1909 **** Regular expressions can be bound to a given language.
1910 The syntax --regex={LANGUAGE}REGEX means that REGEX is used to make tags
1911 only for files of language LANGUAGE, and ignored otherwise. This is
1912 particularly useful when storing regexps in a file.
1914 **** Regular expressions can be read from a file.
1915 The --regex=@regexfile option means read the regexps from a file, one
1916 per line. Lines beginning with space or tab are ignored.
1918 *** New language parsing features
1920 **** The `::' qualifier triggers C++ parsing in C file.
1921 Previously, only the `template' and `class' keywords had this effect.
1923 **** The gnucc __attribute__ keyword is now recognised and ignored.
1925 **** New language HTML.
1926 Title and h1, h2, h3 are tagged. Also, tags are generated when name= is
1927 used inside an anchor and whenever id= is used.
1929 **** In Makefiles, constants are tagged.
1930 If you want the old behavior instead, thus avoiding to increase the
1931 size of the tags file, use the --no-globals option.
1933 **** New language Lua.
1934 All functions are tagged.
1936 **** In Perl, packages are tags.
1937 Subroutine tags are named from their package. You can jump to sub tags
1938 as you did before, by the sub name, or additionally by looking for
1941 **** In Prolog, etags creates tags for rules in addition to predicates.
1943 **** New language PHP.
1944 Tags are functions, classes and defines.
1945 If the --members option is specified to etags, tags are variables also.
1947 **** New default keywords for TeX.
1948 The new keywords are def, newcommand, renewcommand, newenvironment and
1951 *** Honour #line directives.
1952 When Etags parses an input file that contains C preprocessor's #line
1953 directives, it creates tags using the file name and line number
1954 specified in those directives. This is useful when dealing with code
1955 created from Cweb source files. When Etags tags the generated file, it
1956 writes tags pointing to the source file.
1958 *** New option --parse-stdin=FILE.
1959 This option is mostly useful when calling etags from programs. It can
1960 be used (only once) in place of a file name on the command line. Etags
1961 reads from standard input and marks the produced tags as belonging to
1967 *** Font lock support.
1968 CC Mode now provides font lock support for all its languages. This
1969 supersedes the font lock patterns that have been in the core font lock
1970 package for C, C++, Java and Objective-C. Like indentation, font
1971 locking is done in a uniform way across all languages (except the new
1972 AWK mode - see below). That means that the new font locking will be
1973 different from the old patterns in various details for most languages.
1975 The main goal of the font locking in CC Mode is accuracy, to provide a
1976 dependable aid in recognizing the various constructs. Some, like
1977 strings and comments, are easy to recognize while others like
1978 declarations and types can be very tricky. CC Mode can go to great
1979 lengths to recognize declarations and casts correctly, especially when
1980 the types aren't recognized by standard patterns. This is a fairly
1981 demanding analysis which can be slow on older hardware, and it can
1982 therefore be disabled by choosing a lower decoration level with the
1983 variable font-lock-maximum-decoration.
1985 Note that the most demanding font lock level has been tuned with lazy
1986 fontification in mind, i.e. there should be a support mode that waits
1987 with the fontification until the text is actually shown
1988 (e.g. Just-in-time Lock mode, which is the default, or Lazy Lock
1989 mode). Fontifying a file with several thousand lines in one go can
1990 take the better part of a minute.
1992 **** The (c|c++|objc|java|idl|pike)-font-lock-extra-types variables
1993 are now used by CC Mode to recognize identifiers that are certain to
1994 be types. (They are also used in cases that aren't related to font
1995 locking.) At the maximum decoration level, types are often recognized
1996 properly anyway, so these variables should be fairly restrictive and
1997 not contain patterns for uncertain types.
1999 **** Support for documentation comments.
2000 There is a "plugin" system to fontify documentation comments like
2001 Javadoc and the markup within them. It's independent of the host
2002 language, so it's possible to e.g. turn on Javadoc font locking in C
2003 buffers. See the variable c-doc-comment-style for details.
2005 Currently two kinds of doc comment styles are recognized: Suns Javadoc
2006 and Autodoc which is used in Pike. This is by no means a complete
2007 list of the most common tools; if your doc comment extractor of choice
2008 is missing then please drop a note to bug-cc-mode@gnu.org.
2010 **** Better handling of C++ templates.
2011 As a side effect of the more accurate font locking, C++ templates are
2012 now handled much better. The angle brackets that delimit them are
2013 given parenthesis syntax so that they can be navigated like other
2016 This also improves indentation of templates, although there still is
2017 work to be done in that area. E.g. it's required that multiline
2018 template clauses are written in full and then refontified to be
2019 recognized, and the indentation of nested templates is a bit odd and
2020 not as configurable as it ought to be.
2022 **** Improved handling of Objective-C and CORBA IDL.
2023 Especially the support for Objective-C and IDL has gotten an overhaul.
2024 The special "@" declarations in Objective-C are handled correctly.
2025 All the keywords used in CORBA IDL, PSDL, and CIDL are recognized and
2026 handled correctly, also wrt indentation.
2028 *** Support for the AWK language.
2029 Support for the AWK language has been introduced. The implementation is
2030 based around GNU AWK version 3.1, but it should work pretty well with
2031 any AWK. As yet, not all features of CC Mode have been adapted for AWK.
2034 **** Indentation Engine
2035 The CC Mode indentation engine fully supports AWK mode.
2037 AWK mode handles code formatted in the conventional AWK fashion: `{'s
2038 which start actions, user-defined functions, or compound statements are
2039 placed on the same line as the associated construct; the matching `}'s
2040 are normally placed under the start of the respective pattern, function
2041 definition, or structured statement.
2043 The predefined indentation functions haven't yet been adapted for AWK
2044 mode, though some of them may work serendipitously. There shouldn't be
2045 any problems writing custom indentation functions for AWK mode.
2047 The command C-c C-q (c-indent-defun) hasn't yet been adapted for AWK,
2048 though in practice it works properly nearly all the time. Should it
2049 fail, explicitly set the region around the function (using C-u C-SPC:
2050 C-M-h probably won't work either) then do C-M-\ (indent-region).
2053 There is a single level of font locking in AWK mode, rather than the
2054 three distinct levels the other modes have. There are several
2055 idiosyncrasies in AWK mode's font-locking due to the peculiarities of
2056 the AWK language itself.
2058 **** Comment Commands
2059 M-; (indent-for-comment) works fine. None of the other CC Mode
2060 comment formatting commands have yet been adapted for AWK mode.
2062 **** Movement Commands
2063 Most of the movement commands work in AWK mode. The most important
2064 exceptions are M-a (c-beginning-of-statement) and M-e
2065 (c-end-of-statement) which haven't yet been adapted.
2067 The notion of "defun" has been augmented to include AWK pattern-action
2068 pairs. C-M-a (c-awk-beginning-of-defun) and C-M-e (c-awk-end-of-defun)
2069 recognise these pattern-action pairs, as well as user defined
2072 **** Auto-newline Insertion and Clean-ups
2073 Auto-newline insertion hasn't yet been adapted for AWK. Some of
2074 the clean-ups can actually convert good AWK code into syntactically
2075 invalid code. These features are best disabled in AWK buffers.
2077 *** New syntactic symbols in IDL mode.
2078 The top level constructs "module" and "composition" (from CIDL) are
2079 now handled like "namespace" in C++: They are given syntactic symbols
2080 module-open, module-close, inmodule, composition-open,
2081 composition-close, and incomposition.
2083 *** New functions to do hungry delete without enabling hungry delete mode.
2084 The functions c-hungry-backspace and c-hungry-delete-forward can be
2085 bound to keys to get this feature without toggling a mode.
2086 Contributed by Kevin Ryde.
2088 *** Better control over require-final-newline. The variable that
2089 controls how to handle a final newline when the buffer is saved,
2090 require-final-newline, is now customizable on a per-mode basis through
2091 c-require-final-newline. That is a list of modes, and only those
2092 modes set require-final-newline. By default that's C, C++ and
2095 The specified modes set require-final-newline based on
2096 mode-require-final-newline, as usual.
2098 *** Format change for syntactic context elements.
2099 The elements in the syntactic context returned by c-guess-basic-syntax
2100 and stored in c-syntactic-context has been changed somewhat to allow
2101 attaching more information. They are now lists instead of single cons
2102 cells. E.g. a line that previously had the syntactic analysis
2104 ((inclass . 11) (topmost-intro . 13))
2108 ((inclass 11) (topmost-intro 13))
2110 In some cases there are more than one position given for a syntactic
2113 This change might affect code that call c-guess-basic-syntax directly,
2114 and custom lineup functions if they use c-syntactic-context. However,
2115 the argument given to lineup functions is still a single cons cell
2116 with nil or an integer in the cdr.
2118 *** API changes for derived modes.
2119 There have been extensive changes "under the hood" which can affect
2120 derived mode writers. Some of these changes are likely to cause
2121 incompatibilities with existing derived modes, but on the other hand
2122 care has now been taken to make it possible to extend and modify CC
2123 Mode with less risk of such problems in the future.
2125 **** New language variable system.
2126 See the comment blurb near the top of cc-langs.el.
2128 **** New initialization functions.
2129 The initialization procedure has been split up into more functions to
2130 give better control: c-basic-common-init, c-font-lock-init, and
2131 c-init-language-vars.
2133 *** Changes in analysis of nested syntactic constructs.
2134 The syntactic analysis engine has better handling of cases where
2135 several syntactic constructs appear nested on the same line. They are
2136 now handled as if each construct started on a line of its own.
2138 This means that CC Mode now indents some cases differently, and
2139 although it's more consistent there might be cases where the old way
2140 gave results that's more to one's liking. So if you find a situation
2141 where you think that the indentation has become worse, please report
2142 it to bug-cc-mode@gnu.org.
2144 **** New syntactic symbol substatement-label.
2145 This symbol is used when a label is inserted between a statement and
2146 its substatement. E.g:
2152 *** Better handling of multiline macros.
2154 **** Syntactic indentation inside macros.
2155 The contents of multiline #define's are now analyzed and indented
2156 syntactically just like other code. This can be disabled by the new
2157 variable c-syntactic-indentation-in-macros. A new syntactic symbol
2158 cpp-define-intro has been added to control the initial indentation
2161 **** New lineup function c-lineup-cpp-define.
2162 Now used by default to line up macro continuation lines. The behavior
2163 of this function closely mimics the indentation one gets if the macro
2164 is indented while the line continuation backslashes are temporarily
2165 removed. If syntactic indentation in macros is turned off, it works
2166 much line c-lineup-dont-change, which was used earlier, but handles
2167 empty lines within the macro better.
2169 **** Automatically inserted newlines continues the macro if used within one.
2170 This applies to the newlines inserted by the auto-newline mode, and to
2171 c-context-line-break and c-context-open-line.
2173 **** Better alignment of line continuation backslashes.
2174 c-backslash-region tries to adapt to surrounding backslashes. New
2175 variable c-backslash-max-column which put a limit on how far out
2176 backslashes can be moved.
2178 **** Automatic alignment of line continuation backslashes.
2179 This is controlled by the new variable c-auto-align-backslashes. It
2180 affects c-context-line-break, c-context-open-line and newlines
2181 inserted in auto-newline mode.
2183 **** Line indentation works better inside macros.
2184 Regardless whether syntactic indentation and syntactic indentation
2185 inside macros are enabled or not, line indentation now ignores the
2186 line continuation backslashes. This is most noticeable when syntactic
2187 indentation is turned off and there are empty lines (save for the
2188 backslash) in the macro.
2190 *** indent-for-comment is more customizable.
2191 The behavior of M-; (indent-for-comment) is now configurable through
2192 the variable c-indent-comment-alist. The indentation behavior based
2193 on the preceding code on the line, e.g. to get two spaces after #else
2194 and #endif but indentation to comment-column in most other cases
2195 (something which was hardcoded earlier).
2197 *** New function c-context-open-line.
2198 It's the open-line equivalent of c-context-line-break.
2200 *** New lineup functions
2202 **** c-lineup-string-cont
2203 This lineup function lines up a continued string under the one it
2206 result = prefix + "A message "
2207 "string."; <- c-lineup-string-cont
2209 **** c-lineup-cascaded-calls
2210 Lines up series of calls separated by "->" or ".".
2212 **** c-lineup-knr-region-comment
2213 Gives (what most people think is) better indentation of comments in
2214 the "K&R region" between the function header and its body.
2216 **** c-lineup-gcc-asm-reg
2217 Provides better indentation inside asm blocks. Contributed by Kevin
2220 **** c-lineup-argcont
2221 Lines up continued function arguments after the preceding comma.
2222 Contributed by Kevin Ryde.
2224 *** Better caching of the syntactic context.
2225 CC Mode caches the positions of the opening parentheses (of any kind)
2226 of the lists surrounding the point. Those positions are used in many
2227 places as anchor points for various searches. The cache is now
2228 improved so that it can be reused to a large extent when the point is
2229 moved. The less it moves, the less needs to be recalculated.
2231 The effect is that CC Mode should be fast most of the time even when
2232 opening parens are hung (i.e. aren't in column zero). It's typically
2233 only the first time after the point is moved far down in a complex
2234 file that it'll take noticeable time to find out the syntactic
2237 *** Statements are recognized in a more robust way.
2238 Statements are recognized most of the time even when they occur in an
2239 "invalid" context, e.g. in a function argument. In practice that can
2240 happen when macros are involved.
2242 *** Improved the way c-indent-exp chooses the block to indent.
2243 It now indents the block for the closest sexp following the point
2244 whose closing paren ends on a different line. This means that the
2245 point doesn't have to be immediately before the block to indent.
2246 Also, only the block and the closing line is indented; the current
2247 line is left untouched.
2249 *** Added toggle for syntactic indentation.
2250 The function c-toggle-syntactic-indentation can be used to toggle
2251 syntactic indentation.
2254 ** The command line option --no-windows has been changed to
2255 --no-window-system. The old one still works, but is deprecated.
2258 ** The command `list-text-properties-at' has been deleted because
2259 C-u C-x = gives the same information and more.
2262 ** `buffer-menu' and `list-buffers' now list buffers whose names begin
2263 with a space, when those buffers are visiting files. Normally buffers
2264 whose names begin with space are omitted.
2267 ** You can now customize fill-nobreak-predicate to control where
2268 filling can break lines. The value is now normally a list of
2269 functions, but it can also be a single function, for compatibility.
2271 We provide two sample predicates, fill-single-word-nobreak-p and
2272 fill-french-nobreak-p, for use in the value of fill-nobreak-predicate.
2275 ** New user option `add-log-always-start-new-record'.
2276 When this option is enabled, M-x add-change-log-entry always
2277 starts a new record regardless of when the last record is.
2280 ** SGML mode has indentation and supports XML syntax.
2281 The new variable `sgml-xml-mode' tells SGML mode to use XML syntax.
2282 When this option is enabled, SGML tags are inserted in XML style,
2283 i.e., there is always a closing tag.
2284 By default, its setting is inferred on a buffer-by-buffer basis
2285 from the file name or buffer contents.
2288 ** `xml-mode' is now an alias for `sgml-mode', which has XML support.
2291 ** Lisp mode now uses font-lock-doc-face for the docstrings.
2294 ** Perl mode has a new variable `perl-indent-continued-arguments'.
2297 ** Fortran mode does more font-locking by default. Use level 3
2298 highlighting for the old default.
2301 ** Fortran mode has a new variable `fortran-directive-re'.
2302 Adapt this to match the format of any compiler directives you use.
2303 Lines that match are never indented, and are given distinctive font-locking.
2306 ** F90 mode and Fortran mode have new navigation commands
2307 `f90-end-of-block', `f90-beginning-of-block', `f90-next-block',
2308 `f90-previous-block', `fortran-end-of-block',
2309 `fortran-beginning-of-block'.
2312 ** F90 mode and Fortran mode have support for hs-minor-mode (hideshow).
2313 It cannot deal with every code format, but ought to handle a sizeable
2317 ** The new function `f90-backslash-not-special' can be used to change
2318 the syntax of backslashes in F90 buffers.
2321 ** Prolog mode has a new variable `prolog-font-lock-keywords'
2322 to support use of font-lock.
2325 ** `special-display-buffer-names' and `special-display-regexps' now
2326 understand two new boolean pseudo-frame-parameters `same-frame' and
2330 ** M-x setenv now expands environment variables of the form `$foo' and
2331 `${foo}' in the specified new value of the environment variable. To
2332 include a `$' in the value, use `$$'.
2335 ** File-name completion can now ignore directories.
2336 If an element of the list in `completion-ignored-extensions' ends in a
2337 slash `/', it indicates a subdirectory that should be ignored when
2338 completing file names. Elements of `completion-ignored-extensions'
2339 which do not end in a slash are never considered when a completion
2340 candidate is a directory.
2343 ** The completion commands TAB, SPC and ? in the minibuffer apply only
2344 to the text before point. If there is text in the buffer after point,
2345 it remains unchanged.
2348 ** Enhanced visual feedback in *Completions* buffer.
2350 Completions lists use faces to highlight what all completions
2351 have in common and where they begin to differ.
2353 The common prefix shared by all possible completions uses the face
2354 `completions-common-part', while the first character that isn't the
2355 same uses the face `completions-first-difference'. By default,
2356 `completions-common-part' inherits from `default', and
2357 `completions-first-difference' inherits from `bold'. The idea of
2358 `completions-common-part' is that you can use it to make the common
2359 parts less visible than normal, so that the rest of the differing
2360 parts is, by contrast, slightly highlighted.
2363 ** New user option `inhibit-startup-buffer-menu'.
2364 When loading many files, for instance with `emacs *', Emacs normally
2365 displays a buffer menu. This option turns the buffer menu off.
2368 ** Rmail now displays 5-digit message ids in its summary buffer.
2371 ** Support for `movemail' from GNU mailutils was added to Rmail.
2372 This version of `movemail' allows to read mail from a wide range of
2373 mailbox formats, including remote POP3 and IMAP4 mailboxes with or
2374 without TLS encryption. If GNU mailutils is installed on the system
2375 and its version of `movemail' can be found in exec-path, it will be
2376 used instead of the native one.
2379 ** On MS Windows, the "system caret" now follows the cursor.
2380 This enables Emacs to work better with programs that need to track
2381 the cursor, for example screen magnifiers and text to speech programs.
2384 ** Tooltips now work on MS Windows.
2385 See the Emacs 21.1 NEWS entry for tooltips for details.
2388 ** Images are now supported on MS Windows.
2389 PBM and XBM images are supported out of the box. Other image formats
2390 depend on external libraries. All of these libraries have been ported
2391 to Windows, and can be found in both source and binary form at
2392 http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/. Note that libpng also depends on
2393 zlib, and tiff depends on the version of jpeg that it was compiled
2394 against. For additional information, see nt/INSTALL.
2397 ** Sound is now supported on MS Windows.
2398 WAV format is supported on all versions of Windows, other formats such
2399 as AU, AIFF and MP3 may be supported in the more recent versions of
2400 Windows, or when other software provides hooks into the system level
2401 sound support for those formats.
2404 ** Different shaped mouse pointers are supported on MS Windows.
2405 The mouse pointer changes shape depending on what is under the pointer.
2408 ** Pointing devices with more than 3 buttons are now supported on MS Windows.
2409 The new variable `w32-pass-extra-mouse-buttons-to-system' controls
2410 whether Emacs should handle the extra buttons itself (the default), or
2411 pass them to Windows to be handled with system-wide functions.
2414 ** Emacs takes note of colors defined in Control Panel on MS-Windows.
2415 The Control Panel defines some default colors for applications in much
2416 the same way as wildcard X Resources do on X. Emacs now adds these
2417 colors to the colormap prefixed by System (eg SystemMenu for the
2418 default Menu background, SystemMenuText for the foreground), and uses
2419 some of them to initialize some of the default faces.
2420 `list-colors-display' shows the list of System color names, in case
2421 you wish to use them in other faces.
2424 ** On MS Windows NT/W2K/XP, Emacs uses Unicode for clipboard operations.
2425 Those systems use Unicode internally, so this allows Emacs to share
2426 multilingual text with other applications. On other versions of
2427 MS Windows, Emacs now uses the appropriate locale coding-system, so
2428 the clipboard should work correctly for your local language without
2432 ** Under X11, it is possible to swap Alt and Meta (and Super and Hyper).
2433 The new variables `x-alt-keysym', `x-hyper-keysym', `x-meta-keysym',
2434 and `x-super-keysym' can be used to choose which keysyms Emacs should
2435 use for the modifiers. For example, the following two lines swap
2437 (setq x-alt-keysym 'meta)
2438 (setq x-meta-keysym 'alt)
2441 ** vc-annotate-mode enhancements
2443 In vc-annotate mode, you can now use the following key bindings for
2444 enhanced functionality to browse the annotations of past revisions, or
2445 to view diffs or log entries directly from vc-annotate-mode:
2447 P: annotates the previous revision
2448 N: annotates the next revision
2449 J: annotates the revision at line
2450 A: annotates the revision previous to line
2451 D: shows the diff of the revision at line with its previous revision
2452 L: shows the log of the revision at line
2453 W: annotates the workfile (most up to date) version
2456 ** In pcl-cvs mode, there is a new `d y' command to view the diffs
2457 between the local version of the file and yesterday's head revision
2461 ** In pcl-cvs mode, there is a new `d r' command to view the changes
2462 anyone has committed to the repository since you last executed
2463 "checkout", "update" or "commit". That means using cvs diff options
2467 ** New variable `hs-set-up-overlay' allows customization of the overlay
2468 used to effect hiding for hideshow minor mode. Integration with isearch
2469 handles the overlay property `display' specially, preserving it during
2470 temporary overlay showing in the course of an isearch operation.
2473 ** New command `recode-region' decodes the region again by a specified
2476 ** On Mac OS, the value of the variable `keyboard-coding-system' is
2477 now dynamically changed according to the current keyboard script. The
2478 variable `mac-keyboard-text-encoding' and the constants
2479 `kTextEncodingMacRoman', `kTextEncodingISOLatin1', and
2480 `kTextEncodingISOLatin2' are obsolete.
2482 * New modes and packages in Emacs 22.1
2485 ** The new package longlines.el provides a minor mode for editing text
2486 files composed of long lines, based on the `use-hard-newlines'
2487 mechanism. The long lines are broken up by inserting soft newlines,
2488 which are automatically removed when saving the file to disk or
2489 copying into the kill ring, clipboard, etc. By default, Longlines
2490 mode inserts soft newlines automatically during editing, a behavior
2491 referred to as "soft word wrap" in other text editors. This is
2492 similar to Refill mode, but more reliable. To turn the word wrap
2493 feature off, set `longlines-auto-wrap' to nil.
2496 ** The new package conf-mode.el handles thousands of configuration files, with
2497 varying syntaxes for comments (;, #, //, /* */ or !), assignment (var = value,
2498 var : value, var value or keyword var value) and sections ([section] or
2499 section { }). Many files under /etc/, or with suffixes like .cf through
2500 .config, .properties (Java), .desktop (KDE/Gnome), .ini and many others are
2504 ** The new package dns-mode.el add syntax highlight of DNS master files.
2505 The key binding C-c C-s (`dns-mode-soa-increment-serial') can be used
2506 to increment the SOA serial.
2509 ** The new package flymake.el does on-the-fly syntax checking of program
2510 source files. See the Flymake's Info manual for more details.
2512 ** The library tree-widget.el provides a new widget to display a set
2513 of hierarchical data as an outline. For example, the tree-widget is
2514 well suited to display a hierarchy of directories and files.
2517 ** The wdired.el package allows you to use normal editing commands on Dired
2518 buffers to change filenames, permissions, etc...
2521 ** The thumbs.el package allows you to preview image files as thumbnails
2522 and can be invoked from a Dired buffer.
2524 ** Image files are normally visited in Image mode, which lets you toggle
2525 between viewing the image and viewing the text using C-c C-c.
2528 ** The new python.el package is used to edit Python and Jython programs.
2530 ** The URL package (which had been part of W3) is now part of Emacs.
2533 ** The new global minor mode `size-indication-mode' (off by default)
2534 shows the size of accessible part of the buffer on the mode line.
2537 ** GDB-Script-mode is used for files like .gdbinit.
2540 ** Ido mode is now part of the Emacs distribution.
2542 The ido (interactively do) package is an extension of the iswitchb
2543 package to do interactive opening of files and directories in addition
2544 to interactive buffer switching. Ido is a superset of iswitchb (with
2545 a few exceptions), so don't enable both packages.
2548 ** CUA mode is now part of the Emacs distribution.
2550 The new cua package provides CUA-like keybindings using C-x for
2551 cut (kill), C-c for copy, C-v for paste (yank), and C-z for undo.
2552 With cua, the region can be set and extended using shifted movement
2553 keys (like pc-selection-mode) and typed text replaces the active
2554 region (like delete-selection-mode). Do not enable these modes with
2555 cua-mode. Customize the variable `cua-mode' to enable cua.
2557 In addition, cua provides unified rectangle support with visible
2558 rectangle highlighting: Use S-return to start a rectangle, extend it
2559 using the movement commands (or mouse-3), and cut or copy it using C-x
2560 or C-c (using C-w and M-w also works).
2562 Use M-o and M-c to `open' or `close' the rectangle, use M-b or M-f, to
2563 fill it with blanks or another character, use M-u or M-l to upcase or
2564 downcase the rectangle, use M-i to increment the numbers in the
2565 rectangle, use M-n to fill the rectangle with a numeric sequence (such
2566 as 10 20 30...), use M-r to replace a regexp in the rectangle, and use
2567 M-' or M-/ to restrict command on the rectangle to a subset of the
2568 rows. See the commentary in cua-base.el for more rectangle commands.
2570 Cua also provides unified support for registers: Use a numeric
2571 prefix argument between 0 and 9, i.e. M-0 .. M-9, for C-x, C-c, and
2572 C-v to cut or copy into register 0-9, or paste from register 0-9.
2574 The last text deleted (not killed) is automatically stored in
2575 register 0. This includes text deleted by typing text.
2577 Finally, cua provides a global mark which is set using S-C-space.
2578 When the global mark is active, any text which is cut or copied is
2579 automatically inserted at the global mark position. See the
2580 commentary in cua-base.el for more global mark related commands.
2582 The features of cua also works with the standard emacs bindings for
2583 kill, copy, yank, and undo. If you want to use cua mode, but don't
2584 want the C-x, C-c, C-v, and C-z bindings, you may customize the
2585 `cua-enable-cua-keys' variable.
2587 Note: This version of cua mode is not backwards compatible with older
2588 versions of cua.el and cua-mode.el. To ensure proper operation, you
2589 must remove older versions of cua.el or cua-mode.el as well as the
2590 loading and customization of those packages from the .emacs file.
2593 ** The new keypad setup package provides several common bindings for
2594 the numeric keypad which is available on most keyboards. The numeric
2595 keypad typically has the digits 0 to 9, a decimal point, keys marked
2596 +, -, /, and *, an Enter key, and a NumLock toggle key. The keypad
2597 package only controls the use of the digit and decimal keys.
2599 By customizing the variables `keypad-setup', `keypad-shifted-setup',
2600 `keypad-numlock-setup', and `keypad-numlock-shifted-setup', or by
2601 using the function `keypad-setup', you can rebind all digit keys and
2602 the decimal key of the keypad in one step for each of the four
2603 possible combinations of the Shift key state (not pressed/pressed) and
2604 the NumLock toggle state (off/on).
2606 The choices for the keypad keys in each of the above states are:
2607 `Plain numeric keypad' where the keys generates plain digits,
2608 `Numeric keypad with decimal key' where the character produced by the
2609 decimal key can be customized individually (for internationalization),
2610 `Numeric Prefix Arg' where the keypad keys produce numeric prefix args
2611 for emacs editing commands, `Cursor keys' and `Shifted Cursor keys'
2612 where the keys work like (shifted) arrow keys, home/end, etc., and
2613 `Unspecified/User-defined' where the keypad keys (kp-0, kp-1, etc.)
2614 are left unspecified and can be bound individually through the global
2618 ** The new kmacro package provides a simpler user interface to
2619 emacs' keyboard macro facilities.
2621 Basically, it uses two function keys (default F3 and F4) like this:
2622 F3 starts a macro, F4 ends the macro, and pressing F4 again executes
2623 the last macro. While defining the macro, F3 inserts a counter value
2624 which automatically increments every time the macro is executed.
2626 There is now a keyboard macro ring which stores the most recently
2629 The C-x C-k sequence is now a prefix for the kmacro keymap which
2630 defines bindings for moving through the keyboard macro ring,
2631 C-x C-k C-p and C-x C-k C-n, editing the last macro C-x C-k C-e,
2632 manipulating the macro counter and format via C-x C-k C-c,
2633 C-x C-k C-a, and C-x C-k C-f. See the commentary in kmacro.el
2636 The normal macro bindings C-x (, C-x ), and C-x e now interfaces to
2637 the keyboard macro ring.
2639 The C-x e command now automatically terminates the current macro
2640 before calling it, if used while defining a macro.
2642 In addition, when ending or calling a macro with C-x e, the macro can
2643 be repeated immediately by typing just the `e'. You can customize
2644 this behavior via the variable kmacro-call-repeat-key and
2645 kmacro-call-repeat-with-arg.
2647 Keyboard macros can now be debugged and edited interactively.
2648 C-x C-k SPC steps through the last keyboard macro one key sequence
2649 at a time, prompting for the actions to take.
2652 ** The old Octave mode bindings C-c f and C-c i have been changed
2653 to C-c C-f and C-c C-i. The C-c C-i subcommands now have duplicate
2654 bindings on control characters--thus, C-c C-i C-b is the same as
2655 C-c C-i b, and so on.
2657 ** The printing package is now part of the Emacs distribution.
2659 If you enable the printing package by including (require 'printing) in
2660 the .emacs file, the normal Print item on the File menu is replaced
2661 with a Print sub-menu which allows you to preview output through
2662 ghostview, use ghostscript to print (if you don't have a PostScript
2663 printer) or send directly to printer a PostScript code generated by
2664 `ps-print' package. Use M-x pr-help for more information.
2667 ** Calc is now part of the Emacs distribution.
2669 Calc is an advanced desk calculator and mathematical tool written in
2670 Emacs Lisp. Its documentation is in a separate manual; within Emacs,
2671 type "C-h i m calc RET" to read that manual. A reference card is
2672 available in `etc/calccard.tex' and `etc/calccard.ps'.
2675 ** Tramp is now part of the distribution.
2677 This package is similar to Ange-FTP: it allows you to edit remote
2678 files. But whereas Ange-FTP uses FTP to access the remote host,
2679 Tramp uses a shell connection. The shell connection is always used
2680 for filename completion and directory listings and suchlike, but for
2681 the actual file transfer, you can choose between the so-called
2682 `inline' methods (which transfer the files through the shell
2683 connection using base64 or uu encoding) and the `out-of-band' methods
2684 (which invoke an external copying program such as `rcp' or `scp' or
2685 `rsync' to do the copying).
2687 Shell connections can be acquired via `rsh', `ssh', `telnet' and also
2688 `su' and `sudo'. Ange-FTP is still supported via the `ftp' method.
2690 If you want to disable Tramp you should set
2692 (setq tramp-default-method "ftp")
2695 ** The new global minor mode `file-name-shadow-mode' modifies the way
2696 filenames being entered by the user in the minibuffer are displayed, so
2697 that it's clear when part of the entered filename will be ignored due to
2698 emacs' filename parsing rules. The ignored portion can be made dim,
2699 invisible, or otherwise less visually noticable. The display method may
2700 be displayed by customizing the variable `file-name-shadow-properties'.
2703 ** The ruler-mode.el library provides a minor mode for displaying an
2704 "active" ruler in the header line. You can use the mouse to visually
2705 change the `fill-column', `window-margins' and `tab-stop-list'
2709 ** The minor mode Reveal mode makes text visible on the fly as you
2710 move your cursor into hidden regions of the buffer.
2711 It should work with any package that uses overlays to hide parts
2712 of a buffer, such as outline-minor-mode, hs-minor-mode, hide-ifdef-mode, ...
2714 There is also Global Reveal mode which affects all buffers.
2717 ** The new package ibuffer provides a powerful, completely
2718 customizable replacement for buff-menu.el.
2721 ** The new package table.el implements editable, WYSIWYG, embedded
2722 `text tables' in Emacs buffers. It simulates the effect of putting
2723 these tables in a special major mode. The package emulates WYSIWYG
2724 table editing available in modern word processors. The package also
2725 can generate a table source in typesetting and markup languages such
2726 as latex and html from the visually laid out text table.
2729 ** SES mode (ses-mode) is a new major mode for creating and editing
2730 spreadsheet files. Besides the usual Emacs features (intuitive command
2731 letters, undo, cell formulas in Lisp, plaintext files, etc.) it also offers
2732 viral immunity and import/export of tab-separated values.
2735 ** Support for `magic cookie' standout modes has been removed.
2736 Emacs will still work on terminals that require magic cookies in order
2737 to use standout mode, however they will not be able to display
2738 mode-lines in inverse-video.
2741 ** cplus-md.el has been removed to avoid problems with Custom.
2744 ** New package benchmark.el contains simple support for convenient
2745 timing measurements of code (including the garbage collection component).
2748 ** The new Lisp library fringe.el controls the appearance of fringes.
2751 ** `cfengine-mode' is a major mode for editing GNU Cfengine
2752 configuration files.
2754 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 22.1
2757 ** The new interactive-specification `G' reads a file name
2758 much like `F', but if the input is a directory name (even defaulted),
2759 it returns just the directory name.
2762 ** `suppress-keymap' now works by remapping `self-insert-command' to
2763 the command `undefined'. (In earlier Emacs versions, it used
2764 `substitute-key-definition' to rebind self inserting characters to
2768 ** Mode line display ignores text properties as well as the
2769 :propertize and :eval forms in the value of a variable whose
2770 `risky-local-variable' property is nil.
2772 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 22.1
2774 ** New functions, macros, and commands
2777 *** The new function `filter-buffer-substring' extracts a buffer
2778 substring, passes it through a set of filter functions, and returns
2779 the filtered substring. It is used instead of `buffer-substring' or
2780 `delete-and-extract-region' when copying text into a user-accessible
2781 data structure, like the kill-ring, X clipboard, or a register. The
2782 list of filter function is specified by the new variable
2783 `buffer-substring-filters'. For example, Longlines mode uses
2784 `buffer-substring-filters' to remove soft newlines from the copied
2788 *** (while-no-input BODY...) runs BODY, but only so long as no input
2789 arrives. If the user types or clicks anything, BODY stops as if a
2790 quit had occurred. while-no-input returns the value of BODY, if BODY
2791 finishes. It returns nil if BODY was aborted.
2794 *** New function `looking-back' checks whether a regular expression matches
2795 the text before point. Specifying the LIMIT argument bounds how far
2796 back the match can start; this is a way to keep it from taking too long.
2799 *** New functions `make-progress-reporter', `progress-reporter-update',
2800 `progress-reporter-force-update', `progress-reporter-done', and
2801 `dotimes-with-progress-reporter' provide a simple and efficient way for
2802 a command to present progress messages for the user.
2805 *** The new primitive `get-internal-run-time' returns the processor
2806 run time used by Emacs since start-up.
2809 *** The new function `called-interactively-p' does what many people
2810 have mistakenly believed `interactive-p' did: it returns t if the
2811 calling function was called through `call-interactively'. This should
2812 only be used when you cannot add a new "interactive" argument to the
2816 *** The new function `assoc-string' replaces `assoc-ignore-case' and
2817 `assoc-ignore-representation', which are still available, but have
2818 been declared obsolete.
2821 *** New function quail-find-key returns a list of keys to type in the
2822 current input method to input a character.
2825 *** New functions posn-at-point and posn-at-x-y return
2826 click-event-style position information for a given visible buffer
2827 position or for a given window pixel coordinate.
2830 *** The new primitive `set-file-times' sets a file's access and
2831 modification times. Magic file name handlers can handle this
2835 *** The new function syntax-after returns the syntax code
2836 of the character after a specified buffer position, taking account
2837 of text properties as well as the character code.
2840 *** `syntax-class' extracts the class of a syntax code (as returned
2844 *** New function `line-number-at-pos' returns line number of current
2845 line in current buffer, or if optional buffer position is given, line
2846 number of corresponding line in current buffer.
2849 *** New function `macroexpand-all' expands all macros in a form.
2850 It is similar to the Common-Lisp function of the same name.
2851 One difference is that it guarantees to return the original argument
2852 if no expansion is done, which may be tested using `eq'.
2855 *** New macro with-local-quit temporarily sets inhibit-quit to nil for use
2856 around potentially blocking or long-running code in timers
2857 and post-command-hooks.
2860 *** The new function `rassq-delete-all' deletes all elements from an
2861 alist whose cdr is `eq' to a specified value.
2864 *** New macro define-obsolete-variable-alias to combine defvaralias and
2865 make-obsolete-variable.
2868 ** copy-file now takes an additional option arg MUSTBENEW.
2870 This argument works like the MUSTBENEW argument of write-file.
2873 ** easy-mmode-define-global-mode has been renamed to
2874 define-global-minor-mode. The old name remains as an alias.
2877 ** An element of buffer-undo-list can now have the form (apply FUNNAME
2878 . ARGS), where FUNNAME is a symbol other than t or nil. That stands
2879 for a high-level change that should be undone by evaluating (apply
2882 These entries can also have the form (apply DELTA BEG END FUNNAME . ARGS)
2883 which indicates that the change which took place was limited to the
2884 range BEG...END and increased the buffer size by DELTA.
2887 ** The line-move, scroll-up, and scroll-down functions will now
2888 modify the window vscroll to scroll through display rows that are
2889 taller that the height of the window, for example in the presense of
2890 large images. To disable this feature, Lisp code may bind the new
2891 variable `auto-window-vscroll' to nil.
2894 ** If a buffer sets buffer-save-without-query to non-nil,
2895 save-some-buffers will always save that buffer without asking
2899 ** The function symbol-file tells you which file defined
2900 a certain function or variable.
2903 ** Lisp code can now test if a given buffer position is inside a
2904 clickable link with the new function `mouse-on-link-p'. This is the
2905 function used by the new `mouse-1-click-follows-link' functionality.
2908 ** `set-auto-mode' now gives the interpreter magic line (if present)
2909 precedence over the file name. Likewise an <?xml or <!DOCTYPE declaration
2910 will give the buffer XML or SGML mode, based on the new var
2914 ** To manipulate the File menu using easy-menu, you must specify the
2915 proper name "file". In previous Emacs versions, you had to specify
2916 "files", even though the menu item itself was changed to say "File"
2917 several versions ago.
2920 ** read-from-minibuffer now accepts an additional argument KEEP-ALL
2921 saying to put all inputs in the history list, even empty ones.
2924 ** The new variable search-spaces-regexp controls how to search
2925 for spaces in a regular expression. If it is non-nil, it should be a
2926 regular expression, and any series of spaces stands for that regular
2927 expression. If it is nil, spaces stand for themselves.
2929 Spaces inside of constructs such as [..] and *, +, ? are never
2930 replaced with search-spaces-regexp.
2933 ** list-buffers-noselect now takes an additional argument, BUFFER-LIST.
2934 If it is non-nil, it specifies which buffers to list.
2937 ** set-buffer-file-coding-system now takes an additional argument,
2938 NOMODIFY. If it is non-nil, it means don't mark the buffer modified.
2941 ** An interactive specification may now use the code letter 'U' to get
2942 the up-event that was discarded in case the last key sequence read for a
2943 previous 'k' or 'K' argument was a down-event; otherwise nil is used.
2946 ** Function `translate-region' accepts also a char-table as TABLE
2950 ** Major mode functions now run the new normal hook
2951 `after-change-major-mode-hook', at their very end, after the mode hooks.
2954 ** `auto-save-file-format' has been renamed to
2955 `buffer-auto-save-file-format' and made into a permanent local.
2958 ** Both the variable and the function `disabled-command-hook' have
2959 been renamed to `disabled-command-function'. The variable
2960 `disabled-command-hook' has been kept as an obsolete alias.
2963 ** Function `compute-motion' now calculates the usable window
2964 width if the WIDTH argument is nil. If the TOPOS argument is nil,
2965 the usable window height and width is used.
2968 ** `visited-file-modtime' and `calendar-time-from-absolute' now return
2969 a list of two integers, instead of a cons.
2972 ** If a command sets transient-mark-mode to `only', that
2973 enables Transient Mark mode for the following command only.
2974 During that following command, the value of transient-mark-mode
2975 is `identity'. If it is still `identity' at the end of the command,
2979 ** Cleaner way to enter key sequences.
2981 You can enter a constant key sequence in a more natural format, the
2982 same one used for saving keyboard macros, using the macro `kbd'. For
2985 (kbd "C-x C-f") => "\^x\^f"
2988 ** The sentinel is now called when a network process is deleted with
2989 delete-process. The status message passed to the sentinel for a
2990 deleted network process is "deleted". The message passed to the
2991 sentinel when the connection is closed by the remote peer has been
2992 changed to "connection broken by remote peer".
2995 ** If the buffer's undo list for the current command gets longer than
2996 undo-outer-limit, garbage collection empties it. This is to prevent
2997 it from using up the available memory and choking Emacs.
3000 ** skip-chars-forward and skip-chars-backward now handle
3001 character classes such as [:alpha:], along with individual characters
3005 ** Function pos-visible-in-window-p now returns the pixel coordinates
3006 and partial visiblity state of the corresponding row, if the PARTIALLY
3010 ** The function `eql' is now available without requiring the CL package.
3013 ** The display space :width and :align-to text properties are now
3014 supported on text terminals.
3017 ** Support for displaying image slices
3019 *** New display property (slice X Y WIDTH HEIGHT) may be used with
3020 an image property to display only a specific slice of the image.
3022 *** Function insert-image has new optional fourth arg to
3023 specify image slice (X Y WIDTH HEIGHT).
3025 *** New function insert-sliced-image inserts a given image as a
3026 specified number of evenly sized slices (rows x columns).
3029 ** New line-height and line-spacing properties for newline characters
3031 A newline may now have line-height and line-spacing text or overlay
3032 properties that control the height of the corresponding display row.
3034 If the line-height property value is t, the newline does not
3035 contribute to the height of the display row; instead the height of the
3036 newline glyph is reduced. Also, a line-spacing property on this
3037 newline is ignored. This can be used to tile small images or image
3038 slices without adding blank areas between the images.
3040 If the line-height property value is a positive integer, the value
3041 specifies the minimum line height in pixels. If necessary, the line
3042 height it increased by increasing the line's ascent.
3044 If the line-height property value is a float, the minimum line height
3045 is calculated by multiplying the default frame line height by the
3048 If the line-height property value is a cons (FACE . RATIO), the
3049 minimum line height is calculated as RATIO * height of named FACE.
3050 RATIO is int or float. If FACE is t, it specifies the current face.
3052 If the line-height property value is a cons (nil . RATIO), the line
3053 height is calculated as RATIO * actual height of the line's contents.
3055 If the line-height value is a cons (HEIGHT . TOTAL), HEIGHT specifies
3056 the line height as described above, while TOTAL is any of the forms
3057 described above and specifies the total height of the line, causing a
3058 varying number of pixels to be inserted after the line to make it line
3059 exactly that many pixels high.
3061 If the line-spacing property value is an positive integer, the value
3062 is used as additional pixels to insert after the display line; this
3063 overrides the default frame line-spacing and any buffer local value of
3064 the line-spacing variable.
3066 If the line-spacing property may be a float or cons, the line spacing
3067 is calculated as specified above for the line-height property.
3070 ** The buffer local line-spacing variable may now have a float value,
3071 which is used as a height relative to the default frame line height.
3074 ** Enhancements to stretch display properties
3076 The display property stretch specification form `(space PROPS)', where
3077 PROPS is a property list now allows pixel based width and height
3078 specifications, as well as enhanced horizontal text alignment.
3080 The value of these properties can now be a (primitive) expression
3081 which is evaluated during redisplay. The following expressions
3084 EXPR ::= NUM | (NUM) | UNIT | ELEM | POS | IMAGE | FORM
3085 NUM ::= INTEGER | FLOAT | SYMBOL
3086 UNIT ::= in | mm | cm | width | height
3087 ELEM ::= left-fringe | right-fringe | left-margin | right-margin
3089 POS ::= left | center | right
3090 FORM ::= (NUM . EXPR) | (OP EXPR ...)
3093 The form `NUM' specifies a fractional width or height of the default
3094 frame font size. The form `(NUM)' specifies an absolute number of
3095 pixels. If a symbol is specified, its buffer-local variable binding
3096 is used. The `in', `mm', and `cm' units specifies the number of
3097 pixels per inch, milli-meter, and centi-meter, resp. The `width' and
3098 `height' units correspond to the width and height of the current face
3099 font. An image specification corresponds to the width or height of
3102 The `left-fringe', `right-fringe', `left-margin', `right-margin',
3103 `scroll-bar', and `text' elements specify to the width of the
3104 corresponding area of the window.
3106 The `left', `center', and `right' positions can be used with :align-to
3107 to specify a position relative to the left edge, center, or right edge
3108 of the text area. One of the above window elements (except `text')
3109 can also be used with :align-to to specify that the position is
3110 relative to the left edge of the given area. Once the base offset for
3111 a relative position has been set (by the first occurrence of one of
3112 these symbols), further occurences of these symbols are interpreted as
3113 the width of the area.
3115 For example, to align to the center of the left-margin, use
3116 :align-to (+ left-margin (0.5 . left-margin))
3118 If no specific base offset is set for alignment, it is always relative
3119 to the left edge of the text area. For example, :align-to 0 in a
3120 header-line aligns with the first text column in the text area.
3122 The value of the form `(NUM . EXPR)' is the value of NUM multiplied by
3123 the value of the expression EXPR. For example, (2 . in) specifies a
3124 width of 2 inches, while (0.5 . IMAGE) specifies half the width (or
3125 height) of the specified image.
3127 The form `(+ EXPR ...)' adds up the value of the expressions.
3128 The form `(- EXPR ...)' negates or subtracts the value of the expressions.
3131 ** Normally, the cursor is displayed at the end of any overlay and
3132 text property string that may be present at the current window
3133 position. The cursor may now be placed on any character of such
3134 strings by giving that character a non-nil `cursor' text property.
3136 ** The first face specification element in a defface can specify
3137 `default' instead of frame classification. Then its attributes act as
3138 defaults that apply to all the subsequent cases (and may be overridden
3142 ** New face attribute `min-colors' can be used to tailor the face color
3143 to the number of colors supported by a display, and define the
3144 foreground and background colors accordingly so that they look best on
3145 a terminal that supports at least this many colors. This is now the
3146 preferred method for defining default faces in a way that makes a good
3147 use of the capabilities of the display.
3150 ** Customizable fringe bitmaps
3152 *** New function 'define-fringe-bitmap' can now be used to create new
3153 fringe bitmaps, as well as change the built-in fringe bitmaps.
3155 To change a built-in bitmap, do (require 'fringe) and use the symbol
3156 identifing the bitmap such as `left-truncation or `continued-line'.
3158 *** New function 'destroy-fringe-bitmap' may be used to destroy a
3159 previously created bitmap, or restore a built-in bitmap.
3161 *** New function 'set-fringe-bitmap-face' can now be used to set a
3162 specific face to be used for a specific fringe bitmap. The face is
3163 automatically merged with the `fringe' face, so normally, the face
3164 should only specify the foreground color of the bitmap.
3166 *** There are new display properties, left-fringe and right-fringe,
3167 that can be used to show a specific bitmap in the left or right fringe
3168 bitmap of the display line.
3170 Format is 'display '(left-fringe BITMAP [FACE]), where BITMAP is a
3171 symbol identifying a fringe bitmap, either built-in or defined with
3172 `define-fringe-bitmap', and FACE is an optional face name to be used
3173 for displaying the bitmap instead of the default `fringe' face.
3174 When specified, FACE is automatically merged with the `fringe' face.
3176 *** New function `fringe-bitmaps-at-pos' returns the current fringe
3177 bitmaps in the display line at a given buffer position.
3180 ** Multiple overlay arrows can now be defined and managed via the new
3181 variable `overlay-arrow-variable-list'. It contains a list of
3182 varibles which contain overlay arrow position markers, including
3183 the original `overlay-arrow-position' variable.
3185 Each variable on this list may have individual `overlay-arrow-string'
3186 and `overlay-arrow-bitmap' properties that specify an overlay arrow
3187 string (for non-window terminals) or fringe bitmap (for window
3188 systems) to display at the corresponding overlay arrow position.
3189 If either property is not set, the default `overlay-arrow-string' or
3190 'overlay-arrow-fringe-bitmap' will be used.
3193 ** The default value of `sentence-end' is now defined using the new
3194 variable `sentence-end-without-space' which contains such characters
3195 that end a sentence without following spaces.
3198 ** The function `sentence-end' should be used to obtain the value of
3199 the variable `sentence-end'. If the variable `sentence-end' is nil,
3200 then this function returns the regexp constructed from the variables
3201 `sentence-end-without-period', `sentence-end-double-space' and
3202 `sentence-end-without-space'.
3205 ** The flags, width, and precision options for %-specifications in function
3206 `format' are now documented. Some flags that were accepted but not
3207 implemented (such as "*") are no longer accepted.
3210 ** New function `delete-dups' destructively removes `equal' duplicates
3211 from a list. Of several `equal' occurrences of an element in the list,
3212 the first one is kept.
3215 ** `declare' is now a macro. This change was made mostly for
3216 documentation purposes and should have no real effect on Lisp code.
3219 ** The new hook `before-save-hook' is invoked by `basic-save-buffer'
3220 before saving buffers. This allows packages to perform various final
3221 tasks, for example; it can be used by the copyright package to make
3222 sure saved files have the current year in any copyright headers.
3225 ** The function `insert-for-yank' now supports strings where the
3226 `yank-handler' property does not span the first character of the
3227 string. The old behavior is available if you call
3228 `insert-for-yank-1' instead.
3231 ** New function `get-char-property-and-overlay' accepts the same
3232 arguments as `get-char-property' and returns a cons whose car is the
3233 return value of `get-char-property' called with those arguments and
3234 whose cdr is the overlay in which the property was found, or nil if
3235 it was found as a text property or not found at all.
3239 ** The mouse pointer shape in void text areas (i.e. after the end of a
3240 line or below the last line in the buffer) of the text window is now
3241 controlled by the new variable `void-text-area-pointer'. The default
3242 is to use the `arrow' (non-text) pointer. Other choices are `text'
3243 (or nil), `hand', `vdrag', `hdrag', `modeline', and `hourglass'.
3246 ** The mouse pointer shape over an image can now be controlled by the
3247 :pointer image property.
3250 ** The mouse pointer shape over ordinary text or images may now be
3251 controlled/overriden via the `pointer' text property.
3254 ** Images may now have an associated image map via the :map property.
3256 An image map is an alist where each element has the format (AREA ID PLIST).
3257 An AREA is specified as either a rectangle, a circle, or a polygon:
3258 A rectangle is a cons (rect . ((x0 . y0) . (x1 . y1))) specifying the
3259 pixel coordinates of the upper left and bottom right corners.
3260 A circle is a cons (circle . ((x0 . y0) . r)) specifying the center
3261 and the radius of the circle; r may be a float or integer.
3262 A polygon is a cons (poly . [x0 y0 x1 y1 ...]) where each pair in the
3263 vector describes one corner in the polygon.
3265 When the mouse pointer is above a hot-spot area of an image, the
3266 PLIST of that hot-spot is consulted; if it contains a `help-echo'
3267 property it defines a tool-tip for the hot-spot, and if it contains
3268 a `pointer' property, it defines the shape of the mouse cursor when
3269 it is over the hot-spot. See the variable 'void-area-text-pointer'
3270 for possible pointer shapes.
3272 When you click the mouse when the mouse pointer is over a hot-spot,
3273 an event is composed by combining the ID of the hot-spot with the
3274 mouse event, e.g. [area4 mouse-1] if the hot-spot's ID is `area4'.
3276 ** Mouse event enhancements:
3279 *** Mouse clicks on fringes now generates left-fringe or right-fringes
3280 events, rather than a text area click event.
3283 *** Mouse clicks in the left and right marginal areas now includes a
3284 sensible buffer position corresponding to the first character in the
3285 corresponding text row.
3288 *** Function `mouse-set-point' now works for events outside text area.
3291 *** Mouse events now includes buffer position for all event types.
3294 *** `posn-point' now returns buffer position for non-text area events.
3297 *** New function `posn-area' returns window area clicked on (nil means
3301 *** Mouse events include actual glyph column and row for all event types.
3304 *** New function `posn-actual-col-row' returns actual glyph coordinates.
3307 *** Mouse events may now include image object in addition to string object.
3310 *** Mouse events include relative x and y pixel coordinates relative to
3311 the top left corner of the object (image or character) clicked on.
3314 *** Mouse events include the pixel width and height of the object
3315 (image or character) clicked on.
3318 *** New functions 'posn-object', 'posn-object-x-y', and
3319 'posn-object-width-height' return the image or string object of a mouse
3320 click, the x and y pixel coordinates relative to the top left corner
3321 of that object, and the total width and height of that object.
3324 ** New function `force-window-update' can initiate a full redisplay of
3325 one or all windows. Normally, this is not needed as changes in window
3326 contents are detected automatically. However, certain implicit
3327 changes to mode lines, header lines, or display properties may require
3328 forcing an explicit window update.
3331 ** New function `redirect-debugging-output' can be used to redirect
3332 debugging output on the stderr file handle to a file.
3335 ** `split-string' now includes null substrings in the returned list if
3336 the optional argument SEPARATORS is non-nil and there are matches for
3337 SEPARATORS at the beginning or end of the string. If SEPARATORS is
3338 nil, or if the new optional third argument OMIT-NULLS is non-nil, all
3339 empty matches are omitted from the returned list.
3342 ** `makehash' is now obsolete. Use `make-hash-table' instead.
3345 ** If optional third argument APPEND to `add-to-list' is non-nil, a
3346 new element gets added at the end of the list instead of at the
3347 beginning. This change actually occurred in Emacs-21.1, but was not
3350 ** Major modes can define `eldoc-print-current-symbol-info-function'
3351 locally to provide Eldoc functionality by some method appropriate to
3355 ** New coding system property `mime-text-unsuitable' indicates that
3356 the coding system's `mime-charset' is not suitable for MIME text
3360 ** The argument to forward-word, backward-word, forward-to-indentation
3361 and backward-to-indentation is now optional, and defaults to 1.
3364 ** (char-displayable-p CHAR) returns non-nil if Emacs ought to be able
3365 to display CHAR. More precisely, if the selected frame's fontset has
3366 a font to display the character set that CHAR belongs to.
3368 Fontsets can specify a font on a per-character basis; when the fontset
3369 does that, this value may not be accurate.
3372 ** The new function `window-inside-edges' returns the edges of the
3373 actual text portion of the window, not including the scroll bar or
3374 divider line, the fringes, the display margins, the header line and
3378 ** The new functions `window-pixel-edges' and `window-inside-pixel-edges'
3379 return window edges in units of pixels, rather than columns and lines.
3382 ** The kill-buffer-hook is now permanent-local.
3385 ** `select-window' takes an optional second argument `norecord', like
3389 ** The new macro `with-selected-window' temporarily switches the
3390 selected window without impacting the order of buffer-list.
3393 ** The `keymap' property now also works at the ends of overlays and
3394 text-properties, according to their stickiness. This also means that it
3395 works with empty overlays. The same hold for the `local-map' property.
3398 ** (map-keymap FUNCTION KEYMAP) applies the function to each binding
3402 ** VC changes for backends:
3403 *** (vc-switches BACKEND OPERATION) is a new function for use by backends.
3404 *** The new `find-version' backend function replaces the `destfile'
3405 parameter of the `checkout' backend function.
3406 Old code still works thanks to a default `find-version' behavior that
3407 uses the old `destfile' parameter.
3410 ** The new macro dynamic-completion-table supports using functions
3411 as a dynamic completion table.
3413 (dynamic-completion-table FUN)
3415 FUN is called with one argument, the string for which completion is required,
3416 and it should return an alist containing all the intended possible
3417 completions. This alist may be a full list of possible completions so that FUN
3418 can ignore the value of its argument. If completion is performed in the
3419 minibuffer, FUN will be called in the buffer from which the minibuffer was
3420 entered. dynamic-completion-table then computes the completion.
3423 ** The new macro lazy-completion-table initializes a variable
3424 as a lazy completion table.
3426 (lazy-completion-table VAR FUN &rest ARGS)
3428 If the completion table VAR is used for the first time (e.g., by passing VAR
3429 as an argument to `try-completion'), the function FUN is called with arguments
3430 ARGS. FUN must return the completion table that will be stored in VAR. If
3431 completion is requested in the minibuffer, FUN will be called in the buffer
3432 from which the minibuffer was entered. The return value of
3433 `lazy-completion-table' must be used to initialize the value of VAR.
3436 ** `minor-mode-list' now holds a list of minor mode commands.
3439 ** The new function `modify-all-frames-parameters' modifies parameters
3440 for all (existing and future) frames.
3443 ** `sit-for' can now be called with args (SECONDS &optional NODISP).
3446 ** New standard font-lock face `font-lock-preprocessor-face'.
3449 ** The macro `with-syntax-table' does not copy the table any more.
3452 ** The variable `face-font-rescale-alist' specifies how much larger
3453 (or smaller) font we should use. For instance, if the value is
3454 '((SOME-FONTNAME-PATTERN . 1.3)) and a face requests a font of 10
3455 point, we actually use a font of 13 point if the font matches
3456 SOME-FONTNAME-PATTERN.
3459 ** The function `number-sequence' returns a list of equally-separated
3460 numbers. For instance, (number-sequence 4 9) returns (4 5 6 7 8 9).
3461 By default, the separation is 1, but you can specify a different separation
3462 as the third argument. (number-sequence 1.5 6 2) returns (1.5 3.5 5.5).
3465 ** `file-chase-links' now takes an optional second argument LIMIT which
3466 specifies the maximum number of links to chase through. If after that
3467 many iterations the file name obtained is still a symbolic link,
3468 `file-chase-links' returns it anyway.
3471 ** `set-fontset-font', `fontset-info', `fontset-font' now operate on
3472 the default fontset if the argument NAME is nil..
3475 ** The escape sequence \s is now interpreted as a SPACE character,
3476 unless it is followed by a `-' in a character constant (e.g. ?\s-A),
3477 in which case it is still interpreted as the super modifier.
3478 In strings, \s is always interpreted as a space.
3481 ** New function `set-process-filter-multibyte' sets the multibyteness
3482 of a string given to a process's filter.
3485 ** New function `process-filter-multibyte-p' returns t if
3486 a string given to a process's filter is multibyte.
3489 ** A filter function of a process is called with a multibyte string if
3490 the filter's multibyteness is t. That multibyteness is decided by the
3491 value of `default-enable-multibyte-characters' when the process is
3492 created and can be changed later by `set-process-filter-multibyte'.
3495 ** If a process's coding system is raw-text or no-conversion and its
3496 buffer is multibyte, the output of the process is at first converted
3497 to multibyte by `string-to-multibyte' then inserted in the buffer.
3498 Previously, it was converted to multibyte by `string-as-multibyte',
3499 which was not compatible with the behavior of file reading.
3502 ** New function `string-to-multibyte' converts a unibyte string to a
3503 multibyte string with the same individual character codes.
3506 ** New variables `gc-elapsed' and `gcs-done' provide extra information
3507 on garbage collection.
3510 ** New function `decode-coding-inserted-region' decodes a region as if
3511 it is read from a file without decoding.
3514 ** New function `locale-info' accesses locale information.
3517 ** `save-selected-window' now saves and restores the selected window
3518 of every frame. This way, it restores everything that can be changed
3519 by calling `select-window'.
3522 ** `easy-menu-define' now allows you to use nil for the symbol name
3523 if you don't need to give the menu a name. If you install the menu
3524 into other keymaps right away (MAPS is non-nil), it usually doesn't
3525 need to have a name.
3527 ** Byte compiler changes:
3530 *** `(featurep 'xemacs)' is treated by the compiler as nil. This
3531 helps to avoid noisy compiler warnings in code meant to run under both
3532 Emacs and XEmacs and may sometimes make the result significantly more
3533 efficient. Since byte code from recent versions of XEmacs won't
3534 generally run in Emacs and vice versa, this optimization doesn't lose
3538 *** You can avoid warnings for possibly-undefined symbols with a
3539 simple convention that the compiler understands. (This is mostly
3540 useful in code meant to be portable to different Emacs versions.)
3541 Write forms like the following, or code that macroexpands into such
3544 (if (fboundp 'foo) <then> <else>)
3545 (if (boundp 'foo) <then> <else)
3547 In the first case, using `foo' as a function inside the <then> form
3548 won't produce a warning if it's not defined as a function, and in the
3549 second case, using `foo' as a variable won't produce a warning if it's
3550 unbound. The test must be in exactly one of the above forms (after
3551 macro expansion), but such tests may be nested. Note that `when' and
3552 `unless' expand to `if', but `cond' doesn't.
3555 *** The new macro `with-no-warnings' suppresses all compiler warnings
3556 inside its body. In terms of execution, it is equivalent to `progn'.
3559 ** The new translation table `translation-table-for-input'
3560 is used for customizing self-insertion. The character to
3561 be inserted is translated through it.
3564 ** `load-history' can now have elements of the form (t . FUNNAME),
3565 which means FUNNAME was previously defined as an autoload (before the
3566 current file redefined it).
3569 ** `load-history' now records (defun . FUNNAME) when a function is
3570 defined. For a variable, it records just the variable name.
3573 ** New Lisp library testcover.el works with edebug to help you determine
3574 whether you've tested all your Lisp code. Function testcover-start
3575 instruments all functions in a given file. Then test your code. Function
3576 testcover-mark-all adds overlay "splotches" to the Lisp file's buffer to
3577 show where coverage is lacking. Command testcover-next-mark (bind it to
3578 a key!) will move point forward to the next spot that has a splotch.
3580 *** Normally, a red splotch indicates the form was never completely evaluated;
3581 a brown splotch means it always evaluated to the same value. The red
3582 splotches are skipped for forms that can't possibly complete their evaluation,
3583 such as `error'. The brown splotches are skipped for forms that are expected
3584 to always evaluate to the same value, such as (setq x 14).
3586 *** For difficult cases, you can add do-nothing macros to your code to help
3587 out the test coverage tool. The macro `noreturn' suppresses a red splotch.
3588 It is an error if the argument to `noreturn' does return. The macro 1value
3589 suppresses a brown splotch for its argument. This macro is a no-op except
3590 during test-coverage -- then it signals an error if the argument actually
3591 returns differing values.
3594 ** New function unsafep returns nil if the given Lisp form can't possibly
3595 do anything dangerous; otherwise it returns a reason why the form might be
3596 unsafe (calls dangerous function, alters global variable, etc).
3599 ** The new variable `print-continuous-numbering', when non-nil, says
3600 that successive calls to print functions should use the same
3601 numberings for circular structure references. This is only relevant
3602 when `print-circle' is non-nil.
3604 When you bind `print-continuous-numbering' to t, you should
3605 also bind `print-number-table' to nil.
3608 ** When using non-toolkit scroll bars with the default width,
3609 the scroll-bar-width frame parameter value is nil.
3612 ** The new function copy-abbrev-table returns a new abbrev table that
3613 is a copy of a given abbrev table.
3616 ** The option --script FILE runs Emacs in batch mode and loads FILE.
3617 It is useful for writing Emacs Lisp shell script files, because they
3618 can start with this line:
3620 #!/usr/bin/emacs --script
3623 ** The option --directory DIR now modifies `load-path' immediately.
3624 Directories are added to the front of `load-path' in the order they
3625 appear on the command line. For example, with this command line:
3627 emacs -batch -L .. -L /tmp --eval "(require 'foo)"
3629 Emacs looks for library `foo' in the parent directory, then in /tmp, then
3630 in the other directories in `load-path'. (-L is short for --directory.)
3633 ** A function's docstring can now hold the function's usage info on
3634 its last line. It should match the regexp "\n\n(fn.*)\\'".
3637 ** New CCL functions `lookup-character' and `lookup-integer' access
3638 hash tables defined by the Lisp function `define-translation-hash-table'.
3641 ** The new function `minibufferp' returns non-nil if its optional buffer
3642 argument is a minibuffer. If the argument is omitted it defaults to
3646 ** There is a new Warnings facility; see the functions `warn'
3647 and `display-warning'.
3650 ** The functions all-completions and try-completion now accept lists
3651 of strings as well as hash-tables additionally to alists, obarrays
3652 and functions. Furthermore, the function `test-completion' is now
3653 exported to Lisp. The keys in alists and hash tables may be either
3654 strings or symbols, which are automatically converted with to strings.
3657 ** When pure storage overflows while dumping, Emacs now prints how
3658 much pure storage it will approximately need.
3661 ** The new variable `auto-coding-functions' lets you specify functions
3662 to examine a file being visited and deduce the proper coding system
3663 for it. (If the coding system is detected incorrectly for a specific
3664 file, you can put a `coding:' tags to override it.)
3667 ** The new function `merge-coding-systems' fills in unspecified aspects
3668 of one coding system from another coding system.
3671 ** The variable `safe-local-eval-forms' specifies a list of forms that
3672 are ok to evaluate when they appear in an `eval' local variables
3673 specification. Normally Emacs asks for confirmation before evaluating
3674 such a form, but if the form appears in this list, no confirmation is
3678 ** If a function has a non-nil `safe-local-eval-function' property,
3679 that means it is ok to evaluate some calls to that function when it
3680 appears in an `eval' local variables specification. If the property
3681 is t, then any form calling that function with constant arguments is
3682 ok. If the property is a function or list of functions, they are called
3683 with the form as argument, and if any returns t, the form is ok to call.
3685 If the form is not "ok to call", that means Emacs asks for
3686 confirmation as before.
3689 ** Controlling the default left and right fringe widths.
3691 The default left and right fringe widths for all windows of a frame
3692 can now be controlled by setting the `left-fringe' and `right-fringe'
3693 frame parameters to an integer value specifying the width in pixels.
3694 Setting the width to 0 effectively removes the corresponding fringe.
3696 The actual default fringe widths for the frame may deviate from the
3697 specified widths, since the combined fringe widths must match an
3698 integral number of columns. The extra width is distributed evenly
3699 between the left and right fringe. For force a specific fringe width,
3700 specify the width as a negative integer (if both widths are negative,
3701 only the left fringe gets the specified width).
3703 Setting the width to nil (the default), restores the default fringe
3704 width which is the minimum number of pixels necessary to display any
3705 of the currently defined fringe bitmaps. The width of the built-in
3706 fringe bitmaps is 8 pixels.
3709 ** Per-window fringes settings
3711 Windows can now have their own individual fringe widths and position
3714 To control the fringe widths of a window, either set the buffer-local
3715 variables `left-fringe-width', `right-fringe-width', or call
3716 `set-window-fringes'.
3718 To control the fringe position in a window, that is, whether fringes
3719 are positioned between the display margins and the window's text area,
3720 or at the edges of the window, either set the buffer-local variable
3721 `fringes-outside-margins' or call `set-window-fringes'.
3723 The function `window-fringes' can be used to obtain the current
3724 settings. To make `left-fringe-width', `right-fringe-width', and
3725 `fringes-outside-margins' take effect, you must set them before
3726 displaying the buffer in a window, or use `set-window-buffer' to force
3727 an update of the display margins.
3730 ** Per-window vertical scroll-bar settings
3732 Windows can now have their own individual scroll-bar settings
3733 controlling the width and position of scroll-bars.
3735 To control the scroll-bar of a window, either set the buffer-local
3736 variables `scroll-bar-mode' and `scroll-bar-width', or call
3737 `set-window-scroll-bars'. The function `window-scroll-bars' can be
3738 used to obtain the current settings. To make `scroll-bar-mode' and
3739 `scroll-bar-width' take effect, you must set them before displaying
3740 the buffer in a window, or use `set-window-buffer' to force an update
3741 of the display margins.
3744 ** The function `set-window-buffer' now has an optional third argument
3745 KEEP-MARGINS which will preserve the window's current margin, fringe,
3746 and scroll-bar settings if non-nil.
3749 ** Renamed hooks to better follow the naming convention:
3750 find-file-hooks to find-file-hook,
3751 find-file-not-found-hooks to find-file-not-found-functions,
3752 write-file-hooks to write-file-functions,
3753 write-contents-hooks to write-contents-functions,
3754 x-lost-selection-hooks to x-lost-selection-functions,
3755 x-sent-selection-hooks to x-sent-selection-functions.
3756 Marked local-write-file-hooks as obsolete (use the LOCAL arg of `add-hook').
3759 ** The new variable `delete-frame-functions' replaces `delete-frame-hook'.
3760 It was renamed to follow the naming conventions for abnormal hooks. The old
3761 name remains available as an alias, but has been marked obsolete.
3764 ** The `read-file-name' function now takes an additional argument which
3765 specifies a predicate which the file name read must satify. The
3766 new variable `read-file-name-predicate' contains the predicate argument
3767 while reading the file name from the minibuffer; the predicate in this
3768 variable is used by read-file-name-internal to filter the completion list.
3771 ** The new variable `read-file-name-function' can be used by lisp code
3772 to override the internal read-file-name function.
3775 ** The new variable `read-file-name-completion-ignore-case' specifies
3776 whether completion ignores case when reading a file name with the
3777 `read-file-name' function.
3780 ** The new function `read-directory-name' can be used instead of
3781 `read-file-name' to read a directory name; when used, completion
3782 will only show directories.
3785 ** The new function `file-remote-p' tests a file name and returns
3786 non-nil if it specifies a remote file (one that Emacs accesses using
3787 its own special methods and not directly through the file system).
3788 The value in that case is an identifier for the remote file system.
3791 ** When a Lisp file uses CL functions at run-time, compiling the file
3792 now issues warnings about these calls, unless the file performs
3793 (require 'cl) when loaded.
3796 ** The `defmacro' form may contain declarations specifying how to
3797 indent the macro in Lisp mode and how to debug it with Edebug. The
3798 syntax of defmacro has been extended to
3800 (defmacro NAME LAMBDA-LIST [DOC-STRING] [DECLARATION ...] ...)
3802 DECLARATION is a list `(declare DECLARATION-SPECIFIER ...)'. The
3803 declaration specifiers supported are:
3806 Set NAME's `lisp-indent-function' property to INDENT.
3809 Set NAME's `edebug-form-spec' property to DEBUG. (This is
3810 equivalent to writing a `def-edebug-spec' for the macro.
3813 ** Interactive commands can be remapped through keymaps.
3815 This is an alternative to using defadvice or substitute-key-definition
3816 to modify the behavior of a key binding using the normal keymap
3817 binding and lookup functionality.
3819 When a key sequence is bound to a command, and that command is
3820 remapped to another command, that command is run instead of the
3824 Suppose that minor mode my-mode has defined the commands
3825 my-kill-line and my-kill-word, and it wants C-k (and any other key
3826 bound to kill-line) to run the command my-kill-line instead of
3827 kill-line, and likewise it wants to run my-kill-word instead of
3830 Instead of rebinding C-k and the other keys in the minor mode map,
3831 command remapping allows you to directly map kill-line into
3832 my-kill-line and kill-word into my-kill-word through the minor mode
3833 map using define-key:
3835 (define-key my-mode-map [remap kill-line] 'my-kill-line)
3836 (define-key my-mode-map [remap kill-word] 'my-kill-word)
3838 Now, when my-mode is enabled, and the user enters C-k or M-d,
3839 the commands my-kill-line and my-kill-word are run.
3841 Notice that only one level of remapping is supported. In the above
3842 example, this means that if my-kill-line is remapped to other-kill,
3843 then C-k still runs my-kill-line.
3845 The following changes have been made to provide command remapping:
3847 - Command remappings are defined using `define-key' with a prefix-key
3848 `remap', i.e. `(define-key MAP [remap CMD] DEF)' remaps command CMD
3849 to definition DEF in keymap MAP. The definition is not limited to
3850 another command; it can be anything accepted for a normal binding.
3852 - The new function `command-remapping' returns the binding for a
3853 remapped command in the current keymaps, or nil if not remapped.
3855 - key-binding now remaps interactive commands unless the optional
3856 third argument NO-REMAP is non-nil.
3858 - where-is-internal now returns nil for a remapped command (e.g.
3859 kill-line if my-mode is enabled), and the actual key binding for
3860 the command it is remapped to (e.g. C-k for my-kill-line).
3861 It also has a new optional fifth argument, NO-REMAP, which inhibits
3862 remapping if non-nil (e.g. it returns C-k for kill-line and
3863 <kill-line> for my-kill-line).
3865 - The new variable `this-original-command' contains the original
3866 command before remapping. It is equal to `this-command' when the
3867 command was not remapped.
3870 ** New variable emulation-mode-map-alists.
3872 Lisp packages using many minor mode keymaps can now maintain their own
3873 keymap alist separate from minor-mode-map-alist by adding their keymap
3877 ** Atomic change groups.
3879 To perform some changes in the current buffer "atomically" so that
3880 they either all succeed or are all undone, use `atomic-change-group'
3881 around the code that makes changes. For instance:
3883 (atomic-change-group
3885 (delete-region x y))
3887 If an error (or other nonlocal exit) occurs inside the body of
3888 `atomic-change-group', it unmakes all the changes in that buffer that
3889 were during the execution of the body. The change group has no effect
3890 on any other buffers--any such changes remain.
3892 If you need something more sophisticated, you can directly call the
3893 lower-level functions that `atomic-change-group' uses. Here is how.
3895 To set up a change group for one buffer, call `prepare-change-group'.
3896 Specify the buffer as argument; it defaults to the current buffer.
3897 This function returns a "handle" for the change group. You must save
3898 the handle to activate the change group and then finish it.
3900 Before you change the buffer again, you must activate the change
3901 group. Pass the handle to `activate-change-group' afterward to
3904 After you make the changes, you must finish the change group. You can
3905 either accept the changes or cancel them all. Call
3906 `accept-change-group' to accept the changes in the group as final;
3907 call `cancel-change-group' to undo them all.
3909 You should use `unwind-protect' to make sure the group is always
3910 finished. The call to `activate-change-group' should be inside the
3911 `unwind-protect', in case the user types C-g just after it runs.
3912 (This is one reason why `prepare-change-group' and
3913 `activate-change-group' are separate functions.) Once you finish the
3914 group, don't use the handle again--don't try to finish the same group
3917 To make a multibuffer change group, call `prepare-change-group' once
3918 for each buffer you want to cover, then use `nconc' to combine the
3919 returned values, like this:
3921 (nconc (prepare-change-group buffer-1)
3922 (prepare-change-group buffer-2))
3924 You can then activate the multibuffer change group with a single call
3925 to `activate-change-group', and finish it with a single call to
3926 `accept-change-group' or `cancel-change-group'.
3928 Nested use of several change groups for the same buffer works as you
3929 would expect. Non-nested use of change groups for the same buffer
3930 will lead to undesirable results, so don't let it happen; the first
3931 change group you start for any given buffer should be the last one
3935 ** New variable char-property-alias-alist.
3937 This variable allows you to create alternative names for text
3938 properties. It works at the same level as `default-text-properties',
3939 although it applies to overlays as well. This variable was introduced
3940 to implement the `font-lock-face' property.
3943 ** New special text property `font-lock-face'.
3945 This property acts like the `face' property, but it is controlled by
3946 M-x font-lock-mode. It is not, strictly speaking, a builtin text
3947 property. Instead, it is implemented inside font-core.el, using the
3948 new variable `char-property-alias-alist'.
3951 ** New function remove-list-of-text-properties.
3953 The new function `remove-list-of-text-properties' is almost the same
3954 as `remove-text-properties'. The only difference is that it takes
3955 a list of property names as argument rather than a property list.
3958 ** New function insert-for-yank.
3960 This function normally works like `insert' but removes the text
3961 properties in the `yank-excluded-properties' list. However, if the
3962 inserted text has a `yank-handler' text property on the first
3963 character of the string, the insertion of the text may be modified in
3964 a number of ways. See the description of `yank-handler' below.
3967 ** New function insert-buffer-substring-as-yank.
3969 This function works like `insert-buffer-substring', but removes the
3970 text properties in the `yank-excluded-properties' list.
3973 ** New function insert-buffer-substring-no-properties.
3975 This function is like insert-buffer-substring, but removes all
3976 text properties from the inserted substring.
3979 ** New `yank-handler' text property may be used to control how
3980 previously killed text on the kill-ring is reinserted.
3982 The value of the yank-handler property must be a list with one to four
3983 elements with the following format:
3984 (FUNCTION PARAM NOEXCLUDE UNDO).
3986 The `insert-for-yank' function looks for a yank-handler property on
3987 the first character on its string argument (typically the first
3988 element on the kill-ring). If a yank-handler property is found,
3989 the normal behavior of `insert-for-yank' is modified in various ways:
3991 When FUNCTION is present and non-nil, it is called instead of `insert'
3992 to insert the string. FUNCTION takes one argument--the object to insert.
3993 If PARAM is present and non-nil, it replaces STRING as the object
3994 passed to FUNCTION (or `insert'); for example, if FUNCTION is
3995 `yank-rectangle', PARAM should be a list of strings to insert as a
3997 If NOEXCLUDE is present and non-nil, the normal removal of the
3998 yank-excluded-properties is not performed; instead FUNCTION is
3999 responsible for removing those properties. This may be necessary
4000 if FUNCTION adjusts point before or after inserting the object.
4001 If UNDO is present and non-nil, it is a function that will be called
4002 by `yank-pop' to undo the insertion of the current object. It is
4003 called with two arguments, the start and end of the current region.
4004 FUNCTION may set `yank-undo-function' to override the UNDO value.
4007 *** The functions kill-new, kill-append, and kill-region now have an
4008 optional argument to specify the yank-handler text property to put on
4012 *** The function yank-pop will now use a non-nil value of the variable
4013 `yank-undo-function' (instead of delete-region) to undo the previous
4014 yank or yank-pop command (or a call to insert-for-yank). The function
4015 insert-for-yank automatically sets that variable according to the UNDO
4016 element of the string argument's yank-handler text property if present.
4019 ** New function display-supports-face-attributes-p may be used to test
4020 whether a given set of face attributes is actually displayable.
4022 A new predicate `supports' has also been added to the `defface' face
4023 specification language, which can be used to do this test for faces
4024 defined with defface.
4027 ** The function face-differs-from-default-p now truly checks whether the
4028 given face displays differently from the default face or not (previously
4029 it did only a very cursory check).
4032 ** face-attribute, face-foreground, face-background, and face-stipple now
4033 accept a new optional argument, INHERIT, which controls how face
4034 inheritance is used when determining the value of a face attribute.
4037 ** New functions face-attribute-relative-p and merge-face-attribute
4038 help with handling relative face attributes.
4041 ** The priority of faces in an :inherit attribute face-list is reversed.
4042 If a face contains an :inherit attribute with a list of faces, earlier
4043 faces in the list override later faces in the list; in previous releases
4044 of Emacs, the order was the opposite. This change was made so that
4045 :inherit face-lists operate identically to face-lists in text `face'
4049 ** Enhancements to process support
4051 *** Function list-processes now has an optional argument; if non-nil,
4052 only the processes whose query-on-exit flag is set are listed.
4054 *** New set-process-query-on-exit-flag and process-query-on-exit-flag
4055 functions. The existing process-kill-without-query function is still
4056 supported, but new code should use the new functions.
4058 *** Function signal-process now accepts a process object or process
4059 name in addition to a process id to identify the signalled process.
4061 *** Processes now have an associated property list where programs can
4062 maintain process state and other per-process related information.
4064 The new functions process-get and process-put are used to access, add,
4065 and modify elements on this property list.
4067 The new low-level functions process-plist and set-process-plist are
4068 used to access and replace the entire property list of a process.
4070 *** Function accept-process-output now has an optional fourth arg
4071 `just-this-one'. If non-nil, only output from the specified process
4072 is handled, suspending output from other processes. If value is an
4073 integer, also inhibit running timers. This feature is generally not
4074 recommended, but may be necessary for specific applications, such as
4078 *** Adaptive read buffering of subprocess output.
4080 On some systems, when emacs reads the output from a subprocess, the
4081 output data is read in very small blocks, potentially resulting in
4082 very poor performance. This behavior can be remedied to some extent
4083 by setting the new variable process-adaptive-read-buffering to a
4084 non-nil value (the default), as it will automatically delay reading
4085 from such processes, to allowing them to produce more output before
4086 emacs tries to read it.
4089 ** Enhanced networking support.
4091 *** There is a new `make-network-process' function which supports
4092 opening of stream and datagram connections to a server, as well as
4093 create a stream or datagram server inside emacs.
4095 - A server is started using :server t arg.
4096 - Datagram connection is selected using :type 'datagram arg.
4097 - A server can open on a random port using :service t arg.
4098 - Local sockets are supported using :family 'local arg.
4099 - Non-blocking connect is supported using :nowait t arg.
4100 - The process' property list may be initialized using :plist PLIST arg;
4101 a copy of the server process' property list is automatically inherited
4102 by new client processes created to handle incoming connections.
4104 To test for the availability of a given feature, use featurep like this:
4105 (featurep 'make-network-process '(:type datagram))
4107 *** Original open-network-stream is now emulated using make-network-process.
4109 *** New function open-network-stream-nowait.
4111 This function initiates a non-blocking connect and returns immediately
4112 without waiting for the connection to be established. It takes the
4113 filter and sentinel functions as arguments; when the non-blocking
4114 connect completes, the sentinel is called with a status string
4115 matching "open" or "failed".
4117 *** New function open-network-stream-server.
4119 This function creates a network server process for a TCP service.
4120 When a client connects to the specified service, a new subprocess
4121 is created to handle the new connection, and the sentinel function
4122 is called for the new process.
4124 *** New functions process-datagram-address and set-process-datagram-address.
4126 These functions are used with datagram-based network processes to get
4127 and set the current address of the remote partner.
4129 *** New function format-network-address.
4131 This function reformats the lisp representation of a network address
4132 to a printable string. For example, an IP address A.B.C.D and port
4133 number P is represented as a five element vector [A B C D P], and the
4134 printable string returned for this vector is "A.B.C.D:P". See the doc
4135 string for other formatting options.
4137 *** By default, the function process-contact still returns (HOST SERVICE)
4138 for a network process. Using the new optional KEY arg, the complete list
4139 of network process properties or a specific property can be selected.
4141 Using :local and :remote as the KEY, the address of the local or
4142 remote end-point is returned. An Inet address is represented as a 5
4143 element vector, where the first 4 elements contain the IP address and
4144 the fifth is the port number.
4146 *** Network processes can now be stopped and restarted with
4147 `stop-process' and `continue-process'. For a server process, no
4148 connections are accepted in the stopped state. For a client process,
4149 no input is received in the stopped state.
4151 *** New function network-interface-list.
4153 This function returns a list of network interface names and their
4154 current network addresses.
4156 *** New function network-interface-info.
4158 This function returns the network address, hardware address, current
4159 status, and other information about a specific network interface.
4162 ** New function copy-tree.
4165 ** New function substring-no-properties.
4168 ** New function minibuffer-selected-window.
4171 ** New function `call-process-shell-command'.
4174 ** New function `process-file'.
4176 This is similar to `call-process', but obeys file handlers. The file
4177 handler is chosen based on default-directory.
4180 ** The dummy function keys made by easymenu
4181 are now always lower case. If you specify the
4182 menu item name "Ada", for instance, it uses `ada'
4183 as the "key" bound by that key binding.
4185 This is relevant only if Lisp code looks for
4186 the bindings that were made with easymenu.
4189 ** The function `commandp' takes an additional optional
4190 argument. If it is non-nil, then `commandp' checks
4191 for a function that could be called with `call-interactively',
4192 and does not return t for keyboard macros.
4195 ** master-mode.el implements a minor mode for scrolling a slave
4196 buffer without leaving your current buffer, the master buffer.
4198 It can be used by sql.el, for example: the SQL buffer is the master
4199 and its SQLi buffer is the slave. This allows you to scroll the SQLi
4200 buffer containing the output from the SQL buffer containing the
4203 This is how to use sql.el and master.el together: the variable
4204 sql-buffer contains the slave buffer. It is a local variable in the
4207 (add-hook 'sql-mode-hook
4208 (function (lambda ()
4210 (master-set-slave sql-buffer))))
4211 (add-hook 'sql-set-sqli-hook
4212 (function (lambda ()
4213 (master-set-slave sql-buffer))))
4216 ** File local variables.
4218 A file local variables list cannot specify a string with text
4219 properties--any specified text properties are discarded.
4222 ** New function window-body-height.
4224 This is like window-height but does not count the mode line
4228 ** New function format-mode-line.
4230 This returns the mode-line or header-line of the selected (or a
4231 specified) window as a string with or without text properties.
4234 ** Functions `get' and `plist-get' no longer signals an error for
4235 a malformed property list. They also detect cyclic lists.
4238 ** New functions `lax-plist-get' and `lax-plist-put'.
4240 These functions are like `plist-get' and `plist-put' except that they
4241 compare the property name using `equal' rather than `eq'.
4244 ** New function `tool-bar-local-item-from-menu'
4246 The `tool-bar-add-item-from-menu' must not be used (as previously
4247 recommended) for making entries in the tool bar for local keymaps.
4248 Instead, use the function `tool-bar-local-item-from-menu', which lets
4249 you specify the map to use as an argument.
4252 ** The function `atan' now accepts an optional second argument.
4254 When called with 2 arguments, as in `(atan Y X)', `atan' returns the
4255 angle in radians between the vector [X, Y] and the X axis. (This is
4256 equivalent to the standard C library function `atan2'.)
4259 ** You can now make a window as short as one line.
4261 A window that is just one line tall does not display either a mode
4262 line or a header line, even if the variables `mode-line-format' and
4263 `header-line-format' call for them. A window that is two lines tall
4264 cannot display both a mode line and a header line at once; if the
4265 variables call for both, only the mode line actually appears.
4268 ** The new frame parameter `tty-color-mode' specifies the mode to use
4269 for color support on character terminal frames. Its value can be a
4270 number of colors to support, or a symbol. See the Emacs Lisp
4271 Reference manual for more detailed documentation.
4274 ** The new mode-line construct `(:propertize ELT PROPS...)' can be
4275 used to add text properties to mode-line elements.
4278 ** The new `%i' and `%I' constructs for `mode-line-format' can be used
4279 to display the size of the accessible part of the buffer on the mode
4283 ** Indentation of simple and extended loop forms has been added to the
4284 cl-indent package. The new user options
4285 `lisp-loop-keyword-indentation', `lisp-loop-forms-indentation', and
4286 `lisp-simple-loop-indentation' can be used to customize the
4287 indentation of keywords and forms in loop forms.
4290 ** Indentation of backquoted forms has been made customizable in the
4291 cl-indent package. See the new user option `lisp-backquote-indentation'.
4294 ** Already true in Emacs 21.1, but not emphasized clearly enough:
4296 Multibyte buffers can now faithfully record all 256 character codes
4297 from 0 to 255. As a result, most of the past reasons to use unibyte
4298 buffers no longer exist. We only know of three reasons to use them
4301 1. If you prefer to use unibyte text all of the time.
4303 2. For reading files into temporary buffers, when you want to avoid
4304 the time it takes to convert the format.
4306 3. For binary files where format conversion would be pointless and
4310 ** If text has a `keymap' property, that keymap takes precedence
4311 over minor mode keymaps.
4314 ** A hex escape in a string forces the string to be multibyte.
4315 An octal escape makes it unibyte.
4318 ** At the end of a command, point moves out from within invisible
4319 text, in the same way it moves out from within text covered by an
4320 image or composition property.
4322 This makes it generally unnecessary to mark invisible text as intangible.
4323 This is particularly good because the intangible property often has
4324 unexpected side-effects since the property applies to everything
4325 (including `goto-char', ...) whereas this new code is only run after
4326 post-command-hook and thus does not care about intermediate states.
4329 ** field-beginning and field-end now accept an additional optional
4333 ** define-abbrev now accepts an optional argument SYSTEM-FLAG. If
4334 non-nil, this marks the abbrev as a "system" abbrev, which means that
4335 it won't be stored in the user's abbrevs file if he saves the abbrevs.
4336 Major modes that predefine some abbrevs should always specify this
4340 ** Support for Mocklisp has been removed.
4343 ** The function insert-string is now obsolete.
4346 ** The precedence of file-name-handlers has been changed.
4347 Instead of blindly choosing the first handler that matches,
4348 find-file-name-handler now gives precedence to a file-name handler
4349 that matches near the end of the file name. More specifically, the
4350 handler whose (match-beginning 0) is the largest is chosen.
4351 In case of ties, the old "first matched" rule applies.
4354 ** Dense keymaps now handle inheritance correctly.
4355 Previously a dense keymap would hide all of the simple-char key
4356 bindings of the parent keymap.
4359 ** jit-lock obeys a new text-property `jit-lock-defer-multiline'.
4360 If a piece of text with that property gets contextually refontified
4361 (see jit-lock-defer-contextually), then all of that text will
4362 be refontified. This is useful when the syntax of a textual element
4363 depends on text several lines further down (and when font-lock-multiline
4364 is not appropriate to solve that problem). For example in Perl:
4372 Adding/removing the last `e' changes the `bar' from being a piece of
4373 text to being a piece of code, so you'd put a jit-lock-defer-multiline
4374 property over the second half of the command to force (deferred)
4375 refontification of `bar' whenever the `e' is added/removed.
4378 ** describe-vector now takes a second argument `describer' which is
4379 called to print the entries' values. It defaults to `princ'.
4382 ** defcustom and other custom declarations now use a default group
4383 (the last prior group defined in the same file) when no :group was given.
4386 ** emacsserver now runs pre-command-hook and post-command-hook when
4387 it receives a request from emacsclient.
4390 ** The variable `recursive-load-depth-limit' has been deleted.
4391 Emacs now signals an error if the same file is loaded with more
4392 than 3 levels of nesting.
4395 ** If a major mode function has a non-nil `no-clone-indirect'
4396 property, `clone-indirect-buffer' signals an error if you use
4400 ** In `replace-match', the replacement text no longer inherits
4401 properties from surrounding text.
4404 ** The list returned by `(match-data t)' now has the buffer as a final
4405 element, if the last match was on a buffer. `set-match-data'
4406 accepts such a list for restoring the match state.
4409 ** New function `buffer-local-value'.
4411 This function returns the buffer-local binding of VARIABLE (a symbol)
4412 in buffer BUFFER. If VARIABLE does not have a buffer-local binding in
4413 buffer BUFFER, it returns the default value of VARIABLE instead.
4416 ** New function `text-clone-create'. Text clones are chunks of text
4417 that are kept identical by transparently propagating changes from one
4421 ** font-lock can manage arbitrary text-properties beside `face'.
4422 *** the FACENAME returned in font-lock-keywords can be a list
4423 of the form (face FACE PROP1 VAL1 PROP2 VAL2 ...) so you can set
4424 other properties than `face'.
4425 *** font-lock-extra-managed-props can be set to make sure those extra
4426 properties are automatically cleaned up by font-lock.
4429 ** The special treatment of faces whose names are of the form `fg:COLOR'
4430 or `bg:COLOR' has been removed. Lisp programs should use the
4431 `defface' facility for defining faces with specific colors, or use
4432 the feature of specifying the face attributes :foreground and :background
4433 directly in the `face' property instead of using a named face.
4436 ** The new function `run-mode-hooks' and the new macro `delay-mode-hooks'
4437 are used by define-derived-mode to make sure the mode hook for the
4438 parent mode is run at the end of the child mode.
4441 ** define-minor-mode now accepts arbitrary additional keyword arguments
4442 and simply passes them to defcustom, if applicable.
4445 ** define-derived-mode by default creates a new empty abbrev table.
4446 It does not copy abbrevs from the parent mode's abbrev table.
4449 ** `provide' and `featurep' now accept an optional second argument
4450 to test/provide subfeatures. Also `provide' now checks `after-load-alist'
4451 and runs any code associated with the provided feature.
4454 ** Functions `file-name-sans-extension' and `file-name-extension' now
4455 ignore the leading dots in file names, so that file names such as
4456 `.emacs' are treated as extensionless.
4459 ** Functions `user-uid' and `user-real-uid' now return floats if the
4460 user UID doesn't fit in a Lisp integer. Function `user-full-name'
4461 accepts a float as UID parameter.
4464 ** `define-key-after' now accepts keys longer than 1.
4467 ** The local variable `no-byte-compile' in elisp files is now obeyed.
4470 ** The Emacs Lisp byte-compiler now displays the actual line and
4471 character position of errors, where possible. Additionally, the form
4472 of its warning and error messages have been brought more in line with
4473 the output of other GNU tools.
4476 ** New functions `keymap-prompt' and `current-active-maps'.
4479 ** New function `describe-buffer-bindings'.
4482 ** New vars `exec-suffixes' and `load-suffixes' used when
4483 searching for an executable resp. an elisp file.
4486 ** Variable aliases have been implemented:
4488 *** defvaralias ALIAS-VAR BASE-VAR [DOCSTRING]
4490 This function defines the symbol ALIAS-VAR as a variable alias for
4491 symbol BASE-VAR. This means that retrieving the value of ALIAS-VAR
4492 returns the value of BASE-VAR, and changing the value of ALIAS-VAR
4493 changes the value of BASE-VAR.
4495 DOCSTRING, if present, is the documentation for ALIAS-VAR; else it has
4496 the same documentation as BASE-VAR.
4498 *** indirect-variable VARIABLE
4500 This function returns the variable at the end of the chain of aliases
4501 of VARIABLE. If VARIABLE is not a symbol, or if VARIABLE is not
4502 defined as an alias, the function returns VARIABLE.
4504 It might be noteworthy that variables aliases work for all kinds of
4505 variables, including buffer-local and frame-local variables.
4508 ** Functions from `post-gc-hook' are run at the end of garbage
4509 collection. The hook is run with GC inhibited, so use it with care.
4512 ** If the second argument to `copy-file' is the name of a directory,
4513 the file is copied to that directory instead of signaling an error.
4516 ** The variables most-positive-fixnum and most-negative-fixnum
4517 hold the largest and smallest possible integer values.
4520 ** On MS Windows, locale-coding-system is used to interact with the OS.
4521 The Windows specific variable w32-system-coding-system, which was
4522 formerly used for that purpose is now an alias for locale-coding-system.
4525 ** Functions y-or-n-p, read-char, read-key-sequence and the like, that
4526 display a prompt but don't use the minibuffer, now display the prompt
4527 using the text properties (esp. the face) of the prompt string.
4530 ** New function x-send-client-message sends a client message when
4534 ** Arguments for remove-overlays are now optional, so that you can remove
4535 all overlays in the buffer by just calling (remove-overlay).
4540 *** The new package gdb-ui.el provides an enhanced graphical interface to
4541 GDB. You can interact with GDB through the GUD buffer in the usual way, but
4542 there are also further buffers which control the execution and describe the
4543 state of your program. It separates the input/output of your program from
4544 that of GDB and watches expressions in the speedbar. It also uses features of
4545 Emacs 21 such as the display margin for breakpoints, and the toolbar.
4547 Use M-x gdba to start GDB-UI.
4549 *** The new package syntax.el provides an efficient way to find the
4550 current syntactic context (as returned by parse-partial-sexp).
4552 *** The new package bindat.el provides functions to unpack and pack
4553 binary data structures, such as network packets, to and from Lisp
4557 *** The TCL package tcl-mode.el was replaced by tcl.el.
4558 This was actually done in Emacs-21.1, and was not documented.
4561 *** The new package button.el implements simple and fast `clickable buttons'
4562 in emacs buffers. `buttons' are much lighter-weight than the `widgets'
4563 implemented by widget.el, and can be used by lisp code that doesn't
4564 require the full power of widgets. Emacs uses buttons for such things
4565 as help and apropos buffers.
4568 * Installation changes in Emacs 21.3
4570 ** Support for GNU/Linux on little-endian MIPS and on IBM S390 has
4574 * Changes in Emacs 21.3
4576 ** The obsolete C mode (c-mode.el) has been removed to avoid problems
4579 ** UTF-16 coding systems are available, encoding the same characters
4582 ** There is a new language environment for UTF-8 (set up automatically
4585 ** Translation tables are available between equivalent characters in
4586 different Emacs charsets -- for instance `e with acute' coming from the
4587 Latin-1 and Latin-2 charsets. User options `unify-8859-on-encoding-mode'
4588 and `unify-8859-on-decoding-mode' respectively turn on translation
4589 between ISO 8859 character sets (`unification') on encoding
4590 (e.g. writing a file) and decoding (e.g. reading a file). Note that
4591 `unify-8859-on-encoding-mode' is useful and safe, but
4592 `unify-8859-on-decoding-mode' can cause text to change when you read
4593 it and write it out again without edits, so it is not generally advisable.
4594 By default `unify-8859-on-encoding-mode' is turned on.
4596 ** In Emacs running on the X window system, the default value of
4597 `selection-coding-system' is now `compound-text-with-extensions'.
4599 If you want the old behavior, set selection-coding-system to
4600 compound-text, which may be significantly more efficient. Using
4601 compound-text-with-extensions seems to be necessary only for decoding
4602 text from applications under XFree86 4.2, whose behavior is actually
4603 contrary to the compound text specification.
4606 * Installation changes in Emacs 21.2
4608 ** Support for BSD/OS 5.0 has been added.
4610 ** Support for AIX 5.1 was added.
4613 * Changes in Emacs 21.2
4615 ** Emacs now supports compound-text extended segments in X selections.
4617 X applications can use `extended segments' to encode characters in
4618 compound text that belong to character sets which are not part of the
4619 list of approved standard encodings for X, e.g. Big5. To paste
4620 selections with such characters into Emacs, use the new coding system
4621 compound-text-with-extensions as the value of selection-coding-system.
4623 ** The default values of `tooltip-delay' and `tooltip-hide-delay'
4626 ** On terminals whose erase-char is ^H (Backspace), Emacs
4627 now uses normal-erase-is-backspace-mode.
4629 ** When the *scratch* buffer is recreated, its mode is set from
4630 initial-major-mode, which normally is lisp-interaction-mode,
4631 instead of using default-major-mode.
4633 ** The new option `Info-scroll-prefer-subnodes' causes Info to behave
4634 like the stand-alone Info reader (from the GNU Texinfo package) as far
4635 as motion between nodes and their subnodes is concerned. If it is t
4636 (the default), Emacs behaves as before when you type SPC in a menu: it
4637 visits the subnode pointed to by the first menu entry. If this option
4638 is nil, SPC scrolls to the end of the current node, and only then goes
4639 to the first menu item, like the stand-alone reader does.
4641 This change was already in Emacs 21.1, but wasn't advertised in the
4645 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 21.2
4647 ** The meanings of scroll-up-aggressively and scroll-down-aggressively
4648 have been interchanged, so that the former now controls scrolling up,
4649 and the latter now controls scrolling down.
4651 ** The variable `compilation-parse-errors-filename-function' can
4652 be used to transform filenames found in compilation output.
4655 * Installation Changes in Emacs 21.1
4657 See the INSTALL file for information on installing extra libraries and
4658 fonts to take advantage of the new graphical features and extra
4659 charsets in this release.
4661 ** Support for GNU/Linux on IA64 machines has been added.
4663 ** Support for LynxOS has been added.
4665 ** There are new configure options associated with the support for
4666 images and toolkit scrollbars. Use the --help option in `configure'
4669 ** You can build a 64-bit Emacs for SPARC/Solaris systems which
4670 support 64-bit executables and also on Irix 6.5. This increases the
4671 maximum buffer size. See etc/MACHINES for instructions. Changes to
4672 build on other 64-bit systems should be straightforward modulo any
4673 necessary changes to unexec.
4675 ** There is a new configure option `--disable-largefile' to omit
4676 Unix-98-style support for large files if that is available.
4678 ** There is a new configure option `--without-xim' that instructs
4679 Emacs to not use X Input Methods (XIM), if these are available.
4681 ** `movemail' defaults to supporting POP. You can turn this off using
4682 the --without-pop configure option, should that be necessary.
4684 ** This version can be built for the Macintosh, but does not implement
4685 all of the new display features described below. The port currently
4686 lacks unexec, asynchronous processes, and networking support. See the
4687 "Emacs and the Mac OS" appendix in the Emacs manual, for the
4688 description of aspects specific to the Mac.
4690 ** Note that the MS-Windows port does not yet implement various of the
4691 new display features described below.
4694 * Changes in Emacs 21.1
4696 ** Emacs has a new redisplay engine.
4698 The new redisplay handles characters of variable width and height.
4699 Italic text can be used without redisplay problems. Fonts containing
4700 oversized characters, i.e. characters larger than the logical height
4701 of a font can be used. Images of various formats can be displayed in
4704 ** Emacs has a new face implementation.
4706 The new faces no longer fundamentally use X font names to specify the
4707 font. Instead, each face has several independent attributes--family,
4708 height, width, weight and slant--that it may or may not specify.
4709 These attributes can be merged from various faces, and then together
4712 Faces are supported on terminals that can display color or fonts.
4713 These terminal capabilities are auto-detected. Details can be found
4714 under Lisp changes, below.
4716 ** Emacs can display faces on TTY frames.
4718 Emacs automatically detects terminals that are able to display colors.
4719 Faces with a weight greater than normal are displayed extra-bright, if
4720 the terminal supports it. Faces with a weight less than normal and
4721 italic faces are displayed dimmed, if the terminal supports it.
4722 Underlined faces are displayed underlined if possible. Other face
4723 attributes such as `overline', `strike-through', and `box' are ignored
4726 The command-line options `-fg COLOR', `-bg COLOR', and `-rv' are now
4727 supported on character terminals.
4729 Emacs automatically remaps all X-style color specifications to one of
4730 the colors supported by the terminal. This means you could have the
4731 same color customizations that work both on a windowed display and on
4732 a TTY or when Emacs is invoked with the -nw option.
4734 ** New default font is Courier 12pt under X.
4738 Emacs supports playing sound files on GNU/Linux and FreeBSD (Voxware
4739 driver and native BSD driver, a.k.a. Luigi's driver). Currently
4740 supported file formats are RIFF-WAVE (*.wav) and Sun Audio (*.au).
4741 You must configure Emacs with the option `--with-sound=yes' to enable
4744 ** Emacs now resizes mini-windows if appropriate.
4746 If a message is longer than one line, or minibuffer contents are
4747 longer than one line, Emacs can resize the minibuffer window unless it
4748 is on a frame of its own. You can control resizing and the maximum
4749 minibuffer window size by setting the following variables:
4751 - User option: max-mini-window-height
4753 Maximum height for resizing mini-windows. If a float, it specifies a
4754 fraction of the mini-window frame's height. If an integer, it
4755 specifies a number of lines.
4759 - User option: resize-mini-windows
4761 How to resize mini-windows. If nil, don't resize. If t, always
4762 resize to fit the size of the text. If `grow-only', let mini-windows
4763 grow only, until they become empty, at which point they are shrunk
4766 Default is `grow-only'.
4770 Emacs now runs with the LessTif toolkit (see
4771 <http://www.lesstif.org>). You will need version 0.92.26, or later.
4773 ** LessTif/Motif file selection dialog.
4775 When Emacs is configured to use LessTif or Motif, reading a file name
4776 from a menu will pop up a file selection dialog if `use-dialog-box' is
4779 ** File selection dialog on MS-Windows is supported.
4781 When a file is visited by clicking File->Open, the MS-Windows version
4782 now pops up a standard file selection dialog where you can select a
4783 file to visit. File->Save As also pops up that dialog.
4785 ** Toolkit scroll bars.
4787 Emacs now uses toolkit scroll bars if available. When configured for
4788 LessTif/Motif, it will use that toolkit's scroll bar. Otherwise, when
4789 configured for Lucid and Athena widgets, it will use the Xaw3d scroll
4790 bar if Xaw3d is available. You can turn off the use of toolkit scroll
4791 bars by specifying `--with-toolkit-scroll-bars=no' when configuring
4794 When you encounter problems with the Xaw3d scroll bar, watch out how
4795 Xaw3d is compiled on your system. If the Makefile generated from
4796 Xaw3d's Imakefile contains a `-DNARROWPROTO' compiler option, and your
4797 Emacs system configuration file `s/your-system.h' does not contain a
4798 define for NARROWPROTO, you might consider adding it. Take
4799 `s/freebsd.h' as an example.
4801 Alternatively, if you don't have access to the Xaw3d source code, take
4802 a look at your system's imake configuration file, for example in the
4803 directory `/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/config' (paths are different on
4804 different systems). You will find files `*.cf' there. If your
4805 system's cf-file contains a line like `#define NeedWidePrototypes NO',
4806 add a `#define NARROWPROTO' to your Emacs system configuration file.
4808 The reason for this is that one Xaw3d function uses `double' or
4809 `float' function parameters depending on the setting of NARROWPROTO.
4810 This is not a problem when Imakefiles are used because each system's
4811 imake configuration file contains the necessary information. Since
4812 Emacs doesn't use imake, this has do be done manually.
4814 ** Tool bar support.
4816 Emacs supports a tool bar at the top of a frame under X. For details
4817 of how to define a tool bar, see the page describing Lisp-level
4818 changes. Tool-bar global minor mode controls whether or not it is
4819 displayed and is on by default. The appearance of the bar is improved
4820 if Emacs has been built with XPM image support. Otherwise monochrome
4823 To make the tool bar more useful, we need contributions of extra icons
4824 for specific modes (with copyright assignments).
4828 Tooltips are small X windows displaying a help string at the current
4829 mouse position. The Lisp package `tooltip' implements them. You can
4830 turn them off via the user option `tooltip-mode'.
4832 Tooltips also provides support for GUD debugging. If activated,
4833 variable values can be displayed in tooltips by pointing at them with
4834 the mouse in source buffers. You can customize various aspects of the
4835 tooltip display in the group `tooltip'.
4837 ** Automatic Hscrolling
4839 Horizontal scrolling now happens automatically if
4840 `automatic-hscrolling' is set (the default). This setting can be
4843 If a window is scrolled horizontally with set-window-hscroll, or
4844 scroll-left/scroll-right (C-x <, C-x >), this serves as a lower bound
4845 for automatic horizontal scrolling. Automatic scrolling will scroll
4846 the text more to the left if necessary, but won't scroll the text more
4847 to the right than the column set with set-window-hscroll etc.
4849 ** When using a windowing terminal, each Emacs window now has a cursor
4850 of its own. By default, when a window is selected, the cursor is
4851 solid; otherwise, it is hollow. The user-option
4852 `cursor-in-non-selected-windows' controls how to display the
4853 cursor in non-selected windows. If nil, no cursor is shown, if
4854 non-nil a hollow box cursor is shown.
4856 ** Fringes to the left and right of windows are used to display
4857 truncation marks, continuation marks, overlay arrows and alike. The
4858 foreground, background, and stipple of these areas can be changed by
4859 customizing face `fringe'.
4861 ** The mode line under X is now drawn with shadows by default.
4862 You can change its appearance by modifying the face `mode-line'.
4863 In particular, setting the `:box' attribute to nil turns off the 3D
4864 appearance of the mode line. (The 3D appearance makes the mode line
4865 occupy more space, and thus might cause the first or the last line of
4866 the window to be partially obscured.)
4868 The variable `mode-line-inverse-video', which was used in older
4869 versions of emacs to make the mode-line stand out, is now deprecated.
4870 However, setting it to nil will cause the `mode-line' face to be
4871 ignored, and mode-lines to be drawn using the default text face.
4873 ** Mouse-sensitive mode line.
4875 Different parts of the mode line have been made mouse-sensitive on all
4876 systems which support the mouse. Moving the mouse to a
4877 mouse-sensitive part in the mode line changes the appearance of the
4878 mouse pointer to an arrow, and help about available mouse actions is
4879 displayed either in the echo area, or in the tooltip window if you
4882 Currently, the following actions have been defined:
4884 - Mouse-1 on the buffer name in the mode line goes to the next buffer.
4886 - Mouse-3 on the buffer-name goes to the previous buffer.
4888 - Mouse-2 on the read-only or modified status in the mode line (`%' or
4889 `*') toggles the status.
4891 - Mouse-3 on the mode name displays a minor-mode menu.
4893 ** Hourglass pointer
4895 Emacs can optionally display an hourglass pointer under X. You can
4896 turn the display on or off by customizing group `cursor'.
4900 M-x blink-cursor-mode toggles a blinking cursor under X and on
4901 terminals having terminal capabilities `vi', `vs', and `ve'. Blinking
4902 and related parameters like frequency and delay can be customized in
4905 ** New font-lock support mode `jit-lock-mode'.
4907 This support mode is roughly equivalent to `lazy-lock' but is
4908 generally faster. It supports stealth and deferred fontification.
4909 See the documentation of the function `jit-lock-mode' for more
4912 Font-lock uses jit-lock-mode as default support mode, so you don't
4913 have to do anything to activate it.
4915 ** The default binding of the Delete key has changed.
4917 The new user-option `normal-erase-is-backspace' can be set to
4918 determine the effect of the Delete and Backspace function keys.
4920 On window systems, the default value of this option is chosen
4921 according to the keyboard used. If the keyboard has both a Backspace
4922 key and a Delete key, and both are mapped to their usual meanings, the
4923 option's default value is set to t, so that Backspace can be used to
4924 delete backward, and Delete can be used to delete forward. On
4925 keyboards which either have only one key (usually labeled DEL), or two
4926 keys DEL and BS which produce the same effect, the option's value is
4927 set to nil, and these keys delete backward.
4929 If not running under a window system, setting this option accomplishes
4930 a similar effect by mapping C-h, which is usually generated by the
4931 Backspace key, to DEL, and by mapping DEL to C-d via
4932 `keyboard-translate'. The former functionality of C-h is available on
4933 the F1 key. You should probably not use this setting on a text-only
4934 terminal if you don't have both Backspace, Delete and F1 keys.
4936 Programmatically, you can call function normal-erase-is-backspace-mode
4937 to toggle the behavior of the Delete and Backspace keys.
4939 ** The default for user-option `next-line-add-newlines' has been
4940 changed to nil, i.e. C-n will no longer add newlines at the end of a
4943 ** The <home> and <end> keys now move to the beginning or end of the
4944 current line, respectively. C-<home> and C-<end> move to the
4945 beginning and end of the buffer.
4947 ** Emacs now checks for recursive loads of Lisp files. If the
4948 recursion depth exceeds `recursive-load-depth-limit', an error is
4951 ** When an error is signaled during the loading of the user's init
4952 file, Emacs now pops up the *Messages* buffer.
4954 ** Emacs now refuses to load compiled Lisp files which weren't
4955 compiled with Emacs. Set `load-dangerous-libraries' to t to change
4958 The reason for this change is an incompatible change in XEmacs's byte
4959 compiler. Files compiled with XEmacs can contain byte codes that let
4962 ** Toggle buttons and radio buttons in menus.
4964 When compiled with LessTif (or Motif) support, Emacs uses toolkit
4965 widgets for radio and toggle buttons in menus. When configured for
4966 Lucid, Emacs draws radio buttons and toggle buttons similar to Motif.
4968 ** The menu bar configuration has changed. The new configuration is
4969 more CUA-compliant. The most significant change is that Options is
4970 now a separate menu-bar item, with Mule and Customize as its submenus.
4972 ** Item Save Options on the Options menu allows saving options set
4975 ** Highlighting of trailing whitespace.
4977 When `show-trailing-whitespace' is non-nil, Emacs displays trailing
4978 whitespace in the face `trailing-whitespace'. Trailing whitespace is
4979 defined as spaces or tabs at the end of a line. To avoid busy
4980 highlighting when entering new text, trailing whitespace is not
4981 displayed if point is at the end of the line containing the
4984 ** C-x 5 1 runs the new command delete-other-frames which deletes
4985 all frames except the selected one.
4987 ** The new user-option `confirm-kill-emacs' can be customized to
4988 let Emacs ask for confirmation before exiting.
4990 ** The header line in an Info buffer is now displayed as an emacs
4991 header-line (which is like a mode-line, but at the top of the window),
4992 so that it remains visible even when the buffer has been scrolled.
4993 This behavior may be disabled by customizing the option
4994 `Info-use-header-line'.
4996 ** Polish, Czech, German, and French translations of Emacs' reference card
4997 have been added. They are named `pl-refcard.tex', `cs-refcard.tex',
4998 `de-refcard.tex' and `fr-refcard.tex'. Postscript files are included.
5000 ** An `Emacs Survival Guide', etc/survival.tex, is available.
5002 ** A reference card for Dired has been added. Its name is
5003 `dired-ref.tex'. A French translation is available in
5006 ** C-down-mouse-3 is bound differently. Now if the menu bar is not
5007 displayed it pops up a menu containing the items which would be on the
5008 menu bar. If the menu bar is displayed, it pops up the major mode
5009 menu or the Edit menu if there is no major mode menu.
5011 ** Variable `load-path' is no longer customizable through Customize.
5013 You can no longer use `M-x customize-variable' to customize `load-path'
5014 because it now contains a version-dependent component. You can still
5015 use `add-to-list' and `setq' to customize this variable in your
5016 `~/.emacs' init file or to modify it from any Lisp program in general.
5018 ** C-u C-x = provides detailed information about the character at
5019 point in a pop-up window.
5021 ** Emacs can now support 'wheeled' mice (such as the MS IntelliMouse)
5022 under XFree86. To enable this, use the `mouse-wheel-mode' command, or
5023 customize the variable `mouse-wheel-mode'.
5025 The variables `mouse-wheel-follow-mouse' and `mouse-wheel-scroll-amount'
5026 determine where and by how much buffers are scrolled.
5028 ** Emacs' auto-save list files are now by default stored in a
5029 sub-directory `.emacs.d/auto-save-list/' of the user's home directory.
5030 (On MS-DOS, this subdirectory's name is `_emacs.d/auto-save.list/'.)
5031 You can customize `auto-save-list-file-prefix' to change this location.
5033 ** The function `getenv' is now callable interactively.
5035 ** The new user-option `even-window-heights' can be set to nil
5036 to prevent `display-buffer' from evening out window heights.
5038 ** The new command M-x delete-trailing-whitespace RET will delete the
5039 trailing whitespace within the current restriction. You can also add
5040 this function to `write-file-hooks' or `local-write-file-hooks'.
5042 ** When visiting a file with M-x find-file-literally, no newlines will
5043 be added to the end of the buffer even if `require-final-newline' is
5046 ** The new user-option `find-file-suppress-same-file-warnings' can be
5047 set to suppress warnings ``X and Y are the same file'' when visiting a
5048 file that is already visited under a different name.
5050 ** The new user-option `electric-help-shrink-window' can be set to
5051 nil to prevent adjusting the help window size to the buffer size.
5053 ** New command M-x describe-character-set reads a character set name
5054 and displays information about that.
5056 ** The new variable `auto-mode-interpreter-regexp' contains a regular
5057 expression matching interpreters, for file mode determination.
5059 This regular expression is matched against the first line of a file to
5060 determine the file's mode in `set-auto-mode' when Emacs can't deduce a
5061 mode from the file's name. If it matches, the file is assumed to be
5062 interpreted by the interpreter matched by the second group of the
5063 regular expression. The mode is then determined as the mode
5064 associated with that interpreter in `interpreter-mode-alist'.
5066 ** New function executable-make-buffer-file-executable-if-script-p is
5067 suitable as an after-save-hook as an alternative to `executable-chmod'.
5069 ** The most preferred coding-system is now used to save a buffer if
5070 buffer-file-coding-system is `undecided' and it is safe for the buffer
5071 contents. (The most preferred is set by set-language-environment or
5072 by M-x prefer-coding-system.) Thus if you visit an ASCII file and
5073 insert a non-ASCII character from your current language environment,
5074 the file will be saved silently with the appropriate coding.
5075 Previously you would be prompted for a safe coding system.
5077 ** The many obsolete language `setup-...-environment' commands have
5078 been removed -- use `set-language-environment'.
5080 ** The new Custom option `keyboard-coding-system' specifies a coding
5081 system for keyboard input.
5083 ** New variable `inhibit-iso-escape-detection' determines if Emacs'
5084 coding system detection algorithm should pay attention to ISO2022's
5085 escape sequences. If this variable is non-nil, the algorithm ignores
5086 such escape sequences. The default value is nil, and it is
5087 recommended not to change it except for the special case that you
5088 always want to read any escape code verbatim. If you just want to
5089 read a specific file without decoding escape codes, use C-x RET c
5090 (`universal-coding-system-argument'). For instance, C-x RET c latin-1
5091 RET C-x C-f filename RET.
5093 ** Variable `default-korean-keyboard' is initialized properly from the
5094 environment variable `HANGUL_KEYBOARD_TYPE'.
5096 ** New command M-x list-charset-chars reads a character set name and
5097 displays all characters in that character set.
5099 ** M-x set-terminal-coding-system (C-x RET t) now allows CCL-based
5100 coding systems such as cpXXX and cyrillic-koi8.
5102 ** Emacs now attempts to determine the initial language environment
5103 and preferred and locale coding systems systematically from the
5104 LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, and LANG environment variables during startup.
5106 ** New language environments `Polish', `Latin-8' and `Latin-9'.
5107 Latin-8 and Latin-9 correspond respectively to the ISO character sets
5108 8859-14 (Celtic) and 8859-15 (updated Latin-1, with the Euro sign).
5109 GNU Intlfonts doesn't support these yet but recent X releases have
5110 8859-15. See etc/INSTALL for information on obtaining extra fonts.
5111 There are new Leim input methods for Latin-8 and Latin-9 prefix (only)
5114 ** New language environments `Dutch' and `Spanish'.
5115 These new environments mainly select appropriate translations
5118 ** In Ethiopic language environment, special key bindings for
5119 function keys are changed as follows. This is to conform to "Emacs
5120 Lisp Coding Convention".
5122 new command old-binding
5123 --- ------- -----------
5124 f3 ethio-fidel-to-sera-buffer f5
5125 S-f3 ethio-fidel-to-sera-region f5
5126 C-f3 ethio-fidel-to-sera-mail-or-marker f5
5128 f4 ethio-sera-to-fidel-buffer unchanged
5129 S-f4 ethio-sera-to-fidel-region unchanged
5130 C-f4 ethio-sera-to-fidel-mail-or-marker unchanged
5132 S-f5 ethio-toggle-punctuation f3
5133 S-f6 ethio-modify-vowel f6
5134 S-f7 ethio-replace-space f7
5135 S-f8 ethio-input-special-character f8
5136 S-f9 ethio-replace-space unchanged
5137 C-f9 ethio-toggle-space f2
5139 ** There are new Leim input methods.
5140 New input methods "turkish-postfix", "turkish-alt-postfix",
5141 "greek-mizuochi", "TeX", and "greek-babel" are now part of the Leim
5144 ** The rule of input method "slovak" is slightly changed. Now the
5145 rules for translating "q" and "Q" to "`" (backquote) are deleted, thus
5146 typing them inserts "q" and "Q" respectively. Rules for translating
5147 "=q", "+q", "=Q", and "+Q" to "`" are also deleted. Now, to input
5148 "`", you must type "=q".
5150 ** When your terminal can't display characters from some of the ISO
5151 8859 character sets but can display Latin-1, you can display
5152 more-or-less mnemonic sequences of ASCII/Latin-1 characters instead of
5153 empty boxes (under a window system) or question marks (not under a
5154 window system). Customize the option `latin1-display' to turn this
5157 ** M-; now calls comment-dwim which tries to do something clever based
5158 on the context. M-x kill-comment is now an alias to comment-kill,
5159 defined in newcomment.el. You can choose different styles of region
5160 commenting with the variable `comment-style'.
5162 ** New user options `display-time-mail-face' and
5163 `display-time-use-mail-icon' control the appearance of mode-line mail
5164 indicator used by the display-time package. On a suitable display the
5165 indicator can be an icon and is mouse-sensitive.
5167 ** On window-systems, additional space can be put between text lines
5168 on the display using several methods
5170 - By setting frame parameter `line-spacing' to PIXELS. PIXELS must be
5171 a positive integer, and specifies that PIXELS number of pixels should
5172 be put below text lines on the affected frame or frames.
5174 - By setting X resource `lineSpacing', class `LineSpacing'. This is
5175 equivalent to specifying the frame parameter.
5177 - By specifying `--line-spacing=N' or `-lsp N' on the command line.
5179 - By setting buffer-local variable `line-spacing'. The meaning is
5180 the same, but applies to the a particular buffer only.
5182 ** The new command `clone-indirect-buffer' can be used to create
5183 an indirect buffer that is a twin copy of the current buffer. The
5184 command `clone-indirect-buffer-other-window', bound to C-x 4 c,
5185 does the same but displays the indirect buffer in another window.
5187 ** New user options `backup-directory-alist' and
5188 `make-backup-file-name-function' control the placement of backups,
5189 typically in a single directory or in an invisible sub-directory.
5191 ** New commands iso-iso2sgml and iso-sgml2iso convert between Latin-1
5192 characters and the corresponding SGML (HTML) entities.
5194 ** New X resources recognized
5196 *** The X resource `synchronous', class `Synchronous', specifies
5197 whether Emacs should run in synchronous mode. Synchronous mode
5198 is useful for debugging X problems.
5202 emacs.synchronous: true
5204 *** The X resource `visualClass, class `VisualClass', specifies the
5205 visual Emacs should use. The resource's value should be a string of
5206 the form `CLASS-DEPTH', where CLASS is the name of the visual class,
5207 and DEPTH is the requested color depth as a decimal number. Valid
5208 visual class names are
5217 Visual class names specified as X resource are case-insensitive, i.e.
5218 `pseudocolor', `Pseudocolor' and `PseudoColor' all have the same
5221 The program `xdpyinfo' can be used to list the visual classes
5222 supported on your display, and which depths they have. If
5223 `visualClass' is not specified, Emacs uses the display's default
5228 emacs.visualClass: TrueColor-8
5230 *** The X resource `privateColormap', class `PrivateColormap',
5231 specifies that Emacs should use a private colormap if it is using the
5232 default visual, and that visual is of class PseudoColor. Recognized
5233 resource values are `true' or `on'.
5237 emacs.privateColormap: true
5239 ** Faces and frame parameters.
5241 There are four new faces `scroll-bar', `border', `cursor' and `mouse'.
5242 Setting the frame parameters `scroll-bar-foreground' and
5243 `scroll-bar-background' sets foreground and background color of face
5244 `scroll-bar' and vice versa. Setting frame parameter `border-color'
5245 sets the background color of face `border' and vice versa. Likewise
5246 for frame parameters `cursor-color' and face `cursor', and frame
5247 parameter `mouse-color' and face `mouse'.
5249 Changing frame parameter `font' sets font-related attributes of the
5250 `default' face and vice versa. Setting frame parameters
5251 `foreground-color' or `background-color' sets the colors of the
5252 `default' face and vice versa.
5256 The face `menu' can be used to change colors and font of Emacs' menus.
5258 ** New frame parameter `screen-gamma' for gamma correction.
5260 The new frame parameter `screen-gamma' specifies gamma-correction for
5261 colors. Its value may be nil, the default, in which case no gamma
5262 correction occurs, or a number > 0, usually a float, that specifies
5263 the screen gamma of a frame's display.
5265 PC monitors usually have a screen gamma of 2.2. smaller values result
5266 in darker colors. You might want to try a screen gamma of 1.5 for LCD
5267 color displays. The viewing gamma Emacs uses is 0.4545. (1/2.2).
5269 The X resource name of this parameter is `screenGamma', class
5272 ** Tabs and variable-width text.
5274 Tabs are now displayed with stretch properties; the width of a tab is
5275 defined as a multiple of the normal character width of a frame, and is
5276 independent of the fonts used in the text where the tab appears.
5277 Thus, tabs can be used to line up text in different fonts.
5279 ** Enhancements of the Lucid menu bar
5281 *** The Lucid menu bar now supports the resource "margin".
5283 emacs.pane.menubar.margin: 5
5285 The default margin is 4 which makes the menu bar appear like the
5288 *** Arrows that indicate sub-menus are now drawn with shadows, as in
5291 ** A block cursor can be drawn as wide as the glyph under it under X.
5293 As an example: if a block cursor is over a tab character, it will be
5294 drawn as wide as that tab on the display. To do this, set
5295 `x-stretch-cursor' to a non-nil value.
5297 ** Empty display lines at the end of a buffer may be marked with a
5298 bitmap (this is similar to the tilde displayed by vi and Less).
5300 This behavior is activated by setting the buffer-local variable
5301 `indicate-empty-lines' to a non-nil value. The default value of this
5302 variable is found in `default-indicate-empty-lines'.
5304 ** There is a new "aggressive" scrolling method.
5306 When scrolling up because point is above the window start, if the
5307 value of the buffer-local variable `scroll-up-aggressively' is a
5308 number, Emacs chooses a new window start so that point ends up that
5309 fraction of the window's height from the top of the window.
5311 When scrolling down because point is below the window end, if the
5312 value of the buffer-local variable `scroll-down-aggressively' is a
5313 number, Emacs chooses a new window start so that point ends up that
5314 fraction of the window's height from the bottom of the window.
5316 ** You can now easily create new *Info* buffers using either
5317 M-x clone-buffer, C-u m <entry> RET or C-u g <entry> RET.
5318 M-x clone-buffer can also be used on *Help* and several other special
5321 ** The command `Info-search' now uses a search history.
5323 ** Listing buffers with M-x list-buffers (C-x C-b) now shows
5324 abbreviated file names. Abbreviations can be customized by changing
5325 `directory-abbrev-alist'.
5327 ** A new variable, backup-by-copying-when-privileged-mismatch, gives
5328 the highest file uid for which backup-by-copying-when-mismatch will be
5329 forced on. The assumption is that uids less than or equal to this
5330 value are special uids (root, bin, daemon, etc.--not real system
5331 users) and that files owned by these users should not change ownership,
5332 even if your system policy allows users other than root to edit them.
5334 The default is 200; set the variable to nil to disable the feature.
5336 ** The rectangle commands now avoid inserting undesirable spaces,
5337 notably at the end of lines.
5339 All these functions have been rewritten to avoid inserting unwanted
5340 spaces, and an optional prefix now allows them to behave the old way.
5342 ** The function `replace-rectangle' is an alias for `string-rectangle'.
5344 ** The new command M-x string-insert-rectangle is like `string-rectangle',
5345 but inserts text instead of replacing it.
5347 ** The new command M-x query-replace-regexp-eval acts like
5348 query-replace-regexp, but takes a Lisp expression which is evaluated
5349 after each match to get the replacement text.
5351 ** M-x query-replace recognizes a new command `e' (or `E') that lets
5352 you edit the replacement string.
5354 ** The new command mail-abbrev-complete-alias, bound to `M-TAB'
5355 (if you load the library `mailabbrev'), lets you complete mail aliases
5356 in the text, analogous to lisp-complete-symbol.
5358 ** The variable `echo-keystrokes' may now have a floating point value.
5360 ** If your init file is compiled (.emacs.elc), `user-init-file' is set
5361 to the source name (.emacs.el), if that exists, after loading it.
5363 ** The help string specified for a menu-item whose definition contains
5364 the property `:help HELP' is now displayed under X, on MS-Windows, and
5365 MS-DOS, either in the echo area or with tooltips. Many standard menus
5366 displayed by Emacs now have help strings.
5369 ** New user option `read-mail-command' specifies a command to use to
5370 read mail from the menu etc.
5372 ** The environment variable `EMACSLOCKDIR' is no longer used on MS-Windows.
5373 This environment variable was used when creating lock files. Emacs on
5374 MS-Windows does not use this variable anymore. This change was made
5375 before Emacs 21.1, but wasn't documented until now.
5377 ** Highlighting of mouse-sensitive regions is now supported in the
5378 MS-DOS version of Emacs.
5380 ** The new command `msdos-set-mouse-buttons' forces the MS-DOS version
5381 of Emacs to behave as if the mouse had a specified number of buttons.
5382 This comes handy with mice that don't report their number of buttons
5383 correctly. One example is the wheeled mice, which report 3 buttons,
5384 but clicks on the middle button are not passed to the MS-DOS version
5387 ** Customize changes
5389 *** Customize now supports comments about customized items. Use the
5390 `State' menu to add comments, or give a prefix argument to
5391 M-x customize-set-variable or M-x customize-set-value. Note that
5392 customization comments will cause the customizations to fail in
5393 earlier versions of Emacs.
5395 *** The new option `custom-buffer-done-function' says whether to kill
5396 Custom buffers when you've done with them or just bury them (the
5399 *** If Emacs was invoked with the `-q' or `--no-init-file' options, it
5400 does not allow you to save customizations in your `~/.emacs' init
5401 file. This is because saving customizations from such a session would
5402 wipe out all the other customizationss you might have on your init
5405 ** If Emacs was invoked with the `-q' or `--no-init-file' options, it
5406 does not save disabled and enabled commands for future sessions, to
5407 avoid overwriting existing customizations of this kind that are
5408 already in your init file.
5410 ** New features in evaluation commands
5412 *** The commands to evaluate Lisp expressions, such as C-M-x in Lisp
5413 modes, C-j in Lisp Interaction mode, and M-:, now bind the variables
5414 print-level, print-length, and debug-on-error based on the new
5415 customizable variables eval-expression-print-level,
5416 eval-expression-print-length, and eval-expression-debug-on-error.
5418 The default values for the first two of these variables are 12 and 4
5419 respectively, which means that `eval-expression' now prints at most
5420 the first 12 members of a list and at most 4 nesting levels deep (if
5421 the list is longer or deeper than that, an ellipsis `...' is
5424 <RET> or <mouse-2> on the printed text toggles between an abbreviated
5425 printed representation and an unabbreviated one.
5427 The default value of eval-expression-debug-on-error is t, so any error
5428 during evaluation produces a backtrace.
5430 *** The function `eval-defun' (C-M-x) now loads Edebug and instruments
5431 code when called with a prefix argument.
5435 Note: This release contains changes that might not be compatible with
5436 current user setups (although it's believed that these
5437 incompatibilities will only show in very uncommon circumstances).
5438 However, since the impact is uncertain, these changes may be rolled
5439 back depending on user feedback. Therefore there's no forward
5440 compatibility guarantee wrt the new features introduced in this
5443 *** The hardcoded switch to "java" style in Java mode is gone.
5444 CC Mode used to automatically set the style to "java" when Java mode
5445 is entered. This has now been removed since it caused too much
5448 However, to keep backward compatibility to a certain extent, the
5449 default value for c-default-style now specifies the "java" style for
5450 java-mode, but "gnu" for all other modes (as before). So you won't
5451 notice the change if you haven't touched that variable.
5453 *** New cleanups, space-before-funcall and compact-empty-funcall.
5454 Two new cleanups have been added to c-cleanup-list:
5456 space-before-funcall causes a space to be inserted before the opening
5457 parenthesis of a function call, which gives the style "foo (bar)".
5459 compact-empty-funcall causes any space before a function call opening
5460 parenthesis to be removed if there are no arguments to the function.
5461 It's typically useful together with space-before-funcall to get the
5462 style "foo (bar)" and "foo()".
5464 *** Some keywords now automatically trigger reindentation.
5465 Keywords like "else", "while", "catch" and "finally" have been made
5466 "electric" to make them reindent automatically when they continue an
5467 earlier statement. An example:
5469 for (i = 0; i < 17; i++)
5471 res += a[i]->offset;
5474 Here, the "else" should be indented like the preceding "if", since it
5475 continues that statement. CC Mode will automatically reindent it after
5476 the "else" has been typed in full, since it's not until then it's
5477 possible to decide whether it's a new statement or a continuation of
5480 CC Mode uses Abbrev mode to achieve this, which is therefore turned on
5483 *** M-a and M-e now moves by sentence in multiline strings.
5484 Previously these two keys only moved by sentence in comments, which
5485 meant that sentence movement didn't work in strings containing
5486 documentation or other natural language text.
5488 The reason it's only activated in multiline strings (i.e. strings that
5489 contain a newline, even when escaped by a '\') is to avoid stopping in
5490 the short strings that often reside inside statements. Multiline
5491 strings almost always contain text in a natural language, as opposed
5492 to other strings that typically contain format specifications,
5493 commands, etc. Also, it's not that bothersome that M-a and M-e misses
5494 sentences in single line strings, since they're short anyway.
5496 *** Support for autodoc comments in Pike mode.
5497 Autodoc comments for Pike are used to extract documentation from the
5498 source, like Javadoc in Java. Pike mode now recognize this markup in
5499 comment prefixes and paragraph starts.
5501 *** The comment prefix regexps on c-comment-prefix may be mode specific.
5502 When c-comment-prefix is an association list, it specifies the comment
5503 line prefix on a per-mode basis, like c-default-style does. This
5504 change came about to support the special autodoc comment prefix in
5507 *** Better handling of syntactic errors.
5508 The recovery after unbalanced parens earlier in the buffer has been
5509 improved; CC Mode now reports them by dinging and giving a message
5510 stating the offending line, but still recovers and indent the
5511 following lines in a sane way (most of the time). An "else" with no
5512 matching "if" is handled similarly. If an error is discovered while
5513 indenting a region, the whole region is still indented and the error
5514 is reported afterwards.
5516 *** Lineup functions may now return absolute columns.
5517 A lineup function can give an absolute column to indent the line to by
5518 returning a vector with the desired column as the first element.
5520 *** More robust and warning-free byte compilation.
5521 Although this is strictly not a user visible change (well, depending
5522 on the view of a user), it's still worth mentioning that CC Mode now
5523 can be compiled in the standard ways without causing trouble. Some
5524 code have also been moved between the subpackages to enhance the
5525 modularity somewhat. Thanks to Martin Buchholz for doing the
5528 *** c-style-variables-are-local-p now defaults to t.
5529 This is an incompatible change that has been made to make the behavior
5530 of the style system wrt global variable settings less confusing for
5531 non-advanced users. If you know what this variable does you might
5532 want to set it to nil in your .emacs, otherwise you probably don't
5535 Defaulting c-style-variables-are-local-p to t avoids the confusing
5536 situation that occurs when a user sets some style variables globally
5537 and edits both a Java and a non-Java file in the same Emacs session.
5538 If the style variables aren't buffer local in this case, loading of
5539 the second file will cause the default style (either "gnu" or "java"
5540 by default) to override the global settings made by the user.
5542 *** New initialization procedure for the style system.
5543 When the initial style for a buffer is determined by CC Mode (from the
5544 variable c-default-style), the global values of style variables now
5545 take precedence over the values specified by the chosen style. This
5546 is different than the old behavior: previously, the style-specific
5547 settings would override the global settings. This change makes it
5548 possible to do simple configuration in the intuitive way with
5549 Customize or with setq lines in one's .emacs file.
5551 By default, the global value of every style variable is the new
5552 special symbol set-from-style, which causes the value to be taken from
5553 the style system. This means that in effect, only an explicit setting
5554 of a style variable will cause the "overriding" behavior described
5557 Also note that global settings override style-specific settings *only*
5558 when the initial style of a buffer is chosen by a CC Mode major mode
5559 function. When a style is chosen in other ways --- for example, by a
5560 call like (c-set-style "gnu") in a hook, or via M-x c-set-style ---
5561 then the style-specific values take precedence over any global style
5562 values. In Lisp terms, global values override style-specific values
5563 only when the new second argument to c-set-style is non-nil; see the
5564 function documentation for more info.
5566 The purpose of these changes is to make it easier for users,
5567 especially novice users, to do simple customizations with Customize or
5568 with setq in their .emacs files. On the other hand, the new system is
5569 intended to be compatible with advanced users' customizations as well,
5570 such as those that choose styles in hooks or whatnot. This new system
5571 is believed to be almost entirely compatible with current
5572 configurations, in spite of the changed precedence between style and
5573 global variable settings when a buffer's default style is set.
5575 (Thanks to Eric Eide for clarifying this explanation a bit.)
5577 **** c-offsets-alist is now a customizable variable.
5578 This became possible as a result of the new initialization behavior.
5580 This variable is treated slightly differently from the other style
5581 variables; instead of using the symbol set-from-style, it will be
5582 completed with the syntactic symbols it doesn't already contain when
5583 the style is first initialized. This means it now defaults to the
5584 empty list to make all syntactic elements get their values from the
5587 **** Compatibility variable to restore the old behavior.
5588 In case your configuration doesn't work with this change, you can set
5589 c-old-style-variable-behavior to non-nil to get the old behavior back
5592 *** Improvements to line breaking and text filling.
5593 CC Mode now handles this more intelligently and seamlessly wrt the
5594 surrounding code, especially inside comments. For details see the new
5595 chapter about this in the manual.
5597 **** New variable to recognize comment line prefix decorations.
5598 The variable c-comment-prefix-regexp has been added to properly
5599 recognize the line prefix in both block and line comments. It's
5600 primarily used to initialize the various paragraph recognition and
5601 adaptive filling variables that the text handling functions uses.
5603 **** New variable c-block-comment-prefix.
5604 This is a generalization of the now obsolete variable
5605 c-comment-continuation-stars to handle arbitrary strings.
5607 **** CC Mode now uses adaptive fill mode.
5608 This to make it adapt better to the paragraph style inside comments.
5610 It's also possible to use other adaptive filling packages inside CC
5611 Mode, notably Kyle E. Jones' Filladapt mode (http://wonderworks.com/).
5612 A new convenience function c-setup-filladapt sets up Filladapt for use
5615 Note though that the 2.12 version of Filladapt lacks a feature that
5616 causes it to work suboptimally when c-comment-prefix-regexp can match
5617 the empty string (which it commonly does). A patch for that is
5618 available from the CC Mode web site (http://www.python.org/emacs/
5621 **** The variables `c-hanging-comment-starter-p' and
5622 `c-hanging-comment-ender-p', which controlled how comment starters and
5623 enders were filled, are not used anymore. The new version of the
5624 function `c-fill-paragraph' keeps the comment starters and enders as
5625 they were before the filling.
5627 **** It's now possible to selectively turn off auto filling.
5628 The variable c-ignore-auto-fill is used to ignore auto fill mode in
5629 specific contexts, e.g. in preprocessor directives and in string
5632 **** New context sensitive line break function c-context-line-break.
5633 It works like newline-and-indent in normal code, and adapts the line
5634 prefix according to the comment style when used inside comments. If
5635 you're normally using newline-and-indent, you might want to switch to
5638 *** Fixes to IDL mode.
5639 It now does a better job in recognizing only the constructs relevant
5640 to IDL. E.g. it no longer matches "class" as the beginning of a
5641 struct block, but it does match the CORBA 2.3 "valuetype" keyword.
5642 Thanks to Eric Eide.
5644 *** Improvements to the Whitesmith style.
5645 It now keeps the style consistently on all levels and both when
5646 opening braces hangs and when they don't.
5648 **** New lineup function c-lineup-whitesmith-in-block.
5650 *** New lineup functions c-lineup-template-args and c-indent-multi-line-block.
5651 See their docstrings for details. c-lineup-template-args does a
5652 better job of tracking the brackets used as parens in C++ templates,
5653 and is used by default to line up continued template arguments.
5655 *** c-lineup-comment now preserves alignment with a comment on the
5656 previous line. It used to instead preserve comments that started in
5657 the column specified by comment-column.
5659 *** c-lineup-C-comments handles "free form" text comments.
5660 In comments with a long delimiter line at the start, the indentation
5661 is kept unchanged for lines that start with an empty comment line
5662 prefix. This is intended for the type of large block comments that
5663 contain documentation with its own formatting. In these you normally
5664 don't want CC Mode to change the indentation.
5666 *** The `c' syntactic symbol is now relative to the comment start
5667 instead of the previous line, to make integers usable as lineup
5670 *** All lineup functions have gotten docstrings.
5672 *** More preprocessor directive movement functions.
5673 c-down-conditional does the reverse of c-up-conditional.
5674 c-up-conditional-with-else and c-down-conditional-with-else are
5675 variants of these that also stops at "#else" lines (suggested by Don
5678 *** Minor improvements to many movement functions in tricky situations.
5682 *** New variable `dired-recursive-deletes' determines if the delete
5683 command will delete non-empty directories recursively. The default
5684 is, delete only empty directories.
5686 *** New variable `dired-recursive-copies' determines if the copy
5687 command will copy directories recursively. The default is, do not
5688 copy directories recursively.
5690 *** In command `dired-do-shell-command' (usually bound to `!') a `?'
5691 in the shell command has a special meaning similar to `*', but with
5692 the difference that the command will be run on each file individually.
5694 *** The new command `dired-find-alternate-file' (usually bound to `a')
5695 replaces the Dired buffer with the buffer for an alternate file or
5698 *** The new command `dired-show-file-type' (usually bound to `y') shows
5699 a message in the echo area describing what type of file the point is on.
5700 This command invokes the external program `file' do its work, and so
5701 will only work on systems with that program, and will be only as
5702 accurate or inaccurate as it is.
5704 *** Dired now properly handles undo changes of adding/removing `-R'
5707 *** Dired commands that prompt for a destination file now allow the use
5708 of the `M-n' command in the minibuffer to insert the source filename,
5709 which the user can then edit. This only works if there is a single
5710 source file, not when operating on multiple marked files.
5714 The Gnus NEWS entries are short, but they reflect sweeping changes in
5715 four areas: Article display treatment, MIME treatment,
5716 internationalization and mail-fetching.
5718 *** The mail-fetching functions have changed. See the manual for the
5719 many details. In particular, all procmail fetching variables are gone.
5721 If you used procmail like in
5723 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
5724 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
5725 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/mail/incoming/")
5726 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "\\.in")
5728 this now has changed to
5731 '((directory :path "~/mail/incoming/"
5734 More information is available in the info doc at Select Methods ->
5735 Getting Mail -> Mail Sources
5737 *** Gnus is now a MIME-capable reader. This affects many parts of
5738 Gnus, and adds a slew of new commands. See the manual for details.
5739 Separate MIME packages like RMIME, mime-compose etc., will probably no
5740 longer work; remove them and use the native facilities.
5742 The FLIM/SEMI package still works with Emacs 21, but if you want to
5743 use the native facilities, you must remove any mailcap.el[c] that was
5744 installed by FLIM/SEMI version 1.13 or earlier.
5746 *** Gnus has also been multilingualized. This also affects too many
5747 parts of Gnus to summarize here, and adds many new variables. There
5748 are built-in facilities equivalent to those of gnus-mule.el, which is
5749 now just a compatibility layer.
5751 *** gnus-mule.el is now just a compatibility layer over the built-in
5754 *** gnus-auto-select-first can now be a function to be
5755 called to position point.
5757 *** The user can now decide which extra headers should be included in
5758 summary buffers and NOV files.
5760 *** `gnus-article-display-hook' has been removed. Instead, a number
5761 of variables starting with `gnus-treat-' have been added.
5763 *** The Gnus posting styles have been redone again and now work in a
5764 subtly different manner.
5766 *** New web-based backends have been added: nnslashdot, nnwarchive
5767 and nnultimate. nnweb has been revamped, again, to keep up with
5768 ever-changing layouts.
5770 *** Gnus can now read IMAP mail via nnimap.
5772 *** There is image support of various kinds and some sound support.
5774 ** Changes in Texinfo mode.
5776 *** A couple of new key bindings have been added for inserting Texinfo
5780 -------------------------
5784 C-c C-c q @quotation
5786 C-c C-o @<block> ... @end <block>
5789 *** The " key now inserts either " or `` or '' depending on context.
5791 ** Changes in Outline mode.
5793 There is now support for Imenu to index headings. A new command
5794 `outline-headers-as-kill' copies the visible headings in the region to
5795 the kill ring, e.g. to produce a table of contents.
5797 ** Changes to Emacs Server
5799 *** The new option `server-kill-new-buffers' specifies what to do
5800 with buffers when done with them. If non-nil, the default, buffers
5801 are killed, unless they were already present before visiting them with
5802 Emacs Server. If nil, `server-temp-file-regexp' specifies which
5803 buffers to kill, as before.
5805 Please note that only buffers are killed that still have a client,
5806 i.e. buffers visited with `emacsclient --no-wait' are never killed in
5809 ** Both emacsclient and Emacs itself now accept command line options
5810 of the form +LINE:COLUMN in addition to +LINE.
5812 ** Changes to Show Paren mode.
5814 *** Overlays used by Show Paren mode now use a priority property.
5815 The new user option show-paren-priority specifies the priority to
5816 use. Default is 1000.
5818 ** New command M-x check-parens can be used to find unbalanced paren
5819 groups and strings in buffers in Lisp mode (or other modes).
5821 ** Changes to hideshow.el
5823 *** Generalized block selection and traversal
5825 A block is now recognized by its start and end regexps (both strings),
5826 and an integer specifying which sub-expression in the start regexp
5827 serves as the place where a `forward-sexp'-like function can operate.
5828 See the documentation of variable `hs-special-modes-alist'.
5830 *** During incremental search, if Hideshow minor mode is active,
5831 hidden blocks are temporarily shown. The variable `hs-headline' can
5832 be used in the mode line format to show the line at the beginning of
5835 *** User option `hs-hide-all-non-comment-function' specifies a
5836 function to be called at each top-level block beginning, instead of
5837 the normal block-hiding function.
5839 *** The command `hs-show-region' has been removed.
5841 *** The key bindings have changed to fit the Emacs conventions,
5842 roughly imitating those of Outline minor mode. Notably, the prefix
5843 for all bindings is now `C-c @'. For details, see the documentation
5844 for `hs-minor-mode'.
5846 *** The variable `hs-show-hidden-short-form' has been removed, and
5847 hideshow.el now always behaves as if this variable were set to t.
5849 ** Changes to Change Log mode and Add-Log functions
5851 *** If you invoke `add-change-log-entry' from a backup file, it makes
5852 an entry appropriate for the file's parent. This is useful for making
5853 log entries by comparing a version with deleted functions.
5855 **** New command M-x change-log-merge merges another log into the
5858 *** New command M-x change-log-redate fixes any old-style date entries
5861 *** Change Log mode now adds a file's version number to change log
5862 entries if user-option `change-log-version-info-enabled' is non-nil.
5863 Unless the file is under version control the search for a file's
5864 version number is performed based on regular expressions from
5865 `change-log-version-number-regexp-list' which can be customized.
5866 Version numbers are only found in the first 10 percent of a file.
5868 *** Change Log mode now defines its own faces for font-lock highlighting.
5870 ** Changes to cmuscheme
5872 *** The user-option `scheme-program-name' has been renamed
5873 `cmuscheme-program-name' due to conflicts with xscheme.el.
5875 ** Changes in Font Lock
5877 *** The new function `font-lock-remove-keywords' can be used to remove
5878 font-lock keywords from the current buffer or from a specific major mode.
5880 *** Multi-line patterns are now supported. Modes using this, should
5881 set font-lock-multiline to t in their font-lock-defaults.
5883 *** `font-lock-syntactic-face-function' allows major-modes to choose
5884 the face used for each string/comment.
5886 *** A new standard face `font-lock-doc-face'.
5887 Meant for Lisp docstrings, Javadoc comments and other "documentation in code".
5889 ** Changes to Shell mode
5891 *** The `shell' command now accepts an optional argument to specify the buffer
5892 to use, which defaults to "*shell*". When used interactively, a
5893 non-default buffer may be specified by giving the `shell' command a
5894 prefix argument (causing it to prompt for the buffer name).
5896 ** Comint (subshell) changes
5898 These changes generally affect all modes derived from comint mode, which
5899 include shell-mode, gdb-mode, scheme-interaction-mode, etc.
5901 *** Comint now by default interprets some carriage-control characters.
5902 Comint now removes CRs from CR LF sequences, and treats single CRs and
5903 BSs in the output in a way similar to a terminal (by deleting to the
5904 beginning of the line, or deleting the previous character,
5905 respectively). This is achieved by adding `comint-carriage-motion' to
5906 the `comint-output-filter-functions' hook by default.
5908 *** By default, comint no longer uses the variable `comint-prompt-regexp'
5909 to distinguish prompts from user-input. Instead, it notices which
5910 parts of the text were output by the process, and which entered by the
5911 user, and attaches `field' properties to allow emacs commands to use
5912 this information. Common movement commands, notably beginning-of-line,
5913 respect field boundaries in a fairly natural manner. To disable this
5914 feature, and use the old behavior, customize the user option
5915 `comint-use-prompt-regexp-instead-of-fields'.
5917 *** Comint now includes new features to send commands to running processes
5918 and redirect the output to a designated buffer or buffers.
5920 *** The command M-x comint-redirect-send-command reads a command and
5921 buffer name from the mini-buffer. The command is sent to the current
5922 buffer's process, and its output is inserted into the specified buffer.
5924 The command M-x comint-redirect-send-command-to-process acts like
5925 M-x comint-redirect-send-command but additionally reads the name of
5926 the buffer whose process should be used from the mini-buffer.
5928 *** Packages based on comint now highlight user input and program prompts,
5929 and support choosing previous input with mouse-2. To control these features,
5930 see the user-options `comint-highlight-input' and `comint-highlight-prompt'.
5932 *** The new command `comint-write-output' (usually bound to `C-c C-s')
5933 saves the output from the most recent command to a file. With a prefix
5934 argument, it appends to the file.
5936 *** The command `comint-kill-output' has been renamed `comint-delete-output'
5937 (usually bound to `C-c C-o'); the old name is aliased to it for
5940 *** The new function `comint-add-to-input-history' adds commands to the input
5943 *** The new variable `comint-input-history-ignore' is a regexp for
5944 identifying history lines that should be ignored, like tcsh time-stamp
5945 strings, starting with a `#'. The default value of this variable is "^#".
5947 ** Changes to Rmail mode
5949 *** The new user-option rmail-user-mail-address-regexp can be
5950 set to fine tune the identification of the correspondent when
5951 receiving new mail. If it matches the address of the sender, the
5952 recipient is taken as correspondent of a mail. If nil, the default,
5953 `user-login-name' and `user-mail-address' are used to exclude yourself
5956 Usually you don't have to set this variable, except if you collect
5957 mails sent by you under different user names. Then it should be a
5958 regexp matching your mail addresses.
5960 *** The new user-option rmail-confirm-expunge controls whether and how
5961 to ask for confirmation before expunging deleted messages from an
5962 Rmail file. You can choose between no confirmation, confirmation
5963 with y-or-n-p, or confirmation with yes-or-no-p. Default is to ask
5964 for confirmation with yes-or-no-p.
5966 *** RET is now bound in the Rmail summary to rmail-summary-goto-msg,
5969 *** There is a new user option `rmail-digest-end-regexps' that
5970 specifies the regular expressions to detect the line that ends a
5973 *** The new user option `rmail-automatic-folder-directives' specifies
5974 in which folder to put messages automatically.
5976 *** The new function `rmail-redecode-body' allows to fix a message
5977 with non-ASCII characters if Emacs happens to decode it incorrectly
5978 due to missing or malformed "charset=" header.
5980 ** The new user-option `mail-envelope-from' can be used to specify
5981 an envelope-from address different from user-mail-address.
5983 ** The variable mail-specify-envelope-from controls whether to
5984 use the -f option when sending mail.
5986 ** The Rmail command `o' (`rmail-output-to-rmail-file') now writes the
5987 current message in the internal `emacs-mule' encoding, rather than in
5988 the encoding taken from the variable `buffer-file-coding-system'.
5989 This allows to save messages whose characters cannot be safely encoded
5990 by the buffer's coding system, and makes sure the message will be
5991 displayed correctly when you later visit the target Rmail file.
5993 If you want your Rmail files be encoded in a specific coding system
5994 other than `emacs-mule', you can customize the variable
5995 `rmail-file-coding-system' to set its value to that coding system.
5997 ** Changes to TeX mode
5999 *** The default mode has been changed from `plain-tex-mode' to
6002 *** latex-mode now has a simple indentation algorithm.
6004 *** M-f and M-p jump around \begin...\end pairs.
6006 *** Added support for outline-minor-mode.
6008 ** Changes to RefTeX mode
6010 *** RefTeX has new support for index generation. Index entries can be
6011 created with `C-c <', with completion available on index keys.
6012 Pressing `C-c /' indexes the word at the cursor with a default
6013 macro. `C-c >' compiles all index entries into an alphabetically
6014 sorted *Index* buffer which looks like the final index. Entries
6015 can be edited from that buffer.
6017 *** Label and citation key selection now allow to select several
6018 items and reference them together (use `m' to mark items, `a' or
6019 `A' to use all marked entries).
6021 *** reftex.el has been split into a number of smaller files to reduce
6022 memory use when only a part of RefTeX is being used.
6024 *** a new command `reftex-view-crossref-from-bibtex' (bound to `C-c &'
6025 in BibTeX-mode) can be called in a BibTeX database buffer in order
6026 to show locations in LaTeX documents where a particular entry has
6029 ** Emacs Lisp mode now allows multiple levels of outline headings.
6030 The level of a heading is determined from the number of leading
6031 semicolons in a heading line. Toplevel forms starting with a `('
6032 in column 1 are always made leaves.
6034 ** The M-x time-stamp command (most commonly used on write-file-hooks)
6035 has the following new features:
6037 *** The patterns for finding the time stamp and for updating a pattern
6038 may match text spanning multiple lines. For example, some people like
6039 to have the filename and date on separate lines. The new variable
6040 time-stamp-inserts-lines controls the matching for multi-line patterns.
6042 *** More than one time stamp can be updated in the same file. This
6043 feature is useful if you need separate time stamps in a program source
6044 file to both include in formatted documentation and insert in the
6045 compiled binary. The same time-stamp will be written at each matching
6046 pattern. The variable time-stamp-count enables this new feature; it
6049 ** Partial Completion mode now completes environment variables in
6054 *** The command `ispell' now spell-checks a region if
6055 transient-mark-mode is on, and the mark is active. Otherwise it
6056 spell-checks the current buffer.
6058 *** Support for synchronous subprocesses - DOS/Windoze - has been
6061 *** An "alignment error" bug was fixed when a manual spelling
6062 correction is made and re-checked.
6064 *** Italian, Portuguese, and Slovak dictionary definitions have been added.
6066 *** Region skipping performance has been vastly improved in some
6069 *** Spell checking HTML buffers has been improved and isn't so strict
6072 *** The buffer-local words are now always placed on a new line at the
6075 *** Spell checking now works in the MS-DOS version of Emacs.
6077 ** Makefile mode changes
6079 *** The mode now uses the abbrev table `makefile-mode-abbrev-table'.
6081 *** Conditionals and include statements are now highlighted when
6082 Fontlock mode is active.
6086 *** Isearch now puts a call to `isearch-resume' in the command history,
6087 so that searches can be resumed.
6089 *** In Isearch mode, C-M-s and C-M-r are now bound like C-s and C-r,
6090 respectively, i.e. you can repeat a regexp isearch with the same keys
6091 that started the search.
6093 *** In Isearch mode, mouse-2 in the echo area now yanks the current
6094 selection into the search string rather than giving an error.
6096 *** There is a new lazy highlighting feature in incremental search.
6098 Lazy highlighting is switched on/off by customizing variable
6099 `isearch-lazy-highlight'. When active, all matches for the current
6100 search string are highlighted. The current match is highlighted as
6101 before using face `isearch' or `region'. All other matches are
6102 highlighted using face `isearch-lazy-highlight-face' which defaults to
6103 `secondary-selection'.
6105 The extra highlighting makes it easier to anticipate where the cursor
6106 will end up each time you press C-s or C-r to repeat a pending search.
6107 Highlighting of these additional matches happens in a deferred fashion
6108 using "idle timers," so the cycles needed do not rob isearch of its
6109 usual snappy response.
6111 If `isearch-lazy-highlight-cleanup' is set to t, highlights for
6112 matches are automatically cleared when you end the search. If it is
6113 set to nil, you can remove the highlights manually with `M-x
6114 isearch-lazy-highlight-cleanup'.
6118 VC has been overhauled internally. It is now modular, making it
6119 easier to plug-in arbitrary version control backends. (See Lisp
6120 Changes for details on the new structure.) As a result, the mechanism
6121 to enable and disable support for particular version systems has
6122 changed: everything is now controlled by the new variable
6123 `vc-handled-backends'. Its value is a list of symbols that identify
6124 version systems; the default is '(RCS CVS SCCS). When finding a file,
6125 each of the backends in that list is tried in order to see whether the
6126 file is registered in that backend.
6128 When registering a new file, VC first tries each of the listed
6129 backends to see if any of them considers itself "responsible" for the
6130 directory of the file (e.g. because a corresponding subdirectory for
6131 master files exists). If none of the backends is responsible, then
6132 the first backend in the list that could register the file is chosen.
6133 As a consequence, the variable `vc-default-back-end' is now obsolete.
6135 The old variable `vc-master-templates' is also obsolete, although VC
6136 still supports it for backward compatibility. To define templates for
6137 RCS or SCCS, you should rather use the new variables
6138 vc-{rcs,sccs}-master-templates. (There is no such feature under CVS
6139 where it doesn't make sense.)
6141 The variables `vc-ignore-vc-files' and `vc-handle-cvs' are also
6142 obsolete now, you must set `vc-handled-backends' to nil or exclude
6143 `CVS' from the list, respectively, to achieve their effect now.
6147 The variable `vc-checkout-carefully' is obsolete: the corresponding
6148 checks are always done now.
6150 VC Dired buffers are now kept up-to-date during all version control
6153 `vc-diff' output is now displayed in `diff-mode'.
6154 `vc-print-log' uses `log-view-mode'.
6155 `vc-log-mode' (used for *VC-Log*) has been replaced by `log-edit-mode'.
6157 The command C-x v m (vc-merge) now accepts an empty argument as the
6158 first revision number. This means that any recent changes on the
6159 current branch should be picked up from the repository and merged into
6160 the working file (``merge news'').
6162 The commands C-x v s (vc-create-snapshot) and C-x v r
6163 (vc-retrieve-snapshot) now ask for a directory name from which to work
6166 *** Multiple Backends
6168 VC now lets you register files in more than one backend. This is
6169 useful, for example, if you are working with a slow remote CVS
6170 repository. You can then use RCS for local editing, and occasionally
6171 commit your changes back to CVS, or pick up changes from CVS into your
6174 To make this work, the ``more local'' backend (RCS in our example)
6175 should come first in `vc-handled-backends', and the ``more remote''
6176 backend (CVS) should come later. (The default value of
6177 `vc-handled-backends' already has it that way.)
6179 You can then commit changes to another backend (say, RCS), by typing
6180 C-u C-x v v RCS RET (i.e. vc-next-action now accepts a backend name as
6181 a revision number). VC registers the file in the more local backend
6182 if that hasn't already happened, and commits to a branch based on the
6183 current revision number from the more remote backend.
6185 If a file is registered in multiple backends, you can switch to
6186 another one using C-x v b (vc-switch-backend). This does not change
6187 any files, it only changes VC's perspective on the file. Use this to
6188 pick up changes from CVS while working under RCS locally.
6190 After you are done with your local RCS editing, you can commit your
6191 changes back to CVS using C-u C-x v v CVS RET. In this case, the
6192 local RCS archive is removed after the commit, and the log entry
6193 buffer is initialized to contain the entire RCS change log of the file.
6197 There is a new user option, `vc-cvs-stay-local'. If it is `t' (the
6198 default), then VC avoids network queries for files registered in
6199 remote repositories. The state of such files is then only determined
6200 by heuristics and past information. `vc-cvs-stay-local' can also be a
6201 regexp to match against repository hostnames; only files from hosts
6202 that match it are treated locally. If the variable is nil, then VC
6203 queries the repository just as often as it does for local files.
6205 If `vc-cvs-stay-local' is on, then VC also makes local backups of
6206 repository versions. This means that ordinary diffs (C-x v =) and
6207 revert operations (C-x v u) can be done completely locally, without
6208 any repository interactions at all. The name of a local version
6209 backup of FILE is FILE.~REV.~, where REV is the repository version
6210 number. This format is similar to that used by C-x v ~
6211 (vc-version-other-window), except for the trailing dot. As a matter
6212 of fact, the two features can each use the files created by the other,
6213 the only difference being that files with a trailing `.' are deleted
6214 automatically after commit. (This feature doesn't work on MS-DOS,
6215 since DOS disallows more than a single dot in the trunk of a file
6218 If `vc-cvs-stay-local' is on, and there have been changes in the
6219 repository, VC notifies you about it when you actually try to commit.
6220 If you want to check for updates from the repository without trying to
6221 commit, you can either use C-x v m RET to perform an update on the
6222 current file, or you can use C-x v r RET to get an update for an
6223 entire directory tree.
6225 The new user option `vc-cvs-use-edit' indicates whether VC should call
6226 "cvs edit" to make files writeable; it defaults to `t'. (This option
6227 is only meaningful if the CVSREAD variable is set, or if files are
6228 "watched" by other developers.)
6230 The commands C-x v s (vc-create-snapshot) and C-x v r
6231 (vc-retrieve-snapshot) are now also implemented for CVS. If you give
6232 an empty snapshot name to the latter, that performs a `cvs update',
6233 starting at the given directory.
6235 *** Lisp Changes in VC
6237 VC has been restructured internally to make it modular. You can now
6238 add support for arbitrary version control backends by writing a
6239 library that provides a certain set of backend-specific functions, and
6240 then telling VC to use that library. For example, to add support for
6241 a version system named SYS, you write a library named vc-sys.el, which
6242 provides a number of functions vc-sys-... (see commentary at the top
6243 of vc.el for a detailed list of them). To make VC use that library,
6244 you need to put it somewhere into Emacs' load path and add the symbol
6245 `SYS' to the list `vc-handled-backends'.
6247 ** The customizable EDT emulation package now supports the EDT
6248 SUBS command and EDT scroll margins. It also works with more
6249 terminal/keyboard configurations and it now works under XEmacs.
6250 See etc/edt-user.doc for more information.
6252 ** New modes and packages
6254 *** The new global minor mode `minibuffer-electric-default-mode'
6255 automatically hides the `(default ...)' part of minibuffer prompts when
6256 the default is not applicable.
6258 *** Artist is an Emacs lisp package that allows you to draw lines,
6259 rectangles and ellipses by using your mouse and/or keyboard. The
6260 shapes are made up with the ascii characters |, -, / and \.
6264 - Intersecting: When a `|' intersects with a `-', a `+' is
6265 drawn, like this: | \ /
6269 - Rubber-banding: When drawing lines you can interactively see the
6270 result while holding the mouse button down and moving the mouse. If
6271 your machine is not fast enough (a 386 is a bit too slow, but a
6272 pentium is well enough), you can turn this feature off. You will
6273 then see 1's and 2's which mark the 1st and 2nd endpoint of the line
6276 - Arrows: After having drawn a (straight) line or a (straight)
6277 poly-line, you can set arrows on the line-ends by typing < or >.
6279 - Flood-filling: You can fill any area with a certain character by
6282 - Cut copy and paste: You can cut, copy and paste rectangular
6283 regions. Artist also interfaces with the rect package (this can be
6284 turned off if it causes you any trouble) so anything you cut in
6285 artist can be yanked with C-x r y and vice versa.
6287 - Drawing with keys: Everything you can do with the mouse, you can
6288 also do without the mouse.
6290 - Aspect-ratio: You can set the variable artist-aspect-ratio to
6291 reflect the height-width ratio for the font you are using. Squares
6292 and circles are then drawn square/round. Note, that once your
6293 ascii-file is shown with font with a different height-width ratio,
6294 the squares won't be square and the circles won't be round.
6296 - Drawing operations: The following drawing operations are implemented:
6298 lines straight-lines
6300 poly-lines straight poly-lines
6302 text (see-thru) text (overwrite)
6303 spray-can setting size for spraying
6304 vaporize line vaporize lines
6305 erase characters erase rectangles
6307 Straight lines are lines that go horizontally, vertically or
6308 diagonally. Plain lines go in any direction. The operations in
6309 the right column are accessed by holding down the shift key while
6312 It is possible to vaporize (erase) entire lines and connected lines
6313 (rectangles for example) as long as the lines being vaporized are
6314 straight and connected at their endpoints. Vaporizing is inspired
6315 by the drawrect package by Jari Aalto <jari.aalto@poboxes.com>.
6317 - Picture mode compatibility: Artist is picture mode compatible (this
6320 *** The new package Eshell is an operating system command shell
6321 implemented entirely in Emacs Lisp. Use `M-x eshell' to invoke it.
6322 It functions similarly to bash and zsh, and allows running of Lisp
6323 functions and external commands using the same syntax. It supports
6324 history lists, aliases, extended globbing, smart scrolling, etc. It
6325 will work on any platform Emacs has been ported to. And since most of
6326 the basic commands -- ls, rm, mv, cp, ln, du, cat, etc. -- have been
6327 rewritten in Lisp, it offers an operating-system independent shell,
6328 all within the scope of your Emacs process.
6330 *** The new package timeclock.el is a mode is for keeping track of time
6331 intervals. You can use it for whatever purpose you like, but the
6332 typical scenario is to keep track of how much time you spend working
6333 on certain projects.
6335 *** The new package hi-lock.el provides commands to highlight matches
6336 of interactively entered regexps. For example,
6338 M-x highlight-regexp RET clearly RET RET
6340 will highlight all occurrences of `clearly' using a yellow background
6341 face. New occurrences of `clearly' will be highlighted as they are
6342 typed. `M-x unhighlight-regexp RET' will remove the highlighting.
6343 Any existing face can be used for highlighting and a set of
6344 appropriate faces is provided. The regexps can be written into the
6345 current buffer in a form that will be recognized the next time the
6346 corresponding file is read. There are commands to highlight matches
6347 to phrases and to highlight entire lines containing a match.
6349 *** The new package zone.el plays games with Emacs' display when
6352 *** The new package tildify.el allows to add hard spaces or other text
6353 fragments in accordance with the current major mode.
6355 *** The new package xml.el provides a simple but generic XML
6356 parser. It doesn't parse the DTDs however.
6358 *** The comment operations are now provided by the newcomment.el
6359 package which allows different styles of comment-region and should
6360 be more robust while offering the same functionality.
6361 `comment-region' now doesn't always comment a-line-at-a-time, but only
6362 comments the region, breaking the line at point if necessary.
6364 *** The Ebrowse package implements a C++ class browser and tags
6365 facilities tailored for use with C++. It is documented in a
6366 separate Texinfo file.
6368 *** The PCL-CVS package available by either running M-x cvs-examine or
6369 by visiting a CVS administrative directory (with a prefix argument)
6370 provides an alternative interface to VC-dired for CVS. It comes with
6371 `log-view-mode' to view RCS and SCCS logs and `log-edit-mode' used to
6372 enter check-in log messages.
6374 *** The new package called `woman' allows to browse Unix man pages
6375 without invoking external programs.
6377 The command `M-x woman' formats manual pages entirely in Emacs Lisp
6378 and then displays them, like `M-x manual-entry' does. Unlike
6379 `manual-entry', `woman' does not invoke any external programs, so it
6380 is useful on systems such as MS-DOS/MS-Windows where the `man' and
6381 Groff or `troff' commands are not readily available.
6383 The command `M-x woman-find-file' asks for the file name of a man
6384 page, then formats and displays it like `M-x woman' does.
6386 *** The new command M-x re-builder offers a convenient interface for
6387 authoring regular expressions with immediate visual feedback.
6389 The buffer from which the command was called becomes the target for
6390 the regexp editor popping up in a separate window. Matching text in
6391 the target buffer is immediately color marked during the editing.
6392 Each sub-expression of the regexp will show up in a different face so
6393 even complex regexps can be edited and verified on target data in a
6396 On displays not supporting faces the matches instead blink like
6397 matching parens to make them stand out. On such a setup you will
6398 probably also want to use the sub-expression mode when the regexp
6399 contains such to get feedback about their respective limits.
6401 *** glasses-mode is a minor mode that makes
6402 unreadableIdentifiersLikeThis readable. It works as glasses, without
6403 actually modifying content of a buffer.
6405 *** The package ebnf2ps translates an EBNF to a syntactic chart in
6408 Currently accepts ad-hoc EBNF, ISO EBNF and Bison/Yacc.
6410 The ad-hoc default EBNF syntax has the following elements:
6412 ; comment (until end of line)
6416 $A default non-terminal
6417 $"C" default terminal
6418 $?C? default special
6419 A = B. production (A is the header and B the body)
6420 C D sequence (C occurs before D)
6421 C | D alternative (C or D occurs)
6422 A - B exception (A excluding B, B without any non-terminal)
6423 n * A repetition (A repeats n (integer) times)
6424 (C) group (expression C is grouped together)
6425 [C] optional (C may or not occurs)
6426 C+ one or more occurrences of C
6427 {C}+ one or more occurrences of C
6428 {C}* zero or more occurrences of C
6429 {C} zero or more occurrences of C
6430 C / D equivalent to: C {D C}*
6431 {C || D}+ equivalent to: C {D C}*
6432 {C || D}* equivalent to: [C {D C}*]
6433 {C || D} equivalent to: [C {D C}*]
6435 Please, see ebnf2ps documentation for EBNF syntax and how to use it.
6437 *** The package align.el will align columns within a region, using M-x
6438 align. Its mode-specific rules, based on regular expressions,
6439 determine where the columns should be split. In C and C++, for
6440 example, it will align variable names in declaration lists, or the
6441 equal signs of assignments.
6443 *** `paragraph-indent-minor-mode' is a new minor mode supporting
6444 paragraphs in the same style as `paragraph-indent-text-mode'.
6446 *** bs.el is a new package for buffer selection similar to
6447 list-buffers or electric-buffer-list. Use M-x bs-show to display a
6448 buffer menu with this package. See the Custom group `bs'.
6450 *** find-lisp.el is a package emulating the Unix find command in Lisp.
6452 *** calculator.el is a small calculator package that is intended to
6453 replace desktop calculators such as xcalc and calc.exe. Actually, it
6454 is not too small - it has more features than most desktop calculators,
6455 and can be customized easily to get many more functions. It should
6456 not be confused with "calc" which is a much bigger mathematical tool
6457 which answers different needs.
6459 *** The minor modes cwarn-mode and global-cwarn-mode highlights
6460 suspicious C and C++ constructions. Currently, assignments inside
6461 expressions, semicolon following `if', `for' and `while' (except, of
6462 course, after a `do .. while' statement), and C++ functions with
6463 reference parameters are recognized. The modes require font-lock mode
6466 *** smerge-mode.el provides `smerge-mode', a simple minor-mode for files
6467 containing diff3-style conflict markers, such as generated by RCS.
6469 *** 5x5.el is a simple puzzle game.
6471 *** hl-line.el provides `hl-line-mode', a minor mode to highlight the
6472 current line in the current buffer. It also provides
6473 `global-hl-line-mode' to provide the same behavior in all buffers.
6475 *** ansi-color.el translates ANSI terminal escapes into text-properties.
6477 Please note: if `ansi-color-for-comint-mode' and
6478 `global-font-lock-mode' are non-nil, loading ansi-color.el will
6479 disable font-lock and add `ansi-color-apply' to
6480 `comint-preoutput-filter-functions' for all shell-mode buffers. This
6481 displays the output of "ls --color=yes" using the correct foreground
6482 and background colors.
6484 *** delphi.el provides a major mode for editing the Delphi (Object
6487 *** quickurl.el provides a simple method of inserting a URL based on
6490 *** sql.el provides an interface to SQL data bases.
6492 *** fortune.el uses the fortune program to create mail/news signatures.
6494 *** whitespace.el is a package for warning about and cleaning bogus
6495 whitespace in a file.
6497 *** PostScript mode (ps-mode) is a new major mode for editing PostScript
6498 files. It offers: interaction with a PostScript interpreter, including
6499 (very basic) error handling; fontification, easily customizable for
6500 interpreter messages; auto-indentation; insertion of EPSF templates and
6501 often used code snippets; viewing of BoundingBox; commenting out /
6502 uncommenting regions; conversion of 8bit characters to PostScript octal
6503 codes. All functionality is accessible through a menu.
6505 *** delim-col helps to prettify columns in a text region or rectangle.
6507 Here is an example of columns:
6510 dog pineapple car EXTRA
6511 porcupine strawberry airplane
6513 Doing the following settings:
6515 (setq delimit-columns-str-before "[ ")
6516 (setq delimit-columns-str-after " ]")
6517 (setq delimit-columns-str-separator ", ")
6518 (setq delimit-columns-separator "\t")
6521 Selecting the lines above and typing:
6523 M-x delimit-columns-region
6527 [ horse , apple , bus , ]
6528 [ dog , pineapple , car , EXTRA ]
6529 [ porcupine, strawberry, airplane, ]
6531 delim-col has the following options:
6533 delimit-columns-str-before Specify a string to be inserted
6536 delimit-columns-str-separator Specify a string to be inserted
6537 between each column.
6539 delimit-columns-str-after Specify a string to be inserted
6542 delimit-columns-separator Specify a regexp which separates
6545 delim-col has the following commands:
6547 delimit-columns-region Prettify all columns in a text region.
6548 delimit-columns-rectangle Prettify all columns in a text rectangle.
6550 *** Recentf mode maintains a menu for visiting files that were
6551 operated on recently. User option recentf-menu-filter specifies a
6552 menu filter function to change the menu appearance. For example, the
6553 recent file list can be displayed:
6555 - organized by major modes, directories or user defined rules.
6556 - sorted by file paths, file names, ascending or descending.
6557 - showing paths relative to the current default-directory
6559 The `recentf-filter-changer' menu filter function allows to
6560 dynamically change the menu appearance.
6562 *** elide-head.el provides a mechanism for eliding boilerplate header
6565 *** footnote.el provides `footnote-mode', a minor mode supporting use
6566 of footnotes. It is intended for use with Message mode, but isn't
6567 specific to Message mode.
6569 *** diff-mode.el provides `diff-mode', a major mode for
6570 viewing/editing context diffs (patches). It is selected for files
6571 with extension `.diff', `.diffs', `.patch' and `.rej'.
6573 *** EUDC, the Emacs Unified Directory Client, provides a common user
6574 interface to access directory servers using different directory
6575 protocols. It has a separate manual.
6577 *** autoconf.el provides a major mode for editing configure.in files
6578 for Autoconf, selected automatically.
6580 *** windmove.el provides moving between windows.
6582 *** crm.el provides a facility to read multiple strings from the
6583 minibuffer with completion.
6585 *** todo-mode.el provides management of TODO lists and integration
6586 with the diary features.
6588 *** autoarg.el provides a feature reported from Twenex Emacs whereby
6589 numeric keys supply prefix args rather than self inserting.
6591 *** The function `turn-off-auto-fill' unconditionally turns off Auto
6594 *** pcomplete.el is a library that provides programmable completion
6595 facilities for Emacs, similar to what zsh and tcsh offer. The main
6596 difference is that completion functions are written in Lisp, meaning
6597 they can be profiled, debugged, etc.
6599 *** antlr-mode is a new major mode for editing ANTLR grammar files.
6600 It is automatically turned on for files whose names have the extension
6603 ** Changes in sort.el
6605 The function sort-numeric-fields interprets numbers starting with `0'
6606 as octal and numbers starting with `0x' or `0X' as hexadecimal. The
6607 new user-option sort-numeric-base can be used to specify a default
6610 ** Changes to Ange-ftp
6612 *** Ange-ftp allows you to specify of a port number in remote file
6613 names cleanly. It is appended to the host name, separated by a hash
6614 sign, e.g. `/foo@bar.org#666:mumble'. (This syntax comes from EFS.)
6616 *** If the new user-option `ange-ftp-try-passive-mode' is set, passive
6617 ftp mode will be used if the ftp client supports that.
6619 *** Ange-ftp handles the output of the w32-style clients which
6620 output ^M at the end of lines.
6622 ** The recommended way of using Iswitchb is via the new global minor
6623 mode `iswitchb-mode'.
6625 ** Just loading the msb package doesn't switch on Msb mode anymore.
6626 If you have `(require 'msb)' in your .emacs, please replace it with
6629 ** Flyspell mode has various new options. See the `flyspell' Custom
6632 ** The user option `backward-delete-char-untabify-method' controls the
6633 behavior of `backward-delete-char-untabify'. The following values
6636 `untabify' -- turn a tab to many spaces, then delete one space;
6637 `hungry' -- delete all whitespace, both tabs and spaces;
6638 `all' -- delete all whitespace, including tabs, spaces and newlines;
6639 nil -- just delete one character.
6641 Default value is `untabify'.
6643 [This change was made in Emacs 20.3 but not mentioned then.]
6645 ** In Cperl mode `cperl-invalid-face' should now be a normal face
6646 symbol, not double-quoted.
6648 ** Some packages are declared obsolete, to be removed in a future
6649 version. They are: auto-show, c-mode, hilit19, hscroll, ooutline,
6650 profile, rnews, rnewspost, and sc. Their implementations have been
6651 moved to lisp/obsolete.
6653 ** auto-compression mode is no longer enabled just by loading jka-compr.el.
6654 To control it, set `auto-compression-mode' via Custom or use the
6655 `auto-compression-mode' command.
6657 ** `browse-url-gnome-moz' is a new option for
6658 `browse-url-browser-function', invoking Mozilla in GNOME, and
6659 `browse-url-kde' can be chosen for invoking the KDE browser.
6661 ** The user-option `browse-url-new-window-p' has been renamed to
6662 `browse-url-new-window-flag'.
6664 ** The functions `keep-lines', `flush-lines' and `how-many' now
6665 operate on the active region in Transient Mark mode.
6667 ** `gnus-user-agent' is a new possibility for `mail-user-agent'. It
6668 is like `message-user-agent', but with all the Gnus paraphernalia.
6670 ** The Strokes package has been updated. If your Emacs has XPM
6671 support, you can use it for pictographic editing. In Strokes mode,
6672 use C-mouse-2 to compose a complex stoke and insert it into the
6673 buffer. You can encode or decode a strokes buffer with new commands
6674 M-x strokes-encode-buffer and M-x strokes-decode-buffer. There is a
6675 new command M-x strokes-list-strokes.
6677 ** Hexl contains a new command `hexl-insert-hex-string' which inserts
6678 a string of hexadecimal numbers read from the mini-buffer.
6680 ** Hexl mode allows to insert non-ASCII characters.
6682 The non-ASCII characters are encoded using the same encoding as the
6683 file you are visiting in Hexl mode.
6685 ** Shell script mode changes.
6687 Shell script mode (sh-script) can now indent scripts for shells
6688 derived from sh and rc. The indentation style is customizable, and
6689 sh-script can attempt to "learn" the current buffer's style.
6693 *** In DOS, etags looks for file.cgz if it cannot find file.c.
6695 *** New option --ignore-case-regex is an alternative to --regex. It is now
6696 possible to bind a regexp to a language, by prepending the regexp with
6697 {lang}, where lang is one of the languages that `etags --help' prints out.
6698 This feature is useful especially for regex files, where each line contains
6699 a regular expression. The manual contains details.
6701 *** In C and derived languages, etags creates tags for function
6702 declarations when given the --declarations option.
6704 *** In C++, tags are created for "operator". The tags have the form
6705 "operator+", without spaces between the keyword and the operator.
6707 *** You shouldn't generally need any more the -C or -c++ option: etags
6708 automatically switches to C++ parsing when it meets the `class' or
6709 `template' keywords.
6711 *** Etags now is able to delve at arbitrary deeps into nested structures in
6712 C-like languages. Previously, it was limited to one or two brace levels.
6714 *** New language Ada: tags are functions, procedures, packages, tasks, and
6717 *** In Fortran, `procedure' is not tagged.
6719 *** In Java, tags are created for "interface".
6721 *** In Lisp, "(defstruct (foo", "(defun (operator" and similar constructs
6724 *** In makefiles, tags the targets.
6726 *** In Perl, the --globals option tags global variables. my and local
6727 variables are tagged.
6729 *** New language Python: def and class at the beginning of a line are tags.
6731 *** .ss files are Scheme files, .pdb is Postscript with C syntax, .psw is
6734 ** Changes in etags.el
6736 *** The new user-option tags-case-fold-search can be used to make
6737 tags operations case-sensitive or case-insensitive. The default
6738 is to use the same setting as case-fold-search.
6740 *** You can display additional output with M-x tags-apropos by setting
6741 the new variable tags-apropos-additional-actions.
6743 If non-nil, the variable's value should be a list of triples (TITLE
6744 FUNCTION TO-SEARCH). For each triple, M-x tags-apropos processes
6745 TO-SEARCH and lists tags from it. TO-SEARCH should be an alist,
6746 obarray, or symbol. If it is a symbol, the symbol's value is used.
6748 TITLE is a string to use to label the list of tags from TO-SEARCH.
6750 FUNCTION is a function to call when an entry is selected in the Tags
6751 List buffer. It is called with one argument, the selected symbol.
6753 A useful example value for this variable might be something like:
6755 '(("Emacs Lisp" Info-goto-emacs-command-node obarray)
6756 ("Common Lisp" common-lisp-hyperspec common-lisp-hyperspec-obarray)
6757 ("SCWM" scwm-documentation scwm-obarray))
6759 *** The face tags-tag-face can be used to customize the appearance
6760 of tags in the output of M-x tags-apropos.
6762 *** Setting tags-apropos-verbose to a non-nil value displays the
6763 names of tags files in the *Tags List* buffer.
6765 *** You can now search for tags that are part of the filename itself.
6766 If you have tagged the files topfile.c subdir/subfile.c
6767 /tmp/tempfile.c, you can now search for tags "topfile.c", "subfile.c",
6768 "dir/sub", "tempfile", "tempfile.c". If the tag matches the file name,
6769 point will go to the beginning of the file.
6771 *** Compressed files are now transparently supported if
6772 auto-compression-mode is active. You can tag (with Etags) and search
6773 (with find-tag) both compressed and uncompressed files.
6775 *** Tags commands like M-x tags-search no longer change point
6776 in buffers where no match is found. In buffers where a match is
6777 found, the original value of point is pushed on the marker ring.
6779 ** Fortran mode has a new command `fortran-strip-sequence-nos' to
6780 remove text past column 72. The syntax class of `\' in Fortran is now
6781 appropriate for C-style escape sequences in strings.
6783 ** SGML mode's default `sgml-validate-command' is now `nsgmls'.
6785 ** A new command `view-emacs-problems' (C-h P) displays the PROBLEMS file.
6787 ** The Dabbrev package has a new user-option `dabbrev-ignored-regexps'
6788 containing a list of regular expressions. Buffers matching a regular
6789 expression from that list, are not checked.
6791 ** Emacs can now figure out modification times of remote files.
6792 When you do C-x C-f /user@host:/path/file RET and edit the file,
6793 and someone else modifies the file, you will be prompted to revert
6794 the buffer, just like for the local files.
6796 ** The buffer menu (C-x C-b) no longer lists the *Buffer List* buffer.
6798 ** When invoked with a prefix argument, the command `list-abbrevs' now
6799 displays local abbrevs, only.
6801 ** Refill minor mode provides preliminary support for keeping
6802 paragraphs filled as you modify them.
6804 ** The variable `double-click-fuzz' specifies how much the mouse
6805 may be moved between clicks that are recognized as a pair. Its value
6806 is measured in pixels.
6808 ** The new global minor mode `auto-image-file-mode' allows image files
6809 to be visited as images.
6811 ** Two new user-options `grep-command' and `grep-find-command'
6812 were added to compile.el.
6814 ** Withdrawn packages
6816 *** mldrag.el has been removed. mouse.el provides the same
6817 functionality with aliases for the mldrag functions.
6819 *** eval-reg.el has been obsoleted by changes to edebug.el and removed.
6821 *** ph.el has been obsoleted by EUDC and removed.
6824 * Incompatible Lisp changes
6826 There are a few Lisp changes which are not backwards-compatible and
6827 may require changes to existing code. Here is a list for reference.
6828 See the sections below for details.
6830 ** Since `format' preserves text properties, the idiom
6831 `(format "%s" foo)' no longer works to copy and remove properties.
6832 Use `copy-sequence' to copy the string, then use `set-text-properties'
6833 to remove the properties of the copy.
6835 ** Since the `keymap' text property now has significance, some code
6836 which uses both `local-map' and `keymap' properties (for portability)
6837 may, for instance, give rise to duplicate menus when the keymaps from
6838 these properties are active.
6840 ** The change in the treatment of non-ASCII characters in search
6841 ranges may affect some code.
6843 ** A non-nil value for the LOCAL arg of add-hook makes the hook
6844 buffer-local even if `make-local-hook' hasn't been called, which might
6845 make a difference to some code.
6847 ** The new treatment of the minibuffer prompt might affect code which
6848 operates on the minibuffer.
6850 ** The new character sets `eight-bit-control' and `eight-bit-graphic'
6851 cause `no-conversion' and `emacs-mule-unix' coding systems to produce
6852 different results when reading files with non-ASCII characters
6853 (previously, both coding systems would produce the same results).
6854 Specifically, `no-conversion' interprets each 8-bit byte as a separate
6855 character. This makes `no-conversion' inappropriate for reading
6856 multibyte text, e.g. buffers written to disk in their internal MULE
6857 encoding (auto-saving does that, for example). If a Lisp program
6858 reads such files with `no-conversion', each byte of the multibyte
6859 sequence, including the MULE leading codes such as \201, is treated as
6860 a separate character, which prevents them from being interpreted in
6861 the buffer as multibyte characters.
6863 Therefore, Lisp programs that read files which contain the internal
6864 MULE encoding should use `emacs-mule-unix'. `no-conversion' is only
6865 appropriate for reading truly binary files.
6867 ** Code that relies on the obsolete `before-change-function' and
6868 `after-change-function' to detect buffer changes will now fail. Use
6869 `before-change-functions' and `after-change-functions' instead.
6871 ** Code that uses `concat' with integer args now gets an error, as
6872 long promised. So does any code that uses derivatives of `concat',
6873 such as `mapconcat'.
6875 ** The function base64-decode-string now always returns a unibyte
6878 ** Not a Lisp incompatibility as such but, with the introduction of
6879 extra private charsets, there is now only one slot free for a new
6880 dimension-2 private charset. User code which tries to add more than
6881 one extra will fail unless you rebuild Emacs with some standard
6882 charset(s) removed; that is probably inadvisable because it changes
6883 the emacs-mule encoding. Also, files stored in the emacs-mule
6884 encoding using Emacs 20 with additional private charsets defined will
6885 probably not be read correctly by Emacs 21.
6887 ** The variable `directory-sep-char' is slated for removal.
6888 Not really a change (yet), but a projected one that you should be
6889 aware of: The variable `directory-sep-char' is deprecated, and should
6890 not be used. It was always ignored on GNU/Linux and Unix systems and
6891 on MS-DOS, but the MS-Windows port tried to support it by adapting the
6892 behavior of certain primitives to the value of this variable. It
6893 turned out that such support cannot be reliable, so it was decided to
6894 remove this variable in the near future. Lisp programs are well
6895 advised not to set it to anything but '/', because any different value
6896 will not have any effect when support for this variable is removed.
6899 * Lisp changes made after edition 2.6 of the Emacs Lisp Manual,
6900 (Display-related features are described in a page of their own below.)
6902 ** Function assq-delete-all replaces function assoc-delete-all.
6904 ** The new function animate-string, from lisp/play/animate.el
6905 allows the animated display of strings.
6907 ** The new function `interactive-form' can be used to obtain the
6908 interactive form of a function.
6910 ** The keyword :set-after in defcustom allows to specify dependencies
6911 between custom options. Example:
6913 (defcustom default-input-method nil
6914 "*Default input method for multilingual text (a string).
6915 This is the input method activated automatically by the command
6916 `toggle-input-method' (\\[toggle-input-method])."
6918 :type '(choice (const nil) string)
6919 :set-after '(current-language-environment))
6921 This specifies that default-input-method should be set after
6922 current-language-environment even if default-input-method appears
6923 first in a custom-set-variables statement.
6925 ** The new hook `kbd-macro-termination-hook' is run at the end of
6926 function execute-kbd-macro. Functions on this hook are called with no
6927 args. The hook is run independent of how the macro was terminated
6928 (signal or normal termination).
6930 ** Functions `butlast' and `nbutlast' for removing trailing elements
6931 from a list are now available without requiring the CL package.
6933 ** The new user-option `even-window-heights' can be set to nil
6934 to prevent `display-buffer' from evening out window heights.
6936 ** The user-option `face-font-registry-alternatives' specifies
6937 alternative font registry names to try when looking for a font.
6939 ** Function `md5' calculates the MD5 "message digest"/"checksum".
6941 ** Function `delete-frame' runs `delete-frame-hook' before actually
6942 deleting the frame. The hook is called with one arg, the frame
6945 ** `add-hook' now makes the hook local if called with a non-nil LOCAL arg.
6947 ** The treatment of non-ASCII characters in search ranges has changed.
6948 If a range in a regular expression or the arg of
6949 skip-chars-forward/backward starts with a unibyte character C and ends
6950 with a multibyte character C2, the range is divided into two: one is
6951 C..?\377, the other is C1..C2, where C1 is the first character of C2's
6954 ** The new function `display-message-or-buffer' displays a message in
6955 the echo area or pops up a buffer, depending on the length of the
6958 ** The new macro `with-auto-compression-mode' allows evaluating an
6959 expression with auto-compression-mode enabled.
6961 ** In image specifications, `:heuristic-mask' has been replaced
6962 with the more general `:mask' property.
6964 ** Image specifications accept more `:conversion's.
6966 ** A `?' can be used in a symbol name without escaping it with a
6969 ** Reading from the mini-buffer now reads from standard input if Emacs
6970 is running in batch mode. For example,
6972 (message "%s" (read t))
6974 will read a Lisp expression from standard input and print the result
6977 ** The argument of `down-list', `backward-up-list', `up-list',
6978 `kill-sexp', `backward-kill-sexp' and `mark-sexp' is now optional.
6980 ** If `display-buffer-reuse-frames' is set, function `display-buffer'
6981 will raise frames displaying a buffer, instead of creating a new
6984 ** Two new functions for removing elements from lists/sequences
6987 - Function: remove ELT SEQ
6989 Return a copy of SEQ with all occurrences of ELT removed. SEQ must be
6990 a list, vector, or string. The comparison is done with `equal'.
6992 - Function: remq ELT LIST
6994 Return a copy of LIST with all occurrences of ELT removed. The
6995 comparison is done with `eq'.
6997 ** The function `delete' now also works with vectors and strings.
6999 ** The meaning of the `:weakness WEAK' argument of make-hash-table
7000 has been changed: WEAK can now have new values `key-or-value' and
7001 `key-and-value', in addition to `nil', `key', `value', and `t'.
7003 ** Function `aset' stores any multibyte character in any string
7004 without signaling "Attempt to change char length of a string". It may
7005 convert a unibyte string to multibyte if necessary.
7007 ** The value of the `help-echo' text property is called as a function
7008 or evaluated, if it is not a string already, to obtain a help string.
7010 ** Function `make-obsolete' now has an optional arg to say when the
7011 function was declared obsolete.
7013 ** Function `plist-member' is renamed from `widget-plist-member' (which is
7014 retained as an alias).
7016 ** Easy-menu's :filter now takes the unconverted form of the menu and
7017 the result is automatically converted to Emacs' form.
7019 ** The new function `window-list' has been defined
7021 - Function: window-list &optional FRAME WINDOW MINIBUF
7023 Return a list of windows on FRAME, starting with WINDOW. FRAME nil or
7024 omitted means use the selected frame. WINDOW nil or omitted means use
7025 the selected window. MINIBUF t means include the minibuffer window,
7026 even if it isn't active. MINIBUF nil or omitted means include the
7027 minibuffer window only if it's active. MINIBUF neither nil nor t
7028 means never include the minibuffer window.
7030 ** There's a new function `get-window-with-predicate' defined as follows
7032 - Function: get-window-with-predicate PREDICATE &optional MINIBUF ALL-FRAMES DEFAULT
7034 Return a window satisfying PREDICATE.
7036 This function cycles through all visible windows using `walk-windows',
7037 calling PREDICATE on each one. PREDICATE is called with a window as
7038 argument. The first window for which PREDICATE returns a non-nil
7039 value is returned. If no window satisfies PREDICATE, DEFAULT is
7042 Optional second arg MINIBUF t means count the minibuffer window even
7043 if not active. MINIBUF nil or omitted means count the minibuffer iff
7044 it is active. MINIBUF neither t nor nil means not to count the
7045 minibuffer even if it is active.
7047 Several frames may share a single minibuffer; if the minibuffer
7048 counts, all windows on all frames that share that minibuffer count
7049 too. Therefore, if you are using a separate minibuffer frame
7050 and the minibuffer is active and MINIBUF says it counts,
7051 `walk-windows' includes the windows in the frame from which you
7052 entered the minibuffer, as well as the minibuffer window.
7054 ALL-FRAMES is the optional third argument.
7055 ALL-FRAMES nil or omitted means cycle within the frames as specified above.
7056 ALL-FRAMES = `visible' means include windows on all visible frames.
7057 ALL-FRAMES = 0 means include windows on all visible and iconified frames.
7058 ALL-FRAMES = t means include windows on all frames including invisible frames.
7059 If ALL-FRAMES is a frame, it means include windows on that frame.
7060 Anything else means restrict to the selected frame.
7062 ** The function `single-key-description' now encloses function key and
7063 event names in angle brackets. When called with a second optional
7064 argument non-nil, angle brackets won't be printed.
7066 ** If the variable `message-truncate-lines' is bound to t around a
7067 call to `message', the echo area will not be resized to display that
7068 message; it will be truncated instead, as it was done in 20.x.
7069 Default value is nil.
7071 ** The user option `line-number-display-limit' can now be set to nil,
7074 ** The new user option `line-number-display-limit-width' controls
7075 the maximum width of lines in a buffer for which Emacs displays line
7076 numbers in the mode line. The default is 200.
7078 ** `select-safe-coding-system' now also checks the most preferred
7079 coding-system if buffer-file-coding-system is `undecided' and
7080 DEFAULT-CODING-SYSTEM is not specified,
7082 ** The function `subr-arity' provides information about the argument
7083 list of a primitive.
7085 ** `where-is-internal' now also accepts a list of keymaps.
7087 ** The text property `keymap' specifies a key map which overrides the
7088 buffer's local map and the map specified by the `local-map' property.
7089 This is probably what most current uses of `local-map' want, rather
7090 than replacing the local map.
7092 ** The obsolete variables `before-change-function' and
7093 `after-change-function' are no longer acted upon and have been
7094 removed. Use `before-change-functions' and `after-change-functions'
7097 ** The function `apropos-mode' runs the hook `apropos-mode-hook'.
7099 ** `concat' no longer accepts individual integer arguments,
7100 as promised long ago.
7102 ** The new function `float-time' returns the current time as a float.
7104 ** The new variable auto-coding-regexp-alist specifies coding systems
7105 for reading specific files, analogous to auto-coding-alist, but
7106 patterns are checked against file contents instead of file names.
7109 * Lisp changes in Emacs 21.1 (see following page for display-related features)
7111 ** The new package rx.el provides an alternative sexp notation for
7112 regular expressions.
7114 - Function: rx-to-string SEXP
7116 Translate SEXP into a regular expression in string notation.
7120 Translate SEXP into a regular expression in string notation.
7122 The following are valid subforms of regular expressions in sexp
7126 matches string STRING literally.
7129 matches character CHAR literally.
7132 matches any character except a newline.
7135 matches any character
7138 matches any character in SET. SET may be a character or string.
7139 Ranges of characters can be specified as `A-Z' in strings.
7145 matches any character not in SET
7148 matches the empty string, but only at the beginning of a line
7149 in the text being matched
7152 is similar to `line-start' but matches only at the end of a line
7155 matches the empty string, but only at the beginning of the
7156 string being matched against.
7159 matches the empty string, but only at the end of the
7160 string being matched against.
7163 matches the empty string, but only at the beginning of the
7164 buffer being matched against.
7167 matches the empty string, but only at the end of the
7168 buffer being matched against.
7171 matches the empty string, but only at point.
7174 matches the empty string, but only at the beginning or end of a
7178 matches the empty string, but only at the end of a word.
7181 matches the empty string, but only at the beginning or end of a
7184 `(not word-boundary)'
7185 matches the empty string, but not at the beginning or end of a
7189 matches 0 through 9.
7192 matches ASCII control characters.
7195 matches 0 through 9, a through f and A through F.
7198 matches space and tab only.
7201 matches graphic characters--everything except ASCII control chars,
7205 matches printing characters--everything except ASCII control chars
7209 matches letters and digits. (But at present, for multibyte characters,
7210 it matches anything that has word syntax.)
7213 matches letters. (But at present, for multibyte characters,
7214 it matches anything that has word syntax.)
7217 matches ASCII (unibyte) characters.
7220 matches non-ASCII (multibyte) characters.
7223 matches anything lower-case.
7226 matches anything upper-case.
7229 matches punctuation. (But at present, for multibyte characters,
7230 it matches anything that has non-word syntax.)
7233 matches anything that has whitespace syntax.
7236 matches anything that has word syntax.
7239 matches a character with syntax SYNTAX. SYNTAX must be one
7240 of the following symbols.
7242 `whitespace' (\\s- in string notation)
7243 `punctuation' (\\s.)
7246 `open-parenthesis' (\\s()
7247 `close-parenthesis' (\\s))
7248 `expression-prefix' (\\s')
7249 `string-quote' (\\s\")
7250 `paired-delimiter' (\\s$)
7252 `character-quote' (\\s/)
7253 `comment-start' (\\s<)
7254 `comment-end' (\\s>)
7256 `(not (syntax SYNTAX))'
7257 matches a character that has not syntax SYNTAX.
7259 `(category CATEGORY)'
7260 matches a character with category CATEGORY. CATEGORY must be
7261 either a character to use for C, or one of the following symbols.
7263 `consonant' (\\c0 in string notation)
7265 `upper-diacritical-mark' (\\c2)
7266 `lower-diacritical-mark' (\\c3)
7270 `vowel-modifying-diacritical-mark' (\\c7)
7272 `semivowel-lower' (\\c9)
7273 `not-at-end-of-line' (\\c<)
7274 `not-at-beginning-of-line' (\\c>)
7275 `alpha-numeric-two-byte' (\\cA)
7276 `chinse-two-byte' (\\cC)
7277 `greek-two-byte' (\\cG)
7278 `japanese-hiragana-two-byte' (\\cH)
7279 `indian-two-byte' (\\cI)
7280 `japanese-katakana-two-byte' (\\cK)
7281 `korean-hangul-two-byte' (\\cN)
7282 `cyrillic-two-byte' (\\cY)
7291 `japanese-katakana' (\\ck)
7295 `japanese-roman' (\\cr)
7302 `(not (category CATEGORY))'
7303 matches a character that has not category CATEGORY.
7305 `(and SEXP1 SEXP2 ...)'
7306 matches what SEXP1 matches, followed by what SEXP2 matches, etc.
7308 `(submatch SEXP1 SEXP2 ...)'
7309 like `and', but makes the match accessible with `match-end',
7310 `match-beginning', and `match-string'.
7312 `(group SEXP1 SEXP2 ...)'
7313 another name for `submatch'.
7315 `(or SEXP1 SEXP2 ...)'
7316 matches anything that matches SEXP1 or SEXP2, etc. If all
7317 args are strings, use `regexp-opt' to optimize the resulting
7320 `(minimal-match SEXP)'
7321 produce a non-greedy regexp for SEXP. Normally, regexps matching
7322 zero or more occurrences of something are \"greedy\" in that they
7323 match as much as they can, as long as the overall regexp can
7324 still match. A non-greedy regexp matches as little as possible.
7326 `(maximal-match SEXP)'
7327 produce a greedy regexp for SEXP. This is the default.
7329 `(zero-or-more SEXP)'
7330 matches zero or more occurrences of what SEXP matches.
7333 like `zero-or-more'.
7336 like `zero-or-more', but always produces a greedy regexp.
7339 like `zero-or-more', but always produces a non-greedy regexp.
7341 `(one-or-more SEXP)'
7342 matches one or more occurrences of A.
7348 like `one-or-more', but always produces a greedy regexp.
7351 like `one-or-more', but always produces a non-greedy regexp.
7353 `(zero-or-one SEXP)'
7354 matches zero or one occurrences of A.
7360 like `zero-or-one', but always produces a greedy regexp.
7363 like `zero-or-one', but always produces a non-greedy regexp.
7366 matches N occurrences of what SEXP matches.
7369 matches N to M occurrences of what SEXP matches.
7372 evaluate FORM and insert result. If result is a string,
7376 include REGEXP in string notation in the result.
7378 *** The features `md5' and `overlay' are now provided by default.
7380 *** The special form `save-restriction' now works correctly even if the
7381 buffer is widened inside the save-restriction and changes made outside
7382 the original restriction. Previously, doing this would cause the saved
7383 restriction to be restored incorrectly.
7385 *** The functions `find-charset-region' and `find-charset-string' include
7386 `eight-bit-control' and/or `eight-bit-graphic' in the returned list
7387 when they find 8-bit characters. Previously, they included `ascii' in a
7388 multibyte buffer and `unknown' in a unibyte buffer.
7390 *** The functions `set-buffer-multibyte', `string-as-multibyte' and
7391 `string-as-unibyte' change the byte sequence of a buffer or a string
7392 if it contains a character from the `eight-bit-control' character set.
7394 *** The handling of multibyte sequences in a multibyte buffer is
7395 changed. Previously, a byte sequence matching the pattern
7396 [\200-\237][\240-\377]+ was interpreted as a single character
7397 regardless of the length of the trailing bytes [\240-\377]+. Thus, if
7398 the sequence was longer than what the leading byte indicated, the
7399 extra trailing bytes were ignored by Lisp functions. Now such extra
7400 bytes are independent 8-bit characters belonging to the charset
7403 ** Fontsets are now implemented using char-tables.
7405 A fontset can now be specified for each independent character, for
7406 a group of characters or for a character set rather than just for a
7407 character set as previously.
7409 *** The arguments of the function `set-fontset-font' are changed.
7410 They are NAME, CHARACTER, FONTNAME, and optional FRAME. The function
7411 modifies fontset NAME to use FONTNAME for CHARACTER.
7413 CHARACTER may be a cons (FROM . TO), where FROM and TO are non-generic
7414 characters. In that case FONTNAME is used for all characters in the
7415 range FROM and TO (inclusive). CHARACTER may be a charset. In that
7416 case FONTNAME is used for all character in the charset.
7418 FONTNAME may be a cons (FAMILY . REGISTRY), where FAMILY is the family
7419 name of a font and REGISTRY is a registry name of a font.
7421 *** Variable x-charset-registry has been deleted. The default charset
7422 registries of character sets are set in the default fontset
7425 *** The function `create-fontset-from-fontset-spec' ignores the second
7426 argument STYLE-VARIANT. It never creates style-variant fontsets.
7428 ** The method of composing characters is changed. Now character
7429 composition is done by a special text property `composition' in
7430 buffers and strings.
7432 *** Charset composition is deleted. Emacs never creates a `composite
7433 character' which is an independent character with a unique character
7434 code. Thus the following functions handling `composite characters'
7435 have been deleted: composite-char-component,
7436 composite-char-component-count, composite-char-composition-rule,
7437 composite-char-composition-rule and decompose-composite-char delete.
7438 The variables leading-code-composition and min-composite-char have
7441 *** Three more glyph reference points are added. They can be used to
7442 specify a composition rule. See the documentation of the variable
7443 `reference-point-alist' for more detail.
7445 *** The function `compose-region' takes new arguments COMPONENTS and
7446 MODIFICATION-FUNC. With COMPONENTS, you can specify not only a
7447 composition rule but also characters to be composed. Such characters
7448 may differ between buffer and string text.
7450 *** The function `compose-string' takes new arguments START, END,
7451 COMPONENTS, and MODIFICATION-FUNC.
7453 *** The function `compose-string' puts text property `composition'
7454 directly on the argument STRING instead of returning a new string.
7455 Likewise, the function `decompose-string' just removes text property
7456 `composition' from STRING.
7458 *** The new function `find-composition' returns information about
7459 a composition at a specified position in a buffer or a string.
7461 *** The function `decompose-composite-char' is now labeled as
7464 ** The new coding system `mac-roman' is primarily intended for use on
7465 the Macintosh but may be used generally for Macintosh-encoded text.
7467 ** The new character sets `mule-unicode-0100-24ff',
7468 `mule-unicode-2500-33ff', and `mule-unicode-e000-ffff' have been
7469 introduced for Unicode characters in the range U+0100..U+24FF,
7470 U+2500..U+33FF, U+E000..U+FFFF respectively.
7472 Note that the character sets are not yet unified in Emacs, so
7473 characters which belong to charsets such as Latin-2, Greek, Hebrew,
7474 etc. and the same characters in the `mule-unicode-*' charsets are
7475 different characters, as far as Emacs is concerned. For example, text
7476 which includes Unicode characters from the Latin-2 locale cannot be
7477 encoded by Emacs with ISO 8859-2 coding system.
7479 ** The new coding system `mule-utf-8' has been added.
7480 It provides limited support for decoding/encoding UTF-8 text. For
7481 details, please see the documentation string of this coding system.
7483 ** The new character sets `japanese-jisx0213-1' and
7484 `japanese-jisx0213-2' have been introduced for the new Japanese
7485 standard JIS X 0213 Plane 1 and Plane 2.
7487 ** The new character sets `latin-iso8859-14' and `latin-iso8859-15'
7488 have been introduced.
7490 ** The new character sets `eight-bit-control' and `eight-bit-graphic'
7491 have been introduced for 8-bit characters in the ranges 0x80..0x9F and
7492 0xA0..0xFF respectively. Note that the multibyte representation of
7493 eight-bit-control is never exposed; this leads to an exception in the
7494 emacs-mule coding system, which encodes everything else to the
7495 buffer/string internal representation. Note that to search for
7496 eight-bit-graphic characters in a multibyte buffer, the search string
7497 must be multibyte, otherwise such characters will be converted to
7498 their multibyte equivalent.
7500 ** If the APPEND argument of `write-region' is an integer, it seeks to
7501 that offset in the file before writing.
7503 ** The function `add-minor-mode' has been added for convenience and
7504 compatibility with XEmacs (and is used internally by define-minor-mode).
7506 ** The function `shell-command' now sets the default directory of the
7507 `*Shell Command Output*' buffer to the default directory of the buffer
7508 from which the command was issued.
7510 ** The functions `query-replace', `query-replace-regexp',
7511 `query-replace-regexp-eval' `map-query-replace-regexp',
7512 `replace-string', `replace-regexp', and `perform-replace' take two
7513 additional optional arguments START and END that specify the region to
7516 ** The new function `count-screen-lines' is a more flexible alternative
7517 to `window-buffer-height'.
7519 - Function: count-screen-lines &optional BEG END COUNT-FINAL-NEWLINE WINDOW
7521 Return the number of screen lines in the region between BEG and END.
7522 The number of screen lines may be different from the number of actual
7523 lines, due to line breaking, display table, etc.
7525 Optional arguments BEG and END default to `point-min' and `point-max'
7528 If region ends with a newline, ignore it unless optional third argument
7529 COUNT-FINAL-NEWLINE is non-nil.
7531 The optional fourth argument WINDOW specifies the window used for
7532 obtaining parameters such as width, horizontal scrolling, and so
7533 on. The default is to use the selected window's parameters.
7535 Like `vertical-motion', `count-screen-lines' always uses the current
7536 buffer, regardless of which buffer is displayed in WINDOW. This makes
7537 possible to use `count-screen-lines' in any buffer, whether or not it
7538 is currently displayed in some window.
7540 ** The new function `mapc' is like `mapcar' but doesn't collect the
7541 argument function's results.
7543 ** The functions base64-decode-region and base64-decode-string now
7544 signal an error instead of returning nil if decoding fails. Also,
7545 `base64-decode-string' now always returns a unibyte string (in Emacs
7546 20, it returned a multibyte string when the result was a valid multibyte
7549 ** The function sendmail-user-agent-compose now recognizes a `body'
7550 header in the list of headers passed to it.
7552 ** The new function member-ignore-case works like `member', but
7553 ignores differences in case and text representation.
7555 ** The buffer-local variable cursor-type can be used to specify the
7556 cursor to use in windows displaying a buffer. Values are interpreted
7559 t use the cursor specified for the frame (default)
7560 nil don't display a cursor
7561 `bar' display a bar cursor with default width
7562 (bar . WIDTH) display a bar cursor with width WIDTH
7563 others display a box cursor.
7565 ** The variable open-paren-in-column-0-is-defun-start controls whether
7566 an open parenthesis in column 0 is considered to be the start of a
7567 defun. If set, the default, it is considered a defun start. If not
7568 set, an open parenthesis in column 0 has no special meaning.
7570 ** The new function `string-to-syntax' can be used to translate syntax
7571 specifications in string form as accepted by `modify-syntax-entry' to
7572 the cons-cell form that is used for the values of the `syntax-table'
7573 text property, and in `font-lock-syntactic-keywords'.
7577 (string-to-syntax "()")
7580 ** Emacs' reader supports CL read syntax for integers in bases
7583 *** `#BINTEGER' or `#bINTEGER' reads INTEGER in binary (radix 2).
7584 INTEGER optionally contains a sign.
7591 *** `#OINTEGER' or `#oINTEGER' reads INTEGER in octal (radix 8).
7596 *** `#XINTEGER' or `#xINTEGER' reads INTEGER in hexadecimal (radix 16).
7601 *** `#RADIXrINTEGER' reads INTEGER in radix RADIX, 2 <= RADIX <= 36.
7608 ** The function `documentation-property' now evaluates the value of
7609 the given property to obtain a string if it doesn't refer to etc/DOC
7612 ** If called for a symbol, the function `documentation' now looks for
7613 a `function-documentation' property of that symbol. If it has a non-nil
7614 value, the documentation is taken from that value. If the value is
7615 not a string, it is evaluated to obtain a string.
7617 ** The last argument of `define-key-after' defaults to t for convenience.
7619 ** The new function `replace-regexp-in-string' replaces all matches
7620 for a regexp in a string.
7622 ** `mouse-position' now runs the abnormal hook
7623 `mouse-position-function'.
7625 ** The function string-to-number now returns a float for numbers
7626 that don't fit into a Lisp integer.
7628 ** The variable keyword-symbols-constants-flag has been removed.
7629 Keywords are now always considered constants.
7631 ** The new function `delete-and-extract-region' deletes text and
7634 ** The function `clear-this-command-keys' now also clears the vector
7635 returned by function `recent-keys'.
7637 ** Variables `beginning-of-defun-function' and `end-of-defun-function'
7638 can be used to define handlers for the functions that find defuns.
7639 Major modes can define these locally instead of rebinding C-M-a
7640 etc. if the normal conventions for defuns are not appropriate for the
7643 ** easy-mmode-define-minor-mode now takes an additional BODY argument
7644 and is renamed `define-minor-mode'.
7646 ** If an abbrev has a hook function which is a symbol, and that symbol
7647 has a non-nil `no-self-insert' property, the return value of the hook
7648 function specifies whether an expansion has been done or not. If it
7649 returns nil, abbrev-expand also returns nil, meaning "no expansion has
7652 When abbrev expansion is done by typing a self-inserting character,
7653 and the abbrev has a hook with the `no-self-insert' property, and the
7654 hook function returns non-nil meaning expansion has been done,
7655 then the self-inserting character is not inserted.
7657 ** The function `intern-soft' now accepts a symbol as first argument.
7658 In this case, that exact symbol is looked up in the specified obarray,
7659 and the function's value is nil if it is not found.
7661 ** The new macro `with-syntax-table' can be used to evaluate forms
7662 with the syntax table of the current buffer temporarily set to a
7665 (with-syntax-table TABLE &rest BODY)
7667 Evaluate BODY with syntax table of current buffer set to a copy of
7668 TABLE. The current syntax table is saved, BODY is evaluated, and the
7669 saved table is restored, even in case of an abnormal exit. Value is
7672 ** Regular expressions now support intervals \{n,m\} as well as
7673 Perl's shy-groups \(?:...\) and non-greedy *? +? and ?? operators.
7674 Also back-references like \2 are now considered as an error if the
7675 corresponding subgroup does not exist (or is not closed yet).
7676 Previously it would have been silently turned into `2' (ignoring the `\').
7678 ** The optional argument BUFFER of function file-local-copy has been
7679 removed since it wasn't used by anything.
7681 ** The file name argument of function `file-locked-p' is now required
7682 instead of being optional.
7684 ** The new built-in error `text-read-only' is signaled when trying to
7685 modify read-only text.
7687 ** New functions and variables for locales.
7689 The new variable `locale-coding-system' specifies how to encode and
7690 decode strings passed to low-level message functions like strerror and
7691 time functions like strftime. The new variables
7692 `system-messages-locale' and `system-time-locale' give the system
7693 locales to be used when invoking these two types of functions.
7695 The new function `set-locale-environment' sets the language
7696 environment, preferred coding system, and locale coding system from
7697 the system locale as specified by the LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, and LANG
7698 environment variables. Normally, it is invoked during startup and need
7699 not be invoked thereafter. It uses the new variables
7700 `locale-language-names', `locale-charset-language-names', and
7701 `locale-preferred-coding-systems' to make its decisions.
7703 ** syntax tables now understand nested comments.
7704 To declare a comment syntax as allowing nesting, just add an `n'
7705 modifier to either of the characters of the comment end and the comment
7708 ** The function `pixmap-spec-p' has been renamed `bitmap-spec-p'
7709 because `bitmap' is more in line with the usual X terminology.
7711 ** New function `propertize'
7713 The new function `propertize' can be used to conveniently construct
7714 strings with text properties.
7716 - Function: propertize STRING &rest PROPERTIES
7718 Value is a copy of STRING with text properties assigned as specified
7719 by PROPERTIES. PROPERTIES is a sequence of pairs PROPERTY VALUE, with
7720 PROPERTY being the name of a text property and VALUE being the
7721 specified value of that property. Example:
7723 (propertize "foo" 'face 'bold 'read-only t)
7725 ** push and pop macros.
7727 Simple versions of the push and pop macros of Common Lisp
7728 are now defined in Emacs Lisp. These macros allow only symbols
7729 as the place that holds the list to be changed.
7731 (push NEWELT LISTNAME) add NEWELT to the front of LISTNAME's value.
7732 (pop LISTNAME) return first elt of LISTNAME, and remove it
7733 (thus altering the value of LISTNAME).
7735 ** New dolist and dotimes macros.
7737 Simple versions of the dolist and dotimes macros of Common Lisp
7738 are now defined in Emacs Lisp.
7740 (dolist (VAR LIST [RESULT]) BODY...)
7741 Execute body once for each element of LIST,
7742 using the variable VAR to hold the current element.
7743 Then return the value of RESULT, or nil if RESULT is omitted.
7745 (dotimes (VAR COUNT [RESULT]) BODY...)
7746 Execute BODY with VAR bound to successive integers running from 0,
7747 inclusive, to COUNT, exclusive.
7748 Then return the value of RESULT, or nil if RESULT is omitted.
7750 ** Regular expressions now support Posix character classes such as
7751 [:alpha:], [:space:] and so on. These must be used within a character
7752 class--for instance, [-[:digit:].+] matches digits or a period
7755 [:digit:] matches 0 through 9
7756 [:cntrl:] matches ASCII control characters
7757 [:xdigit:] matches 0 through 9, a through f and A through F.
7758 [:blank:] matches space and tab only
7759 [:graph:] matches graphic characters--everything except ASCII control chars,
7761 [:print:] matches printing characters--everything except ASCII control chars
7763 [:alnum:] matches letters and digits.
7764 (But at present, for multibyte characters,
7765 it matches anything that has word syntax.)
7766 [:alpha:] matches letters.
7767 (But at present, for multibyte characters,
7768 it matches anything that has word syntax.)
7769 [:ascii:] matches ASCII (unibyte) characters.
7770 [:nonascii:] matches non-ASCII (multibyte) characters.
7771 [:lower:] matches anything lower-case.
7772 [:punct:] matches punctuation.
7773 (But at present, for multibyte characters,
7774 it matches anything that has non-word syntax.)
7775 [:space:] matches anything that has whitespace syntax.
7776 [:upper:] matches anything upper-case.
7777 [:word:] matches anything that has word syntax.
7779 ** Emacs now has built-in hash tables.
7781 The following functions are defined for hash tables:
7783 - Function: make-hash-table ARGS
7785 The argument list ARGS consists of keyword/argument pairs. All arguments
7786 are optional. The following arguments are defined:
7790 TEST must be a symbol specifying how to compare keys. Default is `eql'.
7791 Predefined are `eq', `eql' and `equal'. If TEST is not predefined,
7792 it must have been defined with `define-hash-table-test'.
7796 SIZE must be an integer > 0 giving a hint to the implementation how
7797 many elements will be put in the hash table. Default size is 65.
7799 :rehash-size REHASH-SIZE
7801 REHASH-SIZE specifies by how much to grow a hash table once it becomes
7802 full. If REHASH-SIZE is an integer, add that to the hash table's old
7803 size to get the new size. Otherwise, REHASH-SIZE must be a float >
7804 1.0, and the new size is computed by multiplying REHASH-SIZE with the
7805 old size. Default rehash size is 1.5.
7807 :rehash-threshold THRESHOLD
7809 THRESHOLD must be a float > 0 and <= 1.0 specifying when to resize the
7810 hash table. It is resized when the ratio of (number of entries) /
7811 (size of hash table) is >= THRESHOLD. Default threshold is 0.8.
7815 WEAK must be either nil, one of the symbols `key, `value',
7816 `key-or-value', `key-and-value', or t, meaning the same as
7817 `key-and-value'. Entries are removed from weak tables during garbage
7818 collection if their key and/or value are not referenced elsewhere
7819 outside of the hash table. Default are non-weak hash tables.
7821 - Function: makehash &optional TEST
7823 Similar to make-hash-table, but only TEST can be specified.
7825 - Function: hash-table-p TABLE
7827 Returns non-nil if TABLE is a hash table object.
7829 - Function: copy-hash-table TABLE
7831 Returns a copy of TABLE. Only the table itself is copied, keys and
7834 - Function: hash-table-count TABLE
7836 Returns the number of entries in TABLE.
7838 - Function: hash-table-rehash-size TABLE
7840 Returns the rehash size of TABLE.
7842 - Function: hash-table-rehash-threshold TABLE
7844 Returns the rehash threshold of TABLE.
7846 - Function: hash-table-rehash-size TABLE
7848 Returns the size of TABLE.
7850 - Function: hash-table-test TABLE
7852 Returns the test TABLE uses to compare keys.
7854 - Function: hash-table-weakness TABLE
7856 Returns the weakness specified for TABLE.
7858 - Function: clrhash TABLE
7862 - Function: gethash KEY TABLE &optional DEFAULT
7864 Look up KEY in TABLE and return its associated VALUE or DEFAULT if
7867 - Function: puthash KEY VALUE TABLE
7869 Associate KEY with VALUE in TABLE. If KEY is already associated with
7870 another value, replace the old value with VALUE.
7872 - Function: remhash KEY TABLE
7874 Remove KEY from TABLE if it is there.
7876 - Function: maphash FUNCTION TABLE
7878 Call FUNCTION for all elements in TABLE. FUNCTION must take two
7879 arguments KEY and VALUE.
7881 - Function: sxhash OBJ
7883 Return a hash code for Lisp object OBJ.
7885 - Function: define-hash-table-test NAME TEST-FN HASH-FN
7887 Define a new hash table test named NAME. If NAME is specified as
7888 a test in `make-hash-table', the table created will use TEST-FN for
7889 comparing keys, and HASH-FN to compute hash codes for keys. Test
7890 and hash function are stored as symbol property `hash-table-test'
7891 of NAME with a value of (TEST-FN HASH-FN).
7893 TEST-FN must take two arguments and return non-nil if they are the same.
7895 HASH-FN must take one argument and return an integer that is the hash
7896 code of the argument. The function should use the whole range of
7897 integer values for hash code computation, including negative integers.
7899 Example: The following creates a hash table whose keys are supposed to
7900 be strings that are compared case-insensitively.
7902 (defun case-fold-string= (a b)
7903 (compare-strings a nil nil b nil nil t))
7905 (defun case-fold-string-hash (a)
7906 (sxhash (upcase a)))
7908 (define-hash-table-test 'case-fold 'case-fold-string=
7909 'case-fold-string-hash))
7911 (make-hash-table :test 'case-fold)
7913 ** The Lisp reader handles circular structure.
7915 It now works to use the #N= and #N# constructs to represent
7916 circular structures. For example, #1=(a . #1#) represents
7917 a cons cell which is its own cdr.
7919 ** The Lisp printer handles circular structure.
7921 If you bind print-circle to a non-nil value, the Lisp printer outputs
7922 #N= and #N# constructs to represent circular and shared structure.
7924 ** If the second argument to `move-to-column' is anything but nil or
7925 t, that means replace a tab with spaces if necessary to reach the
7926 specified column, but do not add spaces at the end of the line if it
7927 is too short to reach that column.
7929 ** perform-replace has a new feature: the REPLACEMENTS argument may
7930 now be a cons cell (FUNCTION . DATA). This means to call FUNCTION
7931 after each match to get the replacement text. FUNCTION is called with
7932 two arguments: DATA, and the number of replacements already made.
7934 If the FROM-STRING contains any upper-case letters,
7935 perform-replace also turns off `case-fold-search' temporarily
7936 and inserts the replacement text without altering case in it.
7938 ** The function buffer-size now accepts an optional argument
7939 to specify which buffer to return the size of.
7941 ** The calendar motion commands now run the normal hook
7942 calendar-move-hook after moving point.
7944 ** The new variable small-temporary-file-directory specifies a
7945 directory to use for creating temporary files that are likely to be
7946 small. (Certain Emacs features use this directory.) If
7947 small-temporary-file-directory is nil, they use
7948 temporary-file-directory instead.
7950 ** The variable `inhibit-modification-hooks', if non-nil, inhibits all
7951 the hooks that track changes in the buffer. This affects
7952 `before-change-functions' and `after-change-functions', as well as
7953 hooks attached to text properties and overlay properties.
7955 ** assq-delete-all is a new function that deletes all the
7956 elements of an alist which have a car `eq' to a particular value.
7958 ** make-temp-file provides a more reliable way to create a temporary file.
7960 make-temp-file is used like make-temp-name, except that it actually
7961 creates the file before it returns. This prevents a timing error,
7962 ensuring that no other job can use the same name for a temporary file.
7964 ** New exclusive-open feature in `write-region'
7966 The optional seventh arg is now called MUSTBENEW. If non-nil, it insists
7967 on a check for an existing file with the same name. If MUSTBENEW
7968 is `excl', that means to get an error if the file already exists;
7969 never overwrite. If MUSTBENEW is neither nil nor `excl', that means
7970 ask for confirmation before overwriting, but do go ahead and
7971 overwrite the file if the user gives confirmation.
7973 If the MUSTBENEW argument in `write-region' is `excl',
7974 that means to use a special feature in the `open' system call
7975 to get an error if the file exists at that time.
7976 The error reported is `file-already-exists'.
7978 ** Function `format' now handles text properties.
7980 Text properties of the format string are applied to the result string.
7981 If the result string is longer than the format string, text properties
7982 ending at the end of the format string are extended to the end of the
7985 Text properties from string arguments are applied to the result
7986 string where arguments appear in the result string.
7990 (let ((s1 "hello, %s")
7992 (put-text-property 0 (length s1) 'face 'bold s1)
7993 (put-text-property 0 (length s2) 'face 'italic s2)
7996 results in a bold-face string with an italic `world' at the end.
7998 ** Messages can now be displayed with text properties.
8000 Text properties are handled as described above for function `format'.
8001 The following example displays a bold-face message with an italic
8004 (let ((msg "hello, %s!")
8006 (put-text-property 0 (length msg) 'face 'bold msg)
8007 (put-text-property 0 (length arg) 'face 'italic arg)
8012 Emacs supports playing sound files on GNU/Linux and the free BSDs
8013 (Voxware driver and native BSD driver, aka as Luigi's driver).
8015 Currently supported file formats are RIFF-WAVE (*.wav) and Sun Audio
8016 (*.au). You must configure Emacs with the option `--with-sound=yes'
8017 to enable sound support.
8019 Sound files can be played by calling (play-sound SOUND). SOUND is a
8020 list of the form `(sound PROPERTY...)'. The function is only defined
8021 when sound support is present for the system on which Emacs runs. The
8022 functions runs `play-sound-functions' with one argument which is the
8023 sound to play, before playing the sound.
8025 The following sound properties are supported:
8029 FILE is a file name. If FILE isn't an absolute name, it will be
8030 searched relative to `data-directory'.
8034 DATA is a string containing sound data. Either :file or :data
8035 may be present, but not both.
8039 VOLUME must be an integer in the range 0..100 or a float in the range
8040 0..1. This property is optional.
8044 DEVICE is a string specifying the system device on which to play the
8045 sound. The default device is system-dependent.
8047 Other properties are ignored.
8049 An alternative interface is called as
8050 (play-sound-file FILE &optional VOLUME DEVICE).
8052 ** `multimedia' is a new Finder keyword and Custom group.
8054 ** keywordp is a new predicate to test efficiently for an object being
8057 ** Changes to garbage collection
8059 *** The function garbage-collect now additionally returns the number
8060 of live and free strings.
8062 *** There is a new variable `strings-consed' holding the number of
8063 strings that have been consed so far.
8066 * Lisp-level Display features added after release 2.6 of the Emacs
8069 ** The user-option `resize-mini-windows' controls how Emacs resizes
8072 ** The function `pos-visible-in-window-p' now has a third optional
8073 argument, PARTIALLY. If a character is only partially visible, nil is
8074 returned, unless PARTIALLY is non-nil.
8076 ** On window systems, `glyph-table' is no longer used.
8078 ** Help strings in menu items are now used to provide `help-echo' text.
8080 ** The function `image-size' can be used to determine the size of an
8083 - Function: image-size SPEC &optional PIXELS FRAME
8085 Return the size of an image as a pair (WIDTH . HEIGHT).
8087 SPEC is an image specification. PIXELS non-nil means return sizes
8088 measured in pixels, otherwise return sizes measured in canonical
8089 character units (fractions of the width/height of the frame's default
8090 font). FRAME is the frame on which the image will be displayed.
8091 FRAME nil or omitted means use the selected frame.
8093 ** The function `image-mask-p' can be used to determine if an image
8096 - Function: image-mask-p SPEC &optional FRAME
8098 Return t if image SPEC has a mask bitmap.
8099 FRAME is the frame on which the image will be displayed. FRAME nil
8100 or omitted means use the selected frame.
8102 ** The function `find-image' can be used to find a usable image
8103 satisfying one of a list of specifications.
8105 ** The STRING argument of `put-image' and `insert-image' is now
8108 ** Image specifications may contain the property `:ascent center' (see
8112 * New Lisp-level Display features in Emacs 21.1
8114 ** The function tty-suppress-bold-inverse-default-colors can be used
8115 to make Emacs avoid displaying text with bold black foreground on TTYs.
8117 Some terminals, notably PC consoles, emulate bold text by displaying
8118 text in brighter colors. On such a console, a bold black foreground
8119 is displayed in a gray color. If this turns out to be hard to read on
8120 your monitor---the problem occurred with the mode line on
8121 laptops---you can instruct Emacs to ignore the text's boldness, and to
8122 just display it black instead.
8124 This situation can't be detected automatically. You will have to put
8127 (tty-suppress-bold-inverse-default-colors t)
8131 ** New face implementation.
8133 Emacs faces have been reimplemented from scratch. They don't use XLFD
8134 font names anymore and face merging now works as expected.
8138 Each face can specify the following display attributes:
8140 1. Font family or fontset alias name.
8142 2. Relative proportionate width, aka character set width or set
8143 width (swidth), e.g. `semi-compressed'.
8145 3. Font height in 1/10pt
8147 4. Font weight, e.g. `bold'.
8149 5. Font slant, e.g. `italic'.
8151 6. Foreground color.
8153 7. Background color.
8155 8. Whether or not characters should be underlined, and in what color.
8157 9. Whether or not characters should be displayed in inverse video.
8159 10. A background stipple, a bitmap.
8161 11. Whether or not characters should be overlined, and in what color.
8163 12. Whether or not characters should be strike-through, and in what
8166 13. Whether or not a box should be drawn around characters, its
8167 color, the width of the box lines, and 3D appearance.
8169 Faces are frame-local by nature because Emacs allows to define the
8170 same named face (face names are symbols) differently for different
8171 frames. Each frame has an alist of face definitions for all named
8172 faces. The value of a named face in such an alist is a Lisp vector
8173 with the symbol `face' in slot 0, and a slot for each of the face
8174 attributes mentioned above.
8176 There is also a global face alist `face-new-frame-defaults'. Face
8177 definitions from this list are used to initialize faces of newly
8180 A face doesn't have to specify all attributes. Those not specified
8181 have a nil value. Faces specifying all attributes are called
8186 The display style of a given character in the text is determined by
8187 combining several faces. This process is called `face merging'. Any
8188 aspect of the display style that isn't specified by overlays or text
8189 properties is taken from the `default' face. Since it is made sure
8190 that the default face is always fully-specified, face merging always
8191 results in a fully-specified face.
8193 *** Face realization.
8195 After all face attributes for a character have been determined by
8196 merging faces of that character, that face is `realized'. The
8197 realization process maps face attributes to what is physically
8198 available on the system where Emacs runs. The result is a `realized
8199 face' in form of an internal structure which is stored in the face
8200 cache of the frame on which it was realized.
8202 Face realization is done in the context of the charset of the
8203 character to display because different fonts and encodings are used
8204 for different charsets. In other words, for characters of different
8205 charsets, different realized faces are needed to display them.
8207 Except for composite characters, faces are always realized for a
8208 specific character set and contain a specific font, even if the face
8209 being realized specifies a fontset. The reason is that the result of
8210 the new font selection stage is better than what can be done with
8211 statically defined font name patterns in fontsets.
8213 In unibyte text, Emacs' charsets aren't applicable; function
8214 `char-charset' reports ASCII for all characters, including those >
8215 0x7f. The X registry and encoding of fonts to use is determined from
8216 the variable `face-default-registry' in this case. The variable is
8217 initialized at Emacs startup time from the font the user specified for
8220 Currently all unibyte text, i.e. all buffers with
8221 `enable-multibyte-characters' nil are displayed with fonts of the same
8222 registry and encoding `face-default-registry'. This is consistent
8223 with the fact that languages can also be set globally, only.
8225 **** Clearing face caches.
8227 The Lisp function `clear-face-cache' can be called to clear face caches
8228 on all frames. If called with a non-nil argument, it will also unload
8233 Font selection tries to find the best available matching font for a
8234 given (charset, face) combination. This is done slightly differently
8235 for faces specifying a fontset, or a font family name.
8237 If the face specifies a fontset name, that fontset determines a
8238 pattern for fonts of the given charset. If the face specifies a font
8239 family, a font pattern is constructed. Charset symbols have a
8240 property `x-charset-registry' for that purpose that maps a charset to
8241 an XLFD registry and encoding in the font pattern constructed.
8243 Available fonts on the system on which Emacs runs are then matched
8244 against the font pattern. The result of font selection is the best
8245 match for the given face attributes in this font list.
8247 Font selection can be influenced by the user.
8249 The user can specify the relative importance he gives the face
8250 attributes width, height, weight, and slant by setting
8251 face-font-selection-order (faces.el) to a list of face attribute
8252 names. The default is (:width :height :weight :slant), and means
8253 that font selection first tries to find a good match for the font
8254 width specified by a face, then---within fonts with that width---tries
8255 to find a best match for the specified font height, etc.
8257 Setting `face-font-family-alternatives' allows the user to specify
8258 alternative font families to try if a family specified by a face
8261 Setting `face-font-registry-alternatives' allows the user to specify
8262 all alternative font registry names to try for a face specifying a
8265 Please note that the interpretations of the above two variables are
8268 Setting face-ignored-fonts allows the user to ignore specific fonts.
8273 Emacs can make use of scalable fonts but doesn't do so by default,
8274 since the use of too many or too big scalable fonts may crash XFree86
8277 To enable scalable font use, set the variable
8278 `scalable-fonts-allowed'. A value of nil, the default, means never use
8279 scalable fonts. A value of t means any scalable font may be used.
8280 Otherwise, the value must be a list of regular expressions. A
8281 scalable font may then be used if it matches a regular expression from
8284 (setq scalable-fonts-allowed '("muleindian-2$"))
8286 allows the use of scalable fonts with registry `muleindian-2'.
8288 *** Functions and variables related to font selection.
8290 - Function: x-family-fonts &optional FAMILY FRAME
8292 Return a list of available fonts of family FAMILY on FRAME. If FAMILY
8293 is omitted or nil, list all families. Otherwise, FAMILY must be a
8294 string, possibly containing wildcards `?' and `*'.
8296 If FRAME is omitted or nil, use the selected frame. Each element of
8297 the result is a vector [FAMILY WIDTH POINT-SIZE WEIGHT SLANT FIXED-P
8298 FULL REGISTRY-AND-ENCODING]. FAMILY is the font family name.
8299 POINT-SIZE is the size of the font in 1/10 pt. WIDTH, WEIGHT, and
8300 SLANT are symbols describing the width, weight and slant of the font.
8301 These symbols are the same as for face attributes. FIXED-P is non-nil
8302 if the font is fixed-pitch. FULL is the full name of the font, and
8303 REGISTRY-AND-ENCODING is a string giving the registry and encoding of
8304 the font. The result list is sorted according to the current setting
8305 of the face font sort order.
8307 - Function: x-font-family-list
8309 Return a list of available font families on FRAME. If FRAME is
8310 omitted or nil, use the selected frame. Value is a list of conses
8311 (FAMILY . FIXED-P) where FAMILY is a font family, and FIXED-P is
8312 non-nil if fonts of that family are fixed-pitch.
8314 - Variable: font-list-limit
8316 Limit for font matching. If an integer > 0, font matching functions
8317 won't load more than that number of fonts when searching for a
8318 matching font. The default is currently 100.
8320 *** Setting face attributes.
8322 For the most part, the new face implementation is interface-compatible
8323 with the old one. Old face attribute related functions are now
8324 implemented in terms of the new functions `set-face-attribute' and
8327 Face attributes are identified by their names which are keyword
8328 symbols. All attributes can be set to `unspecified'.
8330 The following attributes are recognized:
8334 VALUE must be a string specifying the font family, e.g. ``courier'',
8335 or a fontset alias name. If a font family is specified, wild-cards `*'
8336 and `?' are allowed.
8340 VALUE specifies the relative proportionate width of the font to use.
8341 It must be one of the symbols `ultra-condensed', `extra-condensed',
8342 `condensed', `semi-condensed', `normal', `semi-expanded', `expanded',
8343 `extra-expanded', or `ultra-expanded'.
8347 VALUE must be either an integer specifying the height of the font to use
8348 in 1/10 pt, a floating point number specifying the amount by which to
8349 scale any underlying face, or a function, which is called with the old
8350 height (from the underlying face), and should return the new height.
8354 VALUE specifies the weight of the font to use. It must be one of the
8355 symbols `ultra-bold', `extra-bold', `bold', `semi-bold', `normal',
8356 `semi-light', `light', `extra-light', `ultra-light'.
8360 VALUE specifies the slant of the font to use. It must be one of the
8361 symbols `italic', `oblique', `normal', `reverse-italic', or
8364 `:foreground', `:background'
8366 VALUE must be a color name, a string.
8370 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be underlined. If
8371 VALUE is t, underline with foreground color of the face. If VALUE is
8372 a string, underline with that color. If VALUE is nil, explicitly
8377 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be overlined. If
8378 VALUE is t, overline with foreground color of the face. If VALUE is a
8379 string, overline with that color. If VALUE is nil, explicitly don't
8384 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be drawn with a line
8385 striking through them. If VALUE is t, use the foreground color of the
8386 face. If VALUE is a string, strike-through with that color. If VALUE
8387 is nil, explicitly don't strike through.
8391 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should have a box drawn
8392 around them. If VALUE is nil, explicitly don't draw boxes. If
8393 VALUE is t, draw a box with lines of width 1 in the foreground color
8394 of the face. If VALUE is a string, the string must be a color name,
8395 and the box is drawn in that color with a line width of 1. Otherwise,
8396 VALUE must be a property list of the form `(:line-width WIDTH
8397 :color COLOR :style STYLE)'. If a keyword/value pair is missing from
8398 the property list, a default value will be used for the value, as
8399 specified below. WIDTH specifies the width of the lines to draw; it
8400 defaults to 1. COLOR is the name of the color to draw in, default is
8401 the foreground color of the face for simple boxes, and the background
8402 color of the face for 3D boxes. STYLE specifies whether a 3D box
8403 should be draw. If STYLE is `released-button', draw a box looking
8404 like a released 3D button. If STYLE is `pressed-button' draw a box
8405 that appears like a pressed button. If STYLE is nil, the default if
8406 the property list doesn't contain a style specification, draw a 2D
8411 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be displayed in
8412 inverse video. VALUE must be one of t or nil.
8416 If VALUE is a string, it must be the name of a file of pixmap data.
8417 The directories listed in the `x-bitmap-file-path' variable are
8418 searched. Alternatively, VALUE may be a list of the form (WIDTH
8419 HEIGHT DATA) where WIDTH and HEIGHT are the size in pixels, and DATA
8420 is a string containing the raw bits of the bitmap. VALUE nil means
8421 explicitly don't use a stipple pattern.
8423 For convenience, attributes `:family', `:width', `:height', `:weight',
8424 and `:slant' may also be set in one step from an X font name:
8428 Set font-related face attributes from VALUE. VALUE must be a valid
8429 XLFD font name. If it is a font name pattern, the first matching font
8430 is used--this is for compatibility with the behavior of previous
8433 For compatibility with Emacs 20, keywords `:bold' and `:italic' can
8434 be used to specify that a bold or italic font should be used. VALUE
8435 must be t or nil in that case. A value of `unspecified' is not allowed."
8437 Please see also the documentation of `set-face-attribute' and
8442 VALUE is the name of a face from which to inherit attributes, or a list
8443 of face names. Attributes from inherited faces are merged into the face
8444 like an underlying face would be, with higher priority than underlying faces.
8446 *** Face attributes and X resources
8448 The following X resource names can be used to set face attributes
8451 Face attribute X resource class
8452 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
8453 :family attributeFamily . Face.AttributeFamily
8454 :width attributeWidth Face.AttributeWidth
8455 :height attributeHeight Face.AttributeHeight
8456 :weight attributeWeight Face.AttributeWeight
8457 :slant attributeSlant Face.AttributeSlant
8458 foreground attributeForeground Face.AttributeForeground
8459 :background attributeBackground . Face.AttributeBackground
8460 :overline attributeOverline Face.AttributeOverline
8461 :strike-through attributeStrikeThrough Face.AttributeStrikeThrough
8462 :box attributeBox Face.AttributeBox
8463 :underline attributeUnderline Face.AttributeUnderline
8464 :inverse-video attributeInverse Face.AttributeInverse
8465 :stipple attributeStipple Face.AttributeStipple
8466 or attributeBackgroundPixmap
8467 Face.AttributeBackgroundPixmap
8468 :font attributeFont Face.AttributeFont
8469 :bold attributeBold Face.AttributeBold
8470 :italic attributeItalic . Face.AttributeItalic
8471 :font attributeFont Face.AttributeFont
8473 *** Text property `face'.
8475 The value of the `face' text property can now be a single face
8476 specification or a list of such specifications. Each face
8477 specification can be
8479 1. A symbol or string naming a Lisp face.
8481 2. A property list of the form (KEYWORD VALUE ...) where each
8482 KEYWORD is a face attribute name, and VALUE is an appropriate value
8483 for that attribute. Please see the doc string of `set-face-attribute'
8484 for face attribute names.
8486 3. Conses of the form (FOREGROUND-COLOR . COLOR) or
8487 (BACKGROUND-COLOR . COLOR) where COLOR is a color name. This is
8488 for compatibility with previous Emacs versions.
8490 ** Support functions for colors on text-only terminals.
8492 The function `tty-color-define' can be used to define colors for use
8493 on TTY and MSDOS frames. It maps a color name to a color number on
8494 the terminal. Emacs defines a couple of common color mappings by
8495 default. You can get defined colors with a call to
8496 `defined-colors'. The function `tty-color-clear' can be
8497 used to clear the mapping table.
8499 ** Unified support for colors independent of frame type.
8501 The new functions `defined-colors', `color-defined-p', `color-values',
8502 and `display-color-p' work for any type of frame. On frames whose
8503 type is neither x nor w32, these functions transparently map X-style
8504 color specifications to the closest colors supported by the frame
8505 display. Lisp programs should use these new functions instead of the
8506 old `x-defined-colors', `x-color-defined-p', `x-color-values', and
8507 `x-display-color-p'. (The old function names are still available for
8508 compatibility; they are now aliases of the new names.) Lisp programs
8509 should no more look at the value of the variable window-system to
8510 modify their color-related behavior.
8512 The primitives `color-gray-p' and `color-supported-p' also work for
8515 ** Platform-independent functions to describe display capabilities.
8517 The new functions `display-mouse-p', `display-popup-menus-p',
8518 `display-graphic-p', `display-selections-p', `display-screens',
8519 `display-pixel-width', `display-pixel-height', `display-mm-width',
8520 `display-mm-height', `display-backing-store', `display-save-under',
8521 `display-planes', `display-color-cells', `display-visual-class', and
8522 `display-grayscale-p' describe the basic capabilities of a particular
8523 display. Lisp programs should call these functions instead of testing
8524 the value of the variables `window-system' or `system-type', or calling
8525 platform-specific functions such as `x-display-pixel-width'.
8527 The new function `display-images-p' returns non-nil if a particular
8528 display can display image files.
8530 ** The minibuffer prompt is now actually inserted in the minibuffer.
8532 This makes it possible to scroll through the prompt, if you want to.
8533 To disallow this completely (like previous versions of emacs), customize
8534 the variable `minibuffer-prompt-properties', and turn on the
8535 `Inviolable' option.
8537 The function `minibuffer-prompt-end' returns the current position of the
8538 end of the minibuffer prompt, if the minibuffer is current.
8539 Otherwise, it returns `(point-min)'.
8541 ** New `field' abstraction in buffers.
8543 There is now code to support an abstraction called `fields' in emacs
8544 buffers. A field is a contiguous region of text with the same `field'
8545 property (which can be a text property or an overlay).
8547 Many emacs functions, such as forward-word, forward-sentence,
8548 forward-paragraph, beginning-of-line, etc., stop moving when they come
8549 to the boundary between fields; beginning-of-line and end-of-line will
8550 not let the point move past the field boundary, but other movement
8551 commands continue into the next field if repeated. Stopping at field
8552 boundaries can be suppressed programmatically by binding
8553 `inhibit-field-text-motion' to a non-nil value around calls to these
8556 Now that the minibuffer prompt is inserted into the minibuffer, it is in
8557 a separate field from the user-input part of the buffer, so that common
8558 editing commands treat the user's text separately from the prompt.
8560 The following functions are defined for operating on fields:
8562 - Function: constrain-to-field NEW-POS OLD-POS &optional ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE ONLY-IN-LINE INHIBIT-CAPTURE-PROPERTY
8564 Return the position closest to NEW-POS that is in the same field as OLD-POS.
8566 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
8567 If NEW-POS is nil, then the current point is used instead, and set to the
8568 constrained position if that is different.
8570 If OLD-POS is at the boundary of two fields, then the allowable
8571 positions for NEW-POS depends on the value of the optional argument
8572 ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE: If ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE is nil, then NEW-POS is
8573 constrained to the field that has the same `field' char-property
8574 as any new characters inserted at OLD-POS, whereas if ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE
8575 is non-nil, NEW-POS is constrained to the union of the two adjacent
8576 fields. Additionally, if two fields are separated by another field with
8577 the special value `boundary', then any point within this special field is
8578 also considered to be `on the boundary'.
8580 If the optional argument ONLY-IN-LINE is non-nil and constraining
8581 NEW-POS would move it to a different line, NEW-POS is returned
8582 unconstrained. This useful for commands that move by line, like
8583 C-n or C-a, which should generally respect field boundaries
8584 only in the case where they can still move to the right line.
8586 If the optional argument INHIBIT-CAPTURE-PROPERTY is non-nil, and OLD-POS has
8587 a non-nil property of that name, then any field boundaries are ignored.
8589 Field boundaries are not noticed if `inhibit-field-text-motion' is non-nil.
8591 - Function: delete-field &optional POS
8593 Delete the field surrounding POS.
8594 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
8595 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
8597 - Function: field-beginning &optional POS ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE
8599 Return the beginning of the field surrounding POS.
8600 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
8601 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
8602 If ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE is non-nil and POS is at the beginning of its
8603 field, then the beginning of the *previous* field is returned.
8605 - Function: field-end &optional POS ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE
8607 Return the end of the field surrounding POS.
8608 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
8609 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
8610 If ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE is non-nil and POS is at the end of its field,
8611 then the end of the *following* field is returned.
8613 - Function: field-string &optional POS
8615 Return the contents of the field surrounding POS as a string.
8616 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
8617 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
8619 - Function: field-string-no-properties &optional POS
8621 Return the contents of the field around POS, without text-properties.
8622 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
8623 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
8627 Emacs can now display images. Images are inserted into text by giving
8628 strings or buffer text a `display' text property containing one of
8629 (AREA IMAGE) or IMAGE. The display of the `display' property value
8630 replaces the display of the characters having that property.
8632 If the property value has the form (AREA IMAGE), AREA must be one of
8633 `(margin left-margin)', `(margin right-margin)' or `(margin nil)'. If
8634 AREA is `(margin nil)', IMAGE will be displayed in the text area of a
8635 window, otherwise it will be displayed in the left or right marginal
8638 IMAGE is an image specification.
8640 *** Image specifications
8642 Image specifications are lists of the form `(image PROPS)' where PROPS
8643 is a property list whose keys are keyword symbols. Each
8644 specifications must contain a property `:type TYPE' with TYPE being a
8645 symbol specifying the image type, e.g. `xbm'. Properties not
8646 described below are ignored.
8648 The following is a list of properties all image types share.
8652 ASCENT must be a number in the range 0..100, or the symbol `center'.
8653 If it is a number, it specifies the percentage of the image's height
8654 to use for its ascent.
8656 If not specified, ASCENT defaults to the value 50 which means that the
8657 image will be centered with the base line of the row it appears in.
8659 If ASCENT is `center' the image is vertically centered around a
8660 centerline which is the vertical center of text drawn at the position
8661 of the image, in the manner specified by the text properties and
8662 overlays that apply to the image.
8666 MARGIN must be either a number >= 0 specifying how many pixels to put
8667 as margin around the image, or a pair (X . Y) with X specifying the
8668 horizontal margin and Y specifying the vertical margin. Default is 0.
8672 RELIEF is analogous to the `:relief' attribute of faces. Puts a relief
8677 Apply an image algorithm to the image before displaying it.
8679 ALGO `laplace' or `emboss' means apply a Laplace or ``emboss''
8680 edge-detection algorithm to the image.
8682 ALGO `(edge-detection :matrix MATRIX :color-adjust ADJUST)' means
8683 apply a general edge-detection algorithm. MATRIX must be either a
8684 nine-element list or a nine-element vector of numbers. A pixel at
8685 position x/y in the transformed image is computed from original pixels
8686 around that position. MATRIX specifies, for each pixel in the
8687 neighborhood of x/y, a factor with which that pixel will influence the
8688 transformed pixel; element 0 specifies the factor for the pixel at
8689 x-1/y-1, element 1 the factor for the pixel at x/y-1 etc. as shown
8692 (x-1/y-1 x/y-1 x+1/y-1
8694 x-1/y+1 x/y+1 x+1/y+1)
8696 The resulting pixel is computed from the color intensity of the color
8697 resulting from summing up the RGB values of surrounding pixels,
8698 multiplied by the specified factors, and dividing that sum by the sum
8699 of the factors' absolute values.
8701 Laplace edge-detection currently uses a matrix of
8707 Emboss edge-detection uses a matrix of
8713 ALGO `disabled' means transform the image so that it looks
8718 If MASK is `heuristic' or `(heuristic BG)', build a clipping mask for
8719 the image, so that the background of a frame is visible behind the
8720 image. If BG is not specified, or if BG is t, determine the
8721 background color of the image by looking at the 4 corners of the
8722 image, assuming the most frequently occurring color from the corners is
8723 the background color of the image. Otherwise, BG must be a list `(RED
8724 GREEN BLUE)' specifying the color to assume for the background of the
8727 If MASK is nil, remove a mask from the image, if it has one. Images
8728 in some formats include a mask which can be removed by specifying
8733 Load image from FILE. If FILE is not absolute after expanding it,
8734 search for the image in `data-directory'. Some image types support
8735 building images from data. When this is done, no `:file' property
8736 may be present in the image specification.
8740 Get image data from DATA. (As of this writing, this is not yet
8741 supported for image type `postscript'). Either :file or :data may be
8742 present in an image specification, but not both. All image types
8743 support strings as DATA, some types allow additional types of DATA.
8745 *** Supported image types
8747 **** XBM, image type `xbm'.
8749 XBM images don't require an external library. Additional image
8750 properties supported are:
8754 FG must be a string specifying the image foreground color, or nil
8755 meaning to use the default. Default is the frame's foreground color.
8759 BG must be a string specifying the image background color, or nil
8760 meaning to use the default. Default is the frame's background color.
8762 XBM images can be constructed from data instead of file. In this
8763 case, the image specification must contain the following properties
8764 instead of a `:file' property.
8768 WIDTH specifies the width of the image in pixels.
8772 HEIGHT specifies the height of the image in pixels.
8778 1. a string large enough to hold the bitmap data, i.e. it must
8779 have a size >= (WIDTH + 7) / 8 * HEIGHT
8781 2. a bool-vector of size >= WIDTH * HEIGHT
8783 3. a vector of strings or bool-vectors, one for each line of the
8786 4. a string that's an in-memory XBM file. Neither width nor
8787 height may be specified in this case because these are defined
8790 **** XPM, image type `xpm'
8792 XPM images require the external library `libXpm', package
8793 `xpm-3.4k.tar.gz', version 3.4k or later. Make sure the library is
8794 found when Emacs is configured by supplying appropriate paths via
8795 `--x-includes' and `--x-libraries'.
8797 Additional image properties supported are:
8799 `:color-symbols SYMBOLS'
8801 SYMBOLS must be a list of pairs (NAME . COLOR), with NAME being the
8802 name of color as it appears in an XPM file, and COLOR being an X color
8805 XPM images can be built from memory instead of files. In that case,
8806 add a `:data' property instead of a `:file' property.
8808 The XPM library uses libz in its implementation so that it is able
8809 to display compressed images.
8811 **** PBM, image type `pbm'
8813 PBM images don't require an external library. Color, gray-scale and
8814 mono images are supported. Additional image properties supported for
8819 FG must be a string specifying the image foreground color, or nil
8820 meaning to use the default. Default is the frame's foreground color.
8824 BG must be a string specifying the image background color, or nil
8825 meaning to use the default. Default is the frame's background color.
8827 **** JPEG, image type `jpeg'
8829 Support for JPEG images requires the external library `libjpeg',
8830 package `jpegsrc.v6a.tar.gz', or later. There are no additional image
8833 **** TIFF, image type `tiff'
8835 Support for TIFF images requires the external library `libtiff',
8836 package `tiff-v3.4-tar.gz', or later. There are no additional image
8839 **** GIF, image type `gif'
8841 Support for GIF images requires the external library `libungif', package
8842 `libungif-4.1.0', or later.
8844 Additional image properties supported are:
8848 INDEX must be an integer >= 0. Load image number INDEX from a
8849 multi-image GIF file. If INDEX is too large, the image displays
8852 This could be used to implement limited support for animated GIFs.
8853 For example, the following function displays a multi-image GIF file
8854 at point-min in the current buffer, switching between sub-images
8857 (defun show-anim (file max)
8858 "Display multi-image GIF file FILE which contains MAX subimages."
8859 (display-anim (current-buffer) file 0 max t))
8861 (defun display-anim (buffer file idx max first-time)
8864 (let ((img (create-image file nil nil :index idx)))
8867 (goto-char (point-min))
8868 (unless first-time (delete-char 1))
8869 (insert-image img "x"))
8870 (run-with-timer 0.1 nil 'display-anim buffer file (1+ idx) max nil)))
8872 **** PNG, image type `png'
8874 Support for PNG images requires the external library `libpng',
8875 package `libpng-1.0.2.tar.gz', or later. There are no additional image
8878 **** Ghostscript, image type `postscript'.
8880 Additional image properties supported are:
8884 WIDTH is width of the image in pt (1/72 inch). WIDTH must be an
8885 integer. This is a required property.
8889 HEIGHT specifies the height of the image in pt (1/72 inch). HEIGHT
8890 must be a integer. This is an required property.
8894 BOX must be a list or vector of 4 integers giving the bounding box of
8895 the PS image, analogous to the `BoundingBox' comment found in PS
8896 files. This is an required property.
8898 Part of the Ghostscript interface is implemented in Lisp. See
8903 The variable `image-types' contains a list of those image types
8904 which are supported in the current configuration.
8906 Images are stored in an image cache and removed from the cache when
8907 they haven't been displayed for `image-cache-eviction-delay seconds.
8908 The function `clear-image-cache' can be used to clear the image cache
8909 manually. Images in the cache are compared with `equal', i.e. all
8910 images with `equal' specifications share the same image.
8912 *** Simplified image API, image.el
8914 The new Lisp package image.el contains functions that simplify image
8915 creation and putting images into text. The function `create-image'
8916 can be used to create images. The macro `defimage' can be used to
8917 define an image based on available image types. The functions
8918 `put-image' and `insert-image' can be used to insert an image into a
8923 Windows can now have margins which are used for special text
8926 To give a window margins, either set the buffer-local variables
8927 `left-margin-width' and `right-margin-width', or call
8928 `set-window-margins'. The function `window-margins' can be used to
8929 obtain the current settings. To make `left-margin-width' and
8930 `right-margin-width' take effect, you must set them before displaying
8931 the buffer in a window, or use `set-window-buffer' to force an update
8932 of the display margins.
8934 You can put text in margins by giving it a `display' text property
8935 containing a pair of the form `(LOCATION . VALUE)', where LOCATION is
8936 one of `left-margin' or `right-margin' or nil. VALUE can be either a
8937 string, an image specification or a stretch specification (see later
8942 Emacs displays short help messages in the echo area, when the mouse
8943 moves over a tool-bar item or a piece of text that has a text property
8944 `help-echo'. This feature also applies to strings in the mode line
8945 that have a `help-echo' property.
8947 If the value of the `help-echo' property is a function, that function
8948 is called with three arguments WINDOW, OBJECT and POSITION. WINDOW is
8949 the window in which the help was found.
8951 If OBJECT is a buffer, POS is the position in the buffer where the
8952 `help-echo' text property was found.
8954 If OBJECT is an overlay, that overlay has a `help-echo' property, and
8955 POS is the position in the overlay's buffer under the mouse.
8957 If OBJECT is a string (an overlay string or a string displayed with
8958 the `display' property), POS is the position in that string under the
8961 If the value of the `help-echo' property is neither a function nor a
8962 string, it is evaluated to obtain a help string.
8964 For tool-bar and menu-bar items, their key definition is used to
8965 determine the help to display. If their definition contains a
8966 property `:help FORM', FORM is evaluated to determine the help string.
8967 For tool-bar items without a help form, the caption of the item is
8968 used as help string.
8970 The hook `show-help-function' can be set to a function that displays
8971 the help string differently. For example, enabling a tooltip window
8972 causes the help display to appear there instead of in the echo area.
8974 ** Vertical fractional scrolling.
8976 The display of text in windows can be scrolled smoothly in pixels.
8977 This is useful, for example, for making parts of large images visible.
8979 The function `window-vscroll' returns the current value of vertical
8980 scrolling, a non-negative fraction of the canonical character height.
8981 The function `set-window-vscroll' can be used to set the vertical
8982 scrolling value. Here is an example of how these function might be
8985 (global-set-key [A-down]
8988 (set-window-vscroll (selected-window)
8989 (+ 0.5 (window-vscroll)))))
8990 (global-set-key [A-up]
8993 (set-window-vscroll (selected-window)
8994 (- (window-vscroll) 0.5)))))
8996 ** New hook `fontification-functions'.
8998 Functions from `fontification-functions' are called from redisplay
8999 when it encounters a region of text that is not yet fontified. This
9000 variable automatically becomes buffer-local when set. Each function
9001 is called with one argument, POS.
9003 At least one of the hook functions should fontify one or more
9004 characters starting at POS in the current buffer. It should mark them
9005 as fontified by giving them a non-nil value of the `fontified' text
9006 property. It may be reasonable for these functions to check for the
9007 `fontified' property and not put it back on, but they do not have to.
9009 ** Tool bar support.
9011 Emacs supports a tool bar at the top of a frame under X. The frame
9012 parameter `tool-bar-lines' (X resource "toolBar", class "ToolBar")
9013 controls how may lines to reserve for the tool bar. A zero value
9014 suppresses the tool bar. If the value is non-zero and
9015 `auto-resize-tool-bars' is non-nil the tool bar's size will be changed
9016 automatically so that all tool bar items are visible.
9018 *** Tool bar item definitions
9020 Tool bar items are defined using `define-key' with a prefix-key
9021 `tool-bar'. For example `(define-key global-map [tool-bar item1] ITEM)'
9022 where ITEM is a list `(menu-item CAPTION BINDING PROPS...)'.
9024 CAPTION is the caption of the item, If it's not a string, it is
9025 evaluated to get a string. The caption is currently not displayed in
9026 the tool bar, but it is displayed if the item doesn't have a `:help'
9027 property (see below).
9029 BINDING is the tool bar item's binding. Tool bar items with keymaps as
9030 binding are currently ignored.
9032 The following properties are recognized:
9036 FORM is evaluated and specifies whether the tool bar item is enabled
9041 FORM is evaluated and specifies whether the tool bar item is displayed.
9045 FUNCTION is called with one parameter, the same list BINDING in which
9046 FUNCTION is specified as the filter. The value FUNCTION returns is
9047 used instead of BINDING to display this item.
9049 `:button (TYPE SELECTED)'
9051 TYPE must be one of `:radio' or `:toggle'. SELECTED is evaluated
9052 and specifies whether the button is selected (pressed) or not.
9056 IMAGES is either a single image specification or a vector of four
9057 image specifications. If it is a vector, this table lists the
9058 meaning of each of the four elements:
9060 Index Use when item is
9061 ----------------------------------------
9062 0 enabled and selected
9063 1 enabled and deselected
9064 2 disabled and selected
9065 3 disabled and deselected
9067 If IMAGE is a single image specification, a Laplace edge-detection
9068 algorithm is used on that image to draw the image in disabled state.
9070 `:help HELP-STRING'.
9072 Gives a help string to display for the tool bar item. This help
9073 is displayed when the mouse is moved over the item.
9075 The function `toolbar-add-item' is a convenience function for adding
9076 toolbar items generally, and `tool-bar-add-item-from-menu' can be used
9077 to define a toolbar item with a binding copied from an item on the
9080 The default bindings use a menu-item :filter to derive the tool-bar
9081 dynamically from variable `tool-bar-map' which may be set
9082 buffer-locally to override the global map.
9084 *** Tool-bar-related variables.
9086 If `auto-resize-tool-bar' is non-nil, the tool bar will automatically
9087 resize to show all defined tool bar items. It will never grow larger
9088 than 1/4 of the frame's size.
9090 If `auto-raise-tool-bar-buttons' is non-nil, tool bar buttons will be
9091 raised when the mouse moves over them.
9093 You can add extra space between tool bar items by setting
9094 `tool-bar-button-margin' to a positive integer specifying a number of
9095 pixels, or a pair of integers (X . Y) specifying horizontal and
9096 vertical margins . Default is 1.
9098 You can change the shadow thickness of tool bar buttons by setting
9099 `tool-bar-button-relief' to an integer. Default is 3.
9101 *** Tool-bar clicks with modifiers.
9103 You can bind commands to clicks with control, shift, meta etc. on
9106 (define-key global-map [tool-bar shell]
9107 '(menu-item "Shell" shell
9108 :image (image :type xpm :file "shell.xpm")))
9110 is the original tool bar item definition, then
9112 (define-key global-map [tool-bar S-shell] 'some-command)
9114 makes a binding to run `some-command' for a shifted click on the same
9117 ** Mode line changes.
9119 *** Mouse-sensitive mode line.
9121 The mode line can be made mouse-sensitive by displaying strings there
9122 that have a `local-map' text property. There are three ways to display
9123 a string with a `local-map' property in the mode line.
9125 1. The mode line spec contains a variable whose string value has
9126 a `local-map' text property.
9128 2. The mode line spec contains a format specifier (e.g. `%12b'), and
9129 that format specifier has a `local-map' property.
9131 3. The mode line spec contains a list containing `:eval FORM'. FORM
9132 is evaluated. If the result is a string, and that string has a
9133 `local-map' property.
9135 The same mechanism is used to determine the `face' and `help-echo'
9136 properties of strings in the mode line. See `bindings.el' for an
9139 *** If a mode line element has the form `(:eval FORM)', FORM is
9140 evaluated and the result is used as mode line element.
9142 *** You can suppress mode-line display by setting the buffer-local
9143 variable mode-line-format to nil.
9145 *** A headerline can now be displayed at the top of a window.
9147 This mode line's contents are controlled by the new variable
9148 `header-line-format' and `default-header-line-format' which are
9149 completely analogous to `mode-line-format' and
9150 `default-mode-line-format'. A value of nil means don't display a top
9153 The appearance of top mode lines is controlled by the face
9156 The function `coordinates-in-window-p' returns `header-line' for a
9157 position in the header-line.
9159 ** Text property `display'
9161 The `display' text property is used to insert images into text,
9162 replace text with other text, display text in marginal area, and it is
9163 also used to control other aspects of how text displays. The value of
9164 the `display' property should be a display specification, as described
9165 below, or a list or vector containing display specifications.
9167 *** Replacing text, displaying text in marginal areas
9169 To replace the text having the `display' property with some other
9170 text, use a display specification of the form `(LOCATION STRING)'.
9172 If LOCATION is `(margin left-margin)', STRING is displayed in the left
9173 marginal area, if it is `(margin right-margin)', it is displayed in
9174 the right marginal area, and if LOCATION is `(margin nil)' STRING
9175 is displayed in the text. In the latter case you can also use the
9176 simpler form STRING as property value.
9178 *** Variable width and height spaces
9180 To display a space of fractional width or height, use a display
9181 specification of the form `(LOCATION STRECH)'. If LOCATION is
9182 `(margin left-margin)', the space is displayed in the left marginal
9183 area, if it is `(margin right-margin)', it is displayed in the right
9184 marginal area, and if LOCATION is `(margin nil)' the space is
9185 displayed in the text. In the latter case you can also use the
9186 simpler form STRETCH as property value.
9188 The stretch specification STRETCH itself is a list of the form `(space
9189 PROPS)', where PROPS is a property list which can contain the
9190 properties described below.
9192 The display of the fractional space replaces the display of the
9193 characters having the `display' property.
9197 Specifies that the space width should be WIDTH times the normal
9198 character width. WIDTH can be an integer or floating point number.
9200 - :relative-width FACTOR
9202 Specifies that the width of the stretch should be computed from the
9203 first character in a group of consecutive characters that have the
9204 same `display' property. The computation is done by multiplying the
9205 width of that character by FACTOR.
9209 Specifies that the space should be wide enough to reach HPOS. The
9210 value HPOS is measured in units of the normal character width.
9212 Exactly one of the above properties should be used.
9216 Specifies the height of the space, as HEIGHT, measured in terms of the
9219 - :relative-height FACTOR
9221 The height of the space is computed as the product of the height
9222 of the text having the `display' property and FACTOR.
9226 Specifies that ASCENT percent of the height of the stretch should be
9227 used for the ascent of the stretch, i.e. for the part above the
9228 baseline. The value of ASCENT must be a non-negative number less or
9231 You should not use both `:height' and `:relative-height' together.
9235 A display specification for an image has the form `(LOCATION
9236 . IMAGE)', where IMAGE is an image specification. The image replaces,
9237 in the display, the characters having this display specification in
9238 their `display' text property. If LOCATION is `(margin left-margin)',
9239 the image will be displayed in the left marginal area, if it is
9240 `(margin right-margin)' it will be displayed in the right marginal
9241 area, and if LOCATION is `(margin nil)' the image will be displayed in
9242 the text. In the latter case you can also use the simpler form IMAGE
9243 as display specification.
9245 *** Other display properties
9247 - (space-width FACTOR)
9249 Specifies that space characters in the text having that property
9250 should be displayed FACTOR times as wide as normal; FACTOR must be an
9255 Display text having this property in a font that is smaller or larger.
9257 If HEIGHT is a list of the form `(+ N)', where N is an integer, that
9258 means to use a font that is N steps larger. If HEIGHT is a list of
9259 the form `(- N)', that means to use a font that is N steps smaller. A
9260 ``step'' is defined by the set of available fonts; each size for which
9261 a font is available counts as a step.
9263 If HEIGHT is a number, that means to use a font that is HEIGHT times
9264 as tall as the frame's default font.
9266 If HEIGHT is a symbol, it is called as a function with the current
9267 height as argument. The function should return the new height to use.
9269 Otherwise, HEIGHT is evaluated to get the new height, with the symbol
9270 `height' bound to the current specified font height.
9274 FACTOR must be a number, specifying a multiple of the current
9275 font's height. If it is positive, that means to display the characters
9276 raised. If it is negative, that means to display them lower down. The
9277 amount of raising or lowering is computed without taking account of the
9278 `height' subproperty.
9280 *** Conditional display properties
9282 All display specifications can be conditionalized. If a specification
9283 has the form `(when CONDITION . SPEC)', the specification SPEC applies
9284 only when CONDITION yields a non-nil value when evaluated. During the
9285 evaluation, `object' is bound to the string or buffer having the
9286 conditional display property; `position' and `buffer-position' are
9287 bound to the position within `object' and the buffer position where
9288 the display property was found, respectively. Both positions can be
9289 different when object is a string.
9291 The normal specification consisting of SPEC only is equivalent to
9294 ** New menu separator types.
9296 Emacs now supports more than one menu separator type. Menu items with
9297 item names consisting of dashes only (including zero dashes) are
9298 treated like before. In addition, the following item names are used
9299 to specify other menu separator types.
9301 - `--no-line' or `--space', or `--:space', or `--:noLine'
9303 No separator lines are drawn, but a small space is inserted where the
9306 - `--single-line' or `--:singleLine'
9308 A single line in the menu's foreground color.
9310 - `--double-line' or `--:doubleLine'
9312 A double line in the menu's foreground color.
9314 - `--single-dashed-line' or `--:singleDashedLine'
9316 A single dashed line in the menu's foreground color.
9318 - `--double-dashed-line' or `--:doubleDashedLine'
9320 A double dashed line in the menu's foreground color.
9322 - `--shadow-etched-in' or `--:shadowEtchedIn'
9324 A single line with 3D sunken appearance. This is the form
9325 displayed for item names consisting of dashes only.
9327 - `--shadow-etched-out' or `--:shadowEtchedOut'
9329 A single line with 3D raised appearance.
9331 - `--shadow-etched-in-dash' or `--:shadowEtchedInDash'
9333 A single dashed line with 3D sunken appearance.
9335 - `--shadow-etched-out-dash' or `--:shadowEtchedOutDash'
9337 A single dashed line with 3D raise appearance.
9339 - `--shadow-double-etched-in' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedIn'
9341 Two lines with 3D sunken appearance.
9343 - `--shadow-double-etched-out' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedOut'
9345 Two lines with 3D raised appearance.
9347 - `--shadow-double-etched-in-dash' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedInDash'
9349 Two dashed lines with 3D sunken appearance.
9351 - `--shadow-double-etched-out-dash' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedOutDash'
9353 Two dashed lines with 3D raised appearance.
9355 Under LessTif/Motif, the last four separator types are displayed like
9356 the corresponding single-line separators.
9358 ** New frame parameters for scroll bar colors.
9360 The new frame parameters `scroll-bar-foreground' and
9361 `scroll-bar-background' can be used to change scroll bar colors.
9362 Their value must be either a color name, a string, or nil to specify
9363 that scroll bars should use a default color. For toolkit scroll bars,
9364 default colors are toolkit specific. For non-toolkit scroll bars, the
9365 default background is the background color of the frame, and the
9366 default foreground is black.
9368 The X resource name of these parameters are `scrollBarForeground'
9369 (class ScrollBarForeground) and `scrollBarBackground' (class
9370 `ScrollBarBackground').
9372 Setting these parameters overrides toolkit specific X resource
9373 settings for scroll bar colors.
9375 ** You can set `redisplay-dont-pause' to a non-nil value to prevent
9376 display updates from being interrupted when input is pending.
9378 ** Changing a window's width may now change its window start if it
9379 starts on a continuation line. The new window start is computed based
9380 on the window's new width, starting from the start of the continued
9381 line as the start of the screen line with the minimum distance from
9382 the original window start.
9384 ** The variable `hscroll-step' and the functions
9385 `hscroll-point-visible' and `hscroll-window-column' have been removed
9386 now that proper horizontal scrolling is implemented.
9388 ** Windows can now be made fixed-width and/or fixed-height.
9390 A window is fixed-size if its buffer has a buffer-local variable
9391 `window-size-fixed' whose value is not nil. A value of `height' makes
9392 windows fixed-height, a value of `width' makes them fixed-width, any
9393 other non-nil value makes them both fixed-width and fixed-height.
9395 The following code makes all windows displaying the current buffer
9396 fixed-width and fixed-height.
9398 (set (make-local-variable 'window-size-fixed) t)
9400 A call to enlarge-window on a window gives an error if that window is
9401 fixed-width and it is tried to change the window's width, or if the
9402 window is fixed-height, and it is tried to change its height. To
9403 change the size of a fixed-size window, bind `window-size-fixed'
9404 temporarily to nil, for example
9406 (let ((window-size-fixed nil))
9407 (enlarge-window 10))
9409 Likewise, an attempt to split a fixed-height window vertically,
9410 or a fixed-width window horizontally results in a error.
9412 ** The cursor-type frame parameter is now supported on MS-DOS
9413 terminals. When Emacs starts, it by default changes the cursor shape
9414 to a solid box, as it does on Unix. The `cursor-type' frame parameter
9415 overrides this as it does on Unix, except that the bar cursor is
9416 horizontal rather than vertical (since the MS-DOS display doesn't
9417 support a vertical-bar cursor).
9421 * Emacs 20.7 is a bug-fix release with few user-visible changes
9423 ** It is now possible to use CCL-based coding systems for keyboard
9426 ** ange-ftp now handles FTP security extensions, like Kerberos.
9428 ** Rmail has been extended to recognize more forms of digest messages.
9430 ** Now, most coding systems set in keyboard coding system work not
9431 only for character input, but also in incremental search. The
9432 exceptions are such coding systems that handle 2-byte character sets
9433 (e.g euc-kr, euc-jp) and that use ISO's escape sequence
9434 (e.g. iso-2022-jp). They are ignored in incremental search.
9436 ** Support for Macintosh PowerPC-based machines running GNU/Linux has
9440 * Emacs 20.6 is a bug-fix release with one user-visible change
9442 ** Support for ARM-based non-RISCiX machines has been added.
9446 * Emacs 20.5 is a bug-fix release with no user-visible changes.
9448 ** Not new, but not mentioned before:
9449 M-w when Transient Mark mode is enabled disables the mark.
9451 * Changes in Emacs 20.4
9453 ** Init file may be called .emacs.el.
9455 You can now call the Emacs init file `.emacs.el'.
9456 Formerly the name had to be `.emacs'. If you use the name
9457 `.emacs.el', you can byte-compile the file in the usual way.
9459 If both `.emacs' and `.emacs.el' exist, the latter file
9460 is the one that is used.
9462 ** shell-command, and shell-command-on-region, now return
9463 the exit code of the command (unless it is asynchronous).
9464 Also, you can specify a place to put the error output,
9465 separate from the command's regular output.
9466 Interactively, the variable shell-command-default-error-buffer
9467 says where to put error output; set it to a buffer name.
9468 In calls from Lisp, an optional argument ERROR-BUFFER specifies
9471 When you specify a non-nil error buffer (or buffer name), any error
9472 output is inserted before point in that buffer, with \f\n to separate
9473 it from the previous batch of error output. The error buffer is not
9474 cleared, so error output from successive commands accumulates there.
9476 ** Setting the default value of enable-multibyte-characters to nil in
9477 the .emacs file, either explicitly using setq-default, or via Custom,
9478 is now essentially equivalent to using --unibyte: all buffers
9479 created during startup will be made unibyte after loading .emacs.
9481 ** C-x C-f now handles the wildcards * and ? in file names. For
9482 example, typing C-x C-f c*.c RET visits all the files whose names
9483 match c*.c. To visit a file whose name contains * or ?, add the
9484 quoting sequence /: to the beginning of the file name.
9486 ** The M-x commands keep-lines, flush-lines and count-matches
9487 now have the same feature as occur and query-replace:
9488 if the pattern contains any upper case letters, then
9489 they never ignore case.
9491 ** The end-of-line format conversion feature previously mentioned
9492 under `* Emacs 20.1 changes for MS-DOS and MS-Windows' actually
9493 applies to all operating systems. Emacs recognizes from the contents
9494 of a file what convention it uses to separate lines--newline, CRLF, or
9495 just CR--and automatically converts the contents to the normal Emacs
9496 convention (using newline to separate lines) for editing. This is a
9497 part of the general feature of coding system conversion.
9499 If you subsequently save the buffer, Emacs converts the text back to
9500 the same format that was used in the file before.
9502 You can turn off end-of-line conversion by setting the variable
9503 `inhibit-eol-conversion' to non-nil, e.g. with Custom in the MULE group.
9505 ** The character set property `prefered-coding-system' has been
9506 renamed to `preferred-coding-system', for the sake of correct spelling.
9507 This is a fairly internal feature, so few programs should be affected.
9509 ** Mode-line display of end-of-line format is changed.
9510 The indication of the end-of-line format of the file visited by a
9511 buffer is now more explicit when that format is not the usual one for
9512 your operating system. For example, the DOS-style end-of-line format
9513 is displayed as "(DOS)" on Unix and GNU/Linux systems. The usual
9514 end-of-line format is still displayed as a single character (colon for
9515 Unix, backslash for DOS and Windows, and forward slash for the Mac).
9517 The values of the variables eol-mnemonic-unix, eol-mnemonic-dos,
9518 eol-mnemonic-mac, and eol-mnemonic-undecided, which are strings,
9519 control what is displayed in the mode line for each end-of-line
9520 format. You can now customize these variables.
9522 ** In the previous version of Emacs, tar-mode didn't work well if a
9523 filename contained non-ASCII characters. Now this is fixed. Such a
9524 filename is decoded by file-name-coding-system if the default value of
9525 enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil.
9527 ** The command temp-buffer-resize-mode toggles a minor mode
9528 in which temporary buffers (such as help buffers) are given
9529 windows just big enough to hold the whole contents.
9531 ** If you use completion.el, you must now run the function
9532 dynamic-completion-mode to enable it. Just loading the file
9533 doesn't have any effect.
9535 ** In Flyspell mode, the default is now to make just one Ispell process,
9538 ** If you use iswitchb but do not call (iswitchb-default-keybindings) to
9539 use the default keybindings, you will need to add the following line:
9540 (add-hook 'minibuffer-setup-hook 'iswitchb-minibuffer-setup)
9542 ** Auto-show mode is no longer enabled just by loading auto-show.el.
9543 To control it, set `auto-show-mode' via Custom or use the
9544 `auto-show-mode' command.
9546 ** Handling of X fonts' ascent/descent parameters has been changed to
9547 avoid redisplay problems. As a consequence, compared with previous
9548 versions the line spacing and frame size now differ with some font
9549 choices, typically increasing by a pixel per line. This change
9550 occurred in version 20.3 but was not documented then.
9552 ** If you select the bar cursor style, it uses the frame's
9553 cursor-color, rather than the cursor foreground pixel.
9555 ** In multibyte mode, Rmail decodes incoming MIME messages using the
9556 character set specified in the message. If you want to disable this
9557 feature, set the variable rmail-decode-mime-charset to nil.
9559 ** Not new, but not mentioned previously in NEWS: when you use #! at
9560 the beginning of a file to make it executable and specify an
9561 interpreter program, Emacs looks on the second line for the -*- mode
9562 and variable specification, as well as on the first line.
9564 ** Support for IBM codepage encoding of non-ASCII characters.
9566 The new command M-x codepage-setup creates a special coding system
9567 that can be used to convert text between a specific IBM codepage and
9568 one of the character sets built into Emacs which matches that
9569 codepage. For example, codepage 850 corresponds to Latin-1 character
9570 set, codepage 855 corresponds to Cyrillic-ISO character set, etc.
9572 Windows codepages 1250, 1251 and some others, where Windows deviates
9573 from the corresponding ISO character set, are also supported.
9575 IBM box-drawing characters and other glyphs which don't have
9576 equivalents in the corresponding ISO character set, are converted to
9577 a character defined by dos-unsupported-char-glyph on MS-DOS, and to
9578 `?' on other systems.
9580 IBM codepages are widely used on MS-DOS and MS-Windows, so this
9581 feature is most useful on those platforms, but it can also be used on
9584 Emacs compiled for MS-DOS automatically loads the support for the
9585 current codepage when it starts.
9589 *** When mail is sent using compose-mail (C-x m), and if
9590 `mail-send-nonascii' is set to the new default value `mime',
9591 appropriate MIME headers are added. The headers are added only if
9592 non-ASCII characters are present in the body of the mail, and no other
9593 MIME headers are already present. For example, the following three
9594 headers are added if the coding system used in the *mail* buffer is
9598 Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
9599 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
9601 *** The new variable default-sendmail-coding-system specifies the
9602 default way to encode outgoing mail. This has higher priority than
9603 default-buffer-file-coding-system but has lower priority than
9604 sendmail-coding-system and the local value of
9605 buffer-file-coding-system.
9607 You should not set this variable manually. Instead, set
9608 sendmail-coding-system to specify a fixed encoding for all outgoing
9611 *** When you try to send a message that contains non-ASCII characters,
9612 if the coding system specified by those variables doesn't handle them,
9613 Emacs will ask you to select a suitable coding system while showing a
9614 list of possible coding systems.
9618 *** c-default-style can now take an association list that maps major
9619 modes to style names. When this variable is an alist, Java mode no
9620 longer hardcodes a setting to "java" style. See the variable's
9621 docstring for details.
9623 *** It's now possible to put a list as the offset on a syntactic
9624 symbol. The list is evaluated recursively until a non-nil offset is
9625 found. This is useful to combine several lineup functions to act in a
9626 prioritized order on a single line. However, none of the supplied
9627 lineup functions use this feature currently.
9629 *** New syntactic symbol catch-clause, which is used on the "catch" and
9630 "finally" lines in try-catch constructs in C++ and Java.
9632 *** New cleanup brace-catch-brace on c-cleanup-list, which does for
9633 "catch" lines what brace-elseif-brace does for "else if" lines.
9635 *** The braces of Java anonymous inner classes are treated separately
9636 from the braces of other classes in auto-newline mode. Two new
9637 symbols inexpr-class-open and inexpr-class-close may be used on
9638 c-hanging-braces-alist to control the automatic newlines used for
9641 *** Support for the Pike language added, along with new Pike specific
9642 syntactic symbols: inlambda, lambda-intro-cont
9644 *** Support for Java anonymous classes via new syntactic symbol
9645 inexpr-class. New syntactic symbol inexpr-statement for Pike
9646 support and gcc-style statements inside expressions. New lineup
9647 function c-lineup-inexpr-block.
9649 *** New syntactic symbol brace-entry-open which is used in brace lists
9650 (i.e. static initializers) when a list entry starts with an open
9651 brace. These used to be recognized as brace-list-entry's.
9652 c-electric-brace also recognizes brace-entry-open braces
9653 (brace-list-entry's can no longer be electrified).
9655 *** New command c-indent-line-or-region, not bound by default.
9657 *** `#' is only electric when typed in the indentation of a line.
9659 *** Parentheses are now electric (via the new command c-electric-paren)
9660 for auto-reindenting lines when parens are typed.
9662 *** In "gnu" style, inline-open offset is now set to zero.
9664 *** Uniform handling of the inclass syntactic symbol. The indentation
9665 associated with it is now always relative to the class opening brace.
9666 This means that the indentation behavior has changed in some
9667 circumstances, but only if you've put anything besides 0 on the
9668 class-open syntactic symbol (none of the default styles do that).
9672 *** New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
9673 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See the
9674 Gnus manual for the full story.
9676 *** The nndraft backend has returned, but works differently than
9677 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the nndraft
9678 group, which is created automatically.
9680 *** `gnus-alter-header-function' can now be used to alter header
9683 *** `gnus-summary-goto-article' now accept Message-ID's.
9685 *** A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
9686 outside the region: `C-c C-v'.
9688 *** You can now post to component group in nnvirtual groups with
9691 *** `nntp-rlogin-program' -- new variable to ease customization.
9693 *** `C-u C-c C-c' in `gnus-article-edit-mode' will now inhibit
9694 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
9696 *** New element in `gnus-boring-article-headers' -- `long-to'.
9698 *** `M-i' symbolic prefix command. See the section "Symbolic
9699 Prefixes" in the Gnus manual for details.
9701 *** `L' and `I' in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
9702 `a' to add the score rule to the "all.SCORE" file.
9704 *** `gnus-simplify-subject-functions' variable to allow greater
9705 control over simplification.
9707 *** `A T' -- new command for fetching the current thread.
9709 *** `/ T' -- new command for including the current thread in the
9712 *** `M-RET' is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
9714 *** \\1-expressions are now valid in `nnmail-split-methods'.
9716 *** The `custom-face-lookup' function has been removed.
9717 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
9718 rewrite them to use `face-spec-set' instead.
9720 *** Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
9721 `a' forces normal posting method.
9723 *** New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper text
9726 *** For easier debugging of nntp, you can set `nntp-record-commands'
9729 *** nntp now uses ~/.authinfo, a .netrc-like file, for controlling
9730 where and how to send AUTHINFO to NNTP servers.
9732 *** A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
9735 *** A history of where mails have been split is available.
9737 *** A new article date command has been added -- `article-date-iso8601'.
9739 *** Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
9740 `gnus-score-thread-simplify'.
9742 *** A new function for citing in Message has been added --
9743 `message-cite-original-without-signature'.
9745 *** `article-strip-all-blank-lines' -- new article command.
9747 *** A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
9750 *** A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
9751 `gnus-adaptive-word-minimum' variable.
9753 *** The "lapsed date" article header can be kept continually
9754 updated by the `gnus-start-date-timer' command.
9756 *** Web listserv archives can be read with the nnlistserv backend.
9758 *** Old dejanews archives can now be read by nnweb.
9760 *** `gnus-posting-styles' has been re-activated.
9762 ** Changes to TeX and LaTeX mode
9764 *** The new variable `tex-start-options-string' can be used to give
9765 options for the TeX run. The default value causes TeX to run in
9766 nonstopmode. For an interactive TeX run set it to nil or "".
9768 *** The command `tex-feed-input' sends input to the Tex Shell. In a
9769 TeX buffer it is bound to the keys C-RET, C-c RET, and C-c C-m (some
9770 of these keys may not work on all systems). For instance, if you run
9771 TeX interactively and if the TeX run stops because of an error, you
9772 can continue it without leaving the TeX buffer by typing C-RET.
9774 *** The Tex Shell Buffer is now in `compilation-shell-minor-mode'.
9775 All error-parsing commands of the Compilation major mode are available
9776 but bound to keys that don't collide with the shell. Thus you can use
9777 the Tex Shell for command line executions like a usual shell.
9779 *** The commands `tex-validate-region' and `tex-validate-buffer' check
9780 the matching of braces and $'s. The errors are listed in a *Occur*
9781 buffer and you can use C-c C-c or mouse-2 to go to a particular
9784 ** Changes to RefTeX mode
9786 *** The table of contents buffer can now also display labels and
9787 file boundaries in addition to sections. Use `l', `i', and `c' keys.
9789 *** Labels derived from context (the section heading) are now
9790 lowercase by default. To make the label legal in LaTeX, latin-1
9791 characters will lose their accent. All Mule characters will be
9792 removed from the label.
9794 *** The automatic display of cross reference information can also use
9795 a window instead of the echo area. See variable `reftex-auto-view-crossref'.
9797 *** kpsewhich can be used by RefTeX to find TeX and BibTeX files. See the
9798 customization group `reftex-finding-files'.
9800 *** The option `reftex-bibfile-ignore-list' has been renamed to
9801 `reftex-bibfile-ignore-regexps' and indeed can be fed with regular
9804 *** Multiple Selection buffers are now hidden buffers.
9806 ** New/deleted modes and packages
9808 *** The package snmp-mode.el provides major modes for editing SNMP and
9809 SNMPv2 MIBs. It has entries on `auto-mode-alist'.
9811 *** The package sql.el provides a major mode, M-x sql-mode, for
9812 editing SQL files, and M-x sql-interactive-mode for interacting with
9813 SQL interpreters. It has an entry on `auto-mode-alist'.
9815 *** M-x highlight-changes-mode provides a minor mode displaying buffer
9816 changes with a special face.
9818 *** ispell4.el has been deleted. It got in the way of ispell.el and
9819 this was hard to fix reliably. It has long been obsolete -- use
9820 Ispell 3.1 and ispell.el.
9822 * MS-DOS changes in Emacs 20.4
9824 ** Emacs compiled for MS-DOS now supports MULE features better.
9825 This includes support for display of all ISO 8859-N character sets,
9826 conversion to and from IBM codepage encoding of non-ASCII characters,
9827 and automatic setup of the MULE environment at startup. For details,
9828 check out the section `MS-DOS and MULE' in the manual.
9830 The MS-DOS installation procedure automatically configures and builds
9831 Emacs with input method support if it finds an unpacked Leim
9832 distribution when the config.bat script is run.
9834 ** Formerly, the value of lpr-command did not affect printing on
9835 MS-DOS unless print-region-function was set to nil, but now it
9836 controls whether an external program is invoked or output is written
9837 directly to a printer port. Similarly, in the previous version of
9838 Emacs, the value of ps-lpr-command did not affect PostScript printing
9839 on MS-DOS unless ps-printer-name was set to something other than a
9840 string (eg. t or `pipe'), but now it controls whether an external
9841 program is used. (These changes were made so that configuration of
9842 printing variables would be almost identical across all platforms.)
9844 ** In the previous version of Emacs, PostScript and non-PostScript
9845 output was piped to external programs, but because most print programs
9846 available for MS-DOS and MS-Windows cannot read data from their standard
9847 input, on those systems the data to be output is now written to a
9848 temporary file whose name is passed as the last argument to the external
9851 An exception is made for `print', a standard program on Windows NT,
9852 and `nprint', a standard program on Novell Netware. For both of these
9853 programs, the command line is constructed in the appropriate syntax
9854 automatically, using only the value of printer-name or ps-printer-name
9855 as appropriate--the value of the relevant `-switches' variable is
9856 ignored, as both programs have no useful switches.
9858 ** The value of the variable dos-printer (cf. dos-ps-printer), if it has
9859 a value, overrides the value of printer-name (cf. ps-printer-name), on
9860 MS-DOS and MS-Windows only. This has been true since version 20.3, but
9861 was not documented clearly before.
9863 ** All the Emacs games now work on MS-DOS terminals.
9864 This includes Tetris and Snake.
9866 * Lisp changes in Emacs 20.4
9868 ** New functions line-beginning-position and line-end-position
9869 return the position of the beginning or end of the current line.
9870 They both accept an optional argument, which has the same
9871 meaning as the argument to beginning-of-line or end-of-line.
9873 ** find-file and allied functions now have an optional argument
9874 WILDCARD. If this is non-nil, they do wildcard processing,
9875 and visit all files that match the wildcard pattern.
9877 ** Changes in the file-attributes function.
9879 *** The file size returned by file-attributes may be an integer or a float.
9880 It is an integer if the size fits in a Lisp integer, float otherwise.
9882 *** The inode number returned by file-attributes may be an integer (if
9883 the number fits in a Lisp integer) or a cons cell containing two
9886 ** The new function directory-files-and-attributes returns a list of
9887 files in a directory and their attributes. It accepts the same
9888 arguments as directory-files and has similar semantics, except that
9889 file names and attributes are returned.
9891 ** The new function file-attributes-lessp is a helper function for
9892 sorting the list generated by directory-files-and-attributes. It
9893 accepts two arguments, each a list of a file name and its attributes.
9894 It compares the file names of each according to string-lessp and
9897 ** The new function file-expand-wildcards expands a wildcard-pattern
9898 to produce a list of existing files that match the pattern.
9900 ** New functions for base64 conversion:
9902 The function base64-encode-region converts a part of the buffer
9903 into the base64 code used in MIME. base64-decode-region
9904 performs the opposite conversion. Line-breaking is supported
9907 Functions base64-encode-string and base64-decode-string do a similar
9908 job on the text in a string. They return the value as a new string.
9911 The new function process-running-child-p
9912 will tell you if a subprocess has given control of its
9913 terminal to its own child process.
9915 ** interrupt-process and such functions have a new feature:
9916 when the second argument is `lambda', they send a signal
9917 to the running child of the subshell, if any, but if the shell
9918 itself owns its terminal, no signal is sent.
9920 ** There are new widget types `plist' and `alist' which can
9921 be used for customizing variables whose values are plists or alists.
9923 ** easymenu.el now understands `:key-sequence' and `:style button'.
9924 :included is an alias for :visible.
9926 easy-menu-add-item now understands the values returned by
9927 easy-menu-remove-item and easy-menu-item-present-p. This can be used
9928 to move or copy menu entries.
9930 ** Multibyte editing changes
9932 *** The definitions of sref and char-bytes are changed. Now, sref is
9933 an alias of aref and char-bytes always returns 1. This change is to
9934 make some Emacs Lisp code which works on 20.2 and earlier also
9935 work on the latest Emacs. Such code uses a combination of sref and
9936 char-bytes in a loop typically as below:
9937 (setq char (sref str idx)
9938 idx (+ idx (char-bytes idx)))
9939 The byte-compiler now warns that this is obsolete.
9941 If you want to know how many bytes a specific multibyte character
9942 (say, CH) occupies in a multibyte buffer, use this code:
9943 (charset-bytes (char-charset ch))
9945 *** In multibyte mode, when you narrow a buffer to some region, and the
9946 region is preceded or followed by non-ASCII codes, inserting or
9947 deleting at the head or the end of the region may signal this error:
9949 Byte combining across boundary of accessible buffer text inhibited
9951 This is to avoid some bytes being combined together into a character
9952 across the boundary.
9954 *** The functions find-charset-region and find-charset-string include
9955 `unknown' in the returned list in the following cases:
9956 o The current buffer or the target string is unibyte and
9957 contains 8-bit characters.
9958 o The current buffer or the target string is multibyte and
9959 contains invalid characters.
9961 *** The functions decode-coding-region and encode-coding-region remove
9962 text properties of the target region. Ideally, they should correctly
9963 preserve text properties, but for the moment, it's hard. Removing
9964 text properties is better than preserving them in a less-than-correct
9967 *** prefer-coding-system sets EOL conversion of default coding systems.
9968 If the argument to prefer-coding-system specifies a certain type of
9969 end of line conversion, the default coding systems set by
9970 prefer-coding-system will specify that conversion type for end of line.
9972 *** The new function thai-compose-string can be used to properly
9973 compose Thai characters in a string.
9975 ** The primitive `define-prefix-command' now takes an optional third
9976 argument NAME, which should be a string. It supplies the menu name
9977 for the created keymap. Keymaps created in order to be displayed as
9978 menus should always use the third argument.
9980 ** The meanings of optional second arguments for read-char,
9981 read-event, and read-char-exclusive are flipped. Now the second
9982 arguments are INHERIT-INPUT-METHOD. These functions use the current
9983 input method (if any) if and only if INHERIT-INPUT-METHOD is non-nil.
9985 ** The new function clear-this-command-keys empties out the contents
9986 of the vector that (this-command-keys) returns. This is useful in
9987 programs that read passwords, to prevent the passwords from echoing
9988 inadvertently as part of the next command in certain cases.
9990 ** The new macro `with-temp-message' displays a temporary message in
9991 the echo area, while executing some Lisp code. Like `progn', it
9992 returns the value of the last form, but it also restores the previous
9995 (with-temp-message MESSAGE &rest BODY)
9997 ** The function `require' now takes an optional third argument
9998 NOERROR. If it is non-nil, then there is no error if the
9999 requested feature cannot be loaded.
10001 ** In the function modify-face, an argument of (nil) for the
10002 foreground color, background color or stipple pattern
10003 means to clear out that attribute.
10005 ** The `outer-window-id' frame property of an X frame
10006 gives the window number of the outermost X window for the frame.
10008 ** Temporary buffers made with with-output-to-temp-buffer are now
10009 read-only by default, and normally use the major mode Help mode
10010 unless you put them in some other non-Fundamental mode before the
10011 end of with-output-to-temp-buffer.
10013 ** The new functions gap-position and gap-size return information on
10014 the gap of the current buffer.
10016 ** The new functions position-bytes and byte-to-position provide a way
10017 to convert between character positions and byte positions in the
10020 ** vc.el defines two new macros, `edit-vc-file' and `with-vc-file', to
10021 facilitate working with version-controlled files from Lisp programs.
10022 These macros check out a given file automatically if needed, and check
10023 it back in after any modifications have been made.
10025 * Installation Changes in Emacs 20.3
10027 ** The default value of load-path now includes most subdirectories of
10028 the site-specific directories /usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp and
10029 /usr/local/share/emacs/VERSION/site-lisp, in addition to those
10030 directories themselves. Both immediate subdirectories and
10031 subdirectories multiple levels down are added to load-path.
10033 Not all subdirectories are included, though. Subdirectories whose
10034 names do not start with a letter or digit are excluded.
10035 Subdirectories named RCS or CVS are excluded. Also, a subdirectory
10036 which contains a file named `.nosearch' is excluded. You can use
10037 these methods to prevent certain subdirectories from being searched.
10039 Emacs finds these subdirectories and adds them to load-path when it
10040 starts up. While it would be cleaner to find the subdirectories each
10041 time Emacs loads a file, that would be much slower.
10043 This feature is an incompatible change. If you have stored some Emacs
10044 Lisp files in a subdirectory of the site-lisp directory specifically
10045 to prevent them from being used, you will need to rename the
10046 subdirectory to start with a non-alphanumeric character, or create a
10047 `.nosearch' file in it, in order to continue to achieve the desired
10050 ** Emacs no longer includes an old version of the C preprocessor from
10051 GCC. This was formerly used to help compile Emacs with C compilers
10052 that had limits on the significant length of an identifier, but in
10053 fact we stopped supporting such compilers some time ago.
10055 * Changes in Emacs 20.3
10057 ** The new command C-x z (repeat) repeats the previous command
10058 including its argument. If you repeat the z afterward,
10059 it repeats the command additional times; thus, you can
10060 perform many repetitions with one keystroke per repetition.
10062 ** Emacs now supports "selective undo" which undoes only within a
10063 specified region. To do this, set point and mark around the desired
10064 region and type C-u C-x u (or C-u C-_). You can then continue undoing
10065 further, within the same region, by repeating the ordinary undo
10066 command C-x u or C-_. This will keep undoing changes that were made
10067 within the region you originally specified, until either all of them
10068 are undone, or it encounters a change which crosses the edge of that
10071 In Transient Mark mode, undoing when a region is active requests
10074 ** If you specify --unibyte when starting Emacs, then all buffers are
10075 unibyte, except when a Lisp program specifically creates a multibyte
10076 buffer. Setting the environment variable EMACS_UNIBYTE has the same
10077 effect. The --no-unibyte option overrides EMACS_UNIBYTE and directs
10078 Emacs to run normally in multibyte mode.
10080 The option --unibyte does not affect the reading of Emacs Lisp files,
10081 though. If you want a Lisp file to be read in unibyte mode, use
10082 -*-unibyte: t;-*- on its first line. That will force Emacs to
10083 load that file in unibyte mode, regardless of how Emacs was started.
10085 ** toggle-enable-multibyte-characters no longer has a key binding and
10086 no longer appears in the menu bar. We've realized that changing the
10087 enable-multibyte-characters variable in an existing buffer is
10088 something that most users not do.
10090 ** You can specify a coding system to use for the next cut or paste
10091 operations through the window system with the command C-x RET X.
10092 The coding system can make a difference for communication with other
10095 C-x RET x specifies a coding system for all subsequent cutting and
10096 pasting operations.
10098 ** You can specify the printer to use for commands that do printing by
10099 setting the variable `printer-name'. Just what a printer name looks
10100 like depends on your operating system. You can specify a different
10101 printer for the Postscript printing commands by setting
10104 ** Emacs now supports on-the-fly spell checking by the means of a
10105 minor mode. It is called M-x flyspell-mode. You don't have to remember
10106 any other special commands to use it, and you will hardly notice it
10107 except when you make a spelling error. Flyspell works by highlighting
10108 incorrect words as soon as they are completed or as soon as the cursor
10111 Flyspell mode works with whichever dictionary you have selected for
10112 Ispell in Emacs. In TeX mode, it understands TeX syntax so as not
10113 to be confused by TeX commands.
10115 You can correct a misspelled word by editing it into something
10116 correct. You can also correct it, or accept it as correct, by
10117 clicking on the word with Mouse-2; that gives you a pop-up menu
10118 of various alternative replacements and actions.
10120 Flyspell mode also proposes "automatic" corrections. M-TAB replaces
10121 the current misspelled word with a possible correction. If several
10122 corrections are made possible, M-TAB cycles through them in
10123 alphabetical order, or in order of decreasing likelihood if
10124 flyspell-sort-corrections is nil.
10126 Flyspell mode also flags an error when a word is repeated, if
10127 flyspell-mark-duplications-flag is non-nil.
10129 ** Changes in input method usage.
10131 Now you can use arrow keys (right, left, down, up) for selecting among
10132 the alternatives just the same way as you do by C-f, C-b, C-n, and C-p
10135 You can use the ENTER key to accept the current conversion.
10137 If you type TAB to display a list of alternatives, you can select one
10138 of the alternatives with Mouse-2.
10140 The meaning of the variable `input-method-verbose-flag' is changed so
10141 that you can set it to t, nil, `default', or `complex-only'.
10143 If the value is nil, extra guidance is never given.
10145 If the value is t, extra guidance is always given.
10147 If the value is `complex-only', extra guidance is always given only
10148 when you are using complex input methods such as chinese-py.
10150 If the value is `default' (this is the default), extra guidance is
10151 given in the following case:
10152 o When you are using a complex input method.
10153 o When you are using a simple input method but not in the minibuffer.
10155 If you are using Emacs through a very slow line, setting
10156 input-method-verbose-flag to nil or to complex-only is a good choice,
10157 and if you are using an input method you are not familiar with,
10158 setting it to t is helpful.
10160 The old command select-input-method is now called set-input-method.
10162 In the language environment "Korean", you can use the following
10164 Shift-SPC toggle-korean-input-method
10165 C-F9 quail-hangul-switch-symbol-ksc
10166 F9 quail-hangul-switch-hanja
10167 These key bindings are canceled when you switch to another language
10170 ** The minibuffer history of file names now records the specified file
10171 names, not the entire minibuffer input. For example, if the
10172 minibuffer starts out with /usr/foo/, you might type in /etc/passwd to
10175 /usr/foo//etc/passwd
10177 which stands for the file /etc/passwd.
10179 Formerly, this used to put /usr/foo//etc/passwd in the history list.
10180 Now this puts just /etc/passwd in the history list.
10182 ** If you are root, Emacs sets backup-by-copying-when-mismatch to t
10183 at startup, so that saving a file will be sure to preserve
10184 its owner and group.
10186 ** find-func.el can now also find the place of definition of Emacs
10187 Lisp variables in user-loaded libraries.
10189 ** C-x r t (string-rectangle) now deletes the existing rectangle
10190 contents before inserting the specified string on each line.
10192 ** There is a new command delete-whitespace-rectangle
10193 which deletes whitespace starting from a particular column
10194 in all the lines on a rectangle. The column is specified
10195 by the left edge of the rectangle.
10197 ** You can now store a number into a register with C-u NUMBER C-x r n REG,
10198 increment it by INC with C-u INC C-x r + REG (to increment by one, omit
10199 C-u INC), and insert it in the buffer with C-x r g REG. This is useful
10200 for writing keyboard macros.
10202 ** The new command M-x speedbar displays a frame in which directories,
10203 files, and tags can be displayed, manipulated, and jumped to. The
10204 frame defaults to 20 characters in width, and is the same height as
10205 the frame that it was started from. Some major modes define
10206 additional commands for the speedbar, including Rmail, GUD/GDB, and
10209 ** query-replace-regexp is now bound to C-M-%.
10211 ** In Transient Mark mode, when the region is active, M-x
10212 query-replace and the other replace commands now operate on the region
10215 ** M-x write-region, when used interactively, now asks for
10216 confirmation before overwriting an existing file. When you call
10217 the function from a Lisp program, a new optional argument CONFIRM
10218 says whether to ask for confirmation in this case.
10220 ** If you use find-file-literally and the file is already visited
10221 non-literally, the command asks you whether to revisit the file
10222 literally. If you say no, it signals an error.
10224 ** Major modes defined with the "derived mode" feature
10225 now use the proper name for the mode hook: WHATEVER-mode-hook.
10226 Formerly they used the name WHATEVER-mode-hooks, but that is
10227 inconsistent with Emacs conventions.
10229 ** shell-command-on-region (and shell-command) reports success or
10230 failure if the command produces no output.
10232 ** Set focus-follows-mouse to nil if your window system or window
10233 manager does not transfer focus to another window when you just move
10236 ** mouse-menu-buffer-maxlen has been renamed to
10237 mouse-buffer-menu-maxlen to be consistent with the other related
10238 function and variable names.
10240 ** The new variable auto-coding-alist specifies coding systems for
10241 reading specific files. This has higher priority than
10242 file-coding-system-alist.
10244 ** If you set the variable unibyte-display-via-language-environment to
10245 t, then Emacs displays non-ASCII characters are displayed by
10246 converting them to the equivalent multibyte characters according to
10247 the current language environment. As a result, they are displayed
10248 according to the current fontset.
10250 ** C-q's handling of codes in the range 0200 through 0377 is changed.
10252 The codes in the range 0200 through 0237 are inserted as one byte of
10253 that code regardless of the values of nonascii-translation-table and
10254 nonascii-insert-offset.
10256 For the codes in the range 0240 through 0377, if
10257 enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil and nonascii-translation-table
10258 nor nonascii-insert-offset can't convert them to valid multibyte
10259 characters, they are converted to Latin-1 characters.
10261 ** If you try to find a file that is not read-accessible, you now get
10262 an error, rather than an empty buffer and a warning.
10264 ** In the minibuffer history commands M-r and M-s, an upper case
10265 letter in the regular expression forces case-sensitive search.
10267 ** In the *Help* buffer, cross-references to commands and variables
10268 are inferred and hyperlinked. Use C-h m in Help mode for the relevant
10271 ** M-x apropos-command, with a prefix argument, no longer looks for
10272 user option variables--instead it looks for noninteractive functions.
10274 Meanwhile, the command apropos-variable normally searches for
10275 user option variables; with a prefix argument, it looks at
10276 all variables that have documentation.
10278 ** When you type a long line in the minibuffer, and the minibuffer
10279 shows just one line, automatically scrolling works in a special way
10280 that shows you overlap with the previous line of text. The variable
10281 minibuffer-scroll-overlap controls how many characters of overlap
10282 it should show; the default is 20.
10284 Meanwhile, Resize Minibuffer mode is still available; in that mode,
10285 the minibuffer grows taller (up to a point) as needed to show the whole
10288 ** The new command M-x customize-changed-options lets you customize
10289 all the options whose meanings or default values have changed in
10290 recent Emacs versions. You specify a previous Emacs version number as
10291 argument, and the command creates a customization buffer showing all
10292 the customizable options which were changed since that version.
10293 Newly added options are included as well.
10295 If you don't specify a particular version number argument,
10296 then the customization buffer shows all the customizable options
10297 for which Emacs versions of changes are recorded.
10299 This function is also bound to the Changed Options entry in the
10302 ** When you run M-x grep with a prefix argument, it figures out
10303 the tag around point and puts that into the default grep command.
10305 ** The new command M-* (pop-tag-mark) pops back through a history of
10306 buffer positions from which M-. or other tag-finding commands were
10309 ** The new variable comment-padding specifies the number of spaces
10310 that `comment-region' will insert before the actual text of the comment.
10313 ** In Fortran mode the characters `.', `_' and `$' now have symbol
10314 syntax, not word syntax. Fortran mode now supports `imenu' and has
10315 new commands fortran-join-line (M-^) and fortran-narrow-to-subprogram
10316 (C-x n d). M-q can be used to fill a statement or comment block
10319 ** GUD now supports jdb, the Java debugger, and pdb, the Python debugger.
10321 ** If you set the variable add-log-keep-changes-together to a non-nil
10322 value, the command `C-x 4 a' will automatically notice when you make
10323 two entries in one day for one file, and combine them.
10325 ** You can use the command M-x diary-mail-entries to mail yourself a
10326 reminder about upcoming diary entries. See the documentation string
10327 for a sample shell script for calling this function automatically
10332 *** All you need to do to enable use of the Desktop package, is to set
10333 the variable desktop-enable to t with Custom.
10335 *** Minor modes are now restored. Which minor modes are restored
10336 and how modes are restored is controlled by `desktop-minor-mode-table'.
10338 ** There is no need to do anything special, now, to enable Gnus to
10339 read and post multi-lingual articles.
10341 ** Outline mode has now support for showing hidden outlines when
10342 doing an isearch. In order for this to happen search-invisible should
10343 be set to open (the default). If an isearch match is inside a hidden
10344 outline the outline is made visible. If you continue pressing C-s and
10345 the match moves outside the formerly invisible outline, the outline is
10346 made invisible again.
10348 ** Mail reading and sending changes
10350 *** The Rmail e command now switches to displaying the whole header of
10351 the message before it lets you edit the message. This is so that any
10352 changes you make in the header will not be lost if you subsequently
10355 *** The w command in Rmail, which writes the message body into a file,
10356 now works in the summary buffer as well. (The command to delete the
10357 summary buffer is now Q.) The default file name for the w command, if
10358 the message has no subject, is stored in the variable
10359 rmail-default-body-file.
10361 *** Most of the commands and modes that operate on mail and netnews no
10362 longer depend on the value of mail-header-separator. Instead, they
10363 handle whatever separator the buffer happens to use.
10365 *** If you set mail-signature to a value which is not t, nil, or a string,
10366 it should be an expression. When you send a message, this expression
10367 is evaluated to insert the signature.
10369 *** The new Lisp library feedmail.el (version 8) enhances processing of
10370 outbound email messages. It works in coordination with other email
10371 handling packages (e.g., rmail, VM, gnus) and is responsible for
10372 putting final touches on messages and actually submitting them for
10373 transmission. Users of the emacs program "fakemail" might be
10374 especially interested in trying feedmail.
10376 feedmail is not enabled by default. See comments at the top of
10377 feedmail.el for set-up instructions. Among the bigger features
10378 provided by feedmail are:
10380 **** you can park outgoing messages into a disk-based queue and
10381 stimulate sending some or all of them later (handy for laptop users);
10382 there is also a queue for draft messages
10384 **** you can get one last look at the prepped outbound message and
10385 be prompted for confirmation
10387 **** does smart filling of address headers
10389 **** can generate a MESSAGE-ID: line and a DATE: line; the date can be
10390 the time the message was written or the time it is being sent; this
10391 can make FCC copies more closely resemble copies that recipients get
10393 **** you can specify an arbitrary function for actually transmitting
10394 the message; included in feedmail are interfaces for /bin/[r]mail,
10395 /usr/lib/sendmail, and elisp smtpmail; it's easy to write a new
10396 function for something else (10-20 lines of elisp)
10400 *** The Dired function dired-do-toggle, which toggles marked and unmarked
10401 files, is now bound to "t" instead of "T".
10403 *** dired-at-point has been added to ffap.el. It allows one to easily
10404 run Dired on the directory name at point.
10406 *** Dired has a new command: %g. It searches the contents of
10407 files in the directory and marks each file that contains a match
10408 for a specified regexp.
10412 *** New option vc-ignore-vc-files lets you turn off version control
10415 *** VC Dired has been completely rewritten. It is now much
10416 faster, especially for CVS, and works very similar to ordinary
10419 VC Dired is invoked by typing C-x v d and entering the name of the
10420 directory to display. By default, VC Dired gives you a recursive
10421 listing of all files at or below the given directory which are
10422 currently locked (for CVS, all files not up-to-date are shown).
10424 You can change the listing format by setting vc-dired-recurse to nil,
10425 then it shows only the given directory, and you may also set
10426 vc-dired-terse-display to nil, then it shows all files under version
10427 control plus the names of any subdirectories, so that you can type `i'
10428 on such lines to insert them manually, as in ordinary Dired.
10430 All Dired commands operate normally in VC Dired, except for `v', which
10431 is redefined as the version control prefix. That means you may type
10432 `v l', `v =' etc. to invoke `vc-print-log', `vc-diff' and the like on
10433 the file named in the current Dired buffer line. `v v' invokes
10434 `vc-next-action' on this file, or on all files currently marked.
10436 The new command `v t' (vc-dired-toggle-terse-mode) allows you to
10437 toggle between terse display (only locked files) and full display (all
10438 VC files plus subdirectories). There is also a special command,
10439 `* l', to mark all files currently locked.
10441 Giving a prefix argument to C-x v d now does the same thing as in
10442 ordinary Dired: it allows you to supply additional options for the ls
10443 command in the minibuffer, to fine-tune VC Dired's output.
10445 *** Under CVS, if you merge changes from the repository into a working
10446 file, and CVS detects conflicts, VC now offers to start an ediff
10447 session to resolve them.
10449 Alternatively, you can use the new command `vc-resolve-conflicts' to
10450 resolve conflicts in a file at any time. It works in any buffer that
10451 contains conflict markers as generated by rcsmerge (which is what CVS
10454 *** You can now transfer changes between branches, using the new
10455 command vc-merge (C-x v m). It is implemented for RCS and CVS. When
10456 you invoke it in a buffer under version-control, you can specify
10457 either an entire branch or a pair of versions, and the changes on that
10458 branch or between the two versions are merged into the working file.
10459 If this results in any conflicts, they may be resolved interactively,
10462 ** Changes in Font Lock
10464 *** The face and variable previously known as font-lock-reference-face
10465 are now called font-lock-constant-face to better reflect their typical
10466 use for highlighting constants and labels. (Its face properties are
10467 unchanged.) The variable font-lock-reference-face remains for now for
10468 compatibility reasons, but its value is font-lock-constant-face.
10470 ** Frame name display changes
10472 *** The command set-frame-name lets you set the name of the current
10473 frame. You can use the new command select-frame-by-name to select and
10474 raise a frame; this is mostly useful on character-only terminals, or
10475 when many frames are invisible or iconified.
10477 *** On character-only terminal (not a window system), changing the
10478 frame name is now reflected on the mode line and in the Buffers/Frames
10481 ** Comint (subshell) changes
10483 *** In Comint modes, the commands to kill, stop or interrupt a
10484 subjob now also kill pending input. This is for compatibility
10485 with ordinary shells, where the signal characters do this.
10487 *** There are new commands in Comint mode.
10489 C-c C-x fetches the "next" line from the input history;
10490 that is, the line after the last line you got.
10491 You can use this command to fetch successive lines, one by one.
10493 C-c SPC accumulates lines of input. More precisely, it arranges to
10494 send the current line together with the following line, when you send
10495 the following line.
10497 C-c C-a if repeated twice consecutively now moves to the process mark,
10498 which separates the pending input from the subprocess output and the
10499 previously sent input.
10501 C-c M-r now runs comint-previous-matching-input-from-input;
10502 it searches for a previous command, using the current pending input
10503 as the search string.
10505 *** New option compilation-scroll-output can be set to scroll
10506 automatically in compilation-mode windows.
10510 *** Multiline macros are now handled, both as they affect indentation,
10511 and as recognized syntax. New syntactic symbol cpp-macro-cont is
10512 assigned to second and subsequent lines of a multiline macro
10515 *** A new style "user" which captures all non-hook-ified
10516 (i.e. top-level) .emacs file variable settings and customizations.
10517 Style "cc-mode" is an alias for "user" and is deprecated. "gnu"
10518 style is still the default however.
10520 *** "java" style now conforms to Sun's JDK coding style.
10522 *** There are new commands c-beginning-of-defun, c-end-of-defun which
10523 are alternatives which you could bind to C-M-a and C-M-e if you prefer
10524 them. They do not have key bindings by default.
10526 *** New and improved implementations of M-a (c-beginning-of-statement)
10527 and M-e (c-end-of-statement).
10529 *** C++ namespace blocks are supported, with new syntactic symbols
10530 namespace-open, namespace-close, and innamespace.
10532 *** File local variable settings of c-file-style and c-file-offsets
10533 makes the style variables local to that buffer only.
10535 *** New indentation functions c-lineup-close-paren,
10536 c-indent-one-line-block, c-lineup-dont-change.
10538 *** Improvements (hopefully!) to the way CC Mode is loaded. You
10539 should now be able to do a (require 'cc-mode) to get the entire
10540 package loaded properly for customization in your .emacs file. A new
10541 variable c-initialize-on-load controls this and is t by default.
10543 ** Changes to hippie-expand.
10545 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-dabbrev-skip-space'. If
10546 non-nil, trailing spaces may be included in the abbreviation to search for,
10547 which then gives the same behavior as the original `dabbrev-expand'.
10549 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-dabbrev-as-symbol'. If
10550 non-nil, characters of syntax '_' is considered part of the word when
10551 expanding dynamically.
10553 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-no-restriction'. If
10554 non-nil, narrowed buffers are widened before they are searched.
10556 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-only-buffers'. If
10557 non-empty, buffers searched are restricted to the types specified in
10558 this list. Useful for example when constructing new special-purpose
10559 expansion functions with `make-hippie-expand-function'.
10561 *** Text properties of the expansion are no longer copied.
10563 ** Changes in BibTeX mode.
10565 *** Any titleword matching a regexp in the new variable
10566 bibtex-autokey-titleword-ignore (case sensitive) is ignored during
10567 automatic key generation. This replaces variable
10568 bibtex-autokey-titleword-first-ignore, which only checked for matches
10569 against the first word in the title.
10571 *** Autokey generation now uses all words from the title, not just
10572 capitalized words. To avoid conflicts with existing customizations,
10573 bibtex-autokey-titleword-ignore is set up such that words starting with
10574 lowerkey characters will still be ignored. Thus, if you want to use
10575 lowercase words from the title, you will have to overwrite the
10576 bibtex-autokey-titleword-ignore standard setting.
10578 *** Case conversion of names and title words for automatic key
10579 generation is more flexible. Variable bibtex-autokey-preserve-case is
10580 replaced by bibtex-autokey-titleword-case-convert and
10581 bibtex-autokey-name-case-convert.
10583 ** Changes in vcursor.el.
10585 *** Support for character terminals is available: there is a new keymap
10586 and the vcursor will appear as an arrow between buffer text. A
10587 variable `vcursor-interpret-input' allows input from the vcursor to be
10588 entered exactly as if typed. Numerous functions, including
10589 `vcursor-compare-windows', have been rewritten to improve consistency
10590 in the selection of windows and corresponding keymaps.
10592 *** vcursor options can now be altered with M-x customize under the
10593 Editing group once the package is loaded.
10595 *** Loading vcursor now does not define keys by default, as this is
10596 generally a bad side effect. Use M-x customize to set
10597 vcursor-key-bindings to t to restore the old behavior.
10599 *** vcursor-auto-disable can be `copy', which turns off copying from the
10600 vcursor, but doesn't disable it, after any non-vcursor command.
10604 *** You can now spell check comments and strings in the current
10605 buffer with M-x ispell-comments-and-strings. Comments and strings
10606 are identified by syntax tables in effect.
10608 *** Generic region skipping implemented.
10609 A single buffer can be broken into a number of regions where text will
10610 and will not be checked. The definitions of the regions can be user
10611 defined. New applications and improvements made available by this
10614 o URLs are automatically skipped
10615 o EMail message checking is vastly improved.
10617 *** Ispell can highlight the erroneous word even on non-window terminals.
10619 ** Changes to RefTeX mode
10621 RefTeX has been updated in order to make it more usable with very
10622 large projects (like a several volume math book). The parser has been
10623 re-written from scratch. To get maximum speed from RefTeX, check the
10624 section `Optimizations' in the manual.
10626 *** New recursive parser.
10628 The old version of RefTeX created a single large buffer containing the
10629 entire multifile document in order to parse the document. The new
10630 recursive parser scans the individual files.
10632 *** Parsing only part of a document.
10634 Reparsing of changed document parts can now be made faster by enabling
10635 partial scans. To use this feature, read the documentation string of
10636 the variable `reftex-enable-partial-scans' and set the variable to t.
10638 (setq reftex-enable-partial-scans t)
10640 *** Storing parsing information in a file.
10642 This can improve startup times considerably. To turn it on, use
10644 (setq reftex-save-parse-info t)
10646 *** Using multiple selection buffers
10648 If the creation of label selection buffers is too slow (this happens
10649 for large documents), you can reuse these buffers by setting
10651 (setq reftex-use-multiple-selection-buffers t)
10653 *** References to external documents.
10655 The LaTeX package `xr' allows to cross-reference labels in external
10656 documents. RefTeX can provide information about the external
10657 documents as well. To use this feature, set up the \externaldocument
10658 macros required by the `xr' package and rescan the document with
10659 RefTeX. The external labels can then be accessed with the `x' key in
10660 the selection buffer provided by `reftex-reference' (bound to `C-c )').
10661 The `x' key also works in the table of contents buffer.
10663 *** Many more labeled LaTeX environments are recognized by default.
10665 The built-in command list now covers all the standard LaTeX commands,
10666 and all of the major packages included in the LaTeX distribution.
10668 Also, RefTeX now understands the \appendix macro and changes
10669 the enumeration of sections in the *toc* buffer accordingly.
10671 *** Mouse support for selection and *toc* buffers
10673 The mouse can now be used to select items in the selection and *toc*
10674 buffers. See also the new option `reftex-highlight-selection'.
10676 *** New keymaps for selection and table of contents modes.
10678 The selection processes for labels and citation keys, and the table of
10679 contents buffer now have their own keymaps: `reftex-select-label-map',
10680 `reftex-select-bib-map', `reftex-toc-map'. The selection processes
10681 have a number of new keys predefined. In particular, TAB lets you
10682 enter a label with completion. Check the on-the-fly help (press `?'
10683 at the selection prompt) or read the Info documentation to find out
10686 *** Support for the varioref package
10688 The `v' key in the label selection buffer toggles \ref versus \vref.
10692 Three new hooks can be used to redefine the way labels, references,
10693 and citations are created. These hooks are
10694 `reftex-format-label-function', `reftex-format-ref-function',
10695 `reftex-format-cite-function'.
10697 *** Citations outside LaTeX
10699 The command `reftex-citation' may also be used outside LaTeX (e.g. in
10700 a mail buffer). See the Info documentation for details.
10702 *** Short context is no longer fontified.
10704 The short context in the label menu no longer copies the
10705 fontification from the text in the buffer. If you prefer it to be
10708 (setq reftex-refontify-context t)
10710 ** file-cache-minibuffer-complete now accepts a prefix argument.
10711 With a prefix argument, it does not try to do completion of
10712 the file name within its directory; it only checks for other
10713 directories that contain the same file name.
10715 Thus, given the file name Makefile, and assuming that a file
10716 Makefile.in exists in the same directory, ordinary
10717 file-cache-minibuffer-complete will try to complete Makefile to
10718 Makefile.in and will therefore never look for other directories that
10719 have Makefile. A prefix argument tells it not to look for longer
10720 names such as Makefile.in, so that instead it will look for other
10721 directories--just as if the name were already complete in its present
10724 ** New modes and packages
10726 *** There is a new alternative major mode for Perl, Cperl mode.
10727 It has many more features than Perl mode, and some people prefer
10728 it, but some do not.
10730 *** There is a new major mode, M-x vhdl-mode, for editing files of VHDL
10733 *** M-x which-function-mode enables a minor mode that displays the
10734 current function name continuously in the mode line, as you move
10735 around in a buffer.
10737 Which Function mode is effective in major modes which support Imenu.
10739 *** Gametree is a major mode for editing game analysis trees. The author
10740 uses it for keeping notes about his postal Chess games, but it should
10741 be helpful for other two-player games as well, as long as they have an
10742 established system of notation similar to Chess.
10744 *** The new minor mode checkdoc-minor-mode provides Emacs Lisp
10745 documentation string checking for style and spelling. The style
10746 guidelines are found in the Emacs Lisp programming manual.
10748 *** The net-utils package makes some common networking features
10749 available in Emacs. Some of these functions are wrappers around
10750 system utilities (ping, nslookup, etc); others are implementations of
10751 simple protocols (finger, whois) in Emacs Lisp. There are also
10752 functions to make simple connections to TCP/IP ports for debugging and
10755 *** highlight-changes-mode is a minor mode that uses colors to
10756 identify recently changed parts of the buffer text.
10758 *** The new package `midnight' lets you specify things to be done
10759 within Emacs at midnight--by default, kill buffers that you have not
10760 used in a considerable time. To use this feature, customize
10761 the user option `midnight-mode' to t.
10763 *** The file generic-x.el defines a number of simple major modes.
10765 apache-generic-mode: For Apache and NCSA httpd configuration files
10766 samba-generic-mode: Samba configuration files
10767 fvwm-generic-mode: For fvwm initialization files
10768 x-resource-generic-mode: For X resource files
10769 hosts-generic-mode: For hosts files (.rhosts, /etc/hosts, etc)
10770 mailagent-rules-generic-mode: For mailagent .rules files
10771 javascript-generic-mode: For JavaScript files
10772 vrml-generic-mode: For VRML files
10773 java-manifest-generic-mode: For Java MANIFEST files
10774 java-properties-generic-mode: For Java property files
10775 mailrc-generic-mode: For .mailrc files
10777 Platform-specific modes:
10779 prototype-generic-mode: For Solaris/Sys V prototype files
10780 pkginfo-generic-mode: For Solaris/Sys V pkginfo files
10781 alias-generic-mode: For C shell alias files
10782 inf-generic-mode: For MS-Windows INF files
10783 ini-generic-mode: For MS-Windows INI files
10784 reg-generic-mode: For MS-Windows Registry files
10785 bat-generic-mode: For MS-Windows BAT scripts
10786 rc-generic-mode: For MS-Windows Resource files
10787 rul-generic-mode: For InstallShield scripts
10789 * Lisp changes in Emacs 20.3 since the Emacs Lisp Manual was published
10791 ** If you want a Lisp file to be read in unibyte mode,
10792 use -*-unibyte: t;-*- on its first line.
10793 That will force Emacs to read that file in unibyte mode.
10794 Otherwise, the file will be loaded and byte-compiled in multibyte mode.
10796 Thus, each lisp file is read in a consistent way regardless of whether
10797 you started Emacs with --unibyte, so that a Lisp program gives
10798 consistent results regardless of how Emacs was started.
10800 ** The new function assoc-default is useful for searching an alist,
10801 and using a default value if the key is not found there. You can
10802 specify a comparison predicate, so this function is useful for
10803 searching comparing a string against an alist of regular expressions.
10805 ** The functions unibyte-char-to-multibyte and
10806 multibyte-char-to-unibyte convert between unibyte and multibyte
10807 character codes, in a way that is appropriate for the current language
10810 ** The functions read-event, read-char and read-char-exclusive now
10811 take two optional arguments. PROMPT, if non-nil, specifies a prompt
10812 string. SUPPRESS-INPUT-METHOD, if non-nil, says to disable the
10813 current input method for reading this one event.
10815 ** Two new variables print-escape-nonascii and print-escape-multibyte
10816 now control whether to output certain characters as
10817 backslash-sequences. print-escape-nonascii applies to single-byte
10818 non-ASCII characters; print-escape-multibyte applies to multibyte
10819 characters. Both of these variables are used only when printing
10820 in readable fashion (prin1 uses them, princ does not).
10822 * Lisp changes in Emacs 20.3 before the Emacs Lisp Manual was published
10824 ** Compiled Emacs Lisp files made with the modified "MBSK" version
10825 of Emacs 20.2 do not work in Emacs 20.3.
10827 ** Buffer positions are now measured in characters, as they were
10828 in Emacs 19 and before. This means that (forward-char 1)
10829 always increases point by 1.
10831 The function chars-in-region now just subtracts its arguments. It is
10832 considered obsolete. The function char-boundary-p has been deleted.
10834 See below for additional changes relating to multibyte characters.
10836 ** defcustom, defface and defgroup now accept the keyword `:version'.
10837 Use this to specify in which version of Emacs a certain variable's
10838 default value changed. For example,
10840 (defcustom foo-max 34 "*Maximum number of foo's allowed."
10845 (defgroup foo-group nil "The foo group."
10848 If an entire new group is added or the variables in it have the
10849 default values changed, then just add a `:version' to that group. It
10850 is recommended that new packages added to the distribution contain a
10851 `:version' in the top level group.
10853 This information is used to control the customize-changed-options command.
10855 ** It is now an error to change the value of a symbol whose name
10856 starts with a colon--if it is interned in the standard obarray.
10858 However, setting such a symbol to its proper value, which is that
10859 symbol itself, is not an error. This is for the sake of programs that
10860 support previous Emacs versions by explicitly setting these variables
10863 If you set the variable keyword-symbols-constant-flag to nil,
10864 this error is suppressed, and you can set these symbols to any
10867 ** There is a new debugger command, R.
10868 It evaluates an expression like e, but saves the result
10869 in the buffer *Debugger-record*.
10871 ** Frame-local variables.
10873 You can now make a variable local to various frames. To do this, call
10874 the function make-variable-frame-local; this enables frames to have
10875 local bindings for that variable.
10877 These frame-local bindings are actually frame parameters: you create a
10878 frame-local binding in a specific frame by calling
10879 modify-frame-parameters and specifying the variable name as the
10882 Buffer-local bindings take precedence over frame-local bindings.
10883 Thus, if the current buffer has a buffer-local binding, that binding is
10884 active; otherwise, if the selected frame has a frame-local binding,
10885 that binding is active; otherwise, the default binding is active.
10887 It would not be hard to implement window-local bindings, but it is not
10888 clear that this would be very useful; windows tend to come and go in a
10889 very transitory fashion, so that trying to produce any specific effect
10890 through a window-local binding would not be very robust.
10892 ** `sregexq' and `sregex' are two new functions for constructing
10893 "symbolic regular expressions." These are Lisp expressions that, when
10894 evaluated, yield conventional string-based regexps. The symbolic form
10895 makes it easier to construct, read, and maintain complex patterns.
10896 See the documentation in sregex.el.
10898 ** parse-partial-sexp's return value has an additional element which
10899 is used to pass information along if you pass it to another call to
10900 parse-partial-sexp, starting its scan where the first call ended.
10901 The contents of this field are not yet finalized.
10903 ** eval-region now accepts a fourth optional argument READ-FUNCTION.
10904 If it is non-nil, that function is used instead of `read'.
10906 ** unload-feature by default removes the feature's functions from
10907 known hooks to avoid trouble, but a package providing FEATURE can
10908 define a hook FEATURE-unload-hook to be run by unload-feature instead.
10910 ** read-from-minibuffer no longer returns the argument DEFAULT-VALUE
10911 when the user enters empty input. It now returns the null string, as
10912 it did in Emacs 19. The default value is made available in the
10913 history via M-n, but it is not applied here as a default.
10915 The other, more specialized minibuffer-reading functions continue to
10916 return the default value (not the null string) when the user enters
10919 ** The new variable read-buffer-function controls which routine to use
10920 for selecting buffers. For example, if you set this variable to
10921 `iswitchb-read-buffer', iswitchb will be used to read buffer names.
10922 Other functions can also be used if they accept the same arguments as
10923 `read-buffer' and return the selected buffer name as a string.
10925 ** The new function read-passwd reads a password from the terminal,
10926 echoing a period for each character typed. It takes three arguments:
10927 a prompt string, a flag which says "read it twice to make sure", and a
10928 default password to use if the user enters nothing.
10930 ** The variable fill-nobreak-predicate gives major modes a way to
10931 specify not to break a line at certain places. Its value is a
10932 function which is called with no arguments, with point located at the
10933 place where a break is being considered. If the function returns
10934 non-nil, then the line won't be broken there.
10936 ** window-end now takes an optional second argument, UPDATE.
10937 If this is non-nil, then the function always returns an accurate
10938 up-to-date value for the buffer position corresponding to the
10939 end of the window, even if this requires computation.
10941 ** other-buffer now takes an optional argument FRAME
10942 which specifies which frame's buffer list to use.
10943 If it is nil, that means use the selected frame's buffer list.
10945 ** The new variable buffer-display-time, always local in every buffer,
10946 holds the value of (current-time) as of the last time that a window
10947 was directed to display this buffer.
10949 ** It is now meaningful to compare two window-configuration objects
10950 with `equal'. Two window-configuration objects are equal if they
10951 describe equivalent arrangements of windows, in the same frame--in
10952 other words, if they would give the same results if passed to
10953 set-window-configuration.
10955 ** compare-window-configurations is a new function that compares two
10956 window configurations loosely. It ignores differences in saved buffer
10957 positions and scrolling, and considers only the structure and sizes of
10958 windows and the choice of buffers to display.
10960 ** The variable minor-mode-overriding-map-alist allows major modes to
10961 override the key bindings of a minor mode. The elements of this alist
10962 look like the elements of minor-mode-map-alist: (VARIABLE . KEYMAP).
10964 If the VARIABLE in an element of minor-mode-overriding-map-alist has a
10965 non-nil value, the paired KEYMAP is active, and totally overrides the
10966 map (if any) specified for the same variable in minor-mode-map-alist.
10968 minor-mode-overriding-map-alist is automatically local in all buffers,
10969 and it is meant to be set by major modes.
10971 ** The function match-string-no-properties is like match-string
10972 except that it discards all text properties from the result.
10974 ** The function load-average now accepts an optional argument
10975 USE-FLOATS. If it is non-nil, the load average values are returned as
10976 floating point numbers, rather than as integers to be divided by 100.
10978 ** The new variable temporary-file-directory specifies the directory
10979 to use for creating temporary files. The default value is determined
10980 in a reasonable way for your operating system; on GNU and Unix systems
10981 it is based on the TMP and TMPDIR environment variables.
10985 *** easymenu.el now uses the new menu item format and supports the
10986 keywords :visible and :filter. The existing keyword :keys is now
10989 The variable `easy-menu-precalculate-equivalent-keybindings' controls
10990 a new feature which calculates keyboard equivalents for the menu when
10991 you define the menu. The default is t. If you rarely use menus, you
10992 can set the variable to nil to disable this precalculation feature;
10993 then the calculation is done only if you use the menu bar.
10995 *** A new format for menu items is supported.
10997 In a keymap, a key binding that has the format
10998 (STRING . REAL-BINDING) or (STRING HELP-STRING . REAL-BINDING)
10999 defines a menu item. Now a menu item definition may also be a list that
11000 starts with the symbol `menu-item'.
11003 (menu-item ITEM-NAME) or
11004 (menu-item ITEM-NAME REAL-BINDING . ITEM-PROPERTY-LIST)
11005 where ITEM-NAME is an expression which evaluates to the menu item
11006 string, and ITEM-PROPERTY-LIST has the form of a property list.
11007 The supported properties include
11009 :enable FORM Evaluate FORM to determine whether the
11011 :visible FORM Evaluate FORM to determine whether the
11012 item should appear in the menu.
11014 FILTER-FN is a function of one argument,
11015 which will be REAL-BINDING.
11016 It should return a binding to use instead.
11018 DESCRIPTION is a string that describes an equivalent keyboard
11019 binding for REAL-BINDING. DESCRIPTION is expanded with
11020 `substitute-command-keys' before it is used.
11021 :key-sequence KEY-SEQUENCE
11022 KEY-SEQUENCE is a key-sequence for an equivalent
11025 This means that the command normally has no
11026 keyboard equivalent.
11027 :help HELP HELP is the extra help string (not currently used).
11028 :button (TYPE . SELECTED)
11029 TYPE is :toggle or :radio.
11030 SELECTED is a form, to be evaluated, and its
11031 value says whether this button is currently selected.
11033 Buttons are at the moment only simulated by prefixes in the menu.
11034 Eventually ordinary X-buttons may be supported.
11036 (menu-item ITEM-NAME) defines unselectable item.
11040 *** The new event type `mouse-wheel' is generated by a wheel on a
11041 mouse (such as the MS Intellimouse). The event contains a delta that
11042 corresponds to the amount and direction that the wheel is rotated,
11043 which is typically used to implement a scroll or zoom. The format is:
11045 (mouse-wheel POSITION DELTA)
11047 where POSITION is a list describing the position of the event in the
11048 same format as a mouse-click event, and DELTA is a signed number
11049 indicating the number of increments by which the wheel was rotated. A
11050 negative DELTA indicates that the wheel was rotated backwards, towards
11051 the user, and a positive DELTA indicates that the wheel was rotated
11052 forward, away from the user.
11054 As of now, this event type is generated only on MS Windows.
11056 *** The new event type `drag-n-drop' is generated when a group of
11057 files is selected in an application outside of Emacs, and then dragged
11058 and dropped onto an Emacs frame. The event contains a list of
11059 filenames that were dragged and dropped, which are then typically
11060 loaded into Emacs. The format is:
11062 (drag-n-drop POSITION FILES)
11064 where POSITION is a list describing the position of the event in the
11065 same format as a mouse-click event, and FILES is the list of filenames
11066 that were dragged and dropped.
11068 As of now, this event type is generated only on MS Windows.
11070 ** Changes relating to multibyte characters.
11072 *** The variable enable-multibyte-characters is now read-only;
11073 any attempt to set it directly signals an error. The only way
11074 to change this value in an existing buffer is with set-buffer-multibyte.
11076 *** In a string constant, `\ ' now stands for "nothing at all". You
11077 can use it to terminate a hex escape which is followed by a character
11078 that could otherwise be read as part of the hex escape.
11080 *** String indices are now measured in characters, as they were
11081 in Emacs 19 and before.
11083 The function chars-in-string has been deleted.
11084 The function concat-chars has been renamed to `string'.
11086 *** The function set-buffer-multibyte sets the flag in the current
11087 buffer that says whether the buffer uses multibyte representation or
11088 unibyte representation. If the argument is nil, it selects unibyte
11089 representation. Otherwise it selects multibyte representation.
11091 This function does not change the contents of the buffer, viewed
11092 as a sequence of bytes. However, it does change the contents
11093 viewed as characters; a sequence of two bytes which is treated as
11094 one character when the buffer uses multibyte representation
11095 will count as two characters using unibyte representation.
11097 This function sets enable-multibyte-characters to record which
11098 representation is in use. It also adjusts various data in the buffer
11099 (including its markers, overlays and text properties) so that they are
11100 consistent with the new representation.
11102 *** string-make-multibyte takes a string and converts it to multibyte
11103 representation. Most of the time, you don't need to care
11104 about the representation, because Emacs converts when necessary;
11105 however, it makes a difference when you compare strings.
11107 The conversion of non-ASCII characters works by adding the value of
11108 nonascii-insert-offset to each character, or by translating them
11109 using the table nonascii-translation-table.
11111 *** string-make-unibyte takes a string and converts it to unibyte
11112 representation. Most of the time, you don't need to care about the
11113 representation, but it makes a difference when you compare strings.
11115 The conversion from multibyte to unibyte representation
11116 loses information; the only time Emacs performs it automatically
11117 is when inserting a multibyte string into a unibyte buffer.
11119 *** string-as-multibyte takes a string, and returns another string
11120 which contains the same bytes, but treats them as multibyte.
11122 *** string-as-unibyte takes a string, and returns another string
11123 which contains the same bytes, but treats them as unibyte.
11125 *** The new function compare-strings lets you compare
11126 portions of two strings. Unibyte strings are converted to multibyte,
11127 so that a unibyte string can match a multibyte string.
11128 You can specify whether to ignore case or not.
11130 *** assoc-ignore-case now uses compare-strings so that
11131 it can treat unibyte and multibyte strings as equal.
11133 *** Regular expression operations and buffer string searches now
11134 convert the search pattern to multibyte or unibyte to accord with the
11135 buffer or string being searched.
11137 One consequence is that you cannot always use \200-\377 inside of
11138 [...] to match all non-ASCII characters. This does still work when
11139 searching or matching a unibyte buffer or string, but not when
11140 searching or matching a multibyte string. Unfortunately, there is no
11141 obvious choice of syntax to use within [...] for that job. But, what
11142 you want is just to match all non-ASCII characters, the regular
11143 expression [^\0-\177] works for it.
11145 *** Structure of coding system changed.
11147 All coding systems (including aliases and subsidiaries) are named
11148 by symbols; the symbol's `coding-system' property is a vector
11149 which defines the coding system. Aliases share the same vector
11150 as the principal name, so that altering the contents of this
11151 vector affects the principal name and its aliases. You can define
11152 your own alias name of a coding system by the function
11153 define-coding-system-alias.
11155 The coding system definition includes a property list of its own. Use
11156 the new functions `coding-system-get' and `coding-system-put' to
11157 access such coding system properties as post-read-conversion,
11158 pre-write-conversion, character-translation-table-for-decode,
11159 character-translation-table-for-encode, mime-charset, and
11160 safe-charsets. For instance, (coding-system-get 'iso-latin-1
11161 'mime-charset) gives the corresponding MIME-charset parameter
11164 Among the coding system properties listed above, safe-charsets is new.
11165 The value of this property is a list of character sets which this
11166 coding system can correctly encode and decode. For instance:
11167 (coding-system-get 'iso-latin-1 'safe-charsets) => (ascii latin-iso8859-1)
11169 Here, "correctly encode" means that the encoded character sets can
11170 also be handled safely by systems other than Emacs as far as they
11171 are capable of that coding system. Though, Emacs itself can encode
11172 the other character sets and read it back correctly.
11174 *** The new function select-safe-coding-system can be used to find a
11175 proper coding system for encoding the specified region or string.
11176 This function requires a user interaction.
11178 *** The new functions find-coding-systems-region and
11179 find-coding-systems-string are helper functions used by
11180 select-safe-coding-system. They return a list of all proper coding
11181 systems to encode a text in some region or string. If you don't want
11182 a user interaction, use one of these functions instead of
11183 select-safe-coding-system.
11185 *** The explicit encoding and decoding functions, such as
11186 decode-coding-region and encode-coding-string, now set
11187 last-coding-system-used to reflect the actual way encoding or decoding
11190 *** The new function detect-coding-with-language-environment can be
11191 used to detect a coding system of text according to priorities of
11192 coding systems used by some specific language environment.
11194 *** The functions detect-coding-region and detect-coding-string always
11195 return a list if the arg HIGHEST is nil. Thus, if only ASCII
11196 characters are found, they now return a list of single element
11197 `undecided' or its subsidiaries.
11199 *** The new functions coding-system-change-eol-conversion and
11200 coding-system-change-text-conversion can be used to get a different
11201 coding system than what specified only in how end-of-line or text is
11204 *** The new function set-selection-coding-system can be used to set a
11205 coding system for communicating with other X clients.
11207 *** The function `map-char-table' now passes as argument only valid
11208 character codes, plus generic characters that stand for entire
11209 character sets or entire subrows of a character set. In other words,
11210 each time `map-char-table' calls its FUNCTION argument, the key value
11211 either will be a valid individual character code, or will stand for a
11212 range of characters.
11214 *** The new function `char-valid-p' can be used for checking whether a
11215 Lisp object is a valid character code or not.
11217 *** The new function `charset-after' returns a charset of a character
11218 in the current buffer at position POS.
11220 *** Input methods are now implemented using the variable
11221 input-method-function. If this is non-nil, its value should be a
11222 function; then, whenever Emacs reads an input event that is a printing
11223 character with no modifier bits, it calls that function, passing the
11224 event as an argument. Often this function will read more input, first
11225 binding input-method-function to nil.
11227 The return value should be a list of the events resulting from input
11228 method processing. These events will be processed sequentially as
11229 input, before resorting to unread-command-events. Events returned by
11230 the input method function are not passed to the input method function,
11231 not even if they are printing characters with no modifier bits.
11233 The input method function is not called when reading the second and
11234 subsequent events of a key sequence.
11236 *** You can customize any language environment by using
11237 set-language-environment-hook and exit-language-environment-hook.
11239 The hook `exit-language-environment-hook' should be used to undo
11240 customizations that you made with set-language-environment-hook. For
11241 instance, if you set up a special key binding for a specific language
11242 environment by set-language-environment-hook, you should set up
11243 exit-language-environment-hook to restore the normal key binding.
11245 * Changes in Emacs 20.1
11247 ** Emacs has a new facility for customization of its many user
11248 options. It is called M-x customize. With this facility you can look
11249 at the many user options in an organized way; they are grouped into a
11252 M-x customize also knows what sorts of values are legitimate for each
11253 user option and ensures that you don't use invalid values.
11255 With M-x customize, you can set options either for the present Emacs
11256 session or permanently. (Permanent settings are stored automatically
11257 in your .emacs file.)
11259 ** Scroll bars are now on the left side of the window.
11260 You can change this with M-x customize-option scroll-bar-mode.
11262 ** The mode line no longer includes the string `Emacs'.
11263 This makes more space in the mode line for other information.
11265 ** When you select a region with the mouse, it is highlighted
11266 immediately afterward. At that time, if you type the DELETE key, it
11269 The BACKSPACE key, and the ASCII character DEL, do not do this; they
11270 delete the character before point, as usual.
11272 ** In an incremental search the whole current match is highlighted
11273 on terminals which support this. (You can disable this feature
11274 by setting search-highlight to nil.)
11276 ** In the minibuffer, in some cases, you can now use M-n to
11277 insert the default value into the minibuffer as text. In effect,
11278 the default value (if the minibuffer routines know it) is tacked
11279 onto the history "in the future". (The more normal use of the
11280 history list is to use M-p to insert minibuffer input used in the
11283 ** In Text mode, now only blank lines separate paragraphs.
11284 This makes it possible to get the full benefit of Adaptive Fill mode
11285 in Text mode, and other modes derived from it (such as Mail mode).
11286 TAB in Text mode now runs the command indent-relative; this
11287 makes a practical difference only when you use indented paragraphs.
11289 As a result, the old Indented Text mode is now identical to Text mode,
11290 and is an alias for it.
11292 If you want spaces at the beginning of a line to start a paragraph,
11293 use the new mode, Paragraph Indent Text mode.
11295 ** Scrolling changes
11297 *** Scroll commands to scroll a whole screen now preserve the screen
11298 position of the cursor, if scroll-preserve-screen-position is non-nil.
11300 In this mode, if you scroll several screens back and forth, finishing
11301 on the same screen where you started, the cursor goes back to the line
11304 *** If you set scroll-conservatively to a small number, then when you
11305 move point a short distance off the screen, Emacs will scroll the
11306 screen just far enough to bring point back on screen, provided that
11307 does not exceed `scroll-conservatively' lines.
11309 *** The new variable scroll-margin says how close point can come to the
11310 top or bottom of a window. It is a number of screen lines; if point
11311 comes within that many lines of the top or bottom of the window, Emacs
11312 recenters the window.
11314 ** International character set support (MULE)
11316 Emacs now supports a wide variety of international character sets,
11317 including European variants of the Latin alphabet, as well as Chinese,
11318 Devanagari (Hindi and Marathi), Ethiopian, Greek, IPA, Japanese,
11319 Korean, Lao, Russian, Thai, Tibetan, and Vietnamese scripts. These
11320 features have been merged from the modified version of Emacs known as
11321 MULE (for "MULti-lingual Enhancement to GNU Emacs")
11323 Users of these scripts have established many more-or-less standard
11324 coding systems for storing files. Emacs uses a single multibyte
11325 character encoding within Emacs buffers; it can translate from a wide
11326 variety of coding systems when reading a file and can translate back
11327 into any of these coding systems when saving a file.
11329 Keyboards, even in the countries where these character sets are used,
11330 generally don't have keys for all the characters in them. So Emacs
11331 supports various "input methods", typically one for each script or
11332 language, to make it possible to type them.
11334 The Emacs internal multibyte encoding represents a non-ASCII
11335 character as a sequence of bytes in the range 0200 through 0377.
11337 The new prefix key C-x RET is used for commands that pertain
11338 to multibyte characters, coding systems, and input methods.
11340 You can disable multibyte character support as follows:
11342 (setq-default enable-multibyte-characters nil)
11344 Calling the function standard-display-european turns off multibyte
11345 characters, unless you specify a non-nil value for the second
11346 argument, AUTO. This provides compatibility for people who are
11347 already using standard-display-european to continue using unibyte
11348 characters for their work until they want to change.
11352 An input method is a kind of character conversion which is designed
11353 specifically for interactive input. In Emacs, typically each language
11354 has its own input method (though sometimes several languages which use
11355 the same characters can share one input method). Some languages
11356 support several input methods.
11358 The simplest kind of input method works by mapping ASCII letters into
11359 another alphabet. This is how the Greek and Russian input methods
11362 A more powerful technique is composition: converting sequences of
11363 characters into one letter. Many European input methods use
11364 composition to produce a single non-ASCII letter from a sequence which
11365 consists of a letter followed by diacritics. For example, a' is one
11366 sequence of two characters that might be converted into a single
11369 The input methods for syllabic scripts typically use mapping followed
11370 by conversion. The input methods for Thai and Korean work this way.
11371 First, letters are mapped into symbols for particular sounds or tone
11372 marks; then, sequences of these which make up a whole syllable are
11373 mapped into one syllable sign--most often a "composite character".
11375 None of these methods works very well for Chinese and Japanese, so
11376 they are handled specially. First you input a whole word using
11377 phonetic spelling; then, after the word is in the buffer, Emacs
11378 converts it into one or more characters using a large dictionary.
11380 Since there is more than one way to represent a phonetically spelled
11381 word using Chinese characters, Emacs can only guess which one to use;
11382 typically these input methods give you a way to say "guess again" if
11383 the first guess is wrong.
11385 *** The command C-x RET m (toggle-enable-multibyte-characters)
11386 turns multibyte character support on or off for the current buffer.
11388 If multibyte character support is turned off in a buffer, then each
11389 byte is a single character, even codes 0200 through 0377--exactly as
11390 they did in Emacs 19.34. This includes the features for support for
11391 the European characters, ISO Latin-1 and ISO Latin-2.
11393 However, there is no need to turn off multibyte character support to
11394 use ISO Latin-1 or ISO Latin-2; the Emacs multibyte character set
11395 includes all the characters in these character sets, and Emacs can
11396 translate automatically to and from either one.
11398 *** Visiting a file in unibyte mode.
11400 Turning off multibyte character support in the buffer after visiting a
11401 file with multibyte code conversion will display the multibyte
11402 sequences already in the buffer, byte by byte. This is probably not
11405 If you want to edit a file of unibyte characters (Latin-1, for
11406 example), you can do it by specifying `no-conversion' as the coding
11407 system when reading the file. This coding system also turns off
11408 multibyte characters in that buffer.
11410 If you turn off multibyte character support entirely, this turns off
11411 character conversion as well.
11413 *** Displaying international characters on X Windows.
11415 A font for X typically displays just one alphabet or script.
11416 Therefore, displaying the entire range of characters Emacs supports
11417 requires using many fonts.
11419 Therefore, Emacs now supports "fontsets". Each fontset is a
11420 collection of fonts, each assigned to a range of character codes.
11422 A fontset has a name, like a font. Individual fonts are defined by
11423 the X server; fontsets are defined within Emacs itself. But once you
11424 have defined a fontset, you can use it in a face or a frame just as
11425 you would use a font.
11427 If a fontset specifies no font for a certain character, or if it
11428 specifies a font that does not exist on your system, then it cannot
11429 display that character. It will display an empty box instead.
11431 The fontset height and width are determined by the ASCII characters
11432 (that is, by the font in the fontset which is used for ASCII
11435 *** Defining fontsets.
11437 Emacs does not use any fontset by default. Its default font is still
11438 chosen as in previous versions. You can tell Emacs to use a fontset
11439 with the `-fn' option or the `Font' X resource.
11441 Emacs creates a standard fontset automatically according to the value
11442 of standard-fontset-spec. This fontset's short name is
11443 `fontset-standard'. Bold, italic, and bold-italic variants of the
11444 standard fontset are created automatically.
11446 If you specify a default ASCII font with the `Font' resource or `-fn'
11447 argument, a fontset is generated from it. This works by replacing the
11448 FOUNDARY, FAMILY, ADD_STYLE, and AVERAGE_WIDTH fields of the font name
11449 with `*' then using this to specify a fontset. This fontset's short
11450 name is `fontset-startup'.
11452 Emacs checks resources of the form Fontset-N where N is 0, 1, 2...
11453 The resource value should have this form:
11454 FONTSET-NAME, [CHARSET-NAME:FONT-NAME]...
11455 FONTSET-NAME should have the form of a standard X font name, except:
11456 * most fields should be just the wild card "*".
11457 * the CHARSET_REGISTRY field should be "fontset"
11458 * the CHARSET_ENCODING field can be any nickname of the fontset.
11459 The construct CHARSET-NAME:FONT-NAME can be repeated any number
11460 of times; each time specifies the font for one character set.
11461 CHARSET-NAME should be the name of a character set, and FONT-NAME
11462 should specify an actual font to use for that character set.
11464 Each of these fontsets has an alias which is made from the
11465 last two font name fields, CHARSET_REGISTRY and CHARSET_ENCODING.
11466 You can refer to the fontset by that alias or by its full name.
11468 For any character sets that you don't mention, Emacs tries to choose a
11469 font by substituting into FONTSET-NAME. For instance, with the
11470 following resource,
11471 Emacs*Fontset-0: -*-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-24-*-*-*-*-*-fontset-24
11472 the font for ASCII is generated as below:
11473 -*-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-24-*-ISO8859-1
11474 Here is the substitution rule:
11475 Change CHARSET_REGISTRY and CHARSET_ENCODING to that of the charset
11476 defined in the variable x-charset-registries. For instance, ASCII has
11477 the entry (ascii . "ISO8859-1") in this variable. Then, reduce
11478 sequences of wild cards -*-...-*- with a single wildcard -*-.
11479 (This is to prevent use of auto-scaled fonts.)
11481 The function which processes the fontset resource value to create the
11482 fontset is called create-fontset-from-fontset-spec. You can also call
11483 that function explicitly to create a fontset.
11485 With the X resource Emacs.Font, you can specify a fontset name just
11486 like an actual font name. But be careful not to specify a fontset
11487 name in a wildcard resource like Emacs*Font--that tries to specify the
11488 fontset for other purposes including menus, and they cannot handle
11491 *** The command M-x set-language-environment sets certain global Emacs
11492 defaults for a particular choice of language.
11494 Selecting a language environment typically specifies a default input
11495 method and which coding systems to recognize automatically when
11496 visiting files. However, it does not try to reread files you have
11497 already visited; the text in those buffers is not affected. The
11498 language environment may also specify a default choice of coding
11499 system for new files that you create.
11501 It makes no difference which buffer is current when you use
11502 set-language-environment, because these defaults apply globally to the
11503 whole Emacs session.
11505 For example, M-x set-language-environment RET Latin-1 RET
11506 chooses the Latin-1 character set. In the .emacs file, you can do this
11507 with (set-language-environment "Latin-1").
11509 *** The command C-x RET f (set-buffer-file-coding-system)
11510 specifies the file coding system for the current buffer. This
11511 specifies what sort of character code translation to do when saving
11512 the file. As an argument, you must specify the name of one of the
11513 coding systems that Emacs supports.
11515 *** The command C-x RET c (universal-coding-system-argument)
11516 lets you specify a coding system when you read or write a file.
11517 This command uses the minibuffer to read a coding system name.
11518 After you exit the minibuffer, the specified coding system
11519 is used for *the immediately following command*.
11521 So if the immediately following command is a command to read or
11522 write a file, it uses the specified coding system for that file.
11524 If the immediately following command does not use the coding system,
11525 then C-x RET c ultimately has no effect.
11527 For example, C-x RET c iso-8859-1 RET C-x C-f temp RET
11528 visits the file `temp' treating it as ISO Latin-1.
11530 *** You can specify the coding system for a file using the -*-
11531 construct. Include `coding: CODINGSYSTEM;' inside the -*-...-*-
11532 to specify use of coding system CODINGSYSTEM. You can also
11533 specify the coding system in a local variable list at the end
11536 *** The command C-x RET t (set-terminal-coding-system) specifies
11537 the coding system for terminal output. If you specify a character
11538 code for terminal output, all characters output to the terminal are
11539 translated into that character code.
11541 This feature is useful for certain character-only terminals built in
11542 various countries to support the languages of those countries.
11544 By default, output to the terminal is not translated at all.
11546 *** The command C-x RET k (set-keyboard-coding-system) specifies
11547 the coding system for keyboard input.
11549 Character code translation of keyboard input is useful for terminals
11550 with keys that send non-ASCII graphic characters--for example,
11551 some terminals designed for ISO Latin-1 or subsets of it.
11553 By default, keyboard input is not translated at all.
11555 Character code translation of keyboard input is similar to using an
11556 input method, in that both define sequences of keyboard input that
11557 translate into single characters. However, input methods are designed
11558 to be convenient for interactive use, while the code translations are
11559 designed to work with terminals.
11561 *** The command C-x RET p (set-buffer-process-coding-system)
11562 specifies the coding system for input and output to a subprocess.
11563 This command applies to the current buffer; normally, each subprocess
11564 has its own buffer, and thus you can use this command to specify
11565 translation to and from a particular subprocess by giving the command
11566 in the corresponding buffer.
11568 By default, process input and output are not translated at all.
11570 *** The variable file-name-coding-system specifies the coding system
11571 to use for encoding file names before operating on them.
11572 It is also used for decoding file names obtained from the system.
11574 *** The command C-\ (toggle-input-method) activates or deactivates
11575 an input method. If no input method has been selected before, the
11576 command prompts for you to specify the language and input method you
11579 C-u C-\ (select-input-method) lets you switch to a different input
11580 method. C-h C-\ (or C-h I) describes the current input method.
11582 *** Some input methods remap the keyboard to emulate various keyboard
11583 layouts commonly used for particular scripts. How to do this
11584 remapping properly depends on your actual keyboard layout. To specify
11585 which layout your keyboard has, use M-x quail-set-keyboard-layout.
11587 *** The command C-h C (describe-coding-system) displays
11588 the coding systems currently selected for various purposes, plus
11589 related information.
11591 *** The command C-h h (view-hello-file) displays a file called
11592 HELLO, which has examples of text in many languages, using various
11595 *** The command C-h L (describe-language-support) displays
11596 information about the support for a particular language.
11597 You specify the language as an argument.
11599 *** The mode line now contains a letter or character that identifies
11600 the coding system used in the visited file. It normally follows the
11603 A dash indicates the default state of affairs: no code conversion
11604 (except CRLF => newline if appropriate). `=' means no conversion
11605 whatsoever. The ISO 8859 coding systems are represented by digits
11606 1 through 9. Other coding systems are represented by letters:
11608 A alternativnyj (Russian)
11610 C cn-gb-2312 (Chinese)
11611 C iso-2022-cn (Chinese)
11612 D in-is13194-devanagari (Indian languages)
11613 E euc-japan (Japanese)
11614 I iso-2022-cjk or iso-2022-ss2 (Chinese, Japanese, Korean)
11615 J junet (iso-2022-7) or old-jis (iso-2022-jp-1978-irv) (Japanese)
11616 K euc-korea (Korean)
11619 S shift_jis (Japanese)
11622 V viscii or vscii (Vietnamese)
11623 i iso-2022-lock (Chinese, Japanese, Korean)
11624 k iso-2022-kr (Korean)
11625 v viqr (Vietnamese)
11628 When you are using a character-only terminal (not a window system),
11629 two additional characters appear in between the dash and the file
11630 coding system. These two characters describe the coding system for
11631 keyboard input, and the coding system for terminal output.
11633 *** The new variable rmail-file-coding-system specifies the code
11634 conversion to use for RMAIL files. The default value is nil.
11636 When you read mail with Rmail, each message is decoded automatically
11637 into Emacs' internal format. This has nothing to do with
11638 rmail-file-coding-system. That variable controls reading and writing
11639 Rmail files themselves.
11641 *** The new variable sendmail-coding-system specifies the code
11642 conversion for outgoing mail. The default value is nil.
11644 Actually, there are three different ways of specifying the coding system
11647 - If you use C-x RET f in the mail buffer, that takes priority.
11648 - Otherwise, if you set sendmail-coding-system non-nil, that specifies it.
11649 - Otherwise, the default coding system for new files is used,
11650 if that is non-nil. That comes from your language environment.
11651 - Otherwise, Latin-1 is used.
11653 *** The command C-h t (help-with-tutorial) accepts a prefix argument
11654 to specify the language for the tutorial file. Currently, English,
11655 Japanese, Korean and Thai are supported. We welcome additional
11658 ** An easy new way to visit a file with no code or format conversion
11659 of any kind: Use M-x find-file-literally. There is also a command
11660 insert-file-literally which inserts a file into the current buffer
11661 without any conversion.
11663 ** C-q's handling of octal character codes is changed.
11664 You can now specify any number of octal digits.
11665 RET terminates the digits and is discarded;
11666 any other non-digit terminates the digits and is then used as input.
11668 ** There are new commands for looking up Info documentation for
11669 functions, variables and file names used in your programs.
11671 Type M-x info-lookup-symbol to look up a symbol in the buffer at point.
11672 Type M-x info-lookup-file to look up a file in the buffer at point.
11674 Precisely which Info files are used to look it up depends on the major
11675 mode. For example, in C mode, the GNU libc manual is used.
11677 ** M-TAB in most programming language modes now runs the command
11678 complete-symbol. This command performs completion on the symbol name
11679 in the buffer before point.
11681 With a numeric argument, it performs completion based on the set of
11682 symbols documented in the Info files for the programming language that
11685 With no argument, it does completion based on the current tags tables,
11686 just like the old binding of M-TAB (complete-tag).
11688 ** File locking works with NFS now.
11690 The lock file for FILENAME is now a symbolic link named .#FILENAME,
11691 in the same directory as FILENAME.
11693 This means that collision detection between two different machines now
11694 works reasonably well; it also means that no file server or directory
11695 can become a bottleneck.
11697 The new method does have drawbacks. It means that collision detection
11698 does not operate when you edit a file in a directory where you cannot
11699 create new files. Collision detection also doesn't operate when the
11700 file server does not support symbolic links. But these conditions are
11701 rare, and the ability to have collision detection while using NFS is
11702 so useful that the change is worth while.
11704 When Emacs or a system crashes, this may leave behind lock files which
11705 are stale. So you may occasionally get warnings about spurious
11706 collisions. When you determine that the collision is spurious, just
11707 tell Emacs to go ahead anyway.
11709 ** If you wish to use Show Paren mode to display matching parentheses,
11710 it is no longer sufficient to load paren.el. Instead you must call
11713 ** If you wish to use Delete Selection mode to replace a highlighted
11714 selection when you insert new text, it is no longer sufficient to load
11715 delsel.el. Instead you must call the function delete-selection-mode.
11717 ** If you wish to use Partial Completion mode to complete partial words
11718 within symbols or filenames, it is no longer sufficient to load
11719 complete.el. Instead you must call the function partial-completion-mode.
11721 ** If you wish to use uniquify to rename buffers for you,
11722 it is no longer sufficient to load uniquify.el. You must also
11723 set uniquify-buffer-name-style to one of the non-nil legitimate values.
11725 ** Changes in View mode.
11727 *** Several new commands are available in View mode.
11728 Do H in view mode for a list of commands.
11730 *** There are two new commands for entering View mode:
11731 view-file-other-frame and view-buffer-other-frame.
11733 *** Exiting View mode does a better job of restoring windows to their
11736 *** New customization variable view-scroll-auto-exit. If non-nil,
11737 scrolling past end of buffer makes view mode exit.
11739 *** New customization variable view-exits-all-viewing-windows. If
11740 non-nil, view-mode will at exit restore all windows viewing buffer,
11741 not just the selected window.
11743 *** New customization variable view-read-only. If non-nil, visiting a
11744 read-only file automatically enters View mode, and toggle-read-only
11745 turns View mode on or off.
11747 *** New customization variable view-remove-frame-by-deleting controls
11748 how to remove a not needed frame at view mode exit. If non-nil,
11749 delete the frame, if nil make an icon of it.
11751 ** C-x v l, the command to print a file's version control log,
11752 now positions point at the entry for the file's current branch version.
11754 ** C-x v =, the command to compare a file with the last checked-in version,
11755 has a new feature. If the file is currently not locked, so that it is
11756 presumably identical to the last checked-in version, the command now asks
11757 which version to compare with.
11759 ** When using hideshow.el, incremental search can temporarily show hidden
11760 blocks if a match is inside the block.
11762 The block is hidden again if the search is continued and the next match
11763 is outside the block. By customizing the variable
11764 isearch-hide-immediately you can choose to hide all the temporarily
11765 shown blocks only when exiting from incremental search.
11767 By customizing the variable hs-isearch-open you can choose what kind
11768 of blocks to temporarily show during isearch: comment blocks, code
11769 blocks, all of them or none.
11771 ** The new command C-x 4 0 (kill-buffer-and-window) kills the
11772 current buffer and deletes the selected window. It asks for
11773 confirmation first.
11775 ** C-x C-w, which saves the buffer into a specified file name,
11776 now changes the major mode according to that file name.
11777 However, the mode will not be changed if
11778 (1) a local variables list or the `-*-' line specifies a major mode, or
11779 (2) the current major mode is a "special" mode,
11780 not suitable for ordinary files, or
11781 (3) the new file name does not particularly specify any mode.
11783 This applies to M-x set-visited-file-name as well.
11785 However, if you set change-major-mode-with-file-name to nil, then
11786 these commands do not change the major mode.
11788 ** M-x occur changes.
11790 *** If the argument to M-x occur contains upper case letters,
11791 it performs a case-sensitive search.
11793 *** In the *Occur* buffer made by M-x occur,
11794 if you type g or M-x revert-buffer, this repeats the search
11795 using the same regular expression and the same buffer as before.
11797 ** In Transient Mark mode, the region in any one buffer is highlighted
11798 in just one window at a time. At first, it is highlighted in the
11799 window where you set the mark. The buffer's highlighting remains in
11800 that window unless you select to another window which shows the same
11801 buffer--then the highlighting moves to that window.
11803 ** The feature to suggest key bindings when you use M-x now operates
11804 after the command finishes. The message suggesting key bindings
11805 appears temporarily in the echo area. The previous echo area contents
11806 come back after a few seconds, in case they contain useful information.
11808 ** Each frame now independently records the order for recently
11809 selected buffers, so that the default for C-x b is now based on the
11810 buffers recently selected in the selected frame.
11812 ** Outline mode changes.
11814 *** Outline mode now uses overlays (this is the former noutline.el).
11816 *** Incremental searches skip over invisible text in Outline mode.
11818 ** When a minibuffer window is active but not the selected window, if
11819 you try to use the minibuffer, you used to get a nested minibuffer.
11820 Now, this not only gives an error, it also cancels the minibuffer that
11821 was already active.
11823 The motive for this change is so that beginning users do not
11824 unknowingly move away from minibuffers, leaving them active, and then
11825 get confused by it.
11827 If you want to be able to have recursive minibuffers, you must
11828 set enable-recursive-minibuffers to non-nil.
11830 ** Changes in dynamic abbrevs.
11832 *** Expanding dynamic abbrevs with M-/ is now smarter about case
11833 conversion. If the expansion has mixed case not counting the first
11834 character, and the abbreviation matches the beginning of the expansion
11835 including case, then the expansion is copied verbatim.
11837 The expansion is also copied verbatim if the abbreviation itself has
11838 mixed case. And using SPC M-/ to copy an additional word always
11839 copies it verbatim except when the previous copied word is all caps.
11841 *** The values of `dabbrev-case-replace' and `dabbrev-case-fold-search'
11842 are no longer Lisp expressions. They have simply three possible
11845 `dabbrev-case-replace' has these three values: nil (don't preserve
11846 case), t (do), or `case-replace' (do like M-x query-replace).
11847 `dabbrev-case-fold-search' has these three values: nil (don't ignore
11848 case), t (do), or `case-fold-search' (do like search).
11850 ** Minibuffer history lists are truncated automatically now to a
11851 certain length. The variable history-length specifies how long they
11852 can be. The default value is 30.
11854 ** Changes in Mail mode.
11856 *** The key C-x m no longer runs the `mail' command directly.
11857 Instead, it runs the command `compose-mail', which invokes the mail
11858 composition mechanism you have selected with the variable
11859 `mail-user-agent'. The default choice of user agent is
11860 `sendmail-user-agent', which gives behavior compatible with the old
11863 C-x 4 m now runs compose-mail-other-window, and C-x 5 m runs
11864 compose-mail-other-frame.
11866 *** While composing a reply to a mail message, from Rmail, you can use
11867 the command C-c C-r to cite just the region from the message you are
11868 replying to. This copies the text which is the selected region in the
11869 buffer that shows the original message.
11871 *** The command C-c C-i inserts a file at the end of the message,
11872 with separator lines around the contents.
11874 *** The command M-x expand-mail-aliases expands all mail aliases
11875 in suitable mail headers. Emacs automatically extracts mail alias
11876 definitions from your mail alias file (e.g., ~/.mailrc). You do not
11877 need to expand mail aliases yourself before sending mail.
11879 *** New features in the mail-complete command.
11881 **** The mail-complete command now inserts the user's full name,
11882 for local users or if that is known. The variable mail-complete-style
11883 controls the style to use, and whether to do this at all.
11884 Its values are like those of mail-from-style.
11886 **** The variable mail-passwd-command lets you specify a shell command
11887 to run to fetch a set of password-entries that add to the ones in
11890 **** The variable mail-passwd-file now specifies a list of files to read
11891 to get the list of user ids. By default, one file is used:
11894 ** You can "quote" a file name to inhibit special significance of
11895 special syntax, by adding `/:' to the beginning. Thus, if you have a
11896 directory named `/foo:', you can prevent it from being treated as a
11897 reference to a remote host named `foo' by writing it as `/:/foo:'.
11899 Emacs uses this new construct automatically when necessary, such as
11900 when you start it with a working directory whose name might otherwise
11901 be taken to be magic.
11903 ** There is a new command M-x grep-find which uses find to select
11904 files to search through, and grep to scan them. The output is
11905 available in a Compile mode buffer, as with M-x grep.
11907 M-x grep now uses the -e option if the grep program supports that.
11908 (-e prevents problems if the search pattern starts with a dash.)
11910 ** In Dired, the & command now flags for deletion the files whose names
11911 suggest they are probably not needed in the long run.
11913 In Dired, * is now a prefix key for mark-related commands.
11915 new key dired.el binding old key
11916 ------- ---------------- -------
11917 * c dired-change-marks c
11919 * * dired-mark-executables * (binding deleted)
11920 * / dired-mark-directories / (binding deleted)
11921 * @ dired-mark-symlinks @ (binding deleted)
11923 * DEL dired-unmark-backward DEL
11924 * ? dired-unmark-all-files C-M-?
11925 * ! dired-unmark-all-marks
11926 * % dired-mark-files-regexp % m
11927 * C-n dired-next-marked-file M-}
11928 * C-p dired-prev-marked-file M-{
11932 *** When Rmail cannot convert your incoming mail into Babyl format, it
11933 saves the new mail in the file RMAILOSE.n, where n is an integer
11934 chosen to make a unique name. This way, Rmail will not keep crashing
11935 each time you run it.
11937 *** In Rmail, the variable rmail-summary-line-count-flag now controls
11938 whether to include the line count in the summary. Non-nil means yes.
11940 *** In Rmail summary buffers, d and C-d (the commands to delete
11941 messages) now take repeat counts as arguments. A negative argument
11942 means to move in the opposite direction.
11944 *** In Rmail, the t command now takes an optional argument which lets
11945 you specify whether to show the message headers in full or pruned.
11947 *** In Rmail, the new command w (rmail-output-body-to-file) writes
11948 just the body of the current message into a file, without the headers.
11949 It takes the file name from the message subject, by default, but you
11950 can edit that file name in the minibuffer before it is actually used
11955 *** nntp.el has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
11957 *** Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
11960 *** Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like
11961 `and', `or', `not', and parent redirection.
11963 *** Article washing status can be displayed in the
11966 *** gnus.el has been split into many smaller files.
11968 *** Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID.
11970 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
11972 *** New variables for specifying what score and adapt files
11973 are to be considered home score and adapt files. See
11974 `gnus-home-score-file' and `gnus-home-adapt-files'.
11976 *** Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics.
11978 *** Article editing has been revamped and is now usable.
11980 *** Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions.
11981 See `gnus-signature-separator' and `gnus-signature-limit'.
11983 *** Summary pick mode has been made to look more nn-like.
11984 Line numbers are displayed and the `.' command can be
11985 used to pick articles.
11987 *** Commands for moving the .newsrc.eld from one server to
11988 another have been added.
11990 `M-x gnus-change-server'
11992 *** A way to specify that "uninteresting" fields be suppressed when
11993 generating lines in buffers.
11995 *** Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with
11998 *** Scoring can be done on words using the new score type `w'.
12000 *** Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis:
12002 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
12004 *** Scores can be decayed.
12006 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
12008 *** Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The
12009 Date is normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first.
12011 *** A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
12014 `M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups'
12016 *** A new command for reading collections of documents
12017 (nndoc with nnvirtual on top) has been added -- `C-M-d'.
12019 *** Process mark sets can be pushed and popped.
12021 *** A new mail-to-news backend makes it possible to post
12022 even when the NNTP server doesn't allow posting.
12024 *** A new backend for reading searches from Web search engines
12025 (DejaNews, Alta Vista, InReference) has been added.
12027 Use the `G w' command in the group buffer to create such
12030 *** Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard
12031 sorting functions, and each topic can be sorted independently.
12033 See the commands under the `T S' submap.
12035 *** Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently.
12037 See the commands under the `G P' submap.
12039 *** Cached articles can be pulled into the groups.
12041 Use the `Y c' command.
12043 *** Score files are now applied in a more reliable order.
12045 *** Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated.
12047 `M-x nnmail-split-history'
12049 *** More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk
12050 from incoming mail before saving the mail.
12052 See `nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook'.
12054 *** The nnml mail backend now understands compressed article files.
12056 *** To enable Gnus to read/post multi-lingual articles, you must execute
12057 the following code, for instance, in your .emacs.
12059 (add-hook 'gnus-startup-hook 'gnus-mule-initialize)
12061 Then, when you start Gnus, it will decode non-ASCII text automatically
12062 and show appropriate characters. (Note: if you are using gnus-mime
12063 from the SEMI package, formerly known as TM, you should NOT add this
12064 hook to gnus-startup-hook; gnus-mime has its own method of handling
12067 Since it is impossible to distinguish all coding systems
12068 automatically, you may need to specify a choice of coding system for a
12069 particular news group. This can be done by:
12071 (gnus-mule-add-group NEWSGROUP 'CODING-SYSTEM)
12073 Here NEWSGROUP should be a string which names a newsgroup or a tree
12074 of newsgroups. If NEWSGROUP is "XXX.YYY", all news groups under
12075 "XXX.YYY" (including "XXX.YYY.ZZZ") will use the specified coding
12076 system. CODING-SYSTEM specifies which coding system to use (for both
12077 for reading and posting).
12079 CODING-SYSTEM can also be a cons cell of the form
12080 (READ-CODING-SYSTEM . POST-CODING-SYSTEM)
12081 Then READ-CODING-SYSTEM is used when you read messages from the
12082 newsgroups, while POST-CODING-SYSTEM is used when you post messages
12085 Emacs knows the right coding systems for certain newsgroups by
12086 default. Here are some of these default settings:
12088 (gnus-mule-add-group "fj" 'iso-2022-7)
12089 (gnus-mule-add-group "alt.chinese.text" 'hz-gb-2312)
12090 (gnus-mule-add-group "alt.hk" 'hz-gb-2312)
12091 (gnus-mule-add-group "alt.chinese.text.big5" 'cn-big5)
12092 (gnus-mule-add-group "soc.culture.vietnamese" '(nil . viqr))
12094 When you reply by mail to an article, these settings are ignored;
12095 the mail is encoded according to sendmail-coding-system, as usual.
12097 ** CC mode changes.
12099 *** If you edit primarily one style of C (or C++, Objective-C, Java)
12100 code, you may want to make the CC Mode style variables have global
12101 values so that you can set them directly in your .emacs file. To do
12102 this, set c-style-variables-are-local-p to nil in your .emacs file.
12103 Note that this only takes effect if you do it *before* cc-mode.el is
12106 If you typically edit more than one style of C (or C++, Objective-C,
12107 Java) code in a single Emacs session, you may want to make the CC Mode
12108 style variables have buffer local values. By default, all buffers
12109 share the same style variable settings; to make them buffer local, set
12110 c-style-variables-are-local-p to t in your .emacs file. Note that you
12111 must do this *before* CC Mode is loaded.
12113 *** The new variable c-indentation-style holds the C style name
12114 of the current buffer.
12116 *** The variable c-block-comments-indent-p has been deleted, because
12117 it is no longer necessary. C mode now handles all the supported styles
12118 of block comments, with no need to say which one you will use.
12120 *** There is a new indentation style "python", which specifies the C
12121 style that the Python developers like.
12123 *** There is a new c-cleanup-list option: brace-elseif-brace.
12124 This says to put ...} else if (...) {... on one line,
12125 just as brace-else-brace says to put ...} else {... on one line.
12127 ** VC Changes [new]
12129 *** In vc-retrieve-snapshot (C-x v r), if you don't specify a snapshot
12130 name, it retrieves the *latest* versions of all files in the current
12131 directory and its subdirectories (aside from files already locked).
12133 This feature is useful if your RCS directory is a link to a common
12134 master directory, and you want to pick up changes made by other
12137 You can do the same thing for an individual file by typing C-u C-x C-q
12138 RET in a buffer visiting that file.
12140 *** VC can now handle files under CVS that are being "watched" by
12141 other developers. Such files are made read-only by CVS. To get a
12142 writable copy, type C-x C-q in a buffer visiting such a file. VC then
12143 calls "cvs edit", which notifies the other developers of it.
12145 *** vc-version-diff (C-u C-x v =) now suggests reasonable defaults for
12146 version numbers, based on the current state of the file.
12148 ** Calendar changes.
12150 *** A new function, list-holidays, allows you list holidays or
12151 subclasses of holidays for ranges of years. Related menu items allow
12152 you do this for the year of the selected date, or the
12153 following/previous years.
12155 *** There is now support for the Baha'i calendar system. Use `pb' in
12156 the *Calendar* buffer to display the current Baha'i date. The Baha'i
12157 calendar, or "Badi calendar" is a system of 19 months with 19 days
12158 each, and 4 intercalary days (5 during a Gregorian leap year). The
12159 calendar begins May 23, 1844, with each of the months named after a
12160 supposed attribute of God.
12162 ** ps-print changes
12164 There are some new user variables and subgroups for customizing the page
12167 *** Headers & Footers (subgroup)
12169 Some printer systems print a header page and force the first page to
12170 be printed on the back of the header page when using duplex. If your
12171 printer system has this behavior, set variable
12172 `ps-banner-page-when-duplexing' to t.
12174 If variable `ps-banner-page-when-duplexing' is non-nil, it prints a
12175 blank page as the very first printed page. So, it behaves as if the
12176 very first character of buffer (or region) were a form feed ^L (\014).
12178 The variable `ps-spool-config' specifies who is responsible for
12179 setting duplex mode and page size. Valid values are:
12181 lpr-switches duplex and page size are configured by `ps-lpr-switches'.
12182 Don't forget to set `ps-lpr-switches' to select duplex
12183 printing for your printer.
12185 setpagedevice duplex and page size are configured by ps-print using the
12186 setpagedevice PostScript operator.
12188 nil duplex and page size are configured by ps-print *not* using
12189 the setpagedevice PostScript operator.
12191 The variable `ps-spool-tumble' specifies how the page images on
12192 opposite sides of a sheet are oriented with respect to each other. If
12193 `ps-spool-tumble' is nil, ps-print produces output suitable for
12194 bindings on the left or right. If `ps-spool-tumble' is non-nil,
12195 ps-print produces output suitable for bindings at the top or bottom.
12196 This variable takes effect only if `ps-spool-duplex' is non-nil.
12197 The default value is nil.
12199 The variable `ps-header-frame-alist' specifies a header frame
12200 properties alist. Valid frame properties are:
12202 fore-color Specify the foreground frame color.
12203 Value should be a float number between 0.0 (black
12204 color) and 1.0 (white color), or a string which is a
12205 color name, or a list of 3 float numbers which
12206 correspond to the Red Green Blue color scale, each
12207 float number between 0.0 (dark color) and 1.0 (bright
12208 color). The default is 0 ("black").
12210 back-color Specify the background frame color (similar to fore-color).
12211 The default is 0.9 ("gray90").
12213 shadow-color Specify the shadow color (similar to fore-color).
12214 The default is 0 ("black").
12216 border-color Specify the border color (similar to fore-color).
12217 The default is 0 ("black").
12219 border-width Specify the border width.
12220 The default is 0.4.
12222 Any other property is ignored.
12224 Don't change this alist directly; instead use Custom, or the
12225 `ps-value', `ps-get', `ps-put' and `ps-del' functions (see there for
12228 Ps-print can also print footers. The footer variables are:
12229 `ps-print-footer', `ps-footer-offset', `ps-print-footer-frame',
12230 `ps-footer-font-family', `ps-footer-font-size', `ps-footer-line-pad',
12231 `ps-footer-lines', `ps-left-footer', `ps-right-footer' and
12232 `ps-footer-frame-alist'. These variables are similar to those
12233 controlling headers.
12235 *** Color management (subgroup)
12237 If `ps-print-color-p' is non-nil, the buffer's text will be printed in
12240 *** Face Management (subgroup)
12242 If you need to print without worrying about face background colors,
12243 set the variable `ps-use-face-background' which specifies if face
12244 background should be used. Valid values are:
12246 t always use face background color.
12247 nil never use face background color.
12248 (face...) list of faces whose background color will be used.
12250 *** N-up printing (subgroup)
12252 The variable `ps-n-up-printing' specifies the number of pages per
12255 The variable `ps-n-up-margin' specifies the margin in points (pt)
12256 between the sheet border and the n-up printing.
12258 If variable `ps-n-up-border-p' is non-nil, a border is drawn around
12261 The variable `ps-n-up-filling' specifies how the page matrix is filled
12262 on each sheet of paper. Following are the valid values for
12263 `ps-n-up-filling' with a filling example using a 3x4 page matrix:
12265 `left-top' 1 2 3 4 `left-bottom' 9 10 11 12
12269 `right-top' 4 3 2 1 `right-bottom' 12 11 10 9
12273 `top-left' 1 4 7 10 `bottom-left' 3 6 9 12
12277 `top-right' 10 7 4 1 `bottom-right' 12 9 6 3
12281 Any other value is treated as `left-top'.
12283 *** Zebra stripes (subgroup)
12285 The variable `ps-zebra-color' controls the zebra stripes grayscale or
12288 The variable `ps-zebra-stripe-follow' specifies how zebra stripes
12289 continue on next page. Visually, valid values are (the character `+'
12290 to the right of each column indicates that a line is printed):
12292 `nil' `follow' `full' `full-follow'
12293 Current Page -------- ----------- --------- ----------------
12294 1 XXXXX + 1 XXXXXXXX + 1 XXXXXX + 1 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
12295 2 XXXXX + 2 XXXXXXXX + 2 XXXXXX + 2 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
12296 3 XXXXX + 3 XXXXXXXX + 3 XXXXXX + 3 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
12300 7 XXXXX + 7 XXXXXXXX + 7 XXXXXX + 7 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
12301 8 XXXXX + 8 XXXXXXXX + 8 XXXXXX + 8 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
12302 9 XXXXX + 9 XXXXXXXX + 9 XXXXXX + 9 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
12305 -------- ----------- --------- ----------------
12306 Next Page -------- ----------- --------- ----------------
12307 12 XXXXX + 12 + 10 XXXXXX + 10 +
12308 13 XXXXX + 13 XXXXXXXX + 11 XXXXXX + 11 +
12309 14 XXXXX + 14 XXXXXXXX + 12 XXXXXX + 12 +
12310 15 + 15 XXXXXXXX + 13 + 13 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
12311 16 + 16 + 14 + 14 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
12312 17 + 17 + 15 + 15 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
12313 18 XXXXX + 18 + 16 XXXXXX + 16 +
12314 19 XXXXX + 19 XXXXXXXX + 17 XXXXXX + 17 +
12315 20 XXXXX + 20 XXXXXXXX + 18 XXXXXX + 18 +
12318 -------- ----------- --------- ----------------
12320 Any other value is treated as `nil'.
12323 *** Printer management (subgroup)
12325 The variable `ps-printer-name-option' determines the option used by
12326 some utilities to indicate the printer name; it's used only when
12327 `ps-printer-name' is a non-empty string. If you're using the lpr
12328 utility to print, for example, `ps-printer-name-option' should be set
12331 The variable `ps-manual-feed' indicates if the printer requires manual
12332 paper feeding. If it's nil, automatic feeding takes place. If it's
12333 non-nil, manual feeding takes place.
12335 The variable `ps-end-with-control-d' specifies whether C-d (\x04)
12336 should be inserted at end of the generated PostScript. Non-nil means
12339 *** Page settings (subgroup)
12341 If variable `ps-warn-paper-type' is nil, it's *not* treated as an
12342 error if the PostScript printer doesn't have a paper with the size
12343 indicated by `ps-paper-type'; the default paper size will be used
12344 instead. If `ps-warn-paper-type' is non-nil, an error is signaled if
12345 the PostScript printer doesn't support a paper with the size indicated
12346 by `ps-paper-type'. This is used when `ps-spool-config' is set to
12349 The variable `ps-print-upside-down' determines the orientation for
12350 printing pages: nil means `normal' printing, non-nil means
12351 `upside-down' printing (that is, the page is rotated by 180 degrees).
12353 The variable `ps-selected-pages' specifies which pages to print. If
12354 it's nil, all pages are printed. If it's a list, list elements may be
12355 integers specifying a single page to print, or cons cells (FROM . TO)
12356 specifying to print from page FROM to TO. Invalid list elements, that
12357 is integers smaller than one, or elements whose FROM is greater than
12358 its TO, are ignored.
12360 The variable `ps-even-or-odd-pages' specifies how to print even/odd
12361 pages. Valid values are:
12363 nil print all pages.
12365 `even-page' print only even pages.
12367 `odd-page' print only odd pages.
12369 `even-sheet' print only even sheets.
12370 That is, if `ps-n-up-printing' is 1, it behaves like
12371 `even-page', but for values greater than 1, it'll
12372 print only the even sheet of paper.
12374 `odd-sheet' print only odd sheets.
12375 That is, if `ps-n-up-printing' is 1, it behaves like
12376 `odd-page'; but for values greater than 1, it'll print
12377 only the odd sheet of paper.
12379 Any other value is treated as nil.
12381 If you set `ps-selected-pages' (see there for documentation), pages
12382 are filtered by `ps-selected-pages', and then by
12383 `ps-even-or-odd-pages'. For example, if we have:
12385 (setq ps-selected-pages '(1 4 (6 . 10) (12 . 16) 20))
12387 and we combine this with `ps-even-or-odd-pages' and
12388 `ps-n-up-printing', we get:
12390 `ps-n-up-printing' = 1:
12391 `ps-even-or-odd-pages' PAGES PRINTED
12392 nil 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 20
12393 even-page 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 20
12394 odd-page 1, 7, 9, 13, 15
12395 even-sheet 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 20
12396 odd-sheet 1, 7, 9, 13, 15
12398 `ps-n-up-printing' = 2:
12399 `ps-even-or-odd-pages' PAGES PRINTED
12400 nil 1/4, 6/7, 8/9, 10/12, 13/14, 15/16, 20
12401 even-page 4/6, 8/10, 12/14, 16/20
12402 odd-page 1/7, 9/13, 15
12403 even-sheet 6/7, 10/12, 15/16
12404 odd-sheet 1/4, 8/9, 13/14, 20
12406 *** Miscellany (subgroup)
12408 The variable `ps-error-handler-message' specifies where error handler
12409 messages should be sent.
12411 It is also possible to add a user-defined PostScript prologue code in
12412 front of all generated prologue code by setting the variable
12413 `ps-user-defined-prologue'.
12415 The variable `ps-line-number-font' specifies the font for line numbers.
12417 The variable `ps-line-number-font-size' specifies the font size in
12418 points for line numbers.
12420 The variable `ps-line-number-color' specifies the color for line
12421 numbers. See `ps-zebra-color' for documentation.
12423 The variable `ps-line-number-step' specifies the interval in which
12424 line numbers are printed. For example, if `ps-line-number-step' is set
12425 to 2, the printing will look like:
12437 integer an integer specifying the interval in which line numbers are
12438 printed. If it's smaller than or equal to zero, 1
12441 `zebra' specifies that only the line number of the first line in a
12442 zebra stripe is to be printed.
12444 Any other value is treated as `zebra'.
12446 The variable `ps-line-number-start' specifies the starting point in
12447 the interval given by `ps-line-number-step'. For example, if
12448 `ps-line-number-step' is set to 3, and `ps-line-number-start' is set to
12449 3, the output will look like:
12463 The variable `ps-postscript-code-directory' specifies the directory
12464 where the PostScript prologue file used by ps-print is found.
12466 The variable `ps-line-spacing' determines the line spacing in points,
12467 for ordinary text, when generating PostScript (similar to
12470 The variable `ps-paragraph-spacing' determines the paragraph spacing,
12471 in points, for ordinary text, when generating PostScript (similar to
12474 The variable `ps-paragraph-regexp' specifies the paragraph delimiter.
12476 The variable `ps-begin-cut-regexp' and `ps-end-cut-regexp' specify the
12477 start and end of a region to cut out when printing.
12479 ** hideshow changes.
12481 *** now supports hiding of blocks of single line comments (like // for
12484 *** Support for java-mode added.
12486 *** When doing `hs-hide-all' it is now possible to also hide the comments
12487 in the file if `hs-hide-comments-when-hiding-all' is set.
12489 *** The new function `hs-hide-initial-comment' hides the comments at
12490 the beginning of the files. Finally those huge RCS logs don't stay in your
12491 way! This is run by default when entering the `hs-minor-mode'.
12493 *** Now uses overlays instead of `selective-display', so is more
12494 robust and a lot faster.
12496 *** A block beginning can span multiple lines.
12498 *** The new variable `hs-show-hidden-short-form' if t, directs hideshow
12499 to show only the beginning of a block when it is hidden. See the
12500 documentation for more details.
12502 ** Changes in Enriched mode.
12504 *** When you visit a file in enriched-mode, Emacs will make sure it is
12505 filled to the current fill-column. This behavior is now independent
12506 of the size of the window. When you save the file, the fill-column in
12507 use is stored as well, so that the whole buffer need not be refilled
12508 the next time unless the fill-column is different.
12510 *** use-hard-newlines is now a minor mode. When it is enabled, Emacs
12511 distinguishes between hard and soft newlines, and treats hard newlines
12512 as paragraph boundaries. Otherwise all newlines inserted are marked
12513 as soft, and paragraph boundaries are determined solely from the text.
12519 The variables font-lock-face-attributes, font-lock-display-type and
12520 font-lock-background-mode are now obsolete; the recommended way to specify the
12521 faces to use for Font Lock mode is with M-x customize-group on the new custom
12522 group font-lock-highlighting-faces. If you set font-lock-face-attributes in
12523 your ~/.emacs file, Font Lock mode will respect its value. However, you should
12524 consider converting from setting that variable to using M-x customize.
12526 You can still use X resources to specify Font Lock face appearances.
12528 *** Maximum decoration
12530 Fontification now uses the maximum level of decoration supported by
12531 default. Previously, fontification used a mode-specific default level
12532 of decoration, which is typically the minimum level of decoration
12533 supported. You can set font-lock-maximum-decoration to nil
12534 to get the old behavior.
12538 Support is now provided for Java, Objective-C, AWK and SIMULA modes.
12540 Note that Font Lock mode can be turned on without knowing exactly what modes
12541 support Font Lock mode, via the command global-font-lock-mode.
12543 *** Configurable support
12545 Support for C, C++, Objective-C and Java can be more easily configured for
12546 additional types and classes via the new variables c-font-lock-extra-types,
12547 c++-font-lock-extra-types, objc-font-lock-extra-types and, you guessed it,
12548 java-font-lock-extra-types. These value of each of these variables should be a
12549 list of regexps matching the extra type names. For example, the default value
12550 of c-font-lock-extra-types is ("\\sw+_t") which means fontification follows the
12551 convention that C type names end in _t. This results in slower fontification.
12553 Of course, you can change the variables that specify fontification in whatever
12554 way you wish, typically by adding regexps. However, these new variables make
12555 it easier to make specific and common changes for the fontification of types.
12557 *** Adding highlighting patterns to existing support
12559 You can use the new function font-lock-add-keywords to add your own
12560 highlighting patterns, such as for project-local or user-specific constructs,
12563 For example, to highlight `FIXME:' words in C comments, put:
12565 (font-lock-add-keywords 'c-mode '(("\\<FIXME:" 0 font-lock-warning-face t)))
12571 Font Lock now defines two new faces, font-lock-builtin-face and
12572 font-lock-warning-face. These are intended to highlight builtin keywords,
12573 distinct from a language's normal keywords, and objects that should be brought
12574 to user attention, respectively. Various modes now use these new faces.
12576 *** Changes to fast-lock support mode
12578 The fast-lock package, one of the two Font Lock support modes, can now process
12579 cache files silently. You can use the new variable fast-lock-verbose, in the
12580 same way as font-lock-verbose, to control this feature.
12582 *** Changes to lazy-lock support mode
12584 The lazy-lock package, one of the two Font Lock support modes, can now fontify
12585 according to the true syntactic context relative to other lines. You can use
12586 the new variable lazy-lock-defer-contextually to control this feature. If
12587 non-nil, changes to the buffer will cause subsequent lines in the buffer to be
12588 refontified after lazy-lock-defer-time seconds of idle time. If nil, then only
12589 the modified lines will be refontified; this is the same as the previous Lazy
12590 Lock mode behavior and the behavior of Font Lock mode.
12592 This feature is useful in modes where strings or comments can span lines.
12593 For example, if a string or comment terminating character is deleted, then if
12594 this feature is enabled subsequent lines in the buffer will be correctly
12595 refontified to reflect their new syntactic context. Previously, only the line
12596 containing the deleted character would be refontified and you would have to use
12597 the command M-o M-o (font-lock-fontify-block) to refontify some lines.
12599 As a consequence of this new feature, two other variables have changed:
12601 Variable `lazy-lock-defer-driven' is renamed `lazy-lock-defer-on-scrolling'.
12602 Variable `lazy-lock-defer-time' can now only be a time, i.e., a number.
12603 Buffer modes for which on-the-fly deferral applies can be specified via the
12604 new variable `lazy-lock-defer-on-the-fly'.
12606 If you set these variables in your ~/.emacs, then you may have to change those
12609 ** Ada mode changes.
12611 *** There is now better support for using find-file.el with Ada mode.
12612 If you switch between spec and body, the cursor stays in the same
12613 procedure (modulo overloading). If a spec has no body file yet, but
12614 you try to switch to its body file, Ada mode now generates procedure
12617 *** There are two new commands:
12618 - `ada-make-local' : invokes gnatmake on the current buffer
12619 - `ada-check-syntax' : check syntax of current buffer.
12621 The user options `ada-compiler-make', `ada-make-options',
12622 `ada-language-version', `ada-compiler-syntax-check', and
12623 `ada-compile-options' are used within these commands.
12625 *** Ada mode can now work with Outline minor mode. The outline level
12626 is calculated from the indenting, not from syntactic constructs.
12627 Outlining does not work if your code is not correctly indented.
12629 *** The new function `ada-gnat-style' converts the buffer to the style of
12630 formatting used in GNAT. It places two blanks after a comment start,
12631 places one blank between a word end and an opening '(', and puts one
12632 space between a comma and the beginning of a word.
12634 ** Scheme mode changes.
12636 *** Scheme mode indentation now uses many of the facilities of Lisp
12637 mode; therefore, the variables to customize it are the variables used
12638 for Lisp mode which have names starting with `lisp-'. The variables
12639 with names starting with `scheme-' which used to do this no longer
12642 If you want to use different indentation for Scheme and Lisp, this is
12643 still possible, but now you must do it by adding a hook to
12644 scheme-mode-hook, which could work by setting the `lisp-' indentation
12645 variables as buffer-local variables.
12647 *** DSSSL mode is a variant of Scheme mode, for editing DSSSL scripts.
12648 Use M-x dsssl-mode.
12650 ** Changes to the emacsclient program
12652 *** If a socket can't be found, and environment variables LOGNAME or
12653 USER are set, emacsclient now looks for a socket based on the UID
12654 associated with the name. That is an emacsclient running as root
12655 can connect to an Emacs server started by a non-root user.
12657 *** The emacsclient program now accepts an option --no-wait which tells
12658 it to return immediately without waiting for you to "finish" the
12661 *** The new option --alternate-editor allows to specify an editor to
12662 use if Emacs is not running. The environment variable
12663 ALTERNATE_EDITOR can be used for the same effect; the command line
12664 option takes precedence.
12666 ** M-x eldoc-mode enables a minor mode in which the echo area
12667 constantly shows the parameter list for function being called at point
12668 (in Emacs Lisp and Lisp Interaction modes only).
12670 ** C-x n d now runs the new command narrow-to-defun,
12671 which narrows the accessible parts of the buffer to just
12674 ** Emacs now handles the `--' argument in the standard way; all
12675 following arguments are treated as ordinary file names.
12677 ** On MSDOS and Windows, the bookmark file is now called _emacs.bmk,
12678 and the saved desktop file is now called _emacs.desktop (truncated if
12681 ** When you kill a buffer that visits a file,
12682 if there are any registers that save positions in the file,
12683 these register values no longer become completely useless.
12684 If you try to go to such a register with C-x j, then you are
12685 asked whether to visit the file again. If you say yes,
12686 it visits the file and then goes to the same position.
12688 ** When you visit a file that changes frequently outside Emacs--for
12689 example, a log of output from a process that continues to run--it may
12690 be useful for Emacs to revert the file without querying you whenever
12691 you visit the file afresh with C-x C-f.
12693 You can request this behavior for certain files by setting the
12694 variable revert-without-query to a list of regular expressions. If a
12695 file's name matches any of these regular expressions, find-file and
12696 revert-buffer revert the buffer without asking for permission--but
12697 only if you have not edited the buffer text yourself.
12699 ** set-default-font has been renamed to set-frame-font
12700 since it applies only to the current frame.
12702 ** In TeX mode, you can use the variable tex-main-file to specify the
12703 file for tex-file to run TeX on. (By default, tex-main-file is nil,
12704 and tex-file runs TeX on the current visited file.)
12706 This is useful when you are editing a document that consists of
12707 multiple files. In each of the included files, you can set up a local
12708 variable list which specifies the top-level file of your document for
12709 tex-main-file. Then tex-file will run TeX on the whole document
12710 instead of just the file you are editing.
12714 RefTeX mode is a new minor mode with special support for \label, \ref
12715 and \cite macros in LaTeX documents. RefTeX distinguishes labels of
12716 different environments (equation, figure, ...) and has full support for
12717 multifile documents. To use it, select a buffer with a LaTeX document and
12718 turn the mode on with M-x reftex-mode. Here are the main user commands:
12721 Creates a label semi-automatically. RefTeX is context sensitive and
12722 knows which kind of label is needed.
12724 C-c ) reftex-reference
12725 Offers in a menu all labels in the document, along with context of the
12726 label definition. The selected label is referenced as \ref{LABEL}.
12728 C-c [ reftex-citation
12729 Prompts for a regular expression and displays a list of matching BibTeX
12730 database entries. The selected entry is cited with a \cite{KEY} macro.
12732 C-c & reftex-view-crossref
12733 Views the cross reference of a \ref or \cite command near point.
12736 Shows a table of contents of the (multifile) document. From there you
12737 can quickly jump to every section.
12739 Under X, RefTeX installs a "Ref" menu in the menu bar, with additional
12740 commands. Press `?' to get help when a prompt mentions this feature.
12741 Full documentation and customization examples are in the file
12742 reftex.el. You can use the finder to view the file documentation:
12743 C-h p --> tex --> reftex.el
12745 ** Changes in BibTeX mode.
12747 *** Info documentation is now available.
12749 *** Don't allow parentheses in string constants anymore. This confused
12750 both the BibTeX program and Emacs BibTeX mode.
12752 *** Renamed variable bibtex-mode-user-optional-fields to
12753 bibtex-user-optional-fields.
12755 *** Removed variable bibtex-include-OPTannote
12756 (use bibtex-user-optional-fields instead).
12758 *** New interactive functions to copy and kill fields and complete
12759 entries to the BibTeX kill ring, from where they can be yanked back by
12760 appropriate functions.
12762 *** New interactive functions for repositioning and marking of
12763 entries. They are bound by default to C-M-l and C-M-h.
12765 *** New hook bibtex-clean-entry-hook. It is called after entry has
12768 *** New variable bibtex-field-delimiters, which replaces variables
12769 bibtex-field-{left|right}-delimiter.
12771 *** New variable bibtex-entry-delimiters to determine how entries
12772 shall be delimited.
12774 *** Allow preinitialization of fields. See documentation of
12775 bibtex-user-optional-fields, bibtex-entry-field-alist, and
12776 bibtex-include-OPTkey for details.
12778 *** Book and InBook entries require either an author or an editor
12779 field. This is now supported by bibtex.el. Alternative fields are
12780 prefixed with `ALT'.
12782 *** New variable bibtex-entry-format, which replaces variable
12783 bibtex-clean-entry-zap-empty-opts and allows specification of many
12784 formatting options performed on cleaning an entry (see variable
12787 *** Even more control on how automatic keys are generated. See
12788 documentation of bibtex-generate-autokey for details. Transcriptions
12789 for foreign languages other than German are now handled, too.
12791 *** New boolean user option bibtex-comma-after-last-field to decide if
12792 comma should be inserted at end of last field.
12794 *** New boolean user option bibtex-align-at-equal-sign to determine if
12795 alignment should be made at left side of field contents or at equal
12796 signs. New user options to control entry layout (e.g. indentation).
12798 *** New function bibtex-fill-entry to realign entries.
12800 *** New function bibtex-reformat to reformat region or buffer.
12802 *** New function bibtex-convert-alien to convert a BibTeX database
12803 from alien sources.
12805 *** New function bibtex-complete-key (similar to bibtex-complete-string)
12806 to complete prefix to a key defined in buffer. Mainly useful in
12809 *** New function bibtex-count-entries to count entries in buffer or
12812 *** Added support for imenu.
12814 *** The function `bibtex-validate' now checks current region instead
12815 of buffer if mark is active. Now it shows all errors of buffer in a
12816 `compilation mode' buffer. You can use the normal commands (e.g.
12817 `next-error') for compilation modes to jump to errors.
12819 *** New variable `bibtex-string-file-path' to determine where the files
12820 from `bibtex-string-files' are searched.
12822 ** Iso Accents mode now supports Latin-3 as an alternative.
12824 ** The command next-error now opens blocks hidden by hideshow.
12826 ** The function using-unix-filesystems has been replaced by the
12827 functions add-untranslated-filesystem and remove-untranslated-filesystem.
12828 Each of these functions takes the name of a drive letter or directory
12831 When a filesystem is added as untranslated, all files on it are read
12832 and written in binary mode (no cr/lf translation is performed).
12834 ** browse-url changes
12836 *** New methods for: Grail (browse-url-generic), MMM (browse-url-mmm),
12837 Lynx in a separate xterm (browse-url-lynx-xterm) or in an Emacs window
12838 (browse-url-lynx-emacs), remote W3 (browse-url-w3-gnudoit), generic
12839 non-remote-controlled browsers (browse-url-generic) and associated
12840 customization variables.
12842 *** New commands `browse-url-of-region' and `browse-url'.
12844 *** URLs marked up with <URL:...> (RFC1738) work if broken across
12845 lines. Browsing methods can be associated with URL regexps
12846 (e.g. mailto: URLs) via `browse-url-browser-function'.
12848 ** Changes in Ediff
12850 *** Clicking Mouse-2 on a brief command description in Ediff control panel
12851 pops up the Info file for this command.
12853 *** There is now a variable, ediff-autostore-merges, which controls whether
12854 the result of a merge is saved in a file. By default, this is done only when
12855 merge is done from a session group (eg, when merging files in two different
12858 *** Since Emacs 19.31 (this hasn't been announced before), Ediff can compare
12859 and merge groups of files residing in different directories, or revisions of
12860 files in the same directory.
12862 *** Since Emacs 19.31, Ediff can apply multi-file patches interactively.
12863 The patches must be in the context format or GNU unified format. (The bug
12864 related to the GNU format has now been fixed.)
12866 ** Changes in Viper
12868 *** The startup file is now .viper instead of .vip
12869 *** All variable/function names have been changed to start with viper-
12871 *** C-\ now simulates the meta-key in all Viper states.
12872 *** C-z in Insert state now escapes to Vi for the duration of the next
12873 Viper command. In Vi and Insert states, C-z behaves as before.
12874 *** C-c \ escapes to Vi for one command if Viper is in Insert or Emacs states.
12875 *** _ is no longer the meta-key in Vi state.
12876 *** The variable viper-insert-state-cursor-color can be used to change cursor
12877 color when Viper is in insert state.
12878 *** If search lands the cursor near the top or the bottom of the window,
12879 Viper pulls the window up or down to expose more context. The variable
12880 viper-adjust-window-after-search controls this behavior.
12884 *** In C, C++, Objective C and Java, Etags tags global variables by
12885 default. The resulting tags files are inflated by 30% on average.
12886 Use --no-globals to turn this feature off. Etags can also tag
12887 variables which are members of structure-like constructs, but it does
12888 not by default. Use --members to turn this feature on.
12890 *** C++ member functions are now recognized as tags.
12892 *** Java is tagged like C++. In addition, "extends" and "implements"
12893 constructs are tagged. Files are recognised by the extension .java.
12895 *** Etags can now handle programs written in Postscript. Files are
12896 recognised by the extensions .ps and .pdb (Postscript with C syntax).
12897 In Postscript, tags are lines that start with a slash.
12899 *** Etags now handles Objective C and Objective C++ code. The usual C and
12900 C++ tags are recognized in these languages; in addition, etags
12901 recognizes special Objective C syntax for classes, class categories,
12902 methods and protocols.
12904 *** Etags also handles Cobol. Files are recognised by the extension
12905 .cobol. The tagged lines are those containing a word that begins in
12906 column 8 and ends in a full stop, i.e. anything that could be a
12909 *** Regexps in Etags now support intervals, as in ed or grep. The syntax of
12910 an interval is \{M,N\}, and it means to match the preceding expression
12911 at least M times and as many as N times.
12913 ** The format for specifying a custom format for time-stamp to insert
12914 in files has changed slightly.
12916 With the new enhancements to the functionality of format-time-string,
12917 time-stamp-format will change to be eventually compatible with it.
12918 This conversion is being done in two steps to maintain compatibility
12919 with old time-stamp-format values.
12921 In the new scheme, alternate case is signified by the number-sign
12922 (`#') modifier, rather than changing the case of the format character.
12923 This feature is as yet incompletely implemented for compatibility
12926 In the old time-stamp-format, all numeric fields defaulted to their
12927 natural width. (With format-time-string, each format has a
12928 fixed-width default.) In this version, you can specify the colon
12929 (`:') modifier to a numeric conversion to mean "give me the historical
12930 time-stamp-format width default." Do not use colon if you are
12931 specifying an explicit width, as in "%02d".
12933 Numbers are no longer truncated to the requested width, except in the
12934 case of "%02y", which continues to give a two-digit year. Digit
12935 truncation probably wasn't being used for anything else anyway.
12937 The new formats will work with old versions of Emacs. New formats are
12938 being recommended now to allow time-stamp-format to change in the
12939 future to be compatible with format-time-string. The new forms being
12940 recommended now will continue to work then.
12942 See the documentation string for the variable time-stamp-format for
12945 ** There are some additional major modes:
12947 dcl-mode, for editing VMS DCL files.
12948 m4-mode, for editing files of m4 input.
12949 meta-mode, for editing MetaFont and MetaPost source files.
12951 ** In Shell mode, the command shell-copy-environment-variable lets you
12952 copy the value of a specified environment variable from the subshell
12955 ** New Lisp packages include:
12957 *** battery.el displays battery status for laptops.
12959 *** M-x bruce (named after Lenny Bruce) is a program that might
12960 be used for adding some indecent words to your email.
12962 *** M-x crisp-mode enables an emulation for the CRiSP editor.
12964 *** M-x dirtrack arranges for better tracking of directory changes
12967 *** The new library elint.el provides for linting of Emacs Lisp code.
12968 See the documentation for `elint-initialize', `elint-current-buffer'
12971 *** M-x expand-add-abbrevs defines a special kind of abbrev which is
12972 meant for programming constructs. These abbrevs expand like ordinary
12973 ones, when you type SPC, but only at the end of a line and not within
12974 strings or comments.
12976 These abbrevs can act as templates: you can define places within an
12977 abbrev for insertion of additional text. Once you expand the abbrev,
12978 you can then use C-x a p and C-x a n to move back and forth to these
12979 insertion points. Thus you can conveniently insert additional text
12982 *** filecache.el remembers the location of files so that you
12983 can visit them by short forms of their names.
12985 *** find-func.el lets you find the definition of the user-loaded
12986 Emacs Lisp function at point.
12988 *** M-x handwrite converts text to a "handwritten" picture.
12990 *** M-x iswitchb-buffer is a command for switching to a buffer, much like
12991 switch-buffer, but it reads the argument in a more helpful way.
12993 *** M-x landmark implements a neural network for landmark learning.
12995 *** M-x locate provides a convenient interface to the `locate' program.
12997 *** M4 mode is a new mode for editing files of m4 input.
12999 *** mantemp.el creates C++ manual template instantiations
13000 from the GCC error messages which indicate which instantiations are needed.
13002 *** mouse-copy.el provides a one-click copy and move feature.
13003 You can drag a region with M-mouse-1, and it is automatically
13004 inserted at point. M-Shift-mouse-1 deletes the text from its
13005 original place after inserting the copy.
13007 *** mouse-drag.el lets you do scrolling by dragging Mouse-2
13010 You click the mouse and move; that distance either translates into the
13011 velocity to scroll (with mouse-drag-throw) or the distance to scroll
13012 (with mouse-drag-drag). Horizontal scrolling is enabled when needed.
13014 Enable mouse-drag with:
13015 (global-set-key [down-mouse-2] 'mouse-drag-throw)
13017 (global-set-key [down-mouse-2] 'mouse-drag-drag)
13019 *** mspools.el is useful for determining which mail folders have
13020 mail waiting to be read in them. It works with procmail.
13022 *** Octave mode is a major mode for editing files of input for Octave.
13023 It comes with a facility for communicating with an Octave subprocess.
13027 The ogonek package provides functions for changing the coding of
13028 Polish diacritic characters in buffers. Codings known from various
13029 platforms are supported such as ISO8859-2, Mazovia, IBM Latin2, and
13030 TeX. For example, you can change the coding from Mazovia to
13031 ISO8859-2. Another example is a change of coding from ISO8859-2 to
13032 prefix notation (in which `/a' stands for the aogonek character, for
13033 instance) and vice versa.
13035 To use this package load it using
13036 M-x load-library [enter] ogonek
13037 Then, you may get an explanation by calling one of
13038 M-x ogonek-jak -- in Polish
13039 M-x ogonek-how -- in English
13040 The info specifies the commands and variables provided as well as the
13041 ways of customization in `.emacs'.
13043 *** Interface to ph.
13045 Emacs provides a client interface to CCSO Nameservers (ph/qi)
13047 The CCSO nameserver is used in many universities to provide directory
13048 services about people. ph.el provides a convenient Emacs interface to
13051 *** uce.el is useful for replying to unsolicited commercial email.
13053 *** vcursor.el implements a "virtual cursor" feature.
13054 You can move the virtual cursor with special commands
13055 while the real cursor does not move.
13057 *** webjump.el is a "hot list" package which you can set up
13058 for visiting your favorite web sites.
13060 *** M-x winner-mode is a minor mode which saves window configurations,
13061 so you can move back to other configurations that you have recently used.
13065 Movemail no longer needs to be installed setuid root in order for POP
13066 mail retrieval to function properly. This is because it no longer
13067 supports the RPOP (reserved-port POP) protocol; instead, it uses the
13068 user's POP password to authenticate to the mail server.
13070 This change was made earlier, but not reported in NEWS before.
13072 * Emacs 20.1 changes for MS-DOS and MS-Windows.
13074 ** Changes in handling MS-DOS/MS-Windows text files.
13076 Emacs handles three different conventions for representing
13077 end-of-line: CRLF for MSDOS, LF for Unix and GNU, and CR (used on the
13078 Macintosh). Emacs determines which convention is used in a specific
13079 file based on the contents of that file (except for certain special
13080 file names), and when it saves the file, it uses the same convention.
13082 To save the file and change the end-of-line convention, you can use
13083 C-x RET f (set-buffer-file-coding-system) to specify a different
13084 coding system for the buffer. Then, when you save the file, the newly
13085 specified coding system will take effect. For example, to save with
13086 LF, specify undecided-unix (or some other ...-unix coding system); to
13087 save with CRLF, specify undecided-dos.
13089 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 20.1
13091 ** Byte-compiled files made with Emacs 20 will, in general, work in
13092 Emacs 19 as well, as long as the source code runs in Emacs 19. And
13093 vice versa: byte-compiled files made with Emacs 19 should also run in
13094 Emacs 20, as long as the program itself works in Emacs 20.
13096 ** Windows-specific functions and variables have been renamed
13097 to start with w32- instead of win32-.
13099 In hacker language, calling something a "win" is a form of praise. We
13100 don't want to praise a non-free Microsoft system, so we don't call it
13103 ** Basic Lisp changes
13105 *** A symbol whose name starts with a colon now automatically
13106 evaluates to itself. Therefore such a symbol can be used as a constant.
13108 *** The defined purpose of `defconst' has been changed. It should now
13109 be used only for values that should not be changed whether by a program
13112 The actual behavior of defconst has not been changed.
13114 *** There are new macros `when' and `unless'
13116 (when CONDITION BODY...) is short for (if CONDITION (progn BODY...))
13117 (unless CONDITION BODY...) is short for (if CONDITION nil BODY...)
13119 *** Emacs now defines functions caar, cadr, cdar and cddr with their
13120 usual Lisp meanings. For example, caar returns the car of the car of
13123 *** equal, when comparing strings, now ignores their text properties.
13125 *** The new function `functionp' tests whether an object is a function.
13127 *** arrayp now returns t for char-tables and bool-vectors.
13129 *** Certain primitives which use characters (as integers) now get an
13130 error if the integer is not a valid character code. These primitives
13131 include insert-char, char-to-string, and the %c construct in the
13134 *** The `require' function now insists on adding a suffix, either .el
13135 or .elc, to the file name. Thus, (require 'foo) will not use a file
13136 whose name is just foo. It insists on foo.el or foo.elc.
13138 *** The `autoload' function, when the file name does not contain
13139 either a directory name or the suffix .el or .elc, insists on
13140 adding one of these suffixes.
13142 *** string-to-number now takes an optional second argument BASE
13143 which specifies the base to use when converting an integer.
13144 If BASE is omitted, base 10 is used.
13146 We have not implemented other radices for floating point numbers,
13147 because that would be much more work and does not seem useful.
13149 *** substring now handles vectors as well as strings.
13151 *** The Common Lisp function eql is no longer defined normally.
13152 You must load the `cl' library to define it.
13154 *** The new macro `with-current-buffer' lets you evaluate an expression
13155 conveniently with a different current buffer. It looks like this:
13157 (with-current-buffer BUFFER BODY-FORMS...)
13159 BUFFER is the expression that says which buffer to use.
13160 BODY-FORMS say what to do in that buffer.
13162 *** The new primitive `save-current-buffer' saves and restores the
13163 choice of current buffer, like `save-excursion', but without saving or
13164 restoring the value of point or the mark. `with-current-buffer'
13165 works using `save-current-buffer'.
13167 *** The new macro `with-temp-file' lets you do some work in a new buffer and
13168 write the output to a specified file. Like `progn', it returns the value
13171 *** The new macro `with-temp-buffer' lets you do some work in a new buffer,
13172 which is discarded after use. Like `progn', it returns the value of the
13173 last form. If you wish to return the buffer contents, use (buffer-string)
13176 *** The new function split-string takes a string, splits it at certain
13177 characters, and returns a list of the substrings in between the
13180 For example, (split-string "foo bar lose" " +") returns ("foo" "bar" "lose").
13182 *** The new macro with-output-to-string executes some Lisp expressions
13183 with standard-output set up so that all output feeds into a string.
13184 Then it returns that string.
13186 For example, if the current buffer name is `foo',
13188 (with-output-to-string
13189 (princ "The buffer is ")
13190 (princ (buffer-name)))
13192 returns "The buffer is foo".
13194 ** Non-ASCII characters are now supported, if enable-multibyte-characters
13197 These characters have character codes above 256. When inserted in the
13198 buffer or stored in a string, they are represented as multibyte
13199 characters that occupy several buffer positions each.
13201 *** When enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil, a single character in
13202 a buffer or string can be two or more bytes (as many as four).
13204 Buffers and strings are still made up of unibyte elements;
13205 character positions and string indices are always measured in bytes.
13206 Therefore, moving forward one character can increase the buffer
13207 position by 2, 3 or 4. The function forward-char moves by whole
13208 characters, and therefore is no longer equivalent to
13209 (lambda (n) (goto-char (+ (point) n))).
13211 ASCII characters (codes 0 through 127) are still single bytes, always.
13212 Sequences of byte values 128 through 255 are used to represent
13213 non-ASCII characters. These sequences are called "multibyte
13216 The first byte of a multibyte character is always in the range 128
13217 through 159 (octal 0200 through 0237). These values are called
13218 "leading codes". The second and subsequent bytes are always in the
13219 range 160 through 255 (octal 0240 through 0377). The first byte, the
13220 leading code, determines how many bytes long the sequence is.
13222 *** The function forward-char moves over characters, and therefore
13223 (forward-char 1) may increase point by more than 1 if it moves over a
13224 multibyte character. Likewise, delete-char always deletes a
13225 character, which may be more than one buffer position.
13227 This means that some Lisp programs, which assume that a character is
13228 always one buffer position, need to be changed.
13230 However, all ASCII characters are always one buffer position.
13232 *** The regexp [\200-\377] no longer matches all non-ASCII characters,
13233 because when enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil, these characters
13234 have codes that are not in the range octal 200 to octal 377. However,
13235 the regexp [^\000-\177] does match all non-ASCII characters,
13238 *** The function char-boundary-p returns non-nil if position POS is
13239 between two characters in the buffer (not in the middle of a
13242 When the value is non-nil, it says what kind of character follows POS:
13244 0 if POS is at an ASCII character or at the end of range,
13245 1 if POS is before a 2-byte length multi-byte form,
13246 2 if POS is at a head of 3-byte length multi-byte form,
13247 3 if POS is at a head of 4-byte length multi-byte form,
13248 4 if POS is at a head of multi-byte form of a composite character.
13250 *** The function char-bytes returns how many bytes the character CHAR uses.
13252 *** Strings can contain multibyte characters. The function
13253 `length' returns the string length counting bytes, which may be
13254 more than the number of characters.
13256 You can include a multibyte character in a string constant by writing
13257 it literally. You can also represent it with a hex escape,
13258 \xNNNNNNN..., using as many digits as necessary. Any character which
13259 is not a valid hex digit terminates this construct. If you want to
13260 follow it with a character that is a hex digit, write backslash and
13261 newline in between; that will terminate the hex escape.
13263 *** The function concat-chars takes arguments which are characters
13264 and returns a string containing those characters.
13266 *** The function sref access a multibyte character in a string.
13267 (sref STRING INDX) returns the character in STRING at INDEX. INDEX
13268 counts from zero. If INDEX is at a position in the middle of a
13269 character, sref signals an error.
13271 *** The function chars-in-string returns the number of characters
13272 in a string. This is less than the length of the string, if the
13273 string contains multibyte characters (the length counts bytes).
13275 *** The function chars-in-region returns the number of characters
13276 in a region from BEG to END. This is less than (- END BEG) if the
13277 region contains multibyte characters (the length counts bytes).
13279 *** The function string-to-list converts a string to a list of
13280 the characters in it. string-to-vector converts a string
13281 to a vector of the characters in it.
13283 *** The function store-substring alters part of the contents
13284 of a string. You call it as follows:
13286 (store-substring STRING IDX OBJ)
13288 This says to alter STRING, by storing OBJ starting at index IDX in
13289 STRING. OBJ may be either a character or a (smaller) string.
13290 This function really does alter the contents of STRING.
13291 Since it is impossible to change the length of an existing string,
13292 it is an error if OBJ doesn't fit within STRING's actual length.
13294 *** char-width returns the width (in columns) of the character CHAR,
13295 if it were displayed in the current buffer and the selected window.
13297 *** string-width returns the width (in columns) of the text in STRING,
13298 if it were displayed in the current buffer and the selected window.
13300 *** truncate-string-to-width shortens a string, if necessary,
13301 to fit within a certain number of columns. (Of course, it does
13302 not alter the string that you give it; it returns a new string
13303 which contains all or just part of the existing string.)
13305 (truncate-string-to-width STR END-COLUMN &optional START-COLUMN PADDING)
13307 This returns the part of STR up to column END-COLUMN.
13309 The optional argument START-COLUMN specifies the starting column.
13310 If this is non-nil, then the first START-COLUMN columns of the string
13311 are not included in the resulting value.
13313 The optional argument PADDING, if non-nil, is a padding character to be added
13314 at the beginning and end the resulting string, to extend it to exactly
13315 WIDTH columns. If PADDING is nil, that means do not pad; then, if STRING
13316 is narrower than WIDTH, the value is equal to STRING.
13318 If PADDING and START-COLUMN are both non-nil, and if there is no clean
13319 place in STRING that corresponds to START-COLUMN (because one
13320 character extends across that column), then the padding character
13321 PADDING is added one or more times at the beginning of the result
13322 string, so that its columns line up as if it really did start at
13323 column START-COLUMN.
13325 *** When the functions in the list after-change-functions are called,
13326 the third argument is the number of bytes in the pre-change text, not
13327 necessarily the number of characters. It is, in effect, the
13328 difference in buffer position between the beginning and the end of the
13329 changed text, before the change.
13331 *** The characters Emacs uses are classified in various character
13332 sets, each of which has a name which is a symbol. In general there is
13333 one character set for each script, not for each language.
13335 **** The function charsetp tests whether an object is a character set name.
13337 **** The variable charset-list holds a list of character set names.
13339 **** char-charset, given a character code, returns the name of the character
13340 set that the character belongs to. (The value is a symbol.)
13342 **** split-char, given a character code, returns a list containing the
13343 name of the character set, followed by one or two byte-values
13344 which identify the character within that character set.
13346 **** make-char, given a character set name and one or two subsequent
13347 byte-values, constructs a character code. This is roughly the
13348 opposite of split-char.
13350 **** find-charset-region returns a list of the character sets
13351 of all the characters between BEG and END.
13353 **** find-charset-string returns a list of the character sets
13354 of all the characters in a string.
13356 *** Here are the Lisp facilities for working with coding systems
13357 and specifying coding systems.
13359 **** The function coding-system-list returns a list of all coding
13360 system names (symbols). With optional argument t, it returns a list
13361 of all distinct base coding systems, not including variants.
13362 (Variant coding systems are those like latin-1-dos, latin-1-unix
13363 and latin-1-mac which specify the end-of-line conversion as well
13364 as what to do about code conversion.)
13366 **** coding-system-p tests a symbol to see if it is a coding system
13367 name. It returns t if so, nil if not.
13369 **** file-coding-system-alist specifies which coding systems to use
13370 for certain file names. It works like network-coding-system-alist,
13371 except that the PATTERN is matched against the file name.
13373 Each element has the format (PATTERN . VAL), where PATTERN determines
13374 which file names the element applies to. PATTERN should be a regexp
13375 to match against a file name.
13377 VAL is a coding system, a cons cell containing two coding systems, or
13378 a function symbol. If VAL is a coding system, it is used for both
13379 decoding what received from the network stream and encoding what sent
13380 to the network stream. If VAL is a cons cell containing two coding
13381 systems, the car specifies the coding system for decoding, and the cdr
13382 specifies the coding system for encoding.
13384 If VAL is a function symbol, the function must return a coding system
13385 or a cons cell containing two coding systems, which is used as above.
13387 **** The variable network-coding-system-alist specifies
13388 the coding system to use for network sockets.
13390 Each element has the format (PATTERN . VAL), where PATTERN determines
13391 which network sockets the element applies to. PATTERN should be
13392 either a port number or a regular expression matching some network
13395 VAL is a coding system, a cons cell containing two coding systems, or
13396 a function symbol. If VAL is a coding system, it is used for both
13397 decoding what received from the network stream and encoding what sent
13398 to the network stream. If VAL is a cons cell containing two coding
13399 systems, the car specifies the coding system for decoding, and the cdr
13400 specifies the coding system for encoding.
13402 If VAL is a function symbol, the function must return a coding system
13403 or a cons cell containing two coding systems, which is used as above.
13405 **** process-coding-system-alist specifies which coding systems to use
13406 for certain subprocess. It works like network-coding-system-alist,
13407 except that the PATTERN is matched against the program name used to
13408 start the subprocess.
13410 **** The variable default-process-coding-system specifies the coding
13411 systems to use for subprocess (and net connection) input and output,
13412 when nothing else specifies what to do. The value is a cons cell
13413 (OUTPUT-CODING . INPUT-CODING). OUTPUT-CODING applies to output
13414 to the subprocess, and INPUT-CODING applies to input from it.
13416 **** The variable coding-system-for-write, if non-nil, specifies the
13417 coding system to use for writing a file, or for output to a synchronous
13420 It also applies to any asynchronous subprocess or network connection,
13421 but in a different way: the value of coding-system-for-write when you
13422 start the subprocess or connection affects that subprocess or
13423 connection permanently or until overridden.
13425 The variable coding-system-for-write takes precedence over
13426 file-coding-system-alist, process-coding-system-alist and
13427 network-coding-system-alist, and all other methods of specifying a
13428 coding system for output. But most of the time this variable is nil.
13429 It exists so that Lisp programs can bind it to a specific coding
13430 system for one operation at a time.
13432 **** coding-system-for-read applies similarly to input from
13433 files, subprocesses or network connections.
13435 **** The function process-coding-system tells you what
13436 coding systems(s) an existing subprocess is using.
13437 The value is a cons cell,
13438 (DECODING-CODING-SYSTEM . ENCODING-CODING-SYSTEM)
13439 where DECODING-CODING-SYSTEM is used for decoding output from
13440 the subprocess, and ENCODING-CODING-SYSTEM is used for encoding
13441 input to the subprocess.
13443 **** The function set-process-coding-system can be used to
13444 change the coding systems in use for an existing subprocess.
13446 ** Emacs has a new facility to help users manage the many
13447 customization options. To make a Lisp program work with this facility,
13448 you need to use the new macros defgroup and defcustom.
13450 You use defcustom instead of defvar, for defining a user option
13451 variable. The difference is that you specify two additional pieces of
13452 information (usually): the "type" which says what values are
13453 legitimate, and the "group" which specifies the hierarchy for
13456 Thus, instead of writing
13458 (defvar foo-blurgoze nil
13459 "*Non-nil means that foo will act very blurgozely.")
13461 you would now write this:
13463 (defcustom foo-blurgoze nil
13464 "*Non-nil means that foo will act very blurgozely."
13468 The type `boolean' means that this variable has only
13469 two meaningful states: nil and non-nil. Other type values
13470 describe other possibilities; see the manual for Custom
13471 for a description of them.
13473 The "group" argument is used to specify a group which the option
13474 should belong to. You define a new group like this:
13476 (defgroup ispell nil
13477 "Spell checking using Ispell."
13480 The "group" argument in defgroup specifies the parent group. The root
13481 group is called `emacs'; it should not contain any variables itself,
13482 but only other groups. The immediate subgroups of `emacs' correspond
13483 to the keywords used by C-h p. Under these subgroups come
13484 second-level subgroups that belong to individual packages.
13486 Each Emacs package should have its own set of groups. A simple
13487 package should have just one group; a more complex package should
13488 have a hierarchy of its own groups. The sole or root group of a
13489 package should be a subgroup of one or more of the "keyword"
13490 first-level subgroups.
13492 ** New `widget' library for inserting UI components in buffers.
13494 This library, used by the new custom library, is documented in a
13495 separate manual that accompanies Emacs.
13499 The easy-mmode package provides macros and functions that make
13500 developing minor modes easier. Roughly, the programmer has to code
13501 only the functionality of the minor mode. All the rest--toggles,
13502 predicate, and documentation--can be done in one call to the macro
13503 `easy-mmode-define-minor-mode' (see the documentation). See also
13504 `easy-mmode-define-keymap'.
13506 ** Text property changes
13508 *** The `intangible' property now works on overlays as well as on a
13511 *** The new functions next-char-property-change and
13512 previous-char-property-change scan through the buffer looking for a
13513 place where either a text property or an overlay might change. The
13514 functions take two arguments, POSITION and LIMIT. POSITION is the
13515 starting position for the scan. LIMIT says where to stop the scan.
13517 If no property change is found before LIMIT, the value is LIMIT. If
13518 LIMIT is nil, scan goes to the beginning or end of the accessible part
13519 of the buffer. If no property change is found, the value is the
13520 position of the beginning or end of the buffer.
13522 *** In the `local-map' text property or overlay property, the property
13523 value can now be a symbol whose function definition is a keymap. This
13524 is an alternative to using the keymap itself.
13526 ** Changes in invisibility features
13528 *** Isearch can now temporarily show parts of the buffer which are
13529 hidden by an overlay with a invisible property, when the search match
13530 is inside that portion of the buffer. To enable this the overlay
13531 should have a isearch-open-invisible property which is a function that
13532 would be called having the overlay as an argument, the function should
13533 make the overlay visible.
13535 During incremental search the overlays are shown by modifying the
13536 invisible and intangible properties, if beside this more actions are
13537 needed the overlay should have a isearch-open-invisible-temporary
13538 which is a function. The function is called with 2 arguments: one is
13539 the overlay and the second is nil when it should show the overlay and
13540 t when it should hide it.
13542 *** add-to-invisibility-spec, remove-from-invisibility-spec
13544 Modes that use overlays to hide portions of a buffer should set the
13545 invisible property of the overlay to the mode's name (or another symbol)
13546 and modify the `buffer-invisibility-spec' to include that symbol.
13547 Use `add-to-invisibility-spec' and `remove-from-invisibility-spec' to
13548 manipulate the `buffer-invisibility-spec'.
13549 Here is an example of how to do this:
13551 ;; If we want to display an ellipsis:
13552 (add-to-invisibility-spec '(my-symbol . t))
13553 ;; If you don't want ellipsis:
13554 (add-to-invisibility-spec 'my-symbol)
13557 (overlay-put (make-overlay beginning end) 'invisible 'my-symbol)
13560 ;; When done with the overlays:
13561 (remove-from-invisibility-spec '(my-symbol . t))
13562 ;; Or respectively:
13563 (remove-from-invisibility-spec 'my-symbol)
13565 ** Changes in syntax parsing.
13567 *** The syntax-directed buffer-scan functions (such as
13568 `parse-partial-sexp', `forward-word' and similar functions) can now
13569 obey syntax information specified by text properties, if the variable
13570 `parse-sexp-lookup-properties' is non-nil.
13572 If the value of `parse-sexp-lookup-properties' is nil, the behavior
13573 is as before: the syntax-table of the current buffer is always
13574 used to determine the syntax of the character at the position.
13576 When `parse-sexp-lookup-properties' is non-nil, the syntax of a
13577 character in the buffer is calculated thus:
13579 a) if the `syntax-table' text-property of that character
13580 is a cons, this cons becomes the syntax-type;
13582 Valid values of `syntax-table' text-property are: nil, a valid
13583 syntax-table, and a valid syntax-table element, i.e.,
13584 a cons cell of the form (SYNTAX-CODE . MATCHING-CHAR).
13586 b) if the character's `syntax-table' text-property
13587 is a syntax table, this syntax table is used
13588 (instead of the syntax-table of the current buffer) to
13589 determine the syntax type of the character.
13591 c) otherwise the syntax-type is determined by the syntax-table
13592 of the current buffer.
13594 *** The meaning of \s in regular expressions is also affected by the
13595 value of `parse-sexp-lookup-properties'. The details are the same as
13596 for the syntax-directed buffer-scan functions.
13598 *** There are two new syntax-codes, `!' and `|' (numeric values 14
13599 and 15). A character with a code `!' starts a comment which is ended
13600 only by another character with the same code (unless quoted). A
13601 character with a code `|' starts a string which is ended only by
13602 another character with the same code (unless quoted).
13604 These codes are mainly meant for use as values of the `syntax-table'
13607 *** The function `parse-partial-sexp' has new semantics for the sixth
13608 arg COMMENTSTOP. If it is `syntax-table', parse stops after the start
13609 of a comment or a string, or after end of a comment or a string.
13611 *** The state-list which the return value from `parse-partial-sexp'
13612 (and can also be used as an argument) now has an optional ninth
13613 element: the character address of the start of last comment or string;
13614 nil if none. The fourth and eighth elements have special values if the
13615 string/comment is started by a "!" or "|" syntax-code.
13617 *** Since new features of `parse-partial-sexp' allow a complete
13618 syntactic parsing, `font-lock' no longer supports
13619 `font-lock-comment-start-regexp'.
13621 ** Changes in face features
13623 *** The face functions are now unconditionally defined in Emacs, even
13624 if it does not support displaying on a device that supports faces.
13626 *** The function face-documentation returns the documentation string
13627 of a face (or nil if it doesn't have one).
13629 *** The function face-bold-p returns t if a face should be bold.
13630 set-face-bold-p sets that flag.
13632 *** The function face-italic-p returns t if a face should be italic.
13633 set-face-italic-p sets that flag.
13635 *** You can now specify foreground and background colors for text
13636 by adding elements of the form (foreground-color . COLOR-NAME)
13637 and (background-color . COLOR-NAME) to the list of faces in
13638 the `face' property (either the character's text property or an
13641 This means that you no longer need to create named faces to use
13642 arbitrary colors in a Lisp package.
13644 ** Changes in file-handling functions
13646 *** File-access primitive functions no longer discard an extra redundant
13647 directory name from the beginning of the file name. In other words,
13648 they no longer do anything special with // or /~. That conversion
13649 is now done only in substitute-in-file-name.
13651 This makes it possible for a Lisp program to open a file whose name
13654 *** If copy-file is unable to set the date of the output file,
13655 it now signals an error with the condition file-date-error.
13657 *** The inode number returned by file-attributes may be an integer (if
13658 the number fits in a Lisp integer) or a list of integers.
13660 *** insert-file-contents can now read from a special file,
13661 as long as the arguments VISIT and REPLACE are nil.
13663 *** The RAWFILE arg to find-file-noselect, if non-nil, now suppresses
13664 character code conversion as well as other things.
13666 Meanwhile, this feature does work with remote file names
13667 (formerly it did not).
13669 *** Lisp packages which create temporary files should use the TMPDIR
13670 environment variable to decide which directory to put them in.
13672 *** interpreter-mode-alist elements now specify regexps
13673 instead of constant strings.
13675 *** expand-file-name no longer treats `//' or `/~' specially. It used
13676 to delete all the text of a file name up through the first slash of
13677 any `//' or `/~' sequence. Now it passes them straight through.
13679 substitute-in-file-name continues to treat those sequences specially,
13680 in the same way as before.
13682 *** The variable `format-alist' is more general now.
13683 The FROM-FN and TO-FN in a format definition can now be strings
13684 which specify shell commands to use as filters to perform conversion.
13686 *** The new function access-file tries to open a file, and signals an
13687 error if that fails. If the open succeeds, access-file does nothing
13688 else, and returns nil.
13690 *** The function insert-directory now signals an error if the specified
13691 directory cannot be listed.
13693 ** Changes in minibuffer input
13695 *** The functions read-buffer, read-variable, read-command, read-string
13696 read-file-name, read-from-minibuffer and completing-read now take an
13697 additional argument which specifies the default value. If this
13698 argument is non-nil, it should be a string; that string is used in two
13701 It is returned if the user enters empty input.
13702 It is available through the history command M-n.
13704 *** The functions read-string, read-from-minibuffer,
13705 read-no-blanks-input and completing-read now take an additional
13706 argument INHERIT-INPUT-METHOD. If this is non-nil, then the
13707 minibuffer inherits the current input method and the setting of
13708 enable-multibyte-characters from the previously current buffer.
13710 In an interactive spec, you can use M instead of s to read an
13711 argument in this way.
13713 *** All minibuffer input functions discard text properties
13714 from the text you enter in the minibuffer, unless the variable
13715 minibuffer-allow-text-properties is non-nil.
13717 ** Echo area features
13719 *** Clearing the echo area now runs the normal hook
13720 echo-area-clear-hook. Note that the echo area can be used while the
13721 minibuffer is active; in that case, the minibuffer is still active
13722 after the echo area is cleared.
13724 *** The function current-message returns the message currently displayed
13725 in the echo area, or nil if there is none.
13727 ** Keyboard input features
13729 *** tty-erase-char is a new variable that reports which character was
13730 set up as the terminal's erase character when time Emacs was started.
13732 *** num-nonmacro-input-events is the total number of input events
13733 received so far from the terminal. It does not count those generated
13734 by keyboard macros.
13736 ** Frame-related changes
13738 *** make-frame runs the normal hook before-make-frame-hook just before
13739 creating a frame, and just after creating a frame it runs the abnormal
13740 hook after-make-frame-functions with the new frame as arg.
13742 *** The new hook window-configuration-change-hook is now run every time
13743 the window configuration has changed. The frame whose configuration
13744 has changed is the selected frame when the hook is run.
13746 *** Each frame now independently records the order for recently
13747 selected buffers, in its buffer-list frame parameter, so that the
13748 value of other-buffer is now based on the buffers recently displayed
13749 in the selected frame.
13751 *** The value of the frame parameter vertical-scroll-bars
13752 is now `left', `right' or nil. A non-nil value specifies
13753 which side of the window to put the scroll bars on.
13755 ** X Windows features
13757 *** You can examine X resources for other applications by binding
13758 x-resource-class around a call to x-get-resource. The usual value of
13759 x-resource-class is "Emacs", which is the correct value for Emacs.
13761 *** In menus, checkboxes and radio buttons now actually work.
13762 The menu displays the current status of the box or button.
13764 *** The function x-list-fonts now takes an optional fourth argument
13765 MAXIMUM which sets a limit on how many matching fonts to return.
13766 A smaller value of MAXIMUM makes the function faster.
13768 If the only question is whether *any* font matches the pattern,
13769 it is good to supply 1 for this argument.
13771 ** Subprocess features
13773 *** A reminder: it is no longer necessary for subprocess filter
13774 functions and sentinels to do save-match-data, because Emacs does this
13777 *** The new function shell-command-to-string executes a shell command
13778 and returns the output from the command as a string.
13780 *** The new function process-contact returns t for a child process,
13781 and (HOSTNAME SERVICE) for a net connection.
13783 ** An error in running pre-command-hook or post-command-hook
13784 does clear the variable to nil. The documentation was wrong before.
13786 ** In define-key-after, if AFTER is t, the new binding now always goes
13787 at the end of the keymap. If the keymap is a menu, this means it
13788 goes after the other menu items.
13790 ** If you have a program that makes several changes in the same area
13791 of the buffer, you can use the macro combine-after-change-calls
13792 around that Lisp code to make it faster when after-change hooks
13795 The macro arranges to call the after-change functions just once for a
13796 series of several changes--if that seems safe.
13798 Don't alter the variables after-change-functions and
13799 after-change-function within the body of a combine-after-change-calls
13802 ** If you define an abbrev (with define-abbrev) whose EXPANSION
13803 is not a string, then the abbrev does not expand in the usual sense,
13804 but its hook is still run.
13806 ** Normally, the Lisp debugger is not used (even if you have enabled it)
13807 for errors that are handled by condition-case.
13809 If you set debug-on-signal to a non-nil value, then the debugger is called
13810 regardless of whether there is a handler for the condition. This is
13811 useful for debugging problems that happen inside of a condition-case.
13813 This mode of operation seems to be unreliable in other ways. Errors that
13814 are normal and ought to be handled, perhaps in timers or process
13815 filters, will instead invoke the debugger. So don't say you weren't
13818 ** The new variable ring-bell-function lets you specify your own
13819 way for Emacs to "ring the bell".
13821 ** If run-at-time's TIME argument is t, the action is repeated at
13822 integral multiples of REPEAT from the epoch; this is useful for
13823 functions like display-time.
13825 ** You can use the function locate-library to find the precise file
13826 name of a Lisp library. This isn't new, but wasn't documented before.
13828 ** Commands for entering view mode have new optional arguments that
13829 can be used from Lisp. Low-level entrance to and exit from view mode
13830 is done by functions view-mode-enter and view-mode-exit.
13832 ** batch-byte-compile-file now makes Emacs return a nonzero status code
13833 if there is an error in compilation.
13835 ** pop-to-buffer, switch-to-buffer-other-window and
13836 switch-to-buffer-other-frame now accept an additional optional
13837 argument NORECORD, much like switch-to-buffer. If it is non-nil,
13838 they don't put the buffer at the front of the buffer list.
13840 ** If your .emacs file leaves the *scratch* buffer non-empty,
13841 Emacs does not display the startup message, so as to avoid changing
13842 the *scratch* buffer.
13844 ** The new function regexp-opt returns an efficient regexp to match a string.
13845 The arguments are STRINGS and (optionally) PAREN. This function can be used
13846 where regexp matching or searching is intensively used and speed is important,
13847 e.g., in Font Lock mode.
13849 ** The variable buffer-display-count is local to each buffer,
13850 and is incremented each time the buffer is displayed in a window.
13851 It starts at 0 when the buffer is created.
13853 ** The new function compose-mail starts composing a mail message
13854 using the user's chosen mail composition agent (specified with the
13855 variable mail-user-agent). It has variants compose-mail-other-window
13856 and compose-mail-other-frame.
13858 ** The `user-full-name' function now takes an optional parameter which
13859 can either be a number (the UID) or a string (the login name). The
13860 full name of the specified user will be returned.
13862 ** Lisp packages that load files of customizations, or any other sort
13863 of user profile, should obey the variable init-file-user in deciding
13864 where to find it. They should load the profile of the user name found
13865 in that variable. If init-file-user is nil, meaning that the -q
13866 option was used, then Lisp packages should not load the customization
13869 ** format-time-string now allows you to specify the field width
13870 and type of padding. This works as in printf: you write the field
13871 width as digits in the middle of a %-construct. If you start
13872 the field width with 0, it means to pad with zeros.
13874 For example, %S normally specifies the number of seconds since the
13875 minute; %03S means to pad this with zeros to 3 positions, %_3S to pad
13876 with spaces to 3 positions. Plain %3S pads with zeros, because that
13877 is how %S normally pads to two positions.
13879 ** thing-at-point now supports a new kind of "thing": url.
13881 ** imenu.el changes.
13883 You can now specify a function to be run when selecting an
13884 item from menu created by imenu.
13886 An example of using this feature: if we define imenu items for the
13887 #include directives in a C file, we can open the included file when we
13888 select one of those items.
13890 * For older news, see the file ONEWS
13892 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
13893 Copyright information:
13895 Copyright (C) 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
13897 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
13898 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
13899 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
13900 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
13902 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
13903 of this document, or of portions of it,
13904 under the above conditions, provided also that they
13905 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
13909 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"
13912 arch-tag: 1aca9dfa-2ac4-4d14-bebf-0007cee12793