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.
17 Fixme: The notes about Emacs 23 are quite incomplete.
20 * Changes in Emacs 23.1
22 ** The Emacs character set is now a superset of Unicode.
23 (It has about four times the code space, which should be plenty).
25 The internal encoding used for buffers and strings is now
26 Unicode-based and called `utf-8-emacs'. utf-8-emacs is backwards
27 compatible with the UTF-8 encoding of Unicode. The `emacs-mule'
28 coding system can still read and write data in the old internal
31 There are still charsets which contain disjoint sets of characters
32 where this is necessary or useful, especially for various Far Eastern
33 sets which are problematic with Unicode.
35 Since the internal encoding is also used by default for byte-compiled
36 files -- i.e. the normal coding system for byte-compiled Lisp files is
37 now utf-8-Emacs -- Lisp containing non-ASCII characters which is
38 compiled by Emacs 23 can't be read by earlier versions of Emacs. Files
39 compiled by Emacs 20, 21, or 22 are loaded correctly as emacs-mule
40 (whether or not they contain multibyte characters), which makes loading
41 them somewhat slower than Emacs 23-compiled files. Thus it may be worth
42 recompiling existing .elc files which don't need to be shared with older
45 ** There are assorted new coding systems/aliases -- see
46 M-x list-coding-systems.
48 ** New charset implementation with many new charsets.
49 See M-x list-character-sets. New charsets can be defined conveniently
50 as tables of unicodes.
52 The dimension of a charset is now 0, 1, 2, or 3, and the size of each
53 dimension is no longer limited to 94 or 96.
55 Generic characters no longer exist.
57 A dynamic charset priority list is used to infer the charset of
58 unicodes for display &c.
60 ** The following facilities are obsolete:
62 Minor modes: unify-8859-on-encoding-mode, unify-8859-on-decoding-mode
65 * Lisp changes in Emacs 23.1
67 map-char-table's behaviour has changed.
69 New functions: characterp, max-char, map-charset-chars,
70 define-charset-alias, primary-charset, set-primary-charset,
71 unify-charset, clear-charset-maps, charset-priority-list,
72 set-charset-priority, define-coding-system,
73 define-coding-system-alias, coding-system-aliases, langinfo,
76 Changed functions: copy-sequence, decode-char, encode-char,
77 set-fontset-font, new-fontset, modify-syntax-entry, define-charset,
80 Obsoleted: char-bytes, chars-in-region, set-coding-priority,
84 * Incompatible Lisp changes
86 Deleted functions: make-coding-system, register-char-codings,
89 ** The character codes for characters from the
90 eight-bit-control/eight-bit-graphic charsets aren't now in the range
93 * Installation Changes in Emacs 22.1
95 ** Emacs includes now support for loading image libraries on demand.
96 (Currently this feature is only used on MS Windows.) You can configure
97 the supported image types and their associated dynamic libraries by
98 setting the variable `image-library-alist'.
101 ** New translations of the Emacs Tutorial are available in the following
102 languages: Brasilian, Bulgarian, Chinese (both with simplified and
103 traditional characters), French, and Italian. Type `C-u C-h t' to
104 choose one of them in case your language setup doesn't automatically
105 select the right one.
107 ** You can build Emacs with Gtk+ widgets by specifying `--with-x-toolkit=gtk'
108 when you run configure. This requires Gtk+ 2.0 or newer. This port
109 provides a way to display multilingual text in menus (with some caveats).
112 ** Emacs can now be built without sound support.
114 ** The `emacsserver' program has been removed, replaced with elisp code.
117 ** Emacs now supports new configure options `--program-prefix',
118 `--program-suffix' and `--program-transform-name' that affect the names of
122 ** By default, Emacs now uses a setgid helper program to update game
123 scores. The directory ${localstatedir}/games/emacs is the normal
124 place for game scores to be stored. This may be controlled by the
125 configure option `--with-game-dir'. The specific user that Emacs uses
126 to own the game scores is controlled by `--with-game-user'. If access
127 to a game user is not available, then scores will be stored separately
128 in each user's home directory.
131 ** Leim is now part of the Emacs distribution.
132 You no longer need to download a separate tarball in order to build
136 ** The Emacs Lisp Reference Manual is now part of the distribution.
138 The ELisp reference manual in Info format is built as part of the
139 Emacs build procedure and installed together with the Emacs User
140 Manual. A menu item was added to the menu bar that makes it easy
141 accessible (Help->More Manuals->Emacs Lisp Reference).
144 ** The Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp manual is now part of
147 This manual is now part of the standard distribution and is installed,
148 together with the Emacs User Manual, into the Info directory. A menu
149 item was added to the menu bar that makes it easy accessible
150 (Help->More Manuals->Introduction to Emacs Lisp).
152 ** Support for Cygwin was added.
155 ** Support for FreeBSD/Alpha has been added.
158 ** Support for GNU/Linux systems on S390 machines was added.
161 ** Support for MacOS X was added.
162 See the files mac/README and mac/INSTALL for build instructions.
165 ** Support for GNU/Linux systems on X86-64 machines was added.
167 ** Mac OS 9 port now uses the Carbon API by default. You can also
168 create non-Carbon build by specifying `NonCarbon' as a target. See
169 the files mac/README and mac/INSTALL for build instructions.
172 ** A French translation of the `Emacs Survival Guide' is available.
175 ** Building with -DENABLE_CHECKING does not automatically build with union
176 types any more. Add -DUSE_LISP_UNION_TYPE if you want union types.
179 * Changes in Emacs 22.1
181 ** The commands copy-file, rename-file, make-symbolic-link and
182 add-name-to-file, when given a directory as the "new name" argument,
183 convert it to a file name by merging in the within-directory part of
184 the existing file's name. (This is the same convention that shell
185 commands cp, mv, and ln follow.) Thus, M-x copy-file RET ~/foo RET
186 /tmp RET copies ~/foo to /tmp/foo.
188 ** C-u M-x goto-line now switches to the most recent previous buffer,
189 and goes to the specified line in that buffer.
191 When goto-line starts to execute, if there's a number in the buffer at
192 point then it acts as the default argument for the minibuffer.
194 ** Emacs now responds to mouse-clicks on the mode-line, header-line and
195 display margin, when run in an xterm.
197 ** M-SPC (just-one-space) when given a numeric argument N
198 converts whitespace around point to N spaces.
200 ** Control characters and escape glyphs are now shown in the new
203 ** Non-breaking space and hyphens are now prefixed with an escape
204 character, unless the new user variable `show-nonbreak-escape' is set
208 ** The type-break package now allows `type-break-file-name' to be nil
209 and if so, doesn't store any data across sessions. This is handy if
210 you don't want the .type-break file in your home directory or are
211 annoyed by the need for interaction when you kill Emacs.
213 ** display-battery has been replaced by display-battery-mode.
215 ** calculator.el now has radix grouping mode, which is available when
216 `calculator-output-radix' is non-nil. In this mode a separator
217 character is used every few digits, making it easier to see byte
218 boundries etc. For more info, see the documentation of the variable
219 `calculator-radix-grouping-mode'.
222 ** You can now follow links by clicking Mouse-1 on the link.
224 Traditionally, Emacs uses a Mouse-1 click to set point and a Mouse-2
225 click to follow a link, whereas most other applications use a Mouse-1
226 click for both purposes, depending on whether you click outside or
227 inside a link. Now the behavior of a Mouse-1 click has been changed
228 to match this context-sentitive dual behavior.
230 Depending on the current mode, a Mouse-2 click in Emacs may do much
231 more than just follow a link, so the new Mouse-1 behavior is only
232 activated for modes which explicitly mark a clickable text as a "link"
233 (see the new function `mouse-on-link-p' for details). The Lisp
234 packages that are included in release 22.1 have been adapted to do
235 this, but external packages may not yet support this. However, there
236 is no risk in using such packages, as the worst thing that could
237 happen is that you get the original Mouse-1 behavior when you click
238 on a link, which typically means that you set point where you click.
240 If you want to get the original Mouse-1 action also inside a link, you
241 just need to press the Mouse-1 button a little longer than a normal
242 click (i.e. press and hold the Mouse-1 button for half a second before
245 Dragging the Mouse-1 inside a link still performs the original
246 drag-mouse-1 action, typically copy the text.
248 You can customize the new Mouse-1 behavior via the new user options
249 `mouse-1-click-follows-link' and `mouse-1-click-in-non-selected-windows'.
252 ** require-final-newline now has two new possible values:
254 `visit' means add a newline (as an undoable change) if it's needed
255 when visiting the file.
257 `visit-save' means add a newline (as an undoable change) if it's
258 needed when visiting the file, and also add a newline if it's needed
259 when saving the file.
262 ** The new option mode-require-final-newline controls how certain
263 major modes enable require-final-newline. Any major mode that's
264 designed for a kind of file that should normally end in a newline
265 sets require-final-newline based on mode-require-final-newline.
266 So you can customize mode-require-final-newline to control what these
270 ** When the undo information of the current command gets really large
271 (beyond the value of `undo-outer-limit'), Emacs discards it and warns
274 ** line-move-ignore-invisible now defaults to t.
276 ** In Outline mode, hide-body no longer hides lines at the top
277 of the file that precede the first header line.
280 ** In Enriched mode, `set-left-margin' and `set-right-margin' are now
281 by default bound to `C-c [' and `C-c ]' instead of the former `C-c C-l'
285 ** In processing a local variables list, Emacs strips the prefix and
286 suffix are from every line before processing all the lines.
289 ** `apply-macro-to-region-lines' now operates on all lines that begin
290 in the region, rather than on all complete lines in the region.
292 ** global-whitespace-mode is a new alias for whitespace-global-mode.
295 ** There are now two new regular expression operators, \_< and \_>,
296 for matching the beginning and end of a symbol. A symbol is a
297 non-empty sequence of either word or symbol constituent characters, as
298 specified by the syntax table.
300 ** Passing resources on the command line now works on MS Windows.
301 You can use --xrm to pass resource settings to Emacs, overriding any
302 existing values. For example:
304 emacs --xrm "Emacs.Background:red" --xrm "Emacs.Geometry:100x20"
306 will start up Emacs on an initial frame of 100x20 with red background,
307 irrespective of geometry or background setting on the Windows registry.
309 ** The terminal emulation code in term.el has been improved, it can
310 run most curses applications now.
312 ** New features in evaluation commands
315 *** The function `eval-defun' (C-M-x) called on defface reinitializes
316 the face to the value specified in the defface expression.
318 *** Typing C-x C-e twice prints the value of the integer result
319 in additional formats (octal, hexadecimal, character) specified
320 by the new function `eval-expression-print-format'. The same
321 function also defines the result format for `eval-expression' (M-:),
322 `eval-print-last-sexp' (C-j) and some edebug evaluation functions.
324 ** New input method chinese-sisheng for inputting Chinese Pinyin
327 ** New command quail-show-key shows what key (or key sequence) to type
328 in the current input method to input a character at point.
330 ** Convenient commands to switch buffers in a cyclic order are C-x <left>
331 (prev-buffer) and C-x <right> (next-buffer).
333 ** Commands winner-redo and winner-undo, from winner.el, are now bound to
334 C-c <left> and C-c <right>, respectively. This is an incompatible change.
336 ** Help commands `describe-function' and `describe-key' now show function
337 arguments in lowercase italics on displays that support it. To change the
338 default, customize face `help-argument-name' or redefine the function
339 `help-default-arg-highlight'.
342 ** The comint prompt can now be made read-only, using the new user
343 option `comint-prompt-read-only'. This is not enabled by default,
344 except in IELM buffers. The read-only status of IELM prompts can be
345 controlled with the new user option `ielm-prompt-read-only', which
346 overrides `comint-prompt-read-only'.
348 The new commands `comint-kill-whole-line' and `comint-kill-region'
349 support editing comint buffers with read-only prompts.
351 `comint-kill-whole-line' is like `kill-whole-line', but ignores both
352 read-only and field properties. Hence, it always kill entire
353 lines, including any prompts.
355 `comint-kill-region' is like `kill-region', except that it ignores
356 read-only properties, if it is safe to do so. This means that if any
357 part of a prompt is deleted, then the entire prompt must be deleted
358 and that all prompts must stay at the beginning of a line. If this is
359 not the case, then `comint-kill-region' behaves just like
360 `kill-region' if read-only are involved: it copies the text to the
361 kill-ring, but does not delete it.
363 ** You can now use next-error (C-x `) and previous-error to advance to
364 the next/previous matching line found by M-x occur.
366 ** Telnet now prompts you for a port number with C-u M-x telnet.
369 ** New command line option -Q.
371 This is like using -q --no-site-file, but in addition it also disables
372 the menu-bar, the tool-bar, the scroll-bars, tool tips, the blinking
373 cursor, and the fancy startup screen.
376 ** New command line option -nbc or --no-blinking-cursor disables
377 the blinking cursor on graphical terminals.
379 ** C-h v and C-h f commands now include a hyperlink to the C source for
380 variables and functions defined in C (if the C source is available).
382 ** When used interactively, `format-write-file' now asks for confirmation
383 before overwriting an existing file, unless a prefix argument is
384 supplied. This behavior is analogous to `write-file'.
386 ** You can now use Auto Revert mode to `tail' a file.
387 If point is at the end of a file buffer before reverting, Auto Revert
388 mode keeps it at the end after reverting. Similarly if point is
389 displayed at the end of a file buffer in any window, it stays at
390 the end of the buffer in that window. This allows to tail a file:
391 just put point at the end of the buffer and it stays there. This
392 rule applies to file buffers. For non-file buffers, the behavior may
395 If you are sure that the file will only change by growing at the end,
396 then you can tail the file more efficiently by using the new minor
397 mode Auto Revert Tail mode. The function `auto-revert-tail-mode'
400 ** Auto Revert mode is now more careful to avoid excessive reverts and
401 other potential problems when deciding which non-file buffers to
402 revert. This matters especially if Global Auto Revert mode is enabled
403 and `global-auto-revert-non-file-buffers' is non-nil. Auto Revert
404 mode only reverts a non-file buffer if the buffer has a non-nil
405 `revert-buffer-function' and a non-nil `buffer-stale-function', which
406 decides whether the buffer should be reverted. Currently, this means
407 that auto reverting works for Dired buffers (although this may not
408 work properly on all operating systems) and for the Buffer Menu.
410 ** If the new user option `auto-revert-check-vc-info' is non-nil, Auto
411 Revert mode reliably updates version control info (such as the version
412 control number in the mode line), in all version controlled buffers in
413 which it is active. If the option is nil, the default, then this info
414 only gets updated whenever the buffer gets reverted.
416 ** New command `Buffer-menu-toggle-files-only' toggles display of file
417 buffers only in the Buffer Menu. It is bound to `T' in Buffer Menu
420 ** M-x compile has become more robust and reliable
422 Quite a few more kinds of messages are recognized. Messages that are
423 recognized as warnings or informational come in orange or green, instead of
424 red. Informational messages are by default skipped with `next-error'
425 (controlled by `compilation-skip-threshold').
427 Location data is collected on the fly as the *compilation* buffer changes.
428 This means you could modify messages to make them point to different files.
429 This also means you can not go to locations of messages you may have deleted.
431 The variable `compilation-error-regexp-alist' has now become customizable. If
432 you had added your own regexps to this, you'll probably need to include a
433 leading `^', otherwise they'll match anywhere on a line. There is now also a
434 `compilation-mode-font-lock-keywords' and it nicely handles all the checks
435 that configure outputs and -o options so you see at a glance where you are.
437 The new file etc/compilation.txt gives examples of each type of message.
439 ** Compilation mode enhancements:
442 *** New user option `compilation-environment'.
443 This option allows you to specify environment variables for inferior
444 compilation processes without affecting the environment that all
445 subprocesses inherit.
447 ** Grep has been decoupled from compilation mode setup.
449 *** There's a new separate package grep.el.
451 *** M-x grep has been adapted to new compile
453 Hits are fontified in green, and hits in binary files in orange. Grep buffers
454 can be saved and automatically revisited with the new Grep mode.
456 *** Grep commands now have their own submenu and customization group.
459 *** `grep-find' is now also available under the name `find-grep' where
460 people knowing `find-grep-dired' would probably expect it.
462 *** The new variables `grep-window-height', `grep-auto-highlight', and
463 `grep-scroll-output' can be used to override the corresponding
464 compilation mode settings for grep commands.
466 *** New option `grep-highlight-matches' highlightes matches in *grep*
467 buffer. It uses a special feature of some grep programs which accept
468 --color option to output markers around matches. When going to the next
469 match with `next-error' the exact match is highlighted in the source
470 buffer. Otherwise, if `grep-highlight-matches' is nil, the whole
471 source line is highlighted.
473 *** New key bindings in grep output window:
474 SPC and DEL scrolls window up and down. C-n and C-p moves to next and
475 previous match in the grep window. RET jumps to the source line of
476 the current match. `n' and `p' shows next and previous match in
477 other window, but does not switch buffer. `{' and `}' jumps to the
478 previous or next file in the grep output. TAB also jumps to the next
481 ** New options `next-error-highlight' and `next-error-highlight-no-select'
482 specify the method of highlighting of the corresponding source line
483 in new face `next-error'.
485 ** A new minor mode `next-error-follow-minor-mode' can be used in
486 compilation-mode, grep-mode, occur-mode, and diff-mode (i.e. all the
487 modes that can use `next-error'). In this mode, cursor motion in the
488 buffer causes automatic display in another window of the corresponding
489 matches, compilation errors, etc. This minor mode can be toggled with
492 ** M-x diff uses diff-mode instead of compilation-mode.
494 ** M-x compare-windows now can automatically skip non-matching text to
495 resync points in both windows.
497 ** New command `strokes-global-set-stroke-string'.
498 This is like `strokes-global-set-stroke', but it allows you to bind
499 the stroke directly to a string to insert. This is convenient for
500 using strokes as an input method.
504 *** Gnus now includes Sieve and PGG
505 Sieve is a library for managing Sieve scripts. PGG is a library to handle
508 *** There are many news features, bug fixes and improvements.
509 See the file GNUS-NEWS or the node "Oort Gnus" in the Gnus manual for details.
514 *** Desktop saving is now a minor mode, desktop-save-mode. Variable
515 desktop-enable is obsolete. Customize desktop-save-mode to enable desktop
518 *** Buffers are saved in the desktop file in the same order as that in the
521 *** The desktop package can be customized to restore only some buffers immediately,
522 remaining buffers are restored lazily (when Emacs is idle).
525 - desktop-revert reverts to the last loaded desktop.
526 - desktop-change-dir kills current desktop and loads a new.
527 - desktop-save-in-desktop-dir saves desktop in the directory from which
529 - desktop-lazy-complete runs the desktop load to completion.
530 - desktop-lazy-abort aborts lazy loading of the desktop.
532 *** New customizable variables:
533 - desktop-save. Determins whether the desktop should be saved when it is
535 - desktop-file-name-format. Format in which desktop file names should be saved.
536 - desktop-path. List of directories in which to lookup the desktop file.
537 - desktop-locals-to-save. List of local variables to save.
538 - desktop-globals-to-clear. List of global variables that `desktop-clear' will clear.
539 - desktop-clear-preserve-buffers-regexp. Regexp identifying buffers that `desktop-clear'
541 - desktop-restore-eager. Number of buffers to restore immediately. Remaining buffers are
542 restored lazily (when Emacs is idle).
543 - desktop-lazy-verbose. Verbose reporting of lazily created buffers.
544 - desktop-lazy-idle-delay. Idle delay before starting to create buffers.
546 *** New command line option --no-desktop
549 - desktop-after-read-hook run after a desktop is loaded.
550 - desktop-no-desktop-file-hook run when no desktop file is found.
553 ** The saveplace.el package now filters out unreadable files.
554 When you exit Emacs, the saved positions in visited files no longer
555 include files that aren't readable, e.g. files that don't exist.
556 Customize the new option `save-place-forget-unreadable-files' to nil
557 to get the old behavior. The new options `save-place-save-skipped'
558 and `save-place-skip-check-regexp' allow further fine-tuning of this
561 ** You can have several Emacs servers on the same machine.
563 % emacs --eval '(setq server-name "foo")' -f server-start &
564 % emacs --eval '(setq server-name "bar")' -f server-start &
565 % emacsclient -s foo file1
566 % emacsclient -s bar file2
569 ** On window systems, lines which are exactly as wide as the window
570 (not counting the final newline character) are no longer broken into
571 two lines on the display (with just the newline on the second line).
572 Instead, the newline now "overflows" into the right fringe, and the
573 cursor will be displayed in the fringe when positioned on that newline.
575 The new user option 'overflow-newline-into-fringe' may be set to nil to
576 revert to the old behavior of continuing such lines.
579 ** The buffer boundaries (i.e. first and last line in the buffer) may
580 now be marked with angle bitmaps in the fringes. In addition, up and
581 down arrow bitmaps may be shown at the top and bottom of the left or
582 right fringe if the window can be scrolled in either direction.
584 This behavior is activated by setting the buffer-local variable
585 `indicate-buffer-boundaries' to a non-nil value. The default value of
586 this variable is found in `default-indicate-buffer-boundaries'.
588 If value is `left' or `right', both angle and arrow bitmaps are
589 displayed in the left or right fringe, resp.
591 Value may also be an alist which specifies the presense and position
592 of each bitmap individually.
594 For example, ((top . left) (t . right)) places the top angle bitmap
595 in left fringe, the bottom angle bitmap in right fringe, and both
596 arrow bitmaps in right fringe. To show just the angle bitmaps in the
597 left fringe, but no arrow bitmaps, use ((top . left) (bottom . left)).
599 ** New command `display-local-help' displays any local help at point
600 in the echo area. It is bound to `C-h .'. It normally displays the
601 same string that would be displayed on mouse-over using the
602 `help-echo' property, but, in certain cases, it can display a more
603 keyboard oriented alternative.
605 ** New user option `help-at-pt-display-when-idle' allows to
606 automatically show the help provided by `display-local-help' on
607 point-over, after suitable idle time. The amount of idle time is
608 determined by the user option `help-at-pt-timer-delay' and defaults
609 to one second. This feature is turned off by default.
611 ** New commands `scan-buf-next-region' and `scan-buf-previous-region'
612 move to the start of the next (previous, respectively) region with
613 non-nil help-echo property and display any help found there in the
614 echo area, using `display-local-help'.
617 ** Help mode now only makes hyperlinks for faces when the face name is
618 preceded or followed by the word `face'. It no longer makes
619 hyperlinks for variables without variable documentation, unless
620 preceded by one of the words `variable' or `option'. It now makes
621 hyperlinks to Info anchors (or nodes) if the anchor (or node) name is
622 enclosed in single quotes and preceded by `info anchor' or `Info
623 anchor' (in addition to earlier `info node' and `Info node').
625 ** The max size of buffers and integers has been doubled.
626 On 32bit machines, it is now 256M (i.e. 268435455).
629 ** The -f option, used from the command line to call a function,
630 now reads arguments for the function interactively if it is
631 an interactively callable function.
636 *** The variable `sql-product' controls the highlightng of different
637 SQL dialects. This variable can be set globally via Customize, on a
638 buffer-specific basis via local variable settings, or for the current
639 session using the new SQL->Product submenu. (This menu replaces the
640 SQL->Highlighting submenu.)
642 The following values are supported:
644 ansi ANSI Standard (default)
658 The current product name will be shown on the mode line following the
661 The technique of setting `sql-mode-font-lock-defaults' directly in
662 your .emacs will no longer establish the default highlighting -- Use
663 `sql-product' to accomplish this.
665 ANSI keywords are always highlighted.
667 *** The function `sql-add-product-keywords' can be used to add
668 font-lock rules to the product specific rules. For example, to have
669 all identifiers ending in "_t" under MS SQLServer treated as a type,
670 you would use the following line in your .emacs file:
672 (sql-add-product-keywords 'ms
673 '(("\\<\\w+_t\\>" . font-lock-type-face)))
675 *** Oracle support includes keyword highlighting for Oracle 9i. Most
676 SQL and PL/SQL keywords are implemented. SQL*Plus commands are
677 highlighted in `font-lock-doc-face'.
679 *** Microsoft SQLServer support has been significantly improved.
680 Keyword highlighting for SqlServer 2000 is implemented.
681 sql-interactive-mode defaults to use osql, rather than isql, because
682 osql flushes its error stream more frequently. Thus error messages
683 are displayed when they occur rather than when the session is
686 If the username and password are not provided to `sql-ms', osql is
687 called with the -E command line argument to use the operating system
688 credentials to authenticate the user.
690 *** Postgres support is enhanced.
691 Keyword highlighting of Postgres 7.3 is implemented. Prompting for
692 the username and the pgsql `-U' option is added.
694 *** MySQL support is enhanced.
695 Keyword higlighting of MySql 4.0 is implemented.
697 *** Imenu support has been enhanced to locate tables, views, indexes,
698 packages, procedures, functions, triggers, sequences, rules, and
701 *** Added SQL->Start SQLi Session menu entry which calls the
702 appropriate sql-interactive-mode wrapper for the current setting of
705 ** M-x view-file and commands that use it now avoid interfering
706 with special modes such as Tar mode.
708 ** Enhancements to apropos commands:
710 *** The apropos commands now accept a list of words to match.
711 When more than one word is specified, at least two of those words must
712 be present for an item to match. Regular expression matching is still
715 *** The new option `apropos-sort-by-scores' causes the matching items
716 to be sorted according to their score. The score for an item is a
717 number calculated to indicate how well the item matches the words or
718 regular expression that you entered to the apropos command. The best
719 match is listed first, and the calculated score is shown for each
723 ** The old bindings C-M-delete and C-M-backspace have been deleted,
724 since there are situations where one or the other will shut down
725 the operating system or your X server.
727 ** New minor mode, Visible mode, toggles invisibility in the current buffer.
728 When enabled, it makes all invisible text visible. When disabled, it
729 restores the previous value of `buffer-invisibility-spec'.
731 ** New command `kill-whole-line' kills an entire line at once.
732 By default, it is bound to C-S-<backspace>.
734 ** New commands to operate on pairs of open and close characters:
735 `insert-pair', `delete-pair', `raise-sexp'.
737 ** A prefix argument of C-M-q in Emacs Lisp mode pretty-printifies the
738 list starting after point.
742 *** New faces dired-header, dired-mark, dired-marked, dired-flagged,
743 dired-ignored, dired-directory, dired-symlink, dired-warning
744 introduced for Dired mode instead of font-lock faces.
746 *** New Dired command `dired-compare-directories' marks files
747 with different file attributes in two dired buffers.
750 *** New Dired command `dired-do-touch' (bound to T) changes timestamps
751 of marked files with the value entered in the minibuffer.
754 *** In Dired's ! command (dired-do-shell-command), `*' and `?' now
755 control substitution of the file names only when they are surrounded
756 by whitespace. This means you can now use them as shell wildcards
757 too. If you want to use just plain `*' as a wildcard, type `*""'; the
758 doublequotes make no difference in the shell, but they prevent
759 special treatment in `dired-do-shell-command'.
761 *** In Dired, the w command now copies the current line's file name
762 into the kill ring. With a zero prefix arg, copies absolute file names.
767 *** Omitting files is now a minor mode, dired-omit-mode. The mode toggling
768 command is bound to M-o. A new command dired-mark-omitted, bound to M-O,
769 marks omitted files. The variable dired-omit-files-p is obsoleted, use the
770 mode toggling function instead.
773 ** find-file-read-only visits multiple files in read-only mode,
774 when the file name contains wildcard characters.
777 ** find-alternate-file replaces the current file with multiple files,
778 when the file name contains wildcard characters.
783 *** New ffap commands and keybindings: C-x C-r (`ffap-read-only'),
784 C-x C-v (`ffap-alternate-file'), C-x C-d (`ffap-list-directory'),
785 C-x 4 r (`ffap-read-only-other-window'), C-x 4 d (`ffap-dired-other-window'),
786 C-x 5 r (`ffap-read-only-other-frame'), C-x 5 d (`ffap-dired-other-frame').
789 *** FFAP accepts wildcards in a file name by default. C-x C-f passes
790 it to `find-file' with non-nil WILDCARDS argument, which visits
791 multiple files, and C-x d passes it to `dired'.
795 *** A numeric prefix argument of `info' selects an Info buffer
796 with the number appended to the *info* buffer name (e.g. "*info*<2>").
798 *** isearch in Info uses Info-search and searches through multiple nodes.
799 Failed isearch wraps to the top/final node. The user option
800 `Info-isearch-search' controls whether to use Info-search or the
801 default isearch search function.
803 *** New search commands: `Info-search-case-sensitively' (bound to S),
804 `Info-search-backward', and `Info-search-next' which repeats the last
805 search without prompting for a new search string.
807 *** New command `Info-history-forward' (bound to r and new toolbar icon)
808 moves forward in history to the node you returned from after using
809 `Info-history-back' (renamed from `Info-last').
811 *** New command `Info-history' (bound to L) displays a menu of visited nodes.
813 *** New command `Info-toc' (bound to T) creates a node with table of contents
814 from the tree structure of menus of the current Info file.
816 *** New command `info-apropos' searches the indices of the known
817 Info files on your system for a string, and builds a menu of the
820 *** New command `Info-copy-current-node-name' (bound to w) copies
821 the current Info node name into the kill ring. With a zero prefix
822 arg, puts the node name inside the `info' function call.
824 *** New face `info-xref-visited' distinguishes visited nodes from unvisited
825 and a new option `Info-fontify-visited-nodes' to control this.
827 *** http and ftp links in Info are now operational: they look like cross
828 references and following them calls `browse-url'.
831 *** Info now hides node names in menus and cross references by default.
832 If you prefer the old behavior, you can set the new user option
833 `Info-hide-note-references' to nil.
835 *** Images in Info pages are supported.
836 Info pages show embedded images, in Emacs frames with image support.
837 Info documentation that includes images, processed with makeinfo
838 version 4.7 or newer, compiles to Info pages with embedded images.
841 *** The default value for `Info-scroll-prefer-subnodes' is now nil.
844 *** Info-index offers completion.
846 ** Support for the SQLite interpreter has been added to sql.el by calling
850 *** The new command bibtex-url browses a URL for the BibTeX entry at
851 point (bound to C-c C-l and mouse-2, RET on clickable fields).
853 *** The new command bibtex-entry-update (bound to C-c C-u) updates
854 an existing BibTeX entry.
856 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' option `required-fields', enabled by default.
858 *** bibtex-maintain-sorted-entries can take values `plain',
859 `crossref', and `entry-class' which control the sorting scheme used
860 for BibTeX entries. `bibtex-sort-entry-class' controls the sorting
861 scheme `entry-class'. TAB completion for reference keys and
862 automatic detection of duplicates does not require anymore that
863 bibtex-maintain-sorted-entries is non-nil.
865 *** If the new variable bibtex-parse-keys-fast is non-nil,
866 use fast but simplified algorithm for parsing BibTeX keys.
868 *** If the new variable bibtex-autoadd-commas is non-nil,
869 automatically add missing commas at end of BibTeX fields.
871 *** The new variable bibtex-autofill-types contains a list of entry
872 types for which fields are filled automatically (if possible).
874 *** The new command bibtex-complete completes word fragment before
875 point according to context (bound to M-tab).
877 *** The new commands bibtex-find-entry and bibtex-find-crossref
878 locate entries and crossref'd entries (bound to C-c C-s and C-c C-x).
879 Crossref fields are clickable (bound to mouse-2, RET).
881 *** In BibTeX mode the command fill-paragraph (bound to M-q) fills
882 individual fields of a BibTeX entry.
884 *** The new variables bibtex-files and bibtex-file-path define a set
885 of BibTeX files that are searched for entry keys.
887 *** The new command bibtex-validate-globally checks for duplicate keys
888 in multiple BibTeX files.
890 *** The new command bibtex-copy-summary-as-kill pushes summary
891 of BibTeX entry to kill ring (bound to C-c C-t).
893 ** When display margins are present in a window, the fringes are now
894 displayed between the margins and the buffer's text area, rather than
895 at the edges of the window.
897 ** A window may now have individual fringe and scroll-bar settings,
898 in addition to the individual display margin settings.
900 Such individual settings are now preserved when windows are split
901 horizontally or vertically, a saved window configuration is restored,
902 or when the frame is resized.
904 ** New functions frame-current-scroll-bars and window-current-scroll-bars.
906 These functions return the current locations of the vertical and
907 horizontal scroll bars in a frame or window.
910 ** Emacs now supports drag and drop for X. Dropping a file on a window
911 opens it, dropping text inserts the text. Dropping a file on a dired
912 buffer copies or moves the file to that directory.
914 ** Under X, mouse-wheel-mode is turned on by default.
916 ** The X resource useXIM can be used to turn off use of XIM, which may
917 speed up Emacs with slow networking to the X server.
919 If the configure option `--without-xim' was used to turn off use of
920 XIM by default, the X resource useXIM can be used to turn it on.
922 ** `undo-only' does an undo which does not redo any previous undo.
924 ** `uniquify-strip-common-suffix' tells uniquify to prefer
925 `file|dir1' and `file|dir2' to `file|dir1/subdir' and `file|dir2/subdir'.
927 ** If the user visits a file larger than `large-file-warning-threshold',
928 Emacs prompts her for confirmation.
930 ** A UTF-7 coding system is available in the library `utf-7'.
932 ** GUD mode has its own tool bar for controlling execution of the inferior
933 and other common debugger commands.
937 The recent file list is now automatically cleanup when recentf mode is
938 enabled. The new option `recentf-auto-cleanup' controls when to do
941 With the more advanced option: `recentf-filename-handler', you can
942 specify a function that transforms filenames handled by recentf. For
943 example, if set to `file-truename', the same file will not be in the
944 recent list with different symbolic links.
946 To follow naming convention, `recentf-keep-non-readable-files-flag'
947 and `recentf-menu-append-commands-flag' respectively replace the
948 misnamed options `recentf-keep-non-readable-files-p' and
949 `recentf-menu-append-commands-p'. The old names remain available as
950 aliases, but have been marked obsolete.
952 ** The default for the paper size (variable ps-paper-type) is taken
957 You can now put the init files .emacs and .emacs_SHELL under
958 ~/.emacs.d or directly under ~. Emacs will find them in either place.
960 ** partial-completion-mode now does partial completion on directory names.
962 ** skeleton.el now supports using - to mark the skeleton-point without
963 interregion interaction. @ has reverted to only setting
964 skeleton-positions and no longer sets skeleton-point. Skeletons
965 which used @ to mark skeleton-point independent of _ should now use -
966 instead. The updated skeleton-insert docstring explains these new
967 features along with other details of skeleton construction.
971 Upgraded to MH-E version 7.82. There have been major changes since
972 version 5.0.2; see MH-E-NEWS for details.
975 ** The `emacsclient' command understands the options `--eval' and
976 `--display' which tell Emacs respectively to evaluate the given elisp
977 expression and to use the given display when visiting files.
979 ** User option `server-mode' can be used to start a server process.
982 ** The mode line position information now comes before the major mode.
983 When the file is maintained under version control, that information
984 appears between the position information and the major mode.
986 ** C-x s (save-some-buffers) now offers an option `d' to diff a buffer
987 against its file, so you can see what changes you would be saving.
990 ** You can now customize the use of window fringes. To control this
991 for all frames, use M-x fringe-mode or the Show/Hide submenu of the
992 top-level Options menu, or customize the `fringe-mode' variable. To
993 control this for a specific frame, use the command M-x
997 ** There is a new user option `mail-default-directory' that allows you
998 to specify the value of `default-directory' for mail buffers. This
999 directory is used for auto-save files of mail buffers. It defaults to
1003 ** When you are root, and you visit a file whose modes specify
1004 read-only, the Emacs buffer is now read-only too. Type C-x C-q if you
1005 want to make the buffer writable. (As root, you can in fact alter the
1008 ** The new command `revert-buffer-with-coding-system' (C-x RET r)
1009 revisits the current file using a coding system that you specify.
1011 ** The new command `recode-file-name' changes the encoding of the name
1015 ** `ps-print' can now print characters from the mule-unicode charsets.
1017 Printing text with characters from the mule-unicode-* sets works with
1018 ps-print, provided that you have installed the appropriate BDF fonts.
1019 See the file INSTALL for URLs where you can find these fonts.
1022 ** The new options `buffers-menu-show-directories' and
1023 `buffers-menu-show-status' let you control how buffers are displayed
1024 in the menu dropped down when you click "Buffers" from the menu bar.
1026 `buffers-menu-show-directories' controls whether the menu displays
1027 leading directories as part of the file name visited by the buffer.
1028 If its value is `unless-uniquify', the default, directories are
1029 shown unless uniquify-buffer-name-style' is non-nil. The value of nil
1030 and t turn the display of directories off and on, respectively.
1032 `buffers-menu-show-status' controls whether the Buffers menu includes
1033 the modified and read-only status of the buffers. By default it is
1034 t, and the status is shown.
1036 Setting these variables directly does not take effect until next time
1037 the Buffers menu is regenerated.
1040 ** The commands M-x customize-face and M-x customize-face-other-window
1041 now look at the character after point. If a face or faces are
1042 specified for that character, the commands by default customize those
1045 ** New language environments: French, Ukrainian, Tajik,
1046 Bulgarian, Belarusian, Ukrainian, UTF-8, Windows-1255, Welsh, Latin-6,
1047 Latin-7, Lithuanian, Latvian, Swedish, Slovenian, Croatian, Georgian,
1048 Italian, Russian, Malayalam, Tamil, Russian, Chinese-EUC-TW. (Set up
1049 automatically according to the locale.)
1051 ** Indian support has been updated.
1052 The in-is13194 coding system is now Unicode-based. CDAC fonts are
1053 assumed. There is a framework for supporting various
1054 Indian scripts, but currently only Devanagari, Malayalam and Tamil are
1058 ** New input methods: latin-alt-postfix, latin-postfix, latin-prefix,
1059 ukrainian-computer, belarusian, bulgarian-bds, russian-computer,
1060 vietnamese-telex, lithuanian-numeric, lithuanian-keyboard,
1061 latvian-keyboard, welsh, georgian, rfc1345, ucs, sgml,
1062 bulgarian-phonetic, dutch, slovenian, croatian, malayalam-inscript,
1066 ** A new coding system `euc-tw' has been added for traditional Chinese
1067 in CNS encoding; it accepts both Big 5 and CNS as input; on saving,
1068 Big 5 is then converted to CNS.
1071 ** Many new coding systems are available by loading the `code-pages'
1072 library. These include complete versions of most of those in
1073 codepage.el, based on Unicode mappings. `codepage-setup' is now
1074 obsolete and is used only in the MS-DOS port of Emacs. windows-1252
1075 and windows-1251 are preloaded since the former is so common and the
1076 latter is used by GNU locales.
1078 ** The utf-8/16 coding systems have been enhanced.
1079 By default, untranslatable utf-8 sequences are simply composed into
1080 single quasi-characters. User option `utf-translate-cjk-mode' (it is
1081 turned on by default) arranges to translate many utf-8 CJK character
1082 sequences into real Emacs characters in a similar way to the Mule-UCS
1083 system. As this loads a fairly big data on demand, people who are not
1084 interested in CJK characters may want to customize it to nil.
1085 You can augment/amend the CJK translation via hash tables
1086 `ucs-mule-cjk-to-unicode' and `ucs-unicode-to-mule-cjk'. The utf-8
1087 coding system now also encodes characters from most of Emacs's
1088 one-dimensional internal charsets, specifically the ISO-8859 ones.
1089 The utf-16 coding system is affected similarly.
1091 ** New variable `utf-translate-cjk-unicode-range' controls which
1092 Unicode characters to translate in `utf-translate-cjk-mode'.
1094 ** iso-10646-1 (`Unicode') fonts can be used to display any range of
1095 characters encodable by the utf-8 coding system. Just specify the
1096 fontset appropriately.
1098 ** New command `ucs-insert' inserts a character specified by its
1102 ** Limited support for character `unification' has been added.
1103 Emacs now knows how to translate between different representations of
1104 the same characters in various Emacs charsets according to standard
1105 Unicode mappings. This applies mainly to characters in the ISO 8859
1106 sets plus some other 8-bit sets, but can be extended. For instance,
1107 translation works amongst the Emacs ...-iso8859-... charsets and the
1108 mule-unicode-... ones.
1110 By default this translation happens automatically on encoding.
1111 Self-inserting characters are translated to make the input conformant
1112 with the encoding of the buffer in which it's being used, where
1115 You can force a more complete unification with the user option
1116 unify-8859-on-decoding-mode. That maps all the Latin-N character sets
1117 into Unicode characters (from the latin-iso8859-1 and
1118 mule-unicode-0100-24ff charsets) on decoding. Note that this mode
1119 will often effectively clobber data with an iso-2022 encoding.
1121 ** There is support for decoding Greek and Cyrillic characters into
1122 either Unicode (the mule-unicode charsets) or the iso-8859 charsets,
1123 when possible. The latter are more space-efficient. This is
1124 controlled by user option utf-fragment-on-decoding.
1126 ** The new command `set-file-name-coding-system' (C-x RET F) sets
1127 coding system for encoding and decoding file names. A new menu item
1128 (Options->Mule->Set Coding Systems->For File Name) invokes this
1132 ** The scrollbar under LessTif or Motif has a smoother drag-scrolling.
1133 On the other hand, the size of the thumb does not represent the actual
1134 amount of text shown any more (only a crude approximation of it).
1137 ** The pop up menus for Lucid now stay up if you do a fast click and can
1138 be navigated with the arrow keys (like Gtk+, Mac and W32).
1141 ** Dialogs for Lucid/Athena and Lesstif/Motif now pops down when pressing
1142 ESC, like they do for Gtk+, Mac and W32.
1145 ** Dialogs and menus pop down when pressing C-g.
1148 ** The menu item "Open File..." has been split into two items, "New File..."
1149 and "Open File...". "Open File..." now opens only existing files. This is
1150 to support existing GUI file selection dialogs better.
1153 ** The file selection dialog for Gtk+, Mac, W32 and Motif/Lesstif can be
1154 disabled by customizing the variable `use-file-dialog'.
1157 ** For Gtk+ version 2.4, you can make Emacs use the old file dialog
1158 by setting the variable `x-use-old-gtk-file-dialog' to t. Default is to use
1162 ** Emacs can produce an underscore-like (horizontal bar) cursor.
1163 The underscore cursor is set by putting `(cursor-type . hbar)' in
1164 default-frame-alist. It supports variable heights, like the `bar'
1168 ** On X, MS Windows, and Mac OS, the blinking cursor's "off" state is
1169 now controlled by the variable `blink-cursor-alist'.
1171 ** Filesets are collections of files. You can define a fileset in
1172 various ways, such as based on a directory tree or based on
1173 program files that include other program files.
1175 Once you have defined a fileset, you can perform various operations on
1176 all the files in it, such as visiting them or searching and replacing
1180 ** PO translation files are decoded according to their MIME headers
1181 when Emacs visits them.
1184 ** The game `mpuz' is enhanced.
1186 `mpuz' now allows the 2nd factor not to have two identical digits. By
1187 default, all trivial operations involving whole lines are performed
1188 automatically. The game uses faces for better visual feedback.
1190 ** The new variable `x-select-request-type' controls how Emacs
1191 requests X selection. The default value is nil, which means that
1192 Emacs requests X selection with types COMPOUND_TEXT and UTF8_STRING,
1193 and use the more appropriately result.
1196 ** The parameters of automatic hscrolling can now be customized.
1197 The variable `hscroll-margin' determines how many columns away from
1198 the window edge point is allowed to get before automatic hscrolling
1199 will horizontally scroll the window. The default value is 5.
1201 The variable `hscroll-step' determines how many columns automatic
1202 hscrolling scrolls the window when point gets too close to the
1203 window edge. If its value is zero, the default, Emacs scrolls the
1204 window so as to center point. If its value is an integer, it says how
1205 many columns to scroll. If the value is a floating-point number, it
1206 gives the fraction of the window's width to scroll the window.
1208 The variable `automatic-hscrolling' was renamed to
1209 `auto-hscroll-mode'. The old name is still available as an alias.
1212 *** C-c C-c prompts for a command to run, and tries to offer a good default.
1214 *** The user option `tex-start-options-string' has been replaced
1215 by two new user options: `tex-start-options', which should hold
1216 command-line options to feed to TeX, and `tex-start-commands' which should hold
1217 TeX commands to use at startup.
1218 *** verbatim environments are now highlighted in courier by font-lock
1219 and super/sub-scripts are made into super/sub-scripts.
1221 *** New major mode doctex-mode for *.dtx files.
1224 ** New display feature: focus follows the mouse from one Emacs window
1225 to another, even within a frame. If you set the variable
1226 mouse-autoselect-window to non-nil value, moving the mouse to a
1227 different Emacs window will select that window (minibuffer window can
1228 be selected only when it is active). The default is nil, so that this
1229 feature is not enabled.
1231 ** On X, when the window manager requires that you click on a frame to
1232 select it (give it focus), the selected window and cursor position
1233 normally changes according to the mouse click position. If you set
1234 the variable x-mouse-click-focus-ignore-position to t, the selected
1235 window and cursor position do not change when you click on a frame
1239 ** The new command `describe-char' (C-u C-x =) pops up a buffer with
1240 description various information about a character, including its
1241 encodings and syntax, its text properties, how to input, overlays, and
1242 widgets at point. You can get more information about some of them, by
1243 clicking on mouse-sensitive areas or moving there and pressing RET.
1246 ** The new command `multi-occur' is just like `occur', except it can
1247 search multiple buffers. There is also a new command
1248 `multi-occur-by-filename-regexp' which allows you to specify the
1249 buffers to search by their filename. Internally, Occur mode has been
1250 rewritten, and now uses font-lock, among other changes.
1252 ** The default values of paragraph-start and indent-line-function have
1253 been changed to reflect those used in Text mode rather than those used
1254 in Indented-Text mode.
1256 ** New user option `query-replace-skip-read-only': when non-nil,
1257 `query-replace' and related functions simply ignore
1258 a match if part of it has a read-only property.
1260 ** When used interactively, the commands `query-replace-regexp' and
1261 `replace-regexp' allow \,expr to be used in a replacement string,
1262 where expr is an arbitrary Lisp expression evaluated at replacement
1263 time. In many cases, this will be more convenient than using
1264 `query-replace-regexp-eval'. `\#' in a replacement string now refers
1265 to the count of replacements already made by the replacement command.
1266 All regular expression replacement commands now allow `\?' in the
1267 replacement string to specify a position where the replacement string
1268 can be edited for each replacement.
1270 ** query-replace uses isearch lazy highlighting when the new user option
1271 `query-replace-lazy-highlight' is non-nil.
1273 ** The current match in query-replace is highlighted in new face
1274 `query-replace' which by default inherits from isearch face.
1277 ** Emacs normally highlights mouse sensitive text whenever the mouse
1278 is over the text. By setting the new variable `mouse-highlight', you
1279 can optionally enable mouse highlighting only after you move the
1280 mouse, so that highlighting disappears when you press a key. You can
1281 also disable mouse highlighting.
1283 ** You can now customize if selecting a region by dragging the mouse
1284 shall not copy the selected text to the kill-ring by setting the new
1285 variable mouse-drag-copy-region to nil.
1288 ** font-lock: in modes like C and Lisp where the fontification assumes that
1289 an open-paren in column 0 is always outside of any string or comment,
1290 font-lock now highlights any such open-paren-in-column-zero in bold-red
1291 if it is inside a string or a comment, to indicate that it can cause
1292 trouble with fontification and/or indentation.
1295 ** There's a new face `minibuffer-prompt'.
1296 Emacs adds this face to the list of text properties stored in the
1297 variable `minibuffer-prompt-properties', which is used to display the
1301 ** The new face `mode-line-inactive' is used to display the mode line
1302 of non-selected windows. The `mode-line' face is now used to display
1303 the mode line of the currently selected window.
1305 The new variable `mode-line-in-non-selected-windows' controls whether
1306 the `mode-line-inactive' face is used.
1309 ** A menu item "Show/Hide" was added to the top-level menu "Options".
1310 This menu allows you to turn various display features on and off (such
1311 as the fringes, the tool bar, the speedbar, and the menu bar itself).
1312 You can also move the vertical scroll bar to either side here or turn
1313 it off completely. There is also a menu-item to toggle displaying of
1314 current date and time, current line and column number in the
1318 ** Speedbar has moved from the "Tools" top level menu to "Show/Hide".
1321 ** Emacs can now indicate in the mode-line the presence of new e-mail
1322 in a directory or in a file. See the documentation of the user option
1323 `display-time-mail-directory'.
1326 ** LDAP support now defaults to ldapsearch from OpenLDAP version 2.
1329 ** You can now disable pc-selection-mode after enabling it.
1330 M-x pc-selection-mode behaves like a proper minor mode, and with no
1331 argument it toggles the mode.
1333 Turning off PC-Selection mode restores the global key bindings
1334 that were replaced by turning on the mode.
1337 ** Emacs now displays a splash screen by default even if command-line
1338 arguments were given. The new command-line option --no-splash
1339 disables the splash screen; see also the variable
1340 `inhibit-startup-message' (which is also aliased as
1341 `inhibit-splash-screen').
1343 ** Changes in support of colors on character terminals
1346 *** The new command-line option --color=MODE lets you specify a standard
1347 mode for a tty color support. It is meant to be used on character
1348 terminals whose capabilities are not set correctly in the terminal
1349 database, or with terminal emulators which support colors, but don't
1350 set the TERM environment variable to a name of a color-capable
1351 terminal. "emacs --color" uses the same color commands as GNU `ls'
1352 when invoked with "ls --color", so if your terminal can support colors
1353 in "ls --color", it will support "emacs --color" as well. See the
1354 user manual for the possible values of the MODE parameter.
1357 *** Emacs now supports several character terminals which provide more
1358 than 8 colors. For example, for `xterm', 16-color, 88-color, and
1359 256-color modes are supported. Emacs automatically notes at startup
1360 the extended number of colors, and defines the appropriate entries for
1361 all of these colors.
1364 *** Emacs now uses the full range of available colors for the default
1365 faces when running on a color terminal, including 16-, 88-, and
1366 256-color xterms. This means that when you run "emacs -nw" on an
1367 88-color or 256-color xterm, you will see essentially the same face
1371 *** There's a new support for colors on `rxvt' terminal emulator.
1374 ** Emacs can now be invoked in full-screen mode on a windowed display.
1376 When Emacs is invoked on a window system, the new command-line options
1377 `--fullwidth', `--fullheight', and `--fullscreen' produce a frame
1378 whose width, height, or both width and height take up the entire
1379 screen size. (For now, this does not work with some window managers.)
1382 ** Emacs now tries to set up buffer coding systems for HTML/XML files
1386 ** The new command `comint-insert-previous-argument' in comint-derived
1387 modes (shell-mode etc) inserts arguments from previous command lines,
1388 like bash's `ESC .' binding. It is bound by default to `C-c .', but
1389 otherwise behaves quite similarly to the bash version.
1392 ** Changes in C-h bindings:
1394 C-h e displays the *Messages* buffer.
1396 C-h followed by a control character is used for displaying files
1399 C-h C-f displays the FAQ.
1400 C-h C-e displays the PROBLEMS file.
1402 The info-search bindings on C-h C-f, C-h C-k and C-h C-i
1403 have been moved to C-h F, C-h K and C-h S.
1405 C-h c, C-h k, C-h w, and C-h f now handle remapped interactive commands.
1407 - C-h c and C-h k report the actual command (after possible remapping)
1408 run by the key sequence.
1410 - C-h w and C-h f on a command which has been remapped now report the
1411 command it is remapped to, and the keys which can be used to run
1414 For example, if C-k is bound to kill-line, and kill-line is remapped
1415 to new-kill-line, these commands now report:
1417 - C-h c and C-h k C-k reports:
1418 C-k runs the command new-kill-line
1420 - C-h w and C-h f kill-line reports:
1421 kill-line is remapped to new-kill-line which is on C-k, <deleteline>
1423 - C-h w and C-h f new-kill-line reports:
1424 new-kill-line is on C-k
1427 ** Vertical scrolling is now possible within incremental search.
1428 To enable this feature, customize the new user option
1429 `isearch-allow-scroll'. User written commands which satisfy stringent
1430 constraints can be marked as "scrolling commands". See the Emacs manual
1434 ** C-w in incremental search now grabs either a character or a word,
1435 making the decision in a heuristic way. This new job is done by the
1436 command `isearch-yank-word-or-char'. To restore the old behavior,
1437 bind C-w to `isearch-yank-word' in `isearch-mode-map'.
1440 ** C-y in incremental search now grabs the next line if point is already
1441 at the end of a line.
1444 ** C-M-w deletes and C-M-y grabs a character in isearch mode.
1445 Another method to grab a character is to enter the minibuffer by `M-e'
1446 and to type `C-f' at the end of the search string in the minibuffer.
1449 ** M-% typed in isearch mode invokes `query-replace' or
1450 `query-replace-regexp' (depending on search mode) with the current
1451 search string used as the string to replace.
1454 ** Isearch no longer adds `isearch-resume' commands to the command
1455 history by default. To enable this feature, customize the new
1456 user option `isearch-resume-in-command-history'.
1459 ** New user option `history-delete-duplicates'.
1460 If set to t when adding a new history element, all previous identical
1461 elements are deleted.
1464 ** Yanking text now discards certain text properties that can
1465 be inconvenient when you did not expect them. The variable
1466 `yank-excluded-properties' specifies which ones. Insertion
1467 of register contents and rectangles also discards these properties.
1470 ** Occur, Info, and comint-derived modes now support using
1471 M-x font-lock-mode to toggle fontification. The variable
1472 `Info-fontify' is no longer applicable; to disable fontification,
1473 remove `turn-on-font-lock' from `Info-mode-hook'.
1476 ** M-x grep now tries to avoid appending `/dev/null' to the command line
1477 by using GNU grep `-H' option instead. M-x grep automatically
1478 detects whether this is possible or not the first time it is invoked.
1479 When `-H' is used, the grep command line supplied by the user is passed
1480 unchanged to the system to execute, which allows more complicated
1481 command lines to be used than was possible before.
1484 ** The face-customization widget has been reworked to be less confusing.
1485 In particular, when you enable a face attribute using the corresponding
1486 check-box, there's no longer a redundant `*' option in value selection
1487 for that attribute; the values you can choose are only those which make
1488 sense for the attribute. When an attribute is de-selected by unchecking
1489 its check-box, then the (now ignored, but still present temporarily in
1490 case you re-select the attribute) value is hidden.
1493 ** When you set or reset a variable's value in a Customize buffer,
1494 the previous value becomes the "backup value" of the variable.
1495 You can go back to that backup value by selecting "Use Backup Value"
1496 under the "[State]" button.
1498 ** The new customization type `float' specifies numbers with floating
1499 point (no integers are allowed).
1502 ** In GUD mode, when talking to GDB, C-x C-a C-j "jumps" the program
1503 counter to the specified source line (the one where point is).
1506 ** GUD mode improvements for jdb:
1508 *** Search for source files using jdb classpath and class
1509 information. Fast startup since there is no need to scan all
1510 source files up front. There is also no need to create and maintain
1511 lists of source directories to scan. Look at `gud-jdb-use-classpath'
1512 and `gud-jdb-classpath' customization variables documentation.
1514 *** Supports the standard breakpoint (gud-break, gud-clear)
1515 set/clear operations from java source files under the classpath, stack
1516 traversal (gud-up, gud-down), and run until current stack finish
1519 *** Supports new jdb (Java 1.2 and later) in addition to oldjdb
1522 *** The previous method of searching for source files has been
1523 preserved in case someone still wants/needs to use it.
1524 Set gud-jdb-use-classpath to nil.
1526 Added Customization Variables
1528 *** gud-jdb-command-name. What command line to use to invoke jdb.
1530 *** gud-jdb-use-classpath. Allows selection of java source file searching
1531 method: set to t for new method, nil to scan gud-jdb-directories for
1532 java sources (previous method).
1534 *** gud-jdb-directories. List of directories to scan and search for java
1535 classes using the original gud-jdb method (if gud-jdb-use-classpath
1540 *** The STARTTLS elisp wrapper (starttls.el) can now use GNUTLS
1541 instead of the OpenSSL based "starttls" tool. For backwards
1542 compatibility, it prefers "starttls", but you can toggle
1543 `starttls-use-gnutls' to switch to GNUTLS (or simply remove the
1546 *** Do not allow debugger output history variable to grow without bounds.
1549 ** hide-ifdef-mode now uses overlays rather than selective-display
1550 to hide its text. This should be mostly transparent but slightly
1551 changes the behavior of motion commands like C-e and C-p.
1554 ** Unquoted `$' in file names do not signal an error any more when
1555 the corresponding environment variable does not exist.
1556 Instead, the `$ENVVAR' text is left as is, so that `$$' quoting
1557 is only rarely needed.
1561 *** jit-lock can now be delayed with `jit-lock-defer-time'.
1563 If this variable is non-nil, its value should be the amount of Emacs
1564 idle time in seconds to wait before starting fontification. For
1565 example, if you set `jit-lock-defer-time' to 0.25, fontification will
1566 only happen after 0.25s of idle time.
1568 *** contextual refontification is now separate from stealth fontification.
1570 jit-lock-defer-contextually is renamed jit-lock-contextually and
1571 jit-lock-context-time determines the delay after which contextual
1572 refontification takes place.
1575 ** Marking commands extend the region when invoked multiple times. If
1576 you hit M-C-SPC (mark-sexp), M-@ (mark-word), M-h (mark-paragraph), or
1577 C-M-h (mark-defun) repeatedly, the marked region extends each time, so
1578 you can mark the next two sexps with M-C-SPC M-C-SPC, for example.
1579 This feature also works for mark-end-of-sentence, if you bind that to
1580 a key. It also extends the region when the mark is active in Transient
1581 Mark mode, regardless of the last command. To start a new region with
1582 one of marking commands in Transient Mark mode, you can deactivate the
1583 active region with C-g, or set the new mark with C-SPC.
1586 ** Some commands do something special in Transient Mark mode when the
1587 mark is active--for instance, they limit their operation to the
1588 region. Even if you don't normally use Transient Mark mode, you might
1589 want to get this behavior from a particular command. There are two
1590 ways you can enable Transient Mark mode and activate the mark, for one
1593 One method is to type C-SPC C-SPC; this enables Transient Mark mode
1594 and sets the mark at point. The other method is to type C-u C-x C-x.
1595 This enables Transient Mark mode temporarily but does not alter the
1598 After these commands, Transient Mark mode remains enabled until you
1599 deactivate the mark. That typically happens when you type a command
1600 that alters the buffer, but you can also deactivate the mark by typing
1604 ** A prefix argument is no longer required to repeat a jump to a
1605 previous mark, i.e. C-u C-SPC C-SPC C-SPC ... cycles through the
1606 mark ring. Use C-u C-u C-SPC to set the mark immediately after a jump.
1608 ** Movement commands `beginning-of-buffer', `end-of-buffer',
1609 `beginning-of-defun', `end-of-defun' do not set the mark if the mark
1610 is already active in Transient Mark mode.
1613 ** In the *Occur* buffer, `o' switches to it in another window, and
1614 C-o displays the current line's occurrence in another window without
1618 ** When you specify a frame size with --geometry, the size applies to
1619 all frames you create. A position specified with --geometry only
1620 affects the initial frame.
1623 ** M-h (mark-paragraph) now accepts a prefix arg.
1624 With positive arg, M-h marks the current and the following paragraphs;
1625 if the arg is negative, it marks the current and the preceding
1629 ** The variables dired-free-space-program and dired-free-space-args
1630 have been renamed to directory-free-space-program and
1631 directory-free-space-args, and they now apply whenever Emacs puts a
1632 directory listing into a buffer.
1635 ** mouse-wheels can now scroll a specific fraction of the window
1636 (rather than a fixed number of lines) and the scrolling is `progressive'.
1638 ** Unexpected yanking of text due to accidental clicking on the mouse
1639 wheel button (typically mouse-2) during wheel scrolling is now avoided.
1640 This behavior can be customized via the mouse-wheel-click-event and
1641 mouse-wheel-inhibit-click-time variables.
1644 ** The keyboard-coding-system is now automatically set based on your
1645 current locale settings if you are not using a window system. This
1646 may mean that the META key doesn't work but generates non-ASCII
1647 characters instead, depending on how the terminal (or terminal
1648 emulator) works. Use `set-keyboard-coding-system' (or customize
1649 keyboard-coding-system) if you prefer META to work (the old default)
1650 or if the locale doesn't describe the character set actually generated
1651 by the keyboard. See Info node `Single-Byte Character Support'.
1654 ** Emacs now reads the standard abbrevs file ~/.abbrev_defs
1655 automatically at startup, if it exists. When Emacs offers to save
1656 modified buffers, it saves the abbrevs too if they have changed. It
1657 can do this either silently or asking for confirmation first,
1658 according to the value of `save-abbrevs'.
1661 ** Display of hollow cursors now obeys the buffer-local value (if any)
1662 of `cursor-in-non-selected-windows' in the buffer that the cursor
1665 ** The variable `cursor-in-non-selected-windows' can now be set to any
1666 of the recognized cursor types.
1669 ** The variable `auto-save-file-name-transforms' now has a third element that
1670 controls whether or not the function `make-auto-save-file-name' will
1671 attempt to construct a unique auto-save name (e.g. for remote files).
1674 ** There is a new calendar package, icalendar.el, that can be used to
1675 convert Emacs diary entries to/from the iCalendar format.
1678 ** Diary sexp entries can have custom marking in the calendar.
1679 Diary sexp functions which only apply to certain days (such as
1680 `diary-block' or `diary-cyclic') now take an optional parameter MARK,
1681 which is the name of a face or a single-character string indicating
1682 how to highlight the day in the calendar display. Specifying a
1683 single-character string as @var{mark} places the character next to the
1684 day in the calendar. Specifying a face highlights the day with that
1685 face. This lets you have different colors or markings for vacations,
1686 appointments, paydays or anything else using a sexp.
1689 ** The new function `calendar-goto-day-of-year' (g D) prompts for a
1690 year and day number, and moves to that date. Negative day numbers
1691 count backward from the end of the year.
1694 ** The new Calendar function `calendar-goto-iso-week' (g w)
1695 prompts for a year and a week number, and moves to the first
1696 day of that ISO week.
1698 ** The new variable `calendar-minimum-window-height' affects the
1699 window generated by the function `generate-calendar-window'.
1702 ** The functions `holiday-easter-etc' and `holiday-advent' now take
1703 optional arguments, in order to only report on the specified holiday
1704 rather than all. This makes customization of variables such as
1705 `christian-holidays' simpler.
1707 ** The function `simple-diary-display' now by default sets a header line.
1708 This can be controlled through the variables `diary-header-line-flag'
1709 and `diary-header-line-format'.
1712 ** The procedure for activating appointment reminders has changed: use
1713 the new function `appt-activate'. The new variable
1714 `appt-display-format' controls how reminders are displayed, replacing
1715 appt-issue-message, appt-visible, and appt-msg-window.
1717 ** The new functions `diary-from-outlook', `diary-from-outlook-gnus',
1718 and `diary-from-outlook-rmail' can be used to import diary entries
1719 from Outlook-format appointments in mail messages. The variable
1720 `diary-outlook-formats' can be customized to recognize additional
1726 *** The key C-x C-q no longer checks files in or out, it only changes
1727 the read-only state of the buffer (toggle-read-only). We made this
1728 change because we held a poll and found that many users were unhappy
1729 with the previous behavior. If you do prefer this behavior, you
1730 can bind `vc-toggle-read-only' to C-x C-q in your .emacs:
1732 (global-set-key "\C-x\C-q" 'vc-toggle-read-only)
1734 The function `vc-toggle-read-only' will continue to exist.
1737 *** There is a new user option `vc-cvs-global-switches' that allows
1738 you to specify switches that are passed to any CVS command invoked
1739 by VC. These switches are used as "global options" for CVS, which
1740 means they are inserted before the command name. For example, this
1741 allows you to specify a compression level using the "-z#" option for
1744 *** New backends for Subversion and Meta-CVS.
1749 *** When comparing directories.
1750 Typing D brings up a buffer that lists the differences between the contents of
1751 directories. Now it is possible to use this buffer to copy the missing files
1752 from one directory to another.
1755 *** When comparing files or buffers.
1756 Typing the = key now offers to perform the word-by-word comparison of the
1757 currently highlighted regions in an inferior Ediff session. If you answer 'n'
1758 then it reverts to the old behavior and asks the user to select regions for
1761 *** The new command `ediff-backup' compares a file with its most recent
1762 backup using `ediff'. If you specify the name of a backup file,
1763 `ediff-backup' compares it with the file of which it is a backup.
1768 *** New regular expressions features
1770 **** New syntax for regular expressions, multi-line regular expressions.
1771 The syntax --ignore-case-regexp=/regex/ is now undocumented and retained
1772 only for backward compatibility. The new equivalent syntax is
1773 --regex=/regex/i. More generally, it is --regex=/TAGREGEX/TAGNAME/MODS,
1774 where `/TAGNAME' is optional, as usual, and MODS is a string of 0 or
1775 more characters among `i' (ignore case), `m' (multi-line) and `s'
1776 (single-line). The `m' and `s' modifiers behave as in Perl regular
1777 expressions: `m' allows regexps to match more than one line, while `s'
1778 (which implies `m') means that `.' matches newlines. The ability to
1779 span newlines allows writing of much more powerful regular expressions
1780 and rapid prototyping for tagging new languages.
1782 **** Regular expressions can use char escape sequences as in Gcc.
1783 The escaped character sequence \a, \b, \d, \e, \f, \n, \r, \t, \v,
1784 respectively, stand for the ASCII characters BEL, BS, DEL, ESC, FF, NL,
1787 **** Regular expressions can be bound to a given language.
1788 The syntax --regex={LANGUAGE}REGEX means that REGEX is used to make tags
1789 only for files of language LANGUAGE, and ignored otherwise. This is
1790 particularly useful when storing regexps in a file.
1792 **** Regular expressions can be read from a file.
1793 The --regex=@regexfile option means read the regexps from a file, one
1794 per line. Lines beginning with space or tab are ignored.
1796 *** New language parsing features
1798 **** The `::' qualifier triggers C++ parsing in C file.
1799 Previously, only the `template' and `class' keywords had this effect.
1801 **** The gnucc __attribute__ keyword is now recognised and ignored.
1803 **** New language HTML.
1804 Title and h1, h2, h3 are tagged. Also, tags are generated when name= is
1805 used inside an anchor and whenever id= is used.
1807 **** In Makefiles, constants are tagged.
1808 If you want the old behavior instead, thus avoiding to increase the
1809 size of the tags file, use the --no-globals option.
1811 **** New language Lua.
1812 All functions are tagged.
1814 **** In Perl, packages are tags.
1815 Subroutine tags are named from their package. You can jump to sub tags
1816 as you did before, by the sub name, or additionally by looking for
1819 **** In Prolog, etags creates tags for rules in addition to predicates.
1821 **** New language PHP.
1822 Tags are functions, classes and defines.
1823 If the --members option is specified to etags, tags are variables also.
1825 **** New default keywords for TeX.
1826 The new keywords are def, newcommand, renewcommand, newenvironment and
1829 *** Honour #line directives.
1830 When Etags parses an input file that contains C preprocessor's #line
1831 directives, it creates tags using the file name and line number
1832 specified in those directives. This is useful when dealing with code
1833 created from Cweb source files. When Etags tags the generated file, it
1834 writes tags pointing to the source file.
1836 *** New option --parse-stdin=FILE.
1837 This option is mostly useful when calling etags from programs. It can
1838 be used (only once) in place of a file name on the command line. Etags
1839 reads from standard input and marks the produced tags as belonging to
1845 *** Font lock support.
1846 CC Mode now provides font lock support for all its languages. This
1847 supersedes the font lock patterns that have been in the core font lock
1848 package for C, C++, Java and Objective-C. Like indentation, font
1849 locking is done in a uniform way across all languages (except the new
1850 AWK mode - see below). That means that the new font locking will be
1851 different from the old patterns in various details for most languages.
1853 The main goal of the font locking in CC Mode is accuracy, to provide a
1854 dependable aid in recognizing the various constructs. Some, like
1855 strings and comments, are easy to recognize while others like
1856 declarations and types can be very tricky. CC Mode can go to great
1857 lengths to recognize declarations and casts correctly, especially when
1858 the types aren't recognized by standard patterns. This is a fairly
1859 demanding analysis which can be slow on older hardware, and it can
1860 therefore be disabled by choosing a lower decoration level with the
1861 variable font-lock-maximum-decoration.
1863 Note that the most demanding font lock level has been tuned with lazy
1864 fontification in mind, i.e. there should be a support mode that waits
1865 with the fontification until the text is actually shown
1866 (e.g. Just-in-time Lock mode, which is the default, or Lazy Lock
1867 mode). Fontifying a file with several thousand lines in one go can
1868 take the better part of a minute.
1870 **** The (c|c++|objc|java|idl|pike)-font-lock-extra-types variables
1871 are now used by CC Mode to recognize identifiers that are certain to
1872 be types. (They are also used in cases that aren't related to font
1873 locking.) At the maximum decoration level, types are often recognized
1874 properly anyway, so these variables should be fairly restrictive and
1875 not contain patterns for uncertain types.
1877 **** Support for documentation comments.
1878 There is a "plugin" system to fontify documentation comments like
1879 Javadoc and the markup within them. It's independent of the host
1880 language, so it's possible to e.g. turn on Javadoc font locking in C
1881 buffers. See the variable c-doc-comment-style for details.
1883 Currently two kinds of doc comment styles are recognized: Suns Javadoc
1884 and Autodoc which is used in Pike. This is by no means a complete
1885 list of the most common tools; if your doc comment extractor of choice
1886 is missing then please drop a note to bug-cc-mode@gnu.org.
1888 **** Better handling of C++ templates.
1889 As a side effect of the more accurate font locking, C++ templates are
1890 now handled much better. The angle brackets that delimit them are
1891 given parenthesis syntax so that they can be navigated like other
1894 This also improves indentation of templates, although there still is
1895 work to be done in that area. E.g. it's required that multiline
1896 template clauses are written in full and then refontified to be
1897 recognized, and the indentation of nested templates is a bit odd and
1898 not as configurable as it ought to be.
1900 **** Improved handling of Objective-C and CORBA IDL.
1901 Especially the support for Objective-C and IDL has gotten an overhaul.
1902 The special "@" declarations in Objective-C are handled correctly.
1903 All the keywords used in CORBA IDL, PSDL, and CIDL are recognized and
1904 handled correctly, also wrt indentation.
1906 *** Support for the AWK language.
1907 Support for the AWK language has been introduced. The implementation is
1908 based around GNU AWK version 3.1, but it should work pretty well with
1909 any AWK. As yet, not all features of CC Mode have been adapted for AWK.
1912 **** Indentation Engine
1913 The CC Mode indentation engine fully supports AWK mode.
1915 AWK mode handles code formatted in the conventional AWK fashion: `{'s
1916 which start actions, user-defined functions, or compound statements are
1917 placed on the same line as the associated construct; the matching `}'s
1918 are normally placed under the start of the respective pattern, function
1919 definition, or structured statement.
1921 The predefined indentation functions haven't yet been adapted for AWK
1922 mode, though some of them may work serendipitously. There shouldn't be
1923 any problems writing custom indentation functions for AWK mode.
1925 The command C-c C-q (c-indent-defun) hasn't yet been adapted for AWK,
1926 though in practice it works properly nearly all the time. Should it
1927 fail, explicitly set the region around the function (using C-u C-SPC:
1928 C-M-h probably won't work either) then do C-M-\ (indent-region).
1931 There is a single level of font locking in AWK mode, rather than the
1932 three distinct levels the other modes have. There are several
1933 idiosyncrasies in AWK mode's font-locking due to the peculiarities of
1934 the AWK language itself.
1936 **** Comment Commands
1937 M-; (indent-for-comment) works fine. None of the other CC Mode
1938 comment formatting commands have yet been adapted for AWK mode.
1940 **** Movement Commands
1941 Most of the movement commands work in AWK mode. The most important
1942 exceptions are M-a (c-beginning-of-statement) and M-e
1943 (c-end-of-statement) which haven't yet been adapted.
1945 The notion of "defun" has been augmented to include AWK pattern-action
1946 pairs. C-M-a (c-awk-beginning-of-defun) and C-M-e (c-awk-end-of-defun)
1947 recognise these pattern-action pairs, as well as user defined
1950 **** Auto-newline Insertion and Clean-ups
1951 Auto-newline insertion hasn't yet been adapted for AWK. Some of
1952 the clean-ups can actually convert good AWK code into syntactically
1953 invalid code. These features are best disabled in AWK buffers.
1955 *** New syntactic symbols in IDL mode.
1956 The top level constructs "module" and "composition" (from CIDL) are
1957 now handled like "namespace" in C++: They are given syntactic symbols
1958 module-open, module-close, inmodule, composition-open,
1959 composition-close, and incomposition.
1961 *** New functions to do hungry delete without enabling hungry delete mode.
1962 The functions c-hungry-backspace and c-hungry-delete-forward can be
1963 bound to keys to get this feature without toggling a mode.
1964 Contributed by Kevin Ryde.
1966 *** Better control over require-final-newline. The variable that
1967 controls how to handle a final newline when the buffer is saved,
1968 require-final-newline, is now customizable on a per-mode basis through
1969 c-require-final-newline. That is a list of modes, and only those
1970 modes set require-final-newline. By default that's C, C++ and
1973 The specified modes set require-final-newline based on
1974 mode-require-final-newline, as usual.
1976 *** Format change for syntactic context elements.
1977 The elements in the syntactic context returned by c-guess-basic-syntax
1978 and stored in c-syntactic-context has been changed somewhat to allow
1979 attaching more information. They are now lists instead of single cons
1980 cells. E.g. a line that previously had the syntactic analysis
1982 ((inclass . 11) (topmost-intro . 13))
1986 ((inclass 11) (topmost-intro 13))
1988 In some cases there are more than one position given for a syntactic
1991 This change might affect code that call c-guess-basic-syntax directly,
1992 and custom lineup functions if they use c-syntactic-context. However,
1993 the argument given to lineup functions is still a single cons cell
1994 with nil or an integer in the cdr.
1996 *** API changes for derived modes.
1997 There have been extensive changes "under the hood" which can affect
1998 derived mode writers. Some of these changes are likely to cause
1999 incompatibilities with existing derived modes, but on the other hand
2000 care has now been taken to make it possible to extend and modify CC
2001 Mode with less risk of such problems in the future.
2003 **** New language variable system.
2004 See the comment blurb near the top of cc-langs.el.
2006 **** New initialization functions.
2007 The initialization procedure has been split up into more functions to
2008 give better control: c-basic-common-init, c-font-lock-init, and
2009 c-init-language-vars.
2011 *** Changes in analysis of nested syntactic constructs.
2012 The syntactic analysis engine has better handling of cases where
2013 several syntactic constructs appear nested on the same line. They are
2014 now handled as if each construct started on a line of its own.
2016 This means that CC Mode now indents some cases differently, and
2017 although it's more consistent there might be cases where the old way
2018 gave results that's more to one's liking. So if you find a situation
2019 where you think that the indentation has become worse, please report
2020 it to bug-cc-mode@gnu.org.
2022 **** New syntactic symbol substatement-label.
2023 This symbol is used when a label is inserted between a statement and
2024 its substatement. E.g:
2030 *** Better handling of multiline macros.
2032 **** Syntactic indentation inside macros.
2033 The contents of multiline #define's are now analyzed and indented
2034 syntactically just like other code. This can be disabled by the new
2035 variable c-syntactic-indentation-in-macros. A new syntactic symbol
2036 cpp-define-intro has been added to control the initial indentation
2039 **** New lineup function c-lineup-cpp-define.
2040 Now used by default to line up macro continuation lines. The behavior
2041 of this function closely mimics the indentation one gets if the macro
2042 is indented while the line continuation backslashes are temporarily
2043 removed. If syntactic indentation in macros is turned off, it works
2044 much line c-lineup-dont-change, which was used earlier, but handles
2045 empty lines within the macro better.
2047 **** Automatically inserted newlines continues the macro if used within one.
2048 This applies to the newlines inserted by the auto-newline mode, and to
2049 c-context-line-break and c-context-open-line.
2051 **** Better alignment of line continuation backslashes.
2052 c-backslash-region tries to adapt to surrounding backslashes. New
2053 variable c-backslash-max-column which put a limit on how far out
2054 backslashes can be moved.
2056 **** Automatic alignment of line continuation backslashes.
2057 This is controlled by the new variable c-auto-align-backslashes. It
2058 affects c-context-line-break, c-context-open-line and newlines
2059 inserted in auto-newline mode.
2061 **** Line indentation works better inside macros.
2062 Regardless whether syntactic indentation and syntactic indentation
2063 inside macros are enabled or not, line indentation now ignores the
2064 line continuation backslashes. This is most noticeable when syntactic
2065 indentation is turned off and there are empty lines (save for the
2066 backslash) in the macro.
2068 *** indent-for-comment is more customizable.
2069 The behavior of M-; (indent-for-comment) is now configurable through
2070 the variable c-indent-comment-alist. The indentation behavior based
2071 on the preceding code on the line, e.g. to get two spaces after #else
2072 and #endif but indentation to comment-column in most other cases
2073 (something which was hardcoded earlier).
2075 *** New function c-context-open-line.
2076 It's the open-line equivalent of c-context-line-break.
2078 *** New lineup functions
2080 **** c-lineup-string-cont
2081 This lineup function lines up a continued string under the one it
2084 result = prefix + "A message "
2085 "string."; <- c-lineup-string-cont
2087 **** c-lineup-cascaded-calls
2088 Lines up series of calls separated by "->" or ".".
2090 **** c-lineup-knr-region-comment
2091 Gives (what most people think is) better indentation of comments in
2092 the "K&R region" between the function header and its body.
2094 **** c-lineup-gcc-asm-reg
2095 Provides better indentation inside asm blocks. Contributed by Kevin
2098 **** c-lineup-argcont
2099 Lines up continued function arguments after the preceding comma.
2100 Contributed by Kevin Ryde.
2102 *** Better caching of the syntactic context.
2103 CC Mode caches the positions of the opening parentheses (of any kind)
2104 of the lists surrounding the point. Those positions are used in many
2105 places as anchor points for various searches. The cache is now
2106 improved so that it can be reused to a large extent when the point is
2107 moved. The less it moves, the less needs to be recalculated.
2109 The effect is that CC Mode should be fast most of the time even when
2110 opening parens are hung (i.e. aren't in column zero). It's typically
2111 only the first time after the point is moved far down in a complex
2112 file that it'll take noticeable time to find out the syntactic
2115 *** Statements are recognized in a more robust way.
2116 Statements are recognized most of the time even when they occur in an
2117 "invalid" context, e.g. in a function argument. In practice that can
2118 happen when macros are involved.
2120 *** Improved the way c-indent-exp chooses the block to indent.
2121 It now indents the block for the closest sexp following the point
2122 whose closing paren ends on a different line. This means that the
2123 point doesn't have to be immediately before the block to indent.
2124 Also, only the block and the closing line is indented; the current
2125 line is left untouched.
2127 *** Added toggle for syntactic indentation.
2128 The function c-toggle-syntactic-indentation can be used to toggle
2129 syntactic indentation.
2131 ** The command line option --no-windows has been changed to
2132 --no-window-system. The old one still works, but is deprecated.
2135 ** The command `list-text-properties-at' has been deleted because
2136 C-u C-x = gives the same information and more.
2139 ** `buffer-menu' and `list-buffers' now list buffers whose names begin
2140 with a space, when those buffers are visiting files. Normally buffers
2141 whose names begin with space are omitted.
2144 ** You can now customize fill-nobreak-predicate to control where
2145 filling can break lines. The value is now normally a list of
2146 functions, but it can also be a single function, for compatibility.
2148 We provide two sample predicates, fill-single-word-nobreak-p and
2149 fill-french-nobreak-p, for use in the value of fill-nobreak-predicate.
2152 ** New user option `add-log-always-start-new-record'.
2153 When this option is enabled, M-x add-change-log-entry always
2154 starts a new record regardless of when the last record is.
2157 ** SGML mode has indentation and supports XML syntax.
2158 The new variable `sgml-xml-mode' tells SGML mode to use XML syntax.
2159 When this option is enabled, SGML tags are inserted in XML style,
2160 i.e., there is always a closing tag.
2161 By default, its setting is inferred on a buffer-by-buffer basis
2162 from the file name or buffer contents.
2165 ** `xml-mode' is now an alias for `sgml-mode', which has XML support.
2168 ** Lisp mode now uses font-lock-doc-face for the docstrings.
2171 ** Perl mode has a new variable `perl-indent-continued-arguments'.
2174 ** Fortran mode has a new variable `fortran-directive-re'.
2175 Adapt this to match the format of any compiler directives you use.
2176 Lines that match are never indented, and are given distinctive font-locking.
2179 ** F90 mode has new navigation commands `f90-end-of-block',
2180 `f90-beginning-of-block', `f90-next-block', `f90-previous-block'.
2182 ** F90 mode now has support for hs-minor-mode (hideshow).
2183 It cannot deal with every code format, but ought to handle a sizeable
2187 ** The new function `f90-backslash-not-special' can be used to change
2188 the syntax of backslashes in F90 buffers.
2191 ** Prolog mode has a new variable `prolog-font-lock-keywords'
2192 to support use of font-lock.
2195 ** `special-display-buffer-names' and `special-display-regexps' now
2196 understand two new boolean pseudo-frame-parameters `same-frame' and
2200 ** M-x setenv now expands environment variables of the form `$foo' and
2201 `${foo}' in the specified new value of the environment variable. To
2202 include a `$' in the value, use `$$'.
2205 ** File-name completion can now ignore directories.
2206 If an element of the list in `completion-ignored-extensions' ends in a
2207 slash `/', it indicates a subdirectory that should be ignored when
2208 completing file names. Elements of `completion-ignored-extensions'
2209 which do not end in a slash are never considered when a completion
2210 candidate is a directory.
2213 ** The completion commands TAB, SPC and ? in the minibuffer apply only
2214 to the text before point. If there is text in the buffer after point,
2215 it remains unchanged.
2217 ** Enhanced visual feedback in *Completions* buffer.
2219 Completions lists use faces to highlight what all completions
2220 have in common and where they begin to differ.
2222 The common prefix shared by all possible completions uses the face
2223 `completions-common-part', while the first character that isn't the
2224 same uses the face `completions-first-difference'. By default,
2225 `completions-common-part' inherits from `default', and
2226 `completions-first-difference' inherits from `bold'. The idea of
2227 `completions-common-part' is that you can use it to make the common
2228 parts less visible than normal, so that the rest of the differing
2229 parts is, by contrast, slightly highlighted.
2232 ** New user option `inhibit-startup-buffer-menu'.
2233 When loading many files, for instance with `emacs *', Emacs normally
2234 displays a buffer menu. This option turns the buffer menu off.
2237 ** Rmail now displays 5-digit message ids in its summary buffer.
2240 ** Support for `movemail' from GNU mailutils was added to Rmail.
2241 This version of `movemail' allows to read mail from a wide range of
2242 mailbox formats, including remote POP3 and IMAP4 mailboxes with or
2243 without TLS encryption. If GNU mailutils is installed on the system
2244 and its version of `movemail' can be found in exec-path, it will be
2245 used instead of the native one.
2248 ** On MS Windows, the "system caret" now follows the cursor.
2249 This enables Emacs to work better with programs that need to track
2250 the cursor, for example screen magnifiers and text to speech programs.
2253 ** Tooltips now work on MS Windows.
2254 See the Emacs 21.1 NEWS entry for tooltips for details.
2257 ** Images are now supported on MS Windows.
2258 PBM and XBM images are supported out of the box. Other image formats
2259 depend on external libraries. All of these libraries have been ported
2260 to Windows, and can be found in both source and binary form at
2261 http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/. Note that libpng also depends on
2262 zlib, and tiff depends on the version of jpeg that it was compiled
2263 against. For additional information, see nt/INSTALL.
2266 ** Sound is now supported on MS Windows.
2267 WAV format is supported on all versions of Windows, other formats such
2268 as AU, AIFF and MP3 may be supported in the more recent versions of
2269 Windows, or when other software provides hooks into the system level
2270 sound support for those formats.
2273 ** Different shaped mouse pointers are supported on MS Windows.
2274 The mouse pointer changes shape depending on what is under the pointer.
2277 ** Pointing devices with more than 3 buttons are now supported on MS Windows.
2278 The new variable `w32-pass-extra-mouse-buttons-to-system' controls
2279 whether Emacs should handle the extra buttons itself (the default), or
2280 pass them to Windows to be handled with system-wide functions.
2283 ** Emacs takes note of colors defined in Control Panel on MS-Windows.
2284 The Control Panel defines some default colors for applications in much
2285 the same way as wildcard X Resources do on X. Emacs now adds these
2286 colors to the colormap prefixed by System (eg SystemMenu for the
2287 default Menu background, SystemMenuText for the foreground), and uses
2288 some of them to initialize some of the default faces.
2289 `list-colors-display' shows the list of System color names, in case
2290 you wish to use them in other faces.
2293 ** On MS Windows NT/W2K/XP, Emacs uses Unicode for clipboard operations.
2294 Those systems use Unicode internally, so this allows Emacs to share
2295 multilingual text with other applications. On other versions of
2296 MS Windows, Emacs now uses the appropriate locale coding-system, so
2297 the clipboard should work correctly for your local language without
2301 ** Under X11, it is possible to swap Alt and Meta (and Super and Hyper).
2302 The new variables `x-alt-keysym', `x-hyper-keysym', `x-meta-keysym',
2303 and `x-super-keysym' can be used to choose which keysyms Emacs should
2304 use for the modifiers. For example, the following two lines swap
2306 (setq x-alt-keysym 'meta)
2307 (setq x-meta-keysym 'alt)
2310 ** vc-annotate-mode enhancements
2312 In vc-annotate mode, you can now use the following key bindings for
2313 enhanced functionality to browse the annotations of past revisions, or
2314 to view diffs or log entries directly from vc-annotate-mode:
2316 P: annotates the previous revision
2317 N: annotates the next revision
2318 J: annotates the revision at line
2319 A: annotates the revision previous to line
2320 D: shows the diff of the revision at line with its previous revision
2321 L: shows the log of the revision at line
2322 W: annotates the workfile (most up to date) version
2325 ** In pcl-cvs mode, there is a new `d y' command to view the diffs
2326 between the local version of the file and yesterday's head revision
2330 ** In pcl-cvs mode, there is a new `d r' command to view the changes
2331 anyone has committed to the repository since you last executed
2332 "checkout", "update" or "commit". That means using cvs diff options
2335 ** New variable `hs-set-up-overlay' allows customization of the overlay
2336 used to effect hiding for hideshow minor mode. Integration with isearch
2337 handles the overlay property `display' specially, preserving it during
2338 temporary overlay showing in the course of an isearch operation.
2340 ** New command `recode-region' decodes the region again by a specified
2344 * New modes and packages in Emacs 22.1
2346 ** The new package conf-mode.el handles thousands of configuration files, with
2347 varying syntaxes for comments (;, #, //, /* */ or !), assignment (var = value,
2348 var : value, var value or keyword var value) and sections ([section] or
2349 section { }). Many files under /etc/, or with suffixes like .cf through
2350 .config, .properties (Java), .desktop (KDE/Gnome), .ini and many others are
2353 ** The new package password.el provide a password cache and expiring mechanism.
2355 ** The new package dns-mode.el add syntax highlight of DNS master files.
2356 The key binding C-c C-s (`dns-mode-soa-increment-serial') can be used
2357 to increment the SOA serial.
2359 ** The new package flymake.el does on-the-fly syntax checking of program
2360 source files. See the Flymake's Info manual for more details.
2362 ** The library tree-widget.el provides a new widget to display a set
2363 of hierarchical data as an outline. For example, the tree-widget is
2364 well suited to display a hierarchy of directories and files.
2366 ** The wdired.el package allows you to use normal editing commands on Dired
2367 buffers to change filenames, permissions, etc...
2369 ** The thumbs.el package allows you to preview image files as thumbnails
2370 and can be invoked from a Dired buffer.
2372 ** The new python.el package is used to edit Python and Jython programs.
2374 ** The URL package (which had been part of W3) is now part of Emacs.
2377 ** The new global minor mode `size-indication-mode' (off by default)
2378 shows the size of accessible part of the buffer on the mode line.
2380 ** GDB-Script-mode is used for files like .gdbinit.
2383 ** Ido mode is now part of the Emacs distribution.
2385 The ido (interactively do) package is an extension of the iswitchb
2386 package to do interactive opening of files and directories in addition
2387 to interactive buffer switching. Ido is a superset of iswitchb (with
2388 a few exceptions), so don't enable both packages.
2391 ** CUA mode is now part of the Emacs distribution.
2393 The new cua package provides CUA-like keybindings using C-x for
2394 cut (kill), C-c for copy, C-v for paste (yank), and C-z for undo.
2395 With cua, the region can be set and extended using shifted movement
2396 keys (like pc-selection-mode) and typed text replaces the active
2397 region (like delete-selection-mode). Do not enable these modes with
2398 cua-mode. Customize the variable `cua-mode' to enable cua.
2400 In addition, cua provides unified rectangle support with visible
2401 rectangle highlighting: Use S-return to start a rectangle, extend it
2402 using the movement commands (or mouse-3), and cut or copy it using C-x
2403 or C-c (using C-w and M-w also works).
2405 Use M-o and M-c to `open' or `close' the rectangle, use M-b or M-f, to
2406 fill it with blanks or another character, use M-u or M-l to upcase or
2407 downcase the rectangle, use M-i to increment the numbers in the
2408 rectangle, use M-n to fill the rectangle with a numeric sequence (such
2409 as 10 20 30...), use M-r to replace a regexp in the rectangle, and use
2410 M-' or M-/ to restrict command on the rectangle to a subset of the
2411 rows. See the commentary in cua-base.el for more rectangle commands.
2413 Cua also provides unified support for registers: Use a numeric
2414 prefix argument between 0 and 9, i.e. M-0 .. M-9, for C-x, C-c, and
2415 C-v to cut or copy into register 0-9, or paste from register 0-9.
2417 The last text deleted (not killed) is automatically stored in
2418 register 0. This includes text deleted by typing text.
2420 Finally, cua provides a global mark which is set using S-C-space.
2421 When the global mark is active, any text which is cut or copied is
2422 automatically inserted at the global mark position. See the
2423 commentary in cua-base.el for more global mark related commands.
2425 The features of cua also works with the standard emacs bindings for
2426 kill, copy, yank, and undo. If you want to use cua mode, but don't
2427 want the C-x, C-c, C-v, and C-z bindings, you may customize the
2428 `cua-enable-cua-keys' variable.
2430 Note: This version of cua mode is not backwards compatible with older
2431 versions of cua.el and cua-mode.el. To ensure proper operation, you
2432 must remove older versions of cua.el or cua-mode.el as well as the
2433 loading and customization of those packages from the .emacs file.
2435 ** The new keypad setup package provides several common bindings for
2436 the numeric keypad which is available on most keyboards. The numeric
2437 keypad typically has the digits 0 to 9, a decimal point, keys marked
2438 +, -, /, and *, an Enter key, and a NumLock toggle key. The keypad
2439 package only controls the use of the digit and decimal keys.
2441 By customizing the variables `keypad-setup', `keypad-shifted-setup',
2442 `keypad-numlock-setup', and `keypad-numlock-shifted-setup', or by
2443 using the function `keypad-setup', you can rebind all digit keys and
2444 the decimal key of the keypad in one step for each of the four
2445 possible combinations of the Shift key state (not pressed/pressed) and
2446 the NumLock toggle state (off/on).
2448 The choices for the keypad keys in each of the above states are:
2449 `Plain numeric keypad' where the keys generates plain digits,
2450 `Numeric keypad with decimal key' where the character produced by the
2451 decimal key can be customized individually (for internationalization),
2452 `Numeric Prefix Arg' where the keypad keys produce numeric prefix args
2453 for emacs editing commands, `Cursor keys' and `Shifted Cursor keys'
2454 where the keys work like (shifted) arrow keys, home/end, etc., and
2455 `Unspecified/User-defined' where the keypad keys (kp-0, kp-1, etc.)
2456 are left unspecified and can be bound individually through the global
2460 ** The new kmacro package provides a simpler user interface to
2461 emacs' keyboard macro facilities.
2463 Basically, it uses two function keys (default F3 and F4) like this:
2464 F3 starts a macro, F4 ends the macro, and pressing F4 again executes
2465 the last macro. While defining the macro, F3 inserts a counter value
2466 which automatically increments every time the macro is executed.
2468 There is now a keyboard macro ring which stores the most recently
2471 The C-x C-k sequence is now a prefix for the kmacro keymap which
2472 defines bindings for moving through the keyboard macro ring,
2473 C-x C-k C-p and C-x C-k C-n, editing the last macro C-x C-k C-e,
2474 manipulating the macro counter and format via C-x C-k C-c,
2475 C-x C-k C-a, and C-x C-k C-f. See the commentary in kmacro.el
2478 The normal macro bindings C-x (, C-x ), and C-x e now interfaces to
2479 the keyboard macro ring.
2481 The C-x e command now automatically terminates the current macro
2482 before calling it, if used while defining a macro.
2484 In addition, when ending or calling a macro with C-x e, the macro can
2485 be repeated immediately by typing just the `e'. You can customize
2486 this behavior via the variable kmacro-call-repeat-key and
2487 kmacro-call-repeat-with-arg.
2489 Keyboard macros can now be debugged and edited interactively.
2490 C-x C-k SPC steps through the last keyboard macro one key sequence
2491 at a time, prompting for the actions to take.
2494 ** The old Octave mode bindings C-c f and C-c i have been changed
2495 to C-c C-f and C-c C-i. The C-c C-i subcommands now have duplicate
2496 bindings on control characters--thus, C-c C-i C-b is the same as
2497 C-c C-i b, and so on.
2499 ** The printing package is now part of the Emacs distribution.
2501 If you enable the printing package by including (require 'printing) in
2502 the .emacs file, the normal Print item on the File menu is replaced
2503 with a Print sub-menu which allows you to preview output through
2504 ghostview, use ghostscript to print (if you don't have a PostScript
2505 printer) or send directly to printer a PostScript code generated by
2506 `ps-print' package. Use M-x pr-help for more information.
2509 ** Calc is now part of the Emacs distribution.
2511 Calc is an advanced desk calculator and mathematical tool written in
2512 Emacs Lisp. Its documentation is in a separate manual; within Emacs,
2513 type "C-h i m calc RET" to read that manual. A reference card is
2514 available in `etc/calccard.tex' and `etc/calccard.ps'.
2517 ** Tramp is now part of the distribution.
2519 This package is similar to Ange-FTP: it allows you to edit remote
2520 files. But whereas Ange-FTP uses FTP to access the remote host,
2521 Tramp uses a shell connection. The shell connection is always used
2522 for filename completion and directory listings and suchlike, but for
2523 the actual file transfer, you can choose between the so-called
2524 `inline' methods (which transfer the files through the shell
2525 connection using base64 or uu encoding) and the `out-of-band' methods
2526 (which invoke an external copying program such as `rcp' or `scp' or
2527 `rsync' to do the copying).
2529 Shell connections can be acquired via `rsh', `ssh', `telnet' and also
2530 `su' and `sudo'. Ange-FTP is still supported via the `ftp' method.
2532 If you want to disable Tramp you should set
2534 (setq tramp-default-method "ftp")
2537 ** The new global minor mode `file-name-shadow-mode' modifies the way
2538 filenames being entered by the user in the minibuffer are displayed, so
2539 that it's clear when part of the entered filename will be ignored due to
2540 emacs' filename parsing rules. The ignored portion can be made dim,
2541 invisible, or otherwise less visually noticable. The display method may
2542 be displayed by customizing the variable `file-name-shadow-properties'.
2545 ** The ruler-mode.el library provides a minor mode for displaying an
2546 "active" ruler in the header line. You can use the mouse to visually
2547 change the `fill-column', `window-margins' and `tab-stop-list'
2551 ** The minor mode Reveal mode makes text visible on the fly as you
2552 move your cursor into hidden regions of the buffer.
2553 It should work with any package that uses overlays to hide parts
2554 of a buffer, such as outline-minor-mode, hs-minor-mode, hide-ifdef-mode, ...
2556 There is also Global Reveal mode which affects all buffers.
2559 ** The new package ibuffer provides a powerful, completely
2560 customizable replacement for buff-menu.el.
2562 ** The new package table.el implements editable, WYSIWYG, embedded
2563 `text tables' in Emacs buffers. It simulates the effect of putting
2564 these tables in a special major mode. The package emulates WYSIWYG
2565 table editing available in modern word processors. The package also
2566 can generate a table source in typesetting and markup languages such
2567 as latex and html from the visually laid out text table.
2570 ** SES mode (ses-mode) is a new major mode for creating and editing
2571 spreadsheet files. Besides the usual Emacs features (intuitive command
2572 letters, undo, cell formulas in Lisp, plaintext files, etc.) it also offers
2573 viral immunity and import/export of tab-separated values.
2576 ** Support for `magic cookie' standout modes has been removed.
2577 Emacs will still work on terminals that require magic cookies in order
2578 to use standout mode, however they will not be able to display
2579 mode-lines in inverse-video.
2582 ** cplus-md.el has been removed to avoid problems with Custom.
2584 ** New package benchmark.el contains simple support for convenient
2585 timing measurements of code (including the garbage collection component).
2587 ** The new Lisp library fringe.el controls the appearance of fringes.
2589 ** `cfengine-mode' is a major mode for editing GNU Cfengine
2590 configuration files.
2592 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 22.1
2595 ** `suppress-keymap' now works by remapping `self-insert-command' to
2596 the command `undefined'. (In earlier Emacs versions, it used
2597 `substitute-key-definition' to rebind self inserting characters to
2601 ** Mode line display ignores text properties as well as the
2602 :propertize and :eval forms in the value of a variable whose
2603 `risky-local-variable' property is nil.
2605 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 22.1
2607 ** An element of buffer-undo-list can now have the form (FUNNAME .
2608 ARGS), where FUNNAME is a symbol other than t or nil. That stands for
2609 a high-level change that should be undone by evaluating (apply FUNNAME
2613 ** The line-move, scroll-up, and scroll-down functions will now
2614 modify the window vscroll to scroll through display rows that are
2615 taller that the height of the window, for example in the presense of
2616 large images. To disable this feature, Lisp code may bind the new
2617 variable `auto-window-vscroll' to nil.
2620 ** If a buffer sets buffer-save-without-query to non-nil,
2621 save-some-buffers will always save that buffer without asking
2625 ** The function symbol-file tells you which file defined
2626 a certain function or variable.
2628 ** Lisp code can now test if a given buffer position is inside a
2629 clickable link with the new function `mouse-on-link-p'. This is the
2630 function used by the new `mouse-1-click-follows-link' functionality.
2633 ** (while-no-input BODY...) runs BODY, but only so long as no input
2634 arrives. If the user types or clicks anything, BODY stops as if a
2635 quit had occurred. while-no-input returns the value of BODY, if BODY
2636 finishes. It returns nil if BODY was aborted.
2639 ** `set-auto-mode' now gives the interpreter magic line (if present)
2640 precedence over the file name. Likewise an <?xml or <!DOCTYPE declaration
2641 will give the buffer XML or SGML mode, based on the new var
2645 ** New function `looking-back' checks whether a regular expression matches
2646 the text before point. Specifying the LIMIT argument bounds how far
2647 back the match can start; this is a way to keep it from taking too long.
2650 ** New functions `make-progress-reporter', `progress-reporter-update',
2651 `progress-reporter-force-update', `progress-reporter-done', and
2652 `dotimes-with-progress-reporter' provide a simple and efficient way for
2653 a command to present progress messages for the user.
2656 ** To manipulate the File menu using easy-menu, you must specify the
2657 proper name "file". In previous Emacs versions, you had to specify
2658 "files", even though the menu item itself was changed to say "File"
2659 several versions ago.
2662 ** read-from-minibuffer now accepts an additional argument KEEP-ALL
2663 saying to put all inputs in the history list, even empty ones.
2666 ** The new variable search-spaces-regexp controls how to search
2667 for spaces in a regular expression. If it is non-nil, it should be a
2668 regular expression, and any series of spaces stands for that regular
2669 expression. If it is nil, spaces stand for themselves.
2671 Spaces inside of constructs such as [..] and *, +, ? are never
2672 replaced with search-spaces-regexp.
2675 ** list-buffers-noselect now takes an additional argument, BUFFER-LIST.
2676 If it is non-nil, it specifies which buffers to list.
2679 ** set-buffer-file-coding-system now takes an additional argument,
2680 NOMODIFY. If it is non-nil, it means don't mark the buffer modified.
2683 ** The new function syntax-after returns the syntax code
2684 of the character after a specified buffer position, taking account
2685 of text properties as well as the character code.
2688 ** The new primitive `get-internal-run-time' returns the processor
2689 run time used by Emacs since start-up.
2692 ** The new function `called-interactively-p' does what many people
2693 have mistakenly believed `interactive-p' did: it returns t if the
2694 calling function was called through `call-interactively'. This should
2695 only be used when you cannot add a new "interactive" argument to the
2699 ** The new function `assoc-string' replaces `assoc-ignore-case' and
2700 `assoc-ignore-representation', which are still available, but have
2701 been declared obsolete.
2704 ** An interactive specification may now use the code letter 'U' to get
2705 the up-event that was discarded in case the last key sequence read for a
2706 previous 'k' or 'K' argument was a down-event; otherwise nil is used.
2708 ** Function `translate-region' accepts also a char-table as TABLE
2712 ** Major mode functions now run the new normal hook
2713 `after-change-major-mode-hook', at their very end, after the mode hooks.
2716 ** `auto-save-file-format' has been renamed to
2717 `buffer-auto-save-file-format' and made into a permanent local.
2720 ** Both the variable and the function `disabled-command-hook' have
2721 been renamed to `disabled-command-function'. The variable
2722 `disabled-command-hook' has been kept as an obsolete alias.
2724 ** Function `compute-motion' now calculates the usable window
2725 width if the WIDTH argument is nil. If the TOPOS argument is nil,
2726 the usable window height and width is used.
2729 ** `visited-file-modtime' and `calendar-time-from-absolute' now return
2730 a list of two integers, instead of a cons.
2732 ** If a command sets transient-mark-mode to `only', that
2733 enables Transient Mark mode for the following command only.
2734 During that following command, the value of transient-mark-mode
2735 is `identity'. If it is still `identity' at the end of the command,
2739 ** Cleaner way to enter key sequences.
2741 You can enter a constant key sequence in a more natural format, the
2742 same one used for saving keyboard macros, using the macro `kbd'. For
2745 (kbd "C-x C-f") => "\^x\^f"
2747 ** The sentinel is now called when a network process is deleted with
2748 delete-process. The status message passed to the sentinel for a
2749 deleted network process is "deleted". The message passed to the
2750 sentinel when the connection is closed by the remote peer has been
2751 changed to "connection broken by remote peer".
2753 ** If the buffer's undo list for the current command gets longer than
2754 undo-outer-limit, garbage collection empties it. This is to prevent
2755 it from using up the available memory and choking Emacs.
2758 ** New function quail-find-key returns a list of keys to type in the
2759 current input method to input a character.
2762 ** New functions posn-at-point and posn-at-x-y return
2763 click-event-style position information for a given visible buffer
2764 position or for a given window pixel coordinate.
2766 ** skip-chars-forward and skip-chars-backward now handle
2767 character classes such as [:alpha:], along with individual characters
2770 ** Function pos-visible-in-window-p now returns the pixel coordinates
2771 and partial visiblity state of the corresponding row, if the PARTIALLY
2774 ** The function `eql' is now available without requiring the CL package.
2777 ** The new primitive `set-file-times' sets a file's access and
2778 modification times. Magic file name handlers can handle this
2782 ** The display space :width and :align-to text properties are now
2783 supported on text terminals.
2786 ** Support for displaying image slices
2788 *** New display property (slice X Y WIDTH HEIGHT) may be used with
2789 an image property to display only a specific slice of the image.
2791 *** Function insert-image has new optional fourth arg to
2792 specify image slice (X Y WIDTH HEIGHT).
2794 *** New function insert-sliced-image inserts a given image as a
2795 specified number of evenly sized slices (rows x columns).
2798 ** New line-height and line-spacing properties for newline characters
2800 A newline may now have line-height and line-spacing text or overlay
2801 properties that control the height of the corresponding display row.
2803 If the line-height property value is t, the newline does not
2804 contribute to the height of the display row; instead the height of the
2805 newline glyph is reduced. Also, a line-spacing property on this
2806 newline is ignored. This can be used to tile small images or image
2807 slices without adding blank areas between the images.
2809 If the line-height property value is a positive integer, the value
2810 specifies the minimum line height in pixels. If necessary, the line
2811 height it increased by increasing the line's ascent.
2813 If the line-height property value is a float, the minimum line height
2814 is calculated by multiplying the default frame line height by the
2817 If the line-height property value is a cons (FACE . RATIO), the
2818 minimum line height is calculated as RATIO * height of named FACE.
2819 RATIO is int or float. If FACE is t, it specifies the current face.
2821 If the line-height property value is a cons (nil . RATIO), the line
2822 height is calculated as RATIO * actual height of the line's contents.
2824 If the line-height value is a cons (HEIGHT . TOTAL), HEIGHT specifies
2825 the line height as described above, while TOTAL is any of the forms
2826 described above and specifies the total height of the line, causing a
2827 varying number of pixels to be inserted after the line to make it line
2828 exactly that many pixels high.
2830 If the line-spacing property value is an positive integer, the value
2831 is used as additional pixels to insert after the display line; this
2832 overrides the default frame line-spacing and any buffer local value of
2833 the line-spacing variable.
2835 If the line-spacing property may be a float or cons, the line spacing
2836 is calculated as specified above for the line-height property.
2838 ** The buffer local line-spacing variable may now have a float value,
2839 which is used as a height relative to the default frame line height.
2842 ** Enhancements to stretch display properties
2844 The display property stretch specification form `(space PROPS)', where
2845 PROPS is a property list now allows pixel based width and height
2846 specifications, as well as enhanced horizontal text alignment.
2848 The value of these properties can now be a (primitive) expression
2849 which is evaluated during redisplay. The following expressions
2852 EXPR ::= NUM | (NUM) | UNIT | ELEM | POS | IMAGE | FORM
2853 NUM ::= INTEGER | FLOAT | SYMBOL
2854 UNIT ::= in | mm | cm | width | height
2855 ELEM ::= left-fringe | right-fringe | left-margin | right-margin
2857 POS ::= left | center | right
2858 FORM ::= (NUM . EXPR) | (OP EXPR ...)
2861 The form `NUM' specifies a fractional width or height of the default
2862 frame font size. The form `(NUM)' specifies an absolute number of
2863 pixels. If a symbol is specified, its buffer-local variable binding
2864 is used. The `in', `mm', and `cm' units specifies the number of
2865 pixels per inch, milli-meter, and centi-meter, resp. The `width' and
2866 `height' units correspond to the width and height of the current face
2867 font. An image specification corresponds to the width or height of
2870 The `left-fringe', `right-fringe', `left-margin', `right-margin',
2871 `scroll-bar', and `text' elements specify to the width of the
2872 corresponding area of the window.
2874 The `left', `center', and `right' positions can be used with :align-to
2875 to specify a position relative to the left edge, center, or right edge
2876 of the text area. One of the above window elements (except `text')
2877 can also be used with :align-to to specify that the position is
2878 relative to the left edge of the given area. Once the base offset for
2879 a relative position has been set (by the first occurrence of one of
2880 these symbols), further occurences of these symbols are interpreted as
2881 the width of the area.
2883 For example, to align to the center of the left-margin, use
2884 :align-to (+ left-margin (0.5 . left-margin))
2886 If no specific base offset is set for alignment, it is always relative
2887 to the left edge of the text area. For example, :align-to 0 in a
2888 header-line aligns with the first text column in the text area.
2890 The value of the form `(NUM . EXPR)' is the value of NUM multiplied by
2891 the value of the expression EXPR. For example, (2 . in) specifies a
2892 width of 2 inches, while (0.5 . IMAGE) specifies half the width (or
2893 height) of the specified image.
2895 The form `(+ EXPR ...)' adds up the value of the expressions.
2896 The form `(- EXPR ...)' negates or subtracts the value of the expressions.
2899 ** Normally, the cursor is displayed at the end of any overlay and
2900 text property string that may be present at the current window
2901 position. The cursor may now be placed on any character of such
2902 strings by giving that character a non-nil `cursor' text property.
2904 ** New macro with-local-quit temporarily sets inhibit-quit to nil for use
2905 around potentially blocking or long-running code in timers
2906 and post-command-hooks.
2908 ** The first face specification element in a defface can specify
2909 `default' instead of frame classification. Then its attributes act as
2910 defaults that apply to all the subsequent cases (and may be overridden
2914 ** New face attribute `min-colors' can be used to tailor the face color
2915 to the number of colors supported by a display, and define the
2916 foreground and background colors accordingly so that they look best on
2917 a terminal that supports at least this many colors. This is now the
2918 preferred method for defining default faces in a way that makes a good
2919 use of the capabilities of the display.
2922 ** Customizable fringe bitmaps
2924 *** New function 'define-fringe-bitmap' can now be used to create new
2925 fringe bitmaps, as well as change the built-in fringe bitmaps.
2927 To change a built-in bitmap, do (require 'fringe) and use the symbol
2928 identifing the bitmap such as `left-truncation or `continued-line'.
2930 *** New function 'destroy-fringe-bitmap' may be used to destroy a
2931 previously created bitmap, or restore a built-in bitmap.
2933 *** New function 'set-fringe-bitmap-face' can now be used to set a
2934 specific face to be used for a specific fringe bitmap. Normally,
2935 this should be a face derived from the `fringe' face, specifying
2936 the foreground color as the desired color of the bitmap.
2938 *** There are new display properties, left-fringe and right-fringe,
2939 that can be used to show a specific bitmap in the left or right fringe
2940 bitmap of the display line.
2942 Format is 'display '(left-fringe BITMAP [FACE]), where BITMAP is a
2943 symbol identifying a fringe bitmap, either built-in or defined with
2944 `define-fringe-bitmap', and FACE is an optional face name to be used
2945 for displaying the bitmap.
2947 *** New function `fringe-bitmaps-at-pos' returns the current fringe
2948 bitmaps in the display line at a given buffer position.
2950 ** Multiple overlay arrows can now be defined and managed via the new
2951 variable `overlay-arrow-variable-list'. It contains a list of
2952 varibles which contain overlay arrow position markers, including
2953 the original `overlay-arrow-position' variable.
2955 Each variable on this list may have individual `overlay-arrow-string'
2956 and `overlay-arrow-bitmap' properties that specify an overlay arrow
2957 string (for non-window terminals) or fringe bitmap (for window
2958 systems) to display at the corresponding overlay arrow position.
2959 If either property is not set, the default `overlay-arrow-string' or
2960 'overlay-arrow-fringe-bitmap' will be used.
2963 ** New function `line-number-at-pos' returns line number of current
2964 line in current buffer, or if optional buffer position is given, line
2965 number of corresponding line in current buffer.
2968 ** The default value of `sentence-end' is now defined using the new
2969 variable `sentence-end-without-space' which contains such characters
2970 that end a sentence without following spaces.
2973 ** The function `sentence-end' should be used to obtain the value of
2974 the variable `sentence-end'. If the variable `sentence-end' is nil,
2975 then this function returns the regexp constructed from the variables
2976 `sentence-end-without-period', `sentence-end-double-space' and
2977 `sentence-end-without-space'.
2980 ** The flags, width, and precision options for %-specifications in function
2981 `format' are now documented. Some flags that were accepted but not
2982 implemented (such as "*") are no longer accepted.
2984 ** New function `macroexpand-all' expands all macros in a form.
2985 It is similar to the Common-Lisp function of the same name.
2986 One difference is that it guarantees to return the original argument
2987 if no expansion is done, which may be tested using `eq'.
2990 ** New function `delete-dups' destructively removes `equal' duplicates
2991 from a list. Of several `equal' occurrences of an element in the list,
2992 the first one is kept.
2995 ** `declare' is now a macro. This change was made mostly for
2996 documentation purposes and should have no real effect on Lisp code.
2998 ** The new hook `before-save-hook' is invoked by `basic-save-buffer'
2999 before saving buffers. This allows packages to perform various final
3000 tasks, for example; it can be used by the copyright package to make
3001 sure saved files have the current year in any copyright headers.
3004 ** The function `insert-for-yank' now supports strings where the
3005 `yank-handler' property does not span the first character of the
3006 string. The old behavior is available if you call
3007 `insert-for-yank-1' instead.
3009 ** New function `get-char-property-and-overlay' accepts the same
3010 arguments as `get-char-property' and returns a cons whose car is the
3011 return value of `get-char-property' called with those arguments and
3012 whose cdr is the overlay in which the property was found, or nil if
3013 it was found as a text property or not found at all.
3017 ** The mouse pointer shape in void text areas (i.e. after the end of a
3018 line or below the last line in the buffer) of the text window is now
3019 controlled by the new variable `void-text-area-pointer'. The default
3020 is to use the `arrow' (non-text) pointer. Other choices are `text'
3021 (or nil), `hand', `vdrag', `hdrag', `modeline', and `hourglass'.
3024 ** The mouse pointer shape over an image can now be controlled by the
3025 :pointer image property.
3028 ** The mouse pointer shape over ordinary text or images may now be
3029 controlled/overriden via the `pointer' text property.
3032 ** Images may now have an associated image map via the :map property.
3034 An image map is an alist where each element has the format (AREA ID PLIST).
3035 An AREA is specified as either a rectangle, a circle, or a polygon:
3036 A rectangle is a cons (rect . ((x0 . y0) . (x1 . y1))) specifying the
3037 pixel coordinates of the upper left and bottom right corners.
3038 A circle is a cons (circle . ((x0 . y0) . r)) specifying the center
3039 and the radius of the circle; r may be a float or integer.
3040 A polygon is a cons (poly . [x0 y0 x1 y1 ...]) where each pair in the
3041 vector describes one corner in the polygon.
3043 When the mouse pointer is above a hot-spot area of an image, the
3044 PLIST of that hot-spot is consulted; if it contains a `help-echo'
3045 property it defines a tool-tip for the hot-spot, and if it contains
3046 a `pointer' property, it defines the shape of the mouse cursor when
3047 it is over the hot-spot. See the variable 'void-area-text-pointer'
3048 for possible pointer shapes.
3050 When you click the mouse when the mouse pointer is over a hot-spot,
3051 an event is composed by combining the ID of the hot-spot with the
3052 mouse event, e.g. [area4 mouse-1] if the hot-spot's ID is `area4'.
3054 ** Mouse event enhancements:
3056 *** Mouse clicks on fringes now generates left-fringe or right-fringes
3057 events, rather than a text area click event.
3059 *** Mouse clicks in the left and right marginal areas now includes a
3060 sensible buffer position corresponding to the first character in the
3061 corresponding text row.
3063 *** Function `mouse-set-point' now works for events outside text area.
3066 *** Mouse events now includes buffer position for all event types.
3069 *** `posn-point' now returns buffer position for non-text area events.
3072 *** New function `posn-area' returns window area clicked on (nil means
3076 *** Mouse events include actual glyph column and row for all event types.
3079 *** New function `posn-actual-col-row' returns actual glyph coordinates.
3082 *** Mouse events may now include image object in addition to string object.
3085 *** Mouse events include relative x and y pixel coordinates relative to
3086 the top left corner of the object (image or character) clicked on.
3089 *** Mouse events include the pixel width and height of the object
3090 (image or character) clicked on.
3093 *** New functions 'posn-object', 'posn-object-x-y', and
3094 'posn-object-width-height' return the image or string object of a mouse
3095 click, the x and y pixel coordinates relative to the top left corner
3096 of that object, and the total width and height of that object.
3098 ** New function `force-window-update' can initiate a full redisplay of
3099 one or all windows. Normally, this is not needed as changes in window
3100 contents are detected automatically. However, certain implicit
3101 changes to mode lines, header lines, or display properties may require
3102 forcing an explicit window update.
3104 ** New function `redirect-debugging-output' can be used to redirect
3105 debugging output on the stderr file handle to a file.
3108 ** `split-string' now includes null substrings in the returned list if
3109 the optional argument SEPARATORS is non-nil and there are matches for
3110 SEPARATORS at the beginning or end of the string. If SEPARATORS is
3111 nil, or if the new optional third argument OMIT-NULLS is non-nil, all
3112 empty matches are omitted from the returned list.
3115 ** `makehash' is now obsolete. Use `make-hash-table' instead.
3118 ** If optional third argument APPEND to `add-to-list' is non-nil, a
3119 new element gets added at the end of the list instead of at the
3120 beginning. This change actually occurred in Emacs-21.1, but was not
3123 ** Major modes can define `eldoc-print-current-symbol-info-function'
3124 locally to provide Eldoc functionality by some method appropriate to
3128 ** New coding system property `mime-text-unsuitable' indicates that
3129 the coding system's `mime-charset' is not suitable for MIME text
3133 ** The argument to forward-word, backward-word, forward-to-indentation
3134 and backward-to-indentation is now optional, and defaults to 1.
3137 ** (char-displayable-p CHAR) returns non-nil if Emacs ought to be able
3138 to display CHAR. More precisely, if the selected frame's fontset has
3139 a font to display the character set that CHAR belongs to.
3141 Fontsets can specify a font on a per-character basis; when the fontset
3142 does that, this value may not be accurate.
3145 ** The new function `window-inside-edges' returns the edges of the
3146 actual text portion of the window, not including the scroll bar or
3147 divider line, the fringes, the display margins, the header line and
3151 ** The new functions `window-pixel-edges' and `window-inside-pixel-edges'
3152 return window edges in units of pixels, rather than columns and lines.
3155 ** The kill-buffer-hook is now permanent-local.
3158 ** `select-window' takes an optional second argument `norecord', like
3162 ** The new macro `with-selected-window' temporarily switches the
3163 selected window without impacting the order of buffer-list.
3166 ** The `keymap' property now also works at the ends of overlays and
3167 text-properties, according to their stickiness. This also means that it
3168 works with empty overlays. The same hold for the `local-map' property.
3171 ** (map-keymap FUNCTION KEYMAP) applies the function to each binding
3175 ** VC changes for backends:
3176 *** (vc-switches BACKEND OPERATION) is a new function for use by backends.
3177 *** The new `find-version' backend function replaces the `destfile'
3178 parameter of the `checkout' backend function.
3179 Old code still works thanks to a default `find-version' behavior that
3180 uses the old `destfile' parameter.
3183 ** The new macro dynamic-completion-table supports using functions
3184 as a dynamic completion table.
3186 (dynamic-completion-table FUN)
3188 FUN is called with one argument, the string for which completion is required,
3189 and it should return an alist containing all the intended possible
3190 completions. This alist may be a full list of possible completions so that FUN
3191 can ignore the value of its argument. If completion is performed in the
3192 minibuffer, FUN will be called in the buffer from which the minibuffer was
3193 entered. dynamic-completion-table then computes the completion.
3196 ** The new macro lazy-completion-table initializes a variable
3197 as a lazy completion table.
3199 (lazy-completion-table VAR FUN &rest ARGS)
3201 If the completion table VAR is used for the first time (e.g., by passing VAR
3202 as an argument to `try-completion'), the function FUN is called with arguments
3203 ARGS. FUN must return the completion table that will be stored in VAR. If
3204 completion is requested in the minibuffer, FUN will be called in the buffer
3205 from which the minibuffer was entered. The return value of
3206 `lazy-completion-table' must be used to initialize the value of VAR.
3209 ** `minor-mode-list' now holds a list of minor mode commands.
3212 ** The new function `modify-all-frames-parameters' modifies parameters
3213 for all (existing and future) frames.
3216 ** `sit-for' can now be called with args (SECONDS &optional NODISP).
3219 ** New standard font-lock face `font-lock-preprocessor-face'.
3222 ** The macro `with-syntax-table' does not copy the table any more.
3225 ** The variable `face-font-rescale-alist' specifies how much larger
3226 (or smaller) font we should use. For instance, if the value is
3227 '((SOME-FONTNAME-PATTERN . 1.3)) and a face requests a font of 10
3228 point, we actually use a font of 13 point if the font matches
3229 SOME-FONTNAME-PATTERN.
3232 ** The function `number-sequence' returns a list of equally-separated
3233 numbers. For instance, (number-sequence 4 9) returns (4 5 6 7 8 9).
3234 By default, the separation is 1, but you can specify a different separation
3235 as the third argument. (number-sequence 1.5 6 2) returns (1.5 3.5 5.5).
3238 ** `file-chase-links' now takes an optional second argument LIMIT which
3239 specifies the maximum number of links to chase through. If after that
3240 many iterations the file name obtained is still a symbolic link,
3241 `file-chase-links' returns it anyway.
3244 ** `set-fontset-font', `fontset-info', `fontset-font' now operate on
3245 the default fontset if the argument NAME is nil..
3248 ** The escape sequence \s is now interpreted as a SPACE character,
3249 unless it is followed by a `-' in a character constant (e.g. ?\s-A),
3250 in which case it is still interpreted as the super modifier.
3251 In strings, \s is always interpreted as a space.
3254 ** New function `set-process-filter-multibyte' sets the multibyteness
3255 of a string given to a process's filter.
3258 ** New function `process-filter-multibyte-p' returns t if
3259 a string given to a process's filter is multibyte.
3262 ** A filter function of a process is called with a multibyte string if
3263 the filter's multibyteness is t. That multibyteness is decided by the
3264 value of `default-enable-multibyte-characters' when the process is
3265 created and can be changed later by `set-process-filter-multibyte'.
3268 ** If a process's coding system is raw-text or no-conversion and its
3269 buffer is multibyte, the output of the process is at first converted
3270 to multibyte by `string-to-multibyte' then inserted in the buffer.
3271 Previously, it was converted to multibyte by `string-as-multibyte',
3272 which was not compatible with the behavior of file reading.
3275 ** New function `string-to-multibyte' converts a unibyte string to a
3276 multibyte string with the same individual character codes.
3279 ** New variables `gc-elapsed' and `gcs-done' provide extra information
3280 on garbage collection.
3283 ** New function `decode-coding-inserted-region' decodes a region as if
3284 it is read from a file without decoding.
3287 ** New function `locale-info' accesses locale information.
3290 ** `save-selected-window' now saves and restores the selected window
3291 of every frame. This way, it restores everything that can be changed
3292 by calling `select-window'.
3295 ** `easy-menu-define' now allows you to use nil for the symbol name
3296 if you don't need to give the menu a name. If you install the menu
3297 into other keymaps right away (MAPS is non-nil), it usually doesn't
3298 need to have a name.
3300 ** Byte compiler changes:
3303 *** `(featurep 'xemacs)' is treated by the compiler as nil. This
3304 helps to avoid noisy compiler warnings in code meant to run under both
3305 Emacs and XEmacs and may sometimes make the result significantly more
3306 efficient. Since byte code from recent versions of XEmacs won't
3307 generally run in Emacs and vice versa, this optimization doesn't lose
3311 *** You can avoid warnings for possibly-undefined symbols with a
3312 simple convention that the compiler understands. (This is mostly
3313 useful in code meant to be portable to different Emacs versions.)
3314 Write forms like the following, or code that macroexpands into such
3317 (if (fboundp 'foo) <then> <else>)
3318 (if (boundp 'foo) <then> <else)
3320 In the first case, using `foo' as a function inside the <then> form
3321 won't produce a warning if it's not defined as a function, and in the
3322 second case, using `foo' as a variable won't produce a warning if it's
3323 unbound. The test must be in exactly one of the above forms (after
3324 macro expansion), but such tests may be nested. Note that `when' and
3325 `unless' expand to `if', but `cond' doesn't.
3328 *** The new macro `with-no-warnings' suppresses all compiler warnings
3329 inside its body. In terms of execution, it is equivalent to `progn'.
3332 ** The new translation table `translation-table-for-input'
3333 is used for customizing self-insertion. The character to
3334 be inserted is translated through it.
3337 ** `load-history' can now have elements of the form (t . FUNNAME),
3338 which means FUNNAME was previously defined as an autoload (before the
3339 current file redefined it).
3342 ** `load-history' now records (defun . FUNNAME) when a function is
3343 defined. For a variable, it records just the variable name.
3346 ** New Lisp library testcover.el works with edebug to help you determine
3347 whether you've tested all your Lisp code. Function testcover-start
3348 instruments all functions in a given file. Then test your code. Function
3349 testcover-mark-all adds overlay "splotches" to the Lisp file's buffer to
3350 show where coverage is lacking. Command testcover-next-mark (bind it to
3351 a key!) will move point forward to the next spot that has a splotch.
3353 *** Normally, a red splotch indicates the form was never completely evaluated;
3354 a brown splotch means it always evaluated to the same value. The red
3355 splotches are skipped for forms that can't possibly complete their evaluation,
3356 such as `error'. The brown splotches are skipped for forms that are expected
3357 to always evaluate to the same value, such as (setq x 14).
3359 *** For difficult cases, you can add do-nothing macros to your code to help
3360 out the test coverage tool. The macro `noreturn' suppresses a red splotch.
3361 It is an error if the argument to `noreturn' does return. The macro 1value
3362 suppresses a brown splotch for its argument. This macro is a no-op except
3363 during test-coverage -- then it signals an error if the argument actually
3364 returns differing values.
3367 ** New function unsafep returns nil if the given Lisp form can't possibly
3368 do anything dangerous; otherwise it returns a reason why the form might be
3369 unsafe (calls dangerous function, alters global variable, etc).
3372 ** The new variable `print-continuous-numbering', when non-nil, says
3373 that successive calls to print functions should use the same
3374 numberings for circular structure references. This is only relevant
3375 when `print-circle' is non-nil.
3377 When you bind `print-continuous-numbering' to t, you should
3378 also bind `print-number-table' to nil.
3381 ** When using non-toolkit scroll bars with the default width,
3382 the scroll-bar-width frame parameter value is nil.
3385 ** The new function copy-abbrev-table returns a new abbrev table that
3386 is a copy of a given abbrev table.
3389 ** The option --script FILE runs Emacs in batch mode and loads FILE.
3390 It is useful for writing Emacs Lisp shell script files, because they
3391 can start with this line:
3393 #!/usr/bin/emacs --script
3395 ** The option --directory DIR now modifies `load-path' immediately.
3396 Directories are added to the front of `load-path' in the order they
3397 appear on the command line. For example, with this command line:
3399 emacs -batch -L .. -L /tmp --eval "(require 'foo)"
3401 Emacs looks for library `foo' in the parent directory, then in /tmp, then
3402 in the other directories in `load-path'. (-L is short for --directory.)
3405 ** A function's docstring can now hold the function's usage info on
3406 its last line. It should match the regexp "\n\n(fn.*)\\'".
3409 ** New CCL functions `lookup-character' and `lookup-integer' access
3410 hash tables defined by the Lisp function `define-translation-hash-table'.
3413 ** The new function `minibufferp' returns non-nil if its optional buffer
3414 argument is a minibuffer. If the argument is omitted it defaults to
3418 ** There is a new Warnings facility; see the functions `warn'
3419 and `display-warning'.
3422 ** The functions all-completions and try-completion now accept lists
3423 of strings as well as hash-tables additionally to alists, obarrays
3424 and functions. Furthermore, the function `test-completion' is now
3425 exported to Lisp. The keys in alists and hash tables may be either
3426 strings or symbols, which are automatically converted with to strings.
3429 ** When pure storage overflows while dumping, Emacs now prints how
3430 much pure storage it will approximately need.
3433 ** The new variable `auto-coding-functions' lets you specify functions
3434 to examine a file being visited and deduce the proper coding system
3435 for it. (If the coding system is detected incorrectly for a specific
3436 file, you can put a `coding:' tags to override it.)
3439 ** The new function `merge-coding-systems' fills in unspecified aspects
3440 of one coding system from another coding system.
3443 ** The variable `safe-local-eval-forms' specifies a list of forms that
3444 are ok to evaluate when they appear in an `eval' local variables
3445 specification. Normally Emacs asks for confirmation before evaluating
3446 such a form, but if the form appears in this list, no confirmation is
3450 ** If a function has a non-nil `safe-local-eval-function' property,
3451 that means it is ok to evaluate some calls to that function when it
3452 appears in an `eval' local variables specification. If the property
3453 is t, then any form calling that function with constant arguments is
3454 ok. If the property is a function or list of functions, they are called
3455 with the form as argument, and if any returns t, the form is ok to call.
3457 If the form is not "ok to call", that means Emacs asks for
3458 confirmation as before.
3461 ** Controlling the default left and right fringe widths.
3463 The default left and right fringe widths for all windows of a frame
3464 can now be controlled by setting the `left-fringe' and `right-fringe'
3465 frame parameters to an integer value specifying the width in pixels.
3466 Setting the width to 0 effectively removes the corresponding fringe.
3468 The actual default fringe widths for the frame may deviate from the
3469 specified widths, since the combined fringe widths must match an
3470 integral number of columns. The extra width is distributed evenly
3471 between the left and right fringe. For force a specific fringe width,
3472 specify the width as a negative integer (if both widths are negative,
3473 only the left fringe gets the specified width).
3475 Setting the width to nil (the default), restores the default fringe
3476 width which is the minimum number of pixels necessary to display any
3477 of the currently defined fringe bitmaps. The width of the built-in
3478 fringe bitmaps is 8 pixels.
3481 ** Per-window fringes settings
3483 Windows can now have their own individual fringe widths and position
3486 To control the fringe widths of a window, either set the buffer-local
3487 variables `left-fringe-width', `right-fringe-width', or call
3488 `set-window-fringes'.
3490 To control the fringe position in a window, that is, whether fringes
3491 are positioned between the display margins and the window's text area,
3492 or at the edges of the window, either set the buffer-local variable
3493 `fringes-outside-margins' or call `set-window-fringes'.
3495 The function `window-fringes' can be used to obtain the current
3496 settings. To make `left-fringe-width', `right-fringe-width', and
3497 `fringes-outside-margins' take effect, you must set them before
3498 displaying the buffer in a window, or use `set-window-buffer' to force
3499 an update of the display margins.
3502 ** Per-window vertical scroll-bar settings
3504 Windows can now have their own individual scroll-bar settings
3505 controlling the width and position of scroll-bars.
3507 To control the scroll-bar of a window, either set the buffer-local
3508 variables `scroll-bar-mode' and `scroll-bar-width', or call
3509 `set-window-scroll-bars'. The function `window-scroll-bars' can be
3510 used to obtain the current settings. To make `scroll-bar-mode' and
3511 `scroll-bar-width' take effect, you must set them before displaying
3512 the buffer in a window, or use `set-window-buffer' to force an update
3513 of the display margins.
3516 ** The function `set-window-buffer' now has an optional third argument
3517 KEEP-MARGINS which will preserve the window's current margin, fringe,
3518 and scroll-bar settings if non-nil.
3521 ** Renamed hooks to better follow the naming convention:
3522 find-file-hooks to find-file-hook,
3523 find-file-not-found-hooks to find-file-not-found-functions,
3524 write-file-hooks to write-file-functions,
3525 write-contents-hooks to write-contents-functions,
3526 x-lost-selection-hooks to x-lost-selection-functions,
3527 x-sent-selection-hooks to x-sent-selection-functions.
3528 Marked local-write-file-hooks as obsolete (use the LOCAL arg of `add-hook').
3531 ** The new variable `delete-frame-functions' replaces `delete-frame-hook'.
3532 It was renamed to follow the naming conventions for abnormal hooks. The old
3533 name remains available as an alias, but has been marked obsolete.
3536 ** The `read-file-name' function now takes an additional argument which
3537 specifies a predicate which the file name read must satify. The
3538 new variable `read-file-name-predicate' contains the predicate argument
3539 while reading the file name from the minibuffer; the predicate in this
3540 variable is used by read-file-name-internal to filter the completion list.
3543 ** The new variable `read-file-name-function' can be used by lisp code
3544 to override the internal read-file-name function.
3547 ** The new variable `read-file-name-completion-ignore-case' specifies
3548 whether completion ignores case when reading a file name with the
3549 `read-file-name' function.
3552 ** The new function `read-directory-name' can be used instead of
3553 `read-file-name' to read a directory name; when used, completion
3554 will only show directories.
3557 ** The new function `file-remote-p' tests a file name and returns
3558 non-nil if it specifies a remote file (one that Emacs accesses using
3559 its own special methods and not directly through the file system).
3560 The value in that case is an identifier for the remote file system.
3563 ** When a Lisp file uses CL functions at run-time, compiling the file
3564 now issues warnings about these calls, unless the file performs
3565 (require 'cl) when loaded.
3568 ** The `defmacro' form may contain declarations specifying how to
3569 indent the macro in Lisp mode and how to debug it with Edebug. The
3570 syntax of defmacro has been extended to
3572 (defmacro NAME LAMBDA-LIST [DOC-STRING] [DECLARATION ...] ...)
3574 DECLARATION is a list `(declare DECLARATION-SPECIFIER ...)'. The
3575 declaration specifiers supported are:
3578 Set NAME's `lisp-indent-function' property to INDENT.
3581 Set NAME's `edebug-form-spec' property to DEBUG. (This is
3582 equivalent to writing a `def-edebug-spec' for the macro.
3585 ** Interactive commands can be remapped through keymaps.
3587 This is an alternative to using defadvice or substitute-key-definition
3588 to modify the behavior of a key binding using the normal keymap
3589 binding and lookup functionality.
3591 When a key sequence is bound to a command, and that command is
3592 remapped to another command, that command is run instead of the
3596 Suppose that minor mode my-mode has defined the commands
3597 my-kill-line and my-kill-word, and it wants C-k (and any other key
3598 bound to kill-line) to run the command my-kill-line instead of
3599 kill-line, and likewise it wants to run my-kill-word instead of
3602 Instead of rebinding C-k and the other keys in the minor mode map,
3603 command remapping allows you to directly map kill-line into
3604 my-kill-line and kill-word into my-kill-word through the minor mode
3605 map using define-key:
3607 (define-key my-mode-map [remap kill-line] 'my-kill-line)
3608 (define-key my-mode-map [remap kill-word] 'my-kill-word)
3610 Now, when my-mode is enabled, and the user enters C-k or M-d,
3611 the commands my-kill-line and my-kill-word are run.
3613 Notice that only one level of remapping is supported. In the above
3614 example, this means that if my-kill-line is remapped to other-kill,
3615 then C-k still runs my-kill-line.
3617 The following changes have been made to provide command remapping:
3619 - Command remappings are defined using `define-key' with a prefix-key
3620 `remap', i.e. `(define-key MAP [remap CMD] DEF)' remaps command CMD
3621 to definition DEF in keymap MAP. The definition is not limited to
3622 another command; it can be anything accepted for a normal binding.
3624 - The new function `command-remapping' returns the binding for a
3625 remapped command in the current keymaps, or nil if not remapped.
3627 - key-binding now remaps interactive commands unless the optional
3628 third argument NO-REMAP is non-nil.
3630 - where-is-internal now returns nil for a remapped command (e.g.
3631 kill-line if my-mode is enabled), and the actual key binding for
3632 the command it is remapped to (e.g. C-k for my-kill-line).
3633 It also has a new optional fifth argument, NO-REMAP, which inhibits
3634 remapping if non-nil (e.g. it returns C-k for kill-line and
3635 <kill-line> for my-kill-line).
3637 - The new variable `this-original-command' contains the original
3638 command before remapping. It is equal to `this-command' when the
3639 command was not remapped.
3642 ** New variable emulation-mode-map-alists.
3644 Lisp packages using many minor mode keymaps can now maintain their own
3645 keymap alist separate from minor-mode-map-alist by adding their keymap
3649 ** Atomic change groups.
3651 To perform some changes in the current buffer "atomically" so that
3652 they either all succeed or are all undone, use `atomic-change-group'
3653 around the code that makes changes. For instance:
3655 (atomic-change-group
3657 (delete-region x y))
3659 If an error (or other nonlocal exit) occurs inside the body of
3660 `atomic-change-group', it unmakes all the changes in that buffer that
3661 were during the execution of the body. The change group has no effect
3662 on any other buffers--any such changes remain.
3664 If you need something more sophisticated, you can directly call the
3665 lower-level functions that `atomic-change-group' uses. Here is how.
3667 To set up a change group for one buffer, call `prepare-change-group'.
3668 Specify the buffer as argument; it defaults to the current buffer.
3669 This function returns a "handle" for the change group. You must save
3670 the handle to activate the change group and then finish it.
3672 Before you change the buffer again, you must activate the change
3673 group. Pass the handle to `activate-change-group' afterward to
3676 After you make the changes, you must finish the change group. You can
3677 either accept the changes or cancel them all. Call
3678 `accept-change-group' to accept the changes in the group as final;
3679 call `cancel-change-group' to undo them all.
3681 You should use `unwind-protect' to make sure the group is always
3682 finished. The call to `activate-change-group' should be inside the
3683 `unwind-protect', in case the user types C-g just after it runs.
3684 (This is one reason why `prepare-change-group' and
3685 `activate-change-group' are separate functions.) Once you finish the
3686 group, don't use the handle again--don't try to finish the same group
3689 To make a multibuffer change group, call `prepare-change-group' once
3690 for each buffer you want to cover, then use `nconc' to combine the
3691 returned values, like this:
3693 (nconc (prepare-change-group buffer-1)
3694 (prepare-change-group buffer-2))
3696 You can then activate the multibuffer change group with a single call
3697 to `activate-change-group', and finish it with a single call to
3698 `accept-change-group' or `cancel-change-group'.
3700 Nested use of several change groups for the same buffer works as you
3701 would expect. Non-nested use of change groups for the same buffer
3702 will lead to undesirable results, so don't let it happen; the first
3703 change group you start for any given buffer should be the last one
3707 ** New variable char-property-alias-alist.
3709 This variable allows you to create alternative names for text
3710 properties. It works at the same level as `default-text-properties',
3711 although it applies to overlays as well. This variable was introduced
3712 to implement the `font-lock-face' property.
3715 ** New special text property `font-lock-face'.
3717 This property acts like the `face' property, but it is controlled by
3718 M-x font-lock-mode. It is not, strictly speaking, a builtin text
3719 property. Instead, it is implemented inside font-core.el, using the
3720 new variable `char-property-alias-alist'.
3723 ** New function remove-list-of-text-properties.
3725 The new function `remove-list-of-text-properties' is almost the same
3726 as `remove-text-properties'. The only difference is that it takes
3727 a list of property names as argument rather than a property list.
3730 ** New function insert-for-yank.
3732 This function normally works like `insert' but removes the text
3733 properties in the `yank-excluded-properties' list. However, if the
3734 inserted text has a `yank-handler' text property on the first
3735 character of the string, the insertion of the text may be modified in
3736 a number of ways. See the description of `yank-handler' below.
3739 ** New function insert-buffer-substring-as-yank.
3741 This function works like `insert-buffer-substring', but removes the
3742 text properties in the `yank-excluded-properties' list.
3745 ** New function insert-buffer-substring-no-properties.
3747 This function is like insert-buffer-substring, but removes all
3748 text properties from the inserted substring.
3751 ** New `yank-handler' text property may be used to control how
3752 previously killed text on the kill-ring is reinserted.
3754 The value of the yank-handler property must be a list with one to four
3755 elements with the following format:
3756 (FUNCTION PARAM NOEXCLUDE UNDO).
3758 The `insert-for-yank' function looks for a yank-handler property on
3759 the first character on its string argument (typically the first
3760 element on the kill-ring). If a yank-handler property is found,
3761 the normal behavior of `insert-for-yank' is modified in various ways:
3763 When FUNCTION is present and non-nil, it is called instead of `insert'
3764 to insert the string. FUNCTION takes one argument--the object to insert.
3765 If PARAM is present and non-nil, it replaces STRING as the object
3766 passed to FUNCTION (or `insert'); for example, if FUNCTION is
3767 `yank-rectangle', PARAM should be a list of strings to insert as a
3769 If NOEXCLUDE is present and non-nil, the normal removal of the
3770 yank-excluded-properties is not performed; instead FUNCTION is
3771 responsible for removing those properties. This may be necessary
3772 if FUNCTION adjusts point before or after inserting the object.
3773 If UNDO is present and non-nil, it is a function that will be called
3774 by `yank-pop' to undo the insertion of the current object. It is
3775 called with two arguments, the start and end of the current region.
3776 FUNCTION may set `yank-undo-function' to override the UNDO value.
3778 *** The functions kill-new, kill-append, and kill-region now have an
3779 optional argument to specify the yank-handler text property to put on
3782 *** The function yank-pop will now use a non-nil value of the variable
3783 `yank-undo-function' (instead of delete-region) to undo the previous
3784 yank or yank-pop command (or a call to insert-for-yank). The function
3785 insert-for-yank automatically sets that variable according to the UNDO
3786 element of the string argument's yank-handler text property if present.
3789 ** New function display-supports-face-attributes-p may be used to test
3790 whether a given set of face attributes is actually displayable.
3792 A new predicate `supports' has also been added to the `defface' face
3793 specification language, which can be used to do this test for faces
3794 defined with defface.
3796 ** The function face-differs-from-default-p now truly checks whether the
3797 given face displays differently from the default face or not (previously
3798 it did only a very cursory check).
3801 ** face-attribute, face-foreground, face-background, and face-stipple now
3802 accept a new optional argument, INHERIT, which controls how face
3803 inheritance is used when determining the value of a face attribute.
3806 ** New functions face-attribute-relative-p and merge-face-attribute
3807 help with handling relative face attributes.
3809 ** The priority of faces in an :inherit attribute face-list is reversed.
3810 If a face contains an :inherit attribute with a list of faces, earlier
3811 faces in the list override later faces in the list; in previous releases
3812 of Emacs, the order was the opposite. This change was made so that
3813 :inherit face-lists operate identically to face-lists in text `face'
3817 ** Enhancements to process support
3819 *** Function list-processes now has an optional argument; if non-nil,
3820 only the processes whose query-on-exit flag is set are listed.
3822 *** New set-process-query-on-exit-flag and process-query-on-exit-flag
3823 functions. The existing process-kill-without-query function is still
3824 supported, but new code should use the new functions.
3826 *** Function signal-process now accepts a process object or process
3827 name in addition to a process id to identify the signalled process.
3829 *** Processes now have an associated property list where programs can
3830 maintain process state and other per-process related information.
3832 The new functions process-get and process-put are used to access, add,
3833 and modify elements on this property list.
3835 The new low-level functions process-plist and set-process-plist are
3836 used to access and replace the entire property list of a process.
3838 *** Function accept-process-output now has an optional fourth arg
3839 `just-this-one'. If non-nil, only output from the specified process
3840 is handled, suspending output from other processes. If value is an
3841 integer, also inhibit running timers. This feature is generally not
3842 recommended, but may be necessary for specific applications, such as
3845 *** Adaptive read buffering of subprocess output.
3847 On some systems, when emacs reads the output from a subprocess, the
3848 output data is read in very small blocks, potentially resulting in
3849 very poor performance. This behavior can be remedied to some extent
3850 by setting the new variable process-adaptive-read-buffering to a
3851 non-nil value (the default), as it will automatically delay reading
3852 from such processes, to allowing them to produce more output before
3853 emacs tries to read it.
3856 ** Enhanced networking support.
3858 *** There is a new `make-network-process' function which supports
3859 opening of stream and datagram connections to a server, as well as
3860 create a stream or datagram server inside emacs.
3862 - A server is started using :server t arg.
3863 - Datagram connection is selected using :type 'datagram arg.
3864 - A server can open on a random port using :service t arg.
3865 - Local sockets are supported using :family 'local arg.
3866 - Non-blocking connect is supported using :nowait t arg.
3867 - The process' property list may be initialized using :plist PLIST arg;
3868 a copy of the server process' property list is automatically inherited
3869 by new client processes created to handle incoming connections.
3871 To test for the availability of a given feature, use featurep like this:
3872 (featurep 'make-network-process '(:type datagram))
3874 *** Original open-network-stream is now emulated using make-network-process.
3876 *** New function open-network-stream-nowait.
3878 This function initiates a non-blocking connect and returns immediately
3879 without waiting for the connection to be established. It takes the
3880 filter and sentinel functions as arguments; when the non-blocking
3881 connect completes, the sentinel is called with a status string
3882 matching "open" or "failed".
3884 *** New function open-network-stream-server.
3886 This function creates a network server process for a TCP service.
3887 When a client connects to the specified service, a new subprocess
3888 is created to handle the new connection, and the sentinel function
3889 is called for the new process.
3891 *** New functions process-datagram-address and set-process-datagram-address.
3893 These functions are used with datagram-based network processes to get
3894 and set the current address of the remote partner.
3896 *** New function format-network-address.
3898 This function reformats the lisp representation of a network address
3899 to a printable string. For example, an IP address A.B.C.D and port
3900 number P is represented as a five element vector [A B C D P], and the
3901 printable string returned for this vector is "A.B.C.D:P". See the doc
3902 string for other formatting options.
3904 *** By default, the function process-contact still returns (HOST SERVICE)
3905 for a network process. Using the new optional KEY arg, the complete list
3906 of network process properties or a specific property can be selected.
3908 Using :local and :remote as the KEY, the address of the local or
3909 remote end-point is returned. An Inet address is represented as a 5
3910 element vector, where the first 4 elements contain the IP address and
3911 the fifth is the port number.
3913 *** Network processes can now be stopped and restarted with
3914 `stop-process' and `continue-process'. For a server process, no
3915 connections are accepted in the stopped state. For a client process,
3916 no input is received in the stopped state.
3918 *** New function network-interface-list.
3920 This function returns a list of network interface names and their
3921 current network addresses.
3923 *** New function network-interface-info.
3925 This function returns the network address, hardware address, current
3926 status, and other information about a specific network interface.
3929 ** New function copy-tree.
3932 ** New function substring-no-properties.
3935 ** New function minibuffer-selected-window.
3938 ** New function `call-process-shell-command'.
3940 ** New function `process-file'.
3942 This is similar to `call-process', but obeys file handlers. The file
3943 handler is chosen based on default-directory.
3946 ** The dummy function keys made by easymenu
3947 are now always lower case. If you specify the
3948 menu item name "Ada", for instance, it uses `ada'
3949 as the "key" bound by that key binding.
3951 This is relevant only if Lisp code looks for
3952 the bindings that were made with easymenu.
3955 ** The function `commandp' takes an additional optional
3956 argument. If it is non-nil, then `commandp' checks
3957 for a function that could be called with `call-interactively',
3958 and does not return t for keyboard macros.
3961 ** master-mode.el implements a minor mode for scrolling a slave
3962 buffer without leaving your current buffer, the master buffer.
3964 It can be used by sql.el, for example: the SQL buffer is the master
3965 and its SQLi buffer is the slave. This allows you to scroll the SQLi
3966 buffer containing the output from the SQL buffer containing the
3969 This is how to use sql.el and master.el together: the variable
3970 sql-buffer contains the slave buffer. It is a local variable in the
3973 (add-hook 'sql-mode-hook
3974 (function (lambda ()
3976 (master-set-slave sql-buffer))))
3977 (add-hook 'sql-set-sqli-hook
3978 (function (lambda ()
3979 (master-set-slave sql-buffer))))
3982 ** File local variables.
3984 A file local variables list cannot specify a string with text
3985 properties--any specified text properties are discarded.
3988 ** New function window-body-height.
3990 This is like window-height but does not count the mode line
3994 ** New function format-mode-line.
3996 This returns the mode-line or header-line of the selected (or a
3997 specified) window as a string with or without text properties.
4000 ** New function safe-plist-get.
4002 This function is like plist-get, but never signals an error for
4003 a malformed property list.
4006 ** New functions `lax-plist-get' and `lax-plist-put'.
4008 These functions are like `plist-get' and `plist-put' except that they
4009 compare the property name using `equal' rather than `eq'.
4012 ** New function `tool-bar-local-item-from-menu'
4014 The `tool-bar-add-item-from-menu' must not be used (as previously
4015 recommended) for making entries in the tool bar for local keymaps.
4016 Instead, use the function `tool-bar-local-item-from-menu', which lets
4017 you specify the map to use as an argument.
4020 ** The function `atan' now accepts an optional second argument.
4022 When called with 2 arguments, as in `(atan Y X)', `atan' returns the
4023 angle in radians between the vector [X, Y] and the X axis. (This is
4024 equivalent to the standard C library function `atan2'.)
4027 ** You can now make a window as short as one line.
4029 A window that is just one line tall does not display either a mode
4030 line or a header line, even if the variables `mode-line-format' and
4031 `header-line-format' call for them. A window that is two lines tall
4032 cannot display both a mode line and a header line at once; if the
4033 variables call for both, only the mode line actually appears.
4036 ** The new frame parameter `tty-color-mode' specifies the mode to use
4037 for color support on character terminal frames. Its value can be a
4038 number of colors to support, or a symbol. See the Emacs Lisp
4039 Reference manual for more detailed documentation.
4042 ** The new mode-line construct `(:propertize ELT PROPS...)' can be
4043 used to add text properties to mode-line elements.
4046 ** The new `%i' and `%I' constructs for `mode-line-format' can be used
4047 to display the size of the accessible part of the buffer on the mode
4051 ** Indentation of simple and extended loop forms has been added to the
4052 cl-indent package. The new user options
4053 `lisp-loop-keyword-indentation', `lisp-loop-forms-indentation', and
4054 `lisp-simple-loop-indentation' can be used to customize the
4055 indentation of keywords and forms in loop forms.
4058 ** Indentation of backquoted forms has been made customizable in the
4059 cl-indent package. See the new user option `lisp-backquote-indentation'.
4062 ** Already true in Emacs 21.1, but not emphasized clearly enough:
4064 Multibyte buffers can now faithfully record all 256 character codes
4065 from 0 to 255. As a result, most of the past reasons to use unibyte
4066 buffers no longer exist. We only know of three reasons to use them
4069 1. If you prefer to use unibyte text all of the time.
4071 2. For reading files into temporary buffers, when you want to avoid
4072 the time it takes to convert the format.
4074 3. For binary files where format conversion would be pointless and
4078 ** If text has a `keymap' property, that keymap takes precedence
4079 over minor mode keymaps.
4082 ** A hex escape in a string forces the string to be multibyte.
4083 An octal escape makes it unibyte.
4086 ** At the end of a command, point moves out from within invisible
4087 text, in the same way it moves out from within text covered by an
4088 image or composition property.
4090 This makes it generally unnecessary to mark invisible text as intangible.
4091 This is particularly good because the intangible property often has
4092 unexpected side-effects since the property applies to everything
4093 (including `goto-char', ...) whereas this new code is only run after
4094 post-command-hook and thus does not care about intermediate states.
4097 ** field-beginning and field-end now accept an additional optional
4101 ** define-abbrev now accepts an optional argument SYSTEM-FLAG. If
4102 non-nil, this marks the abbrev as a "system" abbrev, which means that
4103 it won't be stored in the user's abbrevs file if he saves the abbrevs.
4104 Major modes that predefine some abbrevs should always specify this
4108 ** Support for Mocklisp has been removed.
4111 ** The function insert-string is now obsolete.
4114 ** The precedence of file-name-handlers has been changed.
4115 Instead of blindly choosing the first handler that matches,
4116 find-file-name-handler now gives precedence to a file-name handler
4117 that matches near the end of the file name. More specifically, the
4118 handler whose (match-beginning 0) is the largest is chosen.
4119 In case of ties, the old "first matched" rule applies.
4122 ** Dense keymaps now handle inheritance correctly.
4123 Previously a dense keymap would hide all of the simple-char key
4124 bindings of the parent keymap.
4127 ** jit-lock obeys a new text-property `jit-lock-defer-multiline'.
4128 If a piece of text with that property gets contextually refontified
4129 (see jit-lock-defer-contextually), then all of that text will
4130 be refontified. This is useful when the syntax of a textual element
4131 depends on text several lines further down (and when font-lock-multiline
4132 is not appropriate to solve that problem). For example in Perl:
4140 Adding/removing the last `e' changes the `bar' from being a piece of
4141 text to being a piece of code, so you'd put a jit-lock-defer-multiline
4142 property over the second half of the command to force (deferred)
4143 refontification of `bar' whenever the `e' is added/removed.
4146 ** describe-vector now takes a second argument `describer' which is
4147 called to print the entries' values. It defaults to `princ'.
4149 ** defcustom and other custom declarations now use a default group
4150 (the last prior group defined in the same file) when no :group was given.
4153 ** emacsserver now runs pre-command-hook and post-command-hook when
4154 it receives a request from emacsclient.
4157 ** The variable `recursive-load-depth-limit' has been deleted.
4158 Emacs now signals an error if the same file is loaded with more
4159 than 3 levels of nesting.
4162 ** If a major mode function has a non-nil `no-clone-indirect'
4163 property, `clone-indirect-buffer' signals an error if you use
4167 ** In `replace-match', the replacement text no longer inherits
4168 properties from surrounding text.
4171 ** The list returned by `(match-data t)' now has the buffer as a final
4172 element, if the last match was on a buffer. `set-match-data'
4173 accepts such a list for restoring the match state.
4176 ** New function `buffer-local-value'.
4178 This function returns the buffer-local binding of VARIABLE (a symbol)
4179 in buffer BUFFER. If VARIABLE does not have a buffer-local binding in
4180 buffer BUFFER, it returns the default value of VARIABLE instead.
4183 ** New function `text-clone-create'. Text clones are chunks of text
4184 that are kept identical by transparently propagating changes from one
4188 ** font-lock can manage arbitrary text-properties beside `face'.
4189 *** the FACENAME returned in font-lock-keywords can be a list
4190 of the form (face FACE PROP1 VAL1 PROP2 VAL2 ...) so you can set
4191 other properties than `face'.
4192 *** font-lock-extra-managed-props can be set to make sure those extra
4193 properties are automatically cleaned up by font-lock.
4196 ** The special treatment of faces whose names are of the form `fg:COLOR'
4197 or `bg:COLOR' has been removed. Lisp programs should use the
4198 `defface' facility for defining faces with specific colors, or use
4199 the feature of specifying the face attributes :foreground and :background
4200 directly in the `face' property instead of using a named face.
4203 ** The new function `run-mode-hooks' and the new macro `delay-mode-hooks'
4204 are used by define-derived-mode to make sure the mode hook for the
4205 parent mode is run at the end of the child mode.
4208 ** define-minor-mode now accepts arbitrary additional keyword arguments
4209 and simply passes them to defcustom, if applicable.
4212 ** define-derived-mode by default creates a new empty abbrev table.
4213 It does not copy abbrevs from the parent mode's abbrev table.
4216 ** `provide' and `featurep' now accept an optional second argument
4217 to test/provide subfeatures. Also `provide' now checks `after-load-alist'
4218 and runs any code associated with the provided feature.
4221 ** Functions `file-name-sans-extension' and `file-name-extension' now
4222 ignore the leading dots in file names, so that file names such as
4223 `.emacs' are treated as extensionless.
4226 ** Functions `user-uid' and `user-real-uid' now return floats if the
4227 user UID doesn't fit in a Lisp integer. Function `user-full-name'
4228 accepts a float as UID parameter.
4231 ** `define-key-after' now accepts keys longer than 1.
4234 ** The local variable `no-byte-compile' in elisp files is now obeyed.
4237 ** The Emacs Lisp byte-compiler now displays the actual line and
4238 character position of errors, where possible. Additionally, the form
4239 of its warning and error messages have been brought more in line with
4240 the output of other GNU tools.
4243 ** New functions `keymap-prompt' and `current-active-maps'.
4246 ** New function `describe-buffer-bindings'.
4249 ** New vars `exec-suffixes' and `load-suffixes' used when
4250 searching for an executable resp. an elisp file.
4253 ** Variable aliases have been implemented:
4255 *** defvaralias ALIAS-VAR BASE-VAR [DOCSTRING]
4257 This function defines the symbol ALIAS-VAR as a variable alias for
4258 symbol BASE-VAR. This means that retrieving the value of ALIAS-VAR
4259 returns the value of BASE-VAR, and changing the value of ALIAS-VAR
4260 changes the value of BASE-VAR.
4262 DOCSTRING, if present, is the documentation for ALIAS-VAR; else it has
4263 the same documentation as BASE-VAR.
4265 *** indirect-variable VARIABLE
4267 This function returns the variable at the end of the chain of aliases
4268 of VARIABLE. If VARIABLE is not a symbol, or if VARIABLE is not
4269 defined as an alias, the function returns VARIABLE.
4271 It might be noteworthy that variables aliases work for all kinds of
4272 variables, including buffer-local and frame-local variables.
4275 ** Functions from `post-gc-hook' are run at the end of garbage
4276 collection. The hook is run with GC inhibited, so use it with care.
4279 ** If the second argument to `copy-file' is the name of a directory,
4280 the file is copied to that directory instead of signaling an error.
4283 ** The variables most-positive-fixnum and most-negative-fixnum
4284 hold the largest and smallest possible integer values.
4287 ** On MS Windows, locale-coding-system is used to interact with the OS.
4288 The Windows specific variable w32-system-coding-system, which was
4289 formerly used for that purpose is now an alias for locale-coding-system.
4291 ** Functions y-or-n-p, read-char, read-key-sequence and the like, that
4292 display a prompt but don't use the minibuffer, now display the prompt
4293 using the text properties (esp. the face) of the prompt string.
4295 ** New function x-send-client-message sends a client message when
4298 ** Arguments for remove-overlays are now optional, so that you can remove
4299 all overlays in the buffer by just calling (remove-overlay).
4303 *** The new package gdb-ui.el provides an enhanced graphical interface to
4304 GDB. You can interact with GDB through the GUD buffer in the usual way, but
4305 there are also further buffers which control the execution and describe the
4306 state of your program. It separates the input/output of your program from
4307 that of GDB and watches expressions in the speedbar. It also uses features of
4308 Emacs 21 such as the display margin for breakpoints, and the toolbar.
4310 Use M-x gdba to start GDB-UI.
4312 *** The new package syntax.el provides an efficient way to find the
4313 current syntactic context (as returned by parse-partial-sexp).
4315 *** The new package bindat.el provides functions to unpack and pack
4316 binary data structures, such as network packets, to and from Lisp
4319 *** The TCL package tcl-mode.el was replaced by tcl.el.
4320 This was actually done in Emacs-21.1, and was not documented.
4322 *** The new package button.el implements simple and fast `clickable buttons'
4323 in emacs buffers. `buttons' are much lighter-weight than the `widgets'
4324 implemented by widget.el, and can be used by lisp code that doesn't
4325 require the full power of widgets. Emacs uses buttons for such things
4326 as help and apropos buffers.
4329 * Installation changes in Emacs 21.3
4331 ** Support for GNU/Linux on little-endian MIPS and on IBM S390 has
4335 * Changes in Emacs 21.3
4337 ** The obsolete C mode (c-mode.el) has been removed to avoid problems
4340 ** UTF-16 coding systems are available, encoding the same characters
4343 ** There is a new language environment for UTF-8 (set up automatically
4346 ** Translation tables are available between equivalent characters in
4347 different Emacs charsets -- for instance `e with acute' coming from the
4348 Latin-1 and Latin-2 charsets. User options `unify-8859-on-encoding-mode'
4349 and `unify-8859-on-decoding-mode' respectively turn on translation
4350 between ISO 8859 character sets (`unification') on encoding
4351 (e.g. writing a file) and decoding (e.g. reading a file). Note that
4352 `unify-8859-on-encoding-mode' is useful and safe, but
4353 `unify-8859-on-decoding-mode' can cause text to change when you read
4354 it and write it out again without edits, so it is not generally advisable.
4355 By default `unify-8859-on-encoding-mode' is turned on.
4357 ** In Emacs running on the X window system, the default value of
4358 `selection-coding-system' is now `compound-text-with-extensions'.
4360 If you want the old behavior, set selection-coding-system to
4361 compound-text, which may be significantly more efficient. Using
4362 compound-text-with-extensions seems to be necessary only for decoding
4363 text from applications under XFree86 4.2, whose behavior is actually
4364 contrary to the compound text specification.
4367 * Installation changes in Emacs 21.2
4369 ** Support for BSD/OS 5.0 has been added.
4371 ** Support for AIX 5.1 was added.
4374 * Changes in Emacs 21.2
4376 ** Emacs now supports compound-text extended segments in X selections.
4378 X applications can use `extended segments' to encode characters in
4379 compound text that belong to character sets which are not part of the
4380 list of approved standard encodings for X, e.g. Big5. To paste
4381 selections with such characters into Emacs, use the new coding system
4382 compound-text-with-extensions as the value of selection-coding-system.
4384 ** The default values of `tooltip-delay' and `tooltip-hide-delay'
4387 ** On terminals whose erase-char is ^H (Backspace), Emacs
4388 now uses normal-erase-is-backspace-mode.
4390 ** When the *scratch* buffer is recreated, its mode is set from
4391 initial-major-mode, which normally is lisp-interaction-mode,
4392 instead of using default-major-mode.
4394 ** The new option `Info-scroll-prefer-subnodes' causes Info to behave
4395 like the stand-alone Info reader (from the GNU Texinfo package) as far
4396 as motion between nodes and their subnodes is concerned. If it is t
4397 (the default), Emacs behaves as before when you type SPC in a menu: it
4398 visits the subnode pointed to by the first menu entry. If this option
4399 is nil, SPC scrolls to the end of the current node, and only then goes
4400 to the first menu item, like the stand-alone reader does.
4402 This change was already in Emacs 21.1, but wasn't advertised in the
4406 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 21.2
4408 ** The meanings of scroll-up-aggressively and scroll-down-aggressively
4409 have been interchanged, so that the former now controls scrolling up,
4410 and the latter now controls scrolling down.
4412 ** The variable `compilation-parse-errors-filename-function' can
4413 be used to transform filenames found in compilation output.
4416 * Installation Changes in Emacs 21.1
4418 See the INSTALL file for information on installing extra libraries and
4419 fonts to take advantage of the new graphical features and extra
4420 charsets in this release.
4422 ** Support for GNU/Linux on IA64 machines has been added.
4424 ** Support for LynxOS has been added.
4426 ** There are new configure options associated with the support for
4427 images and toolkit scrollbars. Use the --help option in `configure'
4430 ** You can build a 64-bit Emacs for SPARC/Solaris systems which
4431 support 64-bit executables and also on Irix 6.5. This increases the
4432 maximum buffer size. See etc/MACHINES for instructions. Changes to
4433 build on other 64-bit systems should be straightforward modulo any
4434 necessary changes to unexec.
4436 ** There is a new configure option `--disable-largefile' to omit
4437 Unix-98-style support for large files if that is available.
4439 ** There is a new configure option `--without-xim' that instructs
4440 Emacs to not use X Input Methods (XIM), if these are available.
4442 ** `movemail' defaults to supporting POP. You can turn this off using
4443 the --without-pop configure option, should that be necessary.
4445 ** This version can be built for the Macintosh, but does not implement
4446 all of the new display features described below. The port currently
4447 lacks unexec, asynchronous processes, and networking support. See the
4448 "Emacs and the Mac OS" appendix in the Emacs manual, for the
4449 description of aspects specific to the Mac.
4451 ** Note that the MS-Windows port does not yet implement various of the
4452 new display features described below.
4455 * Changes in Emacs 21.1
4457 ** Emacs has a new redisplay engine.
4459 The new redisplay handles characters of variable width and height.
4460 Italic text can be used without redisplay problems. Fonts containing
4461 oversized characters, i.e. characters larger than the logical height
4462 of a font can be used. Images of various formats can be displayed in
4465 ** Emacs has a new face implementation.
4467 The new faces no longer fundamentally use X font names to specify the
4468 font. Instead, each face has several independent attributes--family,
4469 height, width, weight and slant--that it may or may not specify.
4470 These attributes can be merged from various faces, and then together
4473 Faces are supported on terminals that can display color or fonts.
4474 These terminal capabilities are auto-detected. Details can be found
4475 under Lisp changes, below.
4477 ** Emacs can display faces on TTY frames.
4479 Emacs automatically detects terminals that are able to display colors.
4480 Faces with a weight greater than normal are displayed extra-bright, if
4481 the terminal supports it. Faces with a weight less than normal and
4482 italic faces are displayed dimmed, if the terminal supports it.
4483 Underlined faces are displayed underlined if possible. Other face
4484 attributes such as `overline', `strike-through', and `box' are ignored
4487 The command-line options `-fg COLOR', `-bg COLOR', and `-rv' are now
4488 supported on character terminals.
4490 Emacs automatically remaps all X-style color specifications to one of
4491 the colors supported by the terminal. This means you could have the
4492 same color customizations that work both on a windowed display and on
4493 a TTY or when Emacs is invoked with the -nw option.
4495 ** New default font is Courier 12pt under X.
4499 Emacs supports playing sound files on GNU/Linux and FreeBSD (Voxware
4500 driver and native BSD driver, a.k.a. Luigi's driver). Currently
4501 supported file formats are RIFF-WAVE (*.wav) and Sun Audio (*.au).
4502 You must configure Emacs with the option `--with-sound=yes' to enable
4505 ** Emacs now resizes mini-windows if appropriate.
4507 If a message is longer than one line, or minibuffer contents are
4508 longer than one line, Emacs can resize the minibuffer window unless it
4509 is on a frame of its own. You can control resizing and the maximum
4510 minibuffer window size by setting the following variables:
4512 - User option: max-mini-window-height
4514 Maximum height for resizing mini-windows. If a float, it specifies a
4515 fraction of the mini-window frame's height. If an integer, it
4516 specifies a number of lines.
4520 - User option: resize-mini-windows
4522 How to resize mini-windows. If nil, don't resize. If t, always
4523 resize to fit the size of the text. If `grow-only', let mini-windows
4524 grow only, until they become empty, at which point they are shrunk
4527 Default is `grow-only'.
4531 Emacs now runs with the LessTif toolkit (see
4532 <http://www.lesstif.org>). You will need version 0.92.26, or later.
4534 ** LessTif/Motif file selection dialog.
4536 When Emacs is configured to use LessTif or Motif, reading a file name
4537 from a menu will pop up a file selection dialog if `use-dialog-box' is
4540 ** File selection dialog on MS-Windows is supported.
4542 When a file is visited by clicking File->Open, the MS-Windows version
4543 now pops up a standard file selection dialog where you can select a
4544 file to visit. File->Save As also pops up that dialog.
4546 ** Toolkit scroll bars.
4548 Emacs now uses toolkit scroll bars if available. When configured for
4549 LessTif/Motif, it will use that toolkit's scroll bar. Otherwise, when
4550 configured for Lucid and Athena widgets, it will use the Xaw3d scroll
4551 bar if Xaw3d is available. You can turn off the use of toolkit scroll
4552 bars by specifying `--with-toolkit-scroll-bars=no' when configuring
4555 When you encounter problems with the Xaw3d scroll bar, watch out how
4556 Xaw3d is compiled on your system. If the Makefile generated from
4557 Xaw3d's Imakefile contains a `-DNARROWPROTO' compiler option, and your
4558 Emacs system configuration file `s/your-system.h' does not contain a
4559 define for NARROWPROTO, you might consider adding it. Take
4560 `s/freebsd.h' as an example.
4562 Alternatively, if you don't have access to the Xaw3d source code, take
4563 a look at your system's imake configuration file, for example in the
4564 directory `/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/config' (paths are different on
4565 different systems). You will find files `*.cf' there. If your
4566 system's cf-file contains a line like `#define NeedWidePrototypes NO',
4567 add a `#define NARROWPROTO' to your Emacs system configuration file.
4569 The reason for this is that one Xaw3d function uses `double' or
4570 `float' function parameters depending on the setting of NARROWPROTO.
4571 This is not a problem when Imakefiles are used because each system's
4572 imake configuration file contains the necessary information. Since
4573 Emacs doesn't use imake, this has do be done manually.
4575 ** Tool bar support.
4577 Emacs supports a tool bar at the top of a frame under X. For details
4578 of how to define a tool bar, see the page describing Lisp-level
4579 changes. Tool-bar global minor mode controls whether or not it is
4580 displayed and is on by default. The appearance of the bar is improved
4581 if Emacs has been built with XPM image support. Otherwise monochrome
4584 To make the tool bar more useful, we need contributions of extra icons
4585 for specific modes (with copyright assignments).
4589 Tooltips are small X windows displaying a help string at the current
4590 mouse position. The Lisp package `tooltip' implements them. You can
4591 turn them off via the user option `tooltip-mode'.
4593 Tooltips also provides support for GUD debugging. If activated,
4594 variable values can be displayed in tooltips by pointing at them with
4595 the mouse in source buffers. You can customize various aspects of the
4596 tooltip display in the group `tooltip'.
4598 ** Automatic Hscrolling
4600 Horizontal scrolling now happens automatically if
4601 `automatic-hscrolling' is set (the default). This setting can be
4604 If a window is scrolled horizontally with set-window-hscroll, or
4605 scroll-left/scroll-right (C-x <, C-x >), this serves as a lower bound
4606 for automatic horizontal scrolling. Automatic scrolling will scroll
4607 the text more to the left if necessary, but won't scroll the text more
4608 to the right than the column set with set-window-hscroll etc.
4610 ** When using a windowing terminal, each Emacs window now has a cursor
4611 of its own. By default, when a window is selected, the cursor is
4612 solid; otherwise, it is hollow. The user-option
4613 `cursor-in-non-selected-windows' controls how to display the
4614 cursor in non-selected windows. If nil, no cursor is shown, if
4615 non-nil a hollow box cursor is shown.
4617 ** Fringes to the left and right of windows are used to display
4618 truncation marks, continuation marks, overlay arrows and alike. The
4619 foreground, background, and stipple of these areas can be changed by
4620 customizing face `fringe'.
4622 ** The mode line under X is now drawn with shadows by default.
4623 You can change its appearance by modifying the face `mode-line'.
4624 In particular, setting the `:box' attribute to nil turns off the 3D
4625 appearance of the mode line. (The 3D appearance makes the mode line
4626 occupy more space, and thus might cause the first or the last line of
4627 the window to be partially obscured.)
4629 The variable `mode-line-inverse-video', which was used in older
4630 versions of emacs to make the mode-line stand out, is now deprecated.
4631 However, setting it to nil will cause the `mode-line' face to be
4632 ignored, and mode-lines to be drawn using the default text face.
4634 ** Mouse-sensitive mode line.
4636 Different parts of the mode line have been made mouse-sensitive on all
4637 systems which support the mouse. Moving the mouse to a
4638 mouse-sensitive part in the mode line changes the appearance of the
4639 mouse pointer to an arrow, and help about available mouse actions is
4640 displayed either in the echo area, or in the tooltip window if you
4643 Currently, the following actions have been defined:
4645 - Mouse-1 on the buffer name in the mode line goes to the next buffer.
4647 - Mouse-3 on the buffer-name goes to the previous buffer.
4649 - Mouse-2 on the read-only or modified status in the mode line (`%' or
4650 `*') toggles the status.
4652 - Mouse-3 on the mode name displays a minor-mode menu.
4654 ** Hourglass pointer
4656 Emacs can optionally display an hourglass pointer under X. You can
4657 turn the display on or off by customizing group `cursor'.
4661 M-x blink-cursor-mode toggles a blinking cursor under X and on
4662 terminals having terminal capabilities `vi', `vs', and `ve'. Blinking
4663 and related parameters like frequency and delay can be customized in
4666 ** New font-lock support mode `jit-lock-mode'.
4668 This support mode is roughly equivalent to `lazy-lock' but is
4669 generally faster. It supports stealth and deferred fontification.
4670 See the documentation of the function `jit-lock-mode' for more
4673 Font-lock uses jit-lock-mode as default support mode, so you don't
4674 have to do anything to activate it.
4676 ** The default binding of the Delete key has changed.
4678 The new user-option `normal-erase-is-backspace' can be set to
4679 determine the effect of the Delete and Backspace function keys.
4681 On window systems, the default value of this option is chosen
4682 according to the keyboard used. If the keyboard has both a Backspace
4683 key and a Delete key, and both are mapped to their usual meanings, the
4684 option's default value is set to t, so that Backspace can be used to
4685 delete backward, and Delete can be used to delete forward. On
4686 keyboards which either have only one key (usually labeled DEL), or two
4687 keys DEL and BS which produce the same effect, the option's value is
4688 set to nil, and these keys delete backward.
4690 If not running under a window system, setting this option accomplishes
4691 a similar effect by mapping C-h, which is usually generated by the
4692 Backspace key, to DEL, and by mapping DEL to C-d via
4693 `keyboard-translate'. The former functionality of C-h is available on
4694 the F1 key. You should probably not use this setting on a text-only
4695 terminal if you don't have both Backspace, Delete and F1 keys.
4697 Programmatically, you can call function normal-erase-is-backspace-mode
4698 to toggle the behavior of the Delete and Backspace keys.
4700 ** The default for user-option `next-line-add-newlines' has been
4701 changed to nil, i.e. C-n will no longer add newlines at the end of a
4704 ** The <home> and <end> keys now move to the beginning or end of the
4705 current line, respectively. C-<home> and C-<end> move to the
4706 beginning and end of the buffer.
4708 ** Emacs now checks for recursive loads of Lisp files. If the
4709 recursion depth exceeds `recursive-load-depth-limit', an error is
4712 ** When an error is signaled during the loading of the user's init
4713 file, Emacs now pops up the *Messages* buffer.
4715 ** Emacs now refuses to load compiled Lisp files which weren't
4716 compiled with Emacs. Set `load-dangerous-libraries' to t to change
4719 The reason for this change is an incompatible change in XEmacs's byte
4720 compiler. Files compiled with XEmacs can contain byte codes that let
4723 ** Toggle buttons and radio buttons in menus.
4725 When compiled with LessTif (or Motif) support, Emacs uses toolkit
4726 widgets for radio and toggle buttons in menus. When configured for
4727 Lucid, Emacs draws radio buttons and toggle buttons similar to Motif.
4729 ** The menu bar configuration has changed. The new configuration is
4730 more CUA-compliant. The most significant change is that Options is
4731 now a separate menu-bar item, with Mule and Customize as its submenus.
4733 ** Item Save Options on the Options menu allows saving options set
4736 ** Highlighting of trailing whitespace.
4738 When `show-trailing-whitespace' is non-nil, Emacs displays trailing
4739 whitespace in the face `trailing-whitespace'. Trailing whitespace is
4740 defined as spaces or tabs at the end of a line. To avoid busy
4741 highlighting when entering new text, trailing whitespace is not
4742 displayed if point is at the end of the line containing the
4745 ** C-x 5 1 runs the new command delete-other-frames which deletes
4746 all frames except the selected one.
4748 ** The new user-option `confirm-kill-emacs' can be customized to
4749 let Emacs ask for confirmation before exiting.
4751 ** The header line in an Info buffer is now displayed as an emacs
4752 header-line (which is like a mode-line, but at the top of the window),
4753 so that it remains visible even when the buffer has been scrolled.
4754 This behavior may be disabled by customizing the option
4755 `Info-use-header-line'.
4757 ** Polish, Czech, German, and French translations of Emacs' reference card
4758 have been added. They are named `pl-refcard.tex', `cs-refcard.tex',
4759 `de-refcard.tex' and `fr-refcard.tex'. Postscript files are included.
4761 ** An `Emacs Survival Guide', etc/survival.tex, is available.
4763 ** A reference card for Dired has been added. Its name is
4764 `dired-ref.tex'. A French translation is available in
4767 ** C-down-mouse-3 is bound differently. Now if the menu bar is not
4768 displayed it pops up a menu containing the items which would be on the
4769 menu bar. If the menu bar is displayed, it pops up the major mode
4770 menu or the Edit menu if there is no major mode menu.
4772 ** Variable `load-path' is no longer customizable through Customize.
4774 You can no longer use `M-x customize-variable' to customize `load-path'
4775 because it now contains a version-dependent component. You can still
4776 use `add-to-list' and `setq' to customize this variable in your
4777 `~/.emacs' init file or to modify it from any Lisp program in general.
4779 ** C-u C-x = provides detailed information about the character at
4780 point in a pop-up window.
4782 ** Emacs can now support 'wheeled' mice (such as the MS IntelliMouse)
4783 under XFree86. To enable this, use the `mouse-wheel-mode' command, or
4784 customize the variable `mouse-wheel-mode'.
4786 The variables `mouse-wheel-follow-mouse' and `mouse-wheel-scroll-amount'
4787 determine where and by how much buffers are scrolled.
4789 ** Emacs' auto-save list files are now by default stored in a
4790 sub-directory `.emacs.d/auto-save-list/' of the user's home directory.
4791 (On MS-DOS, this subdirectory's name is `_emacs.d/auto-save.list/'.)
4792 You can customize `auto-save-list-file-prefix' to change this location.
4794 ** The function `getenv' is now callable interactively.
4796 ** The new user-option `even-window-heights' can be set to nil
4797 to prevent `display-buffer' from evening out window heights.
4799 ** The new command M-x delete-trailing-whitespace RET will delete the
4800 trailing whitespace within the current restriction. You can also add
4801 this function to `write-file-hooks' or `local-write-file-hooks'.
4803 ** When visiting a file with M-x find-file-literally, no newlines will
4804 be added to the end of the buffer even if `require-final-newline' is
4807 ** The new user-option `find-file-suppress-same-file-warnings' can be
4808 set to suppress warnings ``X and Y are the same file'' when visiting a
4809 file that is already visited under a different name.
4811 ** The new user-option `electric-help-shrink-window' can be set to
4812 nil to prevent adjusting the help window size to the buffer size.
4814 ** New command M-x describe-character-set reads a character set name
4815 and displays information about that.
4817 ** The new variable `auto-mode-interpreter-regexp' contains a regular
4818 expression matching interpreters, for file mode determination.
4820 This regular expression is matched against the first line of a file to
4821 determine the file's mode in `set-auto-mode' when Emacs can't deduce a
4822 mode from the file's name. If it matches, the file is assumed to be
4823 interpreted by the interpreter matched by the second group of the
4824 regular expression. The mode is then determined as the mode
4825 associated with that interpreter in `interpreter-mode-alist'.
4827 ** New function executable-make-buffer-file-executable-if-script-p is
4828 suitable as an after-save-hook as an alternative to `executable-chmod'.
4830 ** The most preferred coding-system is now used to save a buffer if
4831 buffer-file-coding-system is `undecided' and it is safe for the buffer
4832 contents. (The most preferred is set by set-language-environment or
4833 by M-x prefer-coding-system.) Thus if you visit an ASCII file and
4834 insert a non-ASCII character from your current language environment,
4835 the file will be saved silently with the appropriate coding.
4836 Previously you would be prompted for a safe coding system.
4838 ** The many obsolete language `setup-...-environment' commands have
4839 been removed -- use `set-language-environment'.
4841 ** The new Custom option `keyboard-coding-system' specifies a coding
4842 system for keyboard input.
4844 ** New variable `inhibit-iso-escape-detection' determines if Emacs'
4845 coding system detection algorithm should pay attention to ISO2022's
4846 escape sequences. If this variable is non-nil, the algorithm ignores
4847 such escape sequences. The default value is nil, and it is
4848 recommended not to change it except for the special case that you
4849 always want to read any escape code verbatim. If you just want to
4850 read a specific file without decoding escape codes, use C-x RET c
4851 (`universal-coding-system-argument'). For instance, C-x RET c latin-1
4852 RET C-x C-f filename RET.
4854 ** Variable `default-korean-keyboard' is initialized properly from the
4855 environment variable `HANGUL_KEYBOARD_TYPE'.
4857 ** New command M-x list-charset-chars reads a character set name and
4858 displays all characters in that character set.
4860 ** M-x set-terminal-coding-system (C-x RET t) now allows CCL-based
4861 coding systems such as cpXXX and cyrillic-koi8.
4863 ** Emacs now attempts to determine the initial language environment
4864 and preferred and locale coding systems systematically from the
4865 LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, and LANG environment variables during startup.
4867 ** New language environments `Polish', `Latin-8' and `Latin-9'.
4868 Latin-8 and Latin-9 correspond respectively to the ISO character sets
4869 8859-14 (Celtic) and 8859-15 (updated Latin-1, with the Euro sign).
4870 GNU Intlfonts doesn't support these yet but recent X releases have
4871 8859-15. See etc/INSTALL for information on obtaining extra fonts.
4872 There are new Leim input methods for Latin-8 and Latin-9 prefix (only)
4875 ** New language environments `Dutch' and `Spanish'.
4876 These new environments mainly select appropriate translations
4879 ** In Ethiopic language environment, special key bindings for
4880 function keys are changed as follows. This is to conform to "Emacs
4881 Lisp Coding Convention".
4883 new command old-binding
4884 --- ------- -----------
4885 f3 ethio-fidel-to-sera-buffer f5
4886 S-f3 ethio-fidel-to-sera-region f5
4887 C-f3 ethio-fidel-to-sera-mail-or-marker f5
4889 f4 ethio-sera-to-fidel-buffer unchanged
4890 S-f4 ethio-sera-to-fidel-region unchanged
4891 C-f4 ethio-sera-to-fidel-mail-or-marker unchanged
4893 S-f5 ethio-toggle-punctuation f3
4894 S-f6 ethio-modify-vowel f6
4895 S-f7 ethio-replace-space f7
4896 S-f8 ethio-input-special-character f8
4897 S-f9 ethio-replace-space unchanged
4898 C-f9 ethio-toggle-space f2
4900 ** There are new Leim input methods.
4901 New input methods "turkish-postfix", "turkish-alt-postfix",
4902 "greek-mizuochi", "TeX", and "greek-babel" are now part of the Leim
4905 ** The rule of input method "slovak" is slightly changed. Now the
4906 rules for translating "q" and "Q" to "`" (backquote) are deleted, thus
4907 typing them inserts "q" and "Q" respectively. Rules for translating
4908 "=q", "+q", "=Q", and "+Q" to "`" are also deleted. Now, to input
4909 "`", you must type "=q".
4911 ** When your terminal can't display characters from some of the ISO
4912 8859 character sets but can display Latin-1, you can display
4913 more-or-less mnemonic sequences of ASCII/Latin-1 characters instead of
4914 empty boxes (under a window system) or question marks (not under a
4915 window system). Customize the option `latin1-display' to turn this
4918 ** M-; now calls comment-dwim which tries to do something clever based
4919 on the context. M-x kill-comment is now an alias to comment-kill,
4920 defined in newcomment.el. You can choose different styles of region
4921 commenting with the variable `comment-style'.
4923 ** New user options `display-time-mail-face' and
4924 `display-time-use-mail-icon' control the appearance of mode-line mail
4925 indicator used by the display-time package. On a suitable display the
4926 indicator can be an icon and is mouse-sensitive.
4928 ** On window-systems, additional space can be put between text lines
4929 on the display using several methods
4931 - By setting frame parameter `line-spacing' to PIXELS. PIXELS must be
4932 a positive integer, and specifies that PIXELS number of pixels should
4933 be put below text lines on the affected frame or frames.
4935 - By setting X resource `lineSpacing', class `LineSpacing'. This is
4936 equivalent to specifying the frame parameter.
4938 - By specifying `--line-spacing=N' or `-lsp N' on the command line.
4940 - By setting buffer-local variable `line-spacing'. The meaning is
4941 the same, but applies to the a particular buffer only.
4943 ** The new command `clone-indirect-buffer' can be used to create
4944 an indirect buffer that is a twin copy of the current buffer. The
4945 command `clone-indirect-buffer-other-window', bound to C-x 4 c,
4946 does the same but displays the indirect buffer in another window.
4948 ** New user options `backup-directory-alist' and
4949 `make-backup-file-name-function' control the placement of backups,
4950 typically in a single directory or in an invisible sub-directory.
4952 ** New commands iso-iso2sgml and iso-sgml2iso convert between Latin-1
4953 characters and the corresponding SGML (HTML) entities.
4955 ** New X resources recognized
4957 *** The X resource `synchronous', class `Synchronous', specifies
4958 whether Emacs should run in synchronous mode. Synchronous mode
4959 is useful for debugging X problems.
4963 emacs.synchronous: true
4965 *** The X resource `visualClass, class `VisualClass', specifies the
4966 visual Emacs should use. The resource's value should be a string of
4967 the form `CLASS-DEPTH', where CLASS is the name of the visual class,
4968 and DEPTH is the requested color depth as a decimal number. Valid
4969 visual class names are
4978 Visual class names specified as X resource are case-insensitive, i.e.
4979 `pseudocolor', `Pseudocolor' and `PseudoColor' all have the same
4982 The program `xdpyinfo' can be used to list the visual classes
4983 supported on your display, and which depths they have. If
4984 `visualClass' is not specified, Emacs uses the display's default
4989 emacs.visualClass: TrueColor-8
4991 *** The X resource `privateColormap', class `PrivateColormap',
4992 specifies that Emacs should use a private colormap if it is using the
4993 default visual, and that visual is of class PseudoColor. Recognized
4994 resource values are `true' or `on'.
4998 emacs.privateColormap: true
5000 ** Faces and frame parameters.
5002 There are four new faces `scroll-bar', `border', `cursor' and `mouse'.
5003 Setting the frame parameters `scroll-bar-foreground' and
5004 `scroll-bar-background' sets foreground and background color of face
5005 `scroll-bar' and vice versa. Setting frame parameter `border-color'
5006 sets the background color of face `border' and vice versa. Likewise
5007 for frame parameters `cursor-color' and face `cursor', and frame
5008 parameter `mouse-color' and face `mouse'.
5010 Changing frame parameter `font' sets font-related attributes of the
5011 `default' face and vice versa. Setting frame parameters
5012 `foreground-color' or `background-color' sets the colors of the
5013 `default' face and vice versa.
5017 The face `menu' can be used to change colors and font of Emacs' menus.
5019 ** New frame parameter `screen-gamma' for gamma correction.
5021 The new frame parameter `screen-gamma' specifies gamma-correction for
5022 colors. Its value may be nil, the default, in which case no gamma
5023 correction occurs, or a number > 0, usually a float, that specifies
5024 the screen gamma of a frame's display.
5026 PC monitors usually have a screen gamma of 2.2. smaller values result
5027 in darker colors. You might want to try a screen gamma of 1.5 for LCD
5028 color displays. The viewing gamma Emacs uses is 0.4545. (1/2.2).
5030 The X resource name of this parameter is `screenGamma', class
5033 ** Tabs and variable-width text.
5035 Tabs are now displayed with stretch properties; the width of a tab is
5036 defined as a multiple of the normal character width of a frame, and is
5037 independent of the fonts used in the text where the tab appears.
5038 Thus, tabs can be used to line up text in different fonts.
5040 ** Enhancements of the Lucid menu bar
5042 *** The Lucid menu bar now supports the resource "margin".
5044 emacs.pane.menubar.margin: 5
5046 The default margin is 4 which makes the menu bar appear like the
5049 *** Arrows that indicate sub-menus are now drawn with shadows, as in
5052 ** A block cursor can be drawn as wide as the glyph under it under X.
5054 As an example: if a block cursor is over a tab character, it will be
5055 drawn as wide as that tab on the display. To do this, set
5056 `x-stretch-cursor' to a non-nil value.
5058 ** Empty display lines at the end of a buffer may be marked with a
5059 bitmap (this is similar to the tilde displayed by vi and Less).
5061 This behavior is activated by setting the buffer-local variable
5062 `indicate-empty-lines' to a non-nil value. The default value of this
5063 variable is found in `default-indicate-empty-lines'.
5065 ** There is a new "aggressive" scrolling method.
5067 When scrolling up because point is above the window start, if the
5068 value of the buffer-local variable `scroll-up-aggressively' is a
5069 number, Emacs chooses a new window start so that point ends up that
5070 fraction of the window's height from the top of the window.
5072 When scrolling down because point is below the window end, if the
5073 value of the buffer-local variable `scroll-down-aggressively' is a
5074 number, Emacs chooses a new window start so that point ends up that
5075 fraction of the window's height from the bottom of the window.
5077 ** You can now easily create new *Info* buffers using either
5078 M-x clone-buffer, C-u m <entry> RET or C-u g <entry> RET.
5079 M-x clone-buffer can also be used on *Help* and several other special
5082 ** The command `Info-search' now uses a search history.
5084 ** Listing buffers with M-x list-buffers (C-x C-b) now shows
5085 abbreviated file names. Abbreviations can be customized by changing
5086 `directory-abbrev-alist'.
5088 ** A new variable, backup-by-copying-when-privileged-mismatch, gives
5089 the highest file uid for which backup-by-copying-when-mismatch will be
5090 forced on. The assumption is that uids less than or equal to this
5091 value are special uids (root, bin, daemon, etc.--not real system
5092 users) and that files owned by these users should not change ownership,
5093 even if your system policy allows users other than root to edit them.
5095 The default is 200; set the variable to nil to disable the feature.
5097 ** The rectangle commands now avoid inserting undesirable spaces,
5098 notably at the end of lines.
5100 All these functions have been rewritten to avoid inserting unwanted
5101 spaces, and an optional prefix now allows them to behave the old way.
5103 ** The function `replace-rectangle' is an alias for `string-rectangle'.
5105 ** The new command M-x string-insert-rectangle is like `string-rectangle',
5106 but inserts text instead of replacing it.
5108 ** The new command M-x query-replace-regexp-eval acts like
5109 query-replace-regexp, but takes a Lisp expression which is evaluated
5110 after each match to get the replacement text.
5112 ** M-x query-replace recognizes a new command `e' (or `E') that lets
5113 you edit the replacement string.
5115 ** The new command mail-abbrev-complete-alias, bound to `M-TAB'
5116 (if you load the library `mailabbrev'), lets you complete mail aliases
5117 in the text, analogous to lisp-complete-symbol.
5119 ** The variable `echo-keystrokes' may now have a floating point value.
5121 ** If your init file is compiled (.emacs.elc), `user-init-file' is set
5122 to the source name (.emacs.el), if that exists, after loading it.
5124 ** The help string specified for a menu-item whose definition contains
5125 the property `:help HELP' is now displayed under X, on MS-Windows, and
5126 MS-DOS, either in the echo area or with tooltips. Many standard menus
5127 displayed by Emacs now have help strings.
5130 ** New user option `read-mail-command' specifies a command to use to
5131 read mail from the menu etc.
5133 ** The environment variable `EMACSLOCKDIR' is no longer used on MS-Windows.
5134 This environment variable was used when creating lock files. Emacs on
5135 MS-Windows does not use this variable anymore. This change was made
5136 before Emacs 21.1, but wasn't documented until now.
5138 ** Highlighting of mouse-sensitive regions is now supported in the
5139 MS-DOS version of Emacs.
5141 ** The new command `msdos-set-mouse-buttons' forces the MS-DOS version
5142 of Emacs to behave as if the mouse had a specified number of buttons.
5143 This comes handy with mice that don't report their number of buttons
5144 correctly. One example is the wheeled mice, which report 3 buttons,
5145 but clicks on the middle button are not passed to the MS-DOS version
5148 ** Customize changes
5150 *** Customize now supports comments about customized items. Use the
5151 `State' menu to add comments, or give a prefix argument to
5152 M-x customize-set-variable or M-x customize-set-value. Note that
5153 customization comments will cause the customizations to fail in
5154 earlier versions of Emacs.
5156 *** The new option `custom-buffer-done-function' says whether to kill
5157 Custom buffers when you've done with them or just bury them (the
5160 *** If Emacs was invoked with the `-q' or `--no-init-file' options, it
5161 does not allow you to save customizations in your `~/.emacs' init
5162 file. This is because saving customizations from such a session would
5163 wipe out all the other customizationss you might have on your init
5166 ** If Emacs was invoked with the `-q' or `--no-init-file' options, it
5167 does not save disabled and enabled commands for future sessions, to
5168 avoid overwriting existing customizations of this kind that are
5169 already in your init file.
5171 ** New features in evaluation commands
5173 *** The commands to evaluate Lisp expressions, such as C-M-x in Lisp
5174 modes, C-j in Lisp Interaction mode, and M-:, now bind the variables
5175 print-level, print-length, and debug-on-error based on the new
5176 customizable variables eval-expression-print-level,
5177 eval-expression-print-length, and eval-expression-debug-on-error.
5179 The default values for the first two of these variables are 12 and 4
5180 respectively, which means that `eval-expression' now prints at most
5181 the first 12 members of a list and at most 4 nesting levels deep (if
5182 the list is longer or deeper than that, an ellipsis `...' is
5185 <RET> or <mouse-2> on the printed text toggles between an abbreviated
5186 printed representation and an unabbreviated one.
5188 The default value of eval-expression-debug-on-error is t, so any error
5189 during evaluation produces a backtrace.
5191 *** The function `eval-defun' (C-M-x) now loads Edebug and instruments
5192 code when called with a prefix argument.
5196 Note: This release contains changes that might not be compatible with
5197 current user setups (although it's believed that these
5198 incompatibilities will only show in very uncommon circumstances).
5199 However, since the impact is uncertain, these changes may be rolled
5200 back depending on user feedback. Therefore there's no forward
5201 compatibility guarantee wrt the new features introduced in this
5204 *** The hardcoded switch to "java" style in Java mode is gone.
5205 CC Mode used to automatically set the style to "java" when Java mode
5206 is entered. This has now been removed since it caused too much
5209 However, to keep backward compatibility to a certain extent, the
5210 default value for c-default-style now specifies the "java" style for
5211 java-mode, but "gnu" for all other modes (as before). So you won't
5212 notice the change if you haven't touched that variable.
5214 *** New cleanups, space-before-funcall and compact-empty-funcall.
5215 Two new cleanups have been added to c-cleanup-list:
5217 space-before-funcall causes a space to be inserted before the opening
5218 parenthesis of a function call, which gives the style "foo (bar)".
5220 compact-empty-funcall causes any space before a function call opening
5221 parenthesis to be removed if there are no arguments to the function.
5222 It's typically useful together with space-before-funcall to get the
5223 style "foo (bar)" and "foo()".
5225 *** Some keywords now automatically trigger reindentation.
5226 Keywords like "else", "while", "catch" and "finally" have been made
5227 "electric" to make them reindent automatically when they continue an
5228 earlier statement. An example:
5230 for (i = 0; i < 17; i++)
5232 res += a[i]->offset;
5235 Here, the "else" should be indented like the preceding "if", since it
5236 continues that statement. CC Mode will automatically reindent it after
5237 the "else" has been typed in full, since it's not until then it's
5238 possible to decide whether it's a new statement or a continuation of
5241 CC Mode uses Abbrev mode to achieve this, which is therefore turned on
5244 *** M-a and M-e now moves by sentence in multiline strings.
5245 Previously these two keys only moved by sentence in comments, which
5246 meant that sentence movement didn't work in strings containing
5247 documentation or other natural language text.
5249 The reason it's only activated in multiline strings (i.e. strings that
5250 contain a newline, even when escaped by a '\') is to avoid stopping in
5251 the short strings that often reside inside statements. Multiline
5252 strings almost always contain text in a natural language, as opposed
5253 to other strings that typically contain format specifications,
5254 commands, etc. Also, it's not that bothersome that M-a and M-e misses
5255 sentences in single line strings, since they're short anyway.
5257 *** Support for autodoc comments in Pike mode.
5258 Autodoc comments for Pike are used to extract documentation from the
5259 source, like Javadoc in Java. Pike mode now recognize this markup in
5260 comment prefixes and paragraph starts.
5262 *** The comment prefix regexps on c-comment-prefix may be mode specific.
5263 When c-comment-prefix is an association list, it specifies the comment
5264 line prefix on a per-mode basis, like c-default-style does. This
5265 change came about to support the special autodoc comment prefix in
5268 *** Better handling of syntactic errors.
5269 The recovery after unbalanced parens earlier in the buffer has been
5270 improved; CC Mode now reports them by dinging and giving a message
5271 stating the offending line, but still recovers and indent the
5272 following lines in a sane way (most of the time). An "else" with no
5273 matching "if" is handled similarly. If an error is discovered while
5274 indenting a region, the whole region is still indented and the error
5275 is reported afterwards.
5277 *** Lineup functions may now return absolute columns.
5278 A lineup function can give an absolute column to indent the line to by
5279 returning a vector with the desired column as the first element.
5281 *** More robust and warning-free byte compilation.
5282 Although this is strictly not a user visible change (well, depending
5283 on the view of a user), it's still worth mentioning that CC Mode now
5284 can be compiled in the standard ways without causing trouble. Some
5285 code have also been moved between the subpackages to enhance the
5286 modularity somewhat. Thanks to Martin Buchholz for doing the
5289 *** c-style-variables-are-local-p now defaults to t.
5290 This is an incompatible change that has been made to make the behavior
5291 of the style system wrt global variable settings less confusing for
5292 non-advanced users. If you know what this variable does you might
5293 want to set it to nil in your .emacs, otherwise you probably don't
5296 Defaulting c-style-variables-are-local-p to t avoids the confusing
5297 situation that occurs when a user sets some style variables globally
5298 and edits both a Java and a non-Java file in the same Emacs session.
5299 If the style variables aren't buffer local in this case, loading of
5300 the second file will cause the default style (either "gnu" or "java"
5301 by default) to override the global settings made by the user.
5303 *** New initialization procedure for the style system.
5304 When the initial style for a buffer is determined by CC Mode (from the
5305 variable c-default-style), the global values of style variables now
5306 take precedence over the values specified by the chosen style. This
5307 is different than the old behavior: previously, the style-specific
5308 settings would override the global settings. This change makes it
5309 possible to do simple configuration in the intuitive way with
5310 Customize or with setq lines in one's .emacs file.
5312 By default, the global value of every style variable is the new
5313 special symbol set-from-style, which causes the value to be taken from
5314 the style system. This means that in effect, only an explicit setting
5315 of a style variable will cause the "overriding" behavior described
5318 Also note that global settings override style-specific settings *only*
5319 when the initial style of a buffer is chosen by a CC Mode major mode
5320 function. When a style is chosen in other ways --- for example, by a
5321 call like (c-set-style "gnu") in a hook, or via M-x c-set-style ---
5322 then the style-specific values take precedence over any global style
5323 values. In Lisp terms, global values override style-specific values
5324 only when the new second argument to c-set-style is non-nil; see the
5325 function documentation for more info.
5327 The purpose of these changes is to make it easier for users,
5328 especially novice users, to do simple customizations with Customize or
5329 with setq in their .emacs files. On the other hand, the new system is
5330 intended to be compatible with advanced users' customizations as well,
5331 such as those that choose styles in hooks or whatnot. This new system
5332 is believed to be almost entirely compatible with current
5333 configurations, in spite of the changed precedence between style and
5334 global variable settings when a buffer's default style is set.
5336 (Thanks to Eric Eide for clarifying this explanation a bit.)
5338 **** c-offsets-alist is now a customizable variable.
5339 This became possible as a result of the new initialization behavior.
5341 This variable is treated slightly differently from the other style
5342 variables; instead of using the symbol set-from-style, it will be
5343 completed with the syntactic symbols it doesn't already contain when
5344 the style is first initialized. This means it now defaults to the
5345 empty list to make all syntactic elements get their values from the
5348 **** Compatibility variable to restore the old behavior.
5349 In case your configuration doesn't work with this change, you can set
5350 c-old-style-variable-behavior to non-nil to get the old behavior back
5353 *** Improvements to line breaking and text filling.
5354 CC Mode now handles this more intelligently and seamlessly wrt the
5355 surrounding code, especially inside comments. For details see the new
5356 chapter about this in the manual.
5358 **** New variable to recognize comment line prefix decorations.
5359 The variable c-comment-prefix-regexp has been added to properly
5360 recognize the line prefix in both block and line comments. It's
5361 primarily used to initialize the various paragraph recognition and
5362 adaptive filling variables that the text handling functions uses.
5364 **** New variable c-block-comment-prefix.
5365 This is a generalization of the now obsolete variable
5366 c-comment-continuation-stars to handle arbitrary strings.
5368 **** CC Mode now uses adaptive fill mode.
5369 This to make it adapt better to the paragraph style inside comments.
5371 It's also possible to use other adaptive filling packages inside CC
5372 Mode, notably Kyle E. Jones' Filladapt mode (http://wonderworks.com/).
5373 A new convenience function c-setup-filladapt sets up Filladapt for use
5376 Note though that the 2.12 version of Filladapt lacks a feature that
5377 causes it to work suboptimally when c-comment-prefix-regexp can match
5378 the empty string (which it commonly does). A patch for that is
5379 available from the CC Mode web site (http://www.python.org/emacs/
5382 **** The variables `c-hanging-comment-starter-p' and
5383 `c-hanging-comment-ender-p', which controlled how comment starters and
5384 enders were filled, are not used anymore. The new version of the
5385 function `c-fill-paragraph' keeps the comment starters and enders as
5386 they were before the filling.
5388 **** It's now possible to selectively turn off auto filling.
5389 The variable c-ignore-auto-fill is used to ignore auto fill mode in
5390 specific contexts, e.g. in preprocessor directives and in string
5393 **** New context sensitive line break function c-context-line-break.
5394 It works like newline-and-indent in normal code, and adapts the line
5395 prefix according to the comment style when used inside comments. If
5396 you're normally using newline-and-indent, you might want to switch to
5399 *** Fixes to IDL mode.
5400 It now does a better job in recognizing only the constructs relevant
5401 to IDL. E.g. it no longer matches "class" as the beginning of a
5402 struct block, but it does match the CORBA 2.3 "valuetype" keyword.
5403 Thanks to Eric Eide.
5405 *** Improvements to the Whitesmith style.
5406 It now keeps the style consistently on all levels and both when
5407 opening braces hangs and when they don't.
5409 **** New lineup function c-lineup-whitesmith-in-block.
5411 *** New lineup functions c-lineup-template-args and c-indent-multi-line-block.
5412 See their docstrings for details. c-lineup-template-args does a
5413 better job of tracking the brackets used as parens in C++ templates,
5414 and is used by default to line up continued template arguments.
5416 *** c-lineup-comment now preserves alignment with a comment on the
5417 previous line. It used to instead preserve comments that started in
5418 the column specified by comment-column.
5420 *** c-lineup-C-comments handles "free form" text comments.
5421 In comments with a long delimiter line at the start, the indentation
5422 is kept unchanged for lines that start with an empty comment line
5423 prefix. This is intended for the type of large block comments that
5424 contain documentation with its own formatting. In these you normally
5425 don't want CC Mode to change the indentation.
5427 *** The `c' syntactic symbol is now relative to the comment start
5428 instead of the previous line, to make integers usable as lineup
5431 *** All lineup functions have gotten docstrings.
5433 *** More preprocessor directive movement functions.
5434 c-down-conditional does the reverse of c-up-conditional.
5435 c-up-conditional-with-else and c-down-conditional-with-else are
5436 variants of these that also stops at "#else" lines (suggested by Don
5439 *** Minor improvements to many movement functions in tricky situations.
5443 *** New variable `dired-recursive-deletes' determines if the delete
5444 command will delete non-empty directories recursively. The default
5445 is, delete only empty directories.
5447 *** New variable `dired-recursive-copies' determines if the copy
5448 command will copy directories recursively. The default is, do not
5449 copy directories recursively.
5451 *** In command `dired-do-shell-command' (usually bound to `!') a `?'
5452 in the shell command has a special meaning similar to `*', but with
5453 the difference that the command will be run on each file individually.
5455 *** The new command `dired-find-alternate-file' (usually bound to `a')
5456 replaces the Dired buffer with the buffer for an alternate file or
5459 *** The new command `dired-show-file-type' (usually bound to `y') shows
5460 a message in the echo area describing what type of file the point is on.
5461 This command invokes the external program `file' do its work, and so
5462 will only work on systems with that program, and will be only as
5463 accurate or inaccurate as it is.
5465 *** Dired now properly handles undo changes of adding/removing `-R'
5468 *** Dired commands that prompt for a destination file now allow the use
5469 of the `M-n' command in the minibuffer to insert the source filename,
5470 which the user can then edit. This only works if there is a single
5471 source file, not when operating on multiple marked files.
5475 The Gnus NEWS entries are short, but they reflect sweeping changes in
5476 four areas: Article display treatment, MIME treatment,
5477 internationalization and mail-fetching.
5479 *** The mail-fetching functions have changed. See the manual for the
5480 many details. In particular, all procmail fetching variables are gone.
5482 If you used procmail like in
5484 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
5485 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
5486 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/mail/incoming/")
5487 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "\\.in")
5489 this now has changed to
5492 '((directory :path "~/mail/incoming/"
5495 More information is available in the info doc at Select Methods ->
5496 Getting Mail -> Mail Sources
5498 *** Gnus is now a MIME-capable reader. This affects many parts of
5499 Gnus, and adds a slew of new commands. See the manual for details.
5500 Separate MIME packages like RMIME, mime-compose etc., will probably no
5501 longer work; remove them and use the native facilities.
5503 The FLIM/SEMI package still works with Emacs 21, but if you want to
5504 use the native facilities, you must remove any mailcap.el[c] that was
5505 installed by FLIM/SEMI version 1.13 or earlier.
5507 *** Gnus has also been multilingualized. This also affects too many
5508 parts of Gnus to summarize here, and adds many new variables. There
5509 are built-in facilities equivalent to those of gnus-mule.el, which is
5510 now just a compatibility layer.
5512 *** gnus-mule.el is now just a compatibility layer over the built-in
5515 *** gnus-auto-select-first can now be a function to be
5516 called to position point.
5518 *** The user can now decide which extra headers should be included in
5519 summary buffers and NOV files.
5521 *** `gnus-article-display-hook' has been removed. Instead, a number
5522 of variables starting with `gnus-treat-' have been added.
5524 *** The Gnus posting styles have been redone again and now work in a
5525 subtly different manner.
5527 *** New web-based backends have been added: nnslashdot, nnwarchive
5528 and nnultimate. nnweb has been revamped, again, to keep up with
5529 ever-changing layouts.
5531 *** Gnus can now read IMAP mail via nnimap.
5533 *** There is image support of various kinds and some sound support.
5535 ** Changes in Texinfo mode.
5537 *** A couple of new key bindings have been added for inserting Texinfo
5541 -------------------------
5545 C-c C-c q @quotation
5547 C-c C-o @<block> ... @end <block>
5550 *** The " key now inserts either " or `` or '' depending on context.
5552 ** Changes in Outline mode.
5554 There is now support for Imenu to index headings. A new command
5555 `outline-headers-as-kill' copies the visible headings in the region to
5556 the kill ring, e.g. to produce a table of contents.
5558 ** Changes to Emacs Server
5560 *** The new option `server-kill-new-buffers' specifies what to do
5561 with buffers when done with them. If non-nil, the default, buffers
5562 are killed, unless they were already present before visiting them with
5563 Emacs Server. If nil, `server-temp-file-regexp' specifies which
5564 buffers to kill, as before.
5566 Please note that only buffers are killed that still have a client,
5567 i.e. buffers visited with `emacsclient --no-wait' are never killed in
5570 ** Both emacsclient and Emacs itself now accept command line options
5571 of the form +LINE:COLUMN in addition to +LINE.
5573 ** Changes to Show Paren mode.
5575 *** Overlays used by Show Paren mode now use a priority property.
5576 The new user option show-paren-priority specifies the priority to
5577 use. Default is 1000.
5579 ** New command M-x check-parens can be used to find unbalanced paren
5580 groups and strings in buffers in Lisp mode (or other modes).
5582 ** Changes to hideshow.el
5584 *** Generalized block selection and traversal
5586 A block is now recognized by its start and end regexps (both strings),
5587 and an integer specifying which sub-expression in the start regexp
5588 serves as the place where a `forward-sexp'-like function can operate.
5589 See the documentation of variable `hs-special-modes-alist'.
5591 *** During incremental search, if Hideshow minor mode is active,
5592 hidden blocks are temporarily shown. The variable `hs-headline' can
5593 be used in the mode line format to show the line at the beginning of
5596 *** User option `hs-hide-all-non-comment-function' specifies a
5597 function to be called at each top-level block beginning, instead of
5598 the normal block-hiding function.
5600 *** The command `hs-show-region' has been removed.
5602 *** The key bindings have changed to fit the Emacs conventions,
5603 roughly imitating those of Outline minor mode. Notably, the prefix
5604 for all bindings is now `C-c @'. For details, see the documentation
5605 for `hs-minor-mode'.
5607 *** The variable `hs-show-hidden-short-form' has been removed, and
5608 hideshow.el now always behaves as if this variable were set to t.
5610 ** Changes to Change Log mode and Add-Log functions
5612 *** If you invoke `add-change-log-entry' from a backup file, it makes
5613 an entry appropriate for the file's parent. This is useful for making
5614 log entries by comparing a version with deleted functions.
5616 **** New command M-x change-log-merge merges another log into the
5619 *** New command M-x change-log-redate fixes any old-style date entries
5622 *** Change Log mode now adds a file's version number to change log
5623 entries if user-option `change-log-version-info-enabled' is non-nil.
5624 Unless the file is under version control the search for a file's
5625 version number is performed based on regular expressions from
5626 `change-log-version-number-regexp-list' which can be customized.
5627 Version numbers are only found in the first 10 percent of a file.
5629 *** Change Log mode now defines its own faces for font-lock highlighting.
5631 ** Changes to cmuscheme
5633 *** The user-option `scheme-program-name' has been renamed
5634 `cmuscheme-program-name' due to conflicts with xscheme.el.
5636 ** Changes in Font Lock
5638 *** The new function `font-lock-remove-keywords' can be used to remove
5639 font-lock keywords from the current buffer or from a specific major mode.
5641 *** Multi-line patterns are now supported. Modes using this, should
5642 set font-lock-multiline to t in their font-lock-defaults.
5644 *** `font-lock-syntactic-face-function' allows major-modes to choose
5645 the face used for each string/comment.
5647 *** A new standard face `font-lock-doc-face'.
5648 Meant for Lisp docstrings, Javadoc comments and other "documentation in code".
5650 ** Changes to Shell mode
5652 *** The `shell' command now accepts an optional argument to specify the buffer
5653 to use, which defaults to "*shell*". When used interactively, a
5654 non-default buffer may be specified by giving the `shell' command a
5655 prefix argument (causing it to prompt for the buffer name).
5657 ** Comint (subshell) changes
5659 These changes generally affect all modes derived from comint mode, which
5660 include shell-mode, gdb-mode, scheme-interaction-mode, etc.
5662 *** Comint now by default interprets some carriage-control characters.
5663 Comint now removes CRs from CR LF sequences, and treats single CRs and
5664 BSs in the output in a way similar to a terminal (by deleting to the
5665 beginning of the line, or deleting the previous character,
5666 respectively). This is achieved by adding `comint-carriage-motion' to
5667 the `comint-output-filter-functions' hook by default.
5669 *** By default, comint no longer uses the variable `comint-prompt-regexp'
5670 to distinguish prompts from user-input. Instead, it notices which
5671 parts of the text were output by the process, and which entered by the
5672 user, and attaches `field' properties to allow emacs commands to use
5673 this information. Common movement commands, notably beginning-of-line,
5674 respect field boundaries in a fairly natural manner. To disable this
5675 feature, and use the old behavior, customize the user option
5676 `comint-use-prompt-regexp-instead-of-fields'.
5678 *** Comint now includes new features to send commands to running processes
5679 and redirect the output to a designated buffer or buffers.
5681 *** The command M-x comint-redirect-send-command reads a command and
5682 buffer name from the mini-buffer. The command is sent to the current
5683 buffer's process, and its output is inserted into the specified buffer.
5685 The command M-x comint-redirect-send-command-to-process acts like
5686 M-x comint-redirect-send-command but additionally reads the name of
5687 the buffer whose process should be used from the mini-buffer.
5689 *** Packages based on comint now highlight user input and program prompts,
5690 and support choosing previous input with mouse-2. To control these features,
5691 see the user-options `comint-highlight-input' and `comint-highlight-prompt'.
5693 *** The new command `comint-write-output' (usually bound to `C-c C-s')
5694 saves the output from the most recent command to a file. With a prefix
5695 argument, it appends to the file.
5697 *** The command `comint-kill-output' has been renamed `comint-delete-output'
5698 (usually bound to `C-c C-o'); the old name is aliased to it for
5701 *** The new function `comint-add-to-input-history' adds commands to the input
5704 *** The new variable `comint-input-history-ignore' is a regexp for
5705 identifying history lines that should be ignored, like tcsh time-stamp
5706 strings, starting with a `#'. The default value of this variable is "^#".
5708 ** Changes to Rmail mode
5710 *** The new user-option rmail-user-mail-address-regexp can be
5711 set to fine tune the identification of the correspondent when
5712 receiving new mail. If it matches the address of the sender, the
5713 recipient is taken as correspondent of a mail. If nil, the default,
5714 `user-login-name' and `user-mail-address' are used to exclude yourself
5717 Usually you don't have to set this variable, except if you collect
5718 mails sent by you under different user names. Then it should be a
5719 regexp matching your mail addresses.
5721 *** The new user-option rmail-confirm-expunge controls whether and how
5722 to ask for confirmation before expunging deleted messages from an
5723 Rmail file. You can choose between no confirmation, confirmation
5724 with y-or-n-p, or confirmation with yes-or-no-p. Default is to ask
5725 for confirmation with yes-or-no-p.
5727 *** RET is now bound in the Rmail summary to rmail-summary-goto-msg,
5730 *** There is a new user option `rmail-digest-end-regexps' that
5731 specifies the regular expressions to detect the line that ends a
5734 *** The new user option `rmail-automatic-folder-directives' specifies
5735 in which folder to put messages automatically.
5737 *** The new function `rmail-redecode-body' allows to fix a message
5738 with non-ASCII characters if Emacs happens to decode it incorrectly
5739 due to missing or malformed "charset=" header.
5741 ** The new user-option `mail-envelope-from' can be used to specify
5742 an envelope-from address different from user-mail-address.
5744 ** The variable mail-specify-envelope-from controls whether to
5745 use the -f option when sending mail.
5747 ** The Rmail command `o' (`rmail-output-to-rmail-file') now writes the
5748 current message in the internal `emacs-mule' encoding, rather than in
5749 the encoding taken from the variable `buffer-file-coding-system'.
5750 This allows to save messages whose characters cannot be safely encoded
5751 by the buffer's coding system, and makes sure the message will be
5752 displayed correctly when you later visit the target Rmail file.
5754 If you want your Rmail files be encoded in a specific coding system
5755 other than `emacs-mule', you can customize the variable
5756 `rmail-file-coding-system' to set its value to that coding system.
5758 ** Changes to TeX mode
5760 *** The default mode has been changed from `plain-tex-mode' to
5763 *** latex-mode now has a simple indentation algorithm.
5765 *** M-f and M-p jump around \begin...\end pairs.
5767 *** Added support for outline-minor-mode.
5769 ** Changes to RefTeX mode
5771 *** RefTeX has new support for index generation. Index entries can be
5772 created with `C-c <', with completion available on index keys.
5773 Pressing `C-c /' indexes the word at the cursor with a default
5774 macro. `C-c >' compiles all index entries into an alphabetically
5775 sorted *Index* buffer which looks like the final index. Entries
5776 can be edited from that buffer.
5778 *** Label and citation key selection now allow to select several
5779 items and reference them together (use `m' to mark items, `a' or
5780 `A' to use all marked entries).
5782 *** reftex.el has been split into a number of smaller files to reduce
5783 memory use when only a part of RefTeX is being used.
5785 *** a new command `reftex-view-crossref-from-bibtex' (bound to `C-c &'
5786 in BibTeX-mode) can be called in a BibTeX database buffer in order
5787 to show locations in LaTeX documents where a particular entry has
5790 ** Emacs Lisp mode now allows multiple levels of outline headings.
5791 The level of a heading is determined from the number of leading
5792 semicolons in a heading line. Toplevel forms starting with a `('
5793 in column 1 are always made leaves.
5795 ** The M-x time-stamp command (most commonly used on write-file-hooks)
5796 has the following new features:
5798 *** The patterns for finding the time stamp and for updating a pattern
5799 may match text spanning multiple lines. For example, some people like
5800 to have the filename and date on separate lines. The new variable
5801 time-stamp-inserts-lines controls the matching for multi-line patterns.
5803 *** More than one time stamp can be updated in the same file. This
5804 feature is useful if you need separate time stamps in a program source
5805 file to both include in formatted documentation and insert in the
5806 compiled binary. The same time-stamp will be written at each matching
5807 pattern. The variable time-stamp-count enables this new feature; it
5810 ** Partial Completion mode now completes environment variables in
5815 *** The command `ispell' now spell-checks a region if
5816 transient-mark-mode is on, and the mark is active. Otherwise it
5817 spell-checks the current buffer.
5819 *** Support for synchronous subprocesses - DOS/Windoze - has been
5822 *** An "alignment error" bug was fixed when a manual spelling
5823 correction is made and re-checked.
5825 *** Italian, Portuguese, and Slovak dictionary definitions have been added.
5827 *** Region skipping performance has been vastly improved in some
5830 *** Spell checking HTML buffers has been improved and isn't so strict
5833 *** The buffer-local words are now always placed on a new line at the
5836 *** Spell checking now works in the MS-DOS version of Emacs.
5838 ** Makefile mode changes
5840 *** The mode now uses the abbrev table `makefile-mode-abbrev-table'.
5842 *** Conditionals and include statements are now highlighted when
5843 Fontlock mode is active.
5847 *** Isearch now puts a call to `isearch-resume' in the command history,
5848 so that searches can be resumed.
5850 *** In Isearch mode, C-M-s and C-M-r are now bound like C-s and C-r,
5851 respectively, i.e. you can repeat a regexp isearch with the same keys
5852 that started the search.
5854 *** In Isearch mode, mouse-2 in the echo area now yanks the current
5855 selection into the search string rather than giving an error.
5857 *** There is a new lazy highlighting feature in incremental search.
5859 Lazy highlighting is switched on/off by customizing variable
5860 `isearch-lazy-highlight'. When active, all matches for the current
5861 search string are highlighted. The current match is highlighted as
5862 before using face `isearch' or `region'. All other matches are
5863 highlighted using face `isearch-lazy-highlight-face' which defaults to
5864 `secondary-selection'.
5866 The extra highlighting makes it easier to anticipate where the cursor
5867 will end up each time you press C-s or C-r to repeat a pending search.
5868 Highlighting of these additional matches happens in a deferred fashion
5869 using "idle timers," so the cycles needed do not rob isearch of its
5870 usual snappy response.
5872 If `isearch-lazy-highlight-cleanup' is set to t, highlights for
5873 matches are automatically cleared when you end the search. If it is
5874 set to nil, you can remove the highlights manually with `M-x
5875 isearch-lazy-highlight-cleanup'.
5879 VC has been overhauled internally. It is now modular, making it
5880 easier to plug-in arbitrary version control backends. (See Lisp
5881 Changes for details on the new structure.) As a result, the mechanism
5882 to enable and disable support for particular version systems has
5883 changed: everything is now controlled by the new variable
5884 `vc-handled-backends'. Its value is a list of symbols that identify
5885 version systems; the default is '(RCS CVS SCCS). When finding a file,
5886 each of the backends in that list is tried in order to see whether the
5887 file is registered in that backend.
5889 When registering a new file, VC first tries each of the listed
5890 backends to see if any of them considers itself "responsible" for the
5891 directory of the file (e.g. because a corresponding subdirectory for
5892 master files exists). If none of the backends is responsible, then
5893 the first backend in the list that could register the file is chosen.
5894 As a consequence, the variable `vc-default-back-end' is now obsolete.
5896 The old variable `vc-master-templates' is also obsolete, although VC
5897 still supports it for backward compatibility. To define templates for
5898 RCS or SCCS, you should rather use the new variables
5899 vc-{rcs,sccs}-master-templates. (There is no such feature under CVS
5900 where it doesn't make sense.)
5902 The variables `vc-ignore-vc-files' and `vc-handle-cvs' are also
5903 obsolete now, you must set `vc-handled-backends' to nil or exclude
5904 `CVS' from the list, respectively, to achieve their effect now.
5908 The variable `vc-checkout-carefully' is obsolete: the corresponding
5909 checks are always done now.
5911 VC Dired buffers are now kept up-to-date during all version control
5914 `vc-diff' output is now displayed in `diff-mode'.
5915 `vc-print-log' uses `log-view-mode'.
5916 `vc-log-mode' (used for *VC-Log*) has been replaced by `log-edit-mode'.
5918 The command C-x v m (vc-merge) now accepts an empty argument as the
5919 first revision number. This means that any recent changes on the
5920 current branch should be picked up from the repository and merged into
5921 the working file (``merge news'').
5923 The commands C-x v s (vc-create-snapshot) and C-x v r
5924 (vc-retrieve-snapshot) now ask for a directory name from which to work
5927 *** Multiple Backends
5929 VC now lets you register files in more than one backend. This is
5930 useful, for example, if you are working with a slow remote CVS
5931 repository. You can then use RCS for local editing, and occasionally
5932 commit your changes back to CVS, or pick up changes from CVS into your
5935 To make this work, the ``more local'' backend (RCS in our example)
5936 should come first in `vc-handled-backends', and the ``more remote''
5937 backend (CVS) should come later. (The default value of
5938 `vc-handled-backends' already has it that way.)
5940 You can then commit changes to another backend (say, RCS), by typing
5941 C-u C-x v v RCS RET (i.e. vc-next-action now accepts a backend name as
5942 a revision number). VC registers the file in the more local backend
5943 if that hasn't already happened, and commits to a branch based on the
5944 current revision number from the more remote backend.
5946 If a file is registered in multiple backends, you can switch to
5947 another one using C-x v b (vc-switch-backend). This does not change
5948 any files, it only changes VC's perspective on the file. Use this to
5949 pick up changes from CVS while working under RCS locally.
5951 After you are done with your local RCS editing, you can commit your
5952 changes back to CVS using C-u C-x v v CVS RET. In this case, the
5953 local RCS archive is removed after the commit, and the log entry
5954 buffer is initialized to contain the entire RCS change log of the file.
5958 There is a new user option, `vc-cvs-stay-local'. If it is `t' (the
5959 default), then VC avoids network queries for files registered in
5960 remote repositories. The state of such files is then only determined
5961 by heuristics and past information. `vc-cvs-stay-local' can also be a
5962 regexp to match against repository hostnames; only files from hosts
5963 that match it are treated locally. If the variable is nil, then VC
5964 queries the repository just as often as it does for local files.
5966 If `vc-cvs-stay-local' is on, then VC also makes local backups of
5967 repository versions. This means that ordinary diffs (C-x v =) and
5968 revert operations (C-x v u) can be done completely locally, without
5969 any repository interactions at all. The name of a local version
5970 backup of FILE is FILE.~REV.~, where REV is the repository version
5971 number. This format is similar to that used by C-x v ~
5972 (vc-version-other-window), except for the trailing dot. As a matter
5973 of fact, the two features can each use the files created by the other,
5974 the only difference being that files with a trailing `.' are deleted
5975 automatically after commit. (This feature doesn't work on MS-DOS,
5976 since DOS disallows more than a single dot in the trunk of a file
5979 If `vc-cvs-stay-local' is on, and there have been changes in the
5980 repository, VC notifies you about it when you actually try to commit.
5981 If you want to check for updates from the repository without trying to
5982 commit, you can either use C-x v m RET to perform an update on the
5983 current file, or you can use C-x v r RET to get an update for an
5984 entire directory tree.
5986 The new user option `vc-cvs-use-edit' indicates whether VC should call
5987 "cvs edit" to make files writeable; it defaults to `t'. (This option
5988 is only meaningful if the CVSREAD variable is set, or if files are
5989 "watched" by other developers.)
5991 The commands C-x v s (vc-create-snapshot) and C-x v r
5992 (vc-retrieve-snapshot) are now also implemented for CVS. If you give
5993 an empty snapshot name to the latter, that performs a `cvs update',
5994 starting at the given directory.
5996 *** Lisp Changes in VC
5998 VC has been restructured internally to make it modular. You can now
5999 add support for arbitrary version control backends by writing a
6000 library that provides a certain set of backend-specific functions, and
6001 then telling VC to use that library. For example, to add support for
6002 a version system named SYS, you write a library named vc-sys.el, which
6003 provides a number of functions vc-sys-... (see commentary at the top
6004 of vc.el for a detailed list of them). To make VC use that library,
6005 you need to put it somewhere into Emacs' load path and add the symbol
6006 `SYS' to the list `vc-handled-backends'.
6008 ** The customizable EDT emulation package now supports the EDT
6009 SUBS command and EDT scroll margins. It also works with more
6010 terminal/keyboard configurations and it now works under XEmacs.
6011 See etc/edt-user.doc for more information.
6013 ** New modes and packages
6015 *** The new global minor mode `minibuffer-electric-default-mode'
6016 automatically hides the `(default ...)' part of minibuffer prompts when
6017 the default is not applicable.
6019 *** Artist is an Emacs lisp package that allows you to draw lines,
6020 rectangles and ellipses by using your mouse and/or keyboard. The
6021 shapes are made up with the ascii characters |, -, / and \.
6025 - Intersecting: When a `|' intersects with a `-', a `+' is
6026 drawn, like this: | \ /
6030 - Rubber-banding: When drawing lines you can interactively see the
6031 result while holding the mouse button down and moving the mouse. If
6032 your machine is not fast enough (a 386 is a bit too slow, but a
6033 pentium is well enough), you can turn this feature off. You will
6034 then see 1's and 2's which mark the 1st and 2nd endpoint of the line
6037 - Arrows: After having drawn a (straight) line or a (straight)
6038 poly-line, you can set arrows on the line-ends by typing < or >.
6040 - Flood-filling: You can fill any area with a certain character by
6043 - Cut copy and paste: You can cut, copy and paste rectangular
6044 regions. Artist also interfaces with the rect package (this can be
6045 turned off if it causes you any trouble) so anything you cut in
6046 artist can be yanked with C-x r y and vice versa.
6048 - Drawing with keys: Everything you can do with the mouse, you can
6049 also do without the mouse.
6051 - Aspect-ratio: You can set the variable artist-aspect-ratio to
6052 reflect the height-width ratio for the font you are using. Squares
6053 and circles are then drawn square/round. Note, that once your
6054 ascii-file is shown with font with a different height-width ratio,
6055 the squares won't be square and the circles won't be round.
6057 - Drawing operations: The following drawing operations are implemented:
6059 lines straight-lines
6061 poly-lines straight poly-lines
6063 text (see-thru) text (overwrite)
6064 spray-can setting size for spraying
6065 vaporize line vaporize lines
6066 erase characters erase rectangles
6068 Straight lines are lines that go horizontally, vertically or
6069 diagonally. Plain lines go in any direction. The operations in
6070 the right column are accessed by holding down the shift key while
6073 It is possible to vaporize (erase) entire lines and connected lines
6074 (rectangles for example) as long as the lines being vaporized are
6075 straight and connected at their endpoints. Vaporizing is inspired
6076 by the drawrect package by Jari Aalto <jari.aalto@poboxes.com>.
6078 - Picture mode compatibility: Artist is picture mode compatible (this
6081 *** The new package Eshell is an operating system command shell
6082 implemented entirely in Emacs Lisp. Use `M-x eshell' to invoke it.
6083 It functions similarly to bash and zsh, and allows running of Lisp
6084 functions and external commands using the same syntax. It supports
6085 history lists, aliases, extended globbing, smart scrolling, etc. It
6086 will work on any platform Emacs has been ported to. And since most of
6087 the basic commands -- ls, rm, mv, cp, ln, du, cat, etc. -- have been
6088 rewritten in Lisp, it offers an operating-system independent shell,
6089 all within the scope of your Emacs process.
6091 *** The new package timeclock.el is a mode is for keeping track of time
6092 intervals. You can use it for whatever purpose you like, but the
6093 typical scenario is to keep track of how much time you spend working
6094 on certain projects.
6096 *** The new package hi-lock.el provides commands to highlight matches
6097 of interactively entered regexps. For example,
6099 M-x highlight-regexp RET clearly RET RET
6101 will highlight all occurrences of `clearly' using a yellow background
6102 face. New occurrences of `clearly' will be highlighted as they are
6103 typed. `M-x unhighlight-regexp RET' will remove the highlighting.
6104 Any existing face can be used for highlighting and a set of
6105 appropriate faces is provided. The regexps can be written into the
6106 current buffer in a form that will be recognized the next time the
6107 corresponding file is read. There are commands to highlight matches
6108 to phrases and to highlight entire lines containing a match.
6110 *** The new package zone.el plays games with Emacs' display when
6113 *** The new package tildify.el allows to add hard spaces or other text
6114 fragments in accordance with the current major mode.
6116 *** The new package xml.el provides a simple but generic XML
6117 parser. It doesn't parse the DTDs however.
6119 *** The comment operations are now provided by the newcomment.el
6120 package which allows different styles of comment-region and should
6121 be more robust while offering the same functionality.
6122 `comment-region' now doesn't always comment a-line-at-a-time, but only
6123 comments the region, breaking the line at point if necessary.
6125 *** The Ebrowse package implements a C++ class browser and tags
6126 facilities tailored for use with C++. It is documented in a
6127 separate Texinfo file.
6129 *** The PCL-CVS package available by either running M-x cvs-examine or
6130 by visiting a CVS administrative directory (with a prefix argument)
6131 provides an alternative interface to VC-dired for CVS. It comes with
6132 `log-view-mode' to view RCS and SCCS logs and `log-edit-mode' used to
6133 enter check-in log messages.
6135 *** The new package called `woman' allows to browse Unix man pages
6136 without invoking external programs.
6138 The command `M-x woman' formats manual pages entirely in Emacs Lisp
6139 and then displays them, like `M-x manual-entry' does. Unlike
6140 `manual-entry', `woman' does not invoke any external programs, so it
6141 is useful on systems such as MS-DOS/MS-Windows where the `man' and
6142 Groff or `troff' commands are not readily available.
6144 The command `M-x woman-find-file' asks for the file name of a man
6145 page, then formats and displays it like `M-x woman' does.
6147 *** The new command M-x re-builder offers a convenient interface for
6148 authoring regular expressions with immediate visual feedback.
6150 The buffer from which the command was called becomes the target for
6151 the regexp editor popping up in a separate window. Matching text in
6152 the target buffer is immediately color marked during the editing.
6153 Each sub-expression of the regexp will show up in a different face so
6154 even complex regexps can be edited and verified on target data in a
6157 On displays not supporting faces the matches instead blink like
6158 matching parens to make them stand out. On such a setup you will
6159 probably also want to use the sub-expression mode when the regexp
6160 contains such to get feedback about their respective limits.
6162 *** glasses-mode is a minor mode that makes
6163 unreadableIdentifiersLikeThis readable. It works as glasses, without
6164 actually modifying content of a buffer.
6166 *** The package ebnf2ps translates an EBNF to a syntactic chart in
6169 Currently accepts ad-hoc EBNF, ISO EBNF and Bison/Yacc.
6171 The ad-hoc default EBNF syntax has the following elements:
6173 ; comment (until end of line)
6177 $A default non-terminal
6178 $"C" default terminal
6179 $?C? default special
6180 A = B. production (A is the header and B the body)
6181 C D sequence (C occurs before D)
6182 C | D alternative (C or D occurs)
6183 A - B exception (A excluding B, B without any non-terminal)
6184 n * A repetition (A repeats n (integer) times)
6185 (C) group (expression C is grouped together)
6186 [C] optional (C may or not occurs)
6187 C+ one or more occurrences of C
6188 {C}+ one or more occurrences of C
6189 {C}* zero or more occurrences of C
6190 {C} zero or more occurrences of C
6191 C / D equivalent to: C {D C}*
6192 {C || D}+ equivalent to: C {D C}*
6193 {C || D}* equivalent to: [C {D C}*]
6194 {C || D} equivalent to: [C {D C}*]
6196 Please, see ebnf2ps documentation for EBNF syntax and how to use it.
6198 *** The package align.el will align columns within a region, using M-x
6199 align. Its mode-specific rules, based on regular expressions,
6200 determine where the columns should be split. In C and C++, for
6201 example, it will align variable names in declaration lists, or the
6202 equal signs of assignments.
6204 *** `paragraph-indent-minor-mode' is a new minor mode supporting
6205 paragraphs in the same style as `paragraph-indent-text-mode'.
6207 *** bs.el is a new package for buffer selection similar to
6208 list-buffers or electric-buffer-list. Use M-x bs-show to display a
6209 buffer menu with this package. See the Custom group `bs'.
6211 *** find-lisp.el is a package emulating the Unix find command in Lisp.
6213 *** calculator.el is a small calculator package that is intended to
6214 replace desktop calculators such as xcalc and calc.exe. Actually, it
6215 is not too small - it has more features than most desktop calculators,
6216 and can be customized easily to get many more functions. It should
6217 not be confused with "calc" which is a much bigger mathematical tool
6218 which answers different needs.
6220 *** The minor modes cwarn-mode and global-cwarn-mode highlights
6221 suspicious C and C++ constructions. Currently, assignments inside
6222 expressions, semicolon following `if', `for' and `while' (except, of
6223 course, after a `do .. while' statement), and C++ functions with
6224 reference parameters are recognized. The modes require font-lock mode
6227 *** smerge-mode.el provides `smerge-mode', a simple minor-mode for files
6228 containing diff3-style conflict markers, such as generated by RCS.
6230 *** 5x5.el is a simple puzzle game.
6232 *** hl-line.el provides `hl-line-mode', a minor mode to highlight the
6233 current line in the current buffer. It also provides
6234 `global-hl-line-mode' to provide the same behavior in all buffers.
6236 *** ansi-color.el translates ANSI terminal escapes into text-properties.
6238 Please note: if `ansi-color-for-comint-mode' and
6239 `global-font-lock-mode' are non-nil, loading ansi-color.el will
6240 disable font-lock and add `ansi-color-apply' to
6241 `comint-preoutput-filter-functions' for all shell-mode buffers. This
6242 displays the output of "ls --color=yes" using the correct foreground
6243 and background colors.
6245 *** delphi.el provides a major mode for editing the Delphi (Object
6248 *** quickurl.el provides a simple method of inserting a URL based on
6251 *** sql.el provides an interface to SQL data bases.
6253 *** fortune.el uses the fortune program to create mail/news signatures.
6255 *** whitespace.el is a package for warning about and cleaning bogus
6256 whitespace in a file.
6258 *** PostScript mode (ps-mode) is a new major mode for editing PostScript
6259 files. It offers: interaction with a PostScript interpreter, including
6260 (very basic) error handling; fontification, easily customizable for
6261 interpreter messages; auto-indentation; insertion of EPSF templates and
6262 often used code snippets; viewing of BoundingBox; commenting out /
6263 uncommenting regions; conversion of 8bit characters to PostScript octal
6264 codes. All functionality is accessible through a menu.
6266 *** delim-col helps to prettify columns in a text region or rectangle.
6268 Here is an example of columns:
6271 dog pineapple car EXTRA
6272 porcupine strawberry airplane
6274 Doing the following settings:
6276 (setq delimit-columns-str-before "[ ")
6277 (setq delimit-columns-str-after " ]")
6278 (setq delimit-columns-str-separator ", ")
6279 (setq delimit-columns-separator "\t")
6282 Selecting the lines above and typing:
6284 M-x delimit-columns-region
6288 [ horse , apple , bus , ]
6289 [ dog , pineapple , car , EXTRA ]
6290 [ porcupine, strawberry, airplane, ]
6292 delim-col has the following options:
6294 delimit-columns-str-before Specify a string to be inserted
6297 delimit-columns-str-separator Specify a string to be inserted
6298 between each column.
6300 delimit-columns-str-after Specify a string to be inserted
6303 delimit-columns-separator Specify a regexp which separates
6306 delim-col has the following commands:
6308 delimit-columns-region Prettify all columns in a text region.
6309 delimit-columns-rectangle Prettify all columns in a text rectangle.
6311 *** Recentf mode maintains a menu for visiting files that were
6312 operated on recently. User option recentf-menu-filter specifies a
6313 menu filter function to change the menu appearance. For example, the
6314 recent file list can be displayed:
6316 - organized by major modes, directories or user defined rules.
6317 - sorted by file paths, file names, ascending or descending.
6318 - showing paths relative to the current default-directory
6320 The `recentf-filter-changer' menu filter function allows to
6321 dynamically change the menu appearance.
6323 *** elide-head.el provides a mechanism for eliding boilerplate header
6326 *** footnote.el provides `footnote-mode', a minor mode supporting use
6327 of footnotes. It is intended for use with Message mode, but isn't
6328 specific to Message mode.
6330 *** diff-mode.el provides `diff-mode', a major mode for
6331 viewing/editing context diffs (patches). It is selected for files
6332 with extension `.diff', `.diffs', `.patch' and `.rej'.
6334 *** EUDC, the Emacs Unified Directory Client, provides a common user
6335 interface to access directory servers using different directory
6336 protocols. It has a separate manual.
6338 *** autoconf.el provides a major mode for editing configure.in files
6339 for Autoconf, selected automatically.
6341 *** windmove.el provides moving between windows.
6343 *** crm.el provides a facility to read multiple strings from the
6344 minibuffer with completion.
6346 *** todo-mode.el provides management of TODO lists and integration
6347 with the diary features.
6349 *** autoarg.el provides a feature reported from Twenex Emacs whereby
6350 numeric keys supply prefix args rather than self inserting.
6352 *** The function `turn-off-auto-fill' unconditionally turns off Auto
6355 *** pcomplete.el is a library that provides programmable completion
6356 facilities for Emacs, similar to what zsh and tcsh offer. The main
6357 difference is that completion functions are written in Lisp, meaning
6358 they can be profiled, debugged, etc.
6360 *** antlr-mode is a new major mode for editing ANTLR grammar files.
6361 It is automatically turned on for files whose names have the extension
6364 ** Changes in sort.el
6366 The function sort-numeric-fields interprets numbers starting with `0'
6367 as octal and numbers starting with `0x' or `0X' as hexadecimal. The
6368 new user-option sort-numeric-base can be used to specify a default
6371 ** Changes to Ange-ftp
6373 *** Ange-ftp allows you to specify of a port number in remote file
6374 names cleanly. It is appended to the host name, separated by a hash
6375 sign, e.g. `/foo@bar.org#666:mumble'. (This syntax comes from EFS.)
6377 *** If the new user-option `ange-ftp-try-passive-mode' is set, passive
6378 ftp mode will be used if the ftp client supports that.
6380 *** Ange-ftp handles the output of the w32-style clients which
6381 output ^M at the end of lines.
6383 ** The recommended way of using Iswitchb is via the new global minor
6384 mode `iswitchb-mode'.
6386 ** Just loading the msb package doesn't switch on Msb mode anymore.
6387 If you have `(require 'msb)' in your .emacs, please replace it with
6390 ** Flyspell mode has various new options. See the `flyspell' Custom
6393 ** The user option `backward-delete-char-untabify-method' controls the
6394 behavior of `backward-delete-char-untabify'. The following values
6397 `untabify' -- turn a tab to many spaces, then delete one space;
6398 `hungry' -- delete all whitespace, both tabs and spaces;
6399 `all' -- delete all whitespace, including tabs, spaces and newlines;
6400 nil -- just delete one character.
6402 Default value is `untabify'.
6404 [This change was made in Emacs 20.3 but not mentioned then.]
6406 ** In Cperl mode `cperl-invalid-face' should now be a normal face
6407 symbol, not double-quoted.
6409 ** Some packages are declared obsolete, to be removed in a future
6410 version. They are: auto-show, c-mode, hilit19, hscroll, ooutline,
6411 profile, rnews, rnewspost, and sc. Their implementations have been
6412 moved to lisp/obsolete.
6414 ** auto-compression mode is no longer enabled just by loading jka-compr.el.
6415 To control it, set `auto-compression-mode' via Custom or use the
6416 `auto-compression-mode' command.
6418 ** `browse-url-gnome-moz' is a new option for
6419 `browse-url-browser-function', invoking Mozilla in GNOME, and
6420 `browse-url-kde' can be chosen for invoking the KDE browser.
6422 ** The user-option `browse-url-new-window-p' has been renamed to
6423 `browse-url-new-window-flag'.
6425 ** The functions `keep-lines', `flush-lines' and `how-many' now
6426 operate on the active region in Transient Mark mode.
6428 ** `gnus-user-agent' is a new possibility for `mail-user-agent'. It
6429 is like `message-user-agent', but with all the Gnus paraphernalia.
6431 ** The Strokes package has been updated. If your Emacs has XPM
6432 support, you can use it for pictographic editing. In Strokes mode,
6433 use C-mouse-2 to compose a complex stoke and insert it into the
6434 buffer. You can encode or decode a strokes buffer with new commands
6435 M-x strokes-encode-buffer and M-x strokes-decode-buffer. There is a
6436 new command M-x strokes-list-strokes.
6438 ** Hexl contains a new command `hexl-insert-hex-string' which inserts
6439 a string of hexadecimal numbers read from the mini-buffer.
6441 ** Hexl mode allows to insert non-ASCII characters.
6443 The non-ASCII characters are encoded using the same encoding as the
6444 file you are visiting in Hexl mode.
6446 ** Shell script mode changes.
6448 Shell script mode (sh-script) can now indent scripts for shells
6449 derived from sh and rc. The indentation style is customizable, and
6450 sh-script can attempt to "learn" the current buffer's style.
6454 *** In DOS, etags looks for file.cgz if it cannot find file.c.
6456 *** New option --ignore-case-regex is an alternative to --regex. It is now
6457 possible to bind a regexp to a language, by prepending the regexp with
6458 {lang}, where lang is one of the languages that `etags --help' prints out.
6459 This feature is useful especially for regex files, where each line contains
6460 a regular expression. The manual contains details.
6462 *** In C and derived languages, etags creates tags for function
6463 declarations when given the --declarations option.
6465 *** In C++, tags are created for "operator". The tags have the form
6466 "operator+", without spaces between the keyword and the operator.
6468 *** You shouldn't generally need any more the -C or -c++ option: etags
6469 automatically switches to C++ parsing when it meets the `class' or
6470 `template' keywords.
6472 *** Etags now is able to delve at arbitrary deeps into nested structures in
6473 C-like languages. Previously, it was limited to one or two brace levels.
6475 *** New language Ada: tags are functions, procedures, packages, tasks, and
6478 *** In Fortran, `procedure' is not tagged.
6480 *** In Java, tags are created for "interface".
6482 *** In Lisp, "(defstruct (foo", "(defun (operator" and similar constructs
6485 *** In makefiles, tags the targets.
6487 *** In Perl, the --globals option tags global variables. my and local
6488 variables are tagged.
6490 *** New language Python: def and class at the beginning of a line are tags.
6492 *** .ss files are Scheme files, .pdb is Postscript with C syntax, .psw is
6495 ** Changes in etags.el
6497 *** The new user-option tags-case-fold-search can be used to make
6498 tags operations case-sensitive or case-insensitive. The default
6499 is to use the same setting as case-fold-search.
6501 *** You can display additional output with M-x tags-apropos by setting
6502 the new variable tags-apropos-additional-actions.
6504 If non-nil, the variable's value should be a list of triples (TITLE
6505 FUNCTION TO-SEARCH). For each triple, M-x tags-apropos processes
6506 TO-SEARCH and lists tags from it. TO-SEARCH should be an alist,
6507 obarray, or symbol. If it is a symbol, the symbol's value is used.
6509 TITLE is a string to use to label the list of tags from TO-SEARCH.
6511 FUNCTION is a function to call when an entry is selected in the Tags
6512 List buffer. It is called with one argument, the selected symbol.
6514 A useful example value for this variable might be something like:
6516 '(("Emacs Lisp" Info-goto-emacs-command-node obarray)
6517 ("Common Lisp" common-lisp-hyperspec common-lisp-hyperspec-obarray)
6518 ("SCWM" scwm-documentation scwm-obarray))
6520 *** The face tags-tag-face can be used to customize the appearance
6521 of tags in the output of M-x tags-apropos.
6523 *** Setting tags-apropos-verbose to a non-nil value displays the
6524 names of tags files in the *Tags List* buffer.
6526 *** You can now search for tags that are part of the filename itself.
6527 If you have tagged the files topfile.c subdir/subfile.c
6528 /tmp/tempfile.c, you can now search for tags "topfile.c", "subfile.c",
6529 "dir/sub", "tempfile", "tempfile.c". If the tag matches the file name,
6530 point will go to the beginning of the file.
6532 *** Compressed files are now transparently supported if
6533 auto-compression-mode is active. You can tag (with Etags) and search
6534 (with find-tag) both compressed and uncompressed files.
6536 *** Tags commands like M-x tags-search no longer change point
6537 in buffers where no match is found. In buffers where a match is
6538 found, the original value of point is pushed on the marker ring.
6540 ** Fortran mode has a new command `fortran-strip-sequence-nos' to
6541 remove text past column 72. The syntax class of `\' in Fortran is now
6542 appropriate for C-style escape sequences in strings.
6544 ** SGML mode's default `sgml-validate-command' is now `nsgmls'.
6546 ** A new command `view-emacs-problems' (C-h P) displays the PROBLEMS file.
6548 ** The Dabbrev package has a new user-option `dabbrev-ignored-regexps'
6549 containing a list of regular expressions. Buffers matching a regular
6550 expression from that list, are not checked.
6552 ** Emacs can now figure out modification times of remote files.
6553 When you do C-x C-f /user@host:/path/file RET and edit the file,
6554 and someone else modifies the file, you will be prompted to revert
6555 the buffer, just like for the local files.
6557 ** The buffer menu (C-x C-b) no longer lists the *Buffer List* buffer.
6559 ** When invoked with a prefix argument, the command `list-abbrevs' now
6560 displays local abbrevs, only.
6562 ** Refill minor mode provides preliminary support for keeping
6563 paragraphs filled as you modify them.
6565 ** The variable `double-click-fuzz' specifies how much the mouse
6566 may be moved between clicks that are recognized as a pair. Its value
6567 is measured in pixels.
6569 ** The new global minor mode `auto-image-file-mode' allows image files
6570 to be visited as images.
6572 ** Two new user-options `grep-command' and `grep-find-command'
6573 were added to compile.el.
6575 ** Withdrawn packages
6577 *** mldrag.el has been removed. mouse.el provides the same
6578 functionality with aliases for the mldrag functions.
6580 *** eval-reg.el has been obsoleted by changes to edebug.el and removed.
6582 *** ph.el has been obsoleted by EUDC and removed.
6585 * Incompatible Lisp changes
6587 There are a few Lisp changes which are not backwards-compatible and
6588 may require changes to existing code. Here is a list for reference.
6589 See the sections below for details.
6591 ** Since `format' preserves text properties, the idiom
6592 `(format "%s" foo)' no longer works to copy and remove properties.
6593 Use `copy-sequence' to copy the string, then use `set-text-properties'
6594 to remove the properties of the copy.
6596 ** Since the `keymap' text property now has significance, some code
6597 which uses both `local-map' and `keymap' properties (for portability)
6598 may, for instance, give rise to duplicate menus when the keymaps from
6599 these properties are active.
6601 ** The change in the treatment of non-ASCII characters in search
6602 ranges may affect some code.
6604 ** A non-nil value for the LOCAL arg of add-hook makes the hook
6605 buffer-local even if `make-local-hook' hasn't been called, which might
6606 make a difference to some code.
6608 ** The new treatment of the minibuffer prompt might affect code which
6609 operates on the minibuffer.
6611 ** The new character sets `eight-bit-control' and `eight-bit-graphic'
6612 cause `no-conversion' and `emacs-mule-unix' coding systems to produce
6613 different results when reading files with non-ASCII characters
6614 (previously, both coding systems would produce the same results).
6615 Specifically, `no-conversion' interprets each 8-bit byte as a separate
6616 character. This makes `no-conversion' inappropriate for reading
6617 multibyte text, e.g. buffers written to disk in their internal MULE
6618 encoding (auto-saving does that, for example). If a Lisp program
6619 reads such files with `no-conversion', each byte of the multibyte
6620 sequence, including the MULE leading codes such as \201, is treated as
6621 a separate character, which prevents them from being interpreted in
6622 the buffer as multibyte characters.
6624 Therefore, Lisp programs that read files which contain the internal
6625 MULE encoding should use `emacs-mule-unix'. `no-conversion' is only
6626 appropriate for reading truly binary files.
6628 ** Code that relies on the obsolete `before-change-function' and
6629 `after-change-function' to detect buffer changes will now fail. Use
6630 `before-change-functions' and `after-change-functions' instead.
6632 ** Code that uses `concat' with integer args now gets an error, as
6633 long promised. So does any code that uses derivatives of `concat',
6634 such as `mapconcat'.
6636 ** The function base64-decode-string now always returns a unibyte
6639 ** Not a Lisp incompatibility as such but, with the introduction of
6640 extra private charsets, there is now only one slot free for a new
6641 dimension-2 private charset. User code which tries to add more than
6642 one extra will fail unless you rebuild Emacs with some standard
6643 charset(s) removed; that is probably inadvisable because it changes
6644 the emacs-mule encoding. Also, files stored in the emacs-mule
6645 encoding using Emacs 20 with additional private charsets defined will
6646 probably not be read correctly by Emacs 21.
6648 ** The variable `directory-sep-char' is slated for removal.
6649 Not really a change (yet), but a projected one that you should be
6650 aware of: The variable `directory-sep-char' is deprecated, and should
6651 not be used. It was always ignored on GNU/Linux and Unix systems and
6652 on MS-DOS, but the MS-Windows port tried to support it by adapting the
6653 behavior of certain primitives to the value of this variable. It
6654 turned out that such support cannot be reliable, so it was decided to
6655 remove this variable in the near future. Lisp programs are well
6656 advised not to set it to anything but '/', because any different value
6657 will not have any effect when support for this variable is removed.
6660 * Lisp changes made after edition 2.6 of the Emacs Lisp Manual,
6661 (Display-related features are described in a page of their own below.)
6663 ** Function assq-delete-all replaces function assoc-delete-all.
6665 ** The new function animate-string, from lisp/play/animate.el
6666 allows the animated display of strings.
6668 ** The new function `interactive-form' can be used to obtain the
6669 interactive form of a function.
6671 ** The keyword :set-after in defcustom allows to specify dependencies
6672 between custom options. Example:
6674 (defcustom default-input-method nil
6675 "*Default input method for multilingual text (a string).
6676 This is the input method activated automatically by the command
6677 `toggle-input-method' (\\[toggle-input-method])."
6679 :type '(choice (const nil) string)
6680 :set-after '(current-language-environment))
6682 This specifies that default-input-method should be set after
6683 current-language-environment even if default-input-method appears
6684 first in a custom-set-variables statement.
6686 ** The new hook `kbd-macro-termination-hook' is run at the end of
6687 function execute-kbd-macro. Functions on this hook are called with no
6688 args. The hook is run independent of how the macro was terminated
6689 (signal or normal termination).
6691 ** Functions `butlast' and `nbutlast' for removing trailing elements
6692 from a list are now available without requiring the CL package.
6694 ** The new user-option `even-window-heights' can be set to nil
6695 to prevent `display-buffer' from evening out window heights.
6697 ** The user-option `face-font-registry-alternatives' specifies
6698 alternative font registry names to try when looking for a font.
6700 ** Function `md5' calculates the MD5 "message digest"/"checksum".
6702 ** Function `delete-frame' runs `delete-frame-hook' before actually
6703 deleting the frame. The hook is called with one arg, the frame
6706 ** `add-hook' now makes the hook local if called with a non-nil LOCAL arg.
6708 ** The treatment of non-ASCII characters in search ranges has changed.
6709 If a range in a regular expression or the arg of
6710 skip-chars-forward/backward starts with a unibyte character C and ends
6711 with a multibyte character C2, the range is divided into two: one is
6712 C..?\377, the other is C1..C2, where C1 is the first character of C2's
6715 ** The new function `display-message-or-buffer' displays a message in
6716 the echo area or pops up a buffer, depending on the length of the
6719 ** The new macro `with-auto-compression-mode' allows evaluating an
6720 expression with auto-compression-mode enabled.
6722 ** In image specifications, `:heuristic-mask' has been replaced
6723 with the more general `:mask' property.
6725 ** Image specifications accept more `:conversion's.
6727 ** A `?' can be used in a symbol name without escaping it with a
6730 ** Reading from the mini-buffer now reads from standard input if Emacs
6731 is running in batch mode. For example,
6733 (message "%s" (read t))
6735 will read a Lisp expression from standard input and print the result
6738 ** The argument of `down-list', `backward-up-list', `up-list',
6739 `kill-sexp', `backward-kill-sexp' and `mark-sexp' is now optional.
6741 ** If `display-buffer-reuse-frames' is set, function `display-buffer'
6742 will raise frames displaying a buffer, instead of creating a new
6745 ** Two new functions for removing elements from lists/sequences
6748 - Function: remove ELT SEQ
6750 Return a copy of SEQ with all occurrences of ELT removed. SEQ must be
6751 a list, vector, or string. The comparison is done with `equal'.
6753 - Function: remq ELT LIST
6755 Return a copy of LIST with all occurrences of ELT removed. The
6756 comparison is done with `eq'.
6758 ** The function `delete' now also works with vectors and strings.
6760 ** The meaning of the `:weakness WEAK' argument of make-hash-table
6761 has been changed: WEAK can now have new values `key-or-value' and
6762 `key-and-value', in addition to `nil', `key', `value', and `t'.
6764 ** Function `aset' stores any multibyte character in any string
6765 without signaling "Attempt to change char length of a string". It may
6766 convert a unibyte string to multibyte if necessary.
6768 ** The value of the `help-echo' text property is called as a function
6769 or evaluated, if it is not a string already, to obtain a help string.
6771 ** Function `make-obsolete' now has an optional arg to say when the
6772 function was declared obsolete.
6774 ** Function `plist-member' is renamed from `widget-plist-member' (which is
6775 retained as an alias).
6777 ** Easy-menu's :filter now takes the unconverted form of the menu and
6778 the result is automatically converted to Emacs' form.
6780 ** The new function `window-list' has been defined
6782 - Function: window-list &optional FRAME WINDOW MINIBUF
6784 Return a list of windows on FRAME, starting with WINDOW. FRAME nil or
6785 omitted means use the selected frame. WINDOW nil or omitted means use
6786 the selected window. MINIBUF t means include the minibuffer window,
6787 even if it isn't active. MINIBUF nil or omitted means include the
6788 minibuffer window only if it's active. MINIBUF neither nil nor t
6789 means never include the minibuffer window.
6791 ** There's a new function `get-window-with-predicate' defined as follows
6793 - Function: get-window-with-predicate PREDICATE &optional MINIBUF ALL-FRAMES DEFAULT
6795 Return a window satisfying PREDICATE.
6797 This function cycles through all visible windows using `walk-windows',
6798 calling PREDICATE on each one. PREDICATE is called with a window as
6799 argument. The first window for which PREDICATE returns a non-nil
6800 value is returned. If no window satisfies PREDICATE, DEFAULT is
6803 Optional second arg MINIBUF t means count the minibuffer window even
6804 if not active. MINIBUF nil or omitted means count the minibuffer iff
6805 it is active. MINIBUF neither t nor nil means not to count the
6806 minibuffer even if it is active.
6808 Several frames may share a single minibuffer; if the minibuffer
6809 counts, all windows on all frames that share that minibuffer count
6810 too. Therefore, if you are using a separate minibuffer frame
6811 and the minibuffer is active and MINIBUF says it counts,
6812 `walk-windows' includes the windows in the frame from which you
6813 entered the minibuffer, as well as the minibuffer window.
6815 ALL-FRAMES is the optional third argument.
6816 ALL-FRAMES nil or omitted means cycle within the frames as specified above.
6817 ALL-FRAMES = `visible' means include windows on all visible frames.
6818 ALL-FRAMES = 0 means include windows on all visible and iconified frames.
6819 ALL-FRAMES = t means include windows on all frames including invisible frames.
6820 If ALL-FRAMES is a frame, it means include windows on that frame.
6821 Anything else means restrict to the selected frame.
6823 ** The function `single-key-description' now encloses function key and
6824 event names in angle brackets. When called with a second optional
6825 argument non-nil, angle brackets won't be printed.
6827 ** If the variable `message-truncate-lines' is bound to t around a
6828 call to `message', the echo area will not be resized to display that
6829 message; it will be truncated instead, as it was done in 20.x.
6830 Default value is nil.
6832 ** The user option `line-number-display-limit' can now be set to nil,
6835 ** The new user option `line-number-display-limit-width' controls
6836 the maximum width of lines in a buffer for which Emacs displays line
6837 numbers in the mode line. The default is 200.
6839 ** `select-safe-coding-system' now also checks the most preferred
6840 coding-system if buffer-file-coding-system is `undecided' and
6841 DEFAULT-CODING-SYSTEM is not specified,
6843 ** The function `subr-arity' provides information about the argument
6844 list of a primitive.
6846 ** `where-is-internal' now also accepts a list of keymaps.
6848 ** The text property `keymap' specifies a key map which overrides the
6849 buffer's local map and the map specified by the `local-map' property.
6850 This is probably what most current uses of `local-map' want, rather
6851 than replacing the local map.
6853 ** The obsolete variables `before-change-function' and
6854 `after-change-function' are no longer acted upon and have been
6855 removed. Use `before-change-functions' and `after-change-functions'
6858 ** The function `apropos-mode' runs the hook `apropos-mode-hook'.
6860 ** `concat' no longer accepts individual integer arguments,
6861 as promised long ago.
6863 ** The new function `float-time' returns the current time as a float.
6865 ** The new variable auto-coding-regexp-alist specifies coding systems
6866 for reading specific files, analogous to auto-coding-alist, but
6867 patterns are checked against file contents instead of file names.
6870 * Lisp changes in Emacs 21.1 (see following page for display-related features)
6872 ** The new package rx.el provides an alternative sexp notation for
6873 regular expressions.
6875 - Function: rx-to-string SEXP
6877 Translate SEXP into a regular expression in string notation.
6881 Translate SEXP into a regular expression in string notation.
6883 The following are valid subforms of regular expressions in sexp
6887 matches string STRING literally.
6890 matches character CHAR literally.
6893 matches any character except a newline.
6896 matches any character
6899 matches any character in SET. SET may be a character or string.
6900 Ranges of characters can be specified as `A-Z' in strings.
6906 matches any character not in SET
6909 matches the empty string, but only at the beginning of a line
6910 in the text being matched
6913 is similar to `line-start' but matches only at the end of a line
6916 matches the empty string, but only at the beginning of the
6917 string being matched against.
6920 matches the empty string, but only at the end of the
6921 string being matched against.
6924 matches the empty string, but only at the beginning of the
6925 buffer being matched against.
6928 matches the empty string, but only at the end of the
6929 buffer being matched against.
6932 matches the empty string, but only at point.
6935 matches the empty string, but only at the beginning or end of a
6939 matches the empty string, but only at the end of a word.
6942 matches the empty string, but only at the beginning or end of a
6945 `(not word-boundary)'
6946 matches the empty string, but not at the beginning or end of a
6950 matches 0 through 9.
6953 matches ASCII control characters.
6956 matches 0 through 9, a through f and A through F.
6959 matches space and tab only.
6962 matches graphic characters--everything except ASCII control chars,
6966 matches printing characters--everything except ASCII control chars
6970 matches letters and digits. (But at present, for multibyte characters,
6971 it matches anything that has word syntax.)
6974 matches letters. (But at present, for multibyte characters,
6975 it matches anything that has word syntax.)
6978 matches ASCII (unibyte) characters.
6981 matches non-ASCII (multibyte) characters.
6984 matches anything lower-case.
6987 matches anything upper-case.
6990 matches punctuation. (But at present, for multibyte characters,
6991 it matches anything that has non-word syntax.)
6994 matches anything that has whitespace syntax.
6997 matches anything that has word syntax.
7000 matches a character with syntax SYNTAX. SYNTAX must be one
7001 of the following symbols.
7003 `whitespace' (\\s- in string notation)
7004 `punctuation' (\\s.)
7007 `open-parenthesis' (\\s()
7008 `close-parenthesis' (\\s))
7009 `expression-prefix' (\\s')
7010 `string-quote' (\\s\")
7011 `paired-delimiter' (\\s$)
7013 `character-quote' (\\s/)
7014 `comment-start' (\\s<)
7015 `comment-end' (\\s>)
7017 `(not (syntax SYNTAX))'
7018 matches a character that has not syntax SYNTAX.
7020 `(category CATEGORY)'
7021 matches a character with category CATEGORY. CATEGORY must be
7022 either a character to use for C, or one of the following symbols.
7024 `consonant' (\\c0 in string notation)
7026 `upper-diacritical-mark' (\\c2)
7027 `lower-diacritical-mark' (\\c3)
7031 `vowel-modifying-diacritical-mark' (\\c7)
7033 `semivowel-lower' (\\c9)
7034 `not-at-end-of-line' (\\c<)
7035 `not-at-beginning-of-line' (\\c>)
7036 `alpha-numeric-two-byte' (\\cA)
7037 `chinse-two-byte' (\\cC)
7038 `greek-two-byte' (\\cG)
7039 `japanese-hiragana-two-byte' (\\cH)
7040 `indian-two-byte' (\\cI)
7041 `japanese-katakana-two-byte' (\\cK)
7042 `korean-hangul-two-byte' (\\cN)
7043 `cyrillic-two-byte' (\\cY)
7052 `japanese-katakana' (\\ck)
7056 `japanese-roman' (\\cr)
7063 `(not (category CATEGORY))'
7064 matches a character that has not category CATEGORY.
7066 `(and SEXP1 SEXP2 ...)'
7067 matches what SEXP1 matches, followed by what SEXP2 matches, etc.
7069 `(submatch SEXP1 SEXP2 ...)'
7070 like `and', but makes the match accessible with `match-end',
7071 `match-beginning', and `match-string'.
7073 `(group SEXP1 SEXP2 ...)'
7074 another name for `submatch'.
7076 `(or SEXP1 SEXP2 ...)'
7077 matches anything that matches SEXP1 or SEXP2, etc. If all
7078 args are strings, use `regexp-opt' to optimize the resulting
7081 `(minimal-match SEXP)'
7082 produce a non-greedy regexp for SEXP. Normally, regexps matching
7083 zero or more occurrences of something are \"greedy\" in that they
7084 match as much as they can, as long as the overall regexp can
7085 still match. A non-greedy regexp matches as little as possible.
7087 `(maximal-match SEXP)'
7088 produce a greedy regexp for SEXP. This is the default.
7090 `(zero-or-more SEXP)'
7091 matches zero or more occurrences of what SEXP matches.
7094 like `zero-or-more'.
7097 like `zero-or-more', but always produces a greedy regexp.
7100 like `zero-or-more', but always produces a non-greedy regexp.
7102 `(one-or-more SEXP)'
7103 matches one or more occurrences of A.
7109 like `one-or-more', but always produces a greedy regexp.
7112 like `one-or-more', but always produces a non-greedy regexp.
7114 `(zero-or-one SEXP)'
7115 matches zero or one occurrences of A.
7121 like `zero-or-one', but always produces a greedy regexp.
7124 like `zero-or-one', but always produces a non-greedy regexp.
7127 matches N occurrences of what SEXP matches.
7130 matches N to M occurrences of what SEXP matches.
7133 evaluate FORM and insert result. If result is a string,
7137 include REGEXP in string notation in the result.
7139 *** The features `md5' and `overlay' are now provided by default.
7141 *** The special form `save-restriction' now works correctly even if the
7142 buffer is widened inside the save-restriction and changes made outside
7143 the original restriction. Previously, doing this would cause the saved
7144 restriction to be restored incorrectly.
7146 *** The functions `find-charset-region' and `find-charset-string' include
7147 `eight-bit-control' and/or `eight-bit-graphic' in the returned list
7148 when they find 8-bit characters. Previously, they included `ascii' in a
7149 multibyte buffer and `unknown' in a unibyte buffer.
7151 *** The functions `set-buffer-multibyte', `string-as-multibyte' and
7152 `string-as-unibyte' change the byte sequence of a buffer or a string
7153 if it contains a character from the `eight-bit-control' character set.
7155 *** The handling of multibyte sequences in a multibyte buffer is
7156 changed. Previously, a byte sequence matching the pattern
7157 [\200-\237][\240-\377]+ was interpreted as a single character
7158 regardless of the length of the trailing bytes [\240-\377]+. Thus, if
7159 the sequence was longer than what the leading byte indicated, the
7160 extra trailing bytes were ignored by Lisp functions. Now such extra
7161 bytes are independent 8-bit characters belonging to the charset
7164 ** Fontsets are now implemented using char-tables.
7166 A fontset can now be specified for each independent character, for
7167 a group of characters or for a character set rather than just for a
7168 character set as previously.
7170 *** The arguments of the function `set-fontset-font' are changed.
7171 They are NAME, CHARACTER, FONTNAME, and optional FRAME. The function
7172 modifies fontset NAME to use FONTNAME for CHARACTER.
7174 CHARACTER may be a cons (FROM . TO), where FROM and TO are non-generic
7175 characters. In that case FONTNAME is used for all characters in the
7176 range FROM and TO (inclusive). CHARACTER may be a charset. In that
7177 case FONTNAME is used for all character in the charset.
7179 FONTNAME may be a cons (FAMILY . REGISTRY), where FAMILY is the family
7180 name of a font and REGISTRY is a registry name of a font.
7182 *** Variable x-charset-registry has been deleted. The default charset
7183 registries of character sets are set in the default fontset
7186 *** The function `create-fontset-from-fontset-spec' ignores the second
7187 argument STYLE-VARIANT. It never creates style-variant fontsets.
7189 ** The method of composing characters is changed. Now character
7190 composition is done by a special text property `composition' in
7191 buffers and strings.
7193 *** Charset composition is deleted. Emacs never creates a `composite
7194 character' which is an independent character with a unique character
7195 code. Thus the following functions handling `composite characters'
7196 have been deleted: composite-char-component,
7197 composite-char-component-count, composite-char-composition-rule,
7198 composite-char-composition-rule and decompose-composite-char delete.
7199 The variables leading-code-composition and min-composite-char have
7202 *** Three more glyph reference points are added. They can be used to
7203 specify a composition rule. See the documentation of the variable
7204 `reference-point-alist' for more detail.
7206 *** The function `compose-region' takes new arguments COMPONENTS and
7207 MODIFICATION-FUNC. With COMPONENTS, you can specify not only a
7208 composition rule but also characters to be composed. Such characters
7209 may differ between buffer and string text.
7211 *** The function `compose-string' takes new arguments START, END,
7212 COMPONENTS, and MODIFICATION-FUNC.
7214 *** The function `compose-string' puts text property `composition'
7215 directly on the argument STRING instead of returning a new string.
7216 Likewise, the function `decompose-string' just removes text property
7217 `composition' from STRING.
7219 *** The new function `find-composition' returns information about
7220 a composition at a specified position in a buffer or a string.
7222 *** The function `decompose-composite-char' is now labeled as
7225 ** The new coding system `mac-roman' is primarily intended for use on
7226 the Macintosh but may be used generally for Macintosh-encoded text.
7228 ** The new character sets `mule-unicode-0100-24ff',
7229 `mule-unicode-2500-33ff', and `mule-unicode-e000-ffff' have been
7230 introduced for Unicode characters in the range U+0100..U+24FF,
7231 U+2500..U+33FF, U+E000..U+FFFF respectively.
7233 Note that the character sets are not yet unified in Emacs, so
7234 characters which belong to charsets such as Latin-2, Greek, Hebrew,
7235 etc. and the same characters in the `mule-unicode-*' charsets are
7236 different characters, as far as Emacs is concerned. For example, text
7237 which includes Unicode characters from the Latin-2 locale cannot be
7238 encoded by Emacs with ISO 8859-2 coding system.
7240 ** The new coding system `mule-utf-8' has been added.
7241 It provides limited support for decoding/encoding UTF-8 text. For
7242 details, please see the documentation string of this coding system.
7244 ** The new character sets `japanese-jisx0213-1' and
7245 `japanese-jisx0213-2' have been introduced for the new Japanese
7246 standard JIS X 0213 Plane 1 and Plane 2.
7248 ** The new character sets `latin-iso8859-14' and `latin-iso8859-15'
7249 have been introduced.
7251 ** The new character sets `eight-bit-control' and `eight-bit-graphic'
7252 have been introduced for 8-bit characters in the ranges 0x80..0x9F and
7253 0xA0..0xFF respectively. Note that the multibyte representation of
7254 eight-bit-control is never exposed; this leads to an exception in the
7255 emacs-mule coding system, which encodes everything else to the
7256 buffer/string internal representation. Note that to search for
7257 eight-bit-graphic characters in a multibyte buffer, the search string
7258 must be multibyte, otherwise such characters will be converted to
7259 their multibyte equivalent.
7261 ** If the APPEND argument of `write-region' is an integer, it seeks to
7262 that offset in the file before writing.
7264 ** The function `add-minor-mode' has been added for convenience and
7265 compatibility with XEmacs (and is used internally by define-minor-mode).
7267 ** The function `shell-command' now sets the default directory of the
7268 `*Shell Command Output*' buffer to the default directory of the buffer
7269 from which the command was issued.
7271 ** The functions `query-replace', `query-replace-regexp',
7272 `query-replace-regexp-eval' `map-query-replace-regexp',
7273 `replace-string', `replace-regexp', and `perform-replace' take two
7274 additional optional arguments START and END that specify the region to
7277 ** The new function `count-screen-lines' is a more flexible alternative
7278 to `window-buffer-height'.
7280 - Function: count-screen-lines &optional BEG END COUNT-FINAL-NEWLINE WINDOW
7282 Return the number of screen lines in the region between BEG and END.
7283 The number of screen lines may be different from the number of actual
7284 lines, due to line breaking, display table, etc.
7286 Optional arguments BEG and END default to `point-min' and `point-max'
7289 If region ends with a newline, ignore it unless optional third argument
7290 COUNT-FINAL-NEWLINE is non-nil.
7292 The optional fourth argument WINDOW specifies the window used for
7293 obtaining parameters such as width, horizontal scrolling, and so
7294 on. The default is to use the selected window's parameters.
7296 Like `vertical-motion', `count-screen-lines' always uses the current
7297 buffer, regardless of which buffer is displayed in WINDOW. This makes
7298 possible to use `count-screen-lines' in any buffer, whether or not it
7299 is currently displayed in some window.
7301 ** The new function `mapc' is like `mapcar' but doesn't collect the
7302 argument function's results.
7304 ** The functions base64-decode-region and base64-decode-string now
7305 signal an error instead of returning nil if decoding fails. Also,
7306 `base64-decode-string' now always returns a unibyte string (in Emacs
7307 20, it returned a multibyte string when the result was a valid multibyte
7310 ** The function sendmail-user-agent-compose now recognizes a `body'
7311 header in the list of headers passed to it.
7313 ** The new function member-ignore-case works like `member', but
7314 ignores differences in case and text representation.
7316 ** The buffer-local variable cursor-type can be used to specify the
7317 cursor to use in windows displaying a buffer. Values are interpreted
7320 t use the cursor specified for the frame (default)
7321 nil don't display a cursor
7322 `bar' display a bar cursor with default width
7323 (bar . WIDTH) display a bar cursor with width WIDTH
7324 others display a box cursor.
7326 ** The variable open-paren-in-column-0-is-defun-start controls whether
7327 an open parenthesis in column 0 is considered to be the start of a
7328 defun. If set, the default, it is considered a defun start. If not
7329 set, an open parenthesis in column 0 has no special meaning.
7331 ** The new function `string-to-syntax' can be used to translate syntax
7332 specifications in string form as accepted by `modify-syntax-entry' to
7333 the cons-cell form that is used for the values of the `syntax-table'
7334 text property, and in `font-lock-syntactic-keywords'.
7338 (string-to-syntax "()")
7341 ** Emacs' reader supports CL read syntax for integers in bases
7344 *** `#BINTEGER' or `#bINTEGER' reads INTEGER in binary (radix 2).
7345 INTEGER optionally contains a sign.
7352 *** `#OINTEGER' or `#oINTEGER' reads INTEGER in octal (radix 8).
7357 *** `#XINTEGER' or `#xINTEGER' reads INTEGER in hexadecimal (radix 16).
7362 *** `#RADIXrINTEGER' reads INTEGER in radix RADIX, 2 <= RADIX <= 36.
7369 ** The function `documentation-property' now evaluates the value of
7370 the given property to obtain a string if it doesn't refer to etc/DOC
7373 ** If called for a symbol, the function `documentation' now looks for
7374 a `function-documentation' property of that symbol. If it has a non-nil
7375 value, the documentation is taken from that value. If the value is
7376 not a string, it is evaluated to obtain a string.
7378 ** The last argument of `define-key-after' defaults to t for convenience.
7380 ** The new function `replace-regexp-in-string' replaces all matches
7381 for a regexp in a string.
7383 ** `mouse-position' now runs the abnormal hook
7384 `mouse-position-function'.
7386 ** The function string-to-number now returns a float for numbers
7387 that don't fit into a Lisp integer.
7389 ** The variable keyword-symbols-constants-flag has been removed.
7390 Keywords are now always considered constants.
7392 ** The new function `delete-and-extract-region' deletes text and
7395 ** The function `clear-this-command-keys' now also clears the vector
7396 returned by function `recent-keys'.
7398 ** Variables `beginning-of-defun-function' and `end-of-defun-function'
7399 can be used to define handlers for the functions that find defuns.
7400 Major modes can define these locally instead of rebinding C-M-a
7401 etc. if the normal conventions for defuns are not appropriate for the
7404 ** easy-mmode-define-minor-mode now takes an additional BODY argument
7405 and is renamed `define-minor-mode'.
7407 ** If an abbrev has a hook function which is a symbol, and that symbol
7408 has a non-nil `no-self-insert' property, the return value of the hook
7409 function specifies whether an expansion has been done or not. If it
7410 returns nil, abbrev-expand also returns nil, meaning "no expansion has
7413 When abbrev expansion is done by typing a self-inserting character,
7414 and the abbrev has a hook with the `no-self-insert' property, and the
7415 hook function returns non-nil meaning expansion has been done,
7416 then the self-inserting character is not inserted.
7418 ** The function `intern-soft' now accepts a symbol as first argument.
7419 In this case, that exact symbol is looked up in the specified obarray,
7420 and the function's value is nil if it is not found.
7422 ** The new macro `with-syntax-table' can be used to evaluate forms
7423 with the syntax table of the current buffer temporarily set to a
7426 (with-syntax-table TABLE &rest BODY)
7428 Evaluate BODY with syntax table of current buffer set to a copy of
7429 TABLE. The current syntax table is saved, BODY is evaluated, and the
7430 saved table is restored, even in case of an abnormal exit. Value is
7433 ** Regular expressions now support intervals \{n,m\} as well as
7434 Perl's shy-groups \(?:...\) and non-greedy *? +? and ?? operators.
7435 Also back-references like \2 are now considered as an error if the
7436 corresponding subgroup does not exist (or is not closed yet).
7437 Previously it would have been silently turned into `2' (ignoring the `\').
7439 ** The optional argument BUFFER of function file-local-copy has been
7440 removed since it wasn't used by anything.
7442 ** The file name argument of function `file-locked-p' is now required
7443 instead of being optional.
7445 ** The new built-in error `text-read-only' is signaled when trying to
7446 modify read-only text.
7448 ** New functions and variables for locales.
7450 The new variable `locale-coding-system' specifies how to encode and
7451 decode strings passed to low-level message functions like strerror and
7452 time functions like strftime. The new variables
7453 `system-messages-locale' and `system-time-locale' give the system
7454 locales to be used when invoking these two types of functions.
7456 The new function `set-locale-environment' sets the language
7457 environment, preferred coding system, and locale coding system from
7458 the system locale as specified by the LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, and LANG
7459 environment variables. Normally, it is invoked during startup and need
7460 not be invoked thereafter. It uses the new variables
7461 `locale-language-names', `locale-charset-language-names', and
7462 `locale-preferred-coding-systems' to make its decisions.
7464 ** syntax tables now understand nested comments.
7465 To declare a comment syntax as allowing nesting, just add an `n'
7466 modifier to either of the characters of the comment end and the comment
7469 ** The function `pixmap-spec-p' has been renamed `bitmap-spec-p'
7470 because `bitmap' is more in line with the usual X terminology.
7472 ** New function `propertize'
7474 The new function `propertize' can be used to conveniently construct
7475 strings with text properties.
7477 - Function: propertize STRING &rest PROPERTIES
7479 Value is a copy of STRING with text properties assigned as specified
7480 by PROPERTIES. PROPERTIES is a sequence of pairs PROPERTY VALUE, with
7481 PROPERTY being the name of a text property and VALUE being the
7482 specified value of that property. Example:
7484 (propertize "foo" 'face 'bold 'read-only t)
7486 ** push and pop macros.
7488 Simple versions of the push and pop macros of Common Lisp
7489 are now defined in Emacs Lisp. These macros allow only symbols
7490 as the place that holds the list to be changed.
7492 (push NEWELT LISTNAME) add NEWELT to the front of LISTNAME's value.
7493 (pop LISTNAME) return first elt of LISTNAME, and remove it
7494 (thus altering the value of LISTNAME).
7496 ** New dolist and dotimes macros.
7498 Simple versions of the dolist and dotimes macros of Common Lisp
7499 are now defined in Emacs Lisp.
7501 (dolist (VAR LIST [RESULT]) BODY...)
7502 Execute body once for each element of LIST,
7503 using the variable VAR to hold the current element.
7504 Then return the value of RESULT, or nil if RESULT is omitted.
7506 (dotimes (VAR COUNT [RESULT]) BODY...)
7507 Execute BODY with VAR bound to successive integers running from 0,
7508 inclusive, to COUNT, exclusive.
7509 Then return the value of RESULT, or nil if RESULT is omitted.
7511 ** Regular expressions now support Posix character classes such as
7512 [:alpha:], [:space:] and so on. These must be used within a character
7513 class--for instance, [-[:digit:].+] matches digits or a period
7516 [:digit:] matches 0 through 9
7517 [:cntrl:] matches ASCII control characters
7518 [:xdigit:] matches 0 through 9, a through f and A through F.
7519 [:blank:] matches space and tab only
7520 [:graph:] matches graphic characters--everything except ASCII control chars,
7522 [:print:] matches printing characters--everything except ASCII control chars
7524 [:alnum:] matches letters and digits.
7525 (But at present, for multibyte characters,
7526 it matches anything that has word syntax.)
7527 [:alpha:] matches letters.
7528 (But at present, for multibyte characters,
7529 it matches anything that has word syntax.)
7530 [:ascii:] matches ASCII (unibyte) characters.
7531 [:nonascii:] matches non-ASCII (multibyte) characters.
7532 [:lower:] matches anything lower-case.
7533 [:punct:] matches punctuation.
7534 (But at present, for multibyte characters,
7535 it matches anything that has non-word syntax.)
7536 [:space:] matches anything that has whitespace syntax.
7537 [:upper:] matches anything upper-case.
7538 [:word:] matches anything that has word syntax.
7540 ** Emacs now has built-in hash tables.
7542 The following functions are defined for hash tables:
7544 - Function: make-hash-table ARGS
7546 The argument list ARGS consists of keyword/argument pairs. All arguments
7547 are optional. The following arguments are defined:
7551 TEST must be a symbol specifying how to compare keys. Default is `eql'.
7552 Predefined are `eq', `eql' and `equal'. If TEST is not predefined,
7553 it must have been defined with `define-hash-table-test'.
7557 SIZE must be an integer > 0 giving a hint to the implementation how
7558 many elements will be put in the hash table. Default size is 65.
7560 :rehash-size REHASH-SIZE
7562 REHASH-SIZE specifies by how much to grow a hash table once it becomes
7563 full. If REHASH-SIZE is an integer, add that to the hash table's old
7564 size to get the new size. Otherwise, REHASH-SIZE must be a float >
7565 1.0, and the new size is computed by multiplying REHASH-SIZE with the
7566 old size. Default rehash size is 1.5.
7568 :rehash-threshold THRESHOLD
7570 THRESHOLD must be a float > 0 and <= 1.0 specifying when to resize the
7571 hash table. It is resized when the ratio of (number of entries) /
7572 (size of hash table) is >= THRESHOLD. Default threshold is 0.8.
7576 WEAK must be either nil, one of the symbols `key, `value',
7577 `key-or-value', `key-and-value', or t, meaning the same as
7578 `key-and-value'. Entries are removed from weak tables during garbage
7579 collection if their key and/or value are not referenced elsewhere
7580 outside of the hash table. Default are non-weak hash tables.
7582 - Function: makehash &optional TEST
7584 Similar to make-hash-table, but only TEST can be specified.
7586 - Function: hash-table-p TABLE
7588 Returns non-nil if TABLE is a hash table object.
7590 - Function: copy-hash-table TABLE
7592 Returns a copy of TABLE. Only the table itself is copied, keys and
7595 - Function: hash-table-count TABLE
7597 Returns the number of entries in TABLE.
7599 - Function: hash-table-rehash-size TABLE
7601 Returns the rehash size of TABLE.
7603 - Function: hash-table-rehash-threshold TABLE
7605 Returns the rehash threshold of TABLE.
7607 - Function: hash-table-rehash-size TABLE
7609 Returns the size of TABLE.
7611 - Function: hash-table-test TABLE
7613 Returns the test TABLE uses to compare keys.
7615 - Function: hash-table-weakness TABLE
7617 Returns the weakness specified for TABLE.
7619 - Function: clrhash TABLE
7623 - Function: gethash KEY TABLE &optional DEFAULT
7625 Look up KEY in TABLE and return its associated VALUE or DEFAULT if
7628 - Function: puthash KEY VALUE TABLE
7630 Associate KEY with VALUE in TABLE. If KEY is already associated with
7631 another value, replace the old value with VALUE.
7633 - Function: remhash KEY TABLE
7635 Remove KEY from TABLE if it is there.
7637 - Function: maphash FUNCTION TABLE
7639 Call FUNCTION for all elements in TABLE. FUNCTION must take two
7640 arguments KEY and VALUE.
7642 - Function: sxhash OBJ
7644 Return a hash code for Lisp object OBJ.
7646 - Function: define-hash-table-test NAME TEST-FN HASH-FN
7648 Define a new hash table test named NAME. If NAME is specified as
7649 a test in `make-hash-table', the table created will use TEST-FN for
7650 comparing keys, and HASH-FN to compute hash codes for keys. Test
7651 and hash function are stored as symbol property `hash-table-test'
7652 of NAME with a value of (TEST-FN HASH-FN).
7654 TEST-FN must take two arguments and return non-nil if they are the same.
7656 HASH-FN must take one argument and return an integer that is the hash
7657 code of the argument. The function should use the whole range of
7658 integer values for hash code computation, including negative integers.
7660 Example: The following creates a hash table whose keys are supposed to
7661 be strings that are compared case-insensitively.
7663 (defun case-fold-string= (a b)
7664 (compare-strings a nil nil b nil nil t))
7666 (defun case-fold-string-hash (a)
7667 (sxhash (upcase a)))
7669 (define-hash-table-test 'case-fold 'case-fold-string=
7670 'case-fold-string-hash))
7672 (make-hash-table :test 'case-fold)
7674 ** The Lisp reader handles circular structure.
7676 It now works to use the #N= and #N# constructs to represent
7677 circular structures. For example, #1=(a . #1#) represents
7678 a cons cell which is its own cdr.
7680 ** The Lisp printer handles circular structure.
7682 If you bind print-circle to a non-nil value, the Lisp printer outputs
7683 #N= and #N# constructs to represent circular and shared structure.
7685 ** If the second argument to `move-to-column' is anything but nil or
7686 t, that means replace a tab with spaces if necessary to reach the
7687 specified column, but do not add spaces at the end of the line if it
7688 is too short to reach that column.
7690 ** perform-replace has a new feature: the REPLACEMENTS argument may
7691 now be a cons cell (FUNCTION . DATA). This means to call FUNCTION
7692 after each match to get the replacement text. FUNCTION is called with
7693 two arguments: DATA, and the number of replacements already made.
7695 If the FROM-STRING contains any upper-case letters,
7696 perform-replace also turns off `case-fold-search' temporarily
7697 and inserts the replacement text without altering case in it.
7699 ** The function buffer-size now accepts an optional argument
7700 to specify which buffer to return the size of.
7702 ** The calendar motion commands now run the normal hook
7703 calendar-move-hook after moving point.
7705 ** The new variable small-temporary-file-directory specifies a
7706 directory to use for creating temporary files that are likely to be
7707 small. (Certain Emacs features use this directory.) If
7708 small-temporary-file-directory is nil, they use
7709 temporary-file-directory instead.
7711 ** The variable `inhibit-modification-hooks', if non-nil, inhibits all
7712 the hooks that track changes in the buffer. This affects
7713 `before-change-functions' and `after-change-functions', as well as
7714 hooks attached to text properties and overlay properties.
7716 ** assq-delete-all is a new function that deletes all the
7717 elements of an alist which have a car `eq' to a particular value.
7719 ** make-temp-file provides a more reliable way to create a temporary file.
7721 make-temp-file is used like make-temp-name, except that it actually
7722 creates the file before it returns. This prevents a timing error,
7723 ensuring that no other job can use the same name for a temporary file.
7725 ** New exclusive-open feature in `write-region'
7727 The optional seventh arg is now called MUSTBENEW. If non-nil, it insists
7728 on a check for an existing file with the same name. If MUSTBENEW
7729 is `excl', that means to get an error if the file already exists;
7730 never overwrite. If MUSTBENEW is neither nil nor `excl', that means
7731 ask for confirmation before overwriting, but do go ahead and
7732 overwrite the file if the user gives confirmation.
7734 If the MUSTBENEW argument in `write-region' is `excl',
7735 that means to use a special feature in the `open' system call
7736 to get an error if the file exists at that time.
7737 The error reported is `file-already-exists'.
7739 ** Function `format' now handles text properties.
7741 Text properties of the format string are applied to the result string.
7742 If the result string is longer than the format string, text properties
7743 ending at the end of the format string are extended to the end of the
7746 Text properties from string arguments are applied to the result
7747 string where arguments appear in the result string.
7751 (let ((s1 "hello, %s")
7753 (put-text-property 0 (length s1) 'face 'bold s1)
7754 (put-text-property 0 (length s2) 'face 'italic s2)
7757 results in a bold-face string with an italic `world' at the end.
7759 ** Messages can now be displayed with text properties.
7761 Text properties are handled as described above for function `format'.
7762 The following example displays a bold-face message with an italic
7765 (let ((msg "hello, %s!")
7767 (put-text-property 0 (length msg) 'face 'bold msg)
7768 (put-text-property 0 (length arg) 'face 'italic arg)
7773 Emacs supports playing sound files on GNU/Linux and the free BSDs
7774 (Voxware driver and native BSD driver, aka as Luigi's driver).
7776 Currently supported file formats are RIFF-WAVE (*.wav) and Sun Audio
7777 (*.au). You must configure Emacs with the option `--with-sound=yes'
7778 to enable sound support.
7780 Sound files can be played by calling (play-sound SOUND). SOUND is a
7781 list of the form `(sound PROPERTY...)'. The function is only defined
7782 when sound support is present for the system on which Emacs runs. The
7783 functions runs `play-sound-functions' with one argument which is the
7784 sound to play, before playing the sound.
7786 The following sound properties are supported:
7790 FILE is a file name. If FILE isn't an absolute name, it will be
7791 searched relative to `data-directory'.
7795 DATA is a string containing sound data. Either :file or :data
7796 may be present, but not both.
7800 VOLUME must be an integer in the range 0..100 or a float in the range
7801 0..1. This property is optional.
7805 DEVICE is a string specifying the system device on which to play the
7806 sound. The default device is system-dependent.
7808 Other properties are ignored.
7810 An alternative interface is called as
7811 (play-sound-file FILE &optional VOLUME DEVICE).
7813 ** `multimedia' is a new Finder keyword and Custom group.
7815 ** keywordp is a new predicate to test efficiently for an object being
7818 ** Changes to garbage collection
7820 *** The function garbage-collect now additionally returns the number
7821 of live and free strings.
7823 *** There is a new variable `strings-consed' holding the number of
7824 strings that have been consed so far.
7827 * Lisp-level Display features added after release 2.6 of the Emacs
7830 ** The user-option `resize-mini-windows' controls how Emacs resizes
7833 ** The function `pos-visible-in-window-p' now has a third optional
7834 argument, PARTIALLY. If a character is only partially visible, nil is
7835 returned, unless PARTIALLY is non-nil.
7837 ** On window systems, `glyph-table' is no longer used.
7839 ** Help strings in menu items are now used to provide `help-echo' text.
7841 ** The function `image-size' can be used to determine the size of an
7844 - Function: image-size SPEC &optional PIXELS FRAME
7846 Return the size of an image as a pair (WIDTH . HEIGHT).
7848 SPEC is an image specification. PIXELS non-nil means return sizes
7849 measured in pixels, otherwise return sizes measured in canonical
7850 character units (fractions of the width/height of the frame's default
7851 font). FRAME is the frame on which the image will be displayed.
7852 FRAME nil or omitted means use the selected frame.
7854 ** The function `image-mask-p' can be used to determine if an image
7857 - Function: image-mask-p SPEC &optional FRAME
7859 Return t if image SPEC has a mask bitmap.
7860 FRAME is the frame on which the image will be displayed. FRAME nil
7861 or omitted means use the selected frame.
7863 ** The function `find-image' can be used to find a usable image
7864 satisfying one of a list of specifications.
7866 ** The STRING argument of `put-image' and `insert-image' is now
7869 ** Image specifications may contain the property `:ascent center' (see
7873 * New Lisp-level Display features in Emacs 21.1
7875 ** The function tty-suppress-bold-inverse-default-colors can be used
7876 to make Emacs avoid displaying text with bold black foreground on TTYs.
7878 Some terminals, notably PC consoles, emulate bold text by displaying
7879 text in brighter colors. On such a console, a bold black foreground
7880 is displayed in a gray color. If this turns out to be hard to read on
7881 your monitor---the problem occurred with the mode line on
7882 laptops---you can instruct Emacs to ignore the text's boldness, and to
7883 just display it black instead.
7885 This situation can't be detected automatically. You will have to put
7888 (tty-suppress-bold-inverse-default-colors t)
7892 ** New face implementation.
7894 Emacs faces have been reimplemented from scratch. They don't use XLFD
7895 font names anymore and face merging now works as expected.
7899 Each face can specify the following display attributes:
7901 1. Font family or fontset alias name.
7903 2. Relative proportionate width, aka character set width or set
7904 width (swidth), e.g. `semi-compressed'.
7906 3. Font height in 1/10pt
7908 4. Font weight, e.g. `bold'.
7910 5. Font slant, e.g. `italic'.
7912 6. Foreground color.
7914 7. Background color.
7916 8. Whether or not characters should be underlined, and in what color.
7918 9. Whether or not characters should be displayed in inverse video.
7920 10. A background stipple, a bitmap.
7922 11. Whether or not characters should be overlined, and in what color.
7924 12. Whether or not characters should be strike-through, and in what
7927 13. Whether or not a box should be drawn around characters, its
7928 color, the width of the box lines, and 3D appearance.
7930 Faces are frame-local by nature because Emacs allows to define the
7931 same named face (face names are symbols) differently for different
7932 frames. Each frame has an alist of face definitions for all named
7933 faces. The value of a named face in such an alist is a Lisp vector
7934 with the symbol `face' in slot 0, and a slot for each of the face
7935 attributes mentioned above.
7937 There is also a global face alist `face-new-frame-defaults'. Face
7938 definitions from this list are used to initialize faces of newly
7941 A face doesn't have to specify all attributes. Those not specified
7942 have a nil value. Faces specifying all attributes are called
7947 The display style of a given character in the text is determined by
7948 combining several faces. This process is called `face merging'. Any
7949 aspect of the display style that isn't specified by overlays or text
7950 properties is taken from the `default' face. Since it is made sure
7951 that the default face is always fully-specified, face merging always
7952 results in a fully-specified face.
7954 *** Face realization.
7956 After all face attributes for a character have been determined by
7957 merging faces of that character, that face is `realized'. The
7958 realization process maps face attributes to what is physically
7959 available on the system where Emacs runs. The result is a `realized
7960 face' in form of an internal structure which is stored in the face
7961 cache of the frame on which it was realized.
7963 Face realization is done in the context of the charset of the
7964 character to display because different fonts and encodings are used
7965 for different charsets. In other words, for characters of different
7966 charsets, different realized faces are needed to display them.
7968 Except for composite characters, faces are always realized for a
7969 specific character set and contain a specific font, even if the face
7970 being realized specifies a fontset. The reason is that the result of
7971 the new font selection stage is better than what can be done with
7972 statically defined font name patterns in fontsets.
7974 In unibyte text, Emacs' charsets aren't applicable; function
7975 `char-charset' reports ASCII for all characters, including those >
7976 0x7f. The X registry and encoding of fonts to use is determined from
7977 the variable `face-default-registry' in this case. The variable is
7978 initialized at Emacs startup time from the font the user specified for
7981 Currently all unibyte text, i.e. all buffers with
7982 `enable-multibyte-characters' nil are displayed with fonts of the same
7983 registry and encoding `face-default-registry'. This is consistent
7984 with the fact that languages can also be set globally, only.
7986 **** Clearing face caches.
7988 The Lisp function `clear-face-cache' can be called to clear face caches
7989 on all frames. If called with a non-nil argument, it will also unload
7994 Font selection tries to find the best available matching font for a
7995 given (charset, face) combination. This is done slightly differently
7996 for faces specifying a fontset, or a font family name.
7998 If the face specifies a fontset name, that fontset determines a
7999 pattern for fonts of the given charset. If the face specifies a font
8000 family, a font pattern is constructed. Charset symbols have a
8001 property `x-charset-registry' for that purpose that maps a charset to
8002 an XLFD registry and encoding in the font pattern constructed.
8004 Available fonts on the system on which Emacs runs are then matched
8005 against the font pattern. The result of font selection is the best
8006 match for the given face attributes in this font list.
8008 Font selection can be influenced by the user.
8010 The user can specify the relative importance he gives the face
8011 attributes width, height, weight, and slant by setting
8012 face-font-selection-order (faces.el) to a list of face attribute
8013 names. The default is (:width :height :weight :slant), and means
8014 that font selection first tries to find a good match for the font
8015 width specified by a face, then---within fonts with that width---tries
8016 to find a best match for the specified font height, etc.
8018 Setting `face-font-family-alternatives' allows the user to specify
8019 alternative font families to try if a family specified by a face
8022 Setting `face-font-registry-alternatives' allows the user to specify
8023 all alternative font registry names to try for a face specifying a
8026 Please note that the interpretations of the above two variables are
8029 Setting face-ignored-fonts allows the user to ignore specific fonts.
8034 Emacs can make use of scalable fonts but doesn't do so by default,
8035 since the use of too many or too big scalable fonts may crash XFree86
8038 To enable scalable font use, set the variable
8039 `scalable-fonts-allowed'. A value of nil, the default, means never use
8040 scalable fonts. A value of t means any scalable font may be used.
8041 Otherwise, the value must be a list of regular expressions. A
8042 scalable font may then be used if it matches a regular expression from
8045 (setq scalable-fonts-allowed '("muleindian-2$"))
8047 allows the use of scalable fonts with registry `muleindian-2'.
8049 *** Functions and variables related to font selection.
8051 - Function: x-family-fonts &optional FAMILY FRAME
8053 Return a list of available fonts of family FAMILY on FRAME. If FAMILY
8054 is omitted or nil, list all families. Otherwise, FAMILY must be a
8055 string, possibly containing wildcards `?' and `*'.
8057 If FRAME is omitted or nil, use the selected frame. Each element of
8058 the result is a vector [FAMILY WIDTH POINT-SIZE WEIGHT SLANT FIXED-P
8059 FULL REGISTRY-AND-ENCODING]. FAMILY is the font family name.
8060 POINT-SIZE is the size of the font in 1/10 pt. WIDTH, WEIGHT, and
8061 SLANT are symbols describing the width, weight and slant of the font.
8062 These symbols are the same as for face attributes. FIXED-P is non-nil
8063 if the font is fixed-pitch. FULL is the full name of the font, and
8064 REGISTRY-AND-ENCODING is a string giving the registry and encoding of
8065 the font. The result list is sorted according to the current setting
8066 of the face font sort order.
8068 - Function: x-font-family-list
8070 Return a list of available font families on FRAME. If FRAME is
8071 omitted or nil, use the selected frame. Value is a list of conses
8072 (FAMILY . FIXED-P) where FAMILY is a font family, and FIXED-P is
8073 non-nil if fonts of that family are fixed-pitch.
8075 - Variable: font-list-limit
8077 Limit for font matching. If an integer > 0, font matching functions
8078 won't load more than that number of fonts when searching for a
8079 matching font. The default is currently 100.
8081 *** Setting face attributes.
8083 For the most part, the new face implementation is interface-compatible
8084 with the old one. Old face attribute related functions are now
8085 implemented in terms of the new functions `set-face-attribute' and
8088 Face attributes are identified by their names which are keyword
8089 symbols. All attributes can be set to `unspecified'.
8091 The following attributes are recognized:
8095 VALUE must be a string specifying the font family, e.g. ``courier'',
8096 or a fontset alias name. If a font family is specified, wild-cards `*'
8097 and `?' are allowed.
8101 VALUE specifies the relative proportionate width of the font to use.
8102 It must be one of the symbols `ultra-condensed', `extra-condensed',
8103 `condensed', `semi-condensed', `normal', `semi-expanded', `expanded',
8104 `extra-expanded', or `ultra-expanded'.
8108 VALUE must be either an integer specifying the height of the font to use
8109 in 1/10 pt, a floating point number specifying the amount by which to
8110 scale any underlying face, or a function, which is called with the old
8111 height (from the underlying face), and should return the new height.
8115 VALUE specifies the weight of the font to use. It must be one of the
8116 symbols `ultra-bold', `extra-bold', `bold', `semi-bold', `normal',
8117 `semi-light', `light', `extra-light', `ultra-light'.
8121 VALUE specifies the slant of the font to use. It must be one of the
8122 symbols `italic', `oblique', `normal', `reverse-italic', or
8125 `:foreground', `:background'
8127 VALUE must be a color name, a string.
8131 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be underlined. If
8132 VALUE is t, underline with foreground color of the face. If VALUE is
8133 a string, underline with that color. If VALUE is nil, explicitly
8138 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be overlined. If
8139 VALUE is t, overline with foreground color of the face. If VALUE is a
8140 string, overline with that color. If VALUE is nil, explicitly don't
8145 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be drawn with a line
8146 striking through them. If VALUE is t, use the foreground color of the
8147 face. If VALUE is a string, strike-through with that color. If VALUE
8148 is nil, explicitly don't strike through.
8152 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should have a box drawn
8153 around them. If VALUE is nil, explicitly don't draw boxes. If
8154 VALUE is t, draw a box with lines of width 1 in the foreground color
8155 of the face. If VALUE is a string, the string must be a color name,
8156 and the box is drawn in that color with a line width of 1. Otherwise,
8157 VALUE must be a property list of the form `(:line-width WIDTH
8158 :color COLOR :style STYLE)'. If a keyword/value pair is missing from
8159 the property list, a default value will be used for the value, as
8160 specified below. WIDTH specifies the width of the lines to draw; it
8161 defaults to 1. COLOR is the name of the color to draw in, default is
8162 the foreground color of the face for simple boxes, and the background
8163 color of the face for 3D boxes. STYLE specifies whether a 3D box
8164 should be draw. If STYLE is `released-button', draw a box looking
8165 like a released 3D button. If STYLE is `pressed-button' draw a box
8166 that appears like a pressed button. If STYLE is nil, the default if
8167 the property list doesn't contain a style specification, draw a 2D
8172 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be displayed in
8173 inverse video. VALUE must be one of t or nil.
8177 If VALUE is a string, it must be the name of a file of pixmap data.
8178 The directories listed in the `x-bitmap-file-path' variable are
8179 searched. Alternatively, VALUE may be a list of the form (WIDTH
8180 HEIGHT DATA) where WIDTH and HEIGHT are the size in pixels, and DATA
8181 is a string containing the raw bits of the bitmap. VALUE nil means
8182 explicitly don't use a stipple pattern.
8184 For convenience, attributes `:family', `:width', `:height', `:weight',
8185 and `:slant' may also be set in one step from an X font name:
8189 Set font-related face attributes from VALUE. VALUE must be a valid
8190 XLFD font name. If it is a font name pattern, the first matching font
8191 is used--this is for compatibility with the behavior of previous
8194 For compatibility with Emacs 20, keywords `:bold' and `:italic' can
8195 be used to specify that a bold or italic font should be used. VALUE
8196 must be t or nil in that case. A value of `unspecified' is not allowed."
8198 Please see also the documentation of `set-face-attribute' and
8203 VALUE is the name of a face from which to inherit attributes, or a list
8204 of face names. Attributes from inherited faces are merged into the face
8205 like an underlying face would be, with higher priority than underlying faces.
8207 *** Face attributes and X resources
8209 The following X resource names can be used to set face attributes
8212 Face attribute X resource class
8213 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
8214 :family attributeFamily . Face.AttributeFamily
8215 :width attributeWidth Face.AttributeWidth
8216 :height attributeHeight Face.AttributeHeight
8217 :weight attributeWeight Face.AttributeWeight
8218 :slant attributeSlant Face.AttributeSlant
8219 foreground attributeForeground Face.AttributeForeground
8220 :background attributeBackground . Face.AttributeBackground
8221 :overline attributeOverline Face.AttributeOverline
8222 :strike-through attributeStrikeThrough Face.AttributeStrikeThrough
8223 :box attributeBox Face.AttributeBox
8224 :underline attributeUnderline Face.AttributeUnderline
8225 :inverse-video attributeInverse Face.AttributeInverse
8226 :stipple attributeStipple Face.AttributeStipple
8227 or attributeBackgroundPixmap
8228 Face.AttributeBackgroundPixmap
8229 :font attributeFont Face.AttributeFont
8230 :bold attributeBold Face.AttributeBold
8231 :italic attributeItalic . Face.AttributeItalic
8232 :font attributeFont Face.AttributeFont
8234 *** Text property `face'.
8236 The value of the `face' text property can now be a single face
8237 specification or a list of such specifications. Each face
8238 specification can be
8240 1. A symbol or string naming a Lisp face.
8242 2. A property list of the form (KEYWORD VALUE ...) where each
8243 KEYWORD is a face attribute name, and VALUE is an appropriate value
8244 for that attribute. Please see the doc string of `set-face-attribute'
8245 for face attribute names.
8247 3. Conses of the form (FOREGROUND-COLOR . COLOR) or
8248 (BACKGROUND-COLOR . COLOR) where COLOR is a color name. This is
8249 for compatibility with previous Emacs versions.
8251 ** Support functions for colors on text-only terminals.
8253 The function `tty-color-define' can be used to define colors for use
8254 on TTY and MSDOS frames. It maps a color name to a color number on
8255 the terminal. Emacs defines a couple of common color mappings by
8256 default. You can get defined colors with a call to
8257 `defined-colors'. The function `tty-color-clear' can be
8258 used to clear the mapping table.
8260 ** Unified support for colors independent of frame type.
8262 The new functions `defined-colors', `color-defined-p', `color-values',
8263 and `display-color-p' work for any type of frame. On frames whose
8264 type is neither x nor w32, these functions transparently map X-style
8265 color specifications to the closest colors supported by the frame
8266 display. Lisp programs should use these new functions instead of the
8267 old `x-defined-colors', `x-color-defined-p', `x-color-values', and
8268 `x-display-color-p'. (The old function names are still available for
8269 compatibility; they are now aliases of the new names.) Lisp programs
8270 should no more look at the value of the variable window-system to
8271 modify their color-related behavior.
8273 The primitives `color-gray-p' and `color-supported-p' also work for
8276 ** Platform-independent functions to describe display capabilities.
8278 The new functions `display-mouse-p', `display-popup-menus-p',
8279 `display-graphic-p', `display-selections-p', `display-screens',
8280 `display-pixel-width', `display-pixel-height', `display-mm-width',
8281 `display-mm-height', `display-backing-store', `display-save-under',
8282 `display-planes', `display-color-cells', `display-visual-class', and
8283 `display-grayscale-p' describe the basic capabilities of a particular
8284 display. Lisp programs should call these functions instead of testing
8285 the value of the variables `window-system' or `system-type', or calling
8286 platform-specific functions such as `x-display-pixel-width'.
8288 The new function `display-images-p' returns non-nil if a particular
8289 display can display image files.
8291 ** The minibuffer prompt is now actually inserted in the minibuffer.
8293 This makes it possible to scroll through the prompt, if you want to.
8294 To disallow this completely (like previous versions of emacs), customize
8295 the variable `minibuffer-prompt-properties', and turn on the
8296 `Inviolable' option.
8298 The function `minibuffer-prompt-end' returns the current position of the
8299 end of the minibuffer prompt, if the minibuffer is current.
8300 Otherwise, it returns `(point-min)'.
8302 ** New `field' abstraction in buffers.
8304 There is now code to support an abstraction called `fields' in emacs
8305 buffers. A field is a contiguous region of text with the same `field'
8306 property (which can be a text property or an overlay).
8308 Many emacs functions, such as forward-word, forward-sentence,
8309 forward-paragraph, beginning-of-line, etc., stop moving when they come
8310 to the boundary between fields; beginning-of-line and end-of-line will
8311 not let the point move past the field boundary, but other movement
8312 commands continue into the next field if repeated. Stopping at field
8313 boundaries can be suppressed programmatically by binding
8314 `inhibit-field-text-motion' to a non-nil value around calls to these
8317 Now that the minibuffer prompt is inserted into the minibuffer, it is in
8318 a separate field from the user-input part of the buffer, so that common
8319 editing commands treat the user's text separately from the prompt.
8321 The following functions are defined for operating on fields:
8323 - Function: constrain-to-field NEW-POS OLD-POS &optional ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE ONLY-IN-LINE INHIBIT-CAPTURE-PROPERTY
8325 Return the position closest to NEW-POS that is in the same field as OLD-POS.
8327 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
8328 If NEW-POS is nil, then the current point is used instead, and set to the
8329 constrained position if that is different.
8331 If OLD-POS is at the boundary of two fields, then the allowable
8332 positions for NEW-POS depends on the value of the optional argument
8333 ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE: If ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE is nil, then NEW-POS is
8334 constrained to the field that has the same `field' char-property
8335 as any new characters inserted at OLD-POS, whereas if ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE
8336 is non-nil, NEW-POS is constrained to the union of the two adjacent
8337 fields. Additionally, if two fields are separated by another field with
8338 the special value `boundary', then any point within this special field is
8339 also considered to be `on the boundary'.
8341 If the optional argument ONLY-IN-LINE is non-nil and constraining
8342 NEW-POS would move it to a different line, NEW-POS is returned
8343 unconstrained. This useful for commands that move by line, like
8344 C-n or C-a, which should generally respect field boundaries
8345 only in the case where they can still move to the right line.
8347 If the optional argument INHIBIT-CAPTURE-PROPERTY is non-nil, and OLD-POS has
8348 a non-nil property of that name, then any field boundaries are ignored.
8350 Field boundaries are not noticed if `inhibit-field-text-motion' is non-nil.
8352 - Function: delete-field &optional POS
8354 Delete the field surrounding POS.
8355 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
8356 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
8358 - Function: field-beginning &optional POS ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE
8360 Return the beginning of the field surrounding POS.
8361 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
8362 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
8363 If ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE is non-nil and POS is at the beginning of its
8364 field, then the beginning of the *previous* field is returned.
8366 - Function: field-end &optional POS ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE
8368 Return the end of the field surrounding POS.
8369 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
8370 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
8371 If ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE is non-nil and POS is at the end of its field,
8372 then the end of the *following* field is returned.
8374 - Function: field-string &optional POS
8376 Return the contents of the field surrounding POS as a string.
8377 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
8378 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
8380 - Function: field-string-no-properties &optional POS
8382 Return the contents of the field around POS, without text-properties.
8383 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
8384 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
8388 Emacs can now display images. Images are inserted into text by giving
8389 strings or buffer text a `display' text property containing one of
8390 (AREA IMAGE) or IMAGE. The display of the `display' property value
8391 replaces the display of the characters having that property.
8393 If the property value has the form (AREA IMAGE), AREA must be one of
8394 `(margin left-margin)', `(margin right-margin)' or `(margin nil)'. If
8395 AREA is `(margin nil)', IMAGE will be displayed in the text area of a
8396 window, otherwise it will be displayed in the left or right marginal
8399 IMAGE is an image specification.
8401 *** Image specifications
8403 Image specifications are lists of the form `(image PROPS)' where PROPS
8404 is a property list whose keys are keyword symbols. Each
8405 specifications must contain a property `:type TYPE' with TYPE being a
8406 symbol specifying the image type, e.g. `xbm'. Properties not
8407 described below are ignored.
8409 The following is a list of properties all image types share.
8413 ASCENT must be a number in the range 0..100, or the symbol `center'.
8414 If it is a number, it specifies the percentage of the image's height
8415 to use for its ascent.
8417 If not specified, ASCENT defaults to the value 50 which means that the
8418 image will be centered with the base line of the row it appears in.
8420 If ASCENT is `center' the image is vertically centered around a
8421 centerline which is the vertical center of text drawn at the position
8422 of the image, in the manner specified by the text properties and
8423 overlays that apply to the image.
8427 MARGIN must be either a number >= 0 specifying how many pixels to put
8428 as margin around the image, or a pair (X . Y) with X specifying the
8429 horizontal margin and Y specifying the vertical margin. Default is 0.
8433 RELIEF is analogous to the `:relief' attribute of faces. Puts a relief
8438 Apply an image algorithm to the image before displaying it.
8440 ALGO `laplace' or `emboss' means apply a Laplace or ``emboss''
8441 edge-detection algorithm to the image.
8443 ALGO `(edge-detection :matrix MATRIX :color-adjust ADJUST)' means
8444 apply a general edge-detection algorithm. MATRIX must be either a
8445 nine-element list or a nine-element vector of numbers. A pixel at
8446 position x/y in the transformed image is computed from original pixels
8447 around that position. MATRIX specifies, for each pixel in the
8448 neighborhood of x/y, a factor with which that pixel will influence the
8449 transformed pixel; element 0 specifies the factor for the pixel at
8450 x-1/y-1, element 1 the factor for the pixel at x/y-1 etc. as shown
8453 (x-1/y-1 x/y-1 x+1/y-1
8455 x-1/y+1 x/y+1 x+1/y+1)
8457 The resulting pixel is computed from the color intensity of the color
8458 resulting from summing up the RGB values of surrounding pixels,
8459 multiplied by the specified factors, and dividing that sum by the sum
8460 of the factors' absolute values.
8462 Laplace edge-detection currently uses a matrix of
8468 Emboss edge-detection uses a matrix of
8474 ALGO `disabled' means transform the image so that it looks
8479 If MASK is `heuristic' or `(heuristic BG)', build a clipping mask for
8480 the image, so that the background of a frame is visible behind the
8481 image. If BG is not specified, or if BG is t, determine the
8482 background color of the image by looking at the 4 corners of the
8483 image, assuming the most frequently occurring color from the corners is
8484 the background color of the image. Otherwise, BG must be a list `(RED
8485 GREEN BLUE)' specifying the color to assume for the background of the
8488 If MASK is nil, remove a mask from the image, if it has one. Images
8489 in some formats include a mask which can be removed by specifying
8494 Load image from FILE. If FILE is not absolute after expanding it,
8495 search for the image in `data-directory'. Some image types support
8496 building images from data. When this is done, no `:file' property
8497 may be present in the image specification.
8501 Get image data from DATA. (As of this writing, this is not yet
8502 supported for image type `postscript'). Either :file or :data may be
8503 present in an image specification, but not both. All image types
8504 support strings as DATA, some types allow additional types of DATA.
8506 *** Supported image types
8508 **** XBM, image type `xbm'.
8510 XBM images don't require an external library. Additional image
8511 properties supported are:
8515 FG must be a string specifying the image foreground color, or nil
8516 meaning to use the default. Default is the frame's foreground color.
8520 BG must be a string specifying the image background color, or nil
8521 meaning to use the default. Default is the frame's background color.
8523 XBM images can be constructed from data instead of file. In this
8524 case, the image specification must contain the following properties
8525 instead of a `:file' property.
8529 WIDTH specifies the width of the image in pixels.
8533 HEIGHT specifies the height of the image in pixels.
8539 1. a string large enough to hold the bitmap data, i.e. it must
8540 have a size >= (WIDTH + 7) / 8 * HEIGHT
8542 2. a bool-vector of size >= WIDTH * HEIGHT
8544 3. a vector of strings or bool-vectors, one for each line of the
8547 4. a string that's an in-memory XBM file. Neither width nor
8548 height may be specified in this case because these are defined
8551 **** XPM, image type `xpm'
8553 XPM images require the external library `libXpm', package
8554 `xpm-3.4k.tar.gz', version 3.4k or later. Make sure the library is
8555 found when Emacs is configured by supplying appropriate paths via
8556 `--x-includes' and `--x-libraries'.
8558 Additional image properties supported are:
8560 `:color-symbols SYMBOLS'
8562 SYMBOLS must be a list of pairs (NAME . COLOR), with NAME being the
8563 name of color as it appears in an XPM file, and COLOR being an X color
8566 XPM images can be built from memory instead of files. In that case,
8567 add a `:data' property instead of a `:file' property.
8569 The XPM library uses libz in its implementation so that it is able
8570 to display compressed images.
8572 **** PBM, image type `pbm'
8574 PBM images don't require an external library. Color, gray-scale and
8575 mono images are supported. Additional image properties supported for
8580 FG must be a string specifying the image foreground color, or nil
8581 meaning to use the default. Default is the frame's foreground color.
8585 BG must be a string specifying the image background color, or nil
8586 meaning to use the default. Default is the frame's background color.
8588 **** JPEG, image type `jpeg'
8590 Support for JPEG images requires the external library `libjpeg',
8591 package `jpegsrc.v6a.tar.gz', or later. There are no additional image
8594 **** TIFF, image type `tiff'
8596 Support for TIFF images requires the external library `libtiff',
8597 package `tiff-v3.4-tar.gz', or later. There are no additional image
8600 **** GIF, image type `gif'
8602 Support for GIF images requires the external library `libungif', package
8603 `libungif-4.1.0', or later.
8605 Additional image properties supported are:
8609 INDEX must be an integer >= 0. Load image number INDEX from a
8610 multi-image GIF file. If INDEX is too large, the image displays
8613 This could be used to implement limited support for animated GIFs.
8614 For example, the following function displays a multi-image GIF file
8615 at point-min in the current buffer, switching between sub-images
8618 (defun show-anim (file max)
8619 "Display multi-image GIF file FILE which contains MAX subimages."
8620 (display-anim (current-buffer) file 0 max t))
8622 (defun display-anim (buffer file idx max first-time)
8625 (let ((img (create-image file nil nil :index idx)))
8628 (goto-char (point-min))
8629 (unless first-time (delete-char 1))
8630 (insert-image img "x"))
8631 (run-with-timer 0.1 nil 'display-anim buffer file (1+ idx) max nil)))
8633 **** PNG, image type `png'
8635 Support for PNG images requires the external library `libpng',
8636 package `libpng-1.0.2.tar.gz', or later. There are no additional image
8639 **** Ghostscript, image type `postscript'.
8641 Additional image properties supported are:
8645 WIDTH is width of the image in pt (1/72 inch). WIDTH must be an
8646 integer. This is a required property.
8650 HEIGHT specifies the height of the image in pt (1/72 inch). HEIGHT
8651 must be a integer. This is an required property.
8655 BOX must be a list or vector of 4 integers giving the bounding box of
8656 the PS image, analogous to the `BoundingBox' comment found in PS
8657 files. This is an required property.
8659 Part of the Ghostscript interface is implemented in Lisp. See
8664 The variable `image-types' contains a list of those image types
8665 which are supported in the current configuration.
8667 Images are stored in an image cache and removed from the cache when
8668 they haven't been displayed for `image-cache-eviction-delay seconds.
8669 The function `clear-image-cache' can be used to clear the image cache
8670 manually. Images in the cache are compared with `equal', i.e. all
8671 images with `equal' specifications share the same image.
8673 *** Simplified image API, image.el
8675 The new Lisp package image.el contains functions that simplify image
8676 creation and putting images into text. The function `create-image'
8677 can be used to create images. The macro `defimage' can be used to
8678 define an image based on available image types. The functions
8679 `put-image' and `insert-image' can be used to insert an image into a
8684 Windows can now have margins which are used for special text
8687 To give a window margins, either set the buffer-local variables
8688 `left-margin-width' and `right-margin-width', or call
8689 `set-window-margins'. The function `window-margins' can be used to
8690 obtain the current settings. To make `left-margin-width' and
8691 `right-margin-width' take effect, you must set them before displaying
8692 the buffer in a window, or use `set-window-buffer' to force an update
8693 of the display margins.
8695 You can put text in margins by giving it a `display' text property
8696 containing a pair of the form `(LOCATION . VALUE)', where LOCATION is
8697 one of `left-margin' or `right-margin' or nil. VALUE can be either a
8698 string, an image specification or a stretch specification (see later
8703 Emacs displays short help messages in the echo area, when the mouse
8704 moves over a tool-bar item or a piece of text that has a text property
8705 `help-echo'. This feature also applies to strings in the mode line
8706 that have a `help-echo' property.
8708 If the value of the `help-echo' property is a function, that function
8709 is called with three arguments WINDOW, OBJECT and POSITION. WINDOW is
8710 the window in which the help was found.
8712 If OBJECT is a buffer, POS is the position in the buffer where the
8713 `help-echo' text property was found.
8715 If OBJECT is an overlay, that overlay has a `help-echo' property, and
8716 POS is the position in the overlay's buffer under the mouse.
8718 If OBJECT is a string (an overlay string or a string displayed with
8719 the `display' property), POS is the position in that string under the
8722 If the value of the `help-echo' property is neither a function nor a
8723 string, it is evaluated to obtain a help string.
8725 For tool-bar and menu-bar items, their key definition is used to
8726 determine the help to display. If their definition contains a
8727 property `:help FORM', FORM is evaluated to determine the help string.
8728 For tool-bar items without a help form, the caption of the item is
8729 used as help string.
8731 The hook `show-help-function' can be set to a function that displays
8732 the help string differently. For example, enabling a tooltip window
8733 causes the help display to appear there instead of in the echo area.
8735 ** Vertical fractional scrolling.
8737 The display of text in windows can be scrolled smoothly in pixels.
8738 This is useful, for example, for making parts of large images visible.
8740 The function `window-vscroll' returns the current value of vertical
8741 scrolling, a non-negative fraction of the canonical character height.
8742 The function `set-window-vscroll' can be used to set the vertical
8743 scrolling value. Here is an example of how these function might be
8746 (global-set-key [A-down]
8749 (set-window-vscroll (selected-window)
8750 (+ 0.5 (window-vscroll)))))
8751 (global-set-key [A-up]
8754 (set-window-vscroll (selected-window)
8755 (- (window-vscroll) 0.5)))))
8757 ** New hook `fontification-functions'.
8759 Functions from `fontification-functions' are called from redisplay
8760 when it encounters a region of text that is not yet fontified. This
8761 variable automatically becomes buffer-local when set. Each function
8762 is called with one argument, POS.
8764 At least one of the hook functions should fontify one or more
8765 characters starting at POS in the current buffer. It should mark them
8766 as fontified by giving them a non-nil value of the `fontified' text
8767 property. It may be reasonable for these functions to check for the
8768 `fontified' property and not put it back on, but they do not have to.
8770 ** Tool bar support.
8772 Emacs supports a tool bar at the top of a frame under X. The frame
8773 parameter `tool-bar-lines' (X resource "toolBar", class "ToolBar")
8774 controls how may lines to reserve for the tool bar. A zero value
8775 suppresses the tool bar. If the value is non-zero and
8776 `auto-resize-tool-bars' is non-nil the tool bar's size will be changed
8777 automatically so that all tool bar items are visible.
8779 *** Tool bar item definitions
8781 Tool bar items are defined using `define-key' with a prefix-key
8782 `tool-bar'. For example `(define-key global-map [tool-bar item1] ITEM)'
8783 where ITEM is a list `(menu-item CAPTION BINDING PROPS...)'.
8785 CAPTION is the caption of the item, If it's not a string, it is
8786 evaluated to get a string. The caption is currently not displayed in
8787 the tool bar, but it is displayed if the item doesn't have a `:help'
8788 property (see below).
8790 BINDING is the tool bar item's binding. Tool bar items with keymaps as
8791 binding are currently ignored.
8793 The following properties are recognized:
8797 FORM is evaluated and specifies whether the tool bar item is enabled
8802 FORM is evaluated and specifies whether the tool bar item is displayed.
8806 FUNCTION is called with one parameter, the same list BINDING in which
8807 FUNCTION is specified as the filter. The value FUNCTION returns is
8808 used instead of BINDING to display this item.
8810 `:button (TYPE SELECTED)'
8812 TYPE must be one of `:radio' or `:toggle'. SELECTED is evaluated
8813 and specifies whether the button is selected (pressed) or not.
8817 IMAGES is either a single image specification or a vector of four
8818 image specifications. If it is a vector, this table lists the
8819 meaning of each of the four elements:
8821 Index Use when item is
8822 ----------------------------------------
8823 0 enabled and selected
8824 1 enabled and deselected
8825 2 disabled and selected
8826 3 disabled and deselected
8828 If IMAGE is a single image specification, a Laplace edge-detection
8829 algorithm is used on that image to draw the image in disabled state.
8831 `:help HELP-STRING'.
8833 Gives a help string to display for the tool bar item. This help
8834 is displayed when the mouse is moved over the item.
8836 The function `toolbar-add-item' is a convenience function for adding
8837 toolbar items generally, and `tool-bar-add-item-from-menu' can be used
8838 to define a toolbar item with a binding copied from an item on the
8841 The default bindings use a menu-item :filter to derive the tool-bar
8842 dynamically from variable `tool-bar-map' which may be set
8843 buffer-locally to override the global map.
8845 *** Tool-bar-related variables.
8847 If `auto-resize-tool-bar' is non-nil, the tool bar will automatically
8848 resize to show all defined tool bar items. It will never grow larger
8849 than 1/4 of the frame's size.
8851 If `auto-raise-tool-bar-buttons' is non-nil, tool bar buttons will be
8852 raised when the mouse moves over them.
8854 You can add extra space between tool bar items by setting
8855 `tool-bar-button-margin' to a positive integer specifying a number of
8856 pixels, or a pair of integers (X . Y) specifying horizontal and
8857 vertical margins . Default is 1.
8859 You can change the shadow thickness of tool bar buttons by setting
8860 `tool-bar-button-relief' to an integer. Default is 3.
8862 *** Tool-bar clicks with modifiers.
8864 You can bind commands to clicks with control, shift, meta etc. on
8867 (define-key global-map [tool-bar shell]
8868 '(menu-item "Shell" shell
8869 :image (image :type xpm :file "shell.xpm")))
8871 is the original tool bar item definition, then
8873 (define-key global-map [tool-bar S-shell] 'some-command)
8875 makes a binding to run `some-command' for a shifted click on the same
8878 ** Mode line changes.
8880 *** Mouse-sensitive mode line.
8882 The mode line can be made mouse-sensitive by displaying strings there
8883 that have a `local-map' text property. There are three ways to display
8884 a string with a `local-map' property in the mode line.
8886 1. The mode line spec contains a variable whose string value has
8887 a `local-map' text property.
8889 2. The mode line spec contains a format specifier (e.g. `%12b'), and
8890 that format specifier has a `local-map' property.
8892 3. The mode line spec contains a list containing `:eval FORM'. FORM
8893 is evaluated. If the result is a string, and that string has a
8894 `local-map' property.
8896 The same mechanism is used to determine the `face' and `help-echo'
8897 properties of strings in the mode line. See `bindings.el' for an
8900 *** If a mode line element has the form `(:eval FORM)', FORM is
8901 evaluated and the result is used as mode line element.
8903 *** You can suppress mode-line display by setting the buffer-local
8904 variable mode-line-format to nil.
8906 *** A headerline can now be displayed at the top of a window.
8908 This mode line's contents are controlled by the new variable
8909 `header-line-format' and `default-header-line-format' which are
8910 completely analogous to `mode-line-format' and
8911 `default-mode-line-format'. A value of nil means don't display a top
8914 The appearance of top mode lines is controlled by the face
8917 The function `coordinates-in-window-p' returns `header-line' for a
8918 position in the header-line.
8920 ** Text property `display'
8922 The `display' text property is used to insert images into text,
8923 replace text with other text, display text in marginal area, and it is
8924 also used to control other aspects of how text displays. The value of
8925 the `display' property should be a display specification, as described
8926 below, or a list or vector containing display specifications.
8928 *** Replacing text, displaying text in marginal areas
8930 To replace the text having the `display' property with some other
8931 text, use a display specification of the form `(LOCATION STRING)'.
8933 If LOCATION is `(margin left-margin)', STRING is displayed in the left
8934 marginal area, if it is `(margin right-margin)', it is displayed in
8935 the right marginal area, and if LOCATION is `(margin nil)' STRING
8936 is displayed in the text. In the latter case you can also use the
8937 simpler form STRING as property value.
8939 *** Variable width and height spaces
8941 To display a space of fractional width or height, use a display
8942 specification of the form `(LOCATION STRECH)'. If LOCATION is
8943 `(margin left-margin)', the space is displayed in the left marginal
8944 area, if it is `(margin right-margin)', it is displayed in the right
8945 marginal area, and if LOCATION is `(margin nil)' the space is
8946 displayed in the text. In the latter case you can also use the
8947 simpler form STRETCH as property value.
8949 The stretch specification STRETCH itself is a list of the form `(space
8950 PROPS)', where PROPS is a property list which can contain the
8951 properties described below.
8953 The display of the fractional space replaces the display of the
8954 characters having the `display' property.
8958 Specifies that the space width should be WIDTH times the normal
8959 character width. WIDTH can be an integer or floating point number.
8961 - :relative-width FACTOR
8963 Specifies that the width of the stretch should be computed from the
8964 first character in a group of consecutive characters that have the
8965 same `display' property. The computation is done by multiplying the
8966 width of that character by FACTOR.
8970 Specifies that the space should be wide enough to reach HPOS. The
8971 value HPOS is measured in units of the normal character width.
8973 Exactly one of the above properties should be used.
8977 Specifies the height of the space, as HEIGHT, measured in terms of the
8980 - :relative-height FACTOR
8982 The height of the space is computed as the product of the height
8983 of the text having the `display' property and FACTOR.
8987 Specifies that ASCENT percent of the height of the stretch should be
8988 used for the ascent of the stretch, i.e. for the part above the
8989 baseline. The value of ASCENT must be a non-negative number less or
8992 You should not use both `:height' and `:relative-height' together.
8996 A display specification for an image has the form `(LOCATION
8997 . IMAGE)', where IMAGE is an image specification. The image replaces,
8998 in the display, the characters having this display specification in
8999 their `display' text property. If LOCATION is `(margin left-margin)',
9000 the image will be displayed in the left marginal area, if it is
9001 `(margin right-margin)' it will be displayed in the right marginal
9002 area, and if LOCATION is `(margin nil)' the image will be displayed in
9003 the text. In the latter case you can also use the simpler form IMAGE
9004 as display specification.
9006 *** Other display properties
9008 - (space-width FACTOR)
9010 Specifies that space characters in the text having that property
9011 should be displayed FACTOR times as wide as normal; FACTOR must be an
9016 Display text having this property in a font that is smaller or larger.
9018 If HEIGHT is a list of the form `(+ N)', where N is an integer, that
9019 means to use a font that is N steps larger. If HEIGHT is a list of
9020 the form `(- N)', that means to use a font that is N steps smaller. A
9021 ``step'' is defined by the set of available fonts; each size for which
9022 a font is available counts as a step.
9024 If HEIGHT is a number, that means to use a font that is HEIGHT times
9025 as tall as the frame's default font.
9027 If HEIGHT is a symbol, it is called as a function with the current
9028 height as argument. The function should return the new height to use.
9030 Otherwise, HEIGHT is evaluated to get the new height, with the symbol
9031 `height' bound to the current specified font height.
9035 FACTOR must be a number, specifying a multiple of the current
9036 font's height. If it is positive, that means to display the characters
9037 raised. If it is negative, that means to display them lower down. The
9038 amount of raising or lowering is computed without taking account of the
9039 `height' subproperty.
9041 *** Conditional display properties
9043 All display specifications can be conditionalized. If a specification
9044 has the form `(when CONDITION . SPEC)', the specification SPEC applies
9045 only when CONDITION yields a non-nil value when evaluated. During the
9046 evaluation, `object' is bound to the string or buffer having the
9047 conditional display property; `position' and `buffer-position' are
9048 bound to the position within `object' and the buffer position where
9049 the display property was found, respectively. Both positions can be
9050 different when object is a string.
9052 The normal specification consisting of SPEC only is equivalent to
9055 ** New menu separator types.
9057 Emacs now supports more than one menu separator type. Menu items with
9058 item names consisting of dashes only (including zero dashes) are
9059 treated like before. In addition, the following item names are used
9060 to specify other menu separator types.
9062 - `--no-line' or `--space', or `--:space', or `--:noLine'
9064 No separator lines are drawn, but a small space is inserted where the
9067 - `--single-line' or `--:singleLine'
9069 A single line in the menu's foreground color.
9071 - `--double-line' or `--:doubleLine'
9073 A double line in the menu's foreground color.
9075 - `--single-dashed-line' or `--:singleDashedLine'
9077 A single dashed line in the menu's foreground color.
9079 - `--double-dashed-line' or `--:doubleDashedLine'
9081 A double dashed line in the menu's foreground color.
9083 - `--shadow-etched-in' or `--:shadowEtchedIn'
9085 A single line with 3D sunken appearance. This is the form
9086 displayed for item names consisting of dashes only.
9088 - `--shadow-etched-out' or `--:shadowEtchedOut'
9090 A single line with 3D raised appearance.
9092 - `--shadow-etched-in-dash' or `--:shadowEtchedInDash'
9094 A single dashed line with 3D sunken appearance.
9096 - `--shadow-etched-out-dash' or `--:shadowEtchedOutDash'
9098 A single dashed line with 3D raise appearance.
9100 - `--shadow-double-etched-in' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedIn'
9102 Two lines with 3D sunken appearance.
9104 - `--shadow-double-etched-out' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedOut'
9106 Two lines with 3D raised appearance.
9108 - `--shadow-double-etched-in-dash' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedInDash'
9110 Two dashed lines with 3D sunken appearance.
9112 - `--shadow-double-etched-out-dash' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedOutDash'
9114 Two dashed lines with 3D raised appearance.
9116 Under LessTif/Motif, the last four separator types are displayed like
9117 the corresponding single-line separators.
9119 ** New frame parameters for scroll bar colors.
9121 The new frame parameters `scroll-bar-foreground' and
9122 `scroll-bar-background' can be used to change scroll bar colors.
9123 Their value must be either a color name, a string, or nil to specify
9124 that scroll bars should use a default color. For toolkit scroll bars,
9125 default colors are toolkit specific. For non-toolkit scroll bars, the
9126 default background is the background color of the frame, and the
9127 default foreground is black.
9129 The X resource name of these parameters are `scrollBarForeground'
9130 (class ScrollBarForeground) and `scrollBarBackground' (class
9131 `ScrollBarBackground').
9133 Setting these parameters overrides toolkit specific X resource
9134 settings for scroll bar colors.
9136 ** You can set `redisplay-dont-pause' to a non-nil value to prevent
9137 display updates from being interrupted when input is pending.
9139 ** Changing a window's width may now change its window start if it
9140 starts on a continuation line. The new window start is computed based
9141 on the window's new width, starting from the start of the continued
9142 line as the start of the screen line with the minimum distance from
9143 the original window start.
9145 ** The variable `hscroll-step' and the functions
9146 `hscroll-point-visible' and `hscroll-window-column' have been removed
9147 now that proper horizontal scrolling is implemented.
9149 ** Windows can now be made fixed-width and/or fixed-height.
9151 A window is fixed-size if its buffer has a buffer-local variable
9152 `window-size-fixed' whose value is not nil. A value of `height' makes
9153 windows fixed-height, a value of `width' makes them fixed-width, any
9154 other non-nil value makes them both fixed-width and fixed-height.
9156 The following code makes all windows displaying the current buffer
9157 fixed-width and fixed-height.
9159 (set (make-local-variable 'window-size-fixed) t)
9161 A call to enlarge-window on a window gives an error if that window is
9162 fixed-width and it is tried to change the window's width, or if the
9163 window is fixed-height, and it is tried to change its height. To
9164 change the size of a fixed-size window, bind `window-size-fixed'
9165 temporarily to nil, for example
9167 (let ((window-size-fixed nil))
9168 (enlarge-window 10))
9170 Likewise, an attempt to split a fixed-height window vertically,
9171 or a fixed-width window horizontally results in a error.
9173 ** The cursor-type frame parameter is now supported on MS-DOS
9174 terminals. When Emacs starts, it by default changes the cursor shape
9175 to a solid box, as it does on Unix. The `cursor-type' frame parameter
9176 overrides this as it does on Unix, except that the bar cursor is
9177 horizontal rather than vertical (since the MS-DOS display doesn't
9178 support a vertical-bar cursor).
9182 * Emacs 20.7 is a bug-fix release with few user-visible changes
9184 ** It is now possible to use CCL-based coding systems for keyboard
9187 ** ange-ftp now handles FTP security extensions, like Kerberos.
9189 ** Rmail has been extended to recognize more forms of digest messages.
9191 ** Now, most coding systems set in keyboard coding system work not
9192 only for character input, but also in incremental search. The
9193 exceptions are such coding systems that handle 2-byte character sets
9194 (e.g euc-kr, euc-jp) and that use ISO's escape sequence
9195 (e.g. iso-2022-jp). They are ignored in incremental search.
9197 ** Support for Macintosh PowerPC-based machines running GNU/Linux has
9201 * Emacs 20.6 is a bug-fix release with one user-visible change
9203 ** Support for ARM-based non-RISCiX machines has been added.
9207 * Emacs 20.5 is a bug-fix release with no user-visible changes.
9209 ** Not new, but not mentioned before:
9210 M-w when Transient Mark mode is enabled disables the mark.
9212 * Changes in Emacs 20.4
9214 ** Init file may be called .emacs.el.
9216 You can now call the Emacs init file `.emacs.el'.
9217 Formerly the name had to be `.emacs'. If you use the name
9218 `.emacs.el', you can byte-compile the file in the usual way.
9220 If both `.emacs' and `.emacs.el' exist, the latter file
9221 is the one that is used.
9223 ** shell-command, and shell-command-on-region, now return
9224 the exit code of the command (unless it is asynchronous).
9225 Also, you can specify a place to put the error output,
9226 separate from the command's regular output.
9227 Interactively, the variable shell-command-default-error-buffer
9228 says where to put error output; set it to a buffer name.
9229 In calls from Lisp, an optional argument ERROR-BUFFER specifies
9232 When you specify a non-nil error buffer (or buffer name), any error
9233 output is inserted before point in that buffer, with \f\n to separate
9234 it from the previous batch of error output. The error buffer is not
9235 cleared, so error output from successive commands accumulates there.
9237 ** Setting the default value of enable-multibyte-characters to nil in
9238 the .emacs file, either explicitly using setq-default, or via Custom,
9239 is now essentially equivalent to using --unibyte: all buffers
9240 created during startup will be made unibyte after loading .emacs.
9242 ** C-x C-f now handles the wildcards * and ? in file names. For
9243 example, typing C-x C-f c*.c RET visits all the files whose names
9244 match c*.c. To visit a file whose name contains * or ?, add the
9245 quoting sequence /: to the beginning of the file name.
9247 ** The M-x commands keep-lines, flush-lines and count-matches
9248 now have the same feature as occur and query-replace:
9249 if the pattern contains any upper case letters, then
9250 they never ignore case.
9252 ** The end-of-line format conversion feature previously mentioned
9253 under `* Emacs 20.1 changes for MS-DOS and MS-Windows' actually
9254 applies to all operating systems. Emacs recognizes from the contents
9255 of a file what convention it uses to separate lines--newline, CRLF, or
9256 just CR--and automatically converts the contents to the normal Emacs
9257 convention (using newline to separate lines) for editing. This is a
9258 part of the general feature of coding system conversion.
9260 If you subsequently save the buffer, Emacs converts the text back to
9261 the same format that was used in the file before.
9263 You can turn off end-of-line conversion by setting the variable
9264 `inhibit-eol-conversion' to non-nil, e.g. with Custom in the MULE group.
9266 ** The character set property `prefered-coding-system' has been
9267 renamed to `preferred-coding-system', for the sake of correct spelling.
9268 This is a fairly internal feature, so few programs should be affected.
9270 ** Mode-line display of end-of-line format is changed.
9271 The indication of the end-of-line format of the file visited by a
9272 buffer is now more explicit when that format is not the usual one for
9273 your operating system. For example, the DOS-style end-of-line format
9274 is displayed as "(DOS)" on Unix and GNU/Linux systems. The usual
9275 end-of-line format is still displayed as a single character (colon for
9276 Unix, backslash for DOS and Windows, and forward slash for the Mac).
9278 The values of the variables eol-mnemonic-unix, eol-mnemonic-dos,
9279 eol-mnemonic-mac, and eol-mnemonic-undecided, which are strings,
9280 control what is displayed in the mode line for each end-of-line
9281 format. You can now customize these variables.
9283 ** In the previous version of Emacs, tar-mode didn't work well if a
9284 filename contained non-ASCII characters. Now this is fixed. Such a
9285 filename is decoded by file-name-coding-system if the default value of
9286 enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil.
9288 ** The command temp-buffer-resize-mode toggles a minor mode
9289 in which temporary buffers (such as help buffers) are given
9290 windows just big enough to hold the whole contents.
9292 ** If you use completion.el, you must now run the function
9293 dynamic-completion-mode to enable it. Just loading the file
9294 doesn't have any effect.
9296 ** In Flyspell mode, the default is now to make just one Ispell process,
9299 ** If you use iswitchb but do not call (iswitchb-default-keybindings) to
9300 use the default keybindings, you will need to add the following line:
9301 (add-hook 'minibuffer-setup-hook 'iswitchb-minibuffer-setup)
9303 ** Auto-show mode is no longer enabled just by loading auto-show.el.
9304 To control it, set `auto-show-mode' via Custom or use the
9305 `auto-show-mode' command.
9307 ** Handling of X fonts' ascent/descent parameters has been changed to
9308 avoid redisplay problems. As a consequence, compared with previous
9309 versions the line spacing and frame size now differ with some font
9310 choices, typically increasing by a pixel per line. This change
9311 occurred in version 20.3 but was not documented then.
9313 ** If you select the bar cursor style, it uses the frame's
9314 cursor-color, rather than the cursor foreground pixel.
9316 ** In multibyte mode, Rmail decodes incoming MIME messages using the
9317 character set specified in the message. If you want to disable this
9318 feature, set the variable rmail-decode-mime-charset to nil.
9320 ** Not new, but not mentioned previously in NEWS: when you use #! at
9321 the beginning of a file to make it executable and specify an
9322 interpreter program, Emacs looks on the second line for the -*- mode
9323 and variable specification, as well as on the first line.
9325 ** Support for IBM codepage encoding of non-ASCII characters.
9327 The new command M-x codepage-setup creates a special coding system
9328 that can be used to convert text between a specific IBM codepage and
9329 one of the character sets built into Emacs which matches that
9330 codepage. For example, codepage 850 corresponds to Latin-1 character
9331 set, codepage 855 corresponds to Cyrillic-ISO character set, etc.
9333 Windows codepages 1250, 1251 and some others, where Windows deviates
9334 from the corresponding ISO character set, are also supported.
9336 IBM box-drawing characters and other glyphs which don't have
9337 equivalents in the corresponding ISO character set, are converted to
9338 a character defined by dos-unsupported-char-glyph on MS-DOS, and to
9339 `?' on other systems.
9341 IBM codepages are widely used on MS-DOS and MS-Windows, so this
9342 feature is most useful on those platforms, but it can also be used on
9345 Emacs compiled for MS-DOS automatically loads the support for the
9346 current codepage when it starts.
9350 *** When mail is sent using compose-mail (C-x m), and if
9351 `mail-send-nonascii' is set to the new default value `mime',
9352 appropriate MIME headers are added. The headers are added only if
9353 non-ASCII characters are present in the body of the mail, and no other
9354 MIME headers are already present. For example, the following three
9355 headers are added if the coding system used in the *mail* buffer is
9359 Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
9360 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
9362 *** The new variable default-sendmail-coding-system specifies the
9363 default way to encode outgoing mail. This has higher priority than
9364 default-buffer-file-coding-system but has lower priority than
9365 sendmail-coding-system and the local value of
9366 buffer-file-coding-system.
9368 You should not set this variable manually. Instead, set
9369 sendmail-coding-system to specify a fixed encoding for all outgoing
9372 *** When you try to send a message that contains non-ASCII characters,
9373 if the coding system specified by those variables doesn't handle them,
9374 Emacs will ask you to select a suitable coding system while showing a
9375 list of possible coding systems.
9379 *** c-default-style can now take an association list that maps major
9380 modes to style names. When this variable is an alist, Java mode no
9381 longer hardcodes a setting to "java" style. See the variable's
9382 docstring for details.
9384 *** It's now possible to put a list as the offset on a syntactic
9385 symbol. The list is evaluated recursively until a non-nil offset is
9386 found. This is useful to combine several lineup functions to act in a
9387 prioritized order on a single line. However, none of the supplied
9388 lineup functions use this feature currently.
9390 *** New syntactic symbol catch-clause, which is used on the "catch" and
9391 "finally" lines in try-catch constructs in C++ and Java.
9393 *** New cleanup brace-catch-brace on c-cleanup-list, which does for
9394 "catch" lines what brace-elseif-brace does for "else if" lines.
9396 *** The braces of Java anonymous inner classes are treated separately
9397 from the braces of other classes in auto-newline mode. Two new
9398 symbols inexpr-class-open and inexpr-class-close may be used on
9399 c-hanging-braces-alist to control the automatic newlines used for
9402 *** Support for the Pike language added, along with new Pike specific
9403 syntactic symbols: inlambda, lambda-intro-cont
9405 *** Support for Java anonymous classes via new syntactic symbol
9406 inexpr-class. New syntactic symbol inexpr-statement for Pike
9407 support and gcc-style statements inside expressions. New lineup
9408 function c-lineup-inexpr-block.
9410 *** New syntactic symbol brace-entry-open which is used in brace lists
9411 (i.e. static initializers) when a list entry starts with an open
9412 brace. These used to be recognized as brace-list-entry's.
9413 c-electric-brace also recognizes brace-entry-open braces
9414 (brace-list-entry's can no longer be electrified).
9416 *** New command c-indent-line-or-region, not bound by default.
9418 *** `#' is only electric when typed in the indentation of a line.
9420 *** Parentheses are now electric (via the new command c-electric-paren)
9421 for auto-reindenting lines when parens are typed.
9423 *** In "gnu" style, inline-open offset is now set to zero.
9425 *** Uniform handling of the inclass syntactic symbol. The indentation
9426 associated with it is now always relative to the class opening brace.
9427 This means that the indentation behavior has changed in some
9428 circumstances, but only if you've put anything besides 0 on the
9429 class-open syntactic symbol (none of the default styles do that).
9433 *** New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
9434 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See the
9435 Gnus manual for the full story.
9437 *** The nndraft backend has returned, but works differently than
9438 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the nndraft
9439 group, which is created automatically.
9441 *** `gnus-alter-header-function' can now be used to alter header
9444 *** `gnus-summary-goto-article' now accept Message-ID's.
9446 *** A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
9447 outside the region: `C-c C-v'.
9449 *** You can now post to component group in nnvirtual groups with
9452 *** `nntp-rlogin-program' -- new variable to ease customization.
9454 *** `C-u C-c C-c' in `gnus-article-edit-mode' will now inhibit
9455 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
9457 *** New element in `gnus-boring-article-headers' -- `long-to'.
9459 *** `M-i' symbolic prefix command. See the section "Symbolic
9460 Prefixes" in the Gnus manual for details.
9462 *** `L' and `I' in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
9463 `a' to add the score rule to the "all.SCORE" file.
9465 *** `gnus-simplify-subject-functions' variable to allow greater
9466 control over simplification.
9468 *** `A T' -- new command for fetching the current thread.
9470 *** `/ T' -- new command for including the current thread in the
9473 *** `M-RET' is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
9475 *** \\1-expressions are now valid in `nnmail-split-methods'.
9477 *** The `custom-face-lookup' function has been removed.
9478 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
9479 rewrite them to use `face-spec-set' instead.
9481 *** Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
9482 `a' forces normal posting method.
9484 *** New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper text
9487 *** For easier debugging of nntp, you can set `nntp-record-commands'
9490 *** nntp now uses ~/.authinfo, a .netrc-like file, for controlling
9491 where and how to send AUTHINFO to NNTP servers.
9493 *** A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
9496 *** A history of where mails have been split is available.
9498 *** A new article date command has been added -- `article-date-iso8601'.
9500 *** Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
9501 `gnus-score-thread-simplify'.
9503 *** A new function for citing in Message has been added --
9504 `message-cite-original-without-signature'.
9506 *** `article-strip-all-blank-lines' -- new article command.
9508 *** A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
9511 *** A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
9512 `gnus-adaptive-word-minimum' variable.
9514 *** The "lapsed date" article header can be kept continually
9515 updated by the `gnus-start-date-timer' command.
9517 *** Web listserv archives can be read with the nnlistserv backend.
9519 *** Old dejanews archives can now be read by nnweb.
9521 *** `gnus-posting-styles' has been re-activated.
9523 ** Changes to TeX and LaTeX mode
9525 *** The new variable `tex-start-options-string' can be used to give
9526 options for the TeX run. The default value causes TeX to run in
9527 nonstopmode. For an interactive TeX run set it to nil or "".
9529 *** The command `tex-feed-input' sends input to the Tex Shell. In a
9530 TeX buffer it is bound to the keys C-RET, C-c RET, and C-c C-m (some
9531 of these keys may not work on all systems). For instance, if you run
9532 TeX interactively and if the TeX run stops because of an error, you
9533 can continue it without leaving the TeX buffer by typing C-RET.
9535 *** The Tex Shell Buffer is now in `compilation-shell-minor-mode'.
9536 All error-parsing commands of the Compilation major mode are available
9537 but bound to keys that don't collide with the shell. Thus you can use
9538 the Tex Shell for command line executions like a usual shell.
9540 *** The commands `tex-validate-region' and `tex-validate-buffer' check
9541 the matching of braces and $'s. The errors are listed in a *Occur*
9542 buffer and you can use C-c C-c or mouse-2 to go to a particular
9545 ** Changes to RefTeX mode
9547 *** The table of contents buffer can now also display labels and
9548 file boundaries in addition to sections. Use `l', `i', and `c' keys.
9550 *** Labels derived from context (the section heading) are now
9551 lowercase by default. To make the label legal in LaTeX, latin-1
9552 characters will lose their accent. All Mule characters will be
9553 removed from the label.
9555 *** The automatic display of cross reference information can also use
9556 a window instead of the echo area. See variable `reftex-auto-view-crossref'.
9558 *** kpsewhich can be used by RefTeX to find TeX and BibTeX files. See the
9559 customization group `reftex-finding-files'.
9561 *** The option `reftex-bibfile-ignore-list' has been renamed to
9562 `reftex-bibfile-ignore-regexps' and indeed can be fed with regular
9565 *** Multiple Selection buffers are now hidden buffers.
9567 ** New/deleted modes and packages
9569 *** The package snmp-mode.el provides major modes for editing SNMP and
9570 SNMPv2 MIBs. It has entries on `auto-mode-alist'.
9572 *** The package sql.el provides a major mode, M-x sql-mode, for
9573 editing SQL files, and M-x sql-interactive-mode for interacting with
9574 SQL interpreters. It has an entry on `auto-mode-alist'.
9576 *** M-x highlight-changes-mode provides a minor mode displaying buffer
9577 changes with a special face.
9579 *** ispell4.el has been deleted. It got in the way of ispell.el and
9580 this was hard to fix reliably. It has long been obsolete -- use
9581 Ispell 3.1 and ispell.el.
9583 * MS-DOS changes in Emacs 20.4
9585 ** Emacs compiled for MS-DOS now supports MULE features better.
9586 This includes support for display of all ISO 8859-N character sets,
9587 conversion to and from IBM codepage encoding of non-ASCII characters,
9588 and automatic setup of the MULE environment at startup. For details,
9589 check out the section `MS-DOS and MULE' in the manual.
9591 The MS-DOS installation procedure automatically configures and builds
9592 Emacs with input method support if it finds an unpacked Leim
9593 distribution when the config.bat script is run.
9595 ** Formerly, the value of lpr-command did not affect printing on
9596 MS-DOS unless print-region-function was set to nil, but now it
9597 controls whether an external program is invoked or output is written
9598 directly to a printer port. Similarly, in the previous version of
9599 Emacs, the value of ps-lpr-command did not affect PostScript printing
9600 on MS-DOS unless ps-printer-name was set to something other than a
9601 string (eg. t or `pipe'), but now it controls whether an external
9602 program is used. (These changes were made so that configuration of
9603 printing variables would be almost identical across all platforms.)
9605 ** In the previous version of Emacs, PostScript and non-PostScript
9606 output was piped to external programs, but because most print programs
9607 available for MS-DOS and MS-Windows cannot read data from their standard
9608 input, on those systems the data to be output is now written to a
9609 temporary file whose name is passed as the last argument to the external
9612 An exception is made for `print', a standard program on Windows NT,
9613 and `nprint', a standard program on Novell Netware. For both of these
9614 programs, the command line is constructed in the appropriate syntax
9615 automatically, using only the value of printer-name or ps-printer-name
9616 as appropriate--the value of the relevant `-switches' variable is
9617 ignored, as both programs have no useful switches.
9619 ** The value of the variable dos-printer (cf. dos-ps-printer), if it has
9620 a value, overrides the value of printer-name (cf. ps-printer-name), on
9621 MS-DOS and MS-Windows only. This has been true since version 20.3, but
9622 was not documented clearly before.
9624 ** All the Emacs games now work on MS-DOS terminals.
9625 This includes Tetris and Snake.
9627 * Lisp changes in Emacs 20.4
9629 ** New functions line-beginning-position and line-end-position
9630 return the position of the beginning or end of the current line.
9631 They both accept an optional argument, which has the same
9632 meaning as the argument to beginning-of-line or end-of-line.
9634 ** find-file and allied functions now have an optional argument
9635 WILDCARD. If this is non-nil, they do wildcard processing,
9636 and visit all files that match the wildcard pattern.
9638 ** Changes in the file-attributes function.
9640 *** The file size returned by file-attributes may be an integer or a float.
9641 It is an integer if the size fits in a Lisp integer, float otherwise.
9643 *** The inode number returned by file-attributes may be an integer (if
9644 the number fits in a Lisp integer) or a cons cell containing two
9647 ** The new function directory-files-and-attributes returns a list of
9648 files in a directory and their attributes. It accepts the same
9649 arguments as directory-files and has similar semantics, except that
9650 file names and attributes are returned.
9652 ** The new function file-attributes-lessp is a helper function for
9653 sorting the list generated by directory-files-and-attributes. It
9654 accepts two arguments, each a list of a file name and its attributes.
9655 It compares the file names of each according to string-lessp and
9658 ** The new function file-expand-wildcards expands a wildcard-pattern
9659 to produce a list of existing files that match the pattern.
9661 ** New functions for base64 conversion:
9663 The function base64-encode-region converts a part of the buffer
9664 into the base64 code used in MIME. base64-decode-region
9665 performs the opposite conversion. Line-breaking is supported
9668 Functions base64-encode-string and base64-decode-string do a similar
9669 job on the text in a string. They return the value as a new string.
9672 The new function process-running-child-p
9673 will tell you if a subprocess has given control of its
9674 terminal to its own child process.
9676 ** interrupt-process and such functions have a new feature:
9677 when the second argument is `lambda', they send a signal
9678 to the running child of the subshell, if any, but if the shell
9679 itself owns its terminal, no signal is sent.
9681 ** There are new widget types `plist' and `alist' which can
9682 be used for customizing variables whose values are plists or alists.
9684 ** easymenu.el now understands `:key-sequence' and `:style button'.
9685 :included is an alias for :visible.
9687 easy-menu-add-item now understands the values returned by
9688 easy-menu-remove-item and easy-menu-item-present-p. This can be used
9689 to move or copy menu entries.
9691 ** Multibyte editing changes
9693 *** The definitions of sref and char-bytes are changed. Now, sref is
9694 an alias of aref and char-bytes always returns 1. This change is to
9695 make some Emacs Lisp code which works on 20.2 and earlier also
9696 work on the latest Emacs. Such code uses a combination of sref and
9697 char-bytes in a loop typically as below:
9698 (setq char (sref str idx)
9699 idx (+ idx (char-bytes idx)))
9700 The byte-compiler now warns that this is obsolete.
9702 If you want to know how many bytes a specific multibyte character
9703 (say, CH) occupies in a multibyte buffer, use this code:
9704 (charset-bytes (char-charset ch))
9706 *** In multibyte mode, when you narrow a buffer to some region, and the
9707 region is preceded or followed by non-ASCII codes, inserting or
9708 deleting at the head or the end of the region may signal this error:
9710 Byte combining across boundary of accessible buffer text inhibited
9712 This is to avoid some bytes being combined together into a character
9713 across the boundary.
9715 *** The functions find-charset-region and find-charset-string include
9716 `unknown' in the returned list in the following cases:
9717 o The current buffer or the target string is unibyte and
9718 contains 8-bit characters.
9719 o The current buffer or the target string is multibyte and
9720 contains invalid characters.
9722 *** The functions decode-coding-region and encode-coding-region remove
9723 text properties of the target region. Ideally, they should correctly
9724 preserve text properties, but for the moment, it's hard. Removing
9725 text properties is better than preserving them in a less-than-correct
9728 *** prefer-coding-system sets EOL conversion of default coding systems.
9729 If the argument to prefer-coding-system specifies a certain type of
9730 end of line conversion, the default coding systems set by
9731 prefer-coding-system will specify that conversion type for end of line.
9733 *** The new function thai-compose-string can be used to properly
9734 compose Thai characters in a string.
9736 ** The primitive `define-prefix-command' now takes an optional third
9737 argument NAME, which should be a string. It supplies the menu name
9738 for the created keymap. Keymaps created in order to be displayed as
9739 menus should always use the third argument.
9741 ** The meanings of optional second arguments for read-char,
9742 read-event, and read-char-exclusive are flipped. Now the second
9743 arguments are INHERIT-INPUT-METHOD. These functions use the current
9744 input method (if any) if and only if INHERIT-INPUT-METHOD is non-nil.
9746 ** The new function clear-this-command-keys empties out the contents
9747 of the vector that (this-command-keys) returns. This is useful in
9748 programs that read passwords, to prevent the passwords from echoing
9749 inadvertently as part of the next command in certain cases.
9751 ** The new macro `with-temp-message' displays a temporary message in
9752 the echo area, while executing some Lisp code. Like `progn', it
9753 returns the value of the last form, but it also restores the previous
9756 (with-temp-message MESSAGE &rest BODY)
9758 ** The function `require' now takes an optional third argument
9759 NOERROR. If it is non-nil, then there is no error if the
9760 requested feature cannot be loaded.
9762 ** In the function modify-face, an argument of (nil) for the
9763 foreground color, background color or stipple pattern
9764 means to clear out that attribute.
9766 ** The `outer-window-id' frame property of an X frame
9767 gives the window number of the outermost X window for the frame.
9769 ** Temporary buffers made with with-output-to-temp-buffer are now
9770 read-only by default, and normally use the major mode Help mode
9771 unless you put them in some other non-Fundamental mode before the
9772 end of with-output-to-temp-buffer.
9774 ** The new functions gap-position and gap-size return information on
9775 the gap of the current buffer.
9777 ** The new functions position-bytes and byte-to-position provide a way
9778 to convert between character positions and byte positions in the
9781 ** vc.el defines two new macros, `edit-vc-file' and `with-vc-file', to
9782 facilitate working with version-controlled files from Lisp programs.
9783 These macros check out a given file automatically if needed, and check
9784 it back in after any modifications have been made.
9786 * Installation Changes in Emacs 20.3
9788 ** The default value of load-path now includes most subdirectories of
9789 the site-specific directories /usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp and
9790 /usr/local/share/emacs/VERSION/site-lisp, in addition to those
9791 directories themselves. Both immediate subdirectories and
9792 subdirectories multiple levels down are added to load-path.
9794 Not all subdirectories are included, though. Subdirectories whose
9795 names do not start with a letter or digit are excluded.
9796 Subdirectories named RCS or CVS are excluded. Also, a subdirectory
9797 which contains a file named `.nosearch' is excluded. You can use
9798 these methods to prevent certain subdirectories from being searched.
9800 Emacs finds these subdirectories and adds them to load-path when it
9801 starts up. While it would be cleaner to find the subdirectories each
9802 time Emacs loads a file, that would be much slower.
9804 This feature is an incompatible change. If you have stored some Emacs
9805 Lisp files in a subdirectory of the site-lisp directory specifically
9806 to prevent them from being used, you will need to rename the
9807 subdirectory to start with a non-alphanumeric character, or create a
9808 `.nosearch' file in it, in order to continue to achieve the desired
9811 ** Emacs no longer includes an old version of the C preprocessor from
9812 GCC. This was formerly used to help compile Emacs with C compilers
9813 that had limits on the significant length of an identifier, but in
9814 fact we stopped supporting such compilers some time ago.
9816 * Changes in Emacs 20.3
9818 ** The new command C-x z (repeat) repeats the previous command
9819 including its argument. If you repeat the z afterward,
9820 it repeats the command additional times; thus, you can
9821 perform many repetitions with one keystroke per repetition.
9823 ** Emacs now supports "selective undo" which undoes only within a
9824 specified region. To do this, set point and mark around the desired
9825 region and type C-u C-x u (or C-u C-_). You can then continue undoing
9826 further, within the same region, by repeating the ordinary undo
9827 command C-x u or C-_. This will keep undoing changes that were made
9828 within the region you originally specified, until either all of them
9829 are undone, or it encounters a change which crosses the edge of that
9832 In Transient Mark mode, undoing when a region is active requests
9835 ** If you specify --unibyte when starting Emacs, then all buffers are
9836 unibyte, except when a Lisp program specifically creates a multibyte
9837 buffer. Setting the environment variable EMACS_UNIBYTE has the same
9838 effect. The --no-unibyte option overrides EMACS_UNIBYTE and directs
9839 Emacs to run normally in multibyte mode.
9841 The option --unibyte does not affect the reading of Emacs Lisp files,
9842 though. If you want a Lisp file to be read in unibyte mode, use
9843 -*-unibyte: t;-*- on its first line. That will force Emacs to
9844 load that file in unibyte mode, regardless of how Emacs was started.
9846 ** toggle-enable-multibyte-characters no longer has a key binding and
9847 no longer appears in the menu bar. We've realized that changing the
9848 enable-multibyte-characters variable in an existing buffer is
9849 something that most users not do.
9851 ** You can specify a coding system to use for the next cut or paste
9852 operations through the window system with the command C-x RET X.
9853 The coding system can make a difference for communication with other
9856 C-x RET x specifies a coding system for all subsequent cutting and
9859 ** You can specify the printer to use for commands that do printing by
9860 setting the variable `printer-name'. Just what a printer name looks
9861 like depends on your operating system. You can specify a different
9862 printer for the Postscript printing commands by setting
9865 ** Emacs now supports on-the-fly spell checking by the means of a
9866 minor mode. It is called M-x flyspell-mode. You don't have to remember
9867 any other special commands to use it, and you will hardly notice it
9868 except when you make a spelling error. Flyspell works by highlighting
9869 incorrect words as soon as they are completed or as soon as the cursor
9872 Flyspell mode works with whichever dictionary you have selected for
9873 Ispell in Emacs. In TeX mode, it understands TeX syntax so as not
9874 to be confused by TeX commands.
9876 You can correct a misspelled word by editing it into something
9877 correct. You can also correct it, or accept it as correct, by
9878 clicking on the word with Mouse-2; that gives you a pop-up menu
9879 of various alternative replacements and actions.
9881 Flyspell mode also proposes "automatic" corrections. M-TAB replaces
9882 the current misspelled word with a possible correction. If several
9883 corrections are made possible, M-TAB cycles through them in
9884 alphabetical order, or in order of decreasing likelihood if
9885 flyspell-sort-corrections is nil.
9887 Flyspell mode also flags an error when a word is repeated, if
9888 flyspell-mark-duplications-flag is non-nil.
9890 ** Changes in input method usage.
9892 Now you can use arrow keys (right, left, down, up) for selecting among
9893 the alternatives just the same way as you do by C-f, C-b, C-n, and C-p
9896 You can use the ENTER key to accept the current conversion.
9898 If you type TAB to display a list of alternatives, you can select one
9899 of the alternatives with Mouse-2.
9901 The meaning of the variable `input-method-verbose-flag' is changed so
9902 that you can set it to t, nil, `default', or `complex-only'.
9904 If the value is nil, extra guidance is never given.
9906 If the value is t, extra guidance is always given.
9908 If the value is `complex-only', extra guidance is always given only
9909 when you are using complex input methods such as chinese-py.
9911 If the value is `default' (this is the default), extra guidance is
9912 given in the following case:
9913 o When you are using a complex input method.
9914 o When you are using a simple input method but not in the minibuffer.
9916 If you are using Emacs through a very slow line, setting
9917 input-method-verbose-flag to nil or to complex-only is a good choice,
9918 and if you are using an input method you are not familiar with,
9919 setting it to t is helpful.
9921 The old command select-input-method is now called set-input-method.
9923 In the language environment "Korean", you can use the following
9925 Shift-SPC toggle-korean-input-method
9926 C-F9 quail-hangul-switch-symbol-ksc
9927 F9 quail-hangul-switch-hanja
9928 These key bindings are canceled when you switch to another language
9931 ** The minibuffer history of file names now records the specified file
9932 names, not the entire minibuffer input. For example, if the
9933 minibuffer starts out with /usr/foo/, you might type in /etc/passwd to
9936 /usr/foo//etc/passwd
9938 which stands for the file /etc/passwd.
9940 Formerly, this used to put /usr/foo//etc/passwd in the history list.
9941 Now this puts just /etc/passwd in the history list.
9943 ** If you are root, Emacs sets backup-by-copying-when-mismatch to t
9944 at startup, so that saving a file will be sure to preserve
9945 its owner and group.
9947 ** find-func.el can now also find the place of definition of Emacs
9948 Lisp variables in user-loaded libraries.
9950 ** C-x r t (string-rectangle) now deletes the existing rectangle
9951 contents before inserting the specified string on each line.
9953 ** There is a new command delete-whitespace-rectangle
9954 which deletes whitespace starting from a particular column
9955 in all the lines on a rectangle. The column is specified
9956 by the left edge of the rectangle.
9958 ** You can now store a number into a register with C-u NUMBER C-x r n REG,
9959 increment it by INC with C-u INC C-x r + REG (to increment by one, omit
9960 C-u INC), and insert it in the buffer with C-x r g REG. This is useful
9961 for writing keyboard macros.
9963 ** The new command M-x speedbar displays a frame in which directories,
9964 files, and tags can be displayed, manipulated, and jumped to. The
9965 frame defaults to 20 characters in width, and is the same height as
9966 the frame that it was started from. Some major modes define
9967 additional commands for the speedbar, including Rmail, GUD/GDB, and
9970 ** query-replace-regexp is now bound to C-M-%.
9972 ** In Transient Mark mode, when the region is active, M-x
9973 query-replace and the other replace commands now operate on the region
9976 ** M-x write-region, when used interactively, now asks for
9977 confirmation before overwriting an existing file. When you call
9978 the function from a Lisp program, a new optional argument CONFIRM
9979 says whether to ask for confirmation in this case.
9981 ** If you use find-file-literally and the file is already visited
9982 non-literally, the command asks you whether to revisit the file
9983 literally. If you say no, it signals an error.
9985 ** Major modes defined with the "derived mode" feature
9986 now use the proper name for the mode hook: WHATEVER-mode-hook.
9987 Formerly they used the name WHATEVER-mode-hooks, but that is
9988 inconsistent with Emacs conventions.
9990 ** shell-command-on-region (and shell-command) reports success or
9991 failure if the command produces no output.
9993 ** Set focus-follows-mouse to nil if your window system or window
9994 manager does not transfer focus to another window when you just move
9997 ** mouse-menu-buffer-maxlen has been renamed to
9998 mouse-buffer-menu-maxlen to be consistent with the other related
9999 function and variable names.
10001 ** The new variable auto-coding-alist specifies coding systems for
10002 reading specific files. This has higher priority than
10003 file-coding-system-alist.
10005 ** If you set the variable unibyte-display-via-language-environment to
10006 t, then Emacs displays non-ASCII characters are displayed by
10007 converting them to the equivalent multibyte characters according to
10008 the current language environment. As a result, they are displayed
10009 according to the current fontset.
10011 ** C-q's handling of codes in the range 0200 through 0377 is changed.
10013 The codes in the range 0200 through 0237 are inserted as one byte of
10014 that code regardless of the values of nonascii-translation-table and
10015 nonascii-insert-offset.
10017 For the codes in the range 0240 through 0377, if
10018 enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil and nonascii-translation-table
10019 nor nonascii-insert-offset can't convert them to valid multibyte
10020 characters, they are converted to Latin-1 characters.
10022 ** If you try to find a file that is not read-accessible, you now get
10023 an error, rather than an empty buffer and a warning.
10025 ** In the minibuffer history commands M-r and M-s, an upper case
10026 letter in the regular expression forces case-sensitive search.
10028 ** In the *Help* buffer, cross-references to commands and variables
10029 are inferred and hyperlinked. Use C-h m in Help mode for the relevant
10032 ** M-x apropos-command, with a prefix argument, no longer looks for
10033 user option variables--instead it looks for noninteractive functions.
10035 Meanwhile, the command apropos-variable normally searches for
10036 user option variables; with a prefix argument, it looks at
10037 all variables that have documentation.
10039 ** When you type a long line in the minibuffer, and the minibuffer
10040 shows just one line, automatically scrolling works in a special way
10041 that shows you overlap with the previous line of text. The variable
10042 minibuffer-scroll-overlap controls how many characters of overlap
10043 it should show; the default is 20.
10045 Meanwhile, Resize Minibuffer mode is still available; in that mode,
10046 the minibuffer grows taller (up to a point) as needed to show the whole
10049 ** The new command M-x customize-changed-options lets you customize
10050 all the options whose meanings or default values have changed in
10051 recent Emacs versions. You specify a previous Emacs version number as
10052 argument, and the command creates a customization buffer showing all
10053 the customizable options which were changed since that version.
10054 Newly added options are included as well.
10056 If you don't specify a particular version number argument,
10057 then the customization buffer shows all the customizable options
10058 for which Emacs versions of changes are recorded.
10060 This function is also bound to the Changed Options entry in the
10063 ** When you run M-x grep with a prefix argument, it figures out
10064 the tag around point and puts that into the default grep command.
10066 ** The new command M-* (pop-tag-mark) pops back through a history of
10067 buffer positions from which M-. or other tag-finding commands were
10070 ** The new variable comment-padding specifies the number of spaces
10071 that `comment-region' will insert before the actual text of the comment.
10074 ** In Fortran mode the characters `.', `_' and `$' now have symbol
10075 syntax, not word syntax. Fortran mode now supports `imenu' and has
10076 new commands fortran-join-line (M-^) and fortran-narrow-to-subprogram
10077 (C-x n d). M-q can be used to fill a statement or comment block
10080 ** GUD now supports jdb, the Java debugger, and pdb, the Python debugger.
10082 ** If you set the variable add-log-keep-changes-together to a non-nil
10083 value, the command `C-x 4 a' will automatically notice when you make
10084 two entries in one day for one file, and combine them.
10086 ** You can use the command M-x diary-mail-entries to mail yourself a
10087 reminder about upcoming diary entries. See the documentation string
10088 for a sample shell script for calling this function automatically
10093 *** All you need to do to enable use of the Desktop package, is to set
10094 the variable desktop-enable to t with Custom.
10096 *** Minor modes are now restored. Which minor modes are restored
10097 and how modes are restored is controlled by `desktop-minor-mode-table'.
10099 ** There is no need to do anything special, now, to enable Gnus to
10100 read and post multi-lingual articles.
10102 ** Outline mode has now support for showing hidden outlines when
10103 doing an isearch. In order for this to happen search-invisible should
10104 be set to open (the default). If an isearch match is inside a hidden
10105 outline the outline is made visible. If you continue pressing C-s and
10106 the match moves outside the formerly invisible outline, the outline is
10107 made invisible again.
10109 ** Mail reading and sending changes
10111 *** The Rmail e command now switches to displaying the whole header of
10112 the message before it lets you edit the message. This is so that any
10113 changes you make in the header will not be lost if you subsequently
10116 *** The w command in Rmail, which writes the message body into a file,
10117 now works in the summary buffer as well. (The command to delete the
10118 summary buffer is now Q.) The default file name for the w command, if
10119 the message has no subject, is stored in the variable
10120 rmail-default-body-file.
10122 *** Most of the commands and modes that operate on mail and netnews no
10123 longer depend on the value of mail-header-separator. Instead, they
10124 handle whatever separator the buffer happens to use.
10126 *** If you set mail-signature to a value which is not t, nil, or a string,
10127 it should be an expression. When you send a message, this expression
10128 is evaluated to insert the signature.
10130 *** The new Lisp library feedmail.el (version 8) enhances processing of
10131 outbound email messages. It works in coordination with other email
10132 handling packages (e.g., rmail, VM, gnus) and is responsible for
10133 putting final touches on messages and actually submitting them for
10134 transmission. Users of the emacs program "fakemail" might be
10135 especially interested in trying feedmail.
10137 feedmail is not enabled by default. See comments at the top of
10138 feedmail.el for set-up instructions. Among the bigger features
10139 provided by feedmail are:
10141 **** you can park outgoing messages into a disk-based queue and
10142 stimulate sending some or all of them later (handy for laptop users);
10143 there is also a queue for draft messages
10145 **** you can get one last look at the prepped outbound message and
10146 be prompted for confirmation
10148 **** does smart filling of address headers
10150 **** can generate a MESSAGE-ID: line and a DATE: line; the date can be
10151 the time the message was written or the time it is being sent; this
10152 can make FCC copies more closely resemble copies that recipients get
10154 **** you can specify an arbitrary function for actually transmitting
10155 the message; included in feedmail are interfaces for /bin/[r]mail,
10156 /usr/lib/sendmail, and elisp smtpmail; it's easy to write a new
10157 function for something else (10-20 lines of elisp)
10161 *** The Dired function dired-do-toggle, which toggles marked and unmarked
10162 files, is now bound to "t" instead of "T".
10164 *** dired-at-point has been added to ffap.el. It allows one to easily
10165 run Dired on the directory name at point.
10167 *** Dired has a new command: %g. It searches the contents of
10168 files in the directory and marks each file that contains a match
10169 for a specified regexp.
10173 *** New option vc-ignore-vc-files lets you turn off version control
10176 *** VC Dired has been completely rewritten. It is now much
10177 faster, especially for CVS, and works very similar to ordinary
10180 VC Dired is invoked by typing C-x v d and entering the name of the
10181 directory to display. By default, VC Dired gives you a recursive
10182 listing of all files at or below the given directory which are
10183 currently locked (for CVS, all files not up-to-date are shown).
10185 You can change the listing format by setting vc-dired-recurse to nil,
10186 then it shows only the given directory, and you may also set
10187 vc-dired-terse-display to nil, then it shows all files under version
10188 control plus the names of any subdirectories, so that you can type `i'
10189 on such lines to insert them manually, as in ordinary Dired.
10191 All Dired commands operate normally in VC Dired, except for `v', which
10192 is redefined as the version control prefix. That means you may type
10193 `v l', `v =' etc. to invoke `vc-print-log', `vc-diff' and the like on
10194 the file named in the current Dired buffer line. `v v' invokes
10195 `vc-next-action' on this file, or on all files currently marked.
10197 The new command `v t' (vc-dired-toggle-terse-mode) allows you to
10198 toggle between terse display (only locked files) and full display (all
10199 VC files plus subdirectories). There is also a special command,
10200 `* l', to mark all files currently locked.
10202 Giving a prefix argument to C-x v d now does the same thing as in
10203 ordinary Dired: it allows you to supply additional options for the ls
10204 command in the minibuffer, to fine-tune VC Dired's output.
10206 *** Under CVS, if you merge changes from the repository into a working
10207 file, and CVS detects conflicts, VC now offers to start an ediff
10208 session to resolve them.
10210 Alternatively, you can use the new command `vc-resolve-conflicts' to
10211 resolve conflicts in a file at any time. It works in any buffer that
10212 contains conflict markers as generated by rcsmerge (which is what CVS
10215 *** You can now transfer changes between branches, using the new
10216 command vc-merge (C-x v m). It is implemented for RCS and CVS. When
10217 you invoke it in a buffer under version-control, you can specify
10218 either an entire branch or a pair of versions, and the changes on that
10219 branch or between the two versions are merged into the working file.
10220 If this results in any conflicts, they may be resolved interactively,
10223 ** Changes in Font Lock
10225 *** The face and variable previously known as font-lock-reference-face
10226 are now called font-lock-constant-face to better reflect their typical
10227 use for highlighting constants and labels. (Its face properties are
10228 unchanged.) The variable font-lock-reference-face remains for now for
10229 compatibility reasons, but its value is font-lock-constant-face.
10231 ** Frame name display changes
10233 *** The command set-frame-name lets you set the name of the current
10234 frame. You can use the new command select-frame-by-name to select and
10235 raise a frame; this is mostly useful on character-only terminals, or
10236 when many frames are invisible or iconified.
10238 *** On character-only terminal (not a window system), changing the
10239 frame name is now reflected on the mode line and in the Buffers/Frames
10242 ** Comint (subshell) changes
10244 *** In Comint modes, the commands to kill, stop or interrupt a
10245 subjob now also kill pending input. This is for compatibility
10246 with ordinary shells, where the signal characters do this.
10248 *** There are new commands in Comint mode.
10250 C-c C-x fetches the "next" line from the input history;
10251 that is, the line after the last line you got.
10252 You can use this command to fetch successive lines, one by one.
10254 C-c SPC accumulates lines of input. More precisely, it arranges to
10255 send the current line together with the following line, when you send
10256 the following line.
10258 C-c C-a if repeated twice consecutively now moves to the process mark,
10259 which separates the pending input from the subprocess output and the
10260 previously sent input.
10262 C-c M-r now runs comint-previous-matching-input-from-input;
10263 it searches for a previous command, using the current pending input
10264 as the search string.
10266 *** New option compilation-scroll-output can be set to scroll
10267 automatically in compilation-mode windows.
10271 *** Multiline macros are now handled, both as they affect indentation,
10272 and as recognized syntax. New syntactic symbol cpp-macro-cont is
10273 assigned to second and subsequent lines of a multiline macro
10276 *** A new style "user" which captures all non-hook-ified
10277 (i.e. top-level) .emacs file variable settings and customizations.
10278 Style "cc-mode" is an alias for "user" and is deprecated. "gnu"
10279 style is still the default however.
10281 *** "java" style now conforms to Sun's JDK coding style.
10283 *** There are new commands c-beginning-of-defun, c-end-of-defun which
10284 are alternatives which you could bind to C-M-a and C-M-e if you prefer
10285 them. They do not have key bindings by default.
10287 *** New and improved implementations of M-a (c-beginning-of-statement)
10288 and M-e (c-end-of-statement).
10290 *** C++ namespace blocks are supported, with new syntactic symbols
10291 namespace-open, namespace-close, and innamespace.
10293 *** File local variable settings of c-file-style and c-file-offsets
10294 makes the style variables local to that buffer only.
10296 *** New indentation functions c-lineup-close-paren,
10297 c-indent-one-line-block, c-lineup-dont-change.
10299 *** Improvements (hopefully!) to the way CC Mode is loaded. You
10300 should now be able to do a (require 'cc-mode) to get the entire
10301 package loaded properly for customization in your .emacs file. A new
10302 variable c-initialize-on-load controls this and is t by default.
10304 ** Changes to hippie-expand.
10306 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-dabbrev-skip-space'. If
10307 non-nil, trailing spaces may be included in the abbreviation to search for,
10308 which then gives the same behavior as the original `dabbrev-expand'.
10310 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-dabbrev-as-symbol'. If
10311 non-nil, characters of syntax '_' is considered part of the word when
10312 expanding dynamically.
10314 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-no-restriction'. If
10315 non-nil, narrowed buffers are widened before they are searched.
10317 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-only-buffers'. If
10318 non-empty, buffers searched are restricted to the types specified in
10319 this list. Useful for example when constructing new special-purpose
10320 expansion functions with `make-hippie-expand-function'.
10322 *** Text properties of the expansion are no longer copied.
10324 ** Changes in BibTeX mode.
10326 *** Any titleword matching a regexp in the new variable
10327 bibtex-autokey-titleword-ignore (case sensitive) is ignored during
10328 automatic key generation. This replaces variable
10329 bibtex-autokey-titleword-first-ignore, which only checked for matches
10330 against the first word in the title.
10332 *** Autokey generation now uses all words from the title, not just
10333 capitalized words. To avoid conflicts with existing customizations,
10334 bibtex-autokey-titleword-ignore is set up such that words starting with
10335 lowerkey characters will still be ignored. Thus, if you want to use
10336 lowercase words from the title, you will have to overwrite the
10337 bibtex-autokey-titleword-ignore standard setting.
10339 *** Case conversion of names and title words for automatic key
10340 generation is more flexible. Variable bibtex-autokey-preserve-case is
10341 replaced by bibtex-autokey-titleword-case-convert and
10342 bibtex-autokey-name-case-convert.
10344 ** Changes in vcursor.el.
10346 *** Support for character terminals is available: there is a new keymap
10347 and the vcursor will appear as an arrow between buffer text. A
10348 variable `vcursor-interpret-input' allows input from the vcursor to be
10349 entered exactly as if typed. Numerous functions, including
10350 `vcursor-compare-windows', have been rewritten to improve consistency
10351 in the selection of windows and corresponding keymaps.
10353 *** vcursor options can now be altered with M-x customize under the
10354 Editing group once the package is loaded.
10356 *** Loading vcursor now does not define keys by default, as this is
10357 generally a bad side effect. Use M-x customize to set
10358 vcursor-key-bindings to t to restore the old behavior.
10360 *** vcursor-auto-disable can be `copy', which turns off copying from the
10361 vcursor, but doesn't disable it, after any non-vcursor command.
10365 *** You can now spell check comments and strings in the current
10366 buffer with M-x ispell-comments-and-strings. Comments and strings
10367 are identified by syntax tables in effect.
10369 *** Generic region skipping implemented.
10370 A single buffer can be broken into a number of regions where text will
10371 and will not be checked. The definitions of the regions can be user
10372 defined. New applications and improvements made available by this
10375 o URLs are automatically skipped
10376 o EMail message checking is vastly improved.
10378 *** Ispell can highlight the erroneous word even on non-window terminals.
10380 ** Changes to RefTeX mode
10382 RefTeX has been updated in order to make it more usable with very
10383 large projects (like a several volume math book). The parser has been
10384 re-written from scratch. To get maximum speed from RefTeX, check the
10385 section `Optimizations' in the manual.
10387 *** New recursive parser.
10389 The old version of RefTeX created a single large buffer containing the
10390 entire multifile document in order to parse the document. The new
10391 recursive parser scans the individual files.
10393 *** Parsing only part of a document.
10395 Reparsing of changed document parts can now be made faster by enabling
10396 partial scans. To use this feature, read the documentation string of
10397 the variable `reftex-enable-partial-scans' and set the variable to t.
10399 (setq reftex-enable-partial-scans t)
10401 *** Storing parsing information in a file.
10403 This can improve startup times considerably. To turn it on, use
10405 (setq reftex-save-parse-info t)
10407 *** Using multiple selection buffers
10409 If the creation of label selection buffers is too slow (this happens
10410 for large documents), you can reuse these buffers by setting
10412 (setq reftex-use-multiple-selection-buffers t)
10414 *** References to external documents.
10416 The LaTeX package `xr' allows to cross-reference labels in external
10417 documents. RefTeX can provide information about the external
10418 documents as well. To use this feature, set up the \externaldocument
10419 macros required by the `xr' package and rescan the document with
10420 RefTeX. The external labels can then be accessed with the `x' key in
10421 the selection buffer provided by `reftex-reference' (bound to `C-c )').
10422 The `x' key also works in the table of contents buffer.
10424 *** Many more labeled LaTeX environments are recognized by default.
10426 The built-in command list now covers all the standard LaTeX commands,
10427 and all of the major packages included in the LaTeX distribution.
10429 Also, RefTeX now understands the \appendix macro and changes
10430 the enumeration of sections in the *toc* buffer accordingly.
10432 *** Mouse support for selection and *toc* buffers
10434 The mouse can now be used to select items in the selection and *toc*
10435 buffers. See also the new option `reftex-highlight-selection'.
10437 *** New keymaps for selection and table of contents modes.
10439 The selection processes for labels and citation keys, and the table of
10440 contents buffer now have their own keymaps: `reftex-select-label-map',
10441 `reftex-select-bib-map', `reftex-toc-map'. The selection processes
10442 have a number of new keys predefined. In particular, TAB lets you
10443 enter a label with completion. Check the on-the-fly help (press `?'
10444 at the selection prompt) or read the Info documentation to find out
10447 *** Support for the varioref package
10449 The `v' key in the label selection buffer toggles \ref versus \vref.
10453 Three new hooks can be used to redefine the way labels, references,
10454 and citations are created. These hooks are
10455 `reftex-format-label-function', `reftex-format-ref-function',
10456 `reftex-format-cite-function'.
10458 *** Citations outside LaTeX
10460 The command `reftex-citation' may also be used outside LaTeX (e.g. in
10461 a mail buffer). See the Info documentation for details.
10463 *** Short context is no longer fontified.
10465 The short context in the label menu no longer copies the
10466 fontification from the text in the buffer. If you prefer it to be
10469 (setq reftex-refontify-context t)
10471 ** file-cache-minibuffer-complete now accepts a prefix argument.
10472 With a prefix argument, it does not try to do completion of
10473 the file name within its directory; it only checks for other
10474 directories that contain the same file name.
10476 Thus, given the file name Makefile, and assuming that a file
10477 Makefile.in exists in the same directory, ordinary
10478 file-cache-minibuffer-complete will try to complete Makefile to
10479 Makefile.in and will therefore never look for other directories that
10480 have Makefile. A prefix argument tells it not to look for longer
10481 names such as Makefile.in, so that instead it will look for other
10482 directories--just as if the name were already complete in its present
10485 ** New modes and packages
10487 *** There is a new alternative major mode for Perl, Cperl mode.
10488 It has many more features than Perl mode, and some people prefer
10489 it, but some do not.
10491 *** There is a new major mode, M-x vhdl-mode, for editing files of VHDL
10494 *** M-x which-function-mode enables a minor mode that displays the
10495 current function name continuously in the mode line, as you move
10496 around in a buffer.
10498 Which Function mode is effective in major modes which support Imenu.
10500 *** Gametree is a major mode for editing game analysis trees. The author
10501 uses it for keeping notes about his postal Chess games, but it should
10502 be helpful for other two-player games as well, as long as they have an
10503 established system of notation similar to Chess.
10505 *** The new minor mode checkdoc-minor-mode provides Emacs Lisp
10506 documentation string checking for style and spelling. The style
10507 guidelines are found in the Emacs Lisp programming manual.
10509 *** The net-utils package makes some common networking features
10510 available in Emacs. Some of these functions are wrappers around
10511 system utilities (ping, nslookup, etc); others are implementations of
10512 simple protocols (finger, whois) in Emacs Lisp. There are also
10513 functions to make simple connections to TCP/IP ports for debugging and
10516 *** highlight-changes-mode is a minor mode that uses colors to
10517 identify recently changed parts of the buffer text.
10519 *** The new package `midnight' lets you specify things to be done
10520 within Emacs at midnight--by default, kill buffers that you have not
10521 used in a considerable time. To use this feature, customize
10522 the user option `midnight-mode' to t.
10524 *** The file generic-x.el defines a number of simple major modes.
10526 apache-generic-mode: For Apache and NCSA httpd configuration files
10527 samba-generic-mode: Samba configuration files
10528 fvwm-generic-mode: For fvwm initialization files
10529 x-resource-generic-mode: For X resource files
10530 hosts-generic-mode: For hosts files (.rhosts, /etc/hosts, etc)
10531 mailagent-rules-generic-mode: For mailagent .rules files
10532 javascript-generic-mode: For JavaScript files
10533 vrml-generic-mode: For VRML files
10534 java-manifest-generic-mode: For Java MANIFEST files
10535 java-properties-generic-mode: For Java property files
10536 mailrc-generic-mode: For .mailrc files
10538 Platform-specific modes:
10540 prototype-generic-mode: For Solaris/Sys V prototype files
10541 pkginfo-generic-mode: For Solaris/Sys V pkginfo files
10542 alias-generic-mode: For C shell alias files
10543 inf-generic-mode: For MS-Windows INF files
10544 ini-generic-mode: For MS-Windows INI files
10545 reg-generic-mode: For MS-Windows Registry files
10546 bat-generic-mode: For MS-Windows BAT scripts
10547 rc-generic-mode: For MS-Windows Resource files
10548 rul-generic-mode: For InstallShield scripts
10550 * Lisp changes in Emacs 20.3 since the Emacs Lisp Manual was published
10552 ** If you want a Lisp file to be read in unibyte mode,
10553 use -*-unibyte: t;-*- on its first line.
10554 That will force Emacs to read that file in unibyte mode.
10555 Otherwise, the file will be loaded and byte-compiled in multibyte mode.
10557 Thus, each lisp file is read in a consistent way regardless of whether
10558 you started Emacs with --unibyte, so that a Lisp program gives
10559 consistent results regardless of how Emacs was started.
10561 ** The new function assoc-default is useful for searching an alist,
10562 and using a default value if the key is not found there. You can
10563 specify a comparison predicate, so this function is useful for
10564 searching comparing a string against an alist of regular expressions.
10566 ** The functions unibyte-char-to-multibyte and
10567 multibyte-char-to-unibyte convert between unibyte and multibyte
10568 character codes, in a way that is appropriate for the current language
10571 ** The functions read-event, read-char and read-char-exclusive now
10572 take two optional arguments. PROMPT, if non-nil, specifies a prompt
10573 string. SUPPRESS-INPUT-METHOD, if non-nil, says to disable the
10574 current input method for reading this one event.
10576 ** Two new variables print-escape-nonascii and print-escape-multibyte
10577 now control whether to output certain characters as
10578 backslash-sequences. print-escape-nonascii applies to single-byte
10579 non-ASCII characters; print-escape-multibyte applies to multibyte
10580 characters. Both of these variables are used only when printing
10581 in readable fashion (prin1 uses them, princ does not).
10583 * Lisp changes in Emacs 20.3 before the Emacs Lisp Manual was published
10585 ** Compiled Emacs Lisp files made with the modified "MBSK" version
10586 of Emacs 20.2 do not work in Emacs 20.3.
10588 ** Buffer positions are now measured in characters, as they were
10589 in Emacs 19 and before. This means that (forward-char 1)
10590 always increases point by 1.
10592 The function chars-in-region now just subtracts its arguments. It is
10593 considered obsolete. The function char-boundary-p has been deleted.
10595 See below for additional changes relating to multibyte characters.
10597 ** defcustom, defface and defgroup now accept the keyword `:version'.
10598 Use this to specify in which version of Emacs a certain variable's
10599 default value changed. For example,
10601 (defcustom foo-max 34 "*Maximum number of foo's allowed."
10606 (defgroup foo-group nil "The foo group."
10609 If an entire new group is added or the variables in it have the
10610 default values changed, then just add a `:version' to that group. It
10611 is recommended that new packages added to the distribution contain a
10612 `:version' in the top level group.
10614 This information is used to control the customize-changed-options command.
10616 ** It is now an error to change the value of a symbol whose name
10617 starts with a colon--if it is interned in the standard obarray.
10619 However, setting such a symbol to its proper value, which is that
10620 symbol itself, is not an error. This is for the sake of programs that
10621 support previous Emacs versions by explicitly setting these variables
10624 If you set the variable keyword-symbols-constant-flag to nil,
10625 this error is suppressed, and you can set these symbols to any
10628 ** There is a new debugger command, R.
10629 It evaluates an expression like e, but saves the result
10630 in the buffer *Debugger-record*.
10632 ** Frame-local variables.
10634 You can now make a variable local to various frames. To do this, call
10635 the function make-variable-frame-local; this enables frames to have
10636 local bindings for that variable.
10638 These frame-local bindings are actually frame parameters: you create a
10639 frame-local binding in a specific frame by calling
10640 modify-frame-parameters and specifying the variable name as the
10643 Buffer-local bindings take precedence over frame-local bindings.
10644 Thus, if the current buffer has a buffer-local binding, that binding is
10645 active; otherwise, if the selected frame has a frame-local binding,
10646 that binding is active; otherwise, the default binding is active.
10648 It would not be hard to implement window-local bindings, but it is not
10649 clear that this would be very useful; windows tend to come and go in a
10650 very transitory fashion, so that trying to produce any specific effect
10651 through a window-local binding would not be very robust.
10653 ** `sregexq' and `sregex' are two new functions for constructing
10654 "symbolic regular expressions." These are Lisp expressions that, when
10655 evaluated, yield conventional string-based regexps. The symbolic form
10656 makes it easier to construct, read, and maintain complex patterns.
10657 See the documentation in sregex.el.
10659 ** parse-partial-sexp's return value has an additional element which
10660 is used to pass information along if you pass it to another call to
10661 parse-partial-sexp, starting its scan where the first call ended.
10662 The contents of this field are not yet finalized.
10664 ** eval-region now accepts a fourth optional argument READ-FUNCTION.
10665 If it is non-nil, that function is used instead of `read'.
10667 ** unload-feature by default removes the feature's functions from
10668 known hooks to avoid trouble, but a package providing FEATURE can
10669 define a hook FEATURE-unload-hook to be run by unload-feature instead.
10671 ** read-from-minibuffer no longer returns the argument DEFAULT-VALUE
10672 when the user enters empty input. It now returns the null string, as
10673 it did in Emacs 19. The default value is made available in the
10674 history via M-n, but it is not applied here as a default.
10676 The other, more specialized minibuffer-reading functions continue to
10677 return the default value (not the null string) when the user enters
10680 ** The new variable read-buffer-function controls which routine to use
10681 for selecting buffers. For example, if you set this variable to
10682 `iswitchb-read-buffer', iswitchb will be used to read buffer names.
10683 Other functions can also be used if they accept the same arguments as
10684 `read-buffer' and return the selected buffer name as a string.
10686 ** The new function read-passwd reads a password from the terminal,
10687 echoing a period for each character typed. It takes three arguments:
10688 a prompt string, a flag which says "read it twice to make sure", and a
10689 default password to use if the user enters nothing.
10691 ** The variable fill-nobreak-predicate gives major modes a way to
10692 specify not to break a line at certain places. Its value is a
10693 function which is called with no arguments, with point located at the
10694 place where a break is being considered. If the function returns
10695 non-nil, then the line won't be broken there.
10697 ** window-end now takes an optional second argument, UPDATE.
10698 If this is non-nil, then the function always returns an accurate
10699 up-to-date value for the buffer position corresponding to the
10700 end of the window, even if this requires computation.
10702 ** other-buffer now takes an optional argument FRAME
10703 which specifies which frame's buffer list to use.
10704 If it is nil, that means use the selected frame's buffer list.
10706 ** The new variable buffer-display-time, always local in every buffer,
10707 holds the value of (current-time) as of the last time that a window
10708 was directed to display this buffer.
10710 ** It is now meaningful to compare two window-configuration objects
10711 with `equal'. Two window-configuration objects are equal if they
10712 describe equivalent arrangements of windows, in the same frame--in
10713 other words, if they would give the same results if passed to
10714 set-window-configuration.
10716 ** compare-window-configurations is a new function that compares two
10717 window configurations loosely. It ignores differences in saved buffer
10718 positions and scrolling, and considers only the structure and sizes of
10719 windows and the choice of buffers to display.
10721 ** The variable minor-mode-overriding-map-alist allows major modes to
10722 override the key bindings of a minor mode. The elements of this alist
10723 look like the elements of minor-mode-map-alist: (VARIABLE . KEYMAP).
10725 If the VARIABLE in an element of minor-mode-overriding-map-alist has a
10726 non-nil value, the paired KEYMAP is active, and totally overrides the
10727 map (if any) specified for the same variable in minor-mode-map-alist.
10729 minor-mode-overriding-map-alist is automatically local in all buffers,
10730 and it is meant to be set by major modes.
10732 ** The function match-string-no-properties is like match-string
10733 except that it discards all text properties from the result.
10735 ** The function load-average now accepts an optional argument
10736 USE-FLOATS. If it is non-nil, the load average values are returned as
10737 floating point numbers, rather than as integers to be divided by 100.
10739 ** The new variable temporary-file-directory specifies the directory
10740 to use for creating temporary files. The default value is determined
10741 in a reasonable way for your operating system; on GNU and Unix systems
10742 it is based on the TMP and TMPDIR environment variables.
10746 *** easymenu.el now uses the new menu item format and supports the
10747 keywords :visible and :filter. The existing keyword :keys is now
10750 The variable `easy-menu-precalculate-equivalent-keybindings' controls
10751 a new feature which calculates keyboard equivalents for the menu when
10752 you define the menu. The default is t. If you rarely use menus, you
10753 can set the variable to nil to disable this precalculation feature;
10754 then the calculation is done only if you use the menu bar.
10756 *** A new format for menu items is supported.
10758 In a keymap, a key binding that has the format
10759 (STRING . REAL-BINDING) or (STRING HELP-STRING . REAL-BINDING)
10760 defines a menu item. Now a menu item definition may also be a list that
10761 starts with the symbol `menu-item'.
10764 (menu-item ITEM-NAME) or
10765 (menu-item ITEM-NAME REAL-BINDING . ITEM-PROPERTY-LIST)
10766 where ITEM-NAME is an expression which evaluates to the menu item
10767 string, and ITEM-PROPERTY-LIST has the form of a property list.
10768 The supported properties include
10770 :enable FORM Evaluate FORM to determine whether the
10772 :visible FORM Evaluate FORM to determine whether the
10773 item should appear in the menu.
10775 FILTER-FN is a function of one argument,
10776 which will be REAL-BINDING.
10777 It should return a binding to use instead.
10779 DESCRIPTION is a string that describes an equivalent keyboard
10780 binding for REAL-BINDING. DESCRIPTION is expanded with
10781 `substitute-command-keys' before it is used.
10782 :key-sequence KEY-SEQUENCE
10783 KEY-SEQUENCE is a key-sequence for an equivalent
10786 This means that the command normally has no
10787 keyboard equivalent.
10788 :help HELP HELP is the extra help string (not currently used).
10789 :button (TYPE . SELECTED)
10790 TYPE is :toggle or :radio.
10791 SELECTED is a form, to be evaluated, and its
10792 value says whether this button is currently selected.
10794 Buttons are at the moment only simulated by prefixes in the menu.
10795 Eventually ordinary X-buttons may be supported.
10797 (menu-item ITEM-NAME) defines unselectable item.
10801 *** The new event type `mouse-wheel' is generated by a wheel on a
10802 mouse (such as the MS Intellimouse). The event contains a delta that
10803 corresponds to the amount and direction that the wheel is rotated,
10804 which is typically used to implement a scroll or zoom. The format is:
10806 (mouse-wheel POSITION DELTA)
10808 where POSITION is a list describing the position of the event in the
10809 same format as a mouse-click event, and DELTA is a signed number
10810 indicating the number of increments by which the wheel was rotated. A
10811 negative DELTA indicates that the wheel was rotated backwards, towards
10812 the user, and a positive DELTA indicates that the wheel was rotated
10813 forward, away from the user.
10815 As of now, this event type is generated only on MS Windows.
10817 *** The new event type `drag-n-drop' is generated when a group of
10818 files is selected in an application outside of Emacs, and then dragged
10819 and dropped onto an Emacs frame. The event contains a list of
10820 filenames that were dragged and dropped, which are then typically
10821 loaded into Emacs. The format is:
10823 (drag-n-drop POSITION FILES)
10825 where POSITION is a list describing the position of the event in the
10826 same format as a mouse-click event, and FILES is the list of filenames
10827 that were dragged and dropped.
10829 As of now, this event type is generated only on MS Windows.
10831 ** Changes relating to multibyte characters.
10833 *** The variable enable-multibyte-characters is now read-only;
10834 any attempt to set it directly signals an error. The only way
10835 to change this value in an existing buffer is with set-buffer-multibyte.
10837 *** In a string constant, `\ ' now stands for "nothing at all". You
10838 can use it to terminate a hex escape which is followed by a character
10839 that could otherwise be read as part of the hex escape.
10841 *** String indices are now measured in characters, as they were
10842 in Emacs 19 and before.
10844 The function chars-in-string has been deleted.
10845 The function concat-chars has been renamed to `string'.
10847 *** The function set-buffer-multibyte sets the flag in the current
10848 buffer that says whether the buffer uses multibyte representation or
10849 unibyte representation. If the argument is nil, it selects unibyte
10850 representation. Otherwise it selects multibyte representation.
10852 This function does not change the contents of the buffer, viewed
10853 as a sequence of bytes. However, it does change the contents
10854 viewed as characters; a sequence of two bytes which is treated as
10855 one character when the buffer uses multibyte representation
10856 will count as two characters using unibyte representation.
10858 This function sets enable-multibyte-characters to record which
10859 representation is in use. It also adjusts various data in the buffer
10860 (including its markers, overlays and text properties) so that they are
10861 consistent with the new representation.
10863 *** string-make-multibyte takes a string and converts it to multibyte
10864 representation. Most of the time, you don't need to care
10865 about the representation, because Emacs converts when necessary;
10866 however, it makes a difference when you compare strings.
10868 The conversion of non-ASCII characters works by adding the value of
10869 nonascii-insert-offset to each character, or by translating them
10870 using the table nonascii-translation-table.
10872 *** string-make-unibyte takes a string and converts it to unibyte
10873 representation. Most of the time, you don't need to care about the
10874 representation, but it makes a difference when you compare strings.
10876 The conversion from multibyte to unibyte representation
10877 loses information; the only time Emacs performs it automatically
10878 is when inserting a multibyte string into a unibyte buffer.
10880 *** string-as-multibyte takes a string, and returns another string
10881 which contains the same bytes, but treats them as multibyte.
10883 *** string-as-unibyte takes a string, and returns another string
10884 which contains the same bytes, but treats them as unibyte.
10886 *** The new function compare-strings lets you compare
10887 portions of two strings. Unibyte strings are converted to multibyte,
10888 so that a unibyte string can match a multibyte string.
10889 You can specify whether to ignore case or not.
10891 *** assoc-ignore-case now uses compare-strings so that
10892 it can treat unibyte and multibyte strings as equal.
10894 *** Regular expression operations and buffer string searches now
10895 convert the search pattern to multibyte or unibyte to accord with the
10896 buffer or string being searched.
10898 One consequence is that you cannot always use \200-\377 inside of
10899 [...] to match all non-ASCII characters. This does still work when
10900 searching or matching a unibyte buffer or string, but not when
10901 searching or matching a multibyte string. Unfortunately, there is no
10902 obvious choice of syntax to use within [...] for that job. But, what
10903 you want is just to match all non-ASCII characters, the regular
10904 expression [^\0-\177] works for it.
10906 *** Structure of coding system changed.
10908 All coding systems (including aliases and subsidiaries) are named
10909 by symbols; the symbol's `coding-system' property is a vector
10910 which defines the coding system. Aliases share the same vector
10911 as the principal name, so that altering the contents of this
10912 vector affects the principal name and its aliases. You can define
10913 your own alias name of a coding system by the function
10914 define-coding-system-alias.
10916 The coding system definition includes a property list of its own. Use
10917 the new functions `coding-system-get' and `coding-system-put' to
10918 access such coding system properties as post-read-conversion,
10919 pre-write-conversion, character-translation-table-for-decode,
10920 character-translation-table-for-encode, mime-charset, and
10921 safe-charsets. For instance, (coding-system-get 'iso-latin-1
10922 'mime-charset) gives the corresponding MIME-charset parameter
10925 Among the coding system properties listed above, safe-charsets is new.
10926 The value of this property is a list of character sets which this
10927 coding system can correctly encode and decode. For instance:
10928 (coding-system-get 'iso-latin-1 'safe-charsets) => (ascii latin-iso8859-1)
10930 Here, "correctly encode" means that the encoded character sets can
10931 also be handled safely by systems other than Emacs as far as they
10932 are capable of that coding system. Though, Emacs itself can encode
10933 the other character sets and read it back correctly.
10935 *** The new function select-safe-coding-system can be used to find a
10936 proper coding system for encoding the specified region or string.
10937 This function requires a user interaction.
10939 *** The new functions find-coding-systems-region and
10940 find-coding-systems-string are helper functions used by
10941 select-safe-coding-system. They return a list of all proper coding
10942 systems to encode a text in some region or string. If you don't want
10943 a user interaction, use one of these functions instead of
10944 select-safe-coding-system.
10946 *** The explicit encoding and decoding functions, such as
10947 decode-coding-region and encode-coding-string, now set
10948 last-coding-system-used to reflect the actual way encoding or decoding
10951 *** The new function detect-coding-with-language-environment can be
10952 used to detect a coding system of text according to priorities of
10953 coding systems used by some specific language environment.
10955 *** The functions detect-coding-region and detect-coding-string always
10956 return a list if the arg HIGHEST is nil. Thus, if only ASCII
10957 characters are found, they now return a list of single element
10958 `undecided' or its subsidiaries.
10960 *** The new functions coding-system-change-eol-conversion and
10961 coding-system-change-text-conversion can be used to get a different
10962 coding system than what specified only in how end-of-line or text is
10965 *** The new function set-selection-coding-system can be used to set a
10966 coding system for communicating with other X clients.
10968 *** The function `map-char-table' now passes as argument only valid
10969 character codes, plus generic characters that stand for entire
10970 character sets or entire subrows of a character set. In other words,
10971 each time `map-char-table' calls its FUNCTION argument, the key value
10972 either will be a valid individual character code, or will stand for a
10973 range of characters.
10975 *** The new function `char-valid-p' can be used for checking whether a
10976 Lisp object is a valid character code or not.
10978 *** The new function `charset-after' returns a charset of a character
10979 in the current buffer at position POS.
10981 *** Input methods are now implemented using the variable
10982 input-method-function. If this is non-nil, its value should be a
10983 function; then, whenever Emacs reads an input event that is a printing
10984 character with no modifier bits, it calls that function, passing the
10985 event as an argument. Often this function will read more input, first
10986 binding input-method-function to nil.
10988 The return value should be a list of the events resulting from input
10989 method processing. These events will be processed sequentially as
10990 input, before resorting to unread-command-events. Events returned by
10991 the input method function are not passed to the input method function,
10992 not even if they are printing characters with no modifier bits.
10994 The input method function is not called when reading the second and
10995 subsequent events of a key sequence.
10997 *** You can customize any language environment by using
10998 set-language-environment-hook and exit-language-environment-hook.
11000 The hook `exit-language-environment-hook' should be used to undo
11001 customizations that you made with set-language-environment-hook. For
11002 instance, if you set up a special key binding for a specific language
11003 environment by set-language-environment-hook, you should set up
11004 exit-language-environment-hook to restore the normal key binding.
11006 * Changes in Emacs 20.1
11008 ** Emacs has a new facility for customization of its many user
11009 options. It is called M-x customize. With this facility you can look
11010 at the many user options in an organized way; they are grouped into a
11013 M-x customize also knows what sorts of values are legitimate for each
11014 user option and ensures that you don't use invalid values.
11016 With M-x customize, you can set options either for the present Emacs
11017 session or permanently. (Permanent settings are stored automatically
11018 in your .emacs file.)
11020 ** Scroll bars are now on the left side of the window.
11021 You can change this with M-x customize-option scroll-bar-mode.
11023 ** The mode line no longer includes the string `Emacs'.
11024 This makes more space in the mode line for other information.
11026 ** When you select a region with the mouse, it is highlighted
11027 immediately afterward. At that time, if you type the DELETE key, it
11030 The BACKSPACE key, and the ASCII character DEL, do not do this; they
11031 delete the character before point, as usual.
11033 ** In an incremental search the whole current match is highlighted
11034 on terminals which support this. (You can disable this feature
11035 by setting search-highlight to nil.)
11037 ** In the minibuffer, in some cases, you can now use M-n to
11038 insert the default value into the minibuffer as text. In effect,
11039 the default value (if the minibuffer routines know it) is tacked
11040 onto the history "in the future". (The more normal use of the
11041 history list is to use M-p to insert minibuffer input used in the
11044 ** In Text mode, now only blank lines separate paragraphs.
11045 This makes it possible to get the full benefit of Adaptive Fill mode
11046 in Text mode, and other modes derived from it (such as Mail mode).
11047 TAB in Text mode now runs the command indent-relative; this
11048 makes a practical difference only when you use indented paragraphs.
11050 As a result, the old Indented Text mode is now identical to Text mode,
11051 and is an alias for it.
11053 If you want spaces at the beginning of a line to start a paragraph,
11054 use the new mode, Paragraph Indent Text mode.
11056 ** Scrolling changes
11058 *** Scroll commands to scroll a whole screen now preserve the screen
11059 position of the cursor, if scroll-preserve-screen-position is non-nil.
11061 In this mode, if you scroll several screens back and forth, finishing
11062 on the same screen where you started, the cursor goes back to the line
11065 *** If you set scroll-conservatively to a small number, then when you
11066 move point a short distance off the screen, Emacs will scroll the
11067 screen just far enough to bring point back on screen, provided that
11068 does not exceed `scroll-conservatively' lines.
11070 *** The new variable scroll-margin says how close point can come to the
11071 top or bottom of a window. It is a number of screen lines; if point
11072 comes within that many lines of the top or bottom of the window, Emacs
11073 recenters the window.
11075 ** International character set support (MULE)
11077 Emacs now supports a wide variety of international character sets,
11078 including European variants of the Latin alphabet, as well as Chinese,
11079 Devanagari (Hindi and Marathi), Ethiopian, Greek, IPA, Japanese,
11080 Korean, Lao, Russian, Thai, Tibetan, and Vietnamese scripts. These
11081 features have been merged from the modified version of Emacs known as
11082 MULE (for "MULti-lingual Enhancement to GNU Emacs")
11084 Users of these scripts have established many more-or-less standard
11085 coding systems for storing files. Emacs uses a single multibyte
11086 character encoding within Emacs buffers; it can translate from a wide
11087 variety of coding systems when reading a file and can translate back
11088 into any of these coding systems when saving a file.
11090 Keyboards, even in the countries where these character sets are used,
11091 generally don't have keys for all the characters in them. So Emacs
11092 supports various "input methods", typically one for each script or
11093 language, to make it possible to type them.
11095 The Emacs internal multibyte encoding represents a non-ASCII
11096 character as a sequence of bytes in the range 0200 through 0377.
11098 The new prefix key C-x RET is used for commands that pertain
11099 to multibyte characters, coding systems, and input methods.
11101 You can disable multibyte character support as follows:
11103 (setq-default enable-multibyte-characters nil)
11105 Calling the function standard-display-european turns off multibyte
11106 characters, unless you specify a non-nil value for the second
11107 argument, AUTO. This provides compatibility for people who are
11108 already using standard-display-european to continue using unibyte
11109 characters for their work until they want to change.
11113 An input method is a kind of character conversion which is designed
11114 specifically for interactive input. In Emacs, typically each language
11115 has its own input method (though sometimes several languages which use
11116 the same characters can share one input method). Some languages
11117 support several input methods.
11119 The simplest kind of input method works by mapping ASCII letters into
11120 another alphabet. This is how the Greek and Russian input methods
11123 A more powerful technique is composition: converting sequences of
11124 characters into one letter. Many European input methods use
11125 composition to produce a single non-ASCII letter from a sequence which
11126 consists of a letter followed by diacritics. For example, a' is one
11127 sequence of two characters that might be converted into a single
11130 The input methods for syllabic scripts typically use mapping followed
11131 by conversion. The input methods for Thai and Korean work this way.
11132 First, letters are mapped into symbols for particular sounds or tone
11133 marks; then, sequences of these which make up a whole syllable are
11134 mapped into one syllable sign--most often a "composite character".
11136 None of these methods works very well for Chinese and Japanese, so
11137 they are handled specially. First you input a whole word using
11138 phonetic spelling; then, after the word is in the buffer, Emacs
11139 converts it into one or more characters using a large dictionary.
11141 Since there is more than one way to represent a phonetically spelled
11142 word using Chinese characters, Emacs can only guess which one to use;
11143 typically these input methods give you a way to say "guess again" if
11144 the first guess is wrong.
11146 *** The command C-x RET m (toggle-enable-multibyte-characters)
11147 turns multibyte character support on or off for the current buffer.
11149 If multibyte character support is turned off in a buffer, then each
11150 byte is a single character, even codes 0200 through 0377--exactly as
11151 they did in Emacs 19.34. This includes the features for support for
11152 the European characters, ISO Latin-1 and ISO Latin-2.
11154 However, there is no need to turn off multibyte character support to
11155 use ISO Latin-1 or ISO Latin-2; the Emacs multibyte character set
11156 includes all the characters in these character sets, and Emacs can
11157 translate automatically to and from either one.
11159 *** Visiting a file in unibyte mode.
11161 Turning off multibyte character support in the buffer after visiting a
11162 file with multibyte code conversion will display the multibyte
11163 sequences already in the buffer, byte by byte. This is probably not
11166 If you want to edit a file of unibyte characters (Latin-1, for
11167 example), you can do it by specifying `no-conversion' as the coding
11168 system when reading the file. This coding system also turns off
11169 multibyte characters in that buffer.
11171 If you turn off multibyte character support entirely, this turns off
11172 character conversion as well.
11174 *** Displaying international characters on X Windows.
11176 A font for X typically displays just one alphabet or script.
11177 Therefore, displaying the entire range of characters Emacs supports
11178 requires using many fonts.
11180 Therefore, Emacs now supports "fontsets". Each fontset is a
11181 collection of fonts, each assigned to a range of character codes.
11183 A fontset has a name, like a font. Individual fonts are defined by
11184 the X server; fontsets are defined within Emacs itself. But once you
11185 have defined a fontset, you can use it in a face or a frame just as
11186 you would use a font.
11188 If a fontset specifies no font for a certain character, or if it
11189 specifies a font that does not exist on your system, then it cannot
11190 display that character. It will display an empty box instead.
11192 The fontset height and width are determined by the ASCII characters
11193 (that is, by the font in the fontset which is used for ASCII
11196 *** Defining fontsets.
11198 Emacs does not use any fontset by default. Its default font is still
11199 chosen as in previous versions. You can tell Emacs to use a fontset
11200 with the `-fn' option or the `Font' X resource.
11202 Emacs creates a standard fontset automatically according to the value
11203 of standard-fontset-spec. This fontset's short name is
11204 `fontset-standard'. Bold, italic, and bold-italic variants of the
11205 standard fontset are created automatically.
11207 If you specify a default ASCII font with the `Font' resource or `-fn'
11208 argument, a fontset is generated from it. This works by replacing the
11209 FOUNDARY, FAMILY, ADD_STYLE, and AVERAGE_WIDTH fields of the font name
11210 with `*' then using this to specify a fontset. This fontset's short
11211 name is `fontset-startup'.
11213 Emacs checks resources of the form Fontset-N where N is 0, 1, 2...
11214 The resource value should have this form:
11215 FONTSET-NAME, [CHARSET-NAME:FONT-NAME]...
11216 FONTSET-NAME should have the form of a standard X font name, except:
11217 * most fields should be just the wild card "*".
11218 * the CHARSET_REGISTRY field should be "fontset"
11219 * the CHARSET_ENCODING field can be any nickname of the fontset.
11220 The construct CHARSET-NAME:FONT-NAME can be repeated any number
11221 of times; each time specifies the font for one character set.
11222 CHARSET-NAME should be the name of a character set, and FONT-NAME
11223 should specify an actual font to use for that character set.
11225 Each of these fontsets has an alias which is made from the
11226 last two font name fields, CHARSET_REGISTRY and CHARSET_ENCODING.
11227 You can refer to the fontset by that alias or by its full name.
11229 For any character sets that you don't mention, Emacs tries to choose a
11230 font by substituting into FONTSET-NAME. For instance, with the
11231 following resource,
11232 Emacs*Fontset-0: -*-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-24-*-*-*-*-*-fontset-24
11233 the font for ASCII is generated as below:
11234 -*-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-24-*-ISO8859-1
11235 Here is the substitution rule:
11236 Change CHARSET_REGISTRY and CHARSET_ENCODING to that of the charset
11237 defined in the variable x-charset-registries. For instance, ASCII has
11238 the entry (ascii . "ISO8859-1") in this variable. Then, reduce
11239 sequences of wild cards -*-...-*- with a single wildcard -*-.
11240 (This is to prevent use of auto-scaled fonts.)
11242 The function which processes the fontset resource value to create the
11243 fontset is called create-fontset-from-fontset-spec. You can also call
11244 that function explicitly to create a fontset.
11246 With the X resource Emacs.Font, you can specify a fontset name just
11247 like an actual font name. But be careful not to specify a fontset
11248 name in a wildcard resource like Emacs*Font--that tries to specify the
11249 fontset for other purposes including menus, and they cannot handle
11252 *** The command M-x set-language-environment sets certain global Emacs
11253 defaults for a particular choice of language.
11255 Selecting a language environment typically specifies a default input
11256 method and which coding systems to recognize automatically when
11257 visiting files. However, it does not try to reread files you have
11258 already visited; the text in those buffers is not affected. The
11259 language environment may also specify a default choice of coding
11260 system for new files that you create.
11262 It makes no difference which buffer is current when you use
11263 set-language-environment, because these defaults apply globally to the
11264 whole Emacs session.
11266 For example, M-x set-language-environment RET Latin-1 RET
11267 chooses the Latin-1 character set. In the .emacs file, you can do this
11268 with (set-language-environment "Latin-1").
11270 *** The command C-x RET f (set-buffer-file-coding-system)
11271 specifies the file coding system for the current buffer. This
11272 specifies what sort of character code translation to do when saving
11273 the file. As an argument, you must specify the name of one of the
11274 coding systems that Emacs supports.
11276 *** The command C-x RET c (universal-coding-system-argument)
11277 lets you specify a coding system when you read or write a file.
11278 This command uses the minibuffer to read a coding system name.
11279 After you exit the minibuffer, the specified coding system
11280 is used for *the immediately following command*.
11282 So if the immediately following command is a command to read or
11283 write a file, it uses the specified coding system for that file.
11285 If the immediately following command does not use the coding system,
11286 then C-x RET c ultimately has no effect.
11288 For example, C-x RET c iso-8859-1 RET C-x C-f temp RET
11289 visits the file `temp' treating it as ISO Latin-1.
11291 *** You can specify the coding system for a file using the -*-
11292 construct. Include `coding: CODINGSYSTEM;' inside the -*-...-*-
11293 to specify use of coding system CODINGSYSTEM. You can also
11294 specify the coding system in a local variable list at the end
11297 *** The command C-x RET t (set-terminal-coding-system) specifies
11298 the coding system for terminal output. If you specify a character
11299 code for terminal output, all characters output to the terminal are
11300 translated into that character code.
11302 This feature is useful for certain character-only terminals built in
11303 various countries to support the languages of those countries.
11305 By default, output to the terminal is not translated at all.
11307 *** The command C-x RET k (set-keyboard-coding-system) specifies
11308 the coding system for keyboard input.
11310 Character code translation of keyboard input is useful for terminals
11311 with keys that send non-ASCII graphic characters--for example,
11312 some terminals designed for ISO Latin-1 or subsets of it.
11314 By default, keyboard input is not translated at all.
11316 Character code translation of keyboard input is similar to using an
11317 input method, in that both define sequences of keyboard input that
11318 translate into single characters. However, input methods are designed
11319 to be convenient for interactive use, while the code translations are
11320 designed to work with terminals.
11322 *** The command C-x RET p (set-buffer-process-coding-system)
11323 specifies the coding system for input and output to a subprocess.
11324 This command applies to the current buffer; normally, each subprocess
11325 has its own buffer, and thus you can use this command to specify
11326 translation to and from a particular subprocess by giving the command
11327 in the corresponding buffer.
11329 By default, process input and output are not translated at all.
11331 *** The variable file-name-coding-system specifies the coding system
11332 to use for encoding file names before operating on them.
11333 It is also used for decoding file names obtained from the system.
11335 *** The command C-\ (toggle-input-method) activates or deactivates
11336 an input method. If no input method has been selected before, the
11337 command prompts for you to specify the language and input method you
11340 C-u C-\ (select-input-method) lets you switch to a different input
11341 method. C-h C-\ (or C-h I) describes the current input method.
11343 *** Some input methods remap the keyboard to emulate various keyboard
11344 layouts commonly used for particular scripts. How to do this
11345 remapping properly depends on your actual keyboard layout. To specify
11346 which layout your keyboard has, use M-x quail-set-keyboard-layout.
11348 *** The command C-h C (describe-coding-system) displays
11349 the coding systems currently selected for various purposes, plus
11350 related information.
11352 *** The command C-h h (view-hello-file) displays a file called
11353 HELLO, which has examples of text in many languages, using various
11356 *** The command C-h L (describe-language-support) displays
11357 information about the support for a particular language.
11358 You specify the language as an argument.
11360 *** The mode line now contains a letter or character that identifies
11361 the coding system used in the visited file. It normally follows the
11364 A dash indicates the default state of affairs: no code conversion
11365 (except CRLF => newline if appropriate). `=' means no conversion
11366 whatsoever. The ISO 8859 coding systems are represented by digits
11367 1 through 9. Other coding systems are represented by letters:
11369 A alternativnyj (Russian)
11371 C cn-gb-2312 (Chinese)
11372 C iso-2022-cn (Chinese)
11373 D in-is13194-devanagari (Indian languages)
11374 E euc-japan (Japanese)
11375 I iso-2022-cjk or iso-2022-ss2 (Chinese, Japanese, Korean)
11376 J junet (iso-2022-7) or old-jis (iso-2022-jp-1978-irv) (Japanese)
11377 K euc-korea (Korean)
11380 S shift_jis (Japanese)
11383 V viscii or vscii (Vietnamese)
11384 i iso-2022-lock (Chinese, Japanese, Korean)
11385 k iso-2022-kr (Korean)
11386 v viqr (Vietnamese)
11389 When you are using a character-only terminal (not a window system),
11390 two additional characters appear in between the dash and the file
11391 coding system. These two characters describe the coding system for
11392 keyboard input, and the coding system for terminal output.
11394 *** The new variable rmail-file-coding-system specifies the code
11395 conversion to use for RMAIL files. The default value is nil.
11397 When you read mail with Rmail, each message is decoded automatically
11398 into Emacs' internal format. This has nothing to do with
11399 rmail-file-coding-system. That variable controls reading and writing
11400 Rmail files themselves.
11402 *** The new variable sendmail-coding-system specifies the code
11403 conversion for outgoing mail. The default value is nil.
11405 Actually, there are three different ways of specifying the coding system
11408 - If you use C-x RET f in the mail buffer, that takes priority.
11409 - Otherwise, if you set sendmail-coding-system non-nil, that specifies it.
11410 - Otherwise, the default coding system for new files is used,
11411 if that is non-nil. That comes from your language environment.
11412 - Otherwise, Latin-1 is used.
11414 *** The command C-h t (help-with-tutorial) accepts a prefix argument
11415 to specify the language for the tutorial file. Currently, English,
11416 Japanese, Korean and Thai are supported. We welcome additional
11419 ** An easy new way to visit a file with no code or format conversion
11420 of any kind: Use M-x find-file-literally. There is also a command
11421 insert-file-literally which inserts a file into the current buffer
11422 without any conversion.
11424 ** C-q's handling of octal character codes is changed.
11425 You can now specify any number of octal digits.
11426 RET terminates the digits and is discarded;
11427 any other non-digit terminates the digits and is then used as input.
11429 ** There are new commands for looking up Info documentation for
11430 functions, variables and file names used in your programs.
11432 Type M-x info-lookup-symbol to look up a symbol in the buffer at point.
11433 Type M-x info-lookup-file to look up a file in the buffer at point.
11435 Precisely which Info files are used to look it up depends on the major
11436 mode. For example, in C mode, the GNU libc manual is used.
11438 ** M-TAB in most programming language modes now runs the command
11439 complete-symbol. This command performs completion on the symbol name
11440 in the buffer before point.
11442 With a numeric argument, it performs completion based on the set of
11443 symbols documented in the Info files for the programming language that
11446 With no argument, it does completion based on the current tags tables,
11447 just like the old binding of M-TAB (complete-tag).
11449 ** File locking works with NFS now.
11451 The lock file for FILENAME is now a symbolic link named .#FILENAME,
11452 in the same directory as FILENAME.
11454 This means that collision detection between two different machines now
11455 works reasonably well; it also means that no file server or directory
11456 can become a bottleneck.
11458 The new method does have drawbacks. It means that collision detection
11459 does not operate when you edit a file in a directory where you cannot
11460 create new files. Collision detection also doesn't operate when the
11461 file server does not support symbolic links. But these conditions are
11462 rare, and the ability to have collision detection while using NFS is
11463 so useful that the change is worth while.
11465 When Emacs or a system crashes, this may leave behind lock files which
11466 are stale. So you may occasionally get warnings about spurious
11467 collisions. When you determine that the collision is spurious, just
11468 tell Emacs to go ahead anyway.
11470 ** If you wish to use Show Paren mode to display matching parentheses,
11471 it is no longer sufficient to load paren.el. Instead you must call
11474 ** If you wish to use Delete Selection mode to replace a highlighted
11475 selection when you insert new text, it is no longer sufficient to load
11476 delsel.el. Instead you must call the function delete-selection-mode.
11478 ** If you wish to use Partial Completion mode to complete partial words
11479 within symbols or filenames, it is no longer sufficient to load
11480 complete.el. Instead you must call the function partial-completion-mode.
11482 ** If you wish to use uniquify to rename buffers for you,
11483 it is no longer sufficient to load uniquify.el. You must also
11484 set uniquify-buffer-name-style to one of the non-nil legitimate values.
11486 ** Changes in View mode.
11488 *** Several new commands are available in View mode.
11489 Do H in view mode for a list of commands.
11491 *** There are two new commands for entering View mode:
11492 view-file-other-frame and view-buffer-other-frame.
11494 *** Exiting View mode does a better job of restoring windows to their
11497 *** New customization variable view-scroll-auto-exit. If non-nil,
11498 scrolling past end of buffer makes view mode exit.
11500 *** New customization variable view-exits-all-viewing-windows. If
11501 non-nil, view-mode will at exit restore all windows viewing buffer,
11502 not just the selected window.
11504 *** New customization variable view-read-only. If non-nil, visiting a
11505 read-only file automatically enters View mode, and toggle-read-only
11506 turns View mode on or off.
11508 *** New customization variable view-remove-frame-by-deleting controls
11509 how to remove a not needed frame at view mode exit. If non-nil,
11510 delete the frame, if nil make an icon of it.
11512 ** C-x v l, the command to print a file's version control log,
11513 now positions point at the entry for the file's current branch version.
11515 ** C-x v =, the command to compare a file with the last checked-in version,
11516 has a new feature. If the file is currently not locked, so that it is
11517 presumably identical to the last checked-in version, the command now asks
11518 which version to compare with.
11520 ** When using hideshow.el, incremental search can temporarily show hidden
11521 blocks if a match is inside the block.
11523 The block is hidden again if the search is continued and the next match
11524 is outside the block. By customizing the variable
11525 isearch-hide-immediately you can choose to hide all the temporarily
11526 shown blocks only when exiting from incremental search.
11528 By customizing the variable hs-isearch-open you can choose what kind
11529 of blocks to temporarily show during isearch: comment blocks, code
11530 blocks, all of them or none.
11532 ** The new command C-x 4 0 (kill-buffer-and-window) kills the
11533 current buffer and deletes the selected window. It asks for
11534 confirmation first.
11536 ** C-x C-w, which saves the buffer into a specified file name,
11537 now changes the major mode according to that file name.
11538 However, the mode will not be changed if
11539 (1) a local variables list or the `-*-' line specifies a major mode, or
11540 (2) the current major mode is a "special" mode,
11541 not suitable for ordinary files, or
11542 (3) the new file name does not particularly specify any mode.
11544 This applies to M-x set-visited-file-name as well.
11546 However, if you set change-major-mode-with-file-name to nil, then
11547 these commands do not change the major mode.
11549 ** M-x occur changes.
11551 *** If the argument to M-x occur contains upper case letters,
11552 it performs a case-sensitive search.
11554 *** In the *Occur* buffer made by M-x occur,
11555 if you type g or M-x revert-buffer, this repeats the search
11556 using the same regular expression and the same buffer as before.
11558 ** In Transient Mark mode, the region in any one buffer is highlighted
11559 in just one window at a time. At first, it is highlighted in the
11560 window where you set the mark. The buffer's highlighting remains in
11561 that window unless you select to another window which shows the same
11562 buffer--then the highlighting moves to that window.
11564 ** The feature to suggest key bindings when you use M-x now operates
11565 after the command finishes. The message suggesting key bindings
11566 appears temporarily in the echo area. The previous echo area contents
11567 come back after a few seconds, in case they contain useful information.
11569 ** Each frame now independently records the order for recently
11570 selected buffers, so that the default for C-x b is now based on the
11571 buffers recently selected in the selected frame.
11573 ** Outline mode changes.
11575 *** Outline mode now uses overlays (this is the former noutline.el).
11577 *** Incremental searches skip over invisible text in Outline mode.
11579 ** When a minibuffer window is active but not the selected window, if
11580 you try to use the minibuffer, you used to get a nested minibuffer.
11581 Now, this not only gives an error, it also cancels the minibuffer that
11582 was already active.
11584 The motive for this change is so that beginning users do not
11585 unknowingly move away from minibuffers, leaving them active, and then
11586 get confused by it.
11588 If you want to be able to have recursive minibuffers, you must
11589 set enable-recursive-minibuffers to non-nil.
11591 ** Changes in dynamic abbrevs.
11593 *** Expanding dynamic abbrevs with M-/ is now smarter about case
11594 conversion. If the expansion has mixed case not counting the first
11595 character, and the abbreviation matches the beginning of the expansion
11596 including case, then the expansion is copied verbatim.
11598 The expansion is also copied verbatim if the abbreviation itself has
11599 mixed case. And using SPC M-/ to copy an additional word always
11600 copies it verbatim except when the previous copied word is all caps.
11602 *** The values of `dabbrev-case-replace' and `dabbrev-case-fold-search'
11603 are no longer Lisp expressions. They have simply three possible
11606 `dabbrev-case-replace' has these three values: nil (don't preserve
11607 case), t (do), or `case-replace' (do like M-x query-replace).
11608 `dabbrev-case-fold-search' has these three values: nil (don't ignore
11609 case), t (do), or `case-fold-search' (do like search).
11611 ** Minibuffer history lists are truncated automatically now to a
11612 certain length. The variable history-length specifies how long they
11613 can be. The default value is 30.
11615 ** Changes in Mail mode.
11617 *** The key C-x m no longer runs the `mail' command directly.
11618 Instead, it runs the command `compose-mail', which invokes the mail
11619 composition mechanism you have selected with the variable
11620 `mail-user-agent'. The default choice of user agent is
11621 `sendmail-user-agent', which gives behavior compatible with the old
11624 C-x 4 m now runs compose-mail-other-window, and C-x 5 m runs
11625 compose-mail-other-frame.
11627 *** While composing a reply to a mail message, from Rmail, you can use
11628 the command C-c C-r to cite just the region from the message you are
11629 replying to. This copies the text which is the selected region in the
11630 buffer that shows the original message.
11632 *** The command C-c C-i inserts a file at the end of the message,
11633 with separator lines around the contents.
11635 *** The command M-x expand-mail-aliases expands all mail aliases
11636 in suitable mail headers. Emacs automatically extracts mail alias
11637 definitions from your mail alias file (e.g., ~/.mailrc). You do not
11638 need to expand mail aliases yourself before sending mail.
11640 *** New features in the mail-complete command.
11642 **** The mail-complete command now inserts the user's full name,
11643 for local users or if that is known. The variable mail-complete-style
11644 controls the style to use, and whether to do this at all.
11645 Its values are like those of mail-from-style.
11647 **** The variable mail-passwd-command lets you specify a shell command
11648 to run to fetch a set of password-entries that add to the ones in
11651 **** The variable mail-passwd-file now specifies a list of files to read
11652 to get the list of user ids. By default, one file is used:
11655 ** You can "quote" a file name to inhibit special significance of
11656 special syntax, by adding `/:' to the beginning. Thus, if you have a
11657 directory named `/foo:', you can prevent it from being treated as a
11658 reference to a remote host named `foo' by writing it as `/:/foo:'.
11660 Emacs uses this new construct automatically when necessary, such as
11661 when you start it with a working directory whose name might otherwise
11662 be taken to be magic.
11664 ** There is a new command M-x grep-find which uses find to select
11665 files to search through, and grep to scan them. The output is
11666 available in a Compile mode buffer, as with M-x grep.
11668 M-x grep now uses the -e option if the grep program supports that.
11669 (-e prevents problems if the search pattern starts with a dash.)
11671 ** In Dired, the & command now flags for deletion the files whose names
11672 suggest they are probably not needed in the long run.
11674 In Dired, * is now a prefix key for mark-related commands.
11676 new key dired.el binding old key
11677 ------- ---------------- -------
11678 * c dired-change-marks c
11680 * * dired-mark-executables * (binding deleted)
11681 * / dired-mark-directories / (binding deleted)
11682 * @ dired-mark-symlinks @ (binding deleted)
11684 * DEL dired-unmark-backward DEL
11685 * ? dired-unmark-all-files C-M-?
11686 * ! dired-unmark-all-marks
11687 * % dired-mark-files-regexp % m
11688 * C-n dired-next-marked-file M-}
11689 * C-p dired-prev-marked-file M-{
11693 *** When Rmail cannot convert your incoming mail into Babyl format, it
11694 saves the new mail in the file RMAILOSE.n, where n is an integer
11695 chosen to make a unique name. This way, Rmail will not keep crashing
11696 each time you run it.
11698 *** In Rmail, the variable rmail-summary-line-count-flag now controls
11699 whether to include the line count in the summary. Non-nil means yes.
11701 *** In Rmail summary buffers, d and C-d (the commands to delete
11702 messages) now take repeat counts as arguments. A negative argument
11703 means to move in the opposite direction.
11705 *** In Rmail, the t command now takes an optional argument which lets
11706 you specify whether to show the message headers in full or pruned.
11708 *** In Rmail, the new command w (rmail-output-body-to-file) writes
11709 just the body of the current message into a file, without the headers.
11710 It takes the file name from the message subject, by default, but you
11711 can edit that file name in the minibuffer before it is actually used
11716 *** nntp.el has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
11718 *** Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
11721 *** Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like
11722 `and', `or', `not', and parent redirection.
11724 *** Article washing status can be displayed in the
11727 *** gnus.el has been split into many smaller files.
11729 *** Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID.
11731 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
11733 *** New variables for specifying what score and adapt files
11734 are to be considered home score and adapt files. See
11735 `gnus-home-score-file' and `gnus-home-adapt-files'.
11737 *** Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics.
11739 *** Article editing has been revamped and is now usable.
11741 *** Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions.
11742 See `gnus-signature-separator' and `gnus-signature-limit'.
11744 *** Summary pick mode has been made to look more nn-like.
11745 Line numbers are displayed and the `.' command can be
11746 used to pick articles.
11748 *** Commands for moving the .newsrc.eld from one server to
11749 another have been added.
11751 `M-x gnus-change-server'
11753 *** A way to specify that "uninteresting" fields be suppressed when
11754 generating lines in buffers.
11756 *** Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with
11759 *** Scoring can be done on words using the new score type `w'.
11761 *** Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis:
11763 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
11765 *** Scores can be decayed.
11767 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
11769 *** Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The
11770 Date is normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first.
11772 *** A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
11775 `M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups'
11777 *** A new command for reading collections of documents
11778 (nndoc with nnvirtual on top) has been added -- `C-M-d'.
11780 *** Process mark sets can be pushed and popped.
11782 *** A new mail-to-news backend makes it possible to post
11783 even when the NNTP server doesn't allow posting.
11785 *** A new backend for reading searches from Web search engines
11786 (DejaNews, Alta Vista, InReference) has been added.
11788 Use the `G w' command in the group buffer to create such
11791 *** Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard
11792 sorting functions, and each topic can be sorted independently.
11794 See the commands under the `T S' submap.
11796 *** Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently.
11798 See the commands under the `G P' submap.
11800 *** Cached articles can be pulled into the groups.
11802 Use the `Y c' command.
11804 *** Score files are now applied in a more reliable order.
11806 *** Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated.
11808 `M-x nnmail-split-history'
11810 *** More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk
11811 from incoming mail before saving the mail.
11813 See `nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook'.
11815 *** The nnml mail backend now understands compressed article files.
11817 *** To enable Gnus to read/post multi-lingual articles, you must execute
11818 the following code, for instance, in your .emacs.
11820 (add-hook 'gnus-startup-hook 'gnus-mule-initialize)
11822 Then, when you start Gnus, it will decode non-ASCII text automatically
11823 and show appropriate characters. (Note: if you are using gnus-mime
11824 from the SEMI package, formerly known as TM, you should NOT add this
11825 hook to gnus-startup-hook; gnus-mime has its own method of handling
11828 Since it is impossible to distinguish all coding systems
11829 automatically, you may need to specify a choice of coding system for a
11830 particular news group. This can be done by:
11832 (gnus-mule-add-group NEWSGROUP 'CODING-SYSTEM)
11834 Here NEWSGROUP should be a string which names a newsgroup or a tree
11835 of newsgroups. If NEWSGROUP is "XXX.YYY", all news groups under
11836 "XXX.YYY" (including "XXX.YYY.ZZZ") will use the specified coding
11837 system. CODING-SYSTEM specifies which coding system to use (for both
11838 for reading and posting).
11840 CODING-SYSTEM can also be a cons cell of the form
11841 (READ-CODING-SYSTEM . POST-CODING-SYSTEM)
11842 Then READ-CODING-SYSTEM is used when you read messages from the
11843 newsgroups, while POST-CODING-SYSTEM is used when you post messages
11846 Emacs knows the right coding systems for certain newsgroups by
11847 default. Here are some of these default settings:
11849 (gnus-mule-add-group "fj" 'iso-2022-7)
11850 (gnus-mule-add-group "alt.chinese.text" 'hz-gb-2312)
11851 (gnus-mule-add-group "alt.hk" 'hz-gb-2312)
11852 (gnus-mule-add-group "alt.chinese.text.big5" 'cn-big5)
11853 (gnus-mule-add-group "soc.culture.vietnamese" '(nil . viqr))
11855 When you reply by mail to an article, these settings are ignored;
11856 the mail is encoded according to sendmail-coding-system, as usual.
11858 ** CC mode changes.
11860 *** If you edit primarily one style of C (or C++, Objective-C, Java)
11861 code, you may want to make the CC Mode style variables have global
11862 values so that you can set them directly in your .emacs file. To do
11863 this, set c-style-variables-are-local-p to nil in your .emacs file.
11864 Note that this only takes effect if you do it *before* cc-mode.el is
11867 If you typically edit more than one style of C (or C++, Objective-C,
11868 Java) code in a single Emacs session, you may want to make the CC Mode
11869 style variables have buffer local values. By default, all buffers
11870 share the same style variable settings; to make them buffer local, set
11871 c-style-variables-are-local-p to t in your .emacs file. Note that you
11872 must do this *before* CC Mode is loaded.
11874 *** The new variable c-indentation-style holds the C style name
11875 of the current buffer.
11877 *** The variable c-block-comments-indent-p has been deleted, because
11878 it is no longer necessary. C mode now handles all the supported styles
11879 of block comments, with no need to say which one you will use.
11881 *** There is a new indentation style "python", which specifies the C
11882 style that the Python developers like.
11884 *** There is a new c-cleanup-list option: brace-elseif-brace.
11885 This says to put ...} else if (...) {... on one line,
11886 just as brace-else-brace says to put ...} else {... on one line.
11888 ** VC Changes [new]
11890 *** In vc-retrieve-snapshot (C-x v r), if you don't specify a snapshot
11891 name, it retrieves the *latest* versions of all files in the current
11892 directory and its subdirectories (aside from files already locked).
11894 This feature is useful if your RCS directory is a link to a common
11895 master directory, and you want to pick up changes made by other
11898 You can do the same thing for an individual file by typing C-u C-x C-q
11899 RET in a buffer visiting that file.
11901 *** VC can now handle files under CVS that are being "watched" by
11902 other developers. Such files are made read-only by CVS. To get a
11903 writable copy, type C-x C-q in a buffer visiting such a file. VC then
11904 calls "cvs edit", which notifies the other developers of it.
11906 *** vc-version-diff (C-u C-x v =) now suggests reasonable defaults for
11907 version numbers, based on the current state of the file.
11909 ** Calendar changes.
11911 *** A new function, list-holidays, allows you list holidays or
11912 subclasses of holidays for ranges of years. Related menu items allow
11913 you do this for the year of the selected date, or the
11914 following/previous years.
11916 *** There is now support for the Baha'i calendar system. Use `pb' in
11917 the *Calendar* buffer to display the current Baha'i date. The Baha'i
11918 calendar, or "Badi calendar" is a system of 19 months with 19 days
11919 each, and 4 intercalary days (5 during a Gregorian leap year). The
11920 calendar begins May 23, 1844, with each of the months named after a
11921 supposed attribute of God.
11923 ** ps-print changes
11925 There are some new user variables and subgroups for customizing the page
11928 *** Headers & Footers (subgroup)
11930 Some printer systems print a header page and force the first page to
11931 be printed on the back of the header page when using duplex. If your
11932 printer system has this behavior, set variable
11933 `ps-banner-page-when-duplexing' to t.
11935 If variable `ps-banner-page-when-duplexing' is non-nil, it prints a
11936 blank page as the very first printed page. So, it behaves as if the
11937 very first character of buffer (or region) were a form feed ^L (\014).
11939 The variable `ps-spool-config' specifies who is responsible for
11940 setting duplex mode and page size. Valid values are:
11942 lpr-switches duplex and page size are configured by `ps-lpr-switches'.
11943 Don't forget to set `ps-lpr-switches' to select duplex
11944 printing for your printer.
11946 setpagedevice duplex and page size are configured by ps-print using the
11947 setpagedevice PostScript operator.
11949 nil duplex and page size are configured by ps-print *not* using
11950 the setpagedevice PostScript operator.
11952 The variable `ps-spool-tumble' specifies how the page images on
11953 opposite sides of a sheet are oriented with respect to each other. If
11954 `ps-spool-tumble' is nil, ps-print produces output suitable for
11955 bindings on the left or right. If `ps-spool-tumble' is non-nil,
11956 ps-print produces output suitable for bindings at the top or bottom.
11957 This variable takes effect only if `ps-spool-duplex' is non-nil.
11958 The default value is nil.
11960 The variable `ps-header-frame-alist' specifies a header frame
11961 properties alist. Valid frame properties are:
11963 fore-color Specify the foreground frame color.
11964 Value should be a float number between 0.0 (black
11965 color) and 1.0 (white color), or a string which is a
11966 color name, or a list of 3 float numbers which
11967 correspond to the Red Green Blue color scale, each
11968 float number between 0.0 (dark color) and 1.0 (bright
11969 color). The default is 0 ("black").
11971 back-color Specify the background frame color (similar to fore-color).
11972 The default is 0.9 ("gray90").
11974 shadow-color Specify the shadow color (similar to fore-color).
11975 The default is 0 ("black").
11977 border-color Specify the border color (similar to fore-color).
11978 The default is 0 ("black").
11980 border-width Specify the border width.
11981 The default is 0.4.
11983 Any other property is ignored.
11985 Don't change this alist directly; instead use Custom, or the
11986 `ps-value', `ps-get', `ps-put' and `ps-del' functions (see there for
11989 Ps-print can also print footers. The footer variables are:
11990 `ps-print-footer', `ps-footer-offset', `ps-print-footer-frame',
11991 `ps-footer-font-family', `ps-footer-font-size', `ps-footer-line-pad',
11992 `ps-footer-lines', `ps-left-footer', `ps-right-footer' and
11993 `ps-footer-frame-alist'. These variables are similar to those
11994 controlling headers.
11996 *** Color management (subgroup)
11998 If `ps-print-color-p' is non-nil, the buffer's text will be printed in
12001 *** Face Management (subgroup)
12003 If you need to print without worrying about face background colors,
12004 set the variable `ps-use-face-background' which specifies if face
12005 background should be used. Valid values are:
12007 t always use face background color.
12008 nil never use face background color.
12009 (face...) list of faces whose background color will be used.
12011 *** N-up printing (subgroup)
12013 The variable `ps-n-up-printing' specifies the number of pages per
12016 The variable `ps-n-up-margin' specifies the margin in points (pt)
12017 between the sheet border and the n-up printing.
12019 If variable `ps-n-up-border-p' is non-nil, a border is drawn around
12022 The variable `ps-n-up-filling' specifies how the page matrix is filled
12023 on each sheet of paper. Following are the valid values for
12024 `ps-n-up-filling' with a filling example using a 3x4 page matrix:
12026 `left-top' 1 2 3 4 `left-bottom' 9 10 11 12
12030 `right-top' 4 3 2 1 `right-bottom' 12 11 10 9
12034 `top-left' 1 4 7 10 `bottom-left' 3 6 9 12
12038 `top-right' 10 7 4 1 `bottom-right' 12 9 6 3
12042 Any other value is treated as `left-top'.
12044 *** Zebra stripes (subgroup)
12046 The variable `ps-zebra-color' controls the zebra stripes grayscale or
12049 The variable `ps-zebra-stripe-follow' specifies how zebra stripes
12050 continue on next page. Visually, valid values are (the character `+'
12051 to the right of each column indicates that a line is printed):
12053 `nil' `follow' `full' `full-follow'
12054 Current Page -------- ----------- --------- ----------------
12055 1 XXXXX + 1 XXXXXXXX + 1 XXXXXX + 1 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
12056 2 XXXXX + 2 XXXXXXXX + 2 XXXXXX + 2 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
12057 3 XXXXX + 3 XXXXXXXX + 3 XXXXXX + 3 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
12061 7 XXXXX + 7 XXXXXXXX + 7 XXXXXX + 7 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
12062 8 XXXXX + 8 XXXXXXXX + 8 XXXXXX + 8 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
12063 9 XXXXX + 9 XXXXXXXX + 9 XXXXXX + 9 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
12066 -------- ----------- --------- ----------------
12067 Next Page -------- ----------- --------- ----------------
12068 12 XXXXX + 12 + 10 XXXXXX + 10 +
12069 13 XXXXX + 13 XXXXXXXX + 11 XXXXXX + 11 +
12070 14 XXXXX + 14 XXXXXXXX + 12 XXXXXX + 12 +
12071 15 + 15 XXXXXXXX + 13 + 13 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
12072 16 + 16 + 14 + 14 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
12073 17 + 17 + 15 + 15 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
12074 18 XXXXX + 18 + 16 XXXXXX + 16 +
12075 19 XXXXX + 19 XXXXXXXX + 17 XXXXXX + 17 +
12076 20 XXXXX + 20 XXXXXXXX + 18 XXXXXX + 18 +
12079 -------- ----------- --------- ----------------
12081 Any other value is treated as `nil'.
12084 *** Printer management (subgroup)
12086 The variable `ps-printer-name-option' determines the option used by
12087 some utilities to indicate the printer name; it's used only when
12088 `ps-printer-name' is a non-empty string. If you're using the lpr
12089 utility to print, for example, `ps-printer-name-option' should be set
12092 The variable `ps-manual-feed' indicates if the printer requires manual
12093 paper feeding. If it's nil, automatic feeding takes place. If it's
12094 non-nil, manual feeding takes place.
12096 The variable `ps-end-with-control-d' specifies whether C-d (\x04)
12097 should be inserted at end of the generated PostScript. Non-nil means
12100 *** Page settings (subgroup)
12102 If variable `ps-warn-paper-type' is nil, it's *not* treated as an
12103 error if the PostScript printer doesn't have a paper with the size
12104 indicated by `ps-paper-type'; the default paper size will be used
12105 instead. If `ps-warn-paper-type' is non-nil, an error is signaled if
12106 the PostScript printer doesn't support a paper with the size indicated
12107 by `ps-paper-type'. This is used when `ps-spool-config' is set to
12110 The variable `ps-print-upside-down' determines the orientation for
12111 printing pages: nil means `normal' printing, non-nil means
12112 `upside-down' printing (that is, the page is rotated by 180 degrees).
12114 The variable `ps-selected-pages' specifies which pages to print. If
12115 it's nil, all pages are printed. If it's a list, list elements may be
12116 integers specifying a single page to print, or cons cells (FROM . TO)
12117 specifying to print from page FROM to TO. Invalid list elements, that
12118 is integers smaller than one, or elements whose FROM is greater than
12119 its TO, are ignored.
12121 The variable `ps-even-or-odd-pages' specifies how to print even/odd
12122 pages. Valid values are:
12124 nil print all pages.
12126 `even-page' print only even pages.
12128 `odd-page' print only odd pages.
12130 `even-sheet' print only even sheets.
12131 That is, if `ps-n-up-printing' is 1, it behaves like
12132 `even-page', but for values greater than 1, it'll
12133 print only the even sheet of paper.
12135 `odd-sheet' print only odd sheets.
12136 That is, if `ps-n-up-printing' is 1, it behaves like
12137 `odd-page'; but for values greater than 1, it'll print
12138 only the odd sheet of paper.
12140 Any other value is treated as nil.
12142 If you set `ps-selected-pages' (see there for documentation), pages
12143 are filtered by `ps-selected-pages', and then by
12144 `ps-even-or-odd-pages'. For example, if we have:
12146 (setq ps-selected-pages '(1 4 (6 . 10) (12 . 16) 20))
12148 and we combine this with `ps-even-or-odd-pages' and
12149 `ps-n-up-printing', we get:
12151 `ps-n-up-printing' = 1:
12152 `ps-even-or-odd-pages' PAGES PRINTED
12153 nil 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 20
12154 even-page 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 20
12155 odd-page 1, 7, 9, 13, 15
12156 even-sheet 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 20
12157 odd-sheet 1, 7, 9, 13, 15
12159 `ps-n-up-printing' = 2:
12160 `ps-even-or-odd-pages' PAGES PRINTED
12161 nil 1/4, 6/7, 8/9, 10/12, 13/14, 15/16, 20
12162 even-page 4/6, 8/10, 12/14, 16/20
12163 odd-page 1/7, 9/13, 15
12164 even-sheet 6/7, 10/12, 15/16
12165 odd-sheet 1/4, 8/9, 13/14, 20
12167 *** Miscellany (subgroup)
12169 The variable `ps-error-handler-message' specifies where error handler
12170 messages should be sent.
12172 It is also possible to add a user-defined PostScript prologue code in
12173 front of all generated prologue code by setting the variable
12174 `ps-user-defined-prologue'.
12176 The variable `ps-line-number-font' specifies the font for line numbers.
12178 The variable `ps-line-number-font-size' specifies the font size in
12179 points for line numbers.
12181 The variable `ps-line-number-color' specifies the color for line
12182 numbers. See `ps-zebra-color' for documentation.
12184 The variable `ps-line-number-step' specifies the interval in which
12185 line numbers are printed. For example, if `ps-line-number-step' is set
12186 to 2, the printing will look like:
12198 integer an integer specifying the interval in which line numbers are
12199 printed. If it's smaller than or equal to zero, 1
12202 `zebra' specifies that only the line number of the first line in a
12203 zebra stripe is to be printed.
12205 Any other value is treated as `zebra'.
12207 The variable `ps-line-number-start' specifies the starting point in
12208 the interval given by `ps-line-number-step'. For example, if
12209 `ps-line-number-step' is set to 3, and `ps-line-number-start' is set to
12210 3, the output will look like:
12224 The variable `ps-postscript-code-directory' specifies the directory
12225 where the PostScript prologue file used by ps-print is found.
12227 The variable `ps-line-spacing' determines the line spacing in points,
12228 for ordinary text, when generating PostScript (similar to
12231 The variable `ps-paragraph-spacing' determines the paragraph spacing,
12232 in points, for ordinary text, when generating PostScript (similar to
12235 The variable `ps-paragraph-regexp' specifies the paragraph delimiter.
12237 The variable `ps-begin-cut-regexp' and `ps-end-cut-regexp' specify the
12238 start and end of a region to cut out when printing.
12240 ** hideshow changes.
12242 *** now supports hiding of blocks of single line comments (like // for
12245 *** Support for java-mode added.
12247 *** When doing `hs-hide-all' it is now possible to also hide the comments
12248 in the file if `hs-hide-comments-when-hiding-all' is set.
12250 *** The new function `hs-hide-initial-comment' hides the comments at
12251 the beginning of the files. Finally those huge RCS logs don't stay in your
12252 way! This is run by default when entering the `hs-minor-mode'.
12254 *** Now uses overlays instead of `selective-display', so is more
12255 robust and a lot faster.
12257 *** A block beginning can span multiple lines.
12259 *** The new variable `hs-show-hidden-short-form' if t, directs hideshow
12260 to show only the beginning of a block when it is hidden. See the
12261 documentation for more details.
12263 ** Changes in Enriched mode.
12265 *** When you visit a file in enriched-mode, Emacs will make sure it is
12266 filled to the current fill-column. This behavior is now independent
12267 of the size of the window. When you save the file, the fill-column in
12268 use is stored as well, so that the whole buffer need not be refilled
12269 the next time unless the fill-column is different.
12271 *** use-hard-newlines is now a minor mode. When it is enabled, Emacs
12272 distinguishes between hard and soft newlines, and treats hard newlines
12273 as paragraph boundaries. Otherwise all newlines inserted are marked
12274 as soft, and paragraph boundaries are determined solely from the text.
12280 The variables font-lock-face-attributes, font-lock-display-type and
12281 font-lock-background-mode are now obsolete; the recommended way to specify the
12282 faces to use for Font Lock mode is with M-x customize-group on the new custom
12283 group font-lock-highlighting-faces. If you set font-lock-face-attributes in
12284 your ~/.emacs file, Font Lock mode will respect its value. However, you should
12285 consider converting from setting that variable to using M-x customize.
12287 You can still use X resources to specify Font Lock face appearances.
12289 *** Maximum decoration
12291 Fontification now uses the maximum level of decoration supported by
12292 default. Previously, fontification used a mode-specific default level
12293 of decoration, which is typically the minimum level of decoration
12294 supported. You can set font-lock-maximum-decoration to nil
12295 to get the old behavior.
12299 Support is now provided for Java, Objective-C, AWK and SIMULA modes.
12301 Note that Font Lock mode can be turned on without knowing exactly what modes
12302 support Font Lock mode, via the command global-font-lock-mode.
12304 *** Configurable support
12306 Support for C, C++, Objective-C and Java can be more easily configured for
12307 additional types and classes via the new variables c-font-lock-extra-types,
12308 c++-font-lock-extra-types, objc-font-lock-extra-types and, you guessed it,
12309 java-font-lock-extra-types. These value of each of these variables should be a
12310 list of regexps matching the extra type names. For example, the default value
12311 of c-font-lock-extra-types is ("\\sw+_t") which means fontification follows the
12312 convention that C type names end in _t. This results in slower fontification.
12314 Of course, you can change the variables that specify fontification in whatever
12315 way you wish, typically by adding regexps. However, these new variables make
12316 it easier to make specific and common changes for the fontification of types.
12318 *** Adding highlighting patterns to existing support
12320 You can use the new function font-lock-add-keywords to add your own
12321 highlighting patterns, such as for project-local or user-specific constructs,
12324 For example, to highlight `FIXME:' words in C comments, put:
12326 (font-lock-add-keywords 'c-mode '(("\\<FIXME:" 0 font-lock-warning-face t)))
12332 Font Lock now defines two new faces, font-lock-builtin-face and
12333 font-lock-warning-face. These are intended to highlight builtin keywords,
12334 distinct from a language's normal keywords, and objects that should be brought
12335 to user attention, respectively. Various modes now use these new faces.
12337 *** Changes to fast-lock support mode
12339 The fast-lock package, one of the two Font Lock support modes, can now process
12340 cache files silently. You can use the new variable fast-lock-verbose, in the
12341 same way as font-lock-verbose, to control this feature.
12343 *** Changes to lazy-lock support mode
12345 The lazy-lock package, one of the two Font Lock support modes, can now fontify
12346 according to the true syntactic context relative to other lines. You can use
12347 the new variable lazy-lock-defer-contextually to control this feature. If
12348 non-nil, changes to the buffer will cause subsequent lines in the buffer to be
12349 refontified after lazy-lock-defer-time seconds of idle time. If nil, then only
12350 the modified lines will be refontified; this is the same as the previous Lazy
12351 Lock mode behavior and the behavior of Font Lock mode.
12353 This feature is useful in modes where strings or comments can span lines.
12354 For example, if a string or comment terminating character is deleted, then if
12355 this feature is enabled subsequent lines in the buffer will be correctly
12356 refontified to reflect their new syntactic context. Previously, only the line
12357 containing the deleted character would be refontified and you would have to use
12358 the command M-g M-g (font-lock-fontify-block) to refontify some lines.
12360 As a consequence of this new feature, two other variables have changed:
12362 Variable `lazy-lock-defer-driven' is renamed `lazy-lock-defer-on-scrolling'.
12363 Variable `lazy-lock-defer-time' can now only be a time, i.e., a number.
12364 Buffer modes for which on-the-fly deferral applies can be specified via the
12365 new variable `lazy-lock-defer-on-the-fly'.
12367 If you set these variables in your ~/.emacs, then you may have to change those
12370 ** Ada mode changes.
12372 *** There is now better support for using find-file.el with Ada mode.
12373 If you switch between spec and body, the cursor stays in the same
12374 procedure (modulo overloading). If a spec has no body file yet, but
12375 you try to switch to its body file, Ada mode now generates procedure
12378 *** There are two new commands:
12379 - `ada-make-local' : invokes gnatmake on the current buffer
12380 - `ada-check-syntax' : check syntax of current buffer.
12382 The user options `ada-compiler-make', `ada-make-options',
12383 `ada-language-version', `ada-compiler-syntax-check', and
12384 `ada-compile-options' are used within these commands.
12386 *** Ada mode can now work with Outline minor mode. The outline level
12387 is calculated from the indenting, not from syntactic constructs.
12388 Outlining does not work if your code is not correctly indented.
12390 *** The new function `ada-gnat-style' converts the buffer to the style of
12391 formatting used in GNAT. It places two blanks after a comment start,
12392 places one blank between a word end and an opening '(', and puts one
12393 space between a comma and the beginning of a word.
12395 ** Scheme mode changes.
12397 *** Scheme mode indentation now uses many of the facilities of Lisp
12398 mode; therefore, the variables to customize it are the variables used
12399 for Lisp mode which have names starting with `lisp-'. The variables
12400 with names starting with `scheme-' which used to do this no longer
12403 If you want to use different indentation for Scheme and Lisp, this is
12404 still possible, but now you must do it by adding a hook to
12405 scheme-mode-hook, which could work by setting the `lisp-' indentation
12406 variables as buffer-local variables.
12408 *** DSSSL mode is a variant of Scheme mode, for editing DSSSL scripts.
12409 Use M-x dsssl-mode.
12411 ** Changes to the emacsclient program
12413 *** If a socket can't be found, and environment variables LOGNAME or
12414 USER are set, emacsclient now looks for a socket based on the UID
12415 associated with the name. That is an emacsclient running as root
12416 can connect to an Emacs server started by a non-root user.
12418 *** The emacsclient program now accepts an option --no-wait which tells
12419 it to return immediately without waiting for you to "finish" the
12422 *** The new option --alternate-editor allows to specify an editor to
12423 use if Emacs is not running. The environment variable
12424 ALTERNATE_EDITOR can be used for the same effect; the command line
12425 option takes precedence.
12427 ** M-x eldoc-mode enables a minor mode in which the echo area
12428 constantly shows the parameter list for function being called at point
12429 (in Emacs Lisp and Lisp Interaction modes only).
12431 ** C-x n d now runs the new command narrow-to-defun,
12432 which narrows the accessible parts of the buffer to just
12435 ** Emacs now handles the `--' argument in the standard way; all
12436 following arguments are treated as ordinary file names.
12438 ** On MSDOS and Windows, the bookmark file is now called _emacs.bmk,
12439 and the saved desktop file is now called _emacs.desktop (truncated if
12442 ** When you kill a buffer that visits a file,
12443 if there are any registers that save positions in the file,
12444 these register values no longer become completely useless.
12445 If you try to go to such a register with C-x j, then you are
12446 asked whether to visit the file again. If you say yes,
12447 it visits the file and then goes to the same position.
12449 ** When you visit a file that changes frequently outside Emacs--for
12450 example, a log of output from a process that continues to run--it may
12451 be useful for Emacs to revert the file without querying you whenever
12452 you visit the file afresh with C-x C-f.
12454 You can request this behavior for certain files by setting the
12455 variable revert-without-query to a list of regular expressions. If a
12456 file's name matches any of these regular expressions, find-file and
12457 revert-buffer revert the buffer without asking for permission--but
12458 only if you have not edited the buffer text yourself.
12460 ** set-default-font has been renamed to set-frame-font
12461 since it applies only to the current frame.
12463 ** In TeX mode, you can use the variable tex-main-file to specify the
12464 file for tex-file to run TeX on. (By default, tex-main-file is nil,
12465 and tex-file runs TeX on the current visited file.)
12467 This is useful when you are editing a document that consists of
12468 multiple files. In each of the included files, you can set up a local
12469 variable list which specifies the top-level file of your document for
12470 tex-main-file. Then tex-file will run TeX on the whole document
12471 instead of just the file you are editing.
12475 RefTeX mode is a new minor mode with special support for \label, \ref
12476 and \cite macros in LaTeX documents. RefTeX distinguishes labels of
12477 different environments (equation, figure, ...) and has full support for
12478 multifile documents. To use it, select a buffer with a LaTeX document and
12479 turn the mode on with M-x reftex-mode. Here are the main user commands:
12482 Creates a label semi-automatically. RefTeX is context sensitive and
12483 knows which kind of label is needed.
12485 C-c ) reftex-reference
12486 Offers in a menu all labels in the document, along with context of the
12487 label definition. The selected label is referenced as \ref{LABEL}.
12489 C-c [ reftex-citation
12490 Prompts for a regular expression and displays a list of matching BibTeX
12491 database entries. The selected entry is cited with a \cite{KEY} macro.
12493 C-c & reftex-view-crossref
12494 Views the cross reference of a \ref or \cite command near point.
12497 Shows a table of contents of the (multifile) document. From there you
12498 can quickly jump to every section.
12500 Under X, RefTeX installs a "Ref" menu in the menu bar, with additional
12501 commands. Press `?' to get help when a prompt mentions this feature.
12502 Full documentation and customization examples are in the file
12503 reftex.el. You can use the finder to view the file documentation:
12504 C-h p --> tex --> reftex.el
12506 ** Changes in BibTeX mode.
12508 *** Info documentation is now available.
12510 *** Don't allow parentheses in string constants anymore. This confused
12511 both the BibTeX program and Emacs BibTeX mode.
12513 *** Renamed variable bibtex-mode-user-optional-fields to
12514 bibtex-user-optional-fields.
12516 *** Removed variable bibtex-include-OPTannote
12517 (use bibtex-user-optional-fields instead).
12519 *** New interactive functions to copy and kill fields and complete
12520 entries to the BibTeX kill ring, from where they can be yanked back by
12521 appropriate functions.
12523 *** New interactive functions for repositioning and marking of
12524 entries. They are bound by default to C-M-l and C-M-h.
12526 *** New hook bibtex-clean-entry-hook. It is called after entry has
12529 *** New variable bibtex-field-delimiters, which replaces variables
12530 bibtex-field-{left|right}-delimiter.
12532 *** New variable bibtex-entry-delimiters to determine how entries
12533 shall be delimited.
12535 *** Allow preinitialization of fields. See documentation of
12536 bibtex-user-optional-fields, bibtex-entry-field-alist, and
12537 bibtex-include-OPTkey for details.
12539 *** Book and InBook entries require either an author or an editor
12540 field. This is now supported by bibtex.el. Alternative fields are
12541 prefixed with `ALT'.
12543 *** New variable bibtex-entry-format, which replaces variable
12544 bibtex-clean-entry-zap-empty-opts and allows specification of many
12545 formatting options performed on cleaning an entry (see variable
12548 *** Even more control on how automatic keys are generated. See
12549 documentation of bibtex-generate-autokey for details. Transcriptions
12550 for foreign languages other than German are now handled, too.
12552 *** New boolean user option bibtex-comma-after-last-field to decide if
12553 comma should be inserted at end of last field.
12555 *** New boolean user option bibtex-align-at-equal-sign to determine if
12556 alignment should be made at left side of field contents or at equal
12557 signs. New user options to control entry layout (e.g. indentation).
12559 *** New function bibtex-fill-entry to realign entries.
12561 *** New function bibtex-reformat to reformat region or buffer.
12563 *** New function bibtex-convert-alien to convert a BibTeX database
12564 from alien sources.
12566 *** New function bibtex-complete-key (similar to bibtex-complete-string)
12567 to complete prefix to a key defined in buffer. Mainly useful in
12570 *** New function bibtex-count-entries to count entries in buffer or
12573 *** Added support for imenu.
12575 *** The function `bibtex-validate' now checks current region instead
12576 of buffer if mark is active. Now it shows all errors of buffer in a
12577 `compilation mode' buffer. You can use the normal commands (e.g.
12578 `next-error') for compilation modes to jump to errors.
12580 *** New variable `bibtex-string-file-path' to determine where the files
12581 from `bibtex-string-files' are searched.
12583 ** Iso Accents mode now supports Latin-3 as an alternative.
12585 ** The command next-error now opens blocks hidden by hideshow.
12587 ** The function using-unix-filesystems has been replaced by the
12588 functions add-untranslated-filesystem and remove-untranslated-filesystem.
12589 Each of these functions takes the name of a drive letter or directory
12592 When a filesystem is added as untranslated, all files on it are read
12593 and written in binary mode (no cr/lf translation is performed).
12595 ** browse-url changes
12597 *** New methods for: Grail (browse-url-generic), MMM (browse-url-mmm),
12598 Lynx in a separate xterm (browse-url-lynx-xterm) or in an Emacs window
12599 (browse-url-lynx-emacs), remote W3 (browse-url-w3-gnudoit), generic
12600 non-remote-controlled browsers (browse-url-generic) and associated
12601 customization variables.
12603 *** New commands `browse-url-of-region' and `browse-url'.
12605 *** URLs marked up with <URL:...> (RFC1738) work if broken across
12606 lines. Browsing methods can be associated with URL regexps
12607 (e.g. mailto: URLs) via `browse-url-browser-function'.
12609 ** Changes in Ediff
12611 *** Clicking Mouse-2 on a brief command description in Ediff control panel
12612 pops up the Info file for this command.
12614 *** There is now a variable, ediff-autostore-merges, which controls whether
12615 the result of a merge is saved in a file. By default, this is done only when
12616 merge is done from a session group (eg, when merging files in two different
12619 *** Since Emacs 19.31 (this hasn't been announced before), Ediff can compare
12620 and merge groups of files residing in different directories, or revisions of
12621 files in the same directory.
12623 *** Since Emacs 19.31, Ediff can apply multi-file patches interactively.
12624 The patches must be in the context format or GNU unified format. (The bug
12625 related to the GNU format has now been fixed.)
12627 ** Changes in Viper
12629 *** The startup file is now .viper instead of .vip
12630 *** All variable/function names have been changed to start with viper-
12632 *** C-\ now simulates the meta-key in all Viper states.
12633 *** C-z in Insert state now escapes to Vi for the duration of the next
12634 Viper command. In Vi and Insert states, C-z behaves as before.
12635 *** C-c \ escapes to Vi for one command if Viper is in Insert or Emacs states.
12636 *** _ is no longer the meta-key in Vi state.
12637 *** The variable viper-insert-state-cursor-color can be used to change cursor
12638 color when Viper is in insert state.
12639 *** If search lands the cursor near the top or the bottom of the window,
12640 Viper pulls the window up or down to expose more context. The variable
12641 viper-adjust-window-after-search controls this behavior.
12645 *** In C, C++, Objective C and Java, Etags tags global variables by
12646 default. The resulting tags files are inflated by 30% on average.
12647 Use --no-globals to turn this feature off. Etags can also tag
12648 variables which are members of structure-like constructs, but it does
12649 not by default. Use --members to turn this feature on.
12651 *** C++ member functions are now recognized as tags.
12653 *** Java is tagged like C++. In addition, "extends" and "implements"
12654 constructs are tagged. Files are recognised by the extension .java.
12656 *** Etags can now handle programs written in Postscript. Files are
12657 recognised by the extensions .ps and .pdb (Postscript with C syntax).
12658 In Postscript, tags are lines that start with a slash.
12660 *** Etags now handles Objective C and Objective C++ code. The usual C and
12661 C++ tags are recognized in these languages; in addition, etags
12662 recognizes special Objective C syntax for classes, class categories,
12663 methods and protocols.
12665 *** Etags also handles Cobol. Files are recognised by the extension
12666 .cobol. The tagged lines are those containing a word that begins in
12667 column 8 and ends in a full stop, i.e. anything that could be a
12670 *** Regexps in Etags now support intervals, as in ed or grep. The syntax of
12671 an interval is \{M,N\}, and it means to match the preceding expression
12672 at least M times and as many as N times.
12674 ** The format for specifying a custom format for time-stamp to insert
12675 in files has changed slightly.
12677 With the new enhancements to the functionality of format-time-string,
12678 time-stamp-format will change to be eventually compatible with it.
12679 This conversion is being done in two steps to maintain compatibility
12680 with old time-stamp-format values.
12682 In the new scheme, alternate case is signified by the number-sign
12683 (`#') modifier, rather than changing the case of the format character.
12684 This feature is as yet incompletely implemented for compatibility
12687 In the old time-stamp-format, all numeric fields defaulted to their
12688 natural width. (With format-time-string, each format has a
12689 fixed-width default.) In this version, you can specify the colon
12690 (`:') modifier to a numeric conversion to mean "give me the historical
12691 time-stamp-format width default." Do not use colon if you are
12692 specifying an explicit width, as in "%02d".
12694 Numbers are no longer truncated to the requested width, except in the
12695 case of "%02y", which continues to give a two-digit year. Digit
12696 truncation probably wasn't being used for anything else anyway.
12698 The new formats will work with old versions of Emacs. New formats are
12699 being recommended now to allow time-stamp-format to change in the
12700 future to be compatible with format-time-string. The new forms being
12701 recommended now will continue to work then.
12703 See the documentation string for the variable time-stamp-format for
12706 ** There are some additional major modes:
12708 dcl-mode, for editing VMS DCL files.
12709 m4-mode, for editing files of m4 input.
12710 meta-mode, for editing MetaFont and MetaPost source files.
12712 ** In Shell mode, the command shell-copy-environment-variable lets you
12713 copy the value of a specified environment variable from the subshell
12716 ** New Lisp packages include:
12718 *** battery.el displays battery status for laptops.
12720 *** M-x bruce (named after Lenny Bruce) is a program that might
12721 be used for adding some indecent words to your email.
12723 *** M-x crisp-mode enables an emulation for the CRiSP editor.
12725 *** M-x dirtrack arranges for better tracking of directory changes
12728 *** The new library elint.el provides for linting of Emacs Lisp code.
12729 See the documentation for `elint-initialize', `elint-current-buffer'
12732 *** M-x expand-add-abbrevs defines a special kind of abbrev which is
12733 meant for programming constructs. These abbrevs expand like ordinary
12734 ones, when you type SPC, but only at the end of a line and not within
12735 strings or comments.
12737 These abbrevs can act as templates: you can define places within an
12738 abbrev for insertion of additional text. Once you expand the abbrev,
12739 you can then use C-x a p and C-x a n to move back and forth to these
12740 insertion points. Thus you can conveniently insert additional text
12743 *** filecache.el remembers the location of files so that you
12744 can visit them by short forms of their names.
12746 *** find-func.el lets you find the definition of the user-loaded
12747 Emacs Lisp function at point.
12749 *** M-x handwrite converts text to a "handwritten" picture.
12751 *** M-x iswitchb-buffer is a command for switching to a buffer, much like
12752 switch-buffer, but it reads the argument in a more helpful way.
12754 *** M-x landmark implements a neural network for landmark learning.
12756 *** M-x locate provides a convenient interface to the `locate' program.
12758 *** M4 mode is a new mode for editing files of m4 input.
12760 *** mantemp.el creates C++ manual template instantiations
12761 from the GCC error messages which indicate which instantiations are needed.
12763 *** mouse-copy.el provides a one-click copy and move feature.
12764 You can drag a region with M-mouse-1, and it is automatically
12765 inserted at point. M-Shift-mouse-1 deletes the text from its
12766 original place after inserting the copy.
12768 *** mouse-drag.el lets you do scrolling by dragging Mouse-2
12771 You click the mouse and move; that distance either translates into the
12772 velocity to scroll (with mouse-drag-throw) or the distance to scroll
12773 (with mouse-drag-drag). Horizontal scrolling is enabled when needed.
12775 Enable mouse-drag with:
12776 (global-set-key [down-mouse-2] 'mouse-drag-throw)
12778 (global-set-key [down-mouse-2] 'mouse-drag-drag)
12780 *** mspools.el is useful for determining which mail folders have
12781 mail waiting to be read in them. It works with procmail.
12783 *** Octave mode is a major mode for editing files of input for Octave.
12784 It comes with a facility for communicating with an Octave subprocess.
12788 The ogonek package provides functions for changing the coding of
12789 Polish diacritic characters in buffers. Codings known from various
12790 platforms are supported such as ISO8859-2, Mazovia, IBM Latin2, and
12791 TeX. For example, you can change the coding from Mazovia to
12792 ISO8859-2. Another example is a change of coding from ISO8859-2 to
12793 prefix notation (in which `/a' stands for the aogonek character, for
12794 instance) and vice versa.
12796 To use this package load it using
12797 M-x load-library [enter] ogonek
12798 Then, you may get an explanation by calling one of
12799 M-x ogonek-jak -- in Polish
12800 M-x ogonek-how -- in English
12801 The info specifies the commands and variables provided as well as the
12802 ways of customization in `.emacs'.
12804 *** Interface to ph.
12806 Emacs provides a client interface to CCSO Nameservers (ph/qi)
12808 The CCSO nameserver is used in many universities to provide directory
12809 services about people. ph.el provides a convenient Emacs interface to
12812 *** uce.el is useful for replying to unsolicited commercial email.
12814 *** vcursor.el implements a "virtual cursor" feature.
12815 You can move the virtual cursor with special commands
12816 while the real cursor does not move.
12818 *** webjump.el is a "hot list" package which you can set up
12819 for visiting your favorite web sites.
12821 *** M-x winner-mode is a minor mode which saves window configurations,
12822 so you can move back to other configurations that you have recently used.
12826 Movemail no longer needs to be installed setuid root in order for POP
12827 mail retrieval to function properly. This is because it no longer
12828 supports the RPOP (reserved-port POP) protocol; instead, it uses the
12829 user's POP password to authenticate to the mail server.
12831 This change was made earlier, but not reported in NEWS before.
12833 * Emacs 20.1 changes for MS-DOS and MS-Windows.
12835 ** Changes in handling MS-DOS/MS-Windows text files.
12837 Emacs handles three different conventions for representing
12838 end-of-line: CRLF for MSDOS, LF for Unix and GNU, and CR (used on the
12839 Macintosh). Emacs determines which convention is used in a specific
12840 file based on the contents of that file (except for certain special
12841 file names), and when it saves the file, it uses the same convention.
12843 To save the file and change the end-of-line convention, you can use
12844 C-x RET f (set-buffer-file-coding-system) to specify a different
12845 coding system for the buffer. Then, when you save the file, the newly
12846 specified coding system will take effect. For example, to save with
12847 LF, specify undecided-unix (or some other ...-unix coding system); to
12848 save with CRLF, specify undecided-dos.
12850 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 20.1
12852 ** Byte-compiled files made with Emacs 20 will, in general, work in
12853 Emacs 19 as well, as long as the source code runs in Emacs 19. And
12854 vice versa: byte-compiled files made with Emacs 19 should also run in
12855 Emacs 20, as long as the program itself works in Emacs 20.
12857 ** Windows-specific functions and variables have been renamed
12858 to start with w32- instead of win32-.
12860 In hacker language, calling something a "win" is a form of praise. We
12861 don't want to praise a non-free Microsoft system, so we don't call it
12864 ** Basic Lisp changes
12866 *** A symbol whose name starts with a colon now automatically
12867 evaluates to itself. Therefore such a symbol can be used as a constant.
12869 *** The defined purpose of `defconst' has been changed. It should now
12870 be used only for values that should not be changed whether by a program
12873 The actual behavior of defconst has not been changed.
12875 *** There are new macros `when' and `unless'
12877 (when CONDITION BODY...) is short for (if CONDITION (progn BODY...))
12878 (unless CONDITION BODY...) is short for (if CONDITION nil BODY...)
12880 *** Emacs now defines functions caar, cadr, cdar and cddr with their
12881 usual Lisp meanings. For example, caar returns the car of the car of
12884 *** equal, when comparing strings, now ignores their text properties.
12886 *** The new function `functionp' tests whether an object is a function.
12888 *** arrayp now returns t for char-tables and bool-vectors.
12890 *** Certain primitives which use characters (as integers) now get an
12891 error if the integer is not a valid character code. These primitives
12892 include insert-char, char-to-string, and the %c construct in the
12895 *** The `require' function now insists on adding a suffix, either .el
12896 or .elc, to the file name. Thus, (require 'foo) will not use a file
12897 whose name is just foo. It insists on foo.el or foo.elc.
12899 *** The `autoload' function, when the file name does not contain
12900 either a directory name or the suffix .el or .elc, insists on
12901 adding one of these suffixes.
12903 *** string-to-number now takes an optional second argument BASE
12904 which specifies the base to use when converting an integer.
12905 If BASE is omitted, base 10 is used.
12907 We have not implemented other radices for floating point numbers,
12908 because that would be much more work and does not seem useful.
12910 *** substring now handles vectors as well as strings.
12912 *** The Common Lisp function eql is no longer defined normally.
12913 You must load the `cl' library to define it.
12915 *** The new macro `with-current-buffer' lets you evaluate an expression
12916 conveniently with a different current buffer. It looks like this:
12918 (with-current-buffer BUFFER BODY-FORMS...)
12920 BUFFER is the expression that says which buffer to use.
12921 BODY-FORMS say what to do in that buffer.
12923 *** The new primitive `save-current-buffer' saves and restores the
12924 choice of current buffer, like `save-excursion', but without saving or
12925 restoring the value of point or the mark. `with-current-buffer'
12926 works using `save-current-buffer'.
12928 *** The new macro `with-temp-file' lets you do some work in a new buffer and
12929 write the output to a specified file. Like `progn', it returns the value
12932 *** The new macro `with-temp-buffer' lets you do some work in a new buffer,
12933 which is discarded after use. Like `progn', it returns the value of the
12934 last form. If you wish to return the buffer contents, use (buffer-string)
12937 *** The new function split-string takes a string, splits it at certain
12938 characters, and returns a list of the substrings in between the
12941 For example, (split-string "foo bar lose" " +") returns ("foo" "bar" "lose").
12943 *** The new macro with-output-to-string executes some Lisp expressions
12944 with standard-output set up so that all output feeds into a string.
12945 Then it returns that string.
12947 For example, if the current buffer name is `foo',
12949 (with-output-to-string
12950 (princ "The buffer is ")
12951 (princ (buffer-name)))
12953 returns "The buffer is foo".
12955 ** Non-ASCII characters are now supported, if enable-multibyte-characters
12958 These characters have character codes above 256. When inserted in the
12959 buffer or stored in a string, they are represented as multibyte
12960 characters that occupy several buffer positions each.
12962 *** When enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil, a single character in
12963 a buffer or string can be two or more bytes (as many as four).
12965 Buffers and strings are still made up of unibyte elements;
12966 character positions and string indices are always measured in bytes.
12967 Therefore, moving forward one character can increase the buffer
12968 position by 2, 3 or 4. The function forward-char moves by whole
12969 characters, and therefore is no longer equivalent to
12970 (lambda (n) (goto-char (+ (point) n))).
12972 ASCII characters (codes 0 through 127) are still single bytes, always.
12973 Sequences of byte values 128 through 255 are used to represent
12974 non-ASCII characters. These sequences are called "multibyte
12977 The first byte of a multibyte character is always in the range 128
12978 through 159 (octal 0200 through 0237). These values are called
12979 "leading codes". The second and subsequent bytes are always in the
12980 range 160 through 255 (octal 0240 through 0377). The first byte, the
12981 leading code, determines how many bytes long the sequence is.
12983 *** The function forward-char moves over characters, and therefore
12984 (forward-char 1) may increase point by more than 1 if it moves over a
12985 multibyte character. Likewise, delete-char always deletes a
12986 character, which may be more than one buffer position.
12988 This means that some Lisp programs, which assume that a character is
12989 always one buffer position, need to be changed.
12991 However, all ASCII characters are always one buffer position.
12993 *** The regexp [\200-\377] no longer matches all non-ASCII characters,
12994 because when enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil, these characters
12995 have codes that are not in the range octal 200 to octal 377. However,
12996 the regexp [^\000-\177] does match all non-ASCII characters,
12999 *** The function char-boundary-p returns non-nil if position POS is
13000 between two characters in the buffer (not in the middle of a
13003 When the value is non-nil, it says what kind of character follows POS:
13005 0 if POS is at an ASCII character or at the end of range,
13006 1 if POS is before a 2-byte length multi-byte form,
13007 2 if POS is at a head of 3-byte length multi-byte form,
13008 3 if POS is at a head of 4-byte length multi-byte form,
13009 4 if POS is at a head of multi-byte form of a composite character.
13011 *** The function char-bytes returns how many bytes the character CHAR uses.
13013 *** Strings can contain multibyte characters. The function
13014 `length' returns the string length counting bytes, which may be
13015 more than the number of characters.
13017 You can include a multibyte character in a string constant by writing
13018 it literally. You can also represent it with a hex escape,
13019 \xNNNNNNN..., using as many digits as necessary. Any character which
13020 is not a valid hex digit terminates this construct. If you want to
13021 follow it with a character that is a hex digit, write backslash and
13022 newline in between; that will terminate the hex escape.
13024 *** The function concat-chars takes arguments which are characters
13025 and returns a string containing those characters.
13027 *** The function sref access a multibyte character in a string.
13028 (sref STRING INDX) returns the character in STRING at INDEX. INDEX
13029 counts from zero. If INDEX is at a position in the middle of a
13030 character, sref signals an error.
13032 *** The function chars-in-string returns the number of characters
13033 in a string. This is less than the length of the string, if the
13034 string contains multibyte characters (the length counts bytes).
13036 *** The function chars-in-region returns the number of characters
13037 in a region from BEG to END. This is less than (- END BEG) if the
13038 region contains multibyte characters (the length counts bytes).
13040 *** The function string-to-list converts a string to a list of
13041 the characters in it. string-to-vector converts a string
13042 to a vector of the characters in it.
13044 *** The function store-substring alters part of the contents
13045 of a string. You call it as follows:
13047 (store-substring STRING IDX OBJ)
13049 This says to alter STRING, by storing OBJ starting at index IDX in
13050 STRING. OBJ may be either a character or a (smaller) string.
13051 This function really does alter the contents of STRING.
13052 Since it is impossible to change the length of an existing string,
13053 it is an error if OBJ doesn't fit within STRING's actual length.
13055 *** char-width returns the width (in columns) of the character CHAR,
13056 if it were displayed in the current buffer and the selected window.
13058 *** string-width returns the width (in columns) of the text in STRING,
13059 if it were displayed in the current buffer and the selected window.
13061 *** truncate-string-to-width shortens a string, if necessary,
13062 to fit within a certain number of columns. (Of course, it does
13063 not alter the string that you give it; it returns a new string
13064 which contains all or just part of the existing string.)
13066 (truncate-string-to-width STR END-COLUMN &optional START-COLUMN PADDING)
13068 This returns the part of STR up to column END-COLUMN.
13070 The optional argument START-COLUMN specifies the starting column.
13071 If this is non-nil, then the first START-COLUMN columns of the string
13072 are not included in the resulting value.
13074 The optional argument PADDING, if non-nil, is a padding character to be added
13075 at the beginning and end the resulting string, to extend it to exactly
13076 WIDTH columns. If PADDING is nil, that means do not pad; then, if STRING
13077 is narrower than WIDTH, the value is equal to STRING.
13079 If PADDING and START-COLUMN are both non-nil, and if there is no clean
13080 place in STRING that corresponds to START-COLUMN (because one
13081 character extends across that column), then the padding character
13082 PADDING is added one or more times at the beginning of the result
13083 string, so that its columns line up as if it really did start at
13084 column START-COLUMN.
13086 *** When the functions in the list after-change-functions are called,
13087 the third argument is the number of bytes in the pre-change text, not
13088 necessarily the number of characters. It is, in effect, the
13089 difference in buffer position between the beginning and the end of the
13090 changed text, before the change.
13092 *** The characters Emacs uses are classified in various character
13093 sets, each of which has a name which is a symbol. In general there is
13094 one character set for each script, not for each language.
13096 **** The function charsetp tests whether an object is a character set name.
13098 **** The variable charset-list holds a list of character set names.
13100 **** char-charset, given a character code, returns the name of the character
13101 set that the character belongs to. (The value is a symbol.)
13103 **** split-char, given a character code, returns a list containing the
13104 name of the character set, followed by one or two byte-values
13105 which identify the character within that character set.
13107 **** make-char, given a character set name and one or two subsequent
13108 byte-values, constructs a character code. This is roughly the
13109 opposite of split-char.
13111 **** find-charset-region returns a list of the character sets
13112 of all the characters between BEG and END.
13114 **** find-charset-string returns a list of the character sets
13115 of all the characters in a string.
13117 *** Here are the Lisp facilities for working with coding systems
13118 and specifying coding systems.
13120 **** The function coding-system-list returns a list of all coding
13121 system names (symbols). With optional argument t, it returns a list
13122 of all distinct base coding systems, not including variants.
13123 (Variant coding systems are those like latin-1-dos, latin-1-unix
13124 and latin-1-mac which specify the end-of-line conversion as well
13125 as what to do about code conversion.)
13127 **** coding-system-p tests a symbol to see if it is a coding system
13128 name. It returns t if so, nil if not.
13130 **** file-coding-system-alist specifies which coding systems to use
13131 for certain file names. It works like network-coding-system-alist,
13132 except that the PATTERN is matched against the file name.
13134 Each element has the format (PATTERN . VAL), where PATTERN determines
13135 which file names the element applies to. PATTERN should be a regexp
13136 to match against a file name.
13138 VAL is a coding system, a cons cell containing two coding systems, or
13139 a function symbol. If VAL is a coding system, it is used for both
13140 decoding what received from the network stream and encoding what sent
13141 to the network stream. If VAL is a cons cell containing two coding
13142 systems, the car specifies the coding system for decoding, and the cdr
13143 specifies the coding system for encoding.
13145 If VAL is a function symbol, the function must return a coding system
13146 or a cons cell containing two coding systems, which is used as above.
13148 **** The variable network-coding-system-alist specifies
13149 the coding system to use for network sockets.
13151 Each element has the format (PATTERN . VAL), where PATTERN determines
13152 which network sockets the element applies to. PATTERN should be
13153 either a port number or a regular expression matching some network
13156 VAL is a coding system, a cons cell containing two coding systems, or
13157 a function symbol. If VAL is a coding system, it is used for both
13158 decoding what received from the network stream and encoding what sent
13159 to the network stream. If VAL is a cons cell containing two coding
13160 systems, the car specifies the coding system for decoding, and the cdr
13161 specifies the coding system for encoding.
13163 If VAL is a function symbol, the function must return a coding system
13164 or a cons cell containing two coding systems, which is used as above.
13166 **** process-coding-system-alist specifies which coding systems to use
13167 for certain subprocess. It works like network-coding-system-alist,
13168 except that the PATTERN is matched against the program name used to
13169 start the subprocess.
13171 **** The variable default-process-coding-system specifies the coding
13172 systems to use for subprocess (and net connection) input and output,
13173 when nothing else specifies what to do. The value is a cons cell
13174 (OUTPUT-CODING . INPUT-CODING). OUTPUT-CODING applies to output
13175 to the subprocess, and INPUT-CODING applies to input from it.
13177 **** The variable coding-system-for-write, if non-nil, specifies the
13178 coding system to use for writing a file, or for output to a synchronous
13181 It also applies to any asynchronous subprocess or network connection,
13182 but in a different way: the value of coding-system-for-write when you
13183 start the subprocess or connection affects that subprocess or
13184 connection permanently or until overridden.
13186 The variable coding-system-for-write takes precedence over
13187 file-coding-system-alist, process-coding-system-alist and
13188 network-coding-system-alist, and all other methods of specifying a
13189 coding system for output. But most of the time this variable is nil.
13190 It exists so that Lisp programs can bind it to a specific coding
13191 system for one operation at a time.
13193 **** coding-system-for-read applies similarly to input from
13194 files, subprocesses or network connections.
13196 **** The function process-coding-system tells you what
13197 coding systems(s) an existing subprocess is using.
13198 The value is a cons cell,
13199 (DECODING-CODING-SYSTEM . ENCODING-CODING-SYSTEM)
13200 where DECODING-CODING-SYSTEM is used for decoding output from
13201 the subprocess, and ENCODING-CODING-SYSTEM is used for encoding
13202 input to the subprocess.
13204 **** The function set-process-coding-system can be used to
13205 change the coding systems in use for an existing subprocess.
13207 ** Emacs has a new facility to help users manage the many
13208 customization options. To make a Lisp program work with this facility,
13209 you need to use the new macros defgroup and defcustom.
13211 You use defcustom instead of defvar, for defining a user option
13212 variable. The difference is that you specify two additional pieces of
13213 information (usually): the "type" which says what values are
13214 legitimate, and the "group" which specifies the hierarchy for
13217 Thus, instead of writing
13219 (defvar foo-blurgoze nil
13220 "*Non-nil means that foo will act very blurgozely.")
13222 you would now write this:
13224 (defcustom foo-blurgoze nil
13225 "*Non-nil means that foo will act very blurgozely."
13229 The type `boolean' means that this variable has only
13230 two meaningful states: nil and non-nil. Other type values
13231 describe other possibilities; see the manual for Custom
13232 for a description of them.
13234 The "group" argument is used to specify a group which the option
13235 should belong to. You define a new group like this:
13237 (defgroup ispell nil
13238 "Spell checking using Ispell."
13241 The "group" argument in defgroup specifies the parent group. The root
13242 group is called `emacs'; it should not contain any variables itself,
13243 but only other groups. The immediate subgroups of `emacs' correspond
13244 to the keywords used by C-h p. Under these subgroups come
13245 second-level subgroups that belong to individual packages.
13247 Each Emacs package should have its own set of groups. A simple
13248 package should have just one group; a more complex package should
13249 have a hierarchy of its own groups. The sole or root group of a
13250 package should be a subgroup of one or more of the "keyword"
13251 first-level subgroups.
13253 ** New `widget' library for inserting UI components in buffers.
13255 This library, used by the new custom library, is documented in a
13256 separate manual that accompanies Emacs.
13260 The easy-mmode package provides macros and functions that make
13261 developing minor modes easier. Roughly, the programmer has to code
13262 only the functionality of the minor mode. All the rest--toggles,
13263 predicate, and documentation--can be done in one call to the macro
13264 `easy-mmode-define-minor-mode' (see the documentation). See also
13265 `easy-mmode-define-keymap'.
13267 ** Text property changes
13269 *** The `intangible' property now works on overlays as well as on a
13272 *** The new functions next-char-property-change and
13273 previous-char-property-change scan through the buffer looking for a
13274 place where either a text property or an overlay might change. The
13275 functions take two arguments, POSITION and LIMIT. POSITION is the
13276 starting position for the scan. LIMIT says where to stop the scan.
13278 If no property change is found before LIMIT, the value is LIMIT. If
13279 LIMIT is nil, scan goes to the beginning or end of the accessible part
13280 of the buffer. If no property change is found, the value is the
13281 position of the beginning or end of the buffer.
13283 *** In the `local-map' text property or overlay property, the property
13284 value can now be a symbol whose function definition is a keymap. This
13285 is an alternative to using the keymap itself.
13287 ** Changes in invisibility features
13289 *** Isearch can now temporarily show parts of the buffer which are
13290 hidden by an overlay with a invisible property, when the search match
13291 is inside that portion of the buffer. To enable this the overlay
13292 should have a isearch-open-invisible property which is a function that
13293 would be called having the overlay as an argument, the function should
13294 make the overlay visible.
13296 During incremental search the overlays are shown by modifying the
13297 invisible and intangible properties, if beside this more actions are
13298 needed the overlay should have a isearch-open-invisible-temporary
13299 which is a function. The function is called with 2 arguments: one is
13300 the overlay and the second is nil when it should show the overlay and
13301 t when it should hide it.
13303 *** add-to-invisibility-spec, remove-from-invisibility-spec
13305 Modes that use overlays to hide portions of a buffer should set the
13306 invisible property of the overlay to the mode's name (or another symbol)
13307 and modify the `buffer-invisibility-spec' to include that symbol.
13308 Use `add-to-invisibility-spec' and `remove-from-invisibility-spec' to
13309 manipulate the `buffer-invisibility-spec'.
13310 Here is an example of how to do this:
13312 ;; If we want to display an ellipsis:
13313 (add-to-invisibility-spec '(my-symbol . t))
13314 ;; If you don't want ellipsis:
13315 (add-to-invisibility-spec 'my-symbol)
13318 (overlay-put (make-overlay beginning end) 'invisible 'my-symbol)
13321 ;; When done with the overlays:
13322 (remove-from-invisibility-spec '(my-symbol . t))
13323 ;; Or respectively:
13324 (remove-from-invisibility-spec 'my-symbol)
13326 ** Changes in syntax parsing.
13328 *** The syntax-directed buffer-scan functions (such as
13329 `parse-partial-sexp', `forward-word' and similar functions) can now
13330 obey syntax information specified by text properties, if the variable
13331 `parse-sexp-lookup-properties' is non-nil.
13333 If the value of `parse-sexp-lookup-properties' is nil, the behavior
13334 is as before: the syntax-table of the current buffer is always
13335 used to determine the syntax of the character at the position.
13337 When `parse-sexp-lookup-properties' is non-nil, the syntax of a
13338 character in the buffer is calculated thus:
13340 a) if the `syntax-table' text-property of that character
13341 is a cons, this cons becomes the syntax-type;
13343 Valid values of `syntax-table' text-property are: nil, a valid
13344 syntax-table, and a valid syntax-table element, i.e.,
13345 a cons cell of the form (SYNTAX-CODE . MATCHING-CHAR).
13347 b) if the character's `syntax-table' text-property
13348 is a syntax table, this syntax table is used
13349 (instead of the syntax-table of the current buffer) to
13350 determine the syntax type of the character.
13352 c) otherwise the syntax-type is determined by the syntax-table
13353 of the current buffer.
13355 *** The meaning of \s in regular expressions is also affected by the
13356 value of `parse-sexp-lookup-properties'. The details are the same as
13357 for the syntax-directed buffer-scan functions.
13359 *** There are two new syntax-codes, `!' and `|' (numeric values 14
13360 and 15). A character with a code `!' starts a comment which is ended
13361 only by another character with the same code (unless quoted). A
13362 character with a code `|' starts a string which is ended only by
13363 another character with the same code (unless quoted).
13365 These codes are mainly meant for use as values of the `syntax-table'
13368 *** The function `parse-partial-sexp' has new semantics for the sixth
13369 arg COMMENTSTOP. If it is `syntax-table', parse stops after the start
13370 of a comment or a string, or after end of a comment or a string.
13372 *** The state-list which the return value from `parse-partial-sexp'
13373 (and can also be used as an argument) now has an optional ninth
13374 element: the character address of the start of last comment or string;
13375 nil if none. The fourth and eighth elements have special values if the
13376 string/comment is started by a "!" or "|" syntax-code.
13378 *** Since new features of `parse-partial-sexp' allow a complete
13379 syntactic parsing, `font-lock' no longer supports
13380 `font-lock-comment-start-regexp'.
13382 ** Changes in face features
13384 *** The face functions are now unconditionally defined in Emacs, even
13385 if it does not support displaying on a device that supports faces.
13387 *** The function face-documentation returns the documentation string
13388 of a face (or nil if it doesn't have one).
13390 *** The function face-bold-p returns t if a face should be bold.
13391 set-face-bold-p sets that flag.
13393 *** The function face-italic-p returns t if a face should be italic.
13394 set-face-italic-p sets that flag.
13396 *** You can now specify foreground and background colors for text
13397 by adding elements of the form (foreground-color . COLOR-NAME)
13398 and (background-color . COLOR-NAME) to the list of faces in
13399 the `face' property (either the character's text property or an
13402 This means that you no longer need to create named faces to use
13403 arbitrary colors in a Lisp package.
13405 ** Changes in file-handling functions
13407 *** File-access primitive functions no longer discard an extra redundant
13408 directory name from the beginning of the file name. In other words,
13409 they no longer do anything special with // or /~. That conversion
13410 is now done only in substitute-in-file-name.
13412 This makes it possible for a Lisp program to open a file whose name
13415 *** If copy-file is unable to set the date of the output file,
13416 it now signals an error with the condition file-date-error.
13418 *** The inode number returned by file-attributes may be an integer (if
13419 the number fits in a Lisp integer) or a list of integers.
13421 *** insert-file-contents can now read from a special file,
13422 as long as the arguments VISIT and REPLACE are nil.
13424 *** The RAWFILE arg to find-file-noselect, if non-nil, now suppresses
13425 character code conversion as well as other things.
13427 Meanwhile, this feature does work with remote file names
13428 (formerly it did not).
13430 *** Lisp packages which create temporary files should use the TMPDIR
13431 environment variable to decide which directory to put them in.
13433 *** interpreter-mode-alist elements now specify regexps
13434 instead of constant strings.
13436 *** expand-file-name no longer treats `//' or `/~' specially. It used
13437 to delete all the text of a file name up through the first slash of
13438 any `//' or `/~' sequence. Now it passes them straight through.
13440 substitute-in-file-name continues to treat those sequences specially,
13441 in the same way as before.
13443 *** The variable `format-alist' is more general now.
13444 The FROM-FN and TO-FN in a format definition can now be strings
13445 which specify shell commands to use as filters to perform conversion.
13447 *** The new function access-file tries to open a file, and signals an
13448 error if that fails. If the open succeeds, access-file does nothing
13449 else, and returns nil.
13451 *** The function insert-directory now signals an error if the specified
13452 directory cannot be listed.
13454 ** Changes in minibuffer input
13456 *** The functions read-buffer, read-variable, read-command, read-string
13457 read-file-name, read-from-minibuffer and completing-read now take an
13458 additional argument which specifies the default value. If this
13459 argument is non-nil, it should be a string; that string is used in two
13462 It is returned if the user enters empty input.
13463 It is available through the history command M-n.
13465 *** The functions read-string, read-from-minibuffer,
13466 read-no-blanks-input and completing-read now take an additional
13467 argument INHERIT-INPUT-METHOD. If this is non-nil, then the
13468 minibuffer inherits the current input method and the setting of
13469 enable-multibyte-characters from the previously current buffer.
13471 In an interactive spec, you can use M instead of s to read an
13472 argument in this way.
13474 *** All minibuffer input functions discard text properties
13475 from the text you enter in the minibuffer, unless the variable
13476 minibuffer-allow-text-properties is non-nil.
13478 ** Echo area features
13480 *** Clearing the echo area now runs the normal hook
13481 echo-area-clear-hook. Note that the echo area can be used while the
13482 minibuffer is active; in that case, the minibuffer is still active
13483 after the echo area is cleared.
13485 *** The function current-message returns the message currently displayed
13486 in the echo area, or nil if there is none.
13488 ** Keyboard input features
13490 *** tty-erase-char is a new variable that reports which character was
13491 set up as the terminal's erase character when time Emacs was started.
13493 *** num-nonmacro-input-events is the total number of input events
13494 received so far from the terminal. It does not count those generated
13495 by keyboard macros.
13497 ** Frame-related changes
13499 *** make-frame runs the normal hook before-make-frame-hook just before
13500 creating a frame, and just after creating a frame it runs the abnormal
13501 hook after-make-frame-functions with the new frame as arg.
13503 *** The new hook window-configuration-change-hook is now run every time
13504 the window configuration has changed. The frame whose configuration
13505 has changed is the selected frame when the hook is run.
13507 *** Each frame now independently records the order for recently
13508 selected buffers, in its buffer-list frame parameter, so that the
13509 value of other-buffer is now based on the buffers recently displayed
13510 in the selected frame.
13512 *** The value of the frame parameter vertical-scroll-bars
13513 is now `left', `right' or nil. A non-nil value specifies
13514 which side of the window to put the scroll bars on.
13516 ** X Windows features
13518 *** You can examine X resources for other applications by binding
13519 x-resource-class around a call to x-get-resource. The usual value of
13520 x-resource-class is "Emacs", which is the correct value for Emacs.
13522 *** In menus, checkboxes and radio buttons now actually work.
13523 The menu displays the current status of the box or button.
13525 *** The function x-list-fonts now takes an optional fourth argument
13526 MAXIMUM which sets a limit on how many matching fonts to return.
13527 A smaller value of MAXIMUM makes the function faster.
13529 If the only question is whether *any* font matches the pattern,
13530 it is good to supply 1 for this argument.
13532 ** Subprocess features
13534 *** A reminder: it is no longer necessary for subprocess filter
13535 functions and sentinels to do save-match-data, because Emacs does this
13538 *** The new function shell-command-to-string executes a shell command
13539 and returns the output from the command as a string.
13541 *** The new function process-contact returns t for a child process,
13542 and (HOSTNAME SERVICE) for a net connection.
13544 ** An error in running pre-command-hook or post-command-hook
13545 does clear the variable to nil. The documentation was wrong before.
13547 ** In define-key-after, if AFTER is t, the new binding now always goes
13548 at the end of the keymap. If the keymap is a menu, this means it
13549 goes after the other menu items.
13551 ** If you have a program that makes several changes in the same area
13552 of the buffer, you can use the macro combine-after-change-calls
13553 around that Lisp code to make it faster when after-change hooks
13556 The macro arranges to call the after-change functions just once for a
13557 series of several changes--if that seems safe.
13559 Don't alter the variables after-change-functions and
13560 after-change-function within the body of a combine-after-change-calls
13563 ** If you define an abbrev (with define-abbrev) whose EXPANSION
13564 is not a string, then the abbrev does not expand in the usual sense,
13565 but its hook is still run.
13567 ** Normally, the Lisp debugger is not used (even if you have enabled it)
13568 for errors that are handled by condition-case.
13570 If you set debug-on-signal to a non-nil value, then the debugger is called
13571 regardless of whether there is a handler for the condition. This is
13572 useful for debugging problems that happen inside of a condition-case.
13574 This mode of operation seems to be unreliable in other ways. Errors that
13575 are normal and ought to be handled, perhaps in timers or process
13576 filters, will instead invoke the debugger. So don't say you weren't
13579 ** The new variable ring-bell-function lets you specify your own
13580 way for Emacs to "ring the bell".
13582 ** If run-at-time's TIME argument is t, the action is repeated at
13583 integral multiples of REPEAT from the epoch; this is useful for
13584 functions like display-time.
13586 ** You can use the function locate-library to find the precise file
13587 name of a Lisp library. This isn't new, but wasn't documented before.
13589 ** Commands for entering view mode have new optional arguments that
13590 can be used from Lisp. Low-level entrance to and exit from view mode
13591 is done by functions view-mode-enter and view-mode-exit.
13593 ** batch-byte-compile-file now makes Emacs return a nonzero status code
13594 if there is an error in compilation.
13596 ** pop-to-buffer, switch-to-buffer-other-window and
13597 switch-to-buffer-other-frame now accept an additional optional
13598 argument NORECORD, much like switch-to-buffer. If it is non-nil,
13599 they don't put the buffer at the front of the buffer list.
13601 ** If your .emacs file leaves the *scratch* buffer non-empty,
13602 Emacs does not display the startup message, so as to avoid changing
13603 the *scratch* buffer.
13605 ** The new function regexp-opt returns an efficient regexp to match a string.
13606 The arguments are STRINGS and (optionally) PAREN. This function can be used
13607 where regexp matching or searching is intensively used and speed is important,
13608 e.g., in Font Lock mode.
13610 ** The variable buffer-display-count is local to each buffer,
13611 and is incremented each time the buffer is displayed in a window.
13612 It starts at 0 when the buffer is created.
13614 ** The new function compose-mail starts composing a mail message
13615 using the user's chosen mail composition agent (specified with the
13616 variable mail-user-agent). It has variants compose-mail-other-window
13617 and compose-mail-other-frame.
13619 ** The `user-full-name' function now takes an optional parameter which
13620 can either be a number (the UID) or a string (the login name). The
13621 full name of the specified user will be returned.
13623 ** Lisp packages that load files of customizations, or any other sort
13624 of user profile, should obey the variable init-file-user in deciding
13625 where to find it. They should load the profile of the user name found
13626 in that variable. If init-file-user is nil, meaning that the -q
13627 option was used, then Lisp packages should not load the customization
13630 ** format-time-string now allows you to specify the field width
13631 and type of padding. This works as in printf: you write the field
13632 width as digits in the middle of a %-construct. If you start
13633 the field width with 0, it means to pad with zeros.
13635 For example, %S normally specifies the number of seconds since the
13636 minute; %03S means to pad this with zeros to 3 positions, %_3S to pad
13637 with spaces to 3 positions. Plain %3S pads with zeros, because that
13638 is how %S normally pads to two positions.
13640 ** thing-at-point now supports a new kind of "thing": url.
13642 ** imenu.el changes.
13644 You can now specify a function to be run when selecting an
13645 item from menu created by imenu.
13647 An example of using this feature: if we define imenu items for the
13648 #include directives in a C file, we can open the included file when we
13649 select one of those items.
13651 * For older news, see the file ONEWS
13653 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
13654 Copyright information:
13656 Copyright (C) 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
13658 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
13659 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
13660 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
13661 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
13663 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
13664 of this document, or of portions of it,
13665 under the above conditions, provided also that they
13666 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
13670 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"
13673 arch-tag: 1aca9dfa-2ac4-4d14-bebf-0007cee12793