1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 2003-05-21
2 Copyright (C) 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 See the end for copying conditions.
5 Please send Emacs bug reports to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.
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11 +++ indicates that the appropriate manual has already been updated.
12 --- means no change in the manuals is called for.
13 When you add a new item, please add it without either +++ or ---
14 so we will look at it and add it to the manual.
17 * Installation Changes in Emacs 21.4
19 ** Emacs includes now support for loading image libraries on demand.
20 (Currently this feature is only used on MS Windows.) You can configure
21 the supported image types and their associated dynamic libraries by
22 setting the variable `image-library-alist'.
25 ** New translations of the Emacs Tutorial are available in the following
26 languages: Brasilian, Bulgarian, Chinese (both with simplified and
27 traditional characters), French, and Italian. Type `C-u C-h t' to
28 choose one of them in case your language setup doesn't automatically
31 ** You can build Emacs with Gtk+ widgets by specifying `--with-x-toolkit=gtk'
32 when you run configure. This requires Gtk+ 2.0 or newer. This port
33 provides a way to display multilingual text in menus (with some caveats).
36 ** Emacs can now be built without sound support.
38 ** The `emacsserver' program has been removed, replaced with elisp code.
41 ** Emacs now supports new configure options `--program-prefix',
42 `--program-suffix' and `--program-transform-name' that affect the names of
46 ** By default, Emacs now uses a setgid helper program to update game
47 scores. The directory ${localstatedir}/games/emacs is the normal
48 place for game scores to be stored. This may be controlled by the
49 configure option `--with-game-dir'. The specific user that Emacs uses
50 to own the game scores is controlled by `--with-game-user'. If access
51 to a game user is not available, then scores will be stored separately
52 in each user's home directory.
55 ** Leim is now part of the Emacs distribution.
56 You no longer need to download a separate tarball in order to build
60 ** The Emacs Lisp Reference Manual is now part of the distribution.
62 The ELisp reference manual in Info format is built as part of the
63 Emacs build procedure and installed together with the Emacs User
64 Manual. A menu item was added to the menu bar that makes it easy
65 accessible (Help->More Manuals->Emacs Lisp Reference).
68 ** The Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp manual is now part of
71 This manual is now part of the standard distribution and is installed,
72 together with the Emacs User Manual, into the Info directory. A menu
73 item was added to the menu bar that makes it easy accessible
74 (Help->More Manuals->Introduction to Emacs Lisp).
76 ** Support for Cygwin was added.
79 ** Support for FreeBSD/Alpha has been added.
82 ** Support for GNU/Linux systems on S390 machines was added.
85 ** Support for MacOS X was added.
86 See the files mac/README and mac/INSTALL for build instructions.
89 ** Support for GNU/Linux systems on X86-64 machines was added.
92 ** A French translation of the `Emacs Survival Guide' is available.
95 ** Building with -DENABLE_CHECKING does not automatically build with union
96 types any more. Add -DUSE_LISP_UNION_TYPE if you want union types.
99 * Changes in Emacs 21.4
102 ** There are now two new regular expression operators, \_< and \_>,
103 for matching the beginning and end of a symbol. A symbol is a
104 non-empty sequence of either word or symbol constituent characters, as
105 specified by the syntax table.
107 ** Passing resources on the command line now works on MS Windows.
108 You can use --xrm to pass resource settings to Emacs, overriding any
109 existing values. For example:
111 emacs --xrm "Emacs.Background:red" --xrm "Emacs.Geometry:100x20"
113 will start up Emacs on an initial frame of 100x20 with red background,
114 irrespective of geometry or background setting on the Windows registry.
116 ** New features in evaluation commands
119 *** The function `eval-defun' (C-M-x) called on defface reinitializes
120 the face to the value specified in the defface expression.
122 *** Typing C-x C-e twice prints the value of the integer result
123 in additional formats (octal, hexadecimal, character) specified
124 by the new function `eval-expression-print-format'. The same
125 function also defines the result format for `eval-expression' (M-:),
126 `eval-print-last-sexp' (C-j) and some edebug evaluation functions.
128 ** New input method chinese-sisheng for inputting Chinese Pinyin
131 ** New command quail-show-key shows what key (or key sequence) to type
132 in the current input method to input a character at point.
134 ** Convenient commands to switch buffers in a cyclic order are C-x <left>
135 (prev-buffer) and C-x <right> (next-buffer).
137 ** Commands winner-redo and winner-undo, from winner.el, are now bound to
138 C-c <left> and C-c <right>, respectively. This is an incompatible change.
140 ** Help commands `describe-function' and `describe-key' now show function
141 arguments in lowercase italics on displays that support it. To change the
142 default, customize face `help-argument-name' or redefine the function
143 `help-default-arg-highlight'.
146 ** The comint prompt can now be made read-only, using the new user
147 option `comint-prompt-read-only'. This is not enabled by default,
148 except in IELM buffers. The read-only status of IELM prompts can be
149 controlled with the new user option `ielm-prompt-read-only', which
150 overrides `comint-prompt-read-only'.
152 The new commands `comint-kill-whole-line' and `comint-kill-region'
153 support editing comint buffers with read-only prompts.
155 `comint-kill-whole-line' is like `kill-whole-line', but ignores both
156 read-only and field properties. Hence, it always kill entire
157 lines, including any prompts.
159 `comint-kill-region' is like `kill-region', except that it ignores
160 read-only properties, if it is safe to do so. This means that if any
161 part of a prompt is deleted, then the entire prompt must be deleted
162 and that all prompts must stay at the beginning of a line. If this is
163 not the case, then `comint-kill-region' behaves just like
164 `kill-region' if read-only are involved: it copies the text to the
165 kill-ring, but does not delete it.
167 ** You can now use next-error (C-x `) and previous-error to advance to
168 the next/previous matching line found by M-x occur.
170 ** Telnet now prompts you for a port number with C-u M-x telnet.
173 ** New command line option -Q.
175 This is like using -q --no-site-file, but in addition it also disables
176 the menu-bar, the tool-bar, the scroll-bars, tool tips, the blinking
177 cursor, and the fancy startup screen.
179 ** C-h v and C-h f commands now include a hyperlink to the C source for
180 variables and functions defined in C (if the C source is available).
182 ** When used interactively, `format-write-file' now asks for confirmation
183 before overwriting an existing file, unless a prefix argument is
184 supplied. This behavior is analogous to `write-file'.
186 ** You can now use Auto Revert mode to `tail' a file.
187 If point is at the end of a file buffer before reverting, Auto Revert
188 mode keeps it at the end after reverting. Similarly if point is
189 displayed at the end of a file buffer in any window, it stays at
190 the end of the buffer in that window. This allows to tail a file:
191 just put point at the end of the buffer and it stays there. This
192 rule applies to file buffers. For non-file buffers, the behavior may
195 ** Auto Revert mode is now more careful to avoid excessive reverts and
196 other potential problems when deciding which non-file buffers to
197 revert. This matters especially if Global Auto Revert mode is enabled
198 and `global-auto-revert-non-file-buffers' is non-nil. Auto Revert
199 mode only reverts a non-file buffer if the buffer has a non-nil
200 `revert-buffer-function' and a non-nil `buffer-stale-function', which
201 decides whether the buffer should be reverted. Currently, this means
202 that auto reverting works for Dired buffers (although this may not
203 work properly on all operating systems) and for the Buffer Menu.
205 ** If the new user option `auto-revert-check-vc-info' is non-nil, Auto
206 Revert mode reliably updates version control info (such as the version
207 control number in the mode line), in all version controlled buffers in
208 which it is active. If the option is nil, the default, then this info
209 only gets updated whenever the buffer gets reverted.
211 ** New command `Buffer-menu-toggle-files-only' toggles display of file
212 buffers only in the Buffer Menu. It is bound to `T' in Buffer Menu
215 ** M-x compile has become more robust and reliable
217 Quite a few more kinds of messages are recognized. Messages that are
218 recognized as warnings or informational come in orange or green, instead of
219 red. Informational messages are by default skipped with `next-error'
220 (controlled by `compilation-skip-threshold').
222 Location data is collected on the fly as the *compilation* buffer changes.
223 This means you could modify messages to make them point to different files.
224 This also means you can not go to locations of messages you may have deleted.
226 The variable `compilation-error-regexp-alist' has now become customizable. If
227 you had added your own regexps to this, you'll probably need to include a
228 leading `^', otherwise they'll match anywhere on a line. There is now also a
229 `compilation-mode-font-lock-keywords' and it nicely handles all the checks
230 that configure outputs and -o options so you see at a glance where you are.
232 The new file etc/compilation.txt gives examples of each type of message.
234 ** M-x grep has been adapted to new compile
236 Hits are fontified in green, and hits in binary files in orange. Grep buffers
237 can be saved and automatically revisited with the new Grep mode.
239 ** M-x diff uses diff-mode instead of compilation-mode.
241 ** M-x compare-windows now can automatically skip non-matching text to
242 resync points in both windows.
244 ** New command `strokes-global-set-stroke-string'.
245 This is like `strokes-global-set-stroke', but it allows you to bind
246 the stroke directly to a string to insert. This is convenient for
247 using strokes as an input method.
252 *** Desktop saving is now a minor mode, desktop-save-mode. Variable
253 desktop-enable is obsolete. Customize desktop-save-mode to enable desktop
256 *** Buffers are saved in the desktop file in the same order as that in the
260 - desktop-revert reverts to the last loaded desktop.
261 - desktop-change-dir kills current desktop and loads a new.
262 - desktop-save-in-desktop-dir saves desktop in the directory from which
265 *** New customizable variables:
266 - desktop-save. Determins whether the desktop should be saved when it is
268 - desktop-file-name-format.
269 - desktop-path. List of directories in which to lookup the desktop file.
270 - desktop-locals-to-save.
271 - desktop-globals-to-clear.
272 - desktop-clear-preserve-buffers-regexp.
274 *** New command line option --no-desktop
277 - desktop-after-read-hook run after a desktop is loaded.
278 - desktop-no-desktop-file-hook run when no desktop file is found.
281 ** The saveplace.el package now filters out unreadable files.
282 When you exit Emacs, the saved positions in visited files no longer
283 include files that aren't readable, e.g. files that don't exist.
284 Customize the new option `save-place-forget-unreadable-files' to nil
285 to get the old behavior. The new options `save-place-save-skipped'
286 and `save-place-skip-check-regexp' allow further fine-tuning of this
289 ** You can have several Emacs servers on the same machine.
291 % emacs --eval '(setq server-name "foo")' -f server-start &
292 % emacs --eval '(setq server-name "bar")' -f server-start &
293 % emacsclient -s foo file1
294 % emacsclient -s bar file2
296 ** On window systems, lines which are exactly as wide as the window
297 (not counting the final newline character) are no longer broken into
298 two lines on the display (with just the newline on the second line).
299 Instead, the newline now "overflows" into the right fringe, and the
300 cursor will be displayed in the fringe when positioned on that newline.
302 The new user option 'overflow-newline-into-fringe' may be set to nil to
303 revert to the old behaviour of continuing such lines.
305 ** The buffer boundaries (i.e. first and last line in the buffer) may
306 now be marked with angle bitmaps in the fringes. In addition, up and
307 down arrow bitmaps may be shown at the top and bottom of the left or
308 right fringe if the window can be scrolled in either direction.
310 This behavior is activated by setting the buffer-local variable
311 `indicate-buffer-boundaries' to a non-nil value. The default value of
312 this variable is found in `default-indicate-buffer-boundaries'.
314 If value is `left' or `right', both angle and arrow bitmaps are
315 displayed in the left or right fringe, resp. Any other non-nil value
316 causes the bitmap on the top line to be displayed in the left fringe,
317 and the bitmap on the bottom line in the right fringe.
319 If value is a cons (ANGLES . ARROWS), the car specifies the position
320 of the angle bitmaps, and the cdr specifies the position of the arrow
323 For example, (t . right) places the top angle bitmap in left fringe,
324 the bottom angle bitmap in right fringe, and both arrow bitmaps in
325 right fringe. To show just the angle bitmaps in the left fringe, but
326 no arrow bitmaps, use (left . nil).
328 ** New command `display-local-help' displays any local help at point
329 in the echo area. It is bound to `C-h .'. It normally displays the
330 same string that would be displayed on mouse-over using the
331 `help-echo' property, but, in certain cases, it can display a more
332 keyboard oriented alternative.
334 ** New user option `help-at-pt-display-when-idle' allows to
335 automatically show the help provided by `display-local-help' on
336 point-over, after suitable idle time. The amount of idle time is
337 determined by the user option `help-at-pt-timer-delay' and defaults
338 to one second. This feature is turned off by default.
340 ** New commands `scan-buf-next-region' and `scan-buf-previous-region'
341 move to the start of the next (previous, respectively) region with
342 non-nil help-echo property and display any help found there in the
343 echo area, using `display-local-help'.
346 ** Help mode now only makes hyperlinks for faces when the face name is
347 preceded or followed by the word `face'. It no longer makes
348 hyperlinks for variables without variable documentation, unless
349 preceded by one of the words `variable' or `option'. It now makes
350 hyperlinks to Info anchors (or nodes) if the anchor (or node) name is
351 enclosed in single quotes and preceded by `info anchor' or `Info
352 anchor' (in addition to earlier `info node' and `Info node').
354 ** The max size of buffers and integers has been doubled.
355 On 32bit machines, it is now 256M (i.e. 268435455).
358 ** The -f option, used from the command line to call a function,
359 now reads arguments for the function interactively if it is
360 an interactively callable function.
365 *** The variable `sql-product' controls the highlightng of different
366 SQL dialects. This variable can be set globally via Customize, on a
367 buffer-specific basis via local variable settings, or for the current
368 session using the new SQL->Product submenu. (This menu replaces the
369 SQL->Highlighting submenu.)
371 The following values are supported:
373 ansi ANSI Standard (default)
387 The current product name will be shown on the mode line following the
390 The technique of setting `sql-mode-font-lock-defaults' directly in
391 your .emacs will no longer establish the default highlighting -- Use
392 `sql-product' to accomplish this.
394 ANSI keywords are always highlighted.
396 *** The function `sql-add-product-keywords' can be used to add
397 font-lock rules to the product specific rules. For example, to have
398 all identifiers ending in "_t" under MS SQLServer treated as a type,
399 you would use the following line in your .emacs file:
401 (sql-add-product-keywords 'ms
402 '(("\\<\\w+_t\\>" . font-lock-type-face)))
404 *** Oracle support includes keyword highlighting for Oracle 9i. Most
405 SQL and PL/SQL keywords are implemented. SQL*Plus commands are
406 highlighted in `font-lock-doc-face'.
408 *** Microsoft SQLServer support has been significantly improved.
409 Keyword highlighting for SqlServer 2000 is implemented.
410 sql-interactive-mode defaults to use osql, rather than isql, because
411 osql flushes its error stream more frequently. Thus error messages
412 are displayed when they occur rather than when the session is
415 If the username and password are not provided to `sql-ms', osql is
416 called with the -E command line argument to use the operating system
417 credentials to authenticate the user.
419 *** Postgres support is enhanced.
420 Keyword highlighting of Postgres 7.3 is implemented. Prompting for
421 the username and the pgsql `-U' option is added.
423 *** MySQL support is enhanced.
424 Keyword higlighting of MySql 4.0 is implemented.
426 *** Imenu support has been enhanced to locate tables, views, indexes,
427 packages, procedures, functions, triggers, sequences, rules, and
430 *** Added SQL->Start SQLi Session menu entry which calls the
431 appropriate sql-interactive-mode wrapper for the current setting of
434 ** M-x view-file and commands that use it now avoid interfering
435 with special modes such as Tar mode.
437 ** Enhancements to apropos commands:
439 *** The apropos commands now accept a list of words to match.
440 When more than one word is specified, at least two of those words must
441 be present for an item to match. Regular expression matching is still
444 *** The new option `apropos-sort-by-scores' causes the matching items
445 to be sorted according to their score. The score for an item is a
446 number calculated to indicate how well the item matches the words or
447 regular expression that you entered to the apropos command. The best
448 match is listed first, and the calculated score is shown for each
452 ** The old bindings C-M-delete and C-M-backspace have been deleted,
453 since there are situations where one or the other will shut down
454 the operating system or your X server.
456 ** New minor mode, Visible mode, toggles invisibility in the current buffer.
457 When enabled, it makes all invisible text visible. When disabled, it
458 restores the previous value of `buffer-invisibility-spec'.
460 ** New command `kill-whole-line' kills an entire line at once.
461 By default, it is bound to C-S-<backspace>.
463 ** New commands to operate on pairs of open and close characters:
464 `insert-pair', `delete-pair', `raise-sexp'.
466 ** A prefix argument of C-M-q in Emacs Lisp mode pretty-printifies the
467 list starting after point.
471 *** New faces dired-header, dired-mark, dired-marked, dired-flagged,
472 dired-ignored, dired-directory, dired-symlink, dired-warning
473 introduced for Dired mode instead of font-lock faces.
475 *** New Dired command `dired-compare-directories' marks files
476 with different file attributes in two dired buffers.
479 *** New Dired command `dired-do-touch' (bound to T) changes timestamps
480 of marked files with the value entered in the minibuffer.
483 *** In Dired's ! command (dired-do-shell-command), `*' and `?' now
484 control substitution of the file names only when they are surrounded
485 by whitespace. This means you can now use them as shell wildcards
486 too. If you want to use just plain `*' as a wildcard, type `*""'; the
487 doublequotes make no difference in the shell, but they prevent
488 special treatment in `dired-do-shell-command'.
491 *** Dired's v command now runs external viewers to view certain
492 types of files. The variable `dired-view-command-alist' controls
493 what external viewers to use and when.
495 *** In Dired, the w command now copies the current line's file name
496 into the kill ring. With a zero prefix arg, copies absolute file names.
501 *** Omitting files is now a minor mode, dired-omit-mode. The mode toggling
502 command is bound to M-o. A new command dired-mark-omitted, bound to M-O,
503 marks omitted files. The variable dired-omit-files-p is obsoleted, use the
504 mode toggling function instead.
508 *** A numeric prefix argument of `info' selects an Info buffer
509 with the number appended to the *info* buffer name.
511 *** New command `Info-history' (bound to L) displays a menu of visited nodes.
513 *** New command `Info-toc' (bound to T) creates a node with table of contents
514 from the tree structure of menus of the current Info file.
516 *** New command `info-apropos' searches the indices of the known
517 Info files on your system for a string, and builds a menu of the
520 *** New command `Info-copy-current-node-name' (bound to w) copies
521 the current Info node name into the kill ring. With a zero prefix
522 arg, puts the node name inside the `info' function call.
524 *** New command `Info-search-case-sensitively' (bound to S).
526 *** New command `Info-search-next' (unbound) repeats the last search
527 without prompting for a new search string.
529 *** New face `info-xref-visited' distinguishes visited nodes from unvisited
530 and a new option `Info-fontify-visited-nodes' to control this.
532 *** http and ftp links in Info are now operational: they look like cross
533 references and following them calls `browse-url'.
536 *** Info now hides node names in menus and cross references by default.
537 If you prefer the old behavior, you can set the new user option
538 `Info-hide-note-references' to nil.
540 *** Images in Info pages are supported.
541 Info pages show embedded images, in Emacs frames with image support.
542 Info documentation that includes images, processed with makeinfo
543 version 4.7 or newer, compiles to Info pages with embedded images.
546 *** The default value for `Info-scroll-prefer-subnodes' is now nil.
549 *** Info-index offers completion.
551 ** Support for the SQLite interpreter has been added to sql.el by calling
555 *** The new command bibtex-entry-update (bound to C-c C-u) updates
556 an existing BibTeX entry.
557 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' option `required-fields', enabled by default.
558 *** bibtex-maintain-sorted-entries can take values `plain',
559 `crossref', and `entry-class' which control the sorting scheme used
560 for BibTeX entries. `bibtex-sort-entry-class' controls the sorting
561 scheme `entry-class'. TAB completion for reference keys and
562 automatic detection of duplicates does not require anymore that
563 bibtex-maintain-sorted-entries is non-nil.
565 *** If the new variable bibtex-parse-keys-fast is non-nil,
566 use fast but simplified algorithm for parsing BibTeX keys.
568 *** If the new variable bibtex-autoadd-commas is non-nil,
569 automatically add missing commas at end of BibTeX fields.
571 *** The new variable bibtex-autofill-types contains a list of entry
572 types for which fields are filled automatically (if possible).
574 *** The new command bibtex-complete completes word fragment before
575 point according to context (bound to M-tab).
577 *** The new commands bibtex-find-entry and bibtex-find-crossref
578 locate entries and crossref'd entries.
580 *** In BibTeX mode the command fill-paragraph (bound to M-q) fills
581 individual fields of a BibTeX entry.
583 ** When display margins are present in a window, the fringes are now
584 displayed between the margins and the buffer's text area, rather than
585 at the edges of the window.
587 ** A window may now have individual fringe and scroll-bar settings,
588 in addition to the individual display margin settings.
590 Such individual settings are now preserved when windows are split
591 horizontally or vertically, a saved window configuration is restored,
592 or when the frame is resized.
594 ** New functions frame-current-scroll-bars and window-current-scroll-bars.
596 These functions return the current locations of the vertical and
597 horizontal scroll bars in a frame or window.
600 ** Emacs now supports drag and drop for X. Dropping a file on a window
601 opens it, dropping text inserts the text. Dropping a file on a dired
602 buffer copies or moves the file to that directory.
604 ** Under X, mouse-wheel-mode is turned on by default.
606 ** The X resource useXIM can be used to turn off use of XIM, which may
607 speed up Emacs with slow networking to the X server.
609 If the configure option `--without-xim' was used to turn off use of
610 XIM by default, the X resource useXIM can be used to turn it on.
612 ** `undo-only' does an undo which does not redo any previous undo.
614 ** `uniquify-strip-common-suffix' tells uniquify to prefer
615 `file|dir1' and `file|dir2' to `file|dir1/subdir' and `file|dir2/subdir'.
617 ** If the user visits a file larger than `large-file-warning-threshold',
618 Emacs prompts her for confirmation.
620 ** A UTF-7 coding system is available in the library `utf-7'.
622 ** GUD mode has its own tool bar for controlling execution of the inferior
623 and other common debugger commands.
627 The recent file list is now automatically cleanup when recentf mode is
628 enabled. The new option `recentf-auto-cleanup' controls when to do
631 With the more advanced option: `recentf-filename-handler', you can
632 specify a function that transforms filenames handled by recentf. For
633 example, if set to `file-truename', the same file will not be in the
634 recent list with different symbolic links.
636 To follow naming convention, `recentf-keep-non-readable-files-flag'
637 and `recentf-menu-append-commands-flag' respectively replace the
638 misnamed options `recentf-keep-non-readable-files-p' and
639 `recentf-menu-append-commands-p'. The old names remain available as
640 aliases, but have been marked obsolete.
642 ** The default for the paper size (variable ps-paper-type) is taken
647 You can now put the init files .emacs and .emacs_SHELL under
648 ~/.emacs.d or directly under ~. Emacs will find them in either place.
650 ** partial-completion-mode now does partial completion on directory names.
652 ** skeleton.el now supports using - to mark the skeleton-point without
653 interregion interaction. @ has reverted to only setting
654 skeleton-positions and no longer sets skeleton-point. Skeletons
655 which used @ to mark skeleton-point independent of _ should now use -
656 instead. The updated skeleton-insert docstring explains these new
657 features along with other details of skeleton construction.
661 Upgraded to MH-E version 7.4.4. There have been major changes since
662 version 5.0.2; see MH-E-NEWS for details.
665 ** The `emacsclient' command understands the options `--eval' and
666 `--display' which tell Emacs respectively to evaluate the given elisp
667 expression and to use the given display when visiting files.
669 ** User option `server-mode' can be used to start a server process.
672 ** The mode line position information now comes before the major mode.
673 When the file is maintained under version control, that information
674 appears between the position information and the major mode.
676 ** C-x s (save-some-buffers) now offers an option `d' to diff a buffer
677 against its file, so you can see what changes you would be saving.
680 ** You can now customize the use of window fringes. To control this
681 for all frames, use M-x fringe-mode or the Show/Hide submenu of the
682 top-level Options menu, or customize the `fringe-mode' variable. To
683 control this for a specific frame, use the command M-x
687 ** There is a new user option `mail-default-directory' that allows you
688 to specify the value of `default-directory' for mail buffers. This
689 directory is used for auto-save files of mail buffers. It defaults to
693 ** When you are root, and you visit a file whose modes specify
694 read-only, the Emacs buffer is now read-only too. Type C-x C-q if you
695 want to make the buffer writable. (As root, you can in fact alter the
698 ** The new command `revert-buffer-with-coding-system' (C-x RET r)
699 revisits the current file using a coding system that you specify.
701 ** The new command `recode-file-name' changes the encoding of the name
705 ** `ps-print' can now print characters from the mule-unicode charsets.
707 Printing text with characters from the mule-unicode-* sets works with
708 ps-print, provided that you have installed the appropriate BDF fonts.
709 See the file INSTALL for URLs where you can find these fonts.
712 ** The new options `buffers-menu-show-directories' and
713 `buffers-menu-show-status' let you control how buffers are displayed
714 in the menu dropped down when you click "Buffers" from the menu bar.
716 `buffers-menu-show-directories' controls whether the menu displays
717 leading directories as part of the file name visited by the buffer.
718 If its value is `unless-uniquify', the default, directories are
719 shown unless uniquify-buffer-name-style' is non-nil. The value of nil
720 and t turn the display of directories off and on, respectively.
722 `buffers-menu-show-status' controls whether the Buffers menu includes
723 the modified and read-only status of the buffers. By default it is
724 t, and the status is shown.
726 Setting these variables directly does not take effect until next time
727 the Buffers menu is regenerated.
730 ** The commands M-x customize-face and M-x customize-face-other-window
731 now look at the character after point. If a face or faces are
732 specified for that character, the commands by default customize those
735 ** New language environments: French, Ukrainian, Tajik,
736 Bulgarian, Belarusian, Ukrainian, UTF-8, Windows-1255, Welsh, Latin-6,
737 Latin-7, Lithuanian, Latvian, Swedish, Slovenian, Croatian, Georgian,
738 Italian, Russian, Malayalam, Tamil, Russian, Chinese-EUC-TW. (Set up
739 automatically according to the locale.)
741 ** Indian support has been updated.
742 The in-is13194 coding system is now Unicode-based. CDAC fonts are
743 assumed. There is a framework for supporting various
744 Indian scripts, but currently only Devanagari, Malayalam and Tamil are
748 ** New input methods: latin-alt-postfix, latin-postfix, latin-prefix,
749 ukrainian-computer, belarusian, bulgarian-bds, russian-computer,
750 vietnamese-telex, lithuanian-numeric, lithuanian-keyboard,
751 latvian-keyboard, welsh, georgian, rfc1345, ucs, sgml,
752 bulgarian-phonetic, dutch, slovenian, croatian, malayalam-inscript,
756 ** A new coding system `euc-tw' has been added for traditional Chinese
757 in CNS encoding; it accepts both Big 5 and CNS as input; on saving,
758 Big 5 is then converted to CNS.
761 ** Many new coding systems are available by loading the `code-pages'
762 library. These include complete versions of most of those in
763 codepage.el, based on Unicode mappings. `codepage-setup' is now
764 obsolete and is used only in the MS-DOS port of Emacs. windows-1252
765 and windows-1251 are preloaded since the former is so common and the
766 latter is used by GNU locales.
768 ** The utf-8/16 coding systems have been enhanced.
769 By default, untranslatable utf-8 sequences are simply composed into
770 single quasi-characters. User option `utf-translate-cjk-mode' (it is
771 turned on by default) arranges to translate many utf-8 CJK character
772 sequences into real Emacs characters in a similar way to the Mule-UCS
773 system. As this loads a fairly big data on demand, people who are not
774 interested in CJK characters may want to customize it to nil.
775 You can augment/amend the CJK translation via hash tables
776 `ucs-mule-cjk-to-unicode' and `ucs-unicode-to-mule-cjk'. The utf-8
777 coding system now also encodes characters from most of Emacs's
778 one-dimensional internal charsets, specifically the ISO-8859 ones.
779 The utf-16 coding system is affected similarly.
781 ** iso-10646-1 (`Unicode') fonts can be used to display any range of
782 characters encodable by the utf-8 coding system. Just specify the
783 fontset appropriately.
785 ** New command `ucs-insert' inserts a character specified by its
789 ** Limited support for character `unification' has been added.
790 Emacs now knows how to translate between different representations of
791 the same characters in various Emacs charsets according to standard
792 Unicode mappings. This applies mainly to characters in the ISO 8859
793 sets plus some other 8-bit sets, but can be extended. For instance,
794 translation works amongst the Emacs ...-iso8859-... charsets and the
795 mule-unicode-... ones.
797 By default this translation happens automatically on encoding.
798 Self-inserting characters are translated to make the input conformant
799 with the encoding of the buffer in which it's being used, where
802 You can force a more complete unification with the user option
803 unify-8859-on-decoding-mode. That maps all the Latin-N character sets
804 into Unicode characters (from the latin-iso8859-1 and
805 mule-unicode-0100-24ff charsets) on decoding. Note that this mode
806 will often effectively clobber data with an iso-2022 encoding.
808 ** There is support for decoding Greek and Cyrillic characters into
809 either Unicode (the mule-unicode charsets) or the iso-8859 charsets,
810 when possible. The latter are more space-efficient. This is
811 controlled by user option utf-fragment-on-decoding.
813 ** The new command `set-file-name-coding-system' (C-x RET F) sets
814 coding system for encoding and decoding file names. A new menu item
815 (Options->Mule->Set Coding Systems->For File Name) invokes this
819 ** The scrollbar under LessTif or Motif has a smoother drag-scrolling.
820 On the other hand, the size of the thumb does not represent the actual
821 amount of text shown any more (only a crude approximation of it).
824 ** The pop up menus for Lucid now stay up if you do a fast click and can
825 be navigated with the arrow keys (like Gtk+ and W32).
828 ** Dialogs for Lucid/Athena and Lesstif/Motif pops down when pressing ESC.
831 ** The file selection dialog for Gtk+, W32 and Motif/Lesstif can be
832 disabled by customizing the variable `use-file-dialog'.
835 ** Emacs can produce an underscore-like (horizontal bar) cursor.
836 The underscore cursor is set by putting `(cursor-type . hbar)' in
837 default-frame-alist. It supports variable heights, like the `bar'
841 ** On X, MS Windows, and Mac OS, the blinking cursor's "off" state is
842 now controlled by the variable `blink-cursor-alist'.
844 ** Filesets are collections of files. You can define a fileset in
845 various ways, such as based on a directory tree or based on
846 program files that include other program files.
848 Once you have defined a fileset, you can perform various operations on
849 all the files in it, such as visiting them or searching and replacing
853 ** PO translation files are decoded according to their MIME headers
854 when Emacs visits them.
857 ** The game `mpuz' is enhanced.
859 `mpuz' now allows the 2nd factor not to have two identical digits. By
860 default, all trivial operations involving whole lines are performed
861 automatically. The game uses faces for better visual feedback.
863 ** The new variable `x-select-request-type' controls how Emacs
864 requests X selection. The default value is nil, which means that
865 Emacs requests X selection with types COMPOUND_TEXT and UTF8_STRING,
866 and use the more appropriately result.
869 ** The parameters of automatic hscrolling can now be customized.
870 The variable `hscroll-margin' determines how many columns away from
871 the window edge point is allowed to get before automatic hscrolling
872 will horizontally scroll the window. The default value is 5.
874 The variable `hscroll-step' determines how many columns automatic
875 hscrolling scrolls the window when point gets too close to the
876 window edge. If its value is zero, the default, Emacs scrolls the
877 window so as to center point. If its value is an integer, it says how
878 many columns to scroll. If the value is a floating-point number, it
879 gives the fraction of the window's width to scroll the window.
881 The variable `automatic-hscrolling' was renamed to
882 `auto-hscroll-mode'. The old name is still available as an alias.
885 *** C-c C-c prompts for a command to run, and tries to offer a good default.
887 *** The user option `tex-start-options-string' has been replaced
888 by two new user options: `tex-start-options', which should hold
889 command-line options to feed to TeX, and `tex-start-commands' which should hold
890 TeX commands to use at startup.
891 *** verbatim environments are now highlighted in courier by font-lock
892 and super/sub-scripts are made into super/sub-scripts.
894 *** New major mode doctex-mode for *.dtx files.
897 ** New display feature: focus follows the mouse from one Emacs window
898 to another, even within a frame. If you set the variable
899 mouse-autoselect-window to non-nil value, moving the mouse to a
900 different Emacs window will select that window (minibuffer window can
901 be selected only when it is active). The default is nil, so that this
902 feature is not enabled.
904 ** On X, when the window manager requires that you click on a frame to
905 select it (give it focus), the selected window and cursor position
906 normally changes according to the mouse click position. If you set
907 the variable x-mouse-click-focus-ignore-position to t, the selected
908 window and cursor position do not change when you click on a frame
912 ** The new command `describe-char' (C-u C-x =) pops up a buffer with
913 description various information about a character, including its
914 encodings and syntax, its text properties, how to input, overlays, and
915 widgets at point. You can get more information about some of them, by
916 clicking on mouse-sensitive areas or moving there and pressing RET.
919 ** The new command `multi-occur' is just like `occur', except it can
920 search multiple buffers. There is also a new command
921 `multi-occur-by-filename-regexp' which allows you to specify the
922 buffers to search by their filename. Internally, Occur mode has been
923 rewritten, and now uses font-lock, among other changes.
925 ** The default values of paragraph-start and indent-line-function have
926 been changed to reflect those used in Text mode rather than those used
927 in Indented-Text mode.
929 ** New user option `query-replace-skip-read-only': when non-nil,
930 `query-replace' and related functions simply ignore
931 a match if part of it has a read-only property.
933 ** When used interactively, the commands `query-replace-regexp' and
934 `replace-regexp' allow \,expr to be used in a replacement string,
935 where expr is an arbitrary Lisp expression evaluated at replacement
936 time. In many cases, this will be more convenient than using
937 `query-replace-regexp-eval'. `\#' in a replacement string now refers
938 to the count of replacements already made by the replacement command.
939 All regular expression replacement commands now allow `\?' in the
940 replacement string to specify a position where the replacement string
941 can be edited for each replacement.
944 ** Emacs normally highlights mouse sensitive text whenever the mouse
945 is over the text. By setting the new variable `mouse-highlight', you
946 can optionally enable mouse highlighting only after you move the
947 mouse, so that highlighting disappears when you press a key. You can
948 also disable mouse highlighting.
950 ** You can now customize if selecting a region by dragging the mouse
951 shall not copy the selected text to the kill-ring by setting the new
952 variable mouse-drag-copy-region to nil.
955 ** font-lock: in modes like C and Lisp where the fontification assumes that
956 an open-paren in column 0 is always outside of any string or comment,
957 font-lock now highlights any such open-paren-in-column-zero in bold-red
958 if it is inside a string or a comment, to indicate that it can cause
959 trouble with fontification and/or indentation.
962 ** There's a new face `minibuffer-prompt'.
963 Emacs adds this face to the list of text properties stored in the
964 variable `minibuffer-prompt-properties', which is used to display the
968 ** The new face `mode-line-inactive' is used to display the mode line
969 of non-selected windows. The `mode-line' face is now used to display
970 the mode line of the currently selected window.
972 The new variable `mode-line-in-non-selected-windows' controls whether
973 the `mode-line-inactive' face is used.
976 ** A menu item "Show/Hide" was added to the top-level menu "Options".
977 This menu allows you to turn various display features on and off (such
978 as the fringes, the tool bar, the speedbar, and the menu bar itself).
979 You can also move the vertical scroll bar to either side here or turn
980 it off completely. There is also a menu-item to toggle displaying of
981 current date and time, current line and column number in the
985 ** Speedbar has moved from the "Tools" top level menu to "Show/Hide".
988 ** Emacs can now indicate in the mode-line the presence of new e-mail
989 in a directory or in a file. See the documentation of the user option
990 `display-time-mail-directory'.
993 ** LDAP support now defaults to ldapsearch from OpenLDAP version 2.
996 ** You can now disable pc-selection-mode after enabling it.
997 M-x pc-selection-mode behaves like a proper minor mode, and with no
998 argument it toggles the mode.
1000 Turning off PC-Selection mode restores the global key bindings
1001 that were replaced by turning on the mode.
1004 ** Emacs now displays a splash screen by default even if command-line
1005 arguments were given. The new command-line option --no-splash
1006 disables the splash screen; see also the variable
1007 `inhibit-startup-message' (which is also aliased as
1008 `inhibit-splash-screen').
1010 ** Changes in support of colors on character terminals
1013 *** The new command-line option --color=MODE lets you specify a standard
1014 mode for a tty color support. It is meant to be used on character
1015 terminals whose capabilities are not set correctly in the terminal
1016 database, or with terminal emulators which support colors, but don't
1017 set the TERM environment variable to a name of a color-capable
1018 terminal. "emacs --color" uses the same color commands as GNU `ls'
1019 when invoked with "ls --color", so if your terminal can support colors
1020 in "ls --color", it will support "emacs --color" as well. See the
1021 user manual for the possible values of the MODE parameter.
1024 *** Emacs now supports several character terminals which provide more
1025 than 8 colors. For example, for `xterm', 16-color, 88-color, and
1026 256-color modes are supported. Emacs automatically notes at startup
1027 the extended number of colors, and defines the appropriate entries for
1028 all of these colors.
1031 *** Emacs now uses the full range of available colors for the default
1032 faces when running on a color terminal, including 16-, 88-, and
1033 256-color xterms. This means that when you run "emacs -nw" on an
1034 88-color or 256-color xterm, you will see essentially the same face
1038 *** There's a new support for colors on `rxvt' terminal emulator.
1041 ** Emacs can now be invoked in full-screen mode on a windowed display.
1043 When Emacs is invoked on a window system, the new command-line options
1044 `--fullwidth', `--fullheight', and `--fullscreen' produce a frame
1045 whose width, height, or both width and height take up the entire
1046 screen size. (For now, this does not work with some window managers.)
1049 ** Emacs now tries to set up buffer coding systems for HTML/XML files
1053 ** The new command `comint-insert-previous-argument' in comint-derived
1054 modes (shell-mode etc) inserts arguments from previous command lines,
1055 like bash's `ESC .' binding. It is bound by default to `C-c .', but
1056 otherwise behaves quite similarly to the bash version.
1059 ** Changes in C-h bindings:
1061 C-h e displays the *Messages* buffer.
1063 C-h followed by a control character is used for displaying files
1066 C-h C-f displays the FAQ.
1067 C-h C-e displays the PROBLEMS file.
1069 The info-search bindings on C-h C-f, C-h C-k and C-h C-i
1070 have been moved to C-h F, C-h K and C-h S.
1072 C-h c, C-h k, C-h w, and C-h f now handle remapped interactive commands.
1074 - C-h c and C-h k report the actual command (after possible remapping)
1075 run by the key sequence.
1077 - C-h w and C-h f on a command which has been remapped now report the
1078 command it is remapped to, and the keys which can be used to run
1081 For example, if C-k is bound to kill-line, and kill-line is remapped
1082 to new-kill-line, these commands now report:
1084 - C-h c and C-h k C-k reports:
1085 C-k runs the command new-kill-line
1087 - C-h w and C-h f kill-line reports:
1088 kill-line is remapped to new-kill-line which is on C-k, <deleteline>
1090 - C-h w and C-h f new-kill-line reports:
1091 new-kill-line is on C-k
1094 ** C-w in incremental search now grabs either a character or a word,
1095 making the decision in a heuristic way. This new job is done by the
1096 command `isearch-yank-word-or-char'. To restore the old behavior,
1097 bind C-w to `isearch-yank-word' in `isearch-mode-map'.
1100 ** C-M-w deletes and C-M-y grabs a character in isearch mode.
1101 Another method to grab a character is to enter the minibuffer by `M-e'
1102 and to type `C-f' at the end of the search string in the minibuffer.
1105 ** M-% and C-M-% typed in isearch mode invoke `query-replace' and
1106 `query-replace-regexp' with the current search string inserted
1107 in the minibuffer as initial input for the string to replace.
1110 ** Yanking text now discards certain text properties that can
1111 be inconvenient when you did not expect them. The variable
1112 `yank-excluded-properties' specifies which ones. Insertion
1113 of register contents and rectangles also discards these properties.
1116 ** Occur, Info, and comint-derived modes now support using
1117 M-x font-lock-mode to toggle fontification. The variable
1118 `Info-fontify' is no longer applicable; to disable fontification,
1119 remove `turn-on-font-lock' from `Info-mode-hook'.
1122 ** M-x grep now tries to avoid appending `/dev/null' to the command line
1123 by using GNU grep `-H' option instead. M-x grep automatically
1124 detects whether this is possible or not the first time it is invoked.
1125 When `-H' is used, the grep command line supplied by the user is passed
1126 unchanged to the system to execute, which allows more complicated
1127 command lines to be used than was possible before.
1130 ** The face-customization widget has been reworked to be less confusing.
1131 In particular, when you enable a face attribute using the corresponding
1132 check-box, there's no longer a redundant `*' option in value selection
1133 for that attribute; the values you can choose are only those which make
1134 sense for the attribute. When an attribute is de-selected by unchecking
1135 its check-box, then the (now ignored, but still present temporarily in
1136 case you re-select the attribute) value is hidden.
1139 ** When you set or reset a variable's value in a Customize buffer,
1140 the previous value becomes the "backup value" of the variable.
1141 You can go back to that backup value by selecting "Use Backup Value"
1142 under the "[State]" button.
1144 ** The new customization type `float' specifies numbers with floating
1145 point (no integers are allowed).
1148 ** In GUD mode, when talking to GDB, C-x C-a C-j "jumps" the program
1149 counter to the specified source line (the one where point is).
1152 ** GUD mode improvements for jdb:
1154 *** Search for source files using jdb classpath and class
1155 information. Fast startup since there is no need to scan all
1156 source files up front. There is also no need to create and maintain
1157 lists of source directories to scan. Look at `gud-jdb-use-classpath'
1158 and `gud-jdb-classpath' customization variables documentation.
1160 *** Supports the standard breakpoint (gud-break, gud-clear)
1161 set/clear operations from java source files under the classpath, stack
1162 traversal (gud-up, gud-down), and run until current stack finish
1165 *** Supports new jdb (Java 1.2 and later) in addition to oldjdb
1168 *** The previous method of searching for source files has been
1169 preserved in case someone still wants/needs to use it.
1170 Set gud-jdb-use-classpath to nil.
1172 Added Customization Variables
1174 *** gud-jdb-command-name. What command line to use to invoke jdb.
1176 *** gud-jdb-use-classpath. Allows selection of java source file searching
1177 method: set to t for new method, nil to scan gud-jdb-directories for
1178 java sources (previous method).
1180 *** gud-jdb-directories. List of directories to scan and search for java
1181 classes using the original gud-jdb method (if gud-jdb-use-classpath
1186 *** The STARTTLS elisp wrapper (starttls.el) can now use GNUTLS
1187 instead of the OpenSSL based "starttls" tool. For backwards
1188 compatibility, it prefers "starttls", but you can toggle
1189 `starttls-use-gnutls' to switch to GNUTLS (or simply remove the
1192 *** Do not allow debugger output history variable to grow without bounds.
1195 ** hide-ifdef-mode now uses overlays rather than selective-display
1196 to hide its text. This should be mostly transparent but slightly
1197 changes the behavior of motion commands like C-e and C-p.
1200 ** Unquoted `$' in file names do not signal an error any more when
1201 the corresponding environment variable does not exist.
1202 Instead, the `$ENVVAR' text is left as is, so that `$$' quoting
1203 is only rarely needed.
1207 *** jit-lock can now be delayed with `jit-lock-defer-time'.
1209 If this variable is non-nil, its value should be the amount of Emacs
1210 idle time in seconds to wait before starting fontification. For
1211 example, if you set `jit-lock-defer-time' to 0.25, fontification will
1212 only happen after 0.25s of idle time.
1214 *** contextual refontification is now separate from stealth fontification.
1216 jit-lock-defer-contextually is renamed jit-lock-contextually and
1217 jit-lock-context-time determines the delay after which contextual
1218 refontification takes place.
1221 ** Marking commands extend the region when invoked multiple times. If
1222 you hit M-C-SPC (mark-sexp), M-@ (mark-word), M-h (mark-paragraph), or
1223 C-M-h (mark-defun) repeatedly, the marked region extends each time, so
1224 you can mark the next two sexps with M-C-SPC M-C-SPC, for example.
1225 This feature also works for mark-end-of-sentence, if you bind that to
1229 ** Some commands do something special in Transient Mark mode when the
1230 mark is active--for instance, they limit their operation to the
1231 region. Even if you don't normally use Transient Mark mode, you might
1232 want to get this behavior from a particular command. There are two
1233 ways you can enable Transient Mark mode and activate the mark, for one
1236 One method is to type C-SPC C-SPC; this enables Transient Mark mode
1237 and sets the mark at point. The other method is to type C-u C-x C-x.
1238 This enables Transient Mark mode temporarily but does not alter the
1241 After these commands, Transient Mark mode remains enabled until you
1242 deactivate the mark. That typically happens when you type a command
1243 that alters the buffer, but you can also deactivate the mark by typing
1247 ** A prefix argument is no longer required to repeat a jump to a
1248 previous mark, i.e. C-u C-SPC C-SPC C-SPC ... cycles through the
1249 mark ring. Use C-u C-u C-SPC to set the mark immediately after a jump.
1252 ** In the *Occur* buffer, `o' switches to it in another window, and
1253 C-o displays the current line's occurrence in another window without
1257 ** When you specify a frame size with --geometry, the size applies to
1258 all frames you create. A position specified with --geometry only
1259 affects the initial frame.
1262 ** M-h (mark-paragraph) now accepts a prefix arg.
1263 With positive arg, M-h marks the current and the following paragraphs;
1264 if the arg is negative, it marks the current and the preceding
1268 ** The variables dired-free-space-program and dired-free-space-args
1269 have been renamed to directory-free-space-program and
1270 directory-free-space-args, and they now apply whenever Emacs puts a
1271 directory listing into a buffer.
1274 ** mouse-wheels can now scroll a specific fraction of the window
1275 (rather than a fixed number of lines) and the scrolling is `progressive'.
1277 ** Unexpected yanking of text due to accidental clicking on the mouse
1278 wheel button (typically mouse-2) during wheel scrolling is now avoided.
1279 This behaviour can be customized via the mouse-wheel-click-event and
1280 mouse-wheel-inhibit-click-time variables.
1283 ** The keyboard-coding-system is now automatically set based on your
1284 current locale settings if you are not using a window system. This
1285 may mean that the META key doesn't work but generates non-ASCII
1286 characters instead, depending on how the terminal (or terminal
1287 emulator) works. Use `set-keyboard-coding-system' (or customize
1288 keyboard-coding-system) if you prefer META to work (the old default)
1289 or if the locale doesn't describe the character set actually generated
1290 by the keyboard. See Info node `Single-Byte Character Support'.
1293 ** Emacs now reads the standard abbrevs file ~/.abbrev_defs
1294 automatically at startup, if it exists. When Emacs offers to save
1295 modified buffers, it saves the abbrevs too if they have changed. It
1296 can do this either silently or asking for confirmation first,
1297 according to the value of `save-abbrevs'.
1300 ** Display of hollow cursors now obeys the buffer-local value (if any)
1301 of `cursor-in-non-selected-windows' in the buffer that the cursor
1304 ** The variable `cursor-in-non-selected-windows' can now be set to any
1305 of the recognized cursor types.
1308 ** The variable `auto-save-file-name-transforms' now has a third element that
1309 controls whether or not the function `make-auto-save-file-name' will
1310 attempt to construct a unique auto-save name (e.g. for remote files).
1313 ** Diary sexp entries can have custom marking in the calendar.
1314 Diary sexp functions which only apply to certain days (such as
1315 `diary-block' or `diary-cyclic') now take an optional parameter MARK,
1316 which is the name of a face or a single-character string indicating
1317 how to highlight the day in the calendar display. Specifying a
1318 single-character string as @var{mark} places the character next to the
1319 day in the calendar. Specifying a face highlights the day with that
1320 face. This lets you have different colors or markings for vacations,
1321 appointments, paydays or anything else using a sexp.
1324 ** The new function `calendar-goto-day-of-year' (g D) prompts for a
1325 year and day number, and moves to that date. Negative day numbers
1326 count backward from the end of the year.
1328 ** The function `simple-diary-display' now by default sets a header line.
1329 This can be controlled through the variables `diary-header-line-flag'
1330 and `diary-header-line-format'.
1333 ** The procedure for activating appointment reminders has changed: use
1334 the new function `appt-activate'. The new variable
1335 `appt-display-format' controls how reminders are displayed, replacing
1336 appt-issue-message, appt-visible, and appt-msg-window.
1338 ** The new functions `diary-from-outlook', `diary-from-outlook-gnus',
1339 and `diary-from-outlook-rmail' can be used to import diary entries
1340 from Outlook-format appointments in mail messages. The variable
1341 `diary-outlook-formats' can be customized to recognize additional
1347 *** The key C-x C-q no longer checks files in or out, it only changes
1348 the read-only state of the buffer (toggle-read-only). We made this
1349 change because we held a poll and found that many users were unhappy
1350 with the previous behavior. If you do prefer this behavior, you
1351 can bind `vc-toggle-read-only' to C-x C-q in your .emacs:
1353 (global-set-key "\C-x\C-q" 'vc-toggle-read-only)
1355 The function `vc-toggle-read-only' will continue to exist.
1358 *** There is a new user option `vc-cvs-global-switches' that allows
1359 you to specify switches that are passed to any CVS command invoked
1360 by VC. These switches are used as "global options" for CVS, which
1361 means they are inserted before the command name. For example, this
1362 allows you to specify a compression level using the "-z#" option for
1365 *** New backends for Subversion and Meta-CVS.
1370 *** When comparing directories.
1371 Typing D brings up a buffer that lists the differences between the contents of
1372 directories. Now it is possible to use this buffer to copy the missing files
1373 from one directory to another.
1376 *** When comparing files or buffers.
1377 Typing the = key now offers to perform the word-by-word comparison of the
1378 currently highlighted regions in an inferior Ediff session. If you answer 'n'
1379 then it reverts to the old behavior and asks the user to select regions for
1382 *** The new command `ediff-backup' compares a file with its most recent
1383 backup using `ediff'. If you specify the name of a backup file,
1384 `ediff-backup' compares it with the file of which it is a backup.
1389 *** New regular expressions features
1391 **** New syntax for regular expressions, multi-line regular expressions.
1392 The syntax --ignore-case-regexp=/regex/ is now undocumented and retained
1393 only for backward compatibility. The new equivalent syntax is
1394 --regex=/regex/i. More generally, it is --regex=/TAGREGEX/TAGNAME/MODS,
1395 where `/TAGNAME' is optional, as usual, and MODS is a string of 0 or
1396 more characters among `i' (ignore case), `m' (multi-line) and `s'
1397 (single-line). The `m' and `s' modifiers behave as in Perl regular
1398 expressions: `m' allows regexps to match more than one line, while `s'
1399 (which implies `m') means that `.' matches newlines. The ability to
1400 span newlines allows writing of much more powerful regular expressions
1401 and rapid prototyping for tagging new languages.
1403 **** Regular expressions can use char escape sequences as in Gcc.
1404 The escaped character sequence \a, \b, \d, \e, \f, \n, \r, \t, \v,
1405 respectively, stand for the ASCII characters BEL, BS, DEL, ESC, FF, NL,
1408 **** Regular expressions can be bound to a given language.
1409 The syntax --regex={LANGUAGE}REGEX means that REGEX is used to make tags
1410 only for files of language LANGUAGE, and ignored otherwise. This is
1411 particularly useful when storing regexps in a file.
1413 **** Regular expressions can be read from a file.
1414 The --regex=@regexfile option means read the regexps from a file, one
1415 per line. Lines beginning with space or tab are ignored.
1417 *** New language parsing features
1419 **** The `::' qualifier triggers C++ parsing in C file.
1420 Previously, only the `template' and `class' keywords had this effect.
1422 **** In Perl, packages are tags.
1423 Subroutine tags are named from their package. You can jump to sub tags
1424 as you did before, by the sub name, or additionally by looking for
1427 **** New language PHP.
1428 Tags are functions, classes and defines.
1429 If the --members option is specified to etags, tags are vars also.
1431 **** New language HTML.
1432 Title and h1, h2, h3 are tagged. Also, tags are generated when name= is
1433 used inside an anchor and whenever id= is used.
1435 **** New default keywords for TeX.
1436 The new keywords are def, newcommand, renewcommand, newenvironment and
1439 **** In Makefiles, constants are tagged.
1440 If you want the old behavior instead, thus avoiding to increase the
1441 size of the tags file, use the --no-globals option.
1443 **** In Prolog, etags creates tags for rules in addition to predicates.
1445 *** Honour #line directives.
1446 When Etags parses an input file that contains C preprocessor's #line
1447 directives, it creates tags using the file name and line number
1448 specified in those directives. This is useful when dealing with code
1449 created from Cweb source files. When Etags tags the generated file, it
1450 writes tags pointing to the source file.
1452 *** New option --parse-stdin=FILE.
1453 This option is mostly useful when calling etags from programs. It can
1454 be used (only once) in place of a file name on the command line. Etags
1455 reads from standard input and mark the produced tags as belonging to
1461 *** Font lock support.
1462 CC Mode now provides font lock support for all its languages. This
1463 supersedes the font lock patterns that have been in the core font lock
1464 package for C, C++, Java and Objective-C. Like indentation, font
1465 locking is done in a uniform way across all languages (except the new
1466 AWK mode - see below). That means that the new font locking will be
1467 different from the old patterns in various details for most languages.
1469 The main goal of the font locking in CC Mode is accuracy, to provide a
1470 dependable aid in recognizing the various constructs. Some, like
1471 strings and comments, are easy to recognize while others like
1472 declarations and types can be very tricky. CC Mode can go to great
1473 lengths to recognize declarations and casts correctly, especially when
1474 the types aren't recognized by standard patterns. This is a fairly
1475 demanding analysis which can be slow on older hardware, and it can
1476 therefore be disabled by choosing a lower decoration level with the
1477 variable font-lock-maximum-decoration.
1479 Note that the most demanding font lock level has been tuned with lazy
1480 fontification in mind, i.e. there should be a support mode that waits
1481 with the fontification until the text is actually shown
1482 (e.g. Just-in-time Lock mode, which is the default, or Lazy Lock
1483 mode). Fontifying a file with several thousand lines in one go can
1484 take the better part of a minute.
1486 **** The (c|c++|objc|java|idl|pike)-font-lock-extra-types variables
1487 are now used by CC Mode to recognize identifiers that are certain to
1488 be types. (They are also used in cases that aren't related to font
1489 locking.) At the maximum decoration level, types are often recognized
1490 properly anyway, so these variables should be fairly restrictive and
1491 not contain patterns for uncertain types.
1493 **** Support for documentation comments.
1494 There is a "plugin" system to fontify documentation comments like
1495 Javadoc and the markup within them. It's independent of the host
1496 language, so it's possible to e.g. turn on Javadoc font locking in C
1497 buffers. See the variable c-doc-comment-style for details.
1499 Currently two kinds of doc comment styles are recognized: Suns Javadoc
1500 and Autodoc which is used in Pike. This is by no means a complete
1501 list of the most common tools; if your doc comment extractor of choice
1502 is missing then please drop a note to bug-cc-mode@gnu.org.
1504 **** Better handling of C++ templates.
1505 As a side effect of the more accurate font locking, C++ templates are
1506 now handled much better. The angle brackets that delimit them are
1507 given parenthesis syntax so that they can be navigated like other
1510 This also improves indentation of templates, although there still is
1511 work to be done in that area. E.g. it's required that multiline
1512 template clauses are written in full and then refontified to be
1513 recognized, and the indentation of nested templates is a bit odd and
1514 not as configurable as it ought to be.
1516 **** Improved handling of Objective-C and CORBA IDL.
1517 Especially the support for Objective-C and IDL has gotten an overhaul.
1518 The special "@" declarations in Objective-C are handled correctly.
1519 All the keywords used in CORBA IDL, PSDL, and CIDL are recognized and
1520 handled correctly, also wrt indentation.
1522 *** Support for the AWK language.
1523 Support for the AWK language has been introduced. The implementation is
1524 based around GNU AWK version 3.1, but it should work pretty well with
1525 any AWK. As yet, not all features of CC Mode have been adapted for AWK.
1528 **** Indentation Engine
1529 The CC Mode indentation engine fully supports AWK mode.
1531 AWK mode handles code formatted in the conventional AWK fashion: `{'s
1532 which start actions, user-defined functions, or compound statements are
1533 placed on the same line as the associated construct; the matching `}'s
1534 are normally placed under the start of the respective pattern, function
1535 definition, or structured statement.
1537 The predefined indentation functions haven't yet been adapted for AWK
1538 mode, though some of them may work serendipitously. There shouldn't be
1539 any problems writing custom indentation functions for AWK mode.
1541 The command C-c C-q (c-indent-defun) hasn't yet been adapted for AWK,
1542 though in practice it works properly nearly all the time. Should it
1543 fail, explicitly set the region around the function (using C-u C-SPC:
1544 C-M-h probably won't work either) then do C-M-\ (indent-region).
1547 There is a single level of font locking in AWK mode, rather than the
1548 three distinct levels the other modes have. There are several
1549 idiosyncrasies in AWK mode's font-locking due to the peculiarities of
1550 the AWK language itself.
1552 **** Comment Commands
1553 M-; (indent-for-comment) works fine. None of the other CC Mode
1554 comment formatting commands have yet been adapted for AWK mode.
1556 **** Movement Commands
1557 Most of the movement commands work in AWK mode. The most important
1558 exceptions are M-a (c-beginning-of-statement) and M-e
1559 (c-end-of-statement) which haven't yet been adapted.
1561 The notion of "defun" has been augmented to include AWK pattern-action
1562 pairs. C-M-a (c-awk-beginning-of-defun) and C-M-e (c-awk-end-of-defun)
1563 recognise these pattern-action pairs, as well as user defined
1566 **** Auto-newline Insertion and Clean-ups
1567 Auto-newline insertion hasn't yet been adapted for AWK. Some of
1568 the clean-ups can actually convert good AWK code into syntactically
1569 invalid code. These features are best disabled in AWK buffers.
1571 *** New syntactic symbols in IDL mode.
1572 The top level constructs "module" and "composition" (from CIDL) are
1573 now handled like "namespace" in C++: They are given syntactic symbols
1574 module-open, module-close, inmodule, composition-open,
1575 composition-close, and incomposition.
1577 *** New functions to do hungry delete without enabling hungry delete mode.
1578 The functions c-hungry-backspace and c-hungry-delete-forward can be
1579 bound to keys to get this feature without toggling a mode.
1580 Contributed by Kevin Ryde.
1582 *** Better control over require-final-newline.
1583 The variable that controls how to handle a final newline when the
1584 buffer is saved, require-final-newline, is now customizable on a
1585 per-mode basis through c-require-final-newline. The default is to set
1586 it to t only in languages that mandate a final newline in source files
1587 (C, C++ and Objective-C).
1589 *** Format change for syntactic context elements.
1590 The elements in the syntactic context returned by c-guess-basic-syntax
1591 and stored in c-syntactic-context has been changed somewhat to allow
1592 attaching more information. They are now lists instead of single cons
1593 cells. E.g. a line that previously had the syntactic analysis
1595 ((inclass . 11) (topmost-intro . 13))
1599 ((inclass 11) (topmost-intro 13))
1601 In some cases there are more than one position given for a syntactic
1604 This change might affect code that call c-guess-basic-syntax directly,
1605 and custom lineup functions if they use c-syntactic-context. However,
1606 the argument given to lineup functions is still a single cons cell
1607 with nil or an integer in the cdr.
1609 *** API changes for derived modes.
1610 There have been extensive changes "under the hood" which can affect
1611 derived mode writers. Some of these changes are likely to cause
1612 incompatibilities with existing derived modes, but on the other hand
1613 care has now been taken to make it possible to extend and modify CC
1614 Mode with less risk of such problems in the future.
1616 **** New language variable system.
1617 See the comment blurb near the top of cc-langs.el.
1619 **** New initialization functions.
1620 The initialization procedure has been split up into more functions to
1621 give better control: c-basic-common-init, c-font-lock-init, and
1622 c-init-language-vars.
1624 *** Changes in analysis of nested syntactic constructs.
1625 The syntactic analysis engine has better handling of cases where
1626 several syntactic constructs appear nested on the same line. They are
1627 now handled as if each construct started on a line of its own.
1629 This means that CC Mode now indents some cases differently, and
1630 although it's more consistent there might be cases where the old way
1631 gave results that's more to one's liking. So if you find a situation
1632 where you think that the indentation has become worse, please report
1633 it to bug-cc-mode@gnu.org.
1635 **** New syntactic symbol substatement-label.
1636 This symbol is used when a label is inserted between a statement and
1637 its substatement. E.g:
1643 *** Better handling of multiline macros.
1645 **** Syntactic indentation inside macros.
1646 The contents of multiline #define's are now analyzed and indented
1647 syntactically just like other code. This can be disabled by the new
1648 variable c-syntactic-indentation-in-macros. A new syntactic symbol
1649 cpp-define-intro has been added to control the initial indentation
1652 **** New lineup function c-lineup-cpp-define.
1653 Now used by default to line up macro continuation lines. The behavior
1654 of this function closely mimics the indentation one gets if the macro
1655 is indented while the line continuation backslashes are temporarily
1656 removed. If syntactic indentation in macros is turned off, it works
1657 much line c-lineup-dont-change, which was used earlier, but handles
1658 empty lines within the macro better.
1660 **** Automatically inserted newlines continues the macro if used within one.
1661 This applies to the newlines inserted by the auto-newline mode, and to
1662 c-context-line-break and c-context-open-line.
1664 **** Better alignment of line continuation backslashes.
1665 c-backslash-region tries to adapt to surrounding backslashes. New
1666 variable c-backslash-max-column which put a limit on how far out
1667 backslashes can be moved.
1669 **** Automatic alignment of line continuation backslashes.
1670 This is controlled by the new variable c-auto-align-backslashes. It
1671 affects c-context-line-break, c-context-open-line and newlines
1672 inserted in auto-newline mode.
1674 **** Line indentation works better inside macros.
1675 Regardless whether syntactic indentation and syntactic indentation
1676 inside macros are enabled or not, line indentation now ignores the
1677 line continuation backslashes. This is most noticeable when syntactic
1678 indentation is turned off and there are empty lines (save for the
1679 backslash) in the macro.
1681 *** indent-for-comment is more customizable.
1682 The behavior of M-; (indent-for-comment) is now configurable through
1683 the variable c-indent-comment-alist. The indentation behavior based
1684 on the preceding code on the line, e.g. to get two spaces after #else
1685 and #endif but indentation to comment-column in most other cases
1686 (something which was hardcoded earlier).
1688 *** New function c-context-open-line.
1689 It's the open-line equivalent of c-context-line-break.
1691 *** New lineup functions
1693 **** c-lineup-string-cont
1694 This lineup function lines up a continued string under the one it
1697 result = prefix + "A message "
1698 "string."; <- c-lineup-string-cont
1700 **** c-lineup-cascaded-calls
1701 Lines up series of calls separated by "->" or ".".
1703 **** c-lineup-knr-region-comment
1704 Gives (what most people think is) better indentation of comments in
1705 the "K&R region" between the function header and its body.
1707 **** c-lineup-gcc-asm-reg
1708 Provides better indentation inside asm blocks. Contributed by Kevin
1711 **** c-lineup-argcont
1712 Lines up continued function arguments after the preceding comma.
1713 Contributed by Kevin Ryde.
1715 *** Better caching of the syntactic context.
1716 CC Mode caches the positions of the opening parentheses (of any kind)
1717 of the lists surrounding the point. Those positions are used in many
1718 places as anchor points for various searches. The cache is now
1719 improved so that it can be reused to a large extent when the point is
1720 moved. The less it moves, the less needs to be recalculated.
1722 The effect is that CC Mode should be fast most of the time even when
1723 opening parens are hung (i.e. aren't in column zero). It's typically
1724 only the first time after the point is moved far down in a complex
1725 file that it'll take noticeable time to find out the syntactic
1728 *** Statements are recognized in a more robust way.
1729 Statements are recognized most of the time even when they occur in an
1730 "invalid" context, e.g. in a function argument. In practice that can
1731 happen when macros are involved.
1733 *** Improved the way c-indent-exp chooses the block to indent.
1734 It now indents the block for the closest sexp following the point
1735 whose closing paren ends on a different line. This means that the
1736 point doesn't have to be immediately before the block to indent.
1737 Also, only the block and the closing line is indented; the current
1738 line is left untouched.
1740 *** Added toggle for syntactic indentation.
1741 The function c-toggle-syntactic-indentation can be used to toggle
1742 syntactic indentation.
1744 ** The command line option --no-windows has been changed to
1745 --no-window-system. The old one still works, but is deprecated.
1748 ** The command `list-text-properties-at' has been deleted because
1749 C-u C-x = gives the same information and more.
1752 ** `buffer-menu' and `list-buffers' now list buffers whose names begin
1753 with a space, when those buffers are visiting files. Normally buffers
1754 whose names begin with space are omitted.
1757 ** You can now customize fill-nobreak-predicate to control where
1758 filling can break lines. We provide two sample predicates,
1759 fill-single-word-nobreak-p and fill-french-nobreak-p.
1762 ** New user option `add-log-always-start-new-record'.
1763 When this option is enabled, M-x add-change-log-entry always
1764 starts a new record regardless of when the last record is.
1767 ** SGML mode has indentation and supports XML syntax.
1768 The new variable `sgml-xml-mode' tells SGML mode to use XML syntax.
1769 When this option is enabled, SGML tags are inserted in XML style,
1770 i.e., there is always a closing tag.
1771 By default, its setting is inferred on a buffer-by-buffer basis
1772 from the file name or buffer contents.
1775 ** `xml-mode' is now an alias for `sgml-mode', which has XML support.
1778 ** New user option `isearch-resume-enabled'.
1779 This option can be disabled, to avoid the normal behavior of isearch
1780 which puts calls to `isearch-resume' in the command history.
1783 ** Lisp mode now uses font-lock-doc-face for the docstrings.
1786 ** Perl mode has a new variable `perl-indent-continued-arguments'.
1789 ** Fortran mode has a new variable `fortran-directive-re'.
1790 Adapt this to match the format of any compiler directives you use.
1791 Lines that match are never indented, and are given distinctive font-locking.
1794 ** F90 mode has new navigation commands `f90-end-of-block',
1795 `f90-beginning-of-block', `f90-next-block', `f90-previous-block'.
1797 ** F90 mode now has support for hs-minor-mode (hideshow).
1798 It cannot deal with every code format, but ought to handle a sizeable
1802 ** Prolog mode has a new variable `prolog-font-lock-keywords'
1803 to support use of font-lock.
1806 ** `special-display-buffer-names' and `special-display-regexps' now
1807 understand two new boolean pseudo-frame-parameters `same-frame' and
1811 ** M-x setenv now expands environment variables of the form `$foo' and
1812 `${foo}' in the specified new value of the environment variable. To
1813 include a `$' in the value, use `$$'.
1816 ** File-name completion can now ignore directories.
1817 If an element of the list in `completion-ignored-extensions' ends in a
1818 slash `/', it indicates a subdirectory that should be ignored when
1819 completing file names. Elements of `completion-ignored-extensions'
1820 which do not end in a slash are never considered when a completion
1821 candidate is a directory.
1824 ** The completion commands TAB, SPC and ? in the minibuffer apply only
1825 to the text before point. If there is text in the buffer after point,
1826 it remains unchanged.
1828 ** Enhanced visual feedback in *Completions* buffer.
1830 Completions lists use faces to highlight what all completions
1831 have in common and where they begin to differ.
1833 The common prefix shared by all possible completions uses the face
1834 `completions-common-part', while the first character that isn't the
1835 same uses the face `completions-first-difference'. By default,
1836 `completions-common-part' inherits from `default', and
1837 `completions-first-difference' inherits from `bold'. The idea of
1838 `completions-common-part' is that you can use it to make the common
1839 parts less visible than normal, so that the rest of the differing
1840 parts is, by contrast, slightly highlighted.
1843 ** New user option `inhibit-startup-buffer-menu'.
1844 When loading many files, for instance with `emacs *', Emacs normally
1845 displays a buffer menu. This option turns the buffer menu off.
1847 ** Compilation mode enhancements:
1849 *** New user option `compilation-environment'.
1850 This option allows you to specify environment variables for inferior
1851 compilation processes without affecting the environment that all
1852 subprocesses inherit.
1854 *** `next-error' now temporarily highlights the corresponding source line.
1856 ** Grep has been decoupled from compilation mode setup.
1858 *** There's a new separate package grep.el.
1860 *** Grep commands now have their own submenu and customization group.
1862 *** The new variables `grep-window-height', `grep-auto-highlight', and
1863 `grep-scroll-output' can be used to override the corresponding
1864 compilation mode settings for grep commands.
1866 *** Source line is temporarily highlighted when going to next match.
1868 *** New key bindings in grep output window:
1869 SPC and DEL scrolls window up and down. C-n and C-p moves to next and
1870 previous match in the grep window. RET jumps to the source line of
1871 the current match. `n' and `p' shows next and previous match in
1872 other window, but does not switch buffer. `{' and `}' jumps to the
1873 previous or next file in the grep output. TAB also jumps to the next
1877 ** Rmail now displays 5-digit message ids in its summary buffer.
1880 ** On MS Windows, the "system caret" now follows the cursor.
1881 This enables Emacs to work better with programs that need to track
1882 the cursor, for example screen magnifiers and text to speech programs.
1885 ** Tooltips now work on MS Windows.
1886 See the Emacs 21.1 NEWS entry for tooltips for details.
1889 ** Images are now supported on MS Windows.
1890 PBM and XBM images are supported out of the box. Other image formats
1891 depend on external libraries. All of these libraries have been ported
1892 to Windows, and can be found in both source and binary form at
1893 http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/. Note that libpng also depends on
1894 zlib, and tiff depends on the version of jpeg that it was compiled
1895 against. For additional information, see nt/INSTALL.
1898 ** Sound is now supported on MS Windows.
1899 WAV format is supported on all versions of Windows, other formats such
1900 as AU, AIFF and MP3 may be supported in the more recent versions of
1901 Windows, or when other software provides hooks into the system level
1902 sound support for those formats.
1905 ** Different shaped mouse pointers are supported on MS Windows.
1906 The mouse pointer changes shape depending on what is under the pointer.
1909 ** Pointing devices with more than 3 buttons are now supported on MS Windows.
1910 The new variable `w32-pass-extra-mouse-buttons-to-system' controls
1911 whether Emacs should handle the extra buttons itself (the default), or
1912 pass them to Windows to be handled with system-wide functions.
1915 ** Emacs takes note of colors defined in Control Panel on MS-Windows.
1916 The Control Panel defines some default colors for applications in much
1917 the same way as wildcard X Resources do on X. Emacs now adds these
1918 colors to the colormap prefixed by System (eg SystemMenu for the
1919 default Menu background, SystemMenuText for the foreground), and uses
1920 some of them to initialize some of the default faces.
1921 `list-colors-display' shows the list of System color names, in case
1922 you wish to use them in other faces.
1925 ** Under X11, it is possible to swap Alt and Meta (and Super and Hyper).
1926 The new variables `x-alt-keysym', `x-hyper-keysym', `x-meta-keysym',
1927 and `x-super-keysym' can be used to choose which keysyms Emacs should
1928 use for the modifiers. For example, the following two lines swap
1930 (setq x-alt-keysym 'meta)
1931 (setq x-meta-keysym 'alt)
1934 ** vc-annotate-mode enhancements
1936 In vc-annotate mode, you can now use the following key bindings for
1937 enhanced functionality to browse the annotations of past revisions, or
1938 to view diffs or log entries directly from vc-annotate-mode:
1940 P: annotates the previous revision
1941 N: annotates the next revision
1942 J: annotates the revision at line
1943 A: annotates the revision previous to line
1944 D: shows the diff of the revision at line with its previous revision
1945 L: shows the log of the revision at line
1946 W: annotates the workfile (most up to date) version
1949 ** In pcl-cvs mode, there is a new `d y' command to view the diffs
1950 between the local version of the file and yesterday's head revision
1954 ** In pcl-cvs mode, there is a new `d r' command to view the changes
1955 anyone has committed to the repository since you last executed
1956 "checkout", "update" or "commit". That means using cvs diff options
1960 * New modes and packages in Emacs 21.4
1962 ** The new package flymake.el does on-the-fly syntax checking of program
1963 source files. See the Flymake's Info manual for more details.
1965 ** The library tree-widget.el provides a new widget to display a set
1966 of hierarchical data as an outline. For example, the tree-widget is
1967 well suited to display a hierarchy of directories and files.
1969 ** The wdired.el package allows you to use normal editing commands on dired
1970 buffers to change filenames, permissions, etc...
1972 ** The new python.el package is used to edit Python and Jython programs.
1974 ** The URL package (which had been part of W3) is now part of Emacs.
1977 ** The new global minor mode `size-indication-mode' (off by default)
1978 shows the size of accessible part of the buffer on the mode line.
1980 ** GDB-Script-mode is used for files like .gdbinit.
1983 ** Ido mode is now part of the Emacs distribution.
1985 The ido (interactively do) package is an extension of the iswitchb
1986 package to do interactive opening of files and directories in addition
1987 to interactive buffer switching. Ido is a superset of iswitchb (with
1988 a few exceptions), so don't enable both packages.
1991 ** CUA mode is now part of the Emacs distribution.
1993 The new cua package provides CUA-like keybindings using C-x for
1994 cut (kill), C-c for copy, C-v for paste (yank), and C-z for undo.
1995 With cua, the region can be set and extended using shifted movement
1996 keys (like pc-selection-mode) and typed text replaces the active
1997 region (like delete-selection-mode). Do not enable these modes with
1998 cua-mode. Customize the variable `cua-mode' to enable cua.
2000 In addition, cua provides unified rectangle support with visible
2001 rectangle highlighting: Use S-return to start a rectangle, extend it
2002 using the movement commands (or mouse-3), and cut or copy it using C-x
2003 or C-c (using C-w and M-w also works).
2005 Use M-o and M-c to `open' or `close' the rectangle, use M-b or M-f, to
2006 fill it with blanks or another character, use M-u or M-l to upcase or
2007 downcase the rectangle, use M-i to increment the numbers in the
2008 rectangle, use M-n to fill the rectangle with a numeric sequence (such
2009 as 10 20 30...), use M-r to replace a regexp in the rectangle, and use
2010 M-' or M-/ to restrict command on the rectangle to a subset of the
2011 rows. See the commentary in cua-base.el for more rectangle commands.
2013 Cua also provides unified support for registers: Use a numeric
2014 prefix argument between 0 and 9, i.e. M-0 .. M-9, for C-x, C-c, and
2015 C-v to cut or copy into register 0-9, or paste from register 0-9.
2017 The last text deleted (not killed) is automatically stored in
2018 register 0. This includes text deleted by typing text.
2020 Finally, cua provides a global mark which is set using S-C-space.
2021 When the global mark is active, any text which is cut or copied is
2022 automatically inserted at the global mark position. See the
2023 commentary in cua-base.el for more global mark related commands.
2025 The features of cua also works with the standard emacs bindings for
2026 kill, copy, yank, and undo. If you want to use cua mode, but don't
2027 want the C-x, C-c, C-v, and C-z bindings, you may customize the
2028 `cua-enable-cua-keys' variable.
2030 Note: This version of cua mode is not backwards compatible with older
2031 versions of cua.el and cua-mode.el. To ensure proper operation, you
2032 must remove older versions of cua.el or cua-mode.el as well as the
2033 loading and customization of those packages from the .emacs file.
2035 ** The new keypad setup package provides several common bindings for
2036 the numeric keypad which is available on most keyboards. The numeric
2037 keypad typically has the digits 0 to 9, a decimal point, keys marked
2038 +, -, /, and *, an Enter key, and a NumLock toggle key. The keypad
2039 package only controls the use of the digit and decimal keys.
2041 By customizing the variables `keypad-setup', `keypad-shifted-setup',
2042 `keypad-numlock-setup', and `keypad-numlock-shifted-setup', or by
2043 using the function `keypad-setup', you can rebind all digit keys and
2044 the decimal key of the keypad in one step for each of the four
2045 possible combinations of the Shift key state (not pressed/pressed) and
2046 the NumLock toggle state (off/on).
2048 The choices for the keypad keys in each of the above states are:
2049 `Plain numeric keypad' where the keys generates plain digits,
2050 `Numeric keypad with decimal key' where the character produced by the
2051 decimal key can be customized individually (for internationalization),
2052 `Numeric Prefix Arg' where the keypad keys produce numeric prefix args
2053 for emacs editing commands, `Cursor keys' and `Shifted Cursor keys'
2054 where the keys work like (shifted) arrow keys, home/end, etc., and
2055 `Unspecified/User-defined' where the keypad keys (kp-0, kp-1, etc.)
2056 are left unspecified and can be bound individually through the global
2060 ** The new kmacro package provides a simpler user interface to
2061 emacs' keyboard macro facilities.
2063 Basically, it uses two function keys (default F3 and F4) like this:
2064 F3 starts a macro, F4 ends the macro, and pressing F4 again executes
2065 the last macro. While defining the macro, F3 inserts a counter value
2066 which automatically increments every time the macro is executed.
2068 There is now a keyboard macro ring which stores the most recently
2071 The C-x C-k sequence is now a prefix for the kmacro keymap which
2072 defines bindings for moving through the keyboard macro ring,
2073 C-x C-k C-p and C-x C-k C-n, editing the last macro C-x C-k C-e,
2074 manipulating the macro counter and format via C-x C-k C-c,
2075 C-x C-k C-a, and C-x C-k C-f. See the commentary in kmacro.el
2078 The normal macro bindings C-x (, C-x ), and C-x e now interfaces to
2079 the keyboard macro ring.
2081 The C-x e command now automatically terminates the current macro
2082 before calling it, if used while defining a macro.
2084 In addition, when ending or calling a macro with C-x e, the macro can
2085 be repeated immediately by typing just the `e'. You can customize
2086 this behaviour via the variable kmacro-call-repeat-key and
2087 kmacro-call-repeat-with-arg.
2089 Keyboard macros can now be debugged and edited interactively.
2090 C-x C-k SPC steps through the last keyboard macro one key sequence
2091 at a time, prompting for the actions to take.
2094 ** The old Octave mode bindings C-c f and C-c i have been changed
2095 to C-c C-f and C-c C-i. The C-c C-i subcommands now have duplicate
2096 bindings on control characters--thus, C-c C-i C-b is the same as
2097 C-c C-i b, and so on.
2099 ** The printing package is now part of the Emacs distribution.
2101 If you enable the printing package by including (require 'printing) in
2102 the .emacs file, the normal Print item on the File menu is replaced
2103 with a Print sub-menu which allows you to preview output through
2104 ghostview, use ghostscript to print (if you don't have a PostScript
2105 printer) or send directly to printer a PostScript code generated by
2106 `ps-print' package. Use M-x pr-help for more information.
2109 ** Calc is now part of the Emacs distribution.
2111 Calc is an advanced desk calculator and mathematical tool written in
2112 Emacs Lisp. Its documentation is in a separate manual; within Emacs,
2113 type "C-h i m calc RET" to read that manual. A reference card is
2114 available in `etc/calccard.tex' and `etc/calccard.ps'.
2117 ** Tramp is now part of the distribution.
2119 This package is similar to Ange-FTP: it allows you to edit remote
2120 files. But whereas Ange-FTP uses FTP to access the remote host,
2121 Tramp uses a shell connection. The shell connection is always used
2122 for filename completion and directory listings and suchlike, but for
2123 the actual file transfer, you can choose between the so-called
2124 `inline' methods (which transfer the files through the shell
2125 connection using base64 or uu encoding) and the `out-of-band' methods
2126 (which invoke an external copying program such as `rcp' or `scp' or
2127 `rsync' to do the copying).
2129 Shell connections can be acquired via `rsh', `ssh', `telnet' and also
2133 ** The new global minor mode `file-name-shadow-mode' modifies the way
2134 filenames being entered by the user in the minibuffer are displayed, so
2135 that it's clear when part of the entered filename will be ignored due to
2136 emacs' filename parsing rules. The ignored portion can be made dim,
2137 invisible, or otherwise less visually noticable. The display method may
2138 be displayed by customizing the variable `file-name-shadow-properties'.
2141 ** The ruler-mode.el library provides a minor mode for displaying an
2142 "active" ruler in the header line. You can use the mouse to visually
2143 change the `fill-column', `window-margins' and `tab-stop-list'
2147 ** The minor mode Reveal mode makes text visible on the fly as you
2148 move your cursor into hidden regions of the buffer.
2149 It should work with any package that uses overlays to hide parts
2150 of a buffer, such as outline-minor-mode, hs-minor-mode, hide-ifdef-mode, ...
2152 There is also Global Reveal mode which affects all buffers.
2155 ** The new package ibuffer provides a powerful, completely
2156 customizable replacement for buff-menu.el.
2158 ** The new package table.el implements editable, WYSIWYG, embedded
2159 `text tables' in Emacs buffers. It simulates the effect of putting
2160 these tables in a special major mode. The package emulates WYSIWYG
2161 table editing available in modern word processors. The package also
2162 can generate a table source in typesetting and markup languages such
2163 as latex and html from the visually laid out text table.
2166 ** SES mode (ses-mode) is a new major mode for creating and editing
2167 spreadsheet files. Besides the usual Emacs features (intuitive command
2168 letters, undo, cell formulas in Lisp, plaintext files, etc.) it also offers
2169 viral immunity and import/export of tab-separated values.
2172 ** Support for `magic cookie' standout modes has been removed.
2173 Emacs will still work on terminals that require magic cookies in order
2174 to use standout mode, however they will not be able to display
2175 mode-lines in inverse-video.
2178 ** cplus-md.el has been removed to avoid problems with Custom.
2180 ** New package benchmark.el contains simple support for convenient
2181 timing measurements of code (including the garbage collection component).
2183 ** The new Lisp library fringe.el controls the appearance of fringes.
2185 ** `cfengine-mode' is a major mode for editing GNU Cfengine
2186 configuration files.
2188 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 21.4
2191 ** `visited-file-modtime' and `calendar-time-from-absolute' now return
2192 a list of two integers, instead of a cons.
2194 ** If a command sets transient-mark-mode to `only', that
2195 enables Transient Mark mode for the following command only.
2196 During that following command, the value of transient-mark-mode
2197 is `identity'. If it is still `identity' at the end of the command,
2201 ** Cleaner way to enter key sequences.
2203 You can enter a constant key sequence in a more natural format, the
2204 same one used for saving keyboard macros, using the macro `kbd'. For
2207 (kbd "C-x C-f") => "\^x\^f"
2209 ** The sentinel is now called when a network process is deleted with
2210 delete-process. The status message passed to the sentinel for a
2211 deleted network process is "deleted". The message passed to the
2212 sentinel when the connection is closed by the remote peer has been
2213 changed to "connection broken by remote peer".
2215 ** If the buffer's undo list for the current command gets longer than
2216 undo-outer-limit, garbage collection empties it. This is to prevent
2217 it from using up the available memory and choking Emacs.
2220 ** New function quail-find-key returns a list of keys to type in the
2221 current input method to input a character.
2224 ** New functions posn-at-point and posn-at-x-y return
2225 click-event-style position information for a given visible buffer
2226 position or for a given window pixel coordinate.
2228 ** skip-chars-forward and skip-chars-backward now handle
2229 character classes such as [:alpha:], along with individual characters
2232 ** Function pos-visible-in-window-p now returns the pixel coordinates
2233 and partial visiblity state of the corresponding row, if the PARTIALLY
2236 ** The function `eql' is now available without requiring the CL package.
2239 ** The new primitive `set-file-times' sets a file's access and
2240 modification times. Magic file name handlers can handle this
2243 ** file-remote-p now returns an identifier for the remote system,
2244 if the file is indeed remote. (Before, the return value was t in
2247 ** The display space :width and :align-to text properties are now
2248 supported on text terminals.
2250 ** Support for displaying image slices
2252 *** New display property (slice X Y WIDTH HEIGHT) may be used with
2253 an image property to display only a specific slice of the image.
2255 *** Function insert-image has new optional fourth arg to
2256 specify image slice (X Y WIDTH HEIGHT).
2258 *** New function insert-sliced-image inserts a given image as a
2259 specified number of evenly sized slices (rows x columns).
2261 ** New line-height and line-spacing properties for newline characters
2263 A newline may now have line-height and line-spacing text or overlay
2264 properties that control the height of the corresponding display row.
2266 If the line-height property value is 0, the newline does not
2267 contribute to the height of the display row; instead the height of the
2268 newline glyph is reduced. Also, a line-spacing property on this
2269 newline is ignored. This can be used to tile small images or image
2270 slices without adding blank areas between the images.
2272 If the line-height property value is a positive integer, the value
2273 specifies the minimum line height in pixels. If necessary, the line
2274 height it increased by increasing the line's ascent.
2276 If the line-height property value is a float, the minimum line height
2277 is calculated by multiplying the default frame line height by the
2280 If the line-height property value is a cons (RATIO . FACE), the
2281 minimum line height is calculated as RATIO * height of named FACE.
2282 RATIO is int or float. If FACE is t, it specifies the current face.
2284 If the line-spacing property value is an positive integer, the value
2285 is used as additional pixels to insert after the display line; this
2286 overrides the default frame line-spacing and any buffer local value of
2287 the line-spacing variable.
2289 If the line-spacing property may be a float or cons, the line spacing
2290 is calculated as specified above for the line-height property.
2292 If the line-spacing value is a cons (total . SPACING) where SPACING is
2293 any of the forms described above, the value of SPACING is used as the
2294 total height of the line, i.e. a varying number of pixels are inserted
2295 after each line to make each line exactly that many pixels high.
2298 ** The buffer local line-spacing variable may now have a float value,
2299 which is used as a height relative to the default frame line height.
2301 ** Enhancements to stretch display properties
2303 The display property stretch specification form `(space PROPS)', where
2304 PROPS is a property list now allows pixel based width and height
2305 specifications, as well as enhanced horizontal text alignment.
2307 The value of these properties can now be a (primitive) expression
2308 which is evaluated during redisplay. The following expressions
2311 EXPR ::= NUM | (NUM) | UNIT | ELEM | POS | IMAGE | FORM
2312 NUM ::= INTEGER | FLOAT | SYMBOL
2313 UNIT ::= in | mm | cm | width | height
2314 ELEM ::= left-fringe | right-fringe | left-margin | right-margin
2316 POS ::= left | center | right
2317 FORM ::= (NUM . EXPR) | (OP EXPR ...)
2320 The form `NUM' specifies a fractional width or height of the default
2321 frame font size. The form `(NUM)' specifies an absolute number of
2322 pixels. If a symbol is specified, its buffer-local variable binding
2323 is used. The `in', `mm', and `cm' units specifies the number of
2324 pixels per inch, milli-meter, and centi-meter, resp. The `width' and
2325 `height' units correspond to the width and height of the current face
2326 font. An image specification corresponds to the width or height of
2329 The `left-fringe', `right-fringe', `left-margin', `right-margin',
2330 `scroll-bar', and `text' elements specify to the width of the
2331 corresponding area of the window.
2333 The `left', `center', and `right' positions can be used with :align-to
2334 to specify a position relative to the left edge, center, or right edge
2335 of the text area. One of the above window elements (except `text')
2336 can also be used with :align-to to specify that the position is
2337 relative to the left edge of the given area. Once the base offset for
2338 a relative position has been set (by the first occurrence of one of
2339 these symbols), further occurences of these symbols are interpreted as
2340 the width of the area.
2342 For example, to align to the center of the left-margin, use
2343 :align-to (+ left-margin (0.5 . left-margin))
2345 If no specific base offset is set for alignment, it is always relative
2346 to the left edge of the text area. For example, :align-to 0 in a
2347 header-line aligns with the first text column in the text area.
2349 The value of the form `(NUM . EXPR)' is the value of NUM multiplied by
2350 the value of the expression EXPR. For example, (2 . in) specifies a
2351 width of 2 inches, while (0.5 . IMAGE) specifies half the width (or
2352 height) of the specified image.
2354 The form `(+ EXPR ...)' adds up the value of the expressions.
2355 The form `(- EXPR ...)' negates or subtracts the value of the expressions.
2357 ** New macro with-local-quit temporarily sets inhibit-quit to nil for use
2358 around potentially blocking or long-running code in timers
2359 and post-command-hooks.
2362 ** New face attribute `min-colors' can be used to tailor the face color
2363 to the number of colors supported by a display, and define the
2364 foreground and background colors accordingly so that they look best on
2365 a terminal that supports at least this many colors. This is now the
2366 preferred method for defining default faces in a way that makes a good
2367 use of the capabilities of the display.
2369 ** New function 'define-fringe-bitmap' can now be used to change the
2370 built-in fringe bitmaps, as well as create new fringe bitmaps.
2371 The return value is a number identifying the new fringe bitmap.
2373 To change a built-in bitmap, do (require 'fringe) and identify the
2374 bitmap to change with the value of the corresponding symbol, like
2375 `left-truncation-fringe-bitmap' or `continued-line-fringe-bitmap'.
2377 ** New function 'destroy-fringe-bitmap' may be used to destroy a
2378 previously created bitmap, or restore a built-in bitmap.
2380 ** New function 'set-fringe-bitmap-face' can now be used to set a
2381 specific face to be used for a specific fringe bitmap. Normally,
2382 this should be a face derived from the `fringe' face, specifying
2383 the foreground color as the desired color of the bitmap.
2385 ** There are new display properties, left-fringe and right-fringe,
2386 that can be used to show a specific bitmap in the left or right fringe
2387 bitmap of the display line.
2389 Format is 'display '(left-fringe BITMAP [FACE]), where BITMAP is a
2390 number identifying a fringe bitmap, either built-in or as returned by
2391 `define-fringe-bitmap', and FACE is an optional face name to be used
2392 for displaying the bitmap.
2394 ** New function `fringe-bitmaps-at-pos' returns a cons (LEFT . RIGHT)
2395 identifying the current fringe bitmaps in the display line at a given
2396 buffer position. A nil value means no bitmap.
2398 ** Multiple overlay arrows can now be defined and managed via the new
2399 variable `overlay-arrow-variable-list'. It contains a list of
2400 varibles which contain overlay arrow position markers, including
2401 the original `overlay-arrow-position' variable.
2403 Each variable on this list may have individual `overlay-arrow-string'
2404 and `overlay-arrow-bitmap' properties that specify an overlay arrow
2405 string (for non-window terminals) or fringe bitmap (for window
2406 systems) to display at the corresponding overlay arrow position.
2407 If either property is not set, the default `overlay-arrow-string' or
2408 'overlay-arrow-fringe-bitmap' will be used.
2411 ** New function `line-number-at-pos' returns line number of current
2412 line in current buffer, or if optional buffer position is given, line
2413 number of corresponding line in current buffer.
2415 ** The default value of `sentence-end' is now defined using the new
2416 variable `sentence-end-without-space' which contains such characters
2417 that end a sentence without following spaces.
2419 ** The function `sentence-end' should be used to obtain the value of
2420 the variable `sentence-end'. If the variable `sentence-end' is nil,
2421 then this function returns the regexp constructed from the variables
2422 `sentence-end-without-period', `sentence-end-double-space' and
2423 `sentence-end-without-space'.
2426 ** The flags, width, and precision options for %-specifications in function
2427 `format' are now documented. Some flags that were accepted but not
2428 implemented (such as "*") are no longer accepted.
2430 ** New function `macroexpand-all' expands all macros in a form.
2431 It is similar to the Common-Lisp function of the same name.
2432 One difference is that it guarantees to return the original argument
2433 if no expansion is done, which may be tested using `eq'.
2436 ** New function `delete-dups' destructively removes `equal' duplicates
2437 from a list. Of several `equal' occurrences of an element in the list,
2438 the first one is kept.
2441 ** `declare' is now a macro. This change was made mostly for
2442 documentation purposes and should have no real effect on Lisp code.
2444 ** The new hook `before-save-hook' is invoked by `basic-save-buffer'
2445 before saving buffers. This allows packages to perform various final
2446 tasks, for example; it can be used by the copyright package to make
2447 sure saved files have the current year in any copyright headers.
2450 ** The function `insert-for-yank' now supports strings where the
2451 `yank-handler' property does not span the first character of the
2452 string. The old behavior is available if you call
2453 `insert-for-yank-1' instead.
2455 ** New function `get-char-property-and-overlay' accepts the same
2456 arguments as `get-char-property' and returns a cons whose car is the
2457 return value of `get-char-property' called with those arguments and
2458 whose cdr is the overlay in which the property was found, or nil if
2459 it was found as a text property or not found at all.
2461 ** The mouse pointer shape in void text areas (i.e. after the end of a
2462 line or below the last line in the buffer) of the text window is now
2463 controlled by the new variable `void-text-area-pointer'. The default
2464 is to use the `arrow' (non-text) pointer. Other choices are `text'
2465 (or nil), `hand', `vdrag', `hdrag', `modeline', and `hourglass'.
2467 ** The mouse pointer shape over an image can now be controlled by the
2468 :pointer image property.
2470 ** The mouse pointer shape over ordinary text or images may now be
2471 controlled/overriden via the `pointer' text property.
2473 ** Images may now have an associated image map via the :map property.
2475 An image map is an alist where each element has the format (AREA ID PLIST).
2476 An AREA is specified as either a rectangle, a circle, or a polygon:
2477 A rectangle is a cons (rect . ((x0 . y0) . (x1 . y1))) specifying the
2478 pixel coordinates of the upper left and bottom right corners.
2479 A circle is a cons (circle . ((x0 . y0) . r)) specifying the center
2480 and the radius of the circle; r may be a float or integer.
2481 A polygon is a cons (poly . [x0 y0 x1 y1 ...]) where each pair in the
2482 vector describes one corner in the polygon.
2484 When the mouse pointer is above a hot-spot area of an image, the
2485 PLIST of that hot-spot is consulted; if it contains a `help-echo'
2486 property it defines a tool-tip for the hot-spot, and if it contains
2487 a `pointer' property, it defines the shape of the mouse cursor when
2488 it is over the hot-spot. See the variable 'void-area-text-pointer'
2489 for possible pointer shapes.
2491 When you click the mouse when the mouse pointer is over a hot-spot,
2492 an event is composed by combining the ID of the hot-spot with the
2493 mouse event, e.g. [area4 mouse-1] if the hot-spot's ID is `area4'.
2495 ** Mouse event enhancements:
2497 *** Mouse clicks on fringes now generates left-fringe or right-fringes
2498 events, rather than a text area click event.
2500 *** Mouse clicks in the left and right marginal areas now includes a
2501 sensible buffer position corresponding to the first character in the
2502 corresponding text row.
2504 *** Function `mouse-set-point' now works for events outside text area.
2507 *** Mouse events now includes buffer position for all event types.
2510 *** `posn-point' now returns buffer position for non-text area events.
2513 *** New function `posn-area' returns window area clicked on (nil means
2517 *** Mouse events include actual glyph column and row for all event types.
2520 *** New function `posn-actual-col-row' returns actual glyph coordinates.
2523 *** Mouse events may now include image object in addition to string object.
2526 *** Mouse events include relative x and y pixel coordinates relative to
2527 the top left corner of the object (image or character) clicked on.
2530 *** Mouse events include the pixel width and height of the object
2531 (image or character) clicked on.
2534 *** New functions 'posn-object', 'posn-object-x-y', and
2535 'posn-object-width-height' return the image or string object of a mouse
2536 click, the x and y pixel coordinates relative to the top left corner
2537 of that object, and the total width and height of that object.
2539 ** New function `force-window-update' can initiate a full redisplay of
2540 one or all windows. Normally, this is not needed as changes in window
2541 contents are detected automatically. However, certain implicit
2542 changes to mode lines, header lines, or display properties may require
2543 forcing an explicit window update.
2545 ** New function `redirect-debugging-output' can be used to redirect
2546 debugging output on the stderr file handle to a file.
2549 ** `split-string' now includes null substrings in the returned list if
2550 the optional argument SEPARATORS is non-nil and there are matches for
2551 SEPARATORS at the beginning or end of the string. If SEPARATORS is
2552 nil, or if the new optional third argument OMIT-NULLS is non-nil, all
2553 empty matches are omitted from the returned list.
2556 ** `makehash' is now obsolete. Use `make-hash-table' instead.
2559 ** If optional third argument APPEND to `add-to-list' is non-nil, a
2560 new element gets added at the end of the list instead of at the
2561 beginning. This change actually occurred in Emacs-21.1, but was not
2564 ** Major modes can define `eldoc-print-current-symbol-info-function'
2565 locally to provide Eldoc functionality by some method appropriate to
2569 ** New coding system property `mime-text-unsuitable' indicates that
2570 the coding system's `mime-charset' is not suitable for MIME text
2574 ** The argument to forward-word, backward-word, forward-to-indentation
2575 and backward-to-indentation is now optional, and defaults to 1.
2578 ** (char-displayable-p CHAR) returns non-nil if Emacs ought to be able
2579 to display CHAR. More precisely, if the selected frame's fontset has
2580 a font to display the character set that CHAR belongs to.
2582 Fontsets can specify a font on a per-character basis; when the fontset
2583 does that, this value may not be accurate.
2586 ** The new function `window-inside-edges' returns the edges of the
2587 actual text portion of the window, not including the scroll bar or
2588 divider line, the fringes, the display margins, the header line and
2592 ** The new functions `window-pixel-edges' and `window-inside-pixel-edges'
2593 return window edges in units of pixels, rather than columns and lines.
2596 ** The kill-buffer-hook is now permanent-local.
2599 ** `select-window' takes an optional second argument `norecord', like
2603 ** The new macro `with-selected-window' temporarily switches the
2604 selected window without impacting the order of buffer-list.
2607 ** The `keymap' property now also works at the ends of overlays and
2608 text-properties, according to their stickiness. This also means that it
2609 works with empty overlays. The same hold for the `local-map' property.
2612 ** (map-keymap FUNCTION KEYMAP) applies the function to each binding
2616 ** VC changes for backends:
2617 *** (vc-switches BACKEND OPERATION) is a new function for use by backends.
2618 *** The new `find-version' backend function replaces the `destfile'
2619 parameter of the `checkout' backend function.
2620 Old code still works thanks to a default `find-version' behavior that
2621 uses the old `destfile' parameter.
2624 ** The new macro dynamic-completion-table supports using functions
2625 as a dynamic completion table.
2627 (dynamic-completion-table FUN)
2629 FUN is called with one argument, the string for which completion is required,
2630 and it should return an alist containing all the intended possible
2631 completions. This alist may be a full list of possible completions so that FUN
2632 can ignore the value of its argument. If completion is performed in the
2633 minibuffer, FUN will be called in the buffer from which the minibuffer was
2634 entered. dynamic-completion-table then computes the completion.
2637 ** The new macro lazy-completion-table initializes a variable
2638 as a lazy completion table.
2640 (lazy-completion-table VAR FUN &rest ARGS)
2642 If the completion table VAR is used for the first time (e.g., by passing VAR
2643 as an argument to `try-completion'), the function FUN is called with arguments
2644 ARGS. FUN must return the completion table that will be stored in VAR. If
2645 completion is requested in the minibuffer, FUN will be called in the buffer
2646 from which the minibuffer was entered. The return value of
2647 `lazy-completion-table' must be used to initialize the value of VAR.
2650 ** `minor-mode-list' now holds a list of minor mode commands.
2653 ** The new function `modify-all-frames-parameters' modifies parameters
2654 for all (existing and future) frames.
2657 ** `sit-for' can now be called with args (SECONDS &optional NODISP).
2660 ** New standard font-lock face `font-lock-preprocessor-face'.
2663 ** The macro `with-syntax-table' does not copy the table any more.
2666 ** The variable `face-font-rescale-alist' specifies how much larger
2667 (or smaller) font we should use. For instance, if the value is
2668 '((SOME-FONTNAME-PATTERN . 1.3)) and a face requests a font of 10
2669 point, we actually use a font of 13 point if the font matches
2670 SOME-FONTNAME-PATTERN.
2673 ** The function `number-sequence' returns a list of equally-separated
2674 numbers. For instance, (number-sequence 4 9) returns (4 5 6 7 8 9).
2675 By default, the separation is 1, but you can specify a different separation
2676 as the third argument. (number-sequence 1.5 6 2) returns (1.5 3.5 5.5).
2679 ** `file-chase-links' now takes an optional second argument LIMIT which
2680 specifies the maximum number of links to chase through. If after that
2681 many iterations the file name obtained is still a symbolic link,
2682 `file-chase-links' returns it anyway.
2685 ** `set-fontset-font', `fontset-info', `fontset-font' now operate on
2686 the default fontset if the argument NAME is nil..
2689 ** The escape sequence \s is now interpreted as a SPACE character,
2690 unless it is followed by a `-' in a character constant (e.g. ?\s-A),
2691 in which case it is still interpreted as the super modifier.
2692 In strings, \s is always interpreted as a space.
2695 ** New function `set-process-filter-multibyte' sets the multibyteness
2696 of a string given to a process's filter.
2699 ** New function `process-filter-multibyte-p' returns t if
2700 a string given to a process's filter is multibyte.
2703 ** A filter function of a process is called with a multibyte string if
2704 the filter's multibyteness is t. That multibyteness is decided by the
2705 value of `default-enable-multibyte-characters' when the process is
2706 created and can be changed later by `set-process-filter-multibyte'.
2709 ** If a process's coding system is raw-text or no-conversion and its
2710 buffer is multibyte, the output of the process is at first converted
2711 to multibyte by `string-to-multibyte' then inserted in the buffer.
2712 Previously, it was converted to multibyte by `string-as-multibyte',
2713 which was not compatible with the behaviour of file reading.
2716 ** New function `string-to-multibyte' converts a unibyte string to a
2717 multibyte string with the same individual character codes.
2720 ** New variables `gc-elapsed' and `gcs-done' provide extra information
2721 on garbage collection.
2724 ** New function `decode-coding-inserted-region' decodes a region as if
2725 it is read from a file without decoding.
2728 ** New function `locale-info' accesses locale information.
2731 ** `save-selected-window' now saves and restores the selected window
2732 of every frame. This way, it restores everything that can be changed
2733 by calling `select-window'.
2736 ** `easy-menu-define' now allows you to use nil for the symbol name
2737 if you don't need to give the menu a name. If you install the menu
2738 into other keymaps right away (MAPS is non-nil), it usually doesn't
2739 need to have a name.
2741 ** Byte compiler changes:
2744 *** `(featurep 'xemacs)' is treated by the compiler as nil. This
2745 helps to avoid noisy compiler warnings in code meant to run under both
2746 Emacs and XEmacs and may sometimes make the result significantly more
2747 efficient. Since byte code from recent versions of XEmacs won't
2748 generally run in Emacs and vice versa, this optimization doesn't lose
2752 *** You can avoid warnings for possibly-undefined symbols with a
2753 simple convention that the compiler understands. (This is mostly
2754 useful in code meant to be portable to different Emacs versions.)
2755 Write forms like the following, or code that macroexpands into such
2758 (if (fboundp 'foo) <then> <else>)
2759 (if (boundp 'foo) <then> <else)
2761 In the first case, using `foo' as a function inside the <then> form
2762 won't produce a warning if it's not defined as a function, and in the
2763 second case, using `foo' as a variable won't produce a warning if it's
2764 unbound. The test must be in exactly one of the above forms (after
2765 macro expansion), but such tests may be nested. Note that `when' and
2766 `unless' expand to `if', but `cond' doesn't.
2769 *** The new macro `with-no-warnings' suppresses all compiler warnings
2770 inside its body. In terms of execution, it is equivalent to `progn'.
2773 ** The new translation table `translation-table-for-input'
2774 is used for customizing self-insertion. The character to
2775 be inserted is translated through it.
2778 ** `load-history' can now have elements of the form (t . FUNNAME),
2779 which means FUNNAME was previously defined as an autoload (before the
2780 current file redefined it).
2783 ** New Lisp library testcover.el works with edebug to help you determine
2784 whether you've tested all your Lisp code. Function testcover-start
2785 instruments all functions in a given file. Then test your code. Function
2786 testcover-mark-all adds overlay "splotches" to the Lisp file's buffer to
2787 show where coverage is lacking. Command testcover-next-mark (bind it to
2788 a key!) will move point forward to the next spot that has a splotch.
2790 *** Normally, a red splotch indicates the form was never completely evaluated;
2791 a brown splotch means it always evaluated to the same value. The red
2792 splotches are skipped for forms that can't possibly complete their evaluation,
2793 such as `error'. The brown splotches are skipped for forms that are expected
2794 to always evaluate to the same value, such as (setq x 14).
2796 *** For difficult cases, you can add do-nothing macros to your code to help
2797 out the test coverage tool. The macro `noreturn' suppresses a red splotch.
2798 It is an error if the argument to `noreturn' does return. The macro 1value
2799 suppresses a brown splotch for its argument. This macro is a no-op except
2800 during test-coverage -- then it signals an error if the argument actually
2801 returns differing values.
2804 ** New function unsafep returns nil if the given Lisp form can't possibly
2805 do anything dangerous; otherwise it returns a reason why the form might be
2806 unsafe (calls dangerous function, alters global variable, etc).
2809 ** The new variable `print-continuous-numbering', when non-nil, says
2810 that successive calls to print functions should use the same
2811 numberings for circular structure references. This is only relevant
2812 when `print-circle' is non-nil.
2814 When you bind `print-continuous-numbering' to t, you should
2815 also bind `print-number-table' to nil.
2818 ** When using non-toolkit scroll bars with the default width,
2819 the scroll-bar-width frame parameter value is nil.
2822 ** The new function copy-abbrev-table returns a new abbrev table that
2823 is a copy of a given abbrev table.
2826 ** The option --script FILE runs Emacs in batch mode and loads FILE.
2827 It is useful for writing Emacs Lisp shell script files, because they
2828 can start with this line:
2830 #!/usr/bin/emacs --script
2833 ** A function's docstring can now hold the function's usage info on
2834 its last line. It should match the regexp "\n\n(fn.*)\\'".
2837 ** New CCL functions `lookup-character' and `lookup-integer' access
2838 hash tables defined by the Lisp function `define-translation-hash-table'.
2841 ** The new function `minibufferp' returns non-nil if its optional buffer
2842 argument is a minibuffer. If the argument is omitted it defaults to
2846 ** There is a new Warnings facility; see the functions `warn'
2847 and `display-warning'.
2850 ** The functions all-completions and try-completion now accept lists
2851 of strings as well as hash-tables additionally to alists, obarrays
2852 and functions. Furthermore, the function `test-completion' is now
2856 ** When pure storage overflows while dumping, Emacs now prints how
2857 much pure storage it will approximately need.
2860 ** The new variable `auto-coding-functions' lets you specify functions
2861 to examine a file being visited and deduce the proper coding system
2862 for it. (If the coding system is detected incorrectly for a specific
2863 file, you can put a `coding:' tags to override it.)
2866 ** The new function `merge-coding-systems' fills in unspecified aspects
2867 of one coding system from another coding system.
2870 ** The variable `safe-local-eval-forms' specifies a list of forms that
2871 are ok to evaluate when they appear in an `eval' local variables
2872 specification. Normally Emacs asks for confirmation before evaluating
2873 such a form, but if the form appears in this list, no confirmation is
2877 ** If a function has a non-nil `safe-local-eval-function' property,
2878 that means it is ok to evaluate some calls to that function when it
2879 appears in an `eval' local variables specification. If the property
2880 is t, then any form calling that function with constant arguments is
2881 ok. If the property is a function or list of functions, they are called
2882 with the form as argument, and if any returns t, the form is ok to call.
2884 If the form is not "ok to call", that means Emacs asks for
2885 confirmation as before.
2888 ** Controlling the default left and right fringe widths.
2890 The default left and right fringe widths for all windows of a frame
2891 can now be controlled by setting the `left-fringe' and `right-fringe'
2892 frame parameters to an integer value specifying the width in pixels.
2893 Setting the width to 0 effectively removes the corresponding fringe.
2895 The actual default fringe widths for the frame may deviate from the
2896 specified widths, since the combined fringe widths must match an
2897 integral number of columns. The extra width is distributed evenly
2898 between the left and right fringe. For force a specific fringe width,
2899 specify the width as a negative integer (if both widths are negative,
2900 only the left fringe gets the specified width).
2902 Setting the width to nil (the default), restores the default fringe
2903 width which is the minimum number of pixels necessary to display any
2904 of the currently defined fringe bitmaps. The width of the built-in
2905 fringe bitmaps is 8 pixels.
2908 ** Per-window fringes settings
2910 Windows can now have their own individual fringe widths and position
2913 To control the fringe widths of a window, either set the buffer-local
2914 variables `left-fringe-width', `right-fringe-width', or call
2915 `set-window-fringes'.
2917 To control the fringe position in a window, that is, whether fringes
2918 are positioned between the display margins and the window's text area,
2919 or at the edges of the window, either set the buffer-local variable
2920 `fringes-outside-margins' or call `set-window-fringes'.
2922 The function `window-fringes' can be used to obtain the current
2923 settings. To make `left-fringe-width', `right-fringe-width', and
2924 `fringes-outside-margins' take effect, you must set them before
2925 displaying the buffer in a window, or use `set-window-buffer' to force
2926 an update of the display margins.
2929 ** Per-window vertical scroll-bar settings
2931 Windows can now have their own individual scroll-bar settings
2932 controlling the width and position of scroll-bars.
2934 To control the scroll-bar of a window, either set the buffer-local
2935 variables `scroll-bar-mode' and `scroll-bar-width', or call
2936 `set-window-scroll-bars'. The function `window-scroll-bars' can be
2937 used to obtain the current settings. To make `scroll-bar-mode' and
2938 `scroll-bar-width' take effect, you must set them before displaying
2939 the buffer in a window, or use `set-window-buffer' to force an update
2940 of the display margins.
2943 ** The function `set-window-buffer' now has an optional third argument
2944 KEEP-MARGINS which will preserve the window's current margin, fringe,
2945 and scroll-bar settings if non-nil.
2948 ** Renamed file hooks to follow the convention:
2949 find-file-hooks to find-file-hook,
2950 find-file-not-found-hooks to find-file-not-found-functions,
2951 write-file-hooks to write-file-functions,
2952 write-contents-hooks to write-contents-functions.
2953 Marked local-write-file-hooks as obsolete (use the LOCAL arg of `add-hook').
2956 ** The new variable `delete-frame-functions' replaces `delete-frame-hook'.
2957 It was renamed to follow the naming conventions for abnormal hooks. The old
2958 name remains available as an alias, but has been marked obsolete.
2961 ** The `read-file-name' function now takes an additional argument which
2962 specifies a predicate which the file name read must satify. The
2963 new variable `read-file-name-predicate' contains the predicate argument
2964 while reading the file name from the minibuffer; the predicate in this
2965 variable is used by read-file-name-internal to filter the completion list.
2968 ** The new variable `read-file-name-function' can be used by lisp code
2969 to override the internal read-file-name function.
2972 ** The new variable `read-file-name-completion-ignore-case' specifies
2973 whether completion ignores case when reading a file name with the
2974 `read-file-name' function.
2977 ** The new function `read-directory-name' can be used instead of
2978 `read-file-name' to read a directory name; when used, completion
2979 will only show directories.
2982 ** The new function `file-remote-p' tests a file name and returns
2983 non-nil if it specifies a remote file (one that Emacs accesses using
2984 its own special methods and not directly through the file system).
2987 ** When a Lisp file uses CL functions at run-time, compiling the file
2988 now issues warnings about these calls, unless the file performs
2989 (require 'cl) when loaded.
2992 ** The `defmacro' form may contain declarations specifying how to
2993 indent the macro in Lisp mode and how to debug it with Edebug. The
2994 syntax of defmacro has been extended to
2996 (defmacro NAME LAMBDA-LIST [DOC-STRING] [DECLARATION ...] ...)
2998 DECLARATION is a list `(declare DECLARATION-SPECIFIER ...)'. The
2999 declaration specifiers supported are:
3002 Set NAME's `lisp-indent-function' property to INDENT.
3005 Set NAME's `edebug-form-spec' property to DEBUG. (This is
3006 equivalent to writing a `def-edebug-spec' for the macro.
3009 ** Interactive commands can be remapped through keymaps.
3011 This is an alternative to using defadvice or substitute-key-definition
3012 to modify the behavior of a key binding using the normal keymap
3013 binding and lookup functionality.
3015 When a key sequence is bound to a command, and that command is
3016 remapped to another command, that command is run instead of the
3020 Suppose that minor mode my-mode has defined the commands
3021 my-kill-line and my-kill-word, and it wants C-k (and any other key
3022 bound to kill-line) to run the command my-kill-line instead of
3023 kill-line, and likewise it wants to run my-kill-word instead of
3026 Instead of rebinding C-k and the other keys in the minor mode map,
3027 command remapping allows you to directly map kill-line into
3028 my-kill-line and kill-word into my-kill-word through the minor mode
3029 map using define-key:
3031 (define-key my-mode-map [remap kill-line] 'my-kill-line)
3032 (define-key my-mode-map [remap kill-word] 'my-kill-word)
3034 Now, when my-mode is enabled, and the user enters C-k or M-d,
3035 the commands my-kill-line and my-kill-word are run.
3037 Notice that only one level of remapping is supported. In the above
3038 example, this means that if my-kill-line is remapped to other-kill,
3039 then C-k still runs my-kill-line.
3041 The following changes have been made to provide command remapping:
3043 - Command remappings are defined using `define-key' with a prefix-key
3044 `remap', i.e. `(define-key MAP [remap CMD] DEF)' remaps command CMD
3045 to definition DEF in keymap MAP. The definition is not limited to
3046 another command; it can be anything accepted for a normal binding.
3048 - The new function `command-remapping' returns the binding for a
3049 remapped command in the current keymaps, or nil if not remapped.
3051 - key-binding now remaps interactive commands unless the optional
3052 third argument NO-REMAP is non-nil.
3054 - where-is-internal now returns nil for a remapped command (e.g.
3055 kill-line if my-mode is enabled), and the actual key binding for
3056 the command it is remapped to (e.g. C-k for my-kill-line).
3057 It also has a new optional fifth argument, NO-REMAP, which inhibits
3058 remapping if non-nil (e.g. it returns C-k for kill-line and
3059 <kill-line> for my-kill-line).
3061 - The new variable `this-original-command' contains the original
3062 command before remapping. It is equal to `this-command' when the
3063 command was not remapped.
3066 ** New variable emulation-mode-map-alists.
3068 Lisp packages using many minor mode keymaps can now maintain their own
3069 keymap alist separate from minor-mode-map-alist by adding their keymap
3073 ** Atomic change groups.
3075 To perform some changes in the current buffer "atomically" so that
3076 they either all succeed or are all undone, use `atomic-change-group'
3077 around the code that makes changes. For instance:
3079 (atomic-change-group
3081 (delete-region x y))
3083 If an error (or other nonlocal exit) occurs inside the body of
3084 `atomic-change-group', it unmakes all the changes in that buffer that
3085 were during the execution of the body. The change group has no effect
3086 on any other buffers--any such changes remain.
3088 If you need something more sophisticated, you can directly call the
3089 lower-level functions that `atomic-change-group' uses. Here is how.
3091 To set up a change group for one buffer, call `prepare-change-group'.
3092 Specify the buffer as argument; it defaults to the current buffer.
3093 This function returns a "handle" for the change group. You must save
3094 the handle to activate the change group and then finish it.
3096 Before you change the buffer again, you must activate the change
3097 group. Pass the handle to `activate-change-group' afterward to
3100 After you make the changes, you must finish the change group. You can
3101 either accept the changes or cancel them all. Call
3102 `accept-change-group' to accept the changes in the group as final;
3103 call `cancel-change-group' to undo them all.
3105 You should use `unwind-protect' to make sure the group is always
3106 finished. The call to `activate-change-group' should be inside the
3107 `unwind-protect', in case the user types C-g just after it runs.
3108 (This is one reason why `prepare-change-group' and
3109 `activate-change-group' are separate functions.) Once you finish the
3110 group, don't use the handle again--don't try to finish the same group
3113 To make a multibuffer change group, call `prepare-change-group' once
3114 for each buffer you want to cover, then use `nconc' to combine the
3115 returned values, like this:
3117 (nconc (prepare-change-group buffer-1)
3118 (prepare-change-group buffer-2))
3120 You can then activate the multibuffer change group with a single call
3121 to `activate-change-group', and finish it with a single call to
3122 `accept-change-group' or `cancel-change-group'.
3124 Nested use of several change groups for the same buffer works as you
3125 would expect. Non-nested use of change groups for the same buffer
3126 will lead to undesirable results, so don't let it happen; the first
3127 change group you start for any given buffer should be the last one
3131 ** New variable char-property-alias-alist.
3133 This variable allows you to create alternative names for text
3134 properties. It works at the same level as `default-text-properties',
3135 although it applies to overlays as well. This variable was introduced
3136 to implement the `font-lock-face' property.
3139 ** New special text property `font-lock-face'.
3141 This property acts like the `face' property, but it is controlled by
3142 M-x font-lock-mode. It is not, strictly speaking, a builtin text
3143 property. Instead, it is implemented inside font-core.el, using the
3144 new variable `char-property-alias-alist'.
3147 ** New function remove-list-of-text-properties.
3149 The new function `remove-list-of-text-properties' is almost the same
3150 as `remove-text-properties'. The only difference is that it takes
3151 a list of property names as argument rather than a property list.
3154 ** New function insert-for-yank.
3156 This function normally works like `insert' but removes the text
3157 properties in the `yank-excluded-properties' list. However, if the
3158 inserted text has a `yank-handler' text property on the first
3159 character of the string, the insertion of the text may be modified in
3160 a number of ways. See the description of `yank-handler' below.
3163 ** New function insert-buffer-substring-as-yank.
3165 This function works like `insert-buffer-substring', but removes the
3166 text properties in the `yank-excluded-properties' list.
3169 ** New function insert-buffer-substring-no-properties.
3171 This function is like insert-buffer-substring, but removes all
3172 text properties from the inserted substring.
3175 ** New `yank-handler' text property may be used to control how
3176 previously killed text on the kill-ring is reinserted.
3178 The value of the yank-handler property must be a list with one to four
3179 elements with the following format:
3180 (FUNCTION PARAM NOEXCLUDE UNDO).
3182 The `insert-for-yank' function looks for a yank-handler property on
3183 the first character on its string argument (typically the first
3184 element on the kill-ring). If a yank-handler property is found,
3185 the normal behaviour of `insert-for-yank' is modified in various ways:
3187 When FUNCTION is present and non-nil, it is called instead of `insert'
3188 to insert the string. FUNCTION takes one argument--the object to insert.
3189 If PARAM is present and non-nil, it replaces STRING as the object
3190 passed to FUNCTION (or `insert'); for example, if FUNCTION is
3191 `yank-rectangle', PARAM should be a list of strings to insert as a
3193 If NOEXCLUDE is present and non-nil, the normal removal of the
3194 yank-excluded-properties is not performed; instead FUNCTION is
3195 responsible for removing those properties. This may be necessary
3196 if FUNCTION adjusts point before or after inserting the object.
3197 If UNDO is present and non-nil, it is a function that will be called
3198 by `yank-pop' to undo the insertion of the current object. It is
3199 called with two arguments, the start and end of the current region.
3200 FUNCTION may set `yank-undo-function' to override the UNDO value.
3202 *** The functions kill-new, kill-append, and kill-region now have an
3203 optional argument to specify the yank-handler text property to put on
3206 *** The function yank-pop will now use a non-nil value of the variable
3207 `yank-undo-function' (instead of delete-region) to undo the previous
3208 yank or yank-pop command (or a call to insert-for-yank). The function
3209 insert-for-yank automatically sets that variable according to the UNDO
3210 element of the string argument's yank-handler text property if present.
3213 ** New function display-supports-face-attributes-p may be used to test
3214 whether a given set of face attributes is actually displayable.
3216 A new predicate `supports' has also been added to the `defface' face
3217 specification language, which can be used to do this test for faces
3218 defined with defface.
3220 ** The function face-differs-from-default-p now truly checks whether the
3221 given face displays differently from the default face or not (previously
3222 it did only a very cursory check).
3225 ** face-attribute, face-foreground, face-background, and face-stipple now
3226 accept a new optional argument, INHERIT, which controls how face
3227 inheritance is used when determining the value of a face attribute.
3230 ** New functions face-attribute-relative-p and merge-face-attribute
3231 help with handling relative face attributes.
3233 ** The priority of faces in an :inherit attribute face-list is reversed.
3234 If a face contains an :inherit attribute with a list of faces, earlier
3235 faces in the list override later faces in the list; in previous releases
3236 of Emacs, the order was the opposite. This change was made so that
3237 :inherit face-lists operate identically to face-lists in text `face'
3241 ** Enhancements to process support
3243 *** Function list-processes now has an optional argument; if non-nil,
3244 only the processes whose query-on-exit flag is set are listed.
3246 *** New set-process-query-on-exit-flag and process-query-on-exit-flag
3247 functions. The existing process-kill-without-query function is still
3248 supported, but new code should use the new functions.
3250 *** Function signal-process now accepts a process object or process
3251 name in addition to a process id to identify the signalled process.
3253 *** Processes now have an associated property list where programs can
3254 maintain process state and other per-process related information.
3256 The new functions process-get and process-put are used to access, add,
3257 and modify elements on this property list.
3259 The new low-level functions process-plist and set-process-plist are
3260 used to access and replace the entire property list of a process.
3263 *** Adaptive read buffering of subprocess output.
3265 On some systems, when emacs reads the output from a subprocess, the
3266 output data is read in very small blocks, potentially resulting in
3267 very poor performance. This behaviour can be remedied to some extent
3268 by setting the new variable process-adaptive-read-buffering to a
3269 non-nil value (the default), as it will automatically delay reading
3270 from such processes, to allowing them to produce more output before
3271 emacs tries to read it.
3274 ** Enhanced networking support.
3276 *** There is a new `make-network-process' function which supports
3277 opening of stream and datagram connections to a server, as well as
3278 create a stream or datagram server inside emacs.
3280 - A server is started using :server t arg.
3281 - Datagram connection is selected using :type 'datagram arg.
3282 - A server can open on a random port using :service t arg.
3283 - Local sockets are supported using :family 'local arg.
3284 - Non-blocking connect is supported using :nowait t arg.
3285 - The process' property list may be initialized using :plist PLIST arg;
3286 a copy of the server process' property list is automatically inherited
3287 by new client processes created to handle incoming connections.
3289 To test for the availability of a given feature, use featurep like this:
3290 (featurep 'make-network-process '(:type datagram))
3292 *** Original open-network-stream is now emulated using make-network-process.
3294 *** New function open-network-stream-nowait.
3296 This function initiates a non-blocking connect and returns immediately
3297 without waiting for the connection to be established. It takes the
3298 filter and sentinel functions as arguments; when the non-blocking
3299 connect completes, the sentinel is called with a status string
3300 matching "open" or "failed".
3302 *** New function open-network-stream-server.
3304 This function creates a network server process for a TCP service.
3305 When a client connects to the specified service, a new subprocess
3306 is created to handle the new connection, and the sentinel function
3307 is called for the new process.
3309 *** New functions process-datagram-address and set-process-datagram-address.
3311 These functions are used with datagram-based network processes to get
3312 and set the current address of the remote partner.
3314 *** New function format-network-address.
3316 This function reformats the lisp representation of a network address
3317 to a printable string. For example, an IP address A.B.C.D and port
3318 number P is represented as a five element vector [A B C D P], and the
3319 printable string returned for this vector is "A.B.C.D:P". See the doc
3320 string for other formatting options.
3322 *** By default, the function process-contact still returns (HOST SERVICE)
3323 for a network process. Using the new optional KEY arg, the complete list
3324 of network process properties or a specific property can be selected.
3326 Using :local and :remote as the KEY, the address of the local or
3327 remote end-point is returned. An Inet address is represented as a 5
3328 element vector, where the first 4 elements contain the IP address and
3329 the fifth is the port number.
3331 *** Network processes can now be stopped and restarted with
3332 `stop-process' and `continue-process'. For a server process, no
3333 connections are accepted in the stopped state. For a client process,
3334 no input is received in the stopped state.
3336 *** New function network-interface-list.
3338 This function returns a list of network interface names and their
3339 current network addresses.
3341 *** New function network-interface-info.
3343 This function returns the network address, hardware address, current
3344 status, and other information about a specific network interface.
3347 ** New function copy-tree.
3350 ** New function substring-no-properties.
3353 ** New function minibuffer-selected-window.
3356 ** New function `call-process-shell-command'.
3359 ** The dummy function keys made by easymenu
3360 are now always lower case. If you specify the
3361 menu item name "Ada", for instance, it uses `ada'
3362 as the "key" bound by that key binding.
3364 This is relevant only if Lisp code looks for
3365 the bindings that were made with easymenu.
3368 ** The function `commandp' takes an additional optional
3369 argument. If it is non-nil, then `commandp' checks
3370 for a function that could be called with `call-interactively',
3371 and does not return t for keyboard macros.
3374 ** master-mode.el implements a minor mode for scrolling a slave
3375 buffer without leaving your current buffer, the master buffer.
3377 It can be used by sql.el, for example: the SQL buffer is the master
3378 and its SQLi buffer is the slave. This allows you to scroll the SQLi
3379 buffer containing the output from the SQL buffer containing the
3382 This is how to use sql.el and master.el together: the variable
3383 sql-buffer contains the slave buffer. It is a local variable in the
3386 (add-hook 'sql-mode-hook
3387 (function (lambda ()
3389 (master-set-slave sql-buffer))))
3390 (add-hook 'sql-set-sqli-hook
3391 (function (lambda ()
3392 (master-set-slave sql-buffer))))
3395 ** File local variables.
3397 A file local variables list cannot specify a string with text
3398 properties--any specified text properties are discarded.
3401 ** New function window-body-height.
3403 This is like window-height but does not count the mode line
3407 ** New function format-mode-line.
3409 This returns the mode-line or header-line of the selected (or a
3410 specified) window as a string with or without text properties.
3413 ** New functions `lax-plist-get' and `lax-plist-put'.
3415 These functions are like `plist-get' and `plist-put' except that they
3416 compare the property name using `equal' rather than `eq'.
3419 ** New function `tool-bar-local-item-from-menu'
3421 The `tool-bar-add-item-from-menu' must not be used (as previously
3422 recommended) for making entries in the tool bar for local keymaps.
3423 Instead, use the function `tool-bar-local-item-from-menu', which lets
3424 you specify the map to use as an argument.
3427 ** The function `atan' now accepts an optional second argument.
3429 When called with 2 arguments, as in `(atan Y X)', `atan' returns the
3430 angle in radians between the vector [X, Y] and the X axis. (This is
3431 equivalent to the standard C library function `atan2'.)
3434 ** You can now make a window as short as one line.
3436 A window that is just one line tall does not display either a mode
3437 line or a header line, even if the variables `mode-line-format' and
3438 `header-line-format' call for them. A window that is two lines tall
3439 cannot display both a mode line and a header line at once; if the
3440 variables call for both, only the mode line actually appears.
3443 ** The new frame parameter `tty-color-mode' specifies the mode to use
3444 for color support on character terminal frames. Its value can be a
3445 number of colors to support, or a symbol. See the Emacs Lisp
3446 Reference manual for more detailed documentation.
3449 ** The new mode-line construct `(:propertize ELT PROPS...)' can be
3450 used to add text properties to mode-line elements.
3453 ** Mode line display ignores text properties as well as the
3454 :propertize and :eval forms in the value of a variable whose
3455 `risky-local-variable' property is nil.
3458 ** The new `%i' and `%I' constructs for `mode-line-format' can be used
3459 to display the size of the accessible part of the buffer on the mode
3463 ** Indentation of simple and extended loop forms has been added to the
3464 cl-indent package. The new user options
3465 `lisp-loop-keyword-indentation', `lisp-loop-forms-indentation', and
3466 `lisp-simple-loop-indentation' can be used to customize the
3467 indentation of keywords and forms in loop forms.
3470 ** Indentation of backquoted forms has been made customizable in the
3471 cl-indent package. See the new user option `lisp-backquote-indentation'.
3474 ** Already true in Emacs 21.1, but not emphasized clearly enough:
3476 Multibyte buffers can now faithfully record all 256 character codes
3477 from 0 to 255. As a result, most of the past reasons to use unibyte
3478 buffers no longer exist. We only know of three reasons to use them
3481 1. If you prefer to use unibyte text all of the time.
3483 2. For reading files into temporary buffers, when you want to avoid
3484 the time it takes to convert the format.
3486 3. For binary files where format conversion would be pointless and
3490 ** If text has a `keymap' property, that keymap takes precedence
3491 over minor mode keymaps.
3494 ** A hex escape in a string forces the string to be multibyte.
3495 An octal escape makes it unibyte.
3498 ** At the end of a command, point moves out from within invisible
3499 text, in the same way it moves out from within text covered by an
3500 image or composition property.
3502 This makes it generally unnecessary to mark invisible text as intangible.
3503 This is particularly good because the intangible property often has
3504 unexpected side-effects since the property applies to everything
3505 (including `goto-char', ...) whereas this new code is only run after
3506 post-command-hook and thus does not care about intermediate states.
3509 ** field-beginning and field-end now accept an additional optional
3513 ** define-abbrev now accepts an optional argument SYSTEM-FLAG. If
3514 non-nil, this marks the abbrev as a "system" abbrev, which means that
3515 it won't be stored in the user's abbrevs file if he saves the abbrevs.
3516 Major modes that predefine some abbrevs should always specify this
3520 ** Support for Mocklisp has been removed.
3523 ** The function insert-string is now obsolete.
3526 ** The precedence of file-name-handlers has been changed.
3527 Instead of blindly choosing the first handler that matches,
3528 find-file-name-handler now gives precedence to a file-name handler
3529 that matches near the end of the file name. More specifically, the
3530 handler whose (match-beginning 0) is the largest is chosen.
3531 In case of ties, the old "first matched" rule applies.
3534 ** Dense keymaps now handle inheritance correctly.
3535 Previously a dense keymap would hide all of the simple-char key
3536 bindings of the parent keymap.
3539 ** jit-lock obeys a new text-property `jit-lock-defer-multiline'.
3540 If a piece of text with that property gets contextually refontified
3541 (see jit-lock-defer-contextually), then all of that text will
3542 be refontified. This is useful when the syntax of a textual element
3543 depends on text several lines further down (and when font-lock-multiline
3544 is not appropriate to solve that problem). For example in Perl:
3552 Adding/removing the last `e' changes the `bar' from being a piece of
3553 text to being a piece of code, so you'd put a jit-lock-defer-multiline
3554 property over the second half of the command to force (deferred)
3555 refontification of `bar' whenever the `e' is added/removed.
3558 ** describe-vector now takes a second argument `describer' which is
3559 called to print the entries' values. It defaults to `princ'.
3561 ** defcustom and other custom declarations now use a default group
3562 (the last prior group defined in the same file) when no :group was given.
3565 ** emacsserver now runs pre-command-hook and post-command-hook when
3566 it receives a request from emacsclient.
3569 ** The variable `recursive-load-depth-limit' has been deleted.
3570 Emacs now signals an error if the same file is loaded with more
3571 than 3 levels of nesting.
3574 ** If a major mode function has a non-nil `no-clone-indirect'
3575 property, `clone-indirect-buffer' signals an error if you use
3579 ** In `replace-match', the replacement text no longer inherits
3580 properties from surrounding text.
3583 ** The list returned by `(match-data t)' now has the buffer as a final
3584 element, if the last match was on a buffer. `set-match-data'
3585 accepts such a list for restoring the match state.
3588 ** New function `buffer-local-value'.
3590 This function returns the buffer-local binding of VARIABLE (a symbol)
3591 in buffer BUFFER. If VARIABLE does not have a buffer-local binding in
3592 buffer BUFFER, it returns the default value of VARIABLE instead.
3595 ** New function `text-clone-create'. Text clones are chunks of text
3596 that are kept identical by transparently propagating changes from one
3600 ** font-lock can manage arbitrary text-properties beside `face'.
3601 *** the FACENAME returned in font-lock-keywords can be a list
3602 of the form (face FACE PROP1 VAL1 PROP2 VAL2 ...) so you can set
3603 other properties than `face'.
3604 *** font-lock-extra-managed-props can be set to make sure those extra
3605 properties are automatically cleaned up by font-lock.
3608 ** The special treatment of faces whose names are of the form `fg:COLOR'
3609 or `bg:COLOR' has been removed. Lisp programs should use the
3610 `defface' facility for defining faces with specific colors, or use
3611 the feature of specifying the face attributes :foreground and :background
3612 directly in the `face' property instead of using a named face.
3615 ** The new function `run-mode-hooks' and the new macro `delay-mode-hooks'
3616 are used by define-derived-mode to make sure the mode hook for the
3617 parent mode is run at the end of the child mode.
3620 ** define-minor-mode now accepts arbitrary additional keyword arguments
3621 and simply passes them to defcustom, if applicable.
3624 ** define-derived-mode by default creates a new empty abbrev table.
3625 It does not copy abbrevs from the parent mode's abbrev table.
3628 ** `provide' and `featurep' now accept an optional second argument
3629 to test/provide subfeatures. Also `provide' now checks `after-load-alist'
3630 and runs any code associated with the provided feature.
3633 ** Functions `file-name-sans-extension' and `file-name-extension' now
3634 ignore the leading dots in file names, so that file names such as
3635 `.emacs' are treated as extensionless.
3638 ** Functions `user-uid' and `user-real-uid' now return floats if the
3639 user UID doesn't fit in a Lisp integer. Function `user-full-name'
3640 accepts a float as UID parameter.
3643 ** `define-key-after' now accepts keys longer than 1.
3646 ** The local variable `no-byte-compile' in elisp files is now obeyed.
3649 ** The Emacs Lisp byte-compiler now displays the actual line and
3650 character position of errors, where possible. Additionally, the form
3651 of its warning and error messages have been brought more in line with
3652 the output of other GNU tools.
3655 ** New functions `keymap-prompt' and `current-active-maps'.
3658 ** New function `describe-buffer-bindings'.
3661 ** New vars `exec-suffixes' and `load-suffixes' used when
3662 searching for an executable resp. an elisp file.
3665 ** Variable aliases have been implemented:
3667 *** defvaralias ALIAS-VAR BASE-VAR [DOCSTRING]
3669 This function defines the symbol ALIAS-VAR as a variable alias for
3670 symbol BASE-VAR. This means that retrieving the value of ALIAS-VAR
3671 returns the value of BASE-VAR, and changing the value of ALIAS-VAR
3672 changes the value of BASE-VAR.
3674 DOCSTRING, if present, is the documentation for ALIAS-VAR; else it has
3675 the same documentation as BASE-VAR.
3677 *** indirect-variable VARIABLE
3679 This function returns the variable at the end of the chain of aliases
3680 of VARIABLE. If VARIABLE is not a symbol, or if VARIABLE is not
3681 defined as an alias, the function returns VARIABLE.
3683 It might be noteworthy that variables aliases work for all kinds of
3684 variables, including buffer-local and frame-local variables.
3687 ** Functions from `post-gc-hook' are run at the end of garbage
3688 collection. The hook is run with GC inhibited, so use it with care.
3691 ** If the second argument to `copy-file' is the name of a directory,
3692 the file is copied to that directory instead of signaling an error.
3695 ** The variables most-positive-fixnum and most-negative-fixnum
3696 hold the largest and smallest possible integer values.
3699 ** On MS Windows, locale-coding-system is used to interact with the OS.
3700 The Windows specific variable w32-system-coding-system, which was
3701 formerly used for that purpose is now an alias for locale-coding-system.
3703 ** Functions y-or-n-p, read-char, read-key-sequence and the like, that
3704 display a prompt but don't use the minibuffer, now display the prompt
3705 using the text properties (esp. the face) of the prompt string.
3707 ** New function x-send-client-message sends a client message when
3710 ** Arguments for remove-overlays are now optional, so that you can remove
3711 all overlays in the buffer by just calling (remove-overlay).
3715 *** The new package gdb-ui.el provides an enhanced graphical interface to
3716 GDB. You can interact with GDB through the GUD buffer in the usual way, but
3717 there are also further buffers which control the execution and describe the
3718 state of your program. It separates the input/output of your program from
3719 that of GDB and watches expressions in the speedbar. It also uses features of
3720 Emacs 21 such as the display margin for breakpoints, and the toolbar.
3722 Use M-x gdba to start GDB-UI.
3724 *** The new package syntax.el provides an efficient way to find the
3725 current syntactic context (as returned by parse-partial-sexp).
3727 *** The new package bindat.el provides functions to unpack and pack
3728 binary data structures, such as network packets, to and from Lisp
3731 *** The TCL package tcl-mode.el was replaced by tcl.el.
3732 This was actually done in Emacs-21.1, and was not documented.
3734 *** The new package button.el implements simple and fast `clickable buttons'
3735 in emacs buffers. `buttons' are much lighter-weight than the `widgets'
3736 implemented by widget.el, and can be used by lisp code that doesn't
3737 require the full power of widgets. Emacs uses buttons for such things
3738 as help and apropos buffers.
3741 * Installation changes in Emacs 21.3
3743 ** Support for GNU/Linux on little-endian MIPS and on IBM S390 has
3747 * Changes in Emacs 21.3
3749 ** The obsolete C mode (c-mode.el) has been removed to avoid problems
3752 ** UTF-16 coding systems are available, encoding the same characters
3755 ** There is a new language environment for UTF-8 (set up automatically
3758 ** Translation tables are available between equivalent characters in
3759 different Emacs charsets -- for instance `e with acute' coming from the
3760 Latin-1 and Latin-2 charsets. User options `unify-8859-on-encoding-mode'
3761 and `unify-8859-on-decoding-mode' respectively turn on translation
3762 between ISO 8859 character sets (`unification') on encoding
3763 (e.g. writing a file) and decoding (e.g. reading a file). Note that
3764 `unify-8859-on-encoding-mode' is useful and safe, but
3765 `unify-8859-on-decoding-mode' can cause text to change when you read
3766 it and write it out again without edits, so it is not generally advisable.
3767 By default `unify-8859-on-encoding-mode' is turned on.
3769 ** In Emacs running on the X window system, the default value of
3770 `selection-coding-system' is now `compound-text-with-extensions'.
3772 If you want the old behavior, set selection-coding-system to
3773 compound-text, which may be significantly more efficient. Using
3774 compound-text-with-extensions seems to be necessary only for decoding
3775 text from applications under XFree86 4.2, whose behaviour is actually
3776 contrary to the compound text specification.
3779 * Installation changes in Emacs 21.2
3781 ** Support for BSD/OS 5.0 has been added.
3783 ** Support for AIX 5.1 was added.
3786 * Changes in Emacs 21.2
3788 ** Emacs now supports compound-text extended segments in X selections.
3790 X applications can use `extended segments' to encode characters in
3791 compound text that belong to character sets which are not part of the
3792 list of approved standard encodings for X, e.g. Big5. To paste
3793 selections with such characters into Emacs, use the new coding system
3794 compound-text-with-extensions as the value of selection-coding-system.
3796 ** The default values of `tooltip-delay' and `tooltip-hide-delay'
3799 ** On terminals whose erase-char is ^H (Backspace), Emacs
3800 now uses normal-erase-is-backspace-mode.
3802 ** When the *scratch* buffer is recreated, its mode is set from
3803 initial-major-mode, which normally is lisp-interaction-mode,
3804 instead of using default-major-mode.
3806 ** The new option `Info-scroll-prefer-subnodes' causes Info to behave
3807 like the stand-alone Info reader (from the GNU Texinfo package) as far
3808 as motion between nodes and their subnodes is concerned. If it is t
3809 (the default), Emacs behaves as before when you type SPC in a menu: it
3810 visits the subnode pointed to by the first menu entry. If this option
3811 is nil, SPC scrolls to the end of the current node, and only then goes
3812 to the first menu item, like the stand-alone reader does.
3814 This change was already in Emacs 21.1, but wasn't advertised in the
3818 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 21.2
3820 ** The meanings of scroll-up-aggressively and scroll-down-aggressively
3821 have been interchanged, so that the former now controls scrolling up,
3822 and the latter now controls scrolling down.
3824 ** The variable `compilation-parse-errors-filename-function' can
3825 be used to transform filenames found in compilation output.
3828 * Installation Changes in Emacs 21.1
3830 See the INSTALL file for information on installing extra libraries and
3831 fonts to take advantage of the new graphical features and extra
3832 charsets in this release.
3834 ** Support for GNU/Linux on IA64 machines has been added.
3836 ** Support for LynxOS has been added.
3838 ** There are new configure options associated with the support for
3839 images and toolkit scrollbars. Use the --help option in `configure'
3842 ** You can build a 64-bit Emacs for SPARC/Solaris systems which
3843 support 64-bit executables and also on Irix 6.5. This increases the
3844 maximum buffer size. See etc/MACHINES for instructions. Changes to
3845 build on other 64-bit systems should be straightforward modulo any
3846 necessary changes to unexec.
3848 ** There is a new configure option `--disable-largefile' to omit
3849 Unix-98-style support for large files if that is available.
3851 ** There is a new configure option `--without-xim' that instructs
3852 Emacs to not use X Input Methods (XIM), if these are available.
3854 ** `movemail' defaults to supporting POP. You can turn this off using
3855 the --without-pop configure option, should that be necessary.
3857 ** This version can be built for the Macintosh, but does not implement
3858 all of the new display features described below. The port currently
3859 lacks unexec, asynchronous processes, and networking support. See the
3860 "Emacs and the Mac OS" appendix in the Emacs manual, for the
3861 description of aspects specific to the Mac.
3863 ** Note that the MS-Windows port does not yet implement various of the
3864 new display features described below.
3867 * Changes in Emacs 21.1
3869 ** Emacs has a new redisplay engine.
3871 The new redisplay handles characters of variable width and height.
3872 Italic text can be used without redisplay problems. Fonts containing
3873 oversized characters, i.e. characters larger than the logical height
3874 of a font can be used. Images of various formats can be displayed in
3877 ** Emacs has a new face implementation.
3879 The new faces no longer fundamentally use X font names to specify the
3880 font. Instead, each face has several independent attributes--family,
3881 height, width, weight and slant--that it may or may not specify.
3882 These attributes can be merged from various faces, and then together
3885 Faces are supported on terminals that can display color or fonts.
3886 These terminal capabilities are auto-detected. Details can be found
3887 under Lisp changes, below.
3889 ** Emacs can display faces on TTY frames.
3891 Emacs automatically detects terminals that are able to display colors.
3892 Faces with a weight greater than normal are displayed extra-bright, if
3893 the terminal supports it. Faces with a weight less than normal and
3894 italic faces are displayed dimmed, if the terminal supports it.
3895 Underlined faces are displayed underlined if possible. Other face
3896 attributes such as `overline', `strike-through', and `box' are ignored
3899 The command-line options `-fg COLOR', `-bg COLOR', and `-rv' are now
3900 supported on character terminals.
3902 Emacs automatically remaps all X-style color specifications to one of
3903 the colors supported by the terminal. This means you could have the
3904 same color customizations that work both on a windowed display and on
3905 a TTY or when Emacs is invoked with the -nw option.
3907 ** New default font is Courier 12pt under X.
3911 Emacs supports playing sound files on GNU/Linux and FreeBSD (Voxware
3912 driver and native BSD driver, a.k.a. Luigi's driver). Currently
3913 supported file formats are RIFF-WAVE (*.wav) and Sun Audio (*.au).
3914 You must configure Emacs with the option `--with-sound=yes' to enable
3917 ** Emacs now resizes mini-windows if appropriate.
3919 If a message is longer than one line, or minibuffer contents are
3920 longer than one line, Emacs can resize the minibuffer window unless it
3921 is on a frame of its own. You can control resizing and the maximum
3922 minibuffer window size by setting the following variables:
3924 - User option: max-mini-window-height
3926 Maximum height for resizing mini-windows. If a float, it specifies a
3927 fraction of the mini-window frame's height. If an integer, it
3928 specifies a number of lines.
3932 - User option: resize-mini-windows
3934 How to resize mini-windows. If nil, don't resize. If t, always
3935 resize to fit the size of the text. If `grow-only', let mini-windows
3936 grow only, until they become empty, at which point they are shrunk
3939 Default is `grow-only'.
3943 Emacs now runs with the LessTif toolkit (see
3944 <http://www.lesstif.org>). You will need version 0.92.26, or later.
3946 ** LessTif/Motif file selection dialog.
3948 When Emacs is configured to use LessTif or Motif, reading a file name
3949 from a menu will pop up a file selection dialog if `use-dialog-box' is
3952 ** File selection dialog on MS-Windows is supported.
3954 When a file is visited by clicking File->Open, the MS-Windows version
3955 now pops up a standard file selection dialog where you can select a
3956 file to visit. File->Save As also pops up that dialog.
3958 ** Toolkit scroll bars.
3960 Emacs now uses toolkit scroll bars if available. When configured for
3961 LessTif/Motif, it will use that toolkit's scroll bar. Otherwise, when
3962 configured for Lucid and Athena widgets, it will use the Xaw3d scroll
3963 bar if Xaw3d is available. You can turn off the use of toolkit scroll
3964 bars by specifying `--with-toolkit-scroll-bars=no' when configuring
3967 When you encounter problems with the Xaw3d scroll bar, watch out how
3968 Xaw3d is compiled on your system. If the Makefile generated from
3969 Xaw3d's Imakefile contains a `-DNARROWPROTO' compiler option, and your
3970 Emacs system configuration file `s/your-system.h' does not contain a
3971 define for NARROWPROTO, you might consider adding it. Take
3972 `s/freebsd.h' as an example.
3974 Alternatively, if you don't have access to the Xaw3d source code, take
3975 a look at your system's imake configuration file, for example in the
3976 directory `/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/config' (paths are different on
3977 different systems). You will find files `*.cf' there. If your
3978 system's cf-file contains a line like `#define NeedWidePrototypes NO',
3979 add a `#define NARROWPROTO' to your Emacs system configuration file.
3981 The reason for this is that one Xaw3d function uses `double' or
3982 `float' function parameters depending on the setting of NARROWPROTO.
3983 This is not a problem when Imakefiles are used because each system's
3984 imake configuration file contains the necessary information. Since
3985 Emacs doesn't use imake, this has do be done manually.
3987 ** Tool bar support.
3989 Emacs supports a tool bar at the top of a frame under X. For details
3990 of how to define a tool bar, see the page describing Lisp-level
3991 changes. Tool-bar global minor mode controls whether or not it is
3992 displayed and is on by default. The appearance of the bar is improved
3993 if Emacs has been built with XPM image support. Otherwise monochrome
3996 To make the tool bar more useful, we need contributions of extra icons
3997 for specific modes (with copyright assignments).
4001 Tooltips are small X windows displaying a help string at the current
4002 mouse position. The Lisp package `tooltip' implements them. You can
4003 turn them off via the user option `tooltip-mode'.
4005 Tooltips also provides support for GUD debugging. If activated,
4006 variable values can be displayed in tooltips by pointing at them with
4007 the mouse in source buffers. You can customize various aspects of the
4008 tooltip display in the group `tooltip'.
4010 ** Automatic Hscrolling
4012 Horizontal scrolling now happens automatically if
4013 `automatic-hscrolling' is set (the default). This setting can be
4016 If a window is scrolled horizontally with set-window-hscroll, or
4017 scroll-left/scroll-right (C-x <, C-x >), this serves as a lower bound
4018 for automatic horizontal scrolling. Automatic scrolling will scroll
4019 the text more to the left if necessary, but won't scroll the text more
4020 to the right than the column set with set-window-hscroll etc.
4022 ** When using a windowing terminal, each Emacs window now has a cursor
4023 of its own. By default, when a window is selected, the cursor is
4024 solid; otherwise, it is hollow. The user-option
4025 `cursor-in-non-selected-windows' controls how to display the
4026 cursor in non-selected windows. If nil, no cursor is shown, if
4027 non-nil a hollow box cursor is shown.
4029 ** Fringes to the left and right of windows are used to display
4030 truncation marks, continuation marks, overlay arrows and alike. The
4031 foreground, background, and stipple of these areas can be changed by
4032 customizing face `fringe'.
4034 ** The mode line under X is now drawn with shadows by default.
4035 You can change its appearance by modifying the face `mode-line'.
4036 In particular, setting the `:box' attribute to nil turns off the 3D
4037 appearance of the mode line. (The 3D appearance makes the mode line
4038 occupy more space, and thus might cause the first or the last line of
4039 the window to be partially obscured.)
4041 The variable `mode-line-inverse-video', which was used in older
4042 versions of emacs to make the mode-line stand out, is now deprecated.
4043 However, setting it to nil will cause the `mode-line' face to be
4044 ignored, and mode-lines to be drawn using the default text face.
4046 ** Mouse-sensitive mode line.
4048 Different parts of the mode line have been made mouse-sensitive on all
4049 systems which support the mouse. Moving the mouse to a
4050 mouse-sensitive part in the mode line changes the appearance of the
4051 mouse pointer to an arrow, and help about available mouse actions is
4052 displayed either in the echo area, or in the tooltip window if you
4055 Currently, the following actions have been defined:
4057 - Mouse-1 on the buffer name in the mode line goes to the next buffer.
4059 - Mouse-3 on the buffer-name goes to the previous buffer.
4061 - Mouse-2 on the read-only or modified status in the mode line (`%' or
4062 `*') toggles the status.
4064 - Mouse-3 on the mode name displays a minor-mode menu.
4066 ** Hourglass pointer
4068 Emacs can optionally display an hourglass pointer under X. You can
4069 turn the display on or off by customizing group `cursor'.
4073 M-x blink-cursor-mode toggles a blinking cursor under X and on
4074 terminals having terminal capabilities `vi', `vs', and `ve'. Blinking
4075 and related parameters like frequency and delay can be customized in
4078 ** New font-lock support mode `jit-lock-mode'.
4080 This support mode is roughly equivalent to `lazy-lock' but is
4081 generally faster. It supports stealth and deferred fontification.
4082 See the documentation of the function `jit-lock-mode' for more
4085 Font-lock uses jit-lock-mode as default support mode, so you don't
4086 have to do anything to activate it.
4088 ** The default binding of the Delete key has changed.
4090 The new user-option `normal-erase-is-backspace' can be set to
4091 determine the effect of the Delete and Backspace function keys.
4093 On window systems, the default value of this option is chosen
4094 according to the keyboard used. If the keyboard has both a Backspace
4095 key and a Delete key, and both are mapped to their usual meanings, the
4096 option's default value is set to t, so that Backspace can be used to
4097 delete backward, and Delete can be used to delete forward. On
4098 keyboards which either have only one key (usually labeled DEL), or two
4099 keys DEL and BS which produce the same effect, the option's value is
4100 set to nil, and these keys delete backward.
4102 If not running under a window system, setting this option accomplishes
4103 a similar effect by mapping C-h, which is usually generated by the
4104 Backspace key, to DEL, and by mapping DEL to C-d via
4105 `keyboard-translate'. The former functionality of C-h is available on
4106 the F1 key. You should probably not use this setting on a text-only
4107 terminal if you don't have both Backspace, Delete and F1 keys.
4109 Programmatically, you can call function normal-erase-is-backspace-mode
4110 to toggle the behavior of the Delete and Backspace keys.
4112 ** The default for user-option `next-line-add-newlines' has been
4113 changed to nil, i.e. C-n will no longer add newlines at the end of a
4116 ** The <home> and <end> keys now move to the beginning or end of the
4117 current line, respectively. C-<home> and C-<end> move to the
4118 beginning and end of the buffer.
4120 ** Emacs now checks for recursive loads of Lisp files. If the
4121 recursion depth exceeds `recursive-load-depth-limit', an error is
4124 ** When an error is signaled during the loading of the user's init
4125 file, Emacs now pops up the *Messages* buffer.
4127 ** Emacs now refuses to load compiled Lisp files which weren't
4128 compiled with Emacs. Set `load-dangerous-libraries' to t to change
4131 The reason for this change is an incompatible change in XEmacs's byte
4132 compiler. Files compiled with XEmacs can contain byte codes that let
4135 ** Toggle buttons and radio buttons in menus.
4137 When compiled with LessTif (or Motif) support, Emacs uses toolkit
4138 widgets for radio and toggle buttons in menus. When configured for
4139 Lucid, Emacs draws radio buttons and toggle buttons similar to Motif.
4141 ** The menu bar configuration has changed. The new configuration is
4142 more CUA-compliant. The most significant change is that Options is
4143 now a separate menu-bar item, with Mule and Customize as its submenus.
4145 ** Item Save Options on the Options menu allows saving options set
4148 ** Highlighting of trailing whitespace.
4150 When `show-trailing-whitespace' is non-nil, Emacs displays trailing
4151 whitespace in the face `trailing-whitespace'. Trailing whitespace is
4152 defined as spaces or tabs at the end of a line. To avoid busy
4153 highlighting when entering new text, trailing whitespace is not
4154 displayed if point is at the end of the line containing the
4157 ** C-x 5 1 runs the new command delete-other-frames which deletes
4158 all frames except the selected one.
4160 ** The new user-option `confirm-kill-emacs' can be customized to
4161 let Emacs ask for confirmation before exiting.
4163 ** The header line in an Info buffer is now displayed as an emacs
4164 header-line (which is like a mode-line, but at the top of the window),
4165 so that it remains visible even when the buffer has been scrolled.
4166 This behavior may be disabled by customizing the option
4167 `Info-use-header-line'.
4169 ** Polish, Czech, German, and French translations of Emacs' reference card
4170 have been added. They are named `pl-refcard.tex', `cs-refcard.tex',
4171 `de-refcard.tex' and `fr-refcard.tex'. Postscript files are included.
4173 ** An `Emacs Survival Guide', etc/survival.tex, is available.
4175 ** A reference card for Dired has been added. Its name is
4176 `dired-ref.tex'. A French translation is available in
4179 ** C-down-mouse-3 is bound differently. Now if the menu bar is not
4180 displayed it pops up a menu containing the items which would be on the
4181 menu bar. If the menu bar is displayed, it pops up the major mode
4182 menu or the Edit menu if there is no major mode menu.
4184 ** Variable `load-path' is no longer customizable through Customize.
4186 You can no longer use `M-x customize-variable' to customize `load-path'
4187 because it now contains a version-dependent component. You can still
4188 use `add-to-list' and `setq' to customize this variable in your
4189 `~/.emacs' init file or to modify it from any Lisp program in general.
4191 ** C-u C-x = provides detailed information about the character at
4192 point in a pop-up window.
4194 ** Emacs can now support 'wheeled' mice (such as the MS IntelliMouse)
4195 under XFree86. To enable this, use the `mouse-wheel-mode' command, or
4196 customize the variable `mouse-wheel-mode'.
4198 The variables `mouse-wheel-follow-mouse' and `mouse-wheel-scroll-amount'
4199 determine where and by how much buffers are scrolled.
4201 ** Emacs' auto-save list files are now by default stored in a
4202 sub-directory `.emacs.d/auto-save-list/' of the user's home directory.
4203 (On MS-DOS, this subdirectory's name is `_emacs.d/auto-save.list/'.)
4204 You can customize `auto-save-list-file-prefix' to change this location.
4206 ** The function `getenv' is now callable interactively.
4208 ** The new user-option `even-window-heights' can be set to nil
4209 to prevent `display-buffer' from evening out window heights.
4211 ** The new command M-x delete-trailing-whitespace RET will delete the
4212 trailing whitespace within the current restriction. You can also add
4213 this function to `write-file-hooks' or `local-write-file-hooks'.
4215 ** When visiting a file with M-x find-file-literally, no newlines will
4216 be added to the end of the buffer even if `require-final-newline' is
4219 ** The new user-option `find-file-suppress-same-file-warnings' can be
4220 set to suppress warnings ``X and Y are the same file'' when visiting a
4221 file that is already visited under a different name.
4223 ** The new user-option `electric-help-shrink-window' can be set to
4224 nil to prevent adjusting the help window size to the buffer size.
4226 ** New command M-x describe-character-set reads a character set name
4227 and displays information about that.
4229 ** The new variable `auto-mode-interpreter-regexp' contains a regular
4230 expression matching interpreters, for file mode determination.
4232 This regular expression is matched against the first line of a file to
4233 determine the file's mode in `set-auto-mode' when Emacs can't deduce a
4234 mode from the file's name. If it matches, the file is assumed to be
4235 interpreted by the interpreter matched by the second group of the
4236 regular expression. The mode is then determined as the mode
4237 associated with that interpreter in `interpreter-mode-alist'.
4239 ** New function executable-make-buffer-file-executable-if-script-p is
4240 suitable as an after-save-hook as an alternative to `executable-chmod'.
4242 ** The most preferred coding-system is now used to save a buffer if
4243 buffer-file-coding-system is `undecided' and it is safe for the buffer
4244 contents. (The most preferred is set by set-language-environment or
4245 by M-x prefer-coding-system.) Thus if you visit an ASCII file and
4246 insert a non-ASCII character from your current language environment,
4247 the file will be saved silently with the appropriate coding.
4248 Previously you would be prompted for a safe coding system.
4250 ** The many obsolete language `setup-...-environment' commands have
4251 been removed -- use `set-language-environment'.
4253 ** The new Custom option `keyboard-coding-system' specifies a coding
4254 system for keyboard input.
4256 ** New variable `inhibit-iso-escape-detection' determines if Emacs'
4257 coding system detection algorithm should pay attention to ISO2022's
4258 escape sequences. If this variable is non-nil, the algorithm ignores
4259 such escape sequences. The default value is nil, and it is
4260 recommended not to change it except for the special case that you
4261 always want to read any escape code verbatim. If you just want to
4262 read a specific file without decoding escape codes, use C-x RET c
4263 (`universal-coding-system-argument'). For instance, C-x RET c latin-1
4264 RET C-x C-f filename RET.
4266 ** Variable `default-korean-keyboard' is initialized properly from the
4267 environment variable `HANGUL_KEYBOARD_TYPE'.
4269 ** New command M-x list-charset-chars reads a character set name and
4270 displays all characters in that character set.
4272 ** M-x set-terminal-coding-system (C-x RET t) now allows CCL-based
4273 coding systems such as cpXXX and cyrillic-koi8.
4275 ** Emacs now attempts to determine the initial language environment
4276 and preferred and locale coding systems systematically from the
4277 LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, and LANG environment variables during startup.
4279 ** New language environments `Polish', `Latin-8' and `Latin-9'.
4280 Latin-8 and Latin-9 correspond respectively to the ISO character sets
4281 8859-14 (Celtic) and 8859-15 (updated Latin-1, with the Euro sign).
4282 GNU Intlfonts doesn't support these yet but recent X releases have
4283 8859-15. See etc/INSTALL for information on obtaining extra fonts.
4284 There are new Leim input methods for Latin-8 and Latin-9 prefix (only)
4287 ** New language environments `Dutch' and `Spanish'.
4288 These new environments mainly select appropriate translations
4291 ** In Ethiopic language environment, special key bindings for
4292 function keys are changed as follows. This is to conform to "Emacs
4293 Lisp Coding Convention".
4295 new command old-binding
4296 --- ------- -----------
4297 f3 ethio-fidel-to-sera-buffer f5
4298 S-f3 ethio-fidel-to-sera-region f5
4299 C-f3 ethio-fidel-to-sera-mail-or-marker f5
4301 f4 ethio-sera-to-fidel-buffer unchanged
4302 S-f4 ethio-sera-to-fidel-region unchanged
4303 C-f4 ethio-sera-to-fidel-mail-or-marker unchanged
4305 S-f5 ethio-toggle-punctuation f3
4306 S-f6 ethio-modify-vowel f6
4307 S-f7 ethio-replace-space f7
4308 S-f8 ethio-input-special-character f8
4309 S-f9 ethio-replace-space unchanged
4310 C-f9 ethio-toggle-space f2
4312 ** There are new Leim input methods.
4313 New input methods "turkish-postfix", "turkish-alt-postfix",
4314 "greek-mizuochi", "TeX", and "greek-babel" are now part of the Leim
4317 ** The rule of input method "slovak" is slightly changed. Now the
4318 rules for translating "q" and "Q" to "`" (backquote) are deleted, thus
4319 typing them inserts "q" and "Q" respectively. Rules for translating
4320 "=q", "+q", "=Q", and "+Q" to "`" are also deleted. Now, to input
4321 "`", you must type "=q".
4323 ** When your terminal can't display characters from some of the ISO
4324 8859 character sets but can display Latin-1, you can display
4325 more-or-less mnemonic sequences of ASCII/Latin-1 characters instead of
4326 empty boxes (under a window system) or question marks (not under a
4327 window system). Customize the option `latin1-display' to turn this
4330 ** M-; now calls comment-dwim which tries to do something clever based
4331 on the context. M-x kill-comment is now an alias to comment-kill,
4332 defined in newcomment.el. You can choose different styles of region
4333 commenting with the variable `comment-style'.
4335 ** New user options `display-time-mail-face' and
4336 `display-time-use-mail-icon' control the appearance of mode-line mail
4337 indicator used by the display-time package. On a suitable display the
4338 indicator can be an icon and is mouse-sensitive.
4340 ** On window-systems, additional space can be put between text lines
4341 on the display using several methods
4343 - By setting frame parameter `line-spacing' to PIXELS. PIXELS must be
4344 a positive integer, and specifies that PIXELS number of pixels should
4345 be put below text lines on the affected frame or frames.
4347 - By setting X resource `lineSpacing', class `LineSpacing'. This is
4348 equivalent to specifying the frame parameter.
4350 - By specifying `--line-spacing=N' or `-lsp N' on the command line.
4352 - By setting buffer-local variable `line-spacing'. The meaning is
4353 the same, but applies to the a particular buffer only.
4355 ** The new command `clone-indirect-buffer' can be used to create
4356 an indirect buffer that is a twin copy of the current buffer. The
4357 command `clone-indirect-buffer-other-window', bound to C-x 4 c,
4358 does the same but displays the indirect buffer in another window.
4360 ** New user options `backup-directory-alist' and
4361 `make-backup-file-name-function' control the placement of backups,
4362 typically in a single directory or in an invisible sub-directory.
4364 ** New commands iso-iso2sgml and iso-sgml2iso convert between Latin-1
4365 characters and the corresponding SGML (HTML) entities.
4367 ** New X resources recognized
4369 *** The X resource `synchronous', class `Synchronous', specifies
4370 whether Emacs should run in synchronous mode. Synchronous mode
4371 is useful for debugging X problems.
4375 emacs.synchronous: true
4377 *** The X resource `visualClass, class `VisualClass', specifies the
4378 visual Emacs should use. The resource's value should be a string of
4379 the form `CLASS-DEPTH', where CLASS is the name of the visual class,
4380 and DEPTH is the requested color depth as a decimal number. Valid
4381 visual class names are
4390 Visual class names specified as X resource are case-insensitive, i.e.
4391 `pseudocolor', `Pseudocolor' and `PseudoColor' all have the same
4394 The program `xdpyinfo' can be used to list the visual classes
4395 supported on your display, and which depths they have. If
4396 `visualClass' is not specified, Emacs uses the display's default
4401 emacs.visualClass: TrueColor-8
4403 *** The X resource `privateColormap', class `PrivateColormap',
4404 specifies that Emacs should use a private colormap if it is using the
4405 default visual, and that visual is of class PseudoColor. Recognized
4406 resource values are `true' or `on'.
4410 emacs.privateColormap: true
4412 ** Faces and frame parameters.
4414 There are four new faces `scroll-bar', `border', `cursor' and `mouse'.
4415 Setting the frame parameters `scroll-bar-foreground' and
4416 `scroll-bar-background' sets foreground and background color of face
4417 `scroll-bar' and vice versa. Setting frame parameter `border-color'
4418 sets the background color of face `border' and vice versa. Likewise
4419 for frame parameters `cursor-color' and face `cursor', and frame
4420 parameter `mouse-color' and face `mouse'.
4422 Changing frame parameter `font' sets font-related attributes of the
4423 `default' face and vice versa. Setting frame parameters
4424 `foreground-color' or `background-color' sets the colors of the
4425 `default' face and vice versa.
4429 The face `menu' can be used to change colors and font of Emacs' menus.
4431 ** New frame parameter `screen-gamma' for gamma correction.
4433 The new frame parameter `screen-gamma' specifies gamma-correction for
4434 colors. Its value may be nil, the default, in which case no gamma
4435 correction occurs, or a number > 0, usually a float, that specifies
4436 the screen gamma of a frame's display.
4438 PC monitors usually have a screen gamma of 2.2. smaller values result
4439 in darker colors. You might want to try a screen gamma of 1.5 for LCD
4440 color displays. The viewing gamma Emacs uses is 0.4545. (1/2.2).
4442 The X resource name of this parameter is `screenGamma', class
4445 ** Tabs and variable-width text.
4447 Tabs are now displayed with stretch properties; the width of a tab is
4448 defined as a multiple of the normal character width of a frame, and is
4449 independent of the fonts used in the text where the tab appears.
4450 Thus, tabs can be used to line up text in different fonts.
4452 ** Enhancements of the Lucid menu bar
4454 *** The Lucid menu bar now supports the resource "margin".
4456 emacs.pane.menubar.margin: 5
4458 The default margin is 4 which makes the menu bar appear like the
4461 *** Arrows that indicate sub-menus are now drawn with shadows, as in
4464 ** A block cursor can be drawn as wide as the glyph under it under X.
4466 As an example: if a block cursor is over a tab character, it will be
4467 drawn as wide as that tab on the display. To do this, set
4468 `x-stretch-cursor' to a non-nil value.
4470 ** Empty display lines at the end of a buffer may be marked with a
4471 bitmap (this is similar to the tilde displayed by vi and Less).
4473 This behavior is activated by setting the buffer-local variable
4474 `indicate-empty-lines' to a non-nil value. The default value of this
4475 variable is found in `default-indicate-empty-lines'.
4477 ** There is a new "aggressive" scrolling method.
4479 When scrolling up because point is above the window start, if the
4480 value of the buffer-local variable `scroll-up-aggressively' is a
4481 number, Emacs chooses a new window start so that point ends up that
4482 fraction of the window's height from the top of the window.
4484 When scrolling down because point is below the window end, if the
4485 value of the buffer-local variable `scroll-down-aggressively' is a
4486 number, Emacs chooses a new window start so that point ends up that
4487 fraction of the window's height from the bottom of the window.
4489 ** You can now easily create new *Info* buffers using either
4490 M-x clone-buffer, C-u m <entry> RET or C-u g <entry> RET.
4491 M-x clone-buffer can also be used on *Help* and several other special
4494 ** The command `Info-search' now uses a search history.
4496 ** Listing buffers with M-x list-buffers (C-x C-b) now shows
4497 abbreviated file names. Abbreviations can be customized by changing
4498 `directory-abbrev-alist'.
4500 ** A new variable, backup-by-copying-when-privileged-mismatch, gives
4501 the highest file uid for which backup-by-copying-when-mismatch will be
4502 forced on. The assumption is that uids less than or equal to this
4503 value are special uids (root, bin, daemon, etc.--not real system
4504 users) and that files owned by these users should not change ownership,
4505 even if your system policy allows users other than root to edit them.
4507 The default is 200; set the variable to nil to disable the feature.
4509 ** The rectangle commands now avoid inserting undesirable spaces,
4510 notably at the end of lines.
4512 All these functions have been rewritten to avoid inserting unwanted
4513 spaces, and an optional prefix now allows them to behave the old way.
4515 ** The function `replace-rectangle' is an alias for `string-rectangle'.
4517 ** The new command M-x string-insert-rectangle is like `string-rectangle',
4518 but inserts text instead of replacing it.
4520 ** The new command M-x query-replace-regexp-eval acts like
4521 query-replace-regexp, but takes a Lisp expression which is evaluated
4522 after each match to get the replacement text.
4524 ** M-x query-replace recognizes a new command `e' (or `E') that lets
4525 you edit the replacement string.
4527 ** The new command mail-abbrev-complete-alias, bound to `M-TAB'
4528 (if you load the library `mailabbrev'), lets you complete mail aliases
4529 in the text, analogous to lisp-complete-symbol.
4531 ** The variable `echo-keystrokes' may now have a floating point value.
4533 ** If your init file is compiled (.emacs.elc), `user-init-file' is set
4534 to the source name (.emacs.el), if that exists, after loading it.
4536 ** The help string specified for a menu-item whose definition contains
4537 the property `:help HELP' is now displayed under X, on MS-Windows, and
4538 MS-DOS, either in the echo area or with tooltips. Many standard menus
4539 displayed by Emacs now have help strings.
4542 ** New user option `read-mail-command' specifies a command to use to
4543 read mail from the menu etc.
4545 ** The environment variable `EMACSLOCKDIR' is no longer used on MS-Windows.
4546 This environment variable was used when creating lock files. Emacs on
4547 MS-Windows does not use this variable anymore. This change was made
4548 before Emacs 21.1, but wasn't documented until now.
4550 ** Highlighting of mouse-sensitive regions is now supported in the
4551 MS-DOS version of Emacs.
4553 ** The new command `msdos-set-mouse-buttons' forces the MS-DOS version
4554 of Emacs to behave as if the mouse had a specified number of buttons.
4555 This comes handy with mice that don't report their number of buttons
4556 correctly. One example is the wheeled mice, which report 3 buttons,
4557 but clicks on the middle button are not passed to the MS-DOS version
4560 ** Customize changes
4562 *** Customize now supports comments about customized items. Use the
4563 `State' menu to add comments, or give a prefix argument to
4564 M-x customize-set-variable or M-x customize-set-value. Note that
4565 customization comments will cause the customizations to fail in
4566 earlier versions of Emacs.
4568 *** The new option `custom-buffer-done-function' says whether to kill
4569 Custom buffers when you've done with them or just bury them (the
4572 *** If Emacs was invoked with the `-q' or `--no-init-file' options, it
4573 does not allow you to save customizations in your `~/.emacs' init
4574 file. This is because saving customizations from such a session would
4575 wipe out all the other customizationss you might have on your init
4578 ** If Emacs was invoked with the `-q' or `--no-init-file' options, it
4579 does not save disabled and enabled commands for future sessions, to
4580 avoid overwriting existing customizations of this kind that are
4581 already in your init file.
4583 ** New features in evaluation commands
4585 *** The commands to evaluate Lisp expressions, such as C-M-x in Lisp
4586 modes, C-j in Lisp Interaction mode, and M-:, now bind the variables
4587 print-level, print-length, and debug-on-error based on the new
4588 customizable variables eval-expression-print-level,
4589 eval-expression-print-length, and eval-expression-debug-on-error.
4591 The default values for the first two of these variables are 12 and 4
4592 respectively, which means that `eval-expression' now prints at most
4593 the first 12 members of a list and at most 4 nesting levels deep (if
4594 the list is longer or deeper than that, an ellipsis `...' is
4597 <RET> or <mouse-2> on the printed text toggles between an abbreviated
4598 printed representation and an unabbreviated one.
4600 The default value of eval-expression-debug-on-error is t, so any error
4601 during evaluation produces a backtrace.
4603 *** The function `eval-defun' (C-M-x) now loads Edebug and instruments
4604 code when called with a prefix argument.
4608 Note: This release contains changes that might not be compatible with
4609 current user setups (although it's believed that these
4610 incompatibilities will only show in very uncommon circumstances).
4611 However, since the impact is uncertain, these changes may be rolled
4612 back depending on user feedback. Therefore there's no forward
4613 compatibility guarantee wrt the new features introduced in this
4616 *** The hardcoded switch to "java" style in Java mode is gone.
4617 CC Mode used to automatically set the style to "java" when Java mode
4618 is entered. This has now been removed since it caused too much
4621 However, to keep backward compatibility to a certain extent, the
4622 default value for c-default-style now specifies the "java" style for
4623 java-mode, but "gnu" for all other modes (as before). So you won't
4624 notice the change if you haven't touched that variable.
4626 *** New cleanups, space-before-funcall and compact-empty-funcall.
4627 Two new cleanups have been added to c-cleanup-list:
4629 space-before-funcall causes a space to be inserted before the opening
4630 parenthesis of a function call, which gives the style "foo (bar)".
4632 compact-empty-funcall causes any space before a function call opening
4633 parenthesis to be removed if there are no arguments to the function.
4634 It's typically useful together with space-before-funcall to get the
4635 style "foo (bar)" and "foo()".
4637 *** Some keywords now automatically trigger reindentation.
4638 Keywords like "else", "while", "catch" and "finally" have been made
4639 "electric" to make them reindent automatically when they continue an
4640 earlier statement. An example:
4642 for (i = 0; i < 17; i++)
4644 res += a[i]->offset;
4647 Here, the "else" should be indented like the preceding "if", since it
4648 continues that statement. CC Mode will automatically reindent it after
4649 the "else" has been typed in full, since it's not until then it's
4650 possible to decide whether it's a new statement or a continuation of
4653 CC Mode uses Abbrev mode to achieve this, which is therefore turned on
4656 *** M-a and M-e now moves by sentence in multiline strings.
4657 Previously these two keys only moved by sentence in comments, which
4658 meant that sentence movement didn't work in strings containing
4659 documentation or other natural language text.
4661 The reason it's only activated in multiline strings (i.e. strings that
4662 contain a newline, even when escaped by a '\') is to avoid stopping in
4663 the short strings that often reside inside statements. Multiline
4664 strings almost always contain text in a natural language, as opposed
4665 to other strings that typically contain format specifications,
4666 commands, etc. Also, it's not that bothersome that M-a and M-e misses
4667 sentences in single line strings, since they're short anyway.
4669 *** Support for autodoc comments in Pike mode.
4670 Autodoc comments for Pike are used to extract documentation from the
4671 source, like Javadoc in Java. Pike mode now recognize this markup in
4672 comment prefixes and paragraph starts.
4674 *** The comment prefix regexps on c-comment-prefix may be mode specific.
4675 When c-comment-prefix is an association list, it specifies the comment
4676 line prefix on a per-mode basis, like c-default-style does. This
4677 change came about to support the special autodoc comment prefix in
4680 *** Better handling of syntactic errors.
4681 The recovery after unbalanced parens earlier in the buffer has been
4682 improved; CC Mode now reports them by dinging and giving a message
4683 stating the offending line, but still recovers and indent the
4684 following lines in a sane way (most of the time). An "else" with no
4685 matching "if" is handled similarly. If an error is discovered while
4686 indenting a region, the whole region is still indented and the error
4687 is reported afterwards.
4689 *** Lineup functions may now return absolute columns.
4690 A lineup function can give an absolute column to indent the line to by
4691 returning a vector with the desired column as the first element.
4693 *** More robust and warning-free byte compilation.
4694 Although this is strictly not a user visible change (well, depending
4695 on the view of a user), it's still worth mentioning that CC Mode now
4696 can be compiled in the standard ways without causing trouble. Some
4697 code have also been moved between the subpackages to enhance the
4698 modularity somewhat. Thanks to Martin Buchholz for doing the
4701 *** c-style-variables-are-local-p now defaults to t.
4702 This is an incompatible change that has been made to make the behavior
4703 of the style system wrt global variable settings less confusing for
4704 non-advanced users. If you know what this variable does you might
4705 want to set it to nil in your .emacs, otherwise you probably don't
4708 Defaulting c-style-variables-are-local-p to t avoids the confusing
4709 situation that occurs when a user sets some style variables globally
4710 and edits both a Java and a non-Java file in the same Emacs session.
4711 If the style variables aren't buffer local in this case, loading of
4712 the second file will cause the default style (either "gnu" or "java"
4713 by default) to override the global settings made by the user.
4715 *** New initialization procedure for the style system.
4716 When the initial style for a buffer is determined by CC Mode (from the
4717 variable c-default-style), the global values of style variables now
4718 take precedence over the values specified by the chosen style. This
4719 is different than the old behavior: previously, the style-specific
4720 settings would override the global settings. This change makes it
4721 possible to do simple configuration in the intuitive way with
4722 Customize or with setq lines in one's .emacs file.
4724 By default, the global value of every style variable is the new
4725 special symbol set-from-style, which causes the value to be taken from
4726 the style system. This means that in effect, only an explicit setting
4727 of a style variable will cause the "overriding" behavior described
4730 Also note that global settings override style-specific settings *only*
4731 when the initial style of a buffer is chosen by a CC Mode major mode
4732 function. When a style is chosen in other ways --- for example, by a
4733 call like (c-set-style "gnu") in a hook, or via M-x c-set-style ---
4734 then the style-specific values take precedence over any global style
4735 values. In Lisp terms, global values override style-specific values
4736 only when the new second argument to c-set-style is non-nil; see the
4737 function documentation for more info.
4739 The purpose of these changes is to make it easier for users,
4740 especially novice users, to do simple customizations with Customize or
4741 with setq in their .emacs files. On the other hand, the new system is
4742 intended to be compatible with advanced users' customizations as well,
4743 such as those that choose styles in hooks or whatnot. This new system
4744 is believed to be almost entirely compatible with current
4745 configurations, in spite of the changed precedence between style and
4746 global variable settings when a buffer's default style is set.
4748 (Thanks to Eric Eide for clarifying this explanation a bit.)
4750 **** c-offsets-alist is now a customizable variable.
4751 This became possible as a result of the new initialization behavior.
4753 This variable is treated slightly differently from the other style
4754 variables; instead of using the symbol set-from-style, it will be
4755 completed with the syntactic symbols it doesn't already contain when
4756 the style is first initialized. This means it now defaults to the
4757 empty list to make all syntactic elements get their values from the
4760 **** Compatibility variable to restore the old behavior.
4761 In case your configuration doesn't work with this change, you can set
4762 c-old-style-variable-behavior to non-nil to get the old behavior back
4765 *** Improvements to line breaking and text filling.
4766 CC Mode now handles this more intelligently and seamlessly wrt the
4767 surrounding code, especially inside comments. For details see the new
4768 chapter about this in the manual.
4770 **** New variable to recognize comment line prefix decorations.
4771 The variable c-comment-prefix-regexp has been added to properly
4772 recognize the line prefix in both block and line comments. It's
4773 primarily used to initialize the various paragraph recognition and
4774 adaptive filling variables that the text handling functions uses.
4776 **** New variable c-block-comment-prefix.
4777 This is a generalization of the now obsolete variable
4778 c-comment-continuation-stars to handle arbitrary strings.
4780 **** CC Mode now uses adaptive fill mode.
4781 This to make it adapt better to the paragraph style inside comments.
4783 It's also possible to use other adaptive filling packages inside CC
4784 Mode, notably Kyle E. Jones' Filladapt mode (http://wonderworks.com/).
4785 A new convenience function c-setup-filladapt sets up Filladapt for use
4788 Note though that the 2.12 version of Filladapt lacks a feature that
4789 causes it to work suboptimally when c-comment-prefix-regexp can match
4790 the empty string (which it commonly does). A patch for that is
4791 available from the CC Mode web site (http://www.python.org/emacs/
4794 **** The variables `c-hanging-comment-starter-p' and
4795 `c-hanging-comment-ender-p', which controlled how comment starters and
4796 enders were filled, are not used anymore. The new version of the
4797 function `c-fill-paragraph' keeps the comment starters and enders as
4798 they were before the filling.
4800 **** It's now possible to selectively turn off auto filling.
4801 The variable c-ignore-auto-fill is used to ignore auto fill mode in
4802 specific contexts, e.g. in preprocessor directives and in string
4805 **** New context sensitive line break function c-context-line-break.
4806 It works like newline-and-indent in normal code, and adapts the line
4807 prefix according to the comment style when used inside comments. If
4808 you're normally using newline-and-indent, you might want to switch to
4811 *** Fixes to IDL mode.
4812 It now does a better job in recognizing only the constructs relevant
4813 to IDL. E.g. it no longer matches "class" as the beginning of a
4814 struct block, but it does match the CORBA 2.3 "valuetype" keyword.
4815 Thanks to Eric Eide.
4817 *** Improvements to the Whitesmith style.
4818 It now keeps the style consistently on all levels and both when
4819 opening braces hangs and when they don't.
4821 **** New lineup function c-lineup-whitesmith-in-block.
4823 *** New lineup functions c-lineup-template-args and c-indent-multi-line-block.
4824 See their docstrings for details. c-lineup-template-args does a
4825 better job of tracking the brackets used as parens in C++ templates,
4826 and is used by default to line up continued template arguments.
4828 *** c-lineup-comment now preserves alignment with a comment on the
4829 previous line. It used to instead preserve comments that started in
4830 the column specified by comment-column.
4832 *** c-lineup-C-comments handles "free form" text comments.
4833 In comments with a long delimiter line at the start, the indentation
4834 is kept unchanged for lines that start with an empty comment line
4835 prefix. This is intended for the type of large block comments that
4836 contain documentation with its own formatting. In these you normally
4837 don't want CC Mode to change the indentation.
4839 *** The `c' syntactic symbol is now relative to the comment start
4840 instead of the previous line, to make integers usable as lineup
4843 *** All lineup functions have gotten docstrings.
4845 *** More preprocessor directive movement functions.
4846 c-down-conditional does the reverse of c-up-conditional.
4847 c-up-conditional-with-else and c-down-conditional-with-else are
4848 variants of these that also stops at "#else" lines (suggested by Don
4851 *** Minor improvements to many movement functions in tricky situations.
4855 *** New variable `dired-recursive-deletes' determines if the delete
4856 command will delete non-empty directories recursively. The default
4857 is, delete only empty directories.
4859 *** New variable `dired-recursive-copies' determines if the copy
4860 command will copy directories recursively. The default is, do not
4861 copy directories recursively.
4863 *** In command `dired-do-shell-command' (usually bound to `!') a `?'
4864 in the shell command has a special meaning similar to `*', but with
4865 the difference that the command will be run on each file individually.
4867 *** The new command `dired-find-alternate-file' (usually bound to `a')
4868 replaces the Dired buffer with the buffer for an alternate file or
4871 *** The new command `dired-show-file-type' (usually bound to `y') shows
4872 a message in the echo area describing what type of file the point is on.
4873 This command invokes the external program `file' do its work, and so
4874 will only work on systems with that program, and will be only as
4875 accurate or inaccurate as it is.
4877 *** Dired now properly handles undo changes of adding/removing `-R'
4880 *** Dired commands that prompt for a destination file now allow the use
4881 of the `M-n' command in the minibuffer to insert the source filename,
4882 which the user can then edit. This only works if there is a single
4883 source file, not when operating on multiple marked files.
4887 The Gnus NEWS entries are short, but they reflect sweeping changes in
4888 four areas: Article display treatment, MIME treatment,
4889 internationalization and mail-fetching.
4891 *** The mail-fetching functions have changed. See the manual for the
4892 many details. In particular, all procmail fetching variables are gone.
4894 If you used procmail like in
4896 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
4897 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
4898 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/mail/incoming/")
4899 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "\\.in")
4901 this now has changed to
4904 '((directory :path "~/mail/incoming/"
4907 More information is available in the info doc at Select Methods ->
4908 Getting Mail -> Mail Sources
4910 *** Gnus is now a MIME-capable reader. This affects many parts of
4911 Gnus, and adds a slew of new commands. See the manual for details.
4912 Separate MIME packages like RMIME, mime-compose etc., will probably no
4913 longer work; remove them and use the native facilities.
4915 The FLIM/SEMI package still works with Emacs 21, but if you want to
4916 use the native facilities, you must remove any mailcap.el[c] that was
4917 installed by FLIM/SEMI version 1.13 or earlier.
4919 *** Gnus has also been multilingualized. This also affects too many
4920 parts of Gnus to summarize here, and adds many new variables. There
4921 are built-in facilities equivalent to those of gnus-mule.el, which is
4922 now just a compatibility layer.
4924 *** gnus-mule.el is now just a compatibility layer over the built-in
4927 *** gnus-auto-select-first can now be a function to be
4928 called to position point.
4930 *** The user can now decide which extra headers should be included in
4931 summary buffers and NOV files.
4933 *** `gnus-article-display-hook' has been removed. Instead, a number
4934 of variables starting with `gnus-treat-' have been added.
4936 *** The Gnus posting styles have been redone again and now work in a
4937 subtly different manner.
4939 *** New web-based backends have been added: nnslashdot, nnwarchive
4940 and nnultimate. nnweb has been revamped, again, to keep up with
4941 ever-changing layouts.
4943 *** Gnus can now read IMAP mail via nnimap.
4945 *** There is image support of various kinds and some sound support.
4947 ** Changes in Texinfo mode.
4949 *** A couple of new key bindings have been added for inserting Texinfo
4953 -------------------------
4957 C-c C-c q @quotation
4959 C-c C-o @<block> ... @end <block>
4962 *** The " key now inserts either " or `` or '' depending on context.
4964 ** Changes in Outline mode.
4966 There is now support for Imenu to index headings. A new command
4967 `outline-headers-as-kill' copies the visible headings in the region to
4968 the kill ring, e.g. to produce a table of contents.
4970 ** Changes to Emacs Server
4972 *** The new option `server-kill-new-buffers' specifies what to do
4973 with buffers when done with them. If non-nil, the default, buffers
4974 are killed, unless they were already present before visiting them with
4975 Emacs Server. If nil, `server-temp-file-regexp' specifies which
4976 buffers to kill, as before.
4978 Please note that only buffers are killed that still have a client,
4979 i.e. buffers visited with `emacsclient --no-wait' are never killed in
4982 ** Both emacsclient and Emacs itself now accept command line options
4983 of the form +LINE:COLUMN in addition to +LINE.
4985 ** Changes to Show Paren mode.
4987 *** Overlays used by Show Paren mode now use a priority property.
4988 The new user option show-paren-priority specifies the priority to
4989 use. Default is 1000.
4991 ** New command M-x check-parens can be used to find unbalanced paren
4992 groups and strings in buffers in Lisp mode (or other modes).
4994 ** Changes to hideshow.el
4996 *** Generalized block selection and traversal
4998 A block is now recognized by its start and end regexps (both strings),
4999 and an integer specifying which sub-expression in the start regexp
5000 serves as the place where a `forward-sexp'-like function can operate.
5001 See the documentation of variable `hs-special-modes-alist'.
5003 *** During incremental search, if Hideshow minor mode is active,
5004 hidden blocks are temporarily shown. The variable `hs-headline' can
5005 be used in the mode line format to show the line at the beginning of
5008 *** User option `hs-hide-all-non-comment-function' specifies a
5009 function to be called at each top-level block beginning, instead of
5010 the normal block-hiding function.
5012 *** The command `hs-show-region' has been removed.
5014 *** The key bindings have changed to fit the Emacs conventions,
5015 roughly imitating those of Outline minor mode. Notably, the prefix
5016 for all bindings is now `C-c @'. For details, see the documentation
5017 for `hs-minor-mode'.
5019 *** The variable `hs-show-hidden-short-form' has been removed, and
5020 hideshow.el now always behaves as if this variable were set to t.
5022 ** Changes to Change Log mode and Add-Log functions
5024 *** If you invoke `add-change-log-entry' from a backup file, it makes
5025 an entry appropriate for the file's parent. This is useful for making
5026 log entries by comparing a version with deleted functions.
5028 **** New command M-x change-log-merge merges another log into the
5031 *** New command M-x change-log-redate fixes any old-style date entries
5034 *** Change Log mode now adds a file's version number to change log
5035 entries if user-option `change-log-version-info-enabled' is non-nil.
5036 Unless the file is under version control the search for a file's
5037 version number is performed based on regular expressions from
5038 `change-log-version-number-regexp-list' which can be customized.
5039 Version numbers are only found in the first 10 percent of a file.
5041 *** Change Log mode now defines its own faces for font-lock highlighting.
5043 ** Changes to cmuscheme
5045 *** The user-option `scheme-program-name' has been renamed
5046 `cmuscheme-program-name' due to conflicts with xscheme.el.
5048 ** Changes in Font Lock
5050 *** The new function `font-lock-remove-keywords' can be used to remove
5051 font-lock keywords from the current buffer or from a specific major mode.
5053 *** Multi-line patterns are now supported. Modes using this, should
5054 set font-lock-multiline to t in their font-lock-defaults.
5056 *** `font-lock-syntactic-face-function' allows major-modes to choose
5057 the face used for each string/comment.
5059 *** A new standard face `font-lock-doc-face'.
5060 Meant for Lisp docstrings, Javadoc comments and other "documentation in code".
5062 ** Changes to Shell mode
5064 *** The `shell' command now accepts an optional argument to specify the buffer
5065 to use, which defaults to "*shell*". When used interactively, a
5066 non-default buffer may be specified by giving the `shell' command a
5067 prefix argument (causing it to prompt for the buffer name).
5069 ** Comint (subshell) changes
5071 These changes generally affect all modes derived from comint mode, which
5072 include shell-mode, gdb-mode, scheme-interaction-mode, etc.
5074 *** Comint now by default interprets some carriage-control characters.
5075 Comint now removes CRs from CR LF sequences, and treats single CRs and
5076 BSs in the output in a way similar to a terminal (by deleting to the
5077 beginning of the line, or deleting the previous character,
5078 respectively). This is achieved by adding `comint-carriage-motion' to
5079 the `comint-output-filter-functions' hook by default.
5081 *** By default, comint no longer uses the variable `comint-prompt-regexp'
5082 to distinguish prompts from user-input. Instead, it notices which
5083 parts of the text were output by the process, and which entered by the
5084 user, and attaches `field' properties to allow emacs commands to use
5085 this information. Common movement commands, notably beginning-of-line,
5086 respect field boundaries in a fairly natural manner. To disable this
5087 feature, and use the old behavior, customize the user option
5088 `comint-use-prompt-regexp-instead-of-fields'.
5090 *** Comint now includes new features to send commands to running processes
5091 and redirect the output to a designated buffer or buffers.
5093 *** The command M-x comint-redirect-send-command reads a command and
5094 buffer name from the mini-buffer. The command is sent to the current
5095 buffer's process, and its output is inserted into the specified buffer.
5097 The command M-x comint-redirect-send-command-to-process acts like
5098 M-x comint-redirect-send-command but additionally reads the name of
5099 the buffer whose process should be used from the mini-buffer.
5101 *** Packages based on comint now highlight user input and program prompts,
5102 and support choosing previous input with mouse-2. To control these features,
5103 see the user-options `comint-highlight-input' and `comint-highlight-prompt'.
5105 *** The new command `comint-write-output' (usually bound to `C-c C-s')
5106 saves the output from the most recent command to a file. With a prefix
5107 argument, it appends to the file.
5109 *** The command `comint-kill-output' has been renamed `comint-delete-output'
5110 (usually bound to `C-c C-o'); the old name is aliased to it for
5113 *** The new function `comint-add-to-input-history' adds commands to the input
5116 *** The new variable `comint-input-history-ignore' is a regexp for
5117 identifying history lines that should be ignored, like tcsh time-stamp
5118 strings, starting with a `#'. The default value of this variable is "^#".
5120 ** Changes to Rmail mode
5122 *** The new user-option rmail-user-mail-address-regexp can be
5123 set to fine tune the identification of the correspondent when
5124 receiving new mail. If it matches the address of the sender, the
5125 recipient is taken as correspondent of a mail. If nil, the default,
5126 `user-login-name' and `user-mail-address' are used to exclude yourself
5129 Usually you don't have to set this variable, except if you collect
5130 mails sent by you under different user names. Then it should be a
5131 regexp matching your mail addresses.
5133 *** The new user-option rmail-confirm-expunge controls whether and how
5134 to ask for confirmation before expunging deleted messages from an
5135 Rmail file. You can choose between no confirmation, confirmation
5136 with y-or-n-p, or confirmation with yes-or-no-p. Default is to ask
5137 for confirmation with yes-or-no-p.
5139 *** RET is now bound in the Rmail summary to rmail-summary-goto-msg,
5142 *** There is a new user option `rmail-digest-end-regexps' that
5143 specifies the regular expressions to detect the line that ends a
5146 *** The new user option `rmail-automatic-folder-directives' specifies
5147 in which folder to put messages automatically.
5149 *** The new function `rmail-redecode-body' allows to fix a message
5150 with non-ASCII characters if Emacs happens to decode it incorrectly
5151 due to missing or malformed "charset=" header.
5153 ** The new user-option `mail-envelope-from' can be used to specify
5154 an envelope-from address different from user-mail-address.
5156 ** The variable mail-specify-envelope-from controls whether to
5157 use the -f option when sending mail.
5159 ** The Rmail command `o' (`rmail-output-to-rmail-file') now writes the
5160 current message in the internal `emacs-mule' encoding, rather than in
5161 the encoding taken from the variable `buffer-file-coding-system'.
5162 This allows to save messages whose characters cannot be safely encoded
5163 by the buffer's coding system, and makes sure the message will be
5164 displayed correctly when you later visit the target Rmail file.
5166 If you want your Rmail files be encoded in a specific coding system
5167 other than `emacs-mule', you can customize the variable
5168 `rmail-file-coding-system' to set its value to that coding system.
5170 ** Changes to TeX mode
5172 *** The default mode has been changed from `plain-tex-mode' to
5175 *** latex-mode now has a simple indentation algorithm.
5177 *** M-f and M-p jump around \begin...\end pairs.
5179 *** Added support for outline-minor-mode.
5181 ** Changes to RefTeX mode
5183 *** RefTeX has new support for index generation. Index entries can be
5184 created with `C-c <', with completion available on index keys.
5185 Pressing `C-c /' indexes the word at the cursor with a default
5186 macro. `C-c >' compiles all index entries into an alphabetically
5187 sorted *Index* buffer which looks like the final index. Entries
5188 can be edited from that buffer.
5190 *** Label and citation key selection now allow to select several
5191 items and reference them together (use `m' to mark items, `a' or
5192 `A' to use all marked entries).
5194 *** reftex.el has been split into a number of smaller files to reduce
5195 memory use when only a part of RefTeX is being used.
5197 *** a new command `reftex-view-crossref-from-bibtex' (bound to `C-c &'
5198 in BibTeX-mode) can be called in a BibTeX database buffer in order
5199 to show locations in LaTeX documents where a particular entry has
5202 ** Emacs Lisp mode now allows multiple levels of outline headings.
5203 The level of a heading is determined from the number of leading
5204 semicolons in a heading line. Toplevel forms starting with a `('
5205 in column 1 are always made leaves.
5207 ** The M-x time-stamp command (most commonly used on write-file-hooks)
5208 has the following new features:
5210 *** The patterns for finding the time stamp and for updating a pattern
5211 may match text spanning multiple lines. For example, some people like
5212 to have the filename and date on separate lines. The new variable
5213 time-stamp-inserts-lines controls the matching for multi-line patterns.
5215 *** More than one time stamp can be updated in the same file. This
5216 feature is useful if you need separate time stamps in a program source
5217 file to both include in formatted documentation and insert in the
5218 compiled binary. The same time-stamp will be written at each matching
5219 pattern. The variable time-stamp-count enables this new feature; it
5222 ** Partial Completion mode now completes environment variables in
5227 *** The command `ispell' now spell-checks a region if
5228 transient-mark-mode is on, and the mark is active. Otherwise it
5229 spell-checks the current buffer.
5231 *** Support for synchronous subprocesses - DOS/Windoze - has been
5234 *** An "alignment error" bug was fixed when a manual spelling
5235 correction is made and re-checked.
5237 *** Italian, Portuguese, and Slovak dictionary definitions have been added.
5239 *** Region skipping performance has been vastly improved in some
5242 *** Spell checking HTML buffers has been improved and isn't so strict
5245 *** The buffer-local words are now always placed on a new line at the
5248 *** Spell checking now works in the MS-DOS version of Emacs.
5250 ** Makefile mode changes
5252 *** The mode now uses the abbrev table `makefile-mode-abbrev-table'.
5254 *** Conditionals and include statements are now highlighted when
5255 Fontlock mode is active.
5259 *** Isearch now puts a call to `isearch-resume' in the command history,
5260 so that searches can be resumed.
5262 *** In Isearch mode, C-M-s and C-M-r are now bound like C-s and C-r,
5263 respectively, i.e. you can repeat a regexp isearch with the same keys
5264 that started the search.
5266 *** In Isearch mode, mouse-2 in the echo area now yanks the current
5267 selection into the search string rather than giving an error.
5269 *** There is a new lazy highlighting feature in incremental search.
5271 Lazy highlighting is switched on/off by customizing variable
5272 `isearch-lazy-highlight'. When active, all matches for the current
5273 search string are highlighted. The current match is highlighted as
5274 before using face `isearch' or `region'. All other matches are
5275 highlighted using face `isearch-lazy-highlight-face' which defaults to
5276 `secondary-selection'.
5278 The extra highlighting makes it easier to anticipate where the cursor
5279 will end up each time you press C-s or C-r to repeat a pending search.
5280 Highlighting of these additional matches happens in a deferred fashion
5281 using "idle timers," so the cycles needed do not rob isearch of its
5282 usual snappy response.
5284 If `isearch-lazy-highlight-cleanup' is set to t, highlights for
5285 matches are automatically cleared when you end the search. If it is
5286 set to nil, you can remove the highlights manually with `M-x
5287 isearch-lazy-highlight-cleanup'.
5291 VC has been overhauled internally. It is now modular, making it
5292 easier to plug-in arbitrary version control backends. (See Lisp
5293 Changes for details on the new structure.) As a result, the mechanism
5294 to enable and disable support for particular version systems has
5295 changed: everything is now controlled by the new variable
5296 `vc-handled-backends'. Its value is a list of symbols that identify
5297 version systems; the default is '(RCS CVS SCCS). When finding a file,
5298 each of the backends in that list is tried in order to see whether the
5299 file is registered in that backend.
5301 When registering a new file, VC first tries each of the listed
5302 backends to see if any of them considers itself "responsible" for the
5303 directory of the file (e.g. because a corresponding subdirectory for
5304 master files exists). If none of the backends is responsible, then
5305 the first backend in the list that could register the file is chosen.
5306 As a consequence, the variable `vc-default-back-end' is now obsolete.
5308 The old variable `vc-master-templates' is also obsolete, although VC
5309 still supports it for backward compatibility. To define templates for
5310 RCS or SCCS, you should rather use the new variables
5311 vc-{rcs,sccs}-master-templates. (There is no such feature under CVS
5312 where it doesn't make sense.)
5314 The variables `vc-ignore-vc-files' and `vc-handle-cvs' are also
5315 obsolete now, you must set `vc-handled-backends' to nil or exclude
5316 `CVS' from the list, respectively, to achieve their effect now.
5320 The variable `vc-checkout-carefully' is obsolete: the corresponding
5321 checks are always done now.
5323 VC Dired buffers are now kept up-to-date during all version control
5326 `vc-diff' output is now displayed in `diff-mode'.
5327 `vc-print-log' uses `log-view-mode'.
5328 `vc-log-mode' (used for *VC-Log*) has been replaced by `log-edit-mode'.
5330 The command C-x v m (vc-merge) now accepts an empty argument as the
5331 first revision number. This means that any recent changes on the
5332 current branch should be picked up from the repository and merged into
5333 the working file (``merge news'').
5335 The commands C-x v s (vc-create-snapshot) and C-x v r
5336 (vc-retrieve-snapshot) now ask for a directory name from which to work
5339 *** Multiple Backends
5341 VC now lets you register files in more than one backend. This is
5342 useful, for example, if you are working with a slow remote CVS
5343 repository. You can then use RCS for local editing, and occasionally
5344 commit your changes back to CVS, or pick up changes from CVS into your
5347 To make this work, the ``more local'' backend (RCS in our example)
5348 should come first in `vc-handled-backends', and the ``more remote''
5349 backend (CVS) should come later. (The default value of
5350 `vc-handled-backends' already has it that way.)
5352 You can then commit changes to another backend (say, RCS), by typing
5353 C-u C-x v v RCS RET (i.e. vc-next-action now accepts a backend name as
5354 a revision number). VC registers the file in the more local backend
5355 if that hasn't already happened, and commits to a branch based on the
5356 current revision number from the more remote backend.
5358 If a file is registered in multiple backends, you can switch to
5359 another one using C-x v b (vc-switch-backend). This does not change
5360 any files, it only changes VC's perspective on the file. Use this to
5361 pick up changes from CVS while working under RCS locally.
5363 After you are done with your local RCS editing, you can commit your
5364 changes back to CVS using C-u C-x v v CVS RET. In this case, the
5365 local RCS archive is removed after the commit, and the log entry
5366 buffer is initialized to contain the entire RCS change log of the file.
5370 There is a new user option, `vc-cvs-stay-local'. If it is `t' (the
5371 default), then VC avoids network queries for files registered in
5372 remote repositories. The state of such files is then only determined
5373 by heuristics and past information. `vc-cvs-stay-local' can also be a
5374 regexp to match against repository hostnames; only files from hosts
5375 that match it are treated locally. If the variable is nil, then VC
5376 queries the repository just as often as it does for local files.
5378 If `vc-cvs-stay-local' is on, then VC also makes local backups of
5379 repository versions. This means that ordinary diffs (C-x v =) and
5380 revert operations (C-x v u) can be done completely locally, without
5381 any repository interactions at all. The name of a local version
5382 backup of FILE is FILE.~REV.~, where REV is the repository version
5383 number. This format is similar to that used by C-x v ~
5384 (vc-version-other-window), except for the trailing dot. As a matter
5385 of fact, the two features can each use the files created by the other,
5386 the only difference being that files with a trailing `.' are deleted
5387 automatically after commit. (This feature doesn't work on MS-DOS,
5388 since DOS disallows more than a single dot in the trunk of a file
5391 If `vc-cvs-stay-local' is on, and there have been changes in the
5392 repository, VC notifies you about it when you actually try to commit.
5393 If you want to check for updates from the repository without trying to
5394 commit, you can either use C-x v m RET to perform an update on the
5395 current file, or you can use C-x v r RET to get an update for an
5396 entire directory tree.
5398 The new user option `vc-cvs-use-edit' indicates whether VC should call
5399 "cvs edit" to make files writeable; it defaults to `t'. (This option
5400 is only meaningful if the CVSREAD variable is set, or if files are
5401 "watched" by other developers.)
5403 The commands C-x v s (vc-create-snapshot) and C-x v r
5404 (vc-retrieve-snapshot) are now also implemented for CVS. If you give
5405 an empty snapshot name to the latter, that performs a `cvs update',
5406 starting at the given directory.
5408 *** Lisp Changes in VC
5410 VC has been restructured internally to make it modular. You can now
5411 add support for arbitrary version control backends by writing a
5412 library that provides a certain set of backend-specific functions, and
5413 then telling VC to use that library. For example, to add support for
5414 a version system named SYS, you write a library named vc-sys.el, which
5415 provides a number of functions vc-sys-... (see commentary at the top
5416 of vc.el for a detailed list of them). To make VC use that library,
5417 you need to put it somewhere into Emacs' load path and add the symbol
5418 `SYS' to the list `vc-handled-backends'.
5420 ** The customizable EDT emulation package now supports the EDT
5421 SUBS command and EDT scroll margins. It also works with more
5422 terminal/keyboard configurations and it now works under XEmacs.
5423 See etc/edt-user.doc for more information.
5425 ** New modes and packages
5427 *** The new global minor mode `minibuffer-electric-default-mode'
5428 automatically hides the `(default ...)' part of minibuffer prompts when
5429 the default is not applicable.
5431 *** Artist is an Emacs lisp package that allows you to draw lines,
5432 rectangles and ellipses by using your mouse and/or keyboard. The
5433 shapes are made up with the ascii characters |, -, / and \.
5437 - Intersecting: When a `|' intersects with a `-', a `+' is
5438 drawn, like this: | \ /
5442 - Rubber-banding: When drawing lines you can interactively see the
5443 result while holding the mouse button down and moving the mouse. If
5444 your machine is not fast enough (a 386 is a bit too slow, but a
5445 pentium is well enough), you can turn this feature off. You will
5446 then see 1's and 2's which mark the 1st and 2nd endpoint of the line
5449 - Arrows: After having drawn a (straight) line or a (straight)
5450 poly-line, you can set arrows on the line-ends by typing < or >.
5452 - Flood-filling: You can fill any area with a certain character by
5455 - Cut copy and paste: You can cut, copy and paste rectangular
5456 regions. Artist also interfaces with the rect package (this can be
5457 turned off if it causes you any trouble) so anything you cut in
5458 artist can be yanked with C-x r y and vice versa.
5460 - Drawing with keys: Everything you can do with the mouse, you can
5461 also do without the mouse.
5463 - Aspect-ratio: You can set the variable artist-aspect-ratio to
5464 reflect the height-width ratio for the font you are using. Squares
5465 and circles are then drawn square/round. Note, that once your
5466 ascii-file is shown with font with a different height-width ratio,
5467 the squares won't be square and the circles won't be round.
5469 - Drawing operations: The following drawing operations are implemented:
5471 lines straight-lines
5473 poly-lines straight poly-lines
5475 text (see-thru) text (overwrite)
5476 spray-can setting size for spraying
5477 vaporize line vaporize lines
5478 erase characters erase rectangles
5480 Straight lines are lines that go horizontally, vertically or
5481 diagonally. Plain lines go in any direction. The operations in
5482 the right column are accessed by holding down the shift key while
5485 It is possible to vaporize (erase) entire lines and connected lines
5486 (rectangles for example) as long as the lines being vaporized are
5487 straight and connected at their endpoints. Vaporizing is inspired
5488 by the drawrect package by Jari Aalto <jari.aalto@poboxes.com>.
5490 - Picture mode compatibility: Artist is picture mode compatible (this
5493 *** The new package Eshell is an operating system command shell
5494 implemented entirely in Emacs Lisp. Use `M-x eshell' to invoke it.
5495 It functions similarly to bash and zsh, and allows running of Lisp
5496 functions and external commands using the same syntax. It supports
5497 history lists, aliases, extended globbing, smart scrolling, etc. It
5498 will work on any platform Emacs has been ported to. And since most of
5499 the basic commands -- ls, rm, mv, cp, ln, du, cat, etc. -- have been
5500 rewritten in Lisp, it offers an operating-system independent shell,
5501 all within the scope of your Emacs process.
5503 *** The new package timeclock.el is a mode is for keeping track of time
5504 intervals. You can use it for whatever purpose you like, but the
5505 typical scenario is to keep track of how much time you spend working
5506 on certain projects.
5508 *** The new package hi-lock.el provides commands to highlight matches
5509 of interactively entered regexps. For example,
5511 M-x highlight-regexp RET clearly RET RET
5513 will highlight all occurrences of `clearly' using a yellow background
5514 face. New occurrences of `clearly' will be highlighted as they are
5515 typed. `M-x unhighlight-regexp RET' will remove the highlighting.
5516 Any existing face can be used for highlighting and a set of
5517 appropriate faces is provided. The regexps can be written into the
5518 current buffer in a form that will be recognized the next time the
5519 corresponding file is read. There are commands to highlight matches
5520 to phrases and to highlight entire lines containing a match.
5522 *** The new package zone.el plays games with Emacs' display when
5525 *** The new package tildify.el allows to add hard spaces or other text
5526 fragments in accordance with the current major mode.
5528 *** The new package xml.el provides a simple but generic XML
5529 parser. It doesn't parse the DTDs however.
5531 *** The comment operations are now provided by the newcomment.el
5532 package which allows different styles of comment-region and should
5533 be more robust while offering the same functionality.
5534 `comment-region' now doesn't always comment a-line-at-a-time, but only
5535 comments the region, breaking the line at point if necessary.
5537 *** The Ebrowse package implements a C++ class browser and tags
5538 facilities tailored for use with C++. It is documented in a
5539 separate Texinfo file.
5541 *** The PCL-CVS package available by either running M-x cvs-examine or
5542 by visiting a CVS administrative directory (with a prefix argument)
5543 provides an alternative interface to VC-dired for CVS. It comes with
5544 `log-view-mode' to view RCS and SCCS logs and `log-edit-mode' used to
5545 enter check-in log messages.
5547 *** The new package called `woman' allows to browse Unix man pages
5548 without invoking external programs.
5550 The command `M-x woman' formats manual pages entirely in Emacs Lisp
5551 and then displays them, like `M-x manual-entry' does. Unlike
5552 `manual-entry', `woman' does not invoke any external programs, so it
5553 is useful on systems such as MS-DOS/MS-Windows where the `man' and
5554 Groff or `troff' commands are not readily available.
5556 The command `M-x woman-find-file' asks for the file name of a man
5557 page, then formats and displays it like `M-x woman' does.
5559 *** The new command M-x re-builder offers a convenient interface for
5560 authoring regular expressions with immediate visual feedback.
5562 The buffer from which the command was called becomes the target for
5563 the regexp editor popping up in a separate window. Matching text in
5564 the target buffer is immediately color marked during the editing.
5565 Each sub-expression of the regexp will show up in a different face so
5566 even complex regexps can be edited and verified on target data in a
5569 On displays not supporting faces the matches instead blink like
5570 matching parens to make them stand out. On such a setup you will
5571 probably also want to use the sub-expression mode when the regexp
5572 contains such to get feedback about their respective limits.
5574 *** glasses-mode is a minor mode that makes
5575 unreadableIdentifiersLikeThis readable. It works as glasses, without
5576 actually modifying content of a buffer.
5578 *** The package ebnf2ps translates an EBNF to a syntactic chart in
5581 Currently accepts ad-hoc EBNF, ISO EBNF and Bison/Yacc.
5583 The ad-hoc default EBNF syntax has the following elements:
5585 ; comment (until end of line)
5589 $A default non-terminal
5590 $"C" default terminal
5591 $?C? default special
5592 A = B. production (A is the header and B the body)
5593 C D sequence (C occurs before D)
5594 C | D alternative (C or D occurs)
5595 A - B exception (A excluding B, B without any non-terminal)
5596 n * A repetition (A repeats n (integer) times)
5597 (C) group (expression C is grouped together)
5598 [C] optional (C may or not occurs)
5599 C+ one or more occurrences of C
5600 {C}+ one or more occurrences of C
5601 {C}* zero or more occurrences of C
5602 {C} zero or more occurrences of C
5603 C / D equivalent to: C {D C}*
5604 {C || D}+ equivalent to: C {D C}*
5605 {C || D}* equivalent to: [C {D C}*]
5606 {C || D} equivalent to: [C {D C}*]
5608 Please, see ebnf2ps documentation for EBNF syntax and how to use it.
5610 *** The package align.el will align columns within a region, using M-x
5611 align. Its mode-specific rules, based on regular expressions,
5612 determine where the columns should be split. In C and C++, for
5613 example, it will align variable names in declaration lists, or the
5614 equal signs of assignments.
5616 *** `paragraph-indent-minor-mode' is a new minor mode supporting
5617 paragraphs in the same style as `paragraph-indent-text-mode'.
5619 *** bs.el is a new package for buffer selection similar to
5620 list-buffers or electric-buffer-list. Use M-x bs-show to display a
5621 buffer menu with this package. See the Custom group `bs'.
5623 *** find-lisp.el is a package emulating the Unix find command in Lisp.
5625 *** calculator.el is a small calculator package that is intended to
5626 replace desktop calculators such as xcalc and calc.exe. Actually, it
5627 is not too small - it has more features than most desktop calculators,
5628 and can be customized easily to get many more functions. It should
5629 not be confused with "calc" which is a much bigger mathematical tool
5630 which answers different needs.
5632 *** The minor modes cwarn-mode and global-cwarn-mode highlights
5633 suspicious C and C++ constructions. Currently, assignments inside
5634 expressions, semicolon following `if', `for' and `while' (except, of
5635 course, after a `do .. while' statement), and C++ functions with
5636 reference parameters are recognized. The modes require font-lock mode
5639 *** smerge-mode.el provides `smerge-mode', a simple minor-mode for files
5640 containing diff3-style conflict markers, such as generated by RCS.
5642 *** 5x5.el is a simple puzzle game.
5644 *** hl-line.el provides `hl-line-mode', a minor mode to highlight the
5645 current line in the current buffer. It also provides
5646 `global-hl-line-mode' to provide the same behavior in all buffers.
5648 *** ansi-color.el translates ANSI terminal escapes into text-properties.
5650 Please note: if `ansi-color-for-comint-mode' and
5651 `global-font-lock-mode' are non-nil, loading ansi-color.el will
5652 disable font-lock and add `ansi-color-apply' to
5653 `comint-preoutput-filter-functions' for all shell-mode buffers. This
5654 displays the output of "ls --color=yes" using the correct foreground
5655 and background colors.
5657 *** delphi.el provides a major mode for editing the Delphi (Object
5660 *** quickurl.el provides a simple method of inserting a URL based on
5663 *** sql.el provides an interface to SQL data bases.
5665 *** fortune.el uses the fortune program to create mail/news signatures.
5667 *** whitespace.el is a package for warning about and cleaning bogus
5668 whitespace in a file.
5670 *** PostScript mode (ps-mode) is a new major mode for editing PostScript
5671 files. It offers: interaction with a PostScript interpreter, including
5672 (very basic) error handling; fontification, easily customizable for
5673 interpreter messages; auto-indentation; insertion of EPSF templates and
5674 often used code snippets; viewing of BoundingBox; commenting out /
5675 uncommenting regions; conversion of 8bit characters to PostScript octal
5676 codes. All functionality is accessible through a menu.
5678 *** delim-col helps to prettify columns in a text region or rectangle.
5680 Here is an example of columns:
5683 dog pineapple car EXTRA
5684 porcupine strawberry airplane
5686 Doing the following settings:
5688 (setq delimit-columns-str-before "[ ")
5689 (setq delimit-columns-str-after " ]")
5690 (setq delimit-columns-str-separator ", ")
5691 (setq delimit-columns-separator "\t")
5694 Selecting the lines above and typing:
5696 M-x delimit-columns-region
5700 [ horse , apple , bus , ]
5701 [ dog , pineapple , car , EXTRA ]
5702 [ porcupine, strawberry, airplane, ]
5704 delim-col has the following options:
5706 delimit-columns-str-before Specify a string to be inserted
5709 delimit-columns-str-separator Specify a string to be inserted
5710 between each column.
5712 delimit-columns-str-after Specify a string to be inserted
5715 delimit-columns-separator Specify a regexp which separates
5718 delim-col has the following commands:
5720 delimit-columns-region Prettify all columns in a text region.
5721 delimit-columns-rectangle Prettify all columns in a text rectangle.
5723 *** Recentf mode maintains a menu for visiting files that were
5724 operated on recently. User option recentf-menu-filter specifies a
5725 menu filter function to change the menu appearance. For example, the
5726 recent file list can be displayed:
5728 - organized by major modes, directories or user defined rules.
5729 - sorted by file paths, file names, ascending or descending.
5730 - showing paths relative to the current default-directory
5732 The `recentf-filter-changer' menu filter function allows to
5733 dynamically change the menu appearance.
5735 *** elide-head.el provides a mechanism for eliding boilerplate header
5738 *** footnote.el provides `footnote-mode', a minor mode supporting use
5739 of footnotes. It is intended for use with Message mode, but isn't
5740 specific to Message mode.
5742 *** diff-mode.el provides `diff-mode', a major mode for
5743 viewing/editing context diffs (patches). It is selected for files
5744 with extension `.diff', `.diffs', `.patch' and `.rej'.
5746 *** EUDC, the Emacs Unified Directory Client, provides a common user
5747 interface to access directory servers using different directory
5748 protocols. It has a separate manual.
5750 *** autoconf.el provides a major mode for editing configure.in files
5751 for Autoconf, selected automatically.
5753 *** windmove.el provides moving between windows.
5755 *** crm.el provides a facility to read multiple strings from the
5756 minibuffer with completion.
5758 *** todo-mode.el provides management of TODO lists and integration
5759 with the diary features.
5761 *** autoarg.el provides a feature reported from Twenex Emacs whereby
5762 numeric keys supply prefix args rather than self inserting.
5764 *** The function `turn-off-auto-fill' unconditionally turns off Auto
5767 *** pcomplete.el is a library that provides programmable completion
5768 facilities for Emacs, similar to what zsh and tcsh offer. The main
5769 difference is that completion functions are written in Lisp, meaning
5770 they can be profiled, debugged, etc.
5772 *** antlr-mode is a new major mode for editing ANTLR grammar files.
5773 It is automatically turned on for files whose names have the extension
5776 ** Changes in sort.el
5778 The function sort-numeric-fields interprets numbers starting with `0'
5779 as octal and numbers starting with `0x' or `0X' as hexadecimal. The
5780 new user-option sort-numeric-base can be used to specify a default
5783 ** Changes to Ange-ftp
5785 *** Ange-ftp allows you to specify of a port number in remote file
5786 names cleanly. It is appended to the host name, separated by a hash
5787 sign, e.g. `/foo@bar.org#666:mumble'. (This syntax comes from EFS.)
5789 *** If the new user-option `ange-ftp-try-passive-mode' is set, passive
5790 ftp mode will be used if the ftp client supports that.
5792 *** Ange-ftp handles the output of the w32-style clients which
5793 output ^M at the end of lines.
5795 ** The recommended way of using Iswitchb is via the new global minor
5796 mode `iswitchb-mode'.
5798 ** Just loading the msb package doesn't switch on Msb mode anymore.
5799 If you have `(require 'msb)' in your .emacs, please replace it with
5802 ** Flyspell mode has various new options. See the `flyspell' Custom
5805 ** The user option `backward-delete-char-untabify-method' controls the
5806 behavior of `backward-delete-char-untabify'. The following values
5809 `untabify' -- turn a tab to many spaces, then delete one space;
5810 `hungry' -- delete all whitespace, both tabs and spaces;
5811 `all' -- delete all whitespace, including tabs, spaces and newlines;
5812 nil -- just delete one character.
5814 Default value is `untabify'.
5816 [This change was made in Emacs 20.3 but not mentioned then.]
5818 ** In Cperl mode `cperl-invalid-face' should now be a normal face
5819 symbol, not double-quoted.
5821 ** Some packages are declared obsolete, to be removed in a future
5822 version. They are: auto-show, c-mode, hilit19, hscroll, ooutline,
5823 profile, rnews, rnewspost, and sc. Their implementations have been
5824 moved to lisp/obsolete.
5826 ** auto-compression mode is no longer enabled just by loading jka-compr.el.
5827 To control it, set `auto-compression-mode' via Custom or use the
5828 `auto-compression-mode' command.
5830 ** `browse-url-gnome-moz' is a new option for
5831 `browse-url-browser-function', invoking Mozilla in GNOME, and
5832 `browse-url-kde' can be chosen for invoking the KDE browser.
5834 ** The user-option `browse-url-new-window-p' has been renamed to
5835 `browse-url-new-window-flag'.
5837 ** The functions `keep-lines', `flush-lines' and `how-many' now
5838 operate on the active region in Transient Mark mode.
5840 ** `gnus-user-agent' is a new possibility for `mail-user-agent'. It
5841 is like `message-user-agent', but with all the Gnus paraphernalia.
5843 ** The Strokes package has been updated. If your Emacs has XPM
5844 support, you can use it for pictographic editing. In Strokes mode,
5845 use C-mouse-2 to compose a complex stoke and insert it into the
5846 buffer. You can encode or decode a strokes buffer with new commands
5847 M-x strokes-encode-buffer and M-x strokes-decode-buffer. There is a
5848 new command M-x strokes-list-strokes.
5850 ** Hexl contains a new command `hexl-insert-hex-string' which inserts
5851 a string of hexadecimal numbers read from the mini-buffer.
5853 ** Hexl mode allows to insert non-ASCII characters.
5855 The non-ASCII characters are encoded using the same encoding as the
5856 file you are visiting in Hexl mode.
5858 ** Shell script mode changes.
5860 Shell script mode (sh-script) can now indent scripts for shells
5861 derived from sh and rc. The indentation style is customizable, and
5862 sh-script can attempt to "learn" the current buffer's style.
5866 *** In DOS, etags looks for file.cgz if it cannot find file.c.
5868 *** New option --ignore-case-regex is an alternative to --regex. It is now
5869 possible to bind a regexp to a language, by prepending the regexp with
5870 {lang}, where lang is one of the languages that `etags --help' prints out.
5871 This feature is useful especially for regex files, where each line contains
5872 a regular expression. The manual contains details.
5874 *** In C and derived languages, etags creates tags for function
5875 declarations when given the --declarations option.
5877 *** In C++, tags are created for "operator". The tags have the form
5878 "operator+", without spaces between the keyword and the operator.
5880 *** You shouldn't generally need any more the -C or -c++ option: etags
5881 automatically switches to C++ parsing when it meets the `class' or
5882 `template' keywords.
5884 *** Etags now is able to delve at arbitrary deeps into nested structures in
5885 C-like languages. Previously, it was limited to one or two brace levels.
5887 *** New language Ada: tags are functions, procedures, packages, tasks, and
5890 *** In Fortran, `procedure' is not tagged.
5892 *** In Java, tags are created for "interface".
5894 *** In Lisp, "(defstruct (foo", "(defun (operator" and similar constructs
5897 *** In makefiles, tags the targets.
5899 *** In Perl, the --globals option tags global variables. my and local
5900 variables are tagged.
5902 *** New language Python: def and class at the beginning of a line are tags.
5904 *** .ss files are Scheme files, .pdb is Postscript with C syntax, .psw is
5907 ** Changes in etags.el
5909 *** The new user-option tags-case-fold-search can be used to make
5910 tags operations case-sensitive or case-insensitive. The default
5911 is to use the same setting as case-fold-search.
5913 *** You can display additional output with M-x tags-apropos by setting
5914 the new variable tags-apropos-additional-actions.
5916 If non-nil, the variable's value should be a list of triples (TITLE
5917 FUNCTION TO-SEARCH). For each triple, M-x tags-apropos processes
5918 TO-SEARCH and lists tags from it. TO-SEARCH should be an alist,
5919 obarray, or symbol. If it is a symbol, the symbol's value is used.
5921 TITLE is a string to use to label the list of tags from TO-SEARCH.
5923 FUNCTION is a function to call when an entry is selected in the Tags
5924 List buffer. It is called with one argument, the selected symbol.
5926 A useful example value for this variable might be something like:
5928 '(("Emacs Lisp" Info-goto-emacs-command-node obarray)
5929 ("Common Lisp" common-lisp-hyperspec common-lisp-hyperspec-obarray)
5930 ("SCWM" scwm-documentation scwm-obarray))
5932 *** The face tags-tag-face can be used to customize the appearance
5933 of tags in the output of M-x tags-apropos.
5935 *** Setting tags-apropos-verbose to a non-nil value displays the
5936 names of tags files in the *Tags List* buffer.
5938 *** You can now search for tags that are part of the filename itself.
5939 If you have tagged the files topfile.c subdir/subfile.c
5940 /tmp/tempfile.c, you can now search for tags "topfile.c", "subfile.c",
5941 "dir/sub", "tempfile", "tempfile.c". If the tag matches the file name,
5942 point will go to the beginning of the file.
5944 *** Compressed files are now transparently supported if
5945 auto-compression-mode is active. You can tag (with Etags) and search
5946 (with find-tag) both compressed and uncompressed files.
5948 *** Tags commands like M-x tags-search no longer change point
5949 in buffers where no match is found. In buffers where a match is
5950 found, the original value of point is pushed on the marker ring.
5952 ** Fortran mode has a new command `fortran-strip-sequence-nos' to
5953 remove text past column 72. The syntax class of `\' in Fortran is now
5954 appropriate for C-style escape sequences in strings.
5956 ** SGML mode's default `sgml-validate-command' is now `nsgmls'.
5958 ** A new command `view-emacs-problems' (C-h P) displays the PROBLEMS file.
5960 ** The Dabbrev package has a new user-option `dabbrev-ignored-regexps'
5961 containing a list of regular expressions. Buffers matching a regular
5962 expression from that list, are not checked.
5964 ** Emacs can now figure out modification times of remote files.
5965 When you do C-x C-f /user@host:/path/file RET and edit the file,
5966 and someone else modifies the file, you will be prompted to revert
5967 the buffer, just like for the local files.
5969 ** The buffer menu (C-x C-b) no longer lists the *Buffer List* buffer.
5971 ** When invoked with a prefix argument, the command `list-abbrevs' now
5972 displays local abbrevs, only.
5974 ** Refill minor mode provides preliminary support for keeping
5975 paragraphs filled as you modify them.
5977 ** The variable `double-click-fuzz' specifies how much the mouse
5978 may be moved between clicks that are recognized as a pair. Its value
5979 is measured in pixels.
5981 ** The new global minor mode `auto-image-file-mode' allows image files
5982 to be visited as images.
5984 ** Two new user-options `grep-command' and `grep-find-command'
5985 were added to compile.el.
5987 ** Withdrawn packages
5989 *** mldrag.el has been removed. mouse.el provides the same
5990 functionality with aliases for the mldrag functions.
5992 *** eval-reg.el has been obsoleted by changes to edebug.el and removed.
5994 *** ph.el has been obsoleted by EUDC and removed.
5997 * Incompatible Lisp changes
5999 There are a few Lisp changes which are not backwards-compatible and
6000 may require changes to existing code. Here is a list for reference.
6001 See the sections below for details.
6003 ** Since `format' preserves text properties, the idiom
6004 `(format "%s" foo)' no longer works to copy and remove properties.
6005 Use `copy-sequence' to copy the string, then use `set-text-properties'
6006 to remove the properties of the copy.
6008 ** Since the `keymap' text property now has significance, some code
6009 which uses both `local-map' and `keymap' properties (for portability)
6010 may, for instance, give rise to duplicate menus when the keymaps from
6011 these properties are active.
6013 ** The change in the treatment of non-ASCII characters in search
6014 ranges may affect some code.
6016 ** A non-nil value for the LOCAL arg of add-hook makes the hook
6017 buffer-local even if `make-local-hook' hasn't been called, which might
6018 make a difference to some code.
6020 ** The new treatment of the minibuffer prompt might affect code which
6021 operates on the minibuffer.
6023 ** The new character sets `eight-bit-control' and `eight-bit-graphic'
6024 cause `no-conversion' and `emacs-mule-unix' coding systems to produce
6025 different results when reading files with non-ASCII characters
6026 (previously, both coding systems would produce the same results).
6027 Specifically, `no-conversion' interprets each 8-bit byte as a separate
6028 character. This makes `no-conversion' inappropriate for reading
6029 multibyte text, e.g. buffers written to disk in their internal MULE
6030 encoding (auto-saving does that, for example). If a Lisp program
6031 reads such files with `no-conversion', each byte of the multibyte
6032 sequence, including the MULE leading codes such as \201, is treated as
6033 a separate character, which prevents them from being interpreted in
6034 the buffer as multibyte characters.
6036 Therefore, Lisp programs that read files which contain the internal
6037 MULE encoding should use `emacs-mule-unix'. `no-conversion' is only
6038 appropriate for reading truly binary files.
6040 ** Code that relies on the obsolete `before-change-function' and
6041 `after-change-function' to detect buffer changes will now fail. Use
6042 `before-change-functions' and `after-change-functions' instead.
6044 ** Code that uses `concat' with integer args now gets an error, as
6045 long promised. So does any code that uses derivatives of `concat',
6046 such as `mapconcat'.
6048 ** The function base64-decode-string now always returns a unibyte
6051 ** Not a Lisp incompatibility as such but, with the introduction of
6052 extra private charsets, there is now only one slot free for a new
6053 dimension-2 private charset. User code which tries to add more than
6054 one extra will fail unless you rebuild Emacs with some standard
6055 charset(s) removed; that is probably inadvisable because it changes
6056 the emacs-mule encoding. Also, files stored in the emacs-mule
6057 encoding using Emacs 20 with additional private charsets defined will
6058 probably not be read correctly by Emacs 21.
6060 ** The variable `directory-sep-char' is slated for removal.
6061 Not really a change (yet), but a projected one that you should be
6062 aware of: The variable `directory-sep-char' is deprecated, and should
6063 not be used. It was always ignored on GNU/Linux and Unix systems and
6064 on MS-DOS, but the MS-Windows port tried to support it by adapting the
6065 behavior of certain primitives to the value of this variable. It
6066 turned out that such support cannot be reliable, so it was decided to
6067 remove this variable in the near future. Lisp programs are well
6068 advised not to set it to anything but '/', because any different value
6069 will not have any effect when support for this variable is removed.
6072 * Lisp changes made after edition 2.6 of the Emacs Lisp Manual,
6073 (Display-related features are described in a page of their own below.)
6075 ** Function assq-delete-all replaces function assoc-delete-all.
6077 ** The new function animate-string, from lisp/play/animate.el
6078 allows the animated display of strings.
6080 ** The new function `interactive-form' can be used to obtain the
6081 interactive form of a function.
6083 ** The keyword :set-after in defcustom allows to specify dependencies
6084 between custom options. Example:
6086 (defcustom default-input-method nil
6087 "*Default input method for multilingual text (a string).
6088 This is the input method activated automatically by the command
6089 `toggle-input-method' (\\[toggle-input-method])."
6091 :type '(choice (const nil) string)
6092 :set-after '(current-language-environment))
6094 This specifies that default-input-method should be set after
6095 current-language-environment even if default-input-method appears
6096 first in a custom-set-variables statement.
6098 ** The new hook `kbd-macro-termination-hook' is run at the end of
6099 function execute-kbd-macro. Functions on this hook are called with no
6100 args. The hook is run independent of how the macro was terminated
6101 (signal or normal termination).
6103 ** Functions `butlast' and `nbutlast' for removing trailing elements
6104 from a list are now available without requiring the CL package.
6106 ** The new user-option `even-window-heights' can be set to nil
6107 to prevent `display-buffer' from evening out window heights.
6109 ** The user-option `face-font-registry-alternatives' specifies
6110 alternative font registry names to try when looking for a font.
6112 ** Function `md5' calculates the MD5 "message digest"/"checksum".
6114 ** Function `delete-frame' runs `delete-frame-hook' before actually
6115 deleting the frame. The hook is called with one arg, the frame
6118 ** `add-hook' now makes the hook local if called with a non-nil LOCAL arg.
6120 ** The treatment of non-ASCII characters in search ranges has changed.
6121 If a range in a regular expression or the arg of
6122 skip-chars-forward/backward starts with a unibyte character C and ends
6123 with a multibyte character C2, the range is divided into two: one is
6124 C..?\377, the other is C1..C2, where C1 is the first character of C2's
6127 ** The new function `display-message-or-buffer' displays a message in
6128 the echo area or pops up a buffer, depending on the length of the
6131 ** The new macro `with-auto-compression-mode' allows evaluating an
6132 expression with auto-compression-mode enabled.
6134 ** In image specifications, `:heuristic-mask' has been replaced
6135 with the more general `:mask' property.
6137 ** Image specifications accept more `:conversion's.
6139 ** A `?' can be used in a symbol name without escaping it with a
6142 ** Reading from the mini-buffer now reads from standard input if Emacs
6143 is running in batch mode. For example,
6145 (message "%s" (read t))
6147 will read a Lisp expression from standard input and print the result
6150 ** The argument of `down-list', `backward-up-list', `up-list',
6151 `kill-sexp', `backward-kill-sexp' and `mark-sexp' is now optional.
6153 ** If `display-buffer-reuse-frames' is set, function `display-buffer'
6154 will raise frames displaying a buffer, instead of creating a new
6157 ** Two new functions for removing elements from lists/sequences
6160 - Function: remove ELT SEQ
6162 Return a copy of SEQ with all occurrences of ELT removed. SEQ must be
6163 a list, vector, or string. The comparison is done with `equal'.
6165 - Function: remq ELT LIST
6167 Return a copy of LIST with all occurrences of ELT removed. The
6168 comparison is done with `eq'.
6170 ** The function `delete' now also works with vectors and strings.
6172 ** The meaning of the `:weakness WEAK' argument of make-hash-table
6173 has been changed: WEAK can now have new values `key-or-value' and
6174 `key-and-value', in addition to `nil', `key', `value', and `t'.
6176 ** Function `aset' stores any multibyte character in any string
6177 without signaling "Attempt to change char length of a string". It may
6178 convert a unibyte string to multibyte if necessary.
6180 ** The value of the `help-echo' text property is called as a function
6181 or evaluated, if it is not a string already, to obtain a help string.
6183 ** Function `make-obsolete' now has an optional arg to say when the
6184 function was declared obsolete.
6186 ** Function `plist-member' is renamed from `widget-plist-member' (which is
6187 retained as an alias).
6189 ** Easy-menu's :filter now works as in XEmacs.
6190 It takes the unconverted (i.e. XEmacs) form of the menu and the result
6191 is automatically converted to Emacs' form.
6193 ** The new function `window-list' has been defined
6195 - Function: window-list &optional FRAME WINDOW MINIBUF
6197 Return a list of windows on FRAME, starting with WINDOW. FRAME nil or
6198 omitted means use the selected frame. WINDOW nil or omitted means use
6199 the selected window. MINIBUF t means include the minibuffer window,
6200 even if it isn't active. MINIBUF nil or omitted means include the
6201 minibuffer window only if it's active. MINIBUF neither nil nor t
6202 means never include the minibuffer window.
6204 ** There's a new function `get-window-with-predicate' defined as follows
6206 - Function: get-window-with-predicate PREDICATE &optional MINIBUF ALL-FRAMES DEFAULT
6208 Return a window satisfying PREDICATE.
6210 This function cycles through all visible windows using `walk-windows',
6211 calling PREDICATE on each one. PREDICATE is called with a window as
6212 argument. The first window for which PREDICATE returns a non-nil
6213 value is returned. If no window satisfies PREDICATE, DEFAULT is
6216 Optional second arg MINIBUF t means count the minibuffer window even
6217 if not active. MINIBUF nil or omitted means count the minibuffer iff
6218 it is active. MINIBUF neither t nor nil means not to count the
6219 minibuffer even if it is active.
6221 Several frames may share a single minibuffer; if the minibuffer
6222 counts, all windows on all frames that share that minibuffer count
6223 too. Therefore, if you are using a separate minibuffer frame
6224 and the minibuffer is active and MINIBUF says it counts,
6225 `walk-windows' includes the windows in the frame from which you
6226 entered the minibuffer, as well as the minibuffer window.
6228 ALL-FRAMES is the optional third argument.
6229 ALL-FRAMES nil or omitted means cycle within the frames as specified above.
6230 ALL-FRAMES = `visible' means include windows on all visible frames.
6231 ALL-FRAMES = 0 means include windows on all visible and iconified frames.
6232 ALL-FRAMES = t means include windows on all frames including invisible frames.
6233 If ALL-FRAMES is a frame, it means include windows on that frame.
6234 Anything else means restrict to the selected frame.
6236 ** The function `single-key-description' now encloses function key and
6237 event names in angle brackets. When called with a second optional
6238 argument non-nil, angle brackets won't be printed.
6240 ** If the variable `message-truncate-lines' is bound to t around a
6241 call to `message', the echo area will not be resized to display that
6242 message; it will be truncated instead, as it was done in 20.x.
6243 Default value is nil.
6245 ** The user option `line-number-display-limit' can now be set to nil,
6248 ** The new user option `line-number-display-limit-width' controls
6249 the maximum width of lines in a buffer for which Emacs displays line
6250 numbers in the mode line. The default is 200.
6252 ** `select-safe-coding-system' now also checks the most preferred
6253 coding-system if buffer-file-coding-system is `undecided' and
6254 DEFAULT-CODING-SYSTEM is not specified,
6256 ** The function `subr-arity' provides information about the argument
6257 list of a primitive.
6259 ** `where-is-internal' now also accepts a list of keymaps.
6261 ** The text property `keymap' specifies a key map which overrides the
6262 buffer's local map and the map specified by the `local-map' property.
6263 This is probably what most current uses of `local-map' want, rather
6264 than replacing the local map.
6266 ** The obsolete variables `before-change-function' and
6267 `after-change-function' are no longer acted upon and have been
6268 removed. Use `before-change-functions' and `after-change-functions'
6271 ** The function `apropos-mode' runs the hook `apropos-mode-hook'.
6273 ** `concat' no longer accepts individual integer arguments,
6274 as promised long ago.
6276 ** The new function `float-time' returns the current time as a float.
6278 ** The new variable auto-coding-regexp-alist specifies coding systems
6279 for reading specific files, analogous to auto-coding-alist, but
6280 patterns are checked against file contents instead of file names.
6283 * Lisp changes in Emacs 21.1 (see following page for display-related features)
6285 ** The new package rx.el provides an alternative sexp notation for
6286 regular expressions.
6288 - Function: rx-to-string SEXP
6290 Translate SEXP into a regular expression in string notation.
6294 Translate SEXP into a regular expression in string notation.
6296 The following are valid subforms of regular expressions in sexp
6300 matches string STRING literally.
6303 matches character CHAR literally.
6306 matches any character except a newline.
6309 matches any character
6312 matches any character in SET. SET may be a character or string.
6313 Ranges of characters can be specified as `A-Z' in strings.
6319 matches any character not in SET
6322 matches the empty string, but only at the beginning of a line
6323 in the text being matched
6326 is similar to `line-start' but matches only at the end of a line
6329 matches the empty string, but only at the beginning of the
6330 string being matched against.
6333 matches the empty string, but only at the end of the
6334 string being matched against.
6337 matches the empty string, but only at the beginning of the
6338 buffer being matched against.
6341 matches the empty string, but only at the end of the
6342 buffer being matched against.
6345 matches the empty string, but only at point.
6348 matches the empty string, but only at the beginning or end of a
6352 matches the empty string, but only at the end of a word.
6355 matches the empty string, but only at the beginning or end of a
6358 `(not word-boundary)'
6359 matches the empty string, but not at the beginning or end of a
6363 matches 0 through 9.
6366 matches ASCII control characters.
6369 matches 0 through 9, a through f and A through F.
6372 matches space and tab only.
6375 matches graphic characters--everything except ASCII control chars,
6379 matches printing characters--everything except ASCII control chars
6383 matches letters and digits. (But at present, for multibyte characters,
6384 it matches anything that has word syntax.)
6387 matches letters. (But at present, for multibyte characters,
6388 it matches anything that has word syntax.)
6391 matches ASCII (unibyte) characters.
6394 matches non-ASCII (multibyte) characters.
6397 matches anything lower-case.
6400 matches anything upper-case.
6403 matches punctuation. (But at present, for multibyte characters,
6404 it matches anything that has non-word syntax.)
6407 matches anything that has whitespace syntax.
6410 matches anything that has word syntax.
6413 matches a character with syntax SYNTAX. SYNTAX must be one
6414 of the following symbols.
6416 `whitespace' (\\s- in string notation)
6417 `punctuation' (\\s.)
6420 `open-parenthesis' (\\s()
6421 `close-parenthesis' (\\s))
6422 `expression-prefix' (\\s')
6423 `string-quote' (\\s\")
6424 `paired-delimiter' (\\s$)
6426 `character-quote' (\\s/)
6427 `comment-start' (\\s<)
6428 `comment-end' (\\s>)
6430 `(not (syntax SYNTAX))'
6431 matches a character that has not syntax SYNTAX.
6433 `(category CATEGORY)'
6434 matches a character with category CATEGORY. CATEGORY must be
6435 either a character to use for C, or one of the following symbols.
6437 `consonant' (\\c0 in string notation)
6439 `upper-diacritical-mark' (\\c2)
6440 `lower-diacritical-mark' (\\c3)
6444 `vowel-modifying-diacritical-mark' (\\c7)
6446 `semivowel-lower' (\\c9)
6447 `not-at-end-of-line' (\\c<)
6448 `not-at-beginning-of-line' (\\c>)
6449 `alpha-numeric-two-byte' (\\cA)
6450 `chinse-two-byte' (\\cC)
6451 `greek-two-byte' (\\cG)
6452 `japanese-hiragana-two-byte' (\\cH)
6453 `indian-two-byte' (\\cI)
6454 `japanese-katakana-two-byte' (\\cK)
6455 `korean-hangul-two-byte' (\\cN)
6456 `cyrillic-two-byte' (\\cY)
6465 `japanese-katakana' (\\ck)
6469 `japanese-roman' (\\cr)
6476 `(not (category CATEGORY))'
6477 matches a character that has not category CATEGORY.
6479 `(and SEXP1 SEXP2 ...)'
6480 matches what SEXP1 matches, followed by what SEXP2 matches, etc.
6482 `(submatch SEXP1 SEXP2 ...)'
6483 like `and', but makes the match accessible with `match-end',
6484 `match-beginning', and `match-string'.
6486 `(group SEXP1 SEXP2 ...)'
6487 another name for `submatch'.
6489 `(or SEXP1 SEXP2 ...)'
6490 matches anything that matches SEXP1 or SEXP2, etc. If all
6491 args are strings, use `regexp-opt' to optimize the resulting
6494 `(minimal-match SEXP)'
6495 produce a non-greedy regexp for SEXP. Normally, regexps matching
6496 zero or more occurrences of something are \"greedy\" in that they
6497 match as much as they can, as long as the overall regexp can
6498 still match. A non-greedy regexp matches as little as possible.
6500 `(maximal-match SEXP)'
6501 produce a greedy regexp for SEXP. This is the default.
6503 `(zero-or-more SEXP)'
6504 matches zero or more occurrences of what SEXP matches.
6507 like `zero-or-more'.
6510 like `zero-or-more', but always produces a greedy regexp.
6513 like `zero-or-more', but always produces a non-greedy regexp.
6515 `(one-or-more SEXP)'
6516 matches one or more occurrences of A.
6522 like `one-or-more', but always produces a greedy regexp.
6525 like `one-or-more', but always produces a non-greedy regexp.
6527 `(zero-or-one SEXP)'
6528 matches zero or one occurrences of A.
6534 like `zero-or-one', but always produces a greedy regexp.
6537 like `zero-or-one', but always produces a non-greedy regexp.
6540 matches N occurrences of what SEXP matches.
6543 matches N to M occurrences of what SEXP matches.
6546 evaluate FORM and insert result. If result is a string,
6550 include REGEXP in string notation in the result.
6552 *** The features `md5' and `overlay' are now provided by default.
6554 *** The special form `save-restriction' now works correctly even if the
6555 buffer is widened inside the save-restriction and changes made outside
6556 the original restriction. Previously, doing this would cause the saved
6557 restriction to be restored incorrectly.
6559 *** The functions `find-charset-region' and `find-charset-string' include
6560 `eight-bit-control' and/or `eight-bit-graphic' in the returned list
6561 when they find 8-bit characters. Previously, they included `ascii' in a
6562 multibyte buffer and `unknown' in a unibyte buffer.
6564 *** The functions `set-buffer-multibyte', `string-as-multibyte' and
6565 `string-as-unibyte' change the byte sequence of a buffer or a string
6566 if it contains a character from the `eight-bit-control' character set.
6568 *** The handling of multibyte sequences in a multibyte buffer is
6569 changed. Previously, a byte sequence matching the pattern
6570 [\200-\237][\240-\377]+ was interpreted as a single character
6571 regardless of the length of the trailing bytes [\240-\377]+. Thus, if
6572 the sequence was longer than what the leading byte indicated, the
6573 extra trailing bytes were ignored by Lisp functions. Now such extra
6574 bytes are independent 8-bit characters belonging to the charset
6577 ** Fontsets are now implemented using char-tables.
6579 A fontset can now be specified for each independent character, for
6580 a group of characters or for a character set rather than just for a
6581 character set as previously.
6583 *** The arguments of the function `set-fontset-font' are changed.
6584 They are NAME, CHARACTER, FONTNAME, and optional FRAME. The function
6585 modifies fontset NAME to use FONTNAME for CHARACTER.
6587 CHARACTER may be a cons (FROM . TO), where FROM and TO are non-generic
6588 characters. In that case FONTNAME is used for all characters in the
6589 range FROM and TO (inclusive). CHARACTER may be a charset. In that
6590 case FONTNAME is used for all character in the charset.
6592 FONTNAME may be a cons (FAMILY . REGISTRY), where FAMILY is the family
6593 name of a font and REGISTRY is a registry name of a font.
6595 *** Variable x-charset-registry has been deleted. The default charset
6596 registries of character sets are set in the default fontset
6599 *** The function `create-fontset-from-fontset-spec' ignores the second
6600 argument STYLE-VARIANT. It never creates style-variant fontsets.
6602 ** The method of composing characters is changed. Now character
6603 composition is done by a special text property `composition' in
6604 buffers and strings.
6606 *** Charset composition is deleted. Emacs never creates a `composite
6607 character' which is an independent character with a unique character
6608 code. Thus the following functions handling `composite characters'
6609 have been deleted: composite-char-component,
6610 composite-char-component-count, composite-char-composition-rule,
6611 composite-char-composition-rule and decompose-composite-char delete.
6612 The variables leading-code-composition and min-composite-char have
6615 *** Three more glyph reference points are added. They can be used to
6616 specify a composition rule. See the documentation of the variable
6617 `reference-point-alist' for more detail.
6619 *** The function `compose-region' takes new arguments COMPONENTS and
6620 MODIFICATION-FUNC. With COMPONENTS, you can specify not only a
6621 composition rule but also characters to be composed. Such characters
6622 may differ between buffer and string text.
6624 *** The function `compose-string' takes new arguments START, END,
6625 COMPONENTS, and MODIFICATION-FUNC.
6627 *** The function `compose-string' puts text property `composition'
6628 directly on the argument STRING instead of returning a new string.
6629 Likewise, the function `decompose-string' just removes text property
6630 `composition' from STRING.
6632 *** The new function `find-composition' returns information about
6633 a composition at a specified position in a buffer or a string.
6635 *** The function `decompose-composite-char' is now labeled as
6638 ** The new coding system `mac-roman' is primarily intended for use on
6639 the Macintosh but may be used generally for Macintosh-encoded text.
6641 ** The new character sets `mule-unicode-0100-24ff',
6642 `mule-unicode-2500-33ff', and `mule-unicode-e000-ffff' have been
6643 introduced for Unicode characters in the range U+0100..U+24FF,
6644 U+2500..U+33FF, U+E000..U+FFFF respectively.
6646 Note that the character sets are not yet unified in Emacs, so
6647 characters which belong to charsets such as Latin-2, Greek, Hebrew,
6648 etc. and the same characters in the `mule-unicode-*' charsets are
6649 different characters, as far as Emacs is concerned. For example, text
6650 which includes Unicode characters from the Latin-2 locale cannot be
6651 encoded by Emacs with ISO 8859-2 coding system.
6653 ** The new coding system `mule-utf-8' has been added.
6654 It provides limited support for decoding/encoding UTF-8 text. For
6655 details, please see the documentation string of this coding system.
6657 ** The new character sets `japanese-jisx0213-1' and
6658 `japanese-jisx0213-2' have been introduced for the new Japanese
6659 standard JIS X 0213 Plane 1 and Plane 2.
6661 ** The new character sets `latin-iso8859-14' and `latin-iso8859-15'
6662 have been introduced.
6664 ** The new character sets `eight-bit-control' and `eight-bit-graphic'
6665 have been introduced for 8-bit characters in the ranges 0x80..0x9F and
6666 0xA0..0xFF respectively. Note that the multibyte representation of
6667 eight-bit-control is never exposed; this leads to an exception in the
6668 emacs-mule coding system, which encodes everything else to the
6669 buffer/string internal representation. Note that to search for
6670 eight-bit-graphic characters in a multibyte buffer, the search string
6671 must be multibyte, otherwise such characters will be converted to
6672 their multibyte equivalent.
6674 ** If the APPEND argument of `write-region' is an integer, it seeks to
6675 that offset in the file before writing.
6677 ** The function `add-minor-mode' has been added for convenience and
6678 compatibility with XEmacs (and is used internally by define-minor-mode).
6680 ** The function `shell-command' now sets the default directory of the
6681 `*Shell Command Output*' buffer to the default directory of the buffer
6682 from which the command was issued.
6684 ** The functions `query-replace', `query-replace-regexp',
6685 `query-replace-regexp-eval' `map-query-replace-regexp',
6686 `replace-string', `replace-regexp', and `perform-replace' take two
6687 additional optional arguments START and END that specify the region to
6690 ** The new function `count-screen-lines' is a more flexible alternative
6691 to `window-buffer-height'.
6693 - Function: count-screen-lines &optional BEG END COUNT-FINAL-NEWLINE WINDOW
6695 Return the number of screen lines in the region between BEG and END.
6696 The number of screen lines may be different from the number of actual
6697 lines, due to line breaking, display table, etc.
6699 Optional arguments BEG and END default to `point-min' and `point-max'
6702 If region ends with a newline, ignore it unless optional third argument
6703 COUNT-FINAL-NEWLINE is non-nil.
6705 The optional fourth argument WINDOW specifies the window used for
6706 obtaining parameters such as width, horizontal scrolling, and so
6707 on. The default is to use the selected window's parameters.
6709 Like `vertical-motion', `count-screen-lines' always uses the current
6710 buffer, regardless of which buffer is displayed in WINDOW. This makes
6711 possible to use `count-screen-lines' in any buffer, whether or not it
6712 is currently displayed in some window.
6714 ** The new function `mapc' is like `mapcar' but doesn't collect the
6715 argument function's results.
6717 ** The functions base64-decode-region and base64-decode-string now
6718 signal an error instead of returning nil if decoding fails. Also,
6719 `base64-decode-string' now always returns a unibyte string (in Emacs
6720 20, it returned a multibyte string when the result was a valid multibyte
6723 ** The function sendmail-user-agent-compose now recognizes a `body'
6724 header in the list of headers passed to it.
6726 ** The new function member-ignore-case works like `member', but
6727 ignores differences in case and text representation.
6729 ** The buffer-local variable cursor-type can be used to specify the
6730 cursor to use in windows displaying a buffer. Values are interpreted
6733 t use the cursor specified for the frame (default)
6734 nil don't display a cursor
6735 `bar' display a bar cursor with default width
6736 (bar . WIDTH) display a bar cursor with width WIDTH
6737 others display a box cursor.
6739 ** The variable open-paren-in-column-0-is-defun-start controls whether
6740 an open parenthesis in column 0 is considered to be the start of a
6741 defun. If set, the default, it is considered a defun start. If not
6742 set, an open parenthesis in column 0 has no special meaning.
6744 ** The new function `string-to-syntax' can be used to translate syntax
6745 specifications in string form as accepted by `modify-syntax-entry' to
6746 the cons-cell form that is used for the values of the `syntax-table'
6747 text property, and in `font-lock-syntactic-keywords'.
6751 (string-to-syntax "()")
6754 ** Emacs' reader supports CL read syntax for integers in bases
6757 *** `#BINTEGER' or `#bINTEGER' reads INTEGER in binary (radix 2).
6758 INTEGER optionally contains a sign.
6765 *** `#OINTEGER' or `#oINTEGER' reads INTEGER in octal (radix 8).
6770 *** `#XINTEGER' or `#xINTEGER' reads INTEGER in hexadecimal (radix 16).
6775 *** `#RADIXrINTEGER' reads INTEGER in radix RADIX, 2 <= RADIX <= 36.
6782 ** The function `documentation-property' now evaluates the value of
6783 the given property to obtain a string if it doesn't refer to etc/DOC
6786 ** If called for a symbol, the function `documentation' now looks for
6787 a `function-documentation' property of that symbol. If it has a non-nil
6788 value, the documentation is taken from that value. If the value is
6789 not a string, it is evaluated to obtain a string.
6791 ** The last argument of `define-key-after' defaults to t for convenience.
6793 ** The new function `replace-regexp-in-string' replaces all matches
6794 for a regexp in a string.
6796 ** `mouse-position' now runs the abnormal hook
6797 `mouse-position-function'.
6799 ** The function string-to-number now returns a float for numbers
6800 that don't fit into a Lisp integer.
6802 ** The variable keyword-symbols-constants-flag has been removed.
6803 Keywords are now always considered constants.
6805 ** The new function `delete-and-extract-region' deletes text and
6808 ** The function `clear-this-command-keys' now also clears the vector
6809 returned by function `recent-keys'.
6811 ** Variables `beginning-of-defun-function' and `end-of-defun-function'
6812 can be used to define handlers for the functions that find defuns.
6813 Major modes can define these locally instead of rebinding C-M-a
6814 etc. if the normal conventions for defuns are not appropriate for the
6817 ** easy-mmode-define-minor-mode now takes an additional BODY argument
6818 and is renamed `define-minor-mode'.
6820 ** If an abbrev has a hook function which is a symbol, and that symbol
6821 has a non-nil `no-self-insert' property, the return value of the hook
6822 function specifies whether an expansion has been done or not. If it
6823 returns nil, abbrev-expand also returns nil, meaning "no expansion has
6826 When abbrev expansion is done by typing a self-inserting character,
6827 and the abbrev has a hook with the `no-self-insert' property, and the
6828 hook function returns non-nil meaning expansion has been done,
6829 then the self-inserting character is not inserted.
6831 ** The function `intern-soft' now accepts a symbol as first argument.
6832 In this case, that exact symbol is looked up in the specified obarray,
6833 and the function's value is nil if it is not found.
6835 ** The new macro `with-syntax-table' can be used to evaluate forms
6836 with the syntax table of the current buffer temporarily set to a
6839 (with-syntax-table TABLE &rest BODY)
6841 Evaluate BODY with syntax table of current buffer set to a copy of
6842 TABLE. The current syntax table is saved, BODY is evaluated, and the
6843 saved table is restored, even in case of an abnormal exit. Value is
6846 ** Regular expressions now support intervals \{n,m\} as well as
6847 Perl's shy-groups \(?:...\) and non-greedy *? +? and ?? operators.
6848 Also back-references like \2 are now considered as an error if the
6849 corresponding subgroup does not exist (or is not closed yet).
6850 Previously it would have been silently turned into `2' (ignoring the `\').
6852 ** The optional argument BUFFER of function file-local-copy has been
6853 removed since it wasn't used by anything.
6855 ** The file name argument of function `file-locked-p' is now required
6856 instead of being optional.
6858 ** The new built-in error `text-read-only' is signaled when trying to
6859 modify read-only text.
6861 ** New functions and variables for locales.
6863 The new variable `locale-coding-system' specifies how to encode and
6864 decode strings passed to low-level message functions like strerror and
6865 time functions like strftime. The new variables
6866 `system-messages-locale' and `system-time-locale' give the system
6867 locales to be used when invoking these two types of functions.
6869 The new function `set-locale-environment' sets the language
6870 environment, preferred coding system, and locale coding system from
6871 the system locale as specified by the LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, and LANG
6872 environment variables. Normally, it is invoked during startup and need
6873 not be invoked thereafter. It uses the new variables
6874 `locale-language-names', `locale-charset-language-names', and
6875 `locale-preferred-coding-systems' to make its decisions.
6877 ** syntax tables now understand nested comments.
6878 To declare a comment syntax as allowing nesting, just add an `n'
6879 modifier to either of the characters of the comment end and the comment
6882 ** The function `pixmap-spec-p' has been renamed `bitmap-spec-p'
6883 because `bitmap' is more in line with the usual X terminology.
6885 ** New function `propertize'
6887 The new function `propertize' can be used to conveniently construct
6888 strings with text properties.
6890 - Function: propertize STRING &rest PROPERTIES
6892 Value is a copy of STRING with text properties assigned as specified
6893 by PROPERTIES. PROPERTIES is a sequence of pairs PROPERTY VALUE, with
6894 PROPERTY being the name of a text property and VALUE being the
6895 specified value of that property. Example:
6897 (propertize "foo" 'face 'bold 'read-only t)
6899 ** push and pop macros.
6901 Simple versions of the push and pop macros of Common Lisp
6902 are now defined in Emacs Lisp. These macros allow only symbols
6903 as the place that holds the list to be changed.
6905 (push NEWELT LISTNAME) add NEWELT to the front of LISTNAME's value.
6906 (pop LISTNAME) return first elt of LISTNAME, and remove it
6907 (thus altering the value of LISTNAME).
6909 ** New dolist and dotimes macros.
6911 Simple versions of the dolist and dotimes macros of Common Lisp
6912 are now defined in Emacs Lisp.
6914 (dolist (VAR LIST [RESULT]) BODY...)
6915 Execute body once for each element of LIST,
6916 using the variable VAR to hold the current element.
6917 Then return the value of RESULT, or nil if RESULT is omitted.
6919 (dotimes (VAR COUNT [RESULT]) BODY...)
6920 Execute BODY with VAR bound to successive integers running from 0,
6921 inclusive, to COUNT, exclusive.
6922 Then return the value of RESULT, or nil if RESULT is omitted.
6924 ** Regular expressions now support Posix character classes such as
6925 [:alpha:], [:space:] and so on. These must be used within a character
6926 class--for instance, [-[:digit:].+] matches digits or a period
6929 [:digit:] matches 0 through 9
6930 [:cntrl:] matches ASCII control characters
6931 [:xdigit:] matches 0 through 9, a through f and A through F.
6932 [:blank:] matches space and tab only
6933 [:graph:] matches graphic characters--everything except ASCII control chars,
6935 [:print:] matches printing characters--everything except ASCII control chars
6937 [:alnum:] matches letters and digits.
6938 (But at present, for multibyte characters,
6939 it matches anything that has word syntax.)
6940 [:alpha:] matches letters.
6941 (But at present, for multibyte characters,
6942 it matches anything that has word syntax.)
6943 [:ascii:] matches ASCII (unibyte) characters.
6944 [:nonascii:] matches non-ASCII (multibyte) characters.
6945 [:lower:] matches anything lower-case.
6946 [:punct:] matches punctuation.
6947 (But at present, for multibyte characters,
6948 it matches anything that has non-word syntax.)
6949 [:space:] matches anything that has whitespace syntax.
6950 [:upper:] matches anything upper-case.
6951 [:word:] matches anything that has word syntax.
6953 ** Emacs now has built-in hash tables.
6955 The following functions are defined for hash tables:
6957 - Function: make-hash-table ARGS
6959 The argument list ARGS consists of keyword/argument pairs. All arguments
6960 are optional. The following arguments are defined:
6964 TEST must be a symbol specifying how to compare keys. Default is `eql'.
6965 Predefined are `eq', `eql' and `equal'. If TEST is not predefined,
6966 it must have been defined with `define-hash-table-test'.
6970 SIZE must be an integer > 0 giving a hint to the implementation how
6971 many elements will be put in the hash table. Default size is 65.
6973 :rehash-size REHASH-SIZE
6975 REHASH-SIZE specifies by how much to grow a hash table once it becomes
6976 full. If REHASH-SIZE is an integer, add that to the hash table's old
6977 size to get the new size. Otherwise, REHASH-SIZE must be a float >
6978 1.0, and the new size is computed by multiplying REHASH-SIZE with the
6979 old size. Default rehash size is 1.5.
6981 :rehash-threshold THRESHOLD
6983 THRESHOLD must be a float > 0 and <= 1.0 specifying when to resize the
6984 hash table. It is resized when the ratio of (number of entries) /
6985 (size of hash table) is >= THRESHOLD. Default threshold is 0.8.
6989 WEAK must be either nil, one of the symbols `key, `value',
6990 `key-or-value', `key-and-value', or t, meaning the same as
6991 `key-and-value'. Entries are removed from weak tables during garbage
6992 collection if their key and/or value are not referenced elsewhere
6993 outside of the hash table. Default are non-weak hash tables.
6995 - Function: makehash &optional TEST
6997 Similar to make-hash-table, but only TEST can be specified.
6999 - Function: hash-table-p TABLE
7001 Returns non-nil if TABLE is a hash table object.
7003 - Function: copy-hash-table TABLE
7005 Returns a copy of TABLE. Only the table itself is copied, keys and
7008 - Function: hash-table-count TABLE
7010 Returns the number of entries in TABLE.
7012 - Function: hash-table-rehash-size TABLE
7014 Returns the rehash size of TABLE.
7016 - Function: hash-table-rehash-threshold TABLE
7018 Returns the rehash threshold of TABLE.
7020 - Function: hash-table-rehash-size TABLE
7022 Returns the size of TABLE.
7024 - Function: hash-table-test TABLE
7026 Returns the test TABLE uses to compare keys.
7028 - Function: hash-table-weakness TABLE
7030 Returns the weakness specified for TABLE.
7032 - Function: clrhash TABLE
7036 - Function: gethash KEY TABLE &optional DEFAULT
7038 Look up KEY in TABLE and return its associated VALUE or DEFAULT if
7041 - Function: puthash KEY VALUE TABLE
7043 Associate KEY with VALUE in TABLE. If KEY is already associated with
7044 another value, replace the old value with VALUE.
7046 - Function: remhash KEY TABLE
7048 Remove KEY from TABLE if it is there.
7050 - Function: maphash FUNCTION TABLE
7052 Call FUNCTION for all elements in TABLE. FUNCTION must take two
7053 arguments KEY and VALUE.
7055 - Function: sxhash OBJ
7057 Return a hash code for Lisp object OBJ.
7059 - Function: define-hash-table-test NAME TEST-FN HASH-FN
7061 Define a new hash table test named NAME. If NAME is specified as
7062 a test in `make-hash-table', the table created will use TEST-FN for
7063 comparing keys, and HASH-FN to compute hash codes for keys. Test
7064 and hash function are stored as symbol property `hash-table-test'
7065 of NAME with a value of (TEST-FN HASH-FN).
7067 TEST-FN must take two arguments and return non-nil if they are the same.
7069 HASH-FN must take one argument and return an integer that is the hash
7070 code of the argument. The function should use the whole range of
7071 integer values for hash code computation, including negative integers.
7073 Example: The following creates a hash table whose keys are supposed to
7074 be strings that are compared case-insensitively.
7076 (defun case-fold-string= (a b)
7077 (compare-strings a nil nil b nil nil t))
7079 (defun case-fold-string-hash (a)
7080 (sxhash (upcase a)))
7082 (define-hash-table-test 'case-fold 'case-fold-string=
7083 'case-fold-string-hash))
7085 (make-hash-table :test 'case-fold)
7087 ** The Lisp reader handles circular structure.
7089 It now works to use the #N= and #N# constructs to represent
7090 circular structures. For example, #1=(a . #1#) represents
7091 a cons cell which is its own cdr.
7093 ** The Lisp printer handles circular structure.
7095 If you bind print-circle to a non-nil value, the Lisp printer outputs
7096 #N= and #N# constructs to represent circular and shared structure.
7098 ** If the second argument to `move-to-column' is anything but nil or
7099 t, that means replace a tab with spaces if necessary to reach the
7100 specified column, but do not add spaces at the end of the line if it
7101 is too short to reach that column.
7103 ** perform-replace has a new feature: the REPLACEMENTS argument may
7104 now be a cons cell (FUNCTION . DATA). This means to call FUNCTION
7105 after each match to get the replacement text. FUNCTION is called with
7106 two arguments: DATA, and the number of replacements already made.
7108 If the FROM-STRING contains any upper-case letters,
7109 perform-replace also turns off `case-fold-search' temporarily
7110 and inserts the replacement text without altering case in it.
7112 ** The function buffer-size now accepts an optional argument
7113 to specify which buffer to return the size of.
7115 ** The calendar motion commands now run the normal hook
7116 calendar-move-hook after moving point.
7118 ** The new variable small-temporary-file-directory specifies a
7119 directory to use for creating temporary files that are likely to be
7120 small. (Certain Emacs features use this directory.) If
7121 small-temporary-file-directory is nil, they use
7122 temporary-file-directory instead.
7124 ** The variable `inhibit-modification-hooks', if non-nil, inhibits all
7125 the hooks that track changes in the buffer. This affects
7126 `before-change-functions' and `after-change-functions', as well as
7127 hooks attached to text properties and overlay properties.
7129 ** assq-delete-all is a new function that deletes all the
7130 elements of an alist which have a car `eq' to a particular value.
7132 ** make-temp-file provides a more reliable way to create a temporary file.
7134 make-temp-file is used like make-temp-name, except that it actually
7135 creates the file before it returns. This prevents a timing error,
7136 ensuring that no other job can use the same name for a temporary file.
7138 ** New exclusive-open feature in `write-region'
7140 The optional seventh arg is now called MUSTBENEW. If non-nil, it insists
7141 on a check for an existing file with the same name. If MUSTBENEW
7142 is `excl', that means to get an error if the file already exists;
7143 never overwrite. If MUSTBENEW is neither nil nor `excl', that means
7144 ask for confirmation before overwriting, but do go ahead and
7145 overwrite the file if the user gives confirmation.
7147 If the MUSTBENEW argument in `write-region' is `excl',
7148 that means to use a special feature in the `open' system call
7149 to get an error if the file exists at that time.
7150 The error reported is `file-already-exists'.
7152 ** Function `format' now handles text properties.
7154 Text properties of the format string are applied to the result string.
7155 If the result string is longer than the format string, text properties
7156 ending at the end of the format string are extended to the end of the
7159 Text properties from string arguments are applied to the result
7160 string where arguments appear in the result string.
7164 (let ((s1 "hello, %s")
7166 (put-text-property 0 (length s1) 'face 'bold s1)
7167 (put-text-property 0 (length s2) 'face 'italic s2)
7170 results in a bold-face string with an italic `world' at the end.
7172 ** Messages can now be displayed with text properties.
7174 Text properties are handled as described above for function `format'.
7175 The following example displays a bold-face message with an italic
7178 (let ((msg "hello, %s!")
7180 (put-text-property 0 (length msg) 'face 'bold msg)
7181 (put-text-property 0 (length arg) 'face 'italic arg)
7186 Emacs supports playing sound files on GNU/Linux and the free BSDs
7187 (Voxware driver and native BSD driver, aka as Luigi's driver).
7189 Currently supported file formats are RIFF-WAVE (*.wav) and Sun Audio
7190 (*.au). You must configure Emacs with the option `--with-sound=yes'
7191 to enable sound support.
7193 Sound files can be played by calling (play-sound SOUND). SOUND is a
7194 list of the form `(sound PROPERTY...)'. The function is only defined
7195 when sound support is present for the system on which Emacs runs. The
7196 functions runs `play-sound-functions' with one argument which is the
7197 sound to play, before playing the sound.
7199 The following sound properties are supported:
7203 FILE is a file name. If FILE isn't an absolute name, it will be
7204 searched relative to `data-directory'.
7208 DATA is a string containing sound data. Either :file or :data
7209 may be present, but not both.
7213 VOLUME must be an integer in the range 0..100 or a float in the range
7214 0..1. This property is optional.
7218 DEVICE is a string specifying the system device on which to play the
7219 sound. The default device is system-dependent.
7221 Other properties are ignored.
7223 An alternative interface is called as
7224 (play-sound-file FILE &optional VOLUME DEVICE).
7226 ** `multimedia' is a new Finder keyword and Custom group.
7228 ** keywordp is a new predicate to test efficiently for an object being
7231 ** Changes to garbage collection
7233 *** The function garbage-collect now additionally returns the number
7234 of live and free strings.
7236 *** There is a new variable `strings-consed' holding the number of
7237 strings that have been consed so far.
7240 * Lisp-level Display features added after release 2.6 of the Emacs
7243 ** The user-option `resize-mini-windows' controls how Emacs resizes
7246 ** The function `pos-visible-in-window-p' now has a third optional
7247 argument, PARTIALLY. If a character is only partially visible, nil is
7248 returned, unless PARTIALLY is non-nil.
7250 ** On window systems, `glyph-table' is no longer used.
7252 ** Help strings in menu items are now used to provide `help-echo' text.
7254 ** The function `image-size' can be used to determine the size of an
7257 - Function: image-size SPEC &optional PIXELS FRAME
7259 Return the size of an image as a pair (WIDTH . HEIGHT).
7261 SPEC is an image specification. PIXELS non-nil means return sizes
7262 measured in pixels, otherwise return sizes measured in canonical
7263 character units (fractions of the width/height of the frame's default
7264 font). FRAME is the frame on which the image will be displayed.
7265 FRAME nil or omitted means use the selected frame.
7267 ** The function `image-mask-p' can be used to determine if an image
7270 - Function: image-mask-p SPEC &optional FRAME
7272 Return t if image SPEC has a mask bitmap.
7273 FRAME is the frame on which the image will be displayed. FRAME nil
7274 or omitted means use the selected frame.
7276 ** The function `find-image' can be used to find a usable image
7277 satisfying one of a list of specifications.
7279 ** The STRING argument of `put-image' and `insert-image' is now
7282 ** Image specifications may contain the property `:ascent center' (see
7286 * New Lisp-level Display features in Emacs 21.1
7288 ** The function tty-suppress-bold-inverse-default-colors can be used
7289 to make Emacs avoid displaying text with bold black foreground on TTYs.
7291 Some terminals, notably PC consoles, emulate bold text by displaying
7292 text in brighter colors. On such a console, a bold black foreground
7293 is displayed in a gray color. If this turns out to be hard to read on
7294 your monitor---the problem occurred with the mode line on
7295 laptops---you can instruct Emacs to ignore the text's boldness, and to
7296 just display it black instead.
7298 This situation can't be detected automatically. You will have to put
7301 (tty-suppress-bold-inverse-default-colors t)
7305 ** New face implementation.
7307 Emacs faces have been reimplemented from scratch. They don't use XLFD
7308 font names anymore and face merging now works as expected.
7312 Each face can specify the following display attributes:
7314 1. Font family or fontset alias name.
7316 2. Relative proportionate width, aka character set width or set
7317 width (swidth), e.g. `semi-compressed'.
7319 3. Font height in 1/10pt
7321 4. Font weight, e.g. `bold'.
7323 5. Font slant, e.g. `italic'.
7325 6. Foreground color.
7327 7. Background color.
7329 8. Whether or not characters should be underlined, and in what color.
7331 9. Whether or not characters should be displayed in inverse video.
7333 10. A background stipple, a bitmap.
7335 11. Whether or not characters should be overlined, and in what color.
7337 12. Whether or not characters should be strike-through, and in what
7340 13. Whether or not a box should be drawn around characters, its
7341 color, the width of the box lines, and 3D appearance.
7343 Faces are frame-local by nature because Emacs allows to define the
7344 same named face (face names are symbols) differently for different
7345 frames. Each frame has an alist of face definitions for all named
7346 faces. The value of a named face in such an alist is a Lisp vector
7347 with the symbol `face' in slot 0, and a slot for each of the face
7348 attributes mentioned above.
7350 There is also a global face alist `face-new-frame-defaults'. Face
7351 definitions from this list are used to initialize faces of newly
7354 A face doesn't have to specify all attributes. Those not specified
7355 have a nil value. Faces specifying all attributes are called
7360 The display style of a given character in the text is determined by
7361 combining several faces. This process is called `face merging'. Any
7362 aspect of the display style that isn't specified by overlays or text
7363 properties is taken from the `default' face. Since it is made sure
7364 that the default face is always fully-specified, face merging always
7365 results in a fully-specified face.
7367 *** Face realization.
7369 After all face attributes for a character have been determined by
7370 merging faces of that character, that face is `realized'. The
7371 realization process maps face attributes to what is physically
7372 available on the system where Emacs runs. The result is a `realized
7373 face' in form of an internal structure which is stored in the face
7374 cache of the frame on which it was realized.
7376 Face realization is done in the context of the charset of the
7377 character to display because different fonts and encodings are used
7378 for different charsets. In other words, for characters of different
7379 charsets, different realized faces are needed to display them.
7381 Except for composite characters, faces are always realized for a
7382 specific character set and contain a specific font, even if the face
7383 being realized specifies a fontset. The reason is that the result of
7384 the new font selection stage is better than what can be done with
7385 statically defined font name patterns in fontsets.
7387 In unibyte text, Emacs' charsets aren't applicable; function
7388 `char-charset' reports ASCII for all characters, including those >
7389 0x7f. The X registry and encoding of fonts to use is determined from
7390 the variable `face-default-registry' in this case. The variable is
7391 initialized at Emacs startup time from the font the user specified for
7394 Currently all unibyte text, i.e. all buffers with
7395 `enable-multibyte-characters' nil are displayed with fonts of the same
7396 registry and encoding `face-default-registry'. This is consistent
7397 with the fact that languages can also be set globally, only.
7399 **** Clearing face caches.
7401 The Lisp function `clear-face-cache' can be called to clear face caches
7402 on all frames. If called with a non-nil argument, it will also unload
7407 Font selection tries to find the best available matching font for a
7408 given (charset, face) combination. This is done slightly differently
7409 for faces specifying a fontset, or a font family name.
7411 If the face specifies a fontset name, that fontset determines a
7412 pattern for fonts of the given charset. If the face specifies a font
7413 family, a font pattern is constructed. Charset symbols have a
7414 property `x-charset-registry' for that purpose that maps a charset to
7415 an XLFD registry and encoding in the font pattern constructed.
7417 Available fonts on the system on which Emacs runs are then matched
7418 against the font pattern. The result of font selection is the best
7419 match for the given face attributes in this font list.
7421 Font selection can be influenced by the user.
7423 The user can specify the relative importance he gives the face
7424 attributes width, height, weight, and slant by setting
7425 face-font-selection-order (faces.el) to a list of face attribute
7426 names. The default is (:width :height :weight :slant), and means
7427 that font selection first tries to find a good match for the font
7428 width specified by a face, then---within fonts with that width---tries
7429 to find a best match for the specified font height, etc.
7431 Setting `face-font-family-alternatives' allows the user to specify
7432 alternative font families to try if a family specified by a face
7435 Setting `face-font-registry-alternatives' allows the user to specify
7436 all alternative font registry names to try for a face specifying a
7439 Please note that the interpretations of the above two variables are
7442 Setting face-ignored-fonts allows the user to ignore specific fonts.
7447 Emacs can make use of scalable fonts but doesn't do so by default,
7448 since the use of too many or too big scalable fonts may crash XFree86
7451 To enable scalable font use, set the variable
7452 `scalable-fonts-allowed'. A value of nil, the default, means never use
7453 scalable fonts. A value of t means any scalable font may be used.
7454 Otherwise, the value must be a list of regular expressions. A
7455 scalable font may then be used if it matches a regular expression from
7458 (setq scalable-fonts-allowed '("muleindian-2$"))
7460 allows the use of scalable fonts with registry `muleindian-2'.
7462 *** Functions and variables related to font selection.
7464 - Function: x-family-fonts &optional FAMILY FRAME
7466 Return a list of available fonts of family FAMILY on FRAME. If FAMILY
7467 is omitted or nil, list all families. Otherwise, FAMILY must be a
7468 string, possibly containing wildcards `?' and `*'.
7470 If FRAME is omitted or nil, use the selected frame. Each element of
7471 the result is a vector [FAMILY WIDTH POINT-SIZE WEIGHT SLANT FIXED-P
7472 FULL REGISTRY-AND-ENCODING]. FAMILY is the font family name.
7473 POINT-SIZE is the size of the font in 1/10 pt. WIDTH, WEIGHT, and
7474 SLANT are symbols describing the width, weight and slant of the font.
7475 These symbols are the same as for face attributes. FIXED-P is non-nil
7476 if the font is fixed-pitch. FULL is the full name of the font, and
7477 REGISTRY-AND-ENCODING is a string giving the registry and encoding of
7478 the font. The result list is sorted according to the current setting
7479 of the face font sort order.
7481 - Function: x-font-family-list
7483 Return a list of available font families on FRAME. If FRAME is
7484 omitted or nil, use the selected frame. Value is a list of conses
7485 (FAMILY . FIXED-P) where FAMILY is a font family, and FIXED-P is
7486 non-nil if fonts of that family are fixed-pitch.
7488 - Variable: font-list-limit
7490 Limit for font matching. If an integer > 0, font matching functions
7491 won't load more than that number of fonts when searching for a
7492 matching font. The default is currently 100.
7494 *** Setting face attributes.
7496 For the most part, the new face implementation is interface-compatible
7497 with the old one. Old face attribute related functions are now
7498 implemented in terms of the new functions `set-face-attribute' and
7501 Face attributes are identified by their names which are keyword
7502 symbols. All attributes can be set to `unspecified'.
7504 The following attributes are recognized:
7508 VALUE must be a string specifying the font family, e.g. ``courier'',
7509 or a fontset alias name. If a font family is specified, wild-cards `*'
7510 and `?' are allowed.
7514 VALUE specifies the relative proportionate width of the font to use.
7515 It must be one of the symbols `ultra-condensed', `extra-condensed',
7516 `condensed', `semi-condensed', `normal', `semi-expanded', `expanded',
7517 `extra-expanded', or `ultra-expanded'.
7521 VALUE must be either an integer specifying the height of the font to use
7522 in 1/10 pt, a floating point number specifying the amount by which to
7523 scale any underlying face, or a function, which is called with the old
7524 height (from the underlying face), and should return the new height.
7528 VALUE specifies the weight of the font to use. It must be one of the
7529 symbols `ultra-bold', `extra-bold', `bold', `semi-bold', `normal',
7530 `semi-light', `light', `extra-light', `ultra-light'.
7534 VALUE specifies the slant of the font to use. It must be one of the
7535 symbols `italic', `oblique', `normal', `reverse-italic', or
7538 `:foreground', `:background'
7540 VALUE must be a color name, a string.
7544 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be underlined. If
7545 VALUE is t, underline with foreground color of the face. If VALUE is
7546 a string, underline with that color. If VALUE is nil, explicitly
7551 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be overlined. If
7552 VALUE is t, overline with foreground color of the face. If VALUE is a
7553 string, overline with that color. If VALUE is nil, explicitly don't
7558 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be drawn with a line
7559 striking through them. If VALUE is t, use the foreground color of the
7560 face. If VALUE is a string, strike-through with that color. If VALUE
7561 is nil, explicitly don't strike through.
7565 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should have a box drawn
7566 around them. If VALUE is nil, explicitly don't draw boxes. If
7567 VALUE is t, draw a box with lines of width 1 in the foreground color
7568 of the face. If VALUE is a string, the string must be a color name,
7569 and the box is drawn in that color with a line width of 1. Otherwise,
7570 VALUE must be a property list of the form `(:line-width WIDTH
7571 :color COLOR :style STYLE)'. If a keyword/value pair is missing from
7572 the property list, a default value will be used for the value, as
7573 specified below. WIDTH specifies the width of the lines to draw; it
7574 defaults to 1. COLOR is the name of the color to draw in, default is
7575 the foreground color of the face for simple boxes, and the background
7576 color of the face for 3D boxes. STYLE specifies whether a 3D box
7577 should be draw. If STYLE is `released-button', draw a box looking
7578 like a released 3D button. If STYLE is `pressed-button' draw a box
7579 that appears like a pressed button. If STYLE is nil, the default if
7580 the property list doesn't contain a style specification, draw a 2D
7585 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be displayed in
7586 inverse video. VALUE must be one of t or nil.
7590 If VALUE is a string, it must be the name of a file of pixmap data.
7591 The directories listed in the `x-bitmap-file-path' variable are
7592 searched. Alternatively, VALUE may be a list of the form (WIDTH
7593 HEIGHT DATA) where WIDTH and HEIGHT are the size in pixels, and DATA
7594 is a string containing the raw bits of the bitmap. VALUE nil means
7595 explicitly don't use a stipple pattern.
7597 For convenience, attributes `:family', `:width', `:height', `:weight',
7598 and `:slant' may also be set in one step from an X font name:
7602 Set font-related face attributes from VALUE. VALUE must be a valid
7603 XLFD font name. If it is a font name pattern, the first matching font
7604 is used--this is for compatibility with the behavior of previous
7607 For compatibility with Emacs 20, keywords `:bold' and `:italic' can
7608 be used to specify that a bold or italic font should be used. VALUE
7609 must be t or nil in that case. A value of `unspecified' is not allowed."
7611 Please see also the documentation of `set-face-attribute' and
7616 VALUE is the name of a face from which to inherit attributes, or a list
7617 of face names. Attributes from inherited faces are merged into the face
7618 like an underlying face would be, with higher priority than underlying faces.
7620 *** Face attributes and X resources
7622 The following X resource names can be used to set face attributes
7625 Face attribute X resource class
7626 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
7627 :family attributeFamily . Face.AttributeFamily
7628 :width attributeWidth Face.AttributeWidth
7629 :height attributeHeight Face.AttributeHeight
7630 :weight attributeWeight Face.AttributeWeight
7631 :slant attributeSlant Face.AttributeSlant
7632 foreground attributeForeground Face.AttributeForeground
7633 :background attributeBackground . Face.AttributeBackground
7634 :overline attributeOverline Face.AttributeOverline
7635 :strike-through attributeStrikeThrough Face.AttributeStrikeThrough
7636 :box attributeBox Face.AttributeBox
7637 :underline attributeUnderline Face.AttributeUnderline
7638 :inverse-video attributeInverse Face.AttributeInverse
7639 :stipple attributeStipple Face.AttributeStipple
7640 or attributeBackgroundPixmap
7641 Face.AttributeBackgroundPixmap
7642 :font attributeFont Face.AttributeFont
7643 :bold attributeBold Face.AttributeBold
7644 :italic attributeItalic . Face.AttributeItalic
7645 :font attributeFont Face.AttributeFont
7647 *** Text property `face'.
7649 The value of the `face' text property can now be a single face
7650 specification or a list of such specifications. Each face
7651 specification can be
7653 1. A symbol or string naming a Lisp face.
7655 2. A property list of the form (KEYWORD VALUE ...) where each
7656 KEYWORD is a face attribute name, and VALUE is an appropriate value
7657 for that attribute. Please see the doc string of `set-face-attribute'
7658 for face attribute names.
7660 3. Conses of the form (FOREGROUND-COLOR . COLOR) or
7661 (BACKGROUND-COLOR . COLOR) where COLOR is a color name. This is
7662 for compatibility with previous Emacs versions.
7664 ** Support functions for colors on text-only terminals.
7666 The function `tty-color-define' can be used to define colors for use
7667 on TTY and MSDOS frames. It maps a color name to a color number on
7668 the terminal. Emacs defines a couple of common color mappings by
7669 default. You can get defined colors with a call to
7670 `defined-colors'. The function `tty-color-clear' can be
7671 used to clear the mapping table.
7673 ** Unified support for colors independent of frame type.
7675 The new functions `defined-colors', `color-defined-p', `color-values',
7676 and `display-color-p' work for any type of frame. On frames whose
7677 type is neither x nor w32, these functions transparently map X-style
7678 color specifications to the closest colors supported by the frame
7679 display. Lisp programs should use these new functions instead of the
7680 old `x-defined-colors', `x-color-defined-p', `x-color-values', and
7681 `x-display-color-p'. (The old function names are still available for
7682 compatibility; they are now aliases of the new names.) Lisp programs
7683 should no more look at the value of the variable window-system to
7684 modify their color-related behavior.
7686 The primitives `color-gray-p' and `color-supported-p' also work for
7689 ** Platform-independent functions to describe display capabilities.
7691 The new functions `display-mouse-p', `display-popup-menus-p',
7692 `display-graphic-p', `display-selections-p', `display-screens',
7693 `display-pixel-width', `display-pixel-height', `display-mm-width',
7694 `display-mm-height', `display-backing-store', `display-save-under',
7695 `display-planes', `display-color-cells', `display-visual-class', and
7696 `display-grayscale-p' describe the basic capabilities of a particular
7697 display. Lisp programs should call these functions instead of testing
7698 the value of the variables `window-system' or `system-type', or calling
7699 platform-specific functions such as `x-display-pixel-width'.
7701 The new function `display-images-p' returns non-nil if a particular
7702 display can display image files.
7704 ** The minibuffer prompt is now actually inserted in the minibuffer.
7706 This makes it possible to scroll through the prompt, if you want to.
7707 To disallow this completely (like previous versions of emacs), customize
7708 the variable `minibuffer-prompt-properties', and turn on the
7709 `Inviolable' option.
7711 The function `minibuffer-prompt-end' returns the current position of the
7712 end of the minibuffer prompt, if the minibuffer is current.
7713 Otherwise, it returns `(point-min)'.
7715 ** New `field' abstraction in buffers.
7717 There is now code to support an abstraction called `fields' in emacs
7718 buffers. A field is a contiguous region of text with the same `field'
7719 property (which can be a text property or an overlay).
7721 Many emacs functions, such as forward-word, forward-sentence,
7722 forward-paragraph, beginning-of-line, etc., stop moving when they come
7723 to the boundary between fields; beginning-of-line and end-of-line will
7724 not let the point move past the field boundary, but other movement
7725 commands continue into the next field if repeated. Stopping at field
7726 boundaries can be suppressed programmatically by binding
7727 `inhibit-field-text-motion' to a non-nil value around calls to these
7730 Now that the minibuffer prompt is inserted into the minibuffer, it is in
7731 a separate field from the user-input part of the buffer, so that common
7732 editing commands treat the user's text separately from the prompt.
7734 The following functions are defined for operating on fields:
7736 - Function: constrain-to-field NEW-POS OLD-POS &optional ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE ONLY-IN-LINE INHIBIT-CAPTURE-PROPERTY
7738 Return the position closest to NEW-POS that is in the same field as OLD-POS.
7740 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
7741 If NEW-POS is nil, then the current point is used instead, and set to the
7742 constrained position if that is different.
7744 If OLD-POS is at the boundary of two fields, then the allowable
7745 positions for NEW-POS depends on the value of the optional argument
7746 ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE: If ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE is nil, then NEW-POS is
7747 constrained to the field that has the same `field' char-property
7748 as any new characters inserted at OLD-POS, whereas if ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE
7749 is non-nil, NEW-POS is constrained to the union of the two adjacent
7750 fields. Additionally, if two fields are separated by another field with
7751 the special value `boundary', then any point within this special field is
7752 also considered to be `on the boundary'.
7754 If the optional argument ONLY-IN-LINE is non-nil and constraining
7755 NEW-POS would move it to a different line, NEW-POS is returned
7756 unconstrained. This useful for commands that move by line, like
7757 C-n or C-a, which should generally respect field boundaries
7758 only in the case where they can still move to the right line.
7760 If the optional argument INHIBIT-CAPTURE-PROPERTY is non-nil, and OLD-POS has
7761 a non-nil property of that name, then any field boundaries are ignored.
7763 Field boundaries are not noticed if `inhibit-field-text-motion' is non-nil.
7765 - Function: delete-field &optional POS
7767 Delete the field surrounding POS.
7768 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
7769 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
7771 - Function: field-beginning &optional POS ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE
7773 Return the beginning of the field surrounding POS.
7774 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
7775 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
7776 If ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE is non-nil and POS is at the beginning of its
7777 field, then the beginning of the *previous* field is returned.
7779 - Function: field-end &optional POS ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE
7781 Return the end of the field surrounding POS.
7782 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
7783 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
7784 If ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE is non-nil and POS is at the end of its field,
7785 then the end of the *following* field is returned.
7787 - Function: field-string &optional POS
7789 Return the contents of the field surrounding POS as a string.
7790 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
7791 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
7793 - Function: field-string-no-properties &optional POS
7795 Return the contents of the field around POS, without text-properties.
7796 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
7797 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
7801 Emacs can now display images. Images are inserted into text by giving
7802 strings or buffer text a `display' text property containing one of
7803 (AREA IMAGE) or IMAGE. The display of the `display' property value
7804 replaces the display of the characters having that property.
7806 If the property value has the form (AREA IMAGE), AREA must be one of
7807 `(margin left-margin)', `(margin right-margin)' or `(margin nil)'. If
7808 AREA is `(margin nil)', IMAGE will be displayed in the text area of a
7809 window, otherwise it will be displayed in the left or right marginal
7812 IMAGE is an image specification.
7814 *** Image specifications
7816 Image specifications are lists of the form `(image PROPS)' where PROPS
7817 is a property list whose keys are keyword symbols. Each
7818 specifications must contain a property `:type TYPE' with TYPE being a
7819 symbol specifying the image type, e.g. `xbm'. Properties not
7820 described below are ignored.
7822 The following is a list of properties all image types share.
7826 ASCENT must be a number in the range 0..100, or the symbol `center'.
7827 If it is a number, it specifies the percentage of the image's height
7828 to use for its ascent.
7830 If not specified, ASCENT defaults to the value 50 which means that the
7831 image will be centered with the base line of the row it appears in.
7833 If ASCENT is `center' the image is vertically centered around a
7834 centerline which is the vertical center of text drawn at the position
7835 of the image, in the manner specified by the text properties and
7836 overlays that apply to the image.
7840 MARGIN must be either a number >= 0 specifying how many pixels to put
7841 as margin around the image, or a pair (X . Y) with X specifying the
7842 horizontal margin and Y specifying the vertical margin. Default is 0.
7846 RELIEF is analogous to the `:relief' attribute of faces. Puts a relief
7851 Apply an image algorithm to the image before displaying it.
7853 ALGO `laplace' or `emboss' means apply a Laplace or ``emboss''
7854 edge-detection algorithm to the image.
7856 ALGO `(edge-detection :matrix MATRIX :color-adjust ADJUST)' means
7857 apply a general edge-detection algorithm. MATRIX must be either a
7858 nine-element list or a nine-element vector of numbers. A pixel at
7859 position x/y in the transformed image is computed from original pixels
7860 around that position. MATRIX specifies, for each pixel in the
7861 neighborhood of x/y, a factor with which that pixel will influence the
7862 transformed pixel; element 0 specifies the factor for the pixel at
7863 x-1/y-1, element 1 the factor for the pixel at x/y-1 etc. as shown
7866 (x-1/y-1 x/y-1 x+1/y-1
7868 x-1/y+1 x/y+1 x+1/y+1)
7870 The resulting pixel is computed from the color intensity of the color
7871 resulting from summing up the RGB values of surrounding pixels,
7872 multiplied by the specified factors, and dividing that sum by the sum
7873 of the factors' absolute values.
7875 Laplace edge-detection currently uses a matrix of
7881 Emboss edge-detection uses a matrix of
7887 ALGO `disabled' means transform the image so that it looks
7892 If MASK is `heuristic' or `(heuristic BG)', build a clipping mask for
7893 the image, so that the background of a frame is visible behind the
7894 image. If BG is not specified, or if BG is t, determine the
7895 background color of the image by looking at the 4 corners of the
7896 image, assuming the most frequently occurring color from the corners is
7897 the background color of the image. Otherwise, BG must be a list `(RED
7898 GREEN BLUE)' specifying the color to assume for the background of the
7901 If MASK is nil, remove a mask from the image, if it has one. Images
7902 in some formats include a mask which can be removed by specifying
7907 Load image from FILE. If FILE is not absolute after expanding it,
7908 search for the image in `data-directory'. Some image types support
7909 building images from data. When this is done, no `:file' property
7910 may be present in the image specification.
7914 Get image data from DATA. (As of this writing, this is not yet
7915 supported for image type `postscript'). Either :file or :data may be
7916 present in an image specification, but not both. All image types
7917 support strings as DATA, some types allow additional types of DATA.
7919 *** Supported image types
7921 **** XBM, image type `xbm'.
7923 XBM images don't require an external library. Additional image
7924 properties supported are:
7928 FG must be a string specifying the image foreground color, or nil
7929 meaning to use the default. Default is the frame's foreground color.
7933 BG must be a string specifying the image background color, or nil
7934 meaning to use the default. Default is the frame's background color.
7936 XBM images can be constructed from data instead of file. In this
7937 case, the image specification must contain the following properties
7938 instead of a `:file' property.
7942 WIDTH specifies the width of the image in pixels.
7946 HEIGHT specifies the height of the image in pixels.
7952 1. a string large enough to hold the bitmap data, i.e. it must
7953 have a size >= (WIDTH + 7) / 8 * HEIGHT
7955 2. a bool-vector of size >= WIDTH * HEIGHT
7957 3. a vector of strings or bool-vectors, one for each line of the
7960 4. a string that's an in-memory XBM file. Neither width nor
7961 height may be specified in this case because these are defined
7964 **** XPM, image type `xpm'
7966 XPM images require the external library `libXpm', package
7967 `xpm-3.4k.tar.gz', version 3.4k or later. Make sure the library is
7968 found when Emacs is configured by supplying appropriate paths via
7969 `--x-includes' and `--x-libraries'.
7971 Additional image properties supported are:
7973 `:color-symbols SYMBOLS'
7975 SYMBOLS must be a list of pairs (NAME . COLOR), with NAME being the
7976 name of color as it appears in an XPM file, and COLOR being an X color
7979 XPM images can be built from memory instead of files. In that case,
7980 add a `:data' property instead of a `:file' property.
7982 The XPM library uses libz in its implementation so that it is able
7983 to display compressed images.
7985 **** PBM, image type `pbm'
7987 PBM images don't require an external library. Color, gray-scale and
7988 mono images are supported. Additional image properties supported for
7993 FG must be a string specifying the image foreground color, or nil
7994 meaning to use the default. Default is the frame's foreground color.
7998 BG must be a string specifying the image background color, or nil
7999 meaning to use the default. Default is the frame's background color.
8001 **** JPEG, image type `jpeg'
8003 Support for JPEG images requires the external library `libjpeg',
8004 package `jpegsrc.v6a.tar.gz', or later. There are no additional image
8007 **** TIFF, image type `tiff'
8009 Support for TIFF images requires the external library `libtiff',
8010 package `tiff-v3.4-tar.gz', or later. There are no additional image
8013 **** GIF, image type `gif'
8015 Support for GIF images requires the external library `libungif', package
8016 `libungif-4.1.0', or later.
8018 Additional image properties supported are:
8022 INDEX must be an integer >= 0. Load image number INDEX from a
8023 multi-image GIF file. If INDEX is too large, the image displays
8026 This could be used to implement limited support for animated GIFs.
8027 For example, the following function displays a multi-image GIF file
8028 at point-min in the current buffer, switching between sub-images
8031 (defun show-anim (file max)
8032 "Display multi-image GIF file FILE which contains MAX subimages."
8033 (display-anim (current-buffer) file 0 max t))
8035 (defun display-anim (buffer file idx max first-time)
8038 (let ((img (create-image file nil nil :index idx)))
8041 (goto-char (point-min))
8042 (unless first-time (delete-char 1))
8043 (insert-image img "x"))
8044 (run-with-timer 0.1 nil 'display-anim buffer file (1+ idx) max nil)))
8046 **** PNG, image type `png'
8048 Support for PNG images requires the external library `libpng',
8049 package `libpng-1.0.2.tar.gz', or later. There are no additional image
8052 **** Ghostscript, image type `postscript'.
8054 Additional image properties supported are:
8058 WIDTH is width of the image in pt (1/72 inch). WIDTH must be an
8059 integer. This is a required property.
8063 HEIGHT specifies the height of the image in pt (1/72 inch). HEIGHT
8064 must be a integer. This is an required property.
8068 BOX must be a list or vector of 4 integers giving the bounding box of
8069 the PS image, analogous to the `BoundingBox' comment found in PS
8070 files. This is an required property.
8072 Part of the Ghostscript interface is implemented in Lisp. See
8077 The variable `image-types' contains a list of those image types
8078 which are supported in the current configuration.
8080 Images are stored in an image cache and removed from the cache when
8081 they haven't been displayed for `image-cache-eviction-delay seconds.
8082 The function `clear-image-cache' can be used to clear the image cache
8083 manually. Images in the cache are compared with `equal', i.e. all
8084 images with `equal' specifications share the same image.
8086 *** Simplified image API, image.el
8088 The new Lisp package image.el contains functions that simplify image
8089 creation and putting images into text. The function `create-image'
8090 can be used to create images. The macro `defimage' can be used to
8091 define an image based on available image types. The functions
8092 `put-image' and `insert-image' can be used to insert an image into a
8097 Windows can now have margins which are used for special text
8100 To give a window margins, either set the buffer-local variables
8101 `left-margin-width' and `right-margin-width', or call
8102 `set-window-margins'. The function `window-margins' can be used to
8103 obtain the current settings. To make `left-margin-width' and
8104 `right-margin-width' take effect, you must set them before displaying
8105 the buffer in a window, or use `set-window-buffer' to force an update
8106 of the display margins.
8108 You can put text in margins by giving it a `display' text property
8109 containing a pair of the form `(LOCATION . VALUE)', where LOCATION is
8110 one of `left-margin' or `right-margin' or nil. VALUE can be either a
8111 string, an image specification or a stretch specification (see later
8116 Emacs displays short help messages in the echo area, when the mouse
8117 moves over a tool-bar item or a piece of text that has a text property
8118 `help-echo'. This feature also applies to strings in the mode line
8119 that have a `help-echo' property.
8121 If the value of the `help-echo' property is a function, that function
8122 is called with three arguments WINDOW, OBJECT and POSITION. WINDOW is
8123 the window in which the help was found.
8125 If OBJECT is a buffer, POS is the position in the buffer where the
8126 `help-echo' text property was found.
8128 If OBJECT is an overlay, that overlay has a `help-echo' property, and
8129 POS is the position in the overlay's buffer under the mouse.
8131 If OBJECT is a string (an overlay string or a string displayed with
8132 the `display' property), POS is the position in that string under the
8135 If the value of the `help-echo' property is neither a function nor a
8136 string, it is evaluated to obtain a help string.
8138 For tool-bar and menu-bar items, their key definition is used to
8139 determine the help to display. If their definition contains a
8140 property `:help FORM', FORM is evaluated to determine the help string.
8141 For tool-bar items without a help form, the caption of the item is
8142 used as help string.
8144 The hook `show-help-function' can be set to a function that displays
8145 the help string differently. For example, enabling a tooltip window
8146 causes the help display to appear there instead of in the echo area.
8148 ** Vertical fractional scrolling.
8150 The display of text in windows can be scrolled smoothly in pixels.
8151 This is useful, for example, for making parts of large images visible.
8153 The function `window-vscroll' returns the current value of vertical
8154 scrolling, a non-negative fraction of the canonical character height.
8155 The function `set-window-vscroll' can be used to set the vertical
8156 scrolling value. Here is an example of how these function might be
8159 (global-set-key [A-down]
8162 (set-window-vscroll (selected-window)
8163 (+ 0.5 (window-vscroll)))))
8164 (global-set-key [A-up]
8167 (set-window-vscroll (selected-window)
8168 (- (window-vscroll) 0.5)))))
8170 ** New hook `fontification-functions'.
8172 Functions from `fontification-functions' are called from redisplay
8173 when it encounters a region of text that is not yet fontified. This
8174 variable automatically becomes buffer-local when set. Each function
8175 is called with one argument, POS.
8177 At least one of the hook functions should fontify one or more
8178 characters starting at POS in the current buffer. It should mark them
8179 as fontified by giving them a non-nil value of the `fontified' text
8180 property. It may be reasonable for these functions to check for the
8181 `fontified' property and not put it back on, but they do not have to.
8183 ** Tool bar support.
8185 Emacs supports a tool bar at the top of a frame under X. The frame
8186 parameter `tool-bar-lines' (X resource "toolBar", class "ToolBar")
8187 controls how may lines to reserve for the tool bar. A zero value
8188 suppresses the tool bar. If the value is non-zero and
8189 `auto-resize-tool-bars' is non-nil the tool bar's size will be changed
8190 automatically so that all tool bar items are visible.
8192 *** Tool bar item definitions
8194 Tool bar items are defined using `define-key' with a prefix-key
8195 `tool-bar'. For example `(define-key global-map [tool-bar item1] ITEM)'
8196 where ITEM is a list `(menu-item CAPTION BINDING PROPS...)'.
8198 CAPTION is the caption of the item, If it's not a string, it is
8199 evaluated to get a string. The caption is currently not displayed in
8200 the tool bar, but it is displayed if the item doesn't have a `:help'
8201 property (see below).
8203 BINDING is the tool bar item's binding. Tool bar items with keymaps as
8204 binding are currently ignored.
8206 The following properties are recognized:
8210 FORM is evaluated and specifies whether the tool bar item is enabled
8215 FORM is evaluated and specifies whether the tool bar item is displayed.
8219 FUNCTION is called with one parameter, the same list BINDING in which
8220 FUNCTION is specified as the filter. The value FUNCTION returns is
8221 used instead of BINDING to display this item.
8223 `:button (TYPE SELECTED)'
8225 TYPE must be one of `:radio' or `:toggle'. SELECTED is evaluated
8226 and specifies whether the button is selected (pressed) or not.
8230 IMAGES is either a single image specification or a vector of four
8231 image specifications. If it is a vector, this table lists the
8232 meaning of each of the four elements:
8234 Index Use when item is
8235 ----------------------------------------
8236 0 enabled and selected
8237 1 enabled and deselected
8238 2 disabled and selected
8239 3 disabled and deselected
8241 If IMAGE is a single image specification, a Laplace edge-detection
8242 algorithm is used on that image to draw the image in disabled state.
8244 `:help HELP-STRING'.
8246 Gives a help string to display for the tool bar item. This help
8247 is displayed when the mouse is moved over the item.
8249 The function `toolbar-add-item' is a convenience function for adding
8250 toolbar items generally, and `tool-bar-add-item-from-menu' can be used
8251 to define a toolbar item with a binding copied from an item on the
8254 The default bindings use a menu-item :filter to derive the tool-bar
8255 dynamically from variable `tool-bar-map' which may be set
8256 buffer-locally to override the global map.
8258 *** Tool-bar-related variables.
8260 If `auto-resize-tool-bar' is non-nil, the tool bar will automatically
8261 resize to show all defined tool bar items. It will never grow larger
8262 than 1/4 of the frame's size.
8264 If `auto-raise-tool-bar-buttons' is non-nil, tool bar buttons will be
8265 raised when the mouse moves over them.
8267 You can add extra space between tool bar items by setting
8268 `tool-bar-button-margin' to a positive integer specifying a number of
8269 pixels, or a pair of integers (X . Y) specifying horizontal and
8270 vertical margins . Default is 1.
8272 You can change the shadow thickness of tool bar buttons by setting
8273 `tool-bar-button-relief' to an integer. Default is 3.
8275 *** Tool-bar clicks with modifiers.
8277 You can bind commands to clicks with control, shift, meta etc. on
8280 (define-key global-map [tool-bar shell]
8281 '(menu-item "Shell" shell
8282 :image (image :type xpm :file "shell.xpm")))
8284 is the original tool bar item definition, then
8286 (define-key global-map [tool-bar S-shell] 'some-command)
8288 makes a binding to run `some-command' for a shifted click on the same
8291 ** Mode line changes.
8293 *** Mouse-sensitive mode line.
8295 The mode line can be made mouse-sensitive by displaying strings there
8296 that have a `local-map' text property. There are three ways to display
8297 a string with a `local-map' property in the mode line.
8299 1. The mode line spec contains a variable whose string value has
8300 a `local-map' text property.
8302 2. The mode line spec contains a format specifier (e.g. `%12b'), and
8303 that format specifier has a `local-map' property.
8305 3. The mode line spec contains a list containing `:eval FORM'. FORM
8306 is evaluated. If the result is a string, and that string has a
8307 `local-map' property.
8309 The same mechanism is used to determine the `face' and `help-echo'
8310 properties of strings in the mode line. See `bindings.el' for an
8313 *** If a mode line element has the form `(:eval FORM)', FORM is
8314 evaluated and the result is used as mode line element.
8316 *** You can suppress mode-line display by setting the buffer-local
8317 variable mode-line-format to nil.
8319 *** A headerline can now be displayed at the top of a window.
8321 This mode line's contents are controlled by the new variable
8322 `header-line-format' and `default-header-line-format' which are
8323 completely analogous to `mode-line-format' and
8324 `default-mode-line-format'. A value of nil means don't display a top
8327 The appearance of top mode lines is controlled by the face
8330 The function `coordinates-in-window-p' returns `header-line' for a
8331 position in the header-line.
8333 ** Text property `display'
8335 The `display' text property is used to insert images into text,
8336 replace text with other text, display text in marginal area, and it is
8337 also used to control other aspects of how text displays. The value of
8338 the `display' property should be a display specification, as described
8339 below, or a list or vector containing display specifications.
8341 *** Replacing text, displaying text in marginal areas
8343 To replace the text having the `display' property with some other
8344 text, use a display specification of the form `(LOCATION STRING)'.
8346 If LOCATION is `(margin left-margin)', STRING is displayed in the left
8347 marginal area, if it is `(margin right-margin)', it is displayed in
8348 the right marginal area, and if LOCATION is `(margin nil)' STRING
8349 is displayed in the text. In the latter case you can also use the
8350 simpler form STRING as property value.
8352 *** Variable width and height spaces
8354 To display a space of fractional width or height, use a display
8355 specification of the form `(LOCATION STRECH)'. If LOCATION is
8356 `(margin left-margin)', the space is displayed in the left marginal
8357 area, if it is `(margin right-margin)', it is displayed in the right
8358 marginal area, and if LOCATION is `(margin nil)' the space is
8359 displayed in the text. In the latter case you can also use the
8360 simpler form STRETCH as property value.
8362 The stretch specification STRETCH itself is a list of the form `(space
8363 PROPS)', where PROPS is a property list which can contain the
8364 properties described below.
8366 The display of the fractional space replaces the display of the
8367 characters having the `display' property.
8371 Specifies that the space width should be WIDTH times the normal
8372 character width. WIDTH can be an integer or floating point number.
8374 - :relative-width FACTOR
8376 Specifies that the width of the stretch should be computed from the
8377 first character in a group of consecutive characters that have the
8378 same `display' property. The computation is done by multiplying the
8379 width of that character by FACTOR.
8383 Specifies that the space should be wide enough to reach HPOS. The
8384 value HPOS is measured in units of the normal character width.
8386 Exactly one of the above properties should be used.
8390 Specifies the height of the space, as HEIGHT, measured in terms of the
8393 - :relative-height FACTOR
8395 The height of the space is computed as the product of the height
8396 of the text having the `display' property and FACTOR.
8400 Specifies that ASCENT percent of the height of the stretch should be
8401 used for the ascent of the stretch, i.e. for the part above the
8402 baseline. The value of ASCENT must be a non-negative number less or
8405 You should not use both `:height' and `:relative-height' together.
8409 A display specification for an image has the form `(LOCATION
8410 . IMAGE)', where IMAGE is an image specification. The image replaces,
8411 in the display, the characters having this display specification in
8412 their `display' text property. If LOCATION is `(margin left-margin)',
8413 the image will be displayed in the left marginal area, if it is
8414 `(margin right-margin)' it will be displayed in the right marginal
8415 area, and if LOCATION is `(margin nil)' the image will be displayed in
8416 the text. In the latter case you can also use the simpler form IMAGE
8417 as display specification.
8419 *** Other display properties
8421 - (space-width FACTOR)
8423 Specifies that space characters in the text having that property
8424 should be displayed FACTOR times as wide as normal; FACTOR must be an
8429 Display text having this property in a font that is smaller or larger.
8431 If HEIGHT is a list of the form `(+ N)', where N is an integer, that
8432 means to use a font that is N steps larger. If HEIGHT is a list of
8433 the form `(- N)', that means to use a font that is N steps smaller. A
8434 ``step'' is defined by the set of available fonts; each size for which
8435 a font is available counts as a step.
8437 If HEIGHT is a number, that means to use a font that is HEIGHT times
8438 as tall as the frame's default font.
8440 If HEIGHT is a symbol, it is called as a function with the current
8441 height as argument. The function should return the new height to use.
8443 Otherwise, HEIGHT is evaluated to get the new height, with the symbol
8444 `height' bound to the current specified font height.
8448 FACTOR must be a number, specifying a multiple of the current
8449 font's height. If it is positive, that means to display the characters
8450 raised. If it is negative, that means to display them lower down. The
8451 amount of raising or lowering is computed without taking account of the
8452 `height' subproperty.
8454 *** Conditional display properties
8456 All display specifications can be conditionalized. If a specification
8457 has the form `(when CONDITION . SPEC)', the specification SPEC applies
8458 only when CONDITION yields a non-nil value when evaluated. During the
8459 evaluation, `object' is bound to the string or buffer having the
8460 conditional display property; `position' and `buffer-position' are
8461 bound to the position within `object' and the buffer position where
8462 the display property was found, respectively. Both positions can be
8463 different when object is a string.
8465 The normal specification consisting of SPEC only is equivalent to
8468 ** New menu separator types.
8470 Emacs now supports more than one menu separator type. Menu items with
8471 item names consisting of dashes only (including zero dashes) are
8472 treated like before. In addition, the following item names are used
8473 to specify other menu separator types.
8475 - `--no-line' or `--space', or `--:space', or `--:noLine'
8477 No separator lines are drawn, but a small space is inserted where the
8480 - `--single-line' or `--:singleLine'
8482 A single line in the menu's foreground color.
8484 - `--double-line' or `--:doubleLine'
8486 A double line in the menu's foreground color.
8488 - `--single-dashed-line' or `--:singleDashedLine'
8490 A single dashed line in the menu's foreground color.
8492 - `--double-dashed-line' or `--:doubleDashedLine'
8494 A double dashed line in the menu's foreground color.
8496 - `--shadow-etched-in' or `--:shadowEtchedIn'
8498 A single line with 3D sunken appearance. This is the form
8499 displayed for item names consisting of dashes only.
8501 - `--shadow-etched-out' or `--:shadowEtchedOut'
8503 A single line with 3D raised appearance.
8505 - `--shadow-etched-in-dash' or `--:shadowEtchedInDash'
8507 A single dashed line with 3D sunken appearance.
8509 - `--shadow-etched-out-dash' or `--:shadowEtchedOutDash'
8511 A single dashed line with 3D raise appearance.
8513 - `--shadow-double-etched-in' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedIn'
8515 Two lines with 3D sunken appearance.
8517 - `--shadow-double-etched-out' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedOut'
8519 Two lines with 3D raised appearance.
8521 - `--shadow-double-etched-in-dash' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedInDash'
8523 Two dashed lines with 3D sunken appearance.
8525 - `--shadow-double-etched-out-dash' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedOutDash'
8527 Two dashed lines with 3D raised appearance.
8529 Under LessTif/Motif, the last four separator types are displayed like
8530 the corresponding single-line separators.
8532 ** New frame parameters for scroll bar colors.
8534 The new frame parameters `scroll-bar-foreground' and
8535 `scroll-bar-background' can be used to change scroll bar colors.
8536 Their value must be either a color name, a string, or nil to specify
8537 that scroll bars should use a default color. For toolkit scroll bars,
8538 default colors are toolkit specific. For non-toolkit scroll bars, the
8539 default background is the background color of the frame, and the
8540 default foreground is black.
8542 The X resource name of these parameters are `scrollBarForeground'
8543 (class ScrollBarForeground) and `scrollBarBackground' (class
8544 `ScrollBarBackground').
8546 Setting these parameters overrides toolkit specific X resource
8547 settings for scroll bar colors.
8549 ** You can set `redisplay-dont-pause' to a non-nil value to prevent
8550 display updates from being interrupted when input is pending.
8552 ** Changing a window's width may now change its window start if it
8553 starts on a continuation line. The new window start is computed based
8554 on the window's new width, starting from the start of the continued
8555 line as the start of the screen line with the minimum distance from
8556 the original window start.
8558 ** The variable `hscroll-step' and the functions
8559 `hscroll-point-visible' and `hscroll-window-column' have been removed
8560 now that proper horizontal scrolling is implemented.
8562 ** Windows can now be made fixed-width and/or fixed-height.
8564 A window is fixed-size if its buffer has a buffer-local variable
8565 `window-size-fixed' whose value is not nil. A value of `height' makes
8566 windows fixed-height, a value of `width' makes them fixed-width, any
8567 other non-nil value makes them both fixed-width and fixed-height.
8569 The following code makes all windows displaying the current buffer
8570 fixed-width and fixed-height.
8572 (set (make-local-variable 'window-size-fixed) t)
8574 A call to enlarge-window on a window gives an error if that window is
8575 fixed-width and it is tried to change the window's width, or if the
8576 window is fixed-height, and it is tried to change its height. To
8577 change the size of a fixed-size window, bind `window-size-fixed'
8578 temporarily to nil, for example
8580 (let ((window-size-fixed nil))
8581 (enlarge-window 10))
8583 Likewise, an attempt to split a fixed-height window vertically,
8584 or a fixed-width window horizontally results in a error.
8586 ** The cursor-type frame parameter is now supported on MS-DOS
8587 terminals. When Emacs starts, it by default changes the cursor shape
8588 to a solid box, as it does on Unix. The `cursor-type' frame parameter
8589 overrides this as it does on Unix, except that the bar cursor is
8590 horizontal rather than vertical (since the MS-DOS display doesn't
8591 support a vertical-bar cursor).
8595 * Emacs 20.7 is a bug-fix release with few user-visible changes
8597 ** It is now possible to use CCL-based coding systems for keyboard
8600 ** ange-ftp now handles FTP security extensions, like Kerberos.
8602 ** Rmail has been extended to recognize more forms of digest messages.
8604 ** Now, most coding systems set in keyboard coding system work not
8605 only for character input, but also in incremental search. The
8606 exceptions are such coding systems that handle 2-byte character sets
8607 (e.g euc-kr, euc-jp) and that use ISO's escape sequence
8608 (e.g. iso-2022-jp). They are ignored in incremental search.
8610 ** Support for Macintosh PowerPC-based machines running GNU/Linux has
8614 * Emacs 20.6 is a bug-fix release with one user-visible change
8616 ** Support for ARM-based non-RISCiX machines has been added.
8620 * Emacs 20.5 is a bug-fix release with no user-visible changes.
8622 ** Not new, but not mentioned before:
8623 M-w when Transient Mark mode is enabled disables the mark.
8625 * Changes in Emacs 20.4
8627 ** Init file may be called .emacs.el.
8629 You can now call the Emacs init file `.emacs.el'.
8630 Formerly the name had to be `.emacs'. If you use the name
8631 `.emacs.el', you can byte-compile the file in the usual way.
8633 If both `.emacs' and `.emacs.el' exist, the latter file
8634 is the one that is used.
8636 ** shell-command, and shell-command-on-region, now return
8637 the exit code of the command (unless it is asynchronous).
8638 Also, you can specify a place to put the error output,
8639 separate from the command's regular output.
8640 Interactively, the variable shell-command-default-error-buffer
8641 says where to put error output; set it to a buffer name.
8642 In calls from Lisp, an optional argument ERROR-BUFFER specifies
8645 When you specify a non-nil error buffer (or buffer name), any error
8646 output is inserted before point in that buffer, with \f\n to separate
8647 it from the previous batch of error output. The error buffer is not
8648 cleared, so error output from successive commands accumulates there.
8650 ** Setting the default value of enable-multibyte-characters to nil in
8651 the .emacs file, either explicitly using setq-default, or via Custom,
8652 is now essentially equivalent to using --unibyte: all buffers
8653 created during startup will be made unibyte after loading .emacs.
8655 ** C-x C-f now handles the wildcards * and ? in file names. For
8656 example, typing C-x C-f c*.c RET visits all the files whose names
8657 match c*.c. To visit a file whose name contains * or ?, add the
8658 quoting sequence /: to the beginning of the file name.
8660 ** The M-x commands keep-lines, flush-lines and count-matches
8661 now have the same feature as occur and query-replace:
8662 if the pattern contains any upper case letters, then
8663 they never ignore case.
8665 ** The end-of-line format conversion feature previously mentioned
8666 under `* Emacs 20.1 changes for MS-DOS and MS-Windows' actually
8667 applies to all operating systems. Emacs recognizes from the contents
8668 of a file what convention it uses to separate lines--newline, CRLF, or
8669 just CR--and automatically converts the contents to the normal Emacs
8670 convention (using newline to separate lines) for editing. This is a
8671 part of the general feature of coding system conversion.
8673 If you subsequently save the buffer, Emacs converts the text back to
8674 the same format that was used in the file before.
8676 You can turn off end-of-line conversion by setting the variable
8677 `inhibit-eol-conversion' to non-nil, e.g. with Custom in the MULE group.
8679 ** The character set property `prefered-coding-system' has been
8680 renamed to `preferred-coding-system', for the sake of correct spelling.
8681 This is a fairly internal feature, so few programs should be affected.
8683 ** Mode-line display of end-of-line format is changed.
8684 The indication of the end-of-line format of the file visited by a
8685 buffer is now more explicit when that format is not the usual one for
8686 your operating system. For example, the DOS-style end-of-line format
8687 is displayed as "(DOS)" on Unix and GNU/Linux systems. The usual
8688 end-of-line format is still displayed as a single character (colon for
8689 Unix, backslash for DOS and Windows, and forward slash for the Mac).
8691 The values of the variables eol-mnemonic-unix, eol-mnemonic-dos,
8692 eol-mnemonic-mac, and eol-mnemonic-undecided, which are strings,
8693 control what is displayed in the mode line for each end-of-line
8694 format. You can now customize these variables.
8696 ** In the previous version of Emacs, tar-mode didn't work well if a
8697 filename contained non-ASCII characters. Now this is fixed. Such a
8698 filename is decoded by file-name-coding-system if the default value of
8699 enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil.
8701 ** The command temp-buffer-resize-mode toggles a minor mode
8702 in which temporary buffers (such as help buffers) are given
8703 windows just big enough to hold the whole contents.
8705 ** If you use completion.el, you must now run the function
8706 dynamic-completion-mode to enable it. Just loading the file
8707 doesn't have any effect.
8709 ** In Flyspell mode, the default is now to make just one Ispell process,
8712 ** If you use iswitchb but do not call (iswitchb-default-keybindings) to
8713 use the default keybindings, you will need to add the following line:
8714 (add-hook 'minibuffer-setup-hook 'iswitchb-minibuffer-setup)
8716 ** Auto-show mode is no longer enabled just by loading auto-show.el.
8717 To control it, set `auto-show-mode' via Custom or use the
8718 `auto-show-mode' command.
8720 ** Handling of X fonts' ascent/descent parameters has been changed to
8721 avoid redisplay problems. As a consequence, compared with previous
8722 versions the line spacing and frame size now differ with some font
8723 choices, typically increasing by a pixel per line. This change
8724 occurred in version 20.3 but was not documented then.
8726 ** If you select the bar cursor style, it uses the frame's
8727 cursor-color, rather than the cursor foreground pixel.
8729 ** In multibyte mode, Rmail decodes incoming MIME messages using the
8730 character set specified in the message. If you want to disable this
8731 feature, set the variable rmail-decode-mime-charset to nil.
8733 ** Not new, but not mentioned previously in NEWS: when you use #! at
8734 the beginning of a file to make it executable and specify an
8735 interpreter program, Emacs looks on the second line for the -*- mode
8736 and variable specification, as well as on the first line.
8738 ** Support for IBM codepage encoding of non-ASCII characters.
8740 The new command M-x codepage-setup creates a special coding system
8741 that can be used to convert text between a specific IBM codepage and
8742 one of the character sets built into Emacs which matches that
8743 codepage. For example, codepage 850 corresponds to Latin-1 character
8744 set, codepage 855 corresponds to Cyrillic-ISO character set, etc.
8746 Windows codepages 1250, 1251 and some others, where Windows deviates
8747 from the corresponding ISO character set, are also supported.
8749 IBM box-drawing characters and other glyphs which don't have
8750 equivalents in the corresponding ISO character set, are converted to
8751 a character defined by dos-unsupported-char-glyph on MS-DOS, and to
8752 `?' on other systems.
8754 IBM codepages are widely used on MS-DOS and MS-Windows, so this
8755 feature is most useful on those platforms, but it can also be used on
8758 Emacs compiled for MS-DOS automatically loads the support for the
8759 current codepage when it starts.
8763 *** When mail is sent using compose-mail (C-x m), and if
8764 `mail-send-nonascii' is set to the new default value `mime',
8765 appropriate MIME headers are added. The headers are added only if
8766 non-ASCII characters are present in the body of the mail, and no other
8767 MIME headers are already present. For example, the following three
8768 headers are added if the coding system used in the *mail* buffer is
8772 Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
8773 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
8775 *** The new variable default-sendmail-coding-system specifies the
8776 default way to encode outgoing mail. This has higher priority than
8777 default-buffer-file-coding-system but has lower priority than
8778 sendmail-coding-system and the local value of
8779 buffer-file-coding-system.
8781 You should not set this variable manually. Instead, set
8782 sendmail-coding-system to specify a fixed encoding for all outgoing
8785 *** When you try to send a message that contains non-ASCII characters,
8786 if the coding system specified by those variables doesn't handle them,
8787 Emacs will ask you to select a suitable coding system while showing a
8788 list of possible coding systems.
8792 *** c-default-style can now take an association list that maps major
8793 modes to style names. When this variable is an alist, Java mode no
8794 longer hardcodes a setting to "java" style. See the variable's
8795 docstring for details.
8797 *** It's now possible to put a list as the offset on a syntactic
8798 symbol. The list is evaluated recursively until a non-nil offset is
8799 found. This is useful to combine several lineup functions to act in a
8800 prioritized order on a single line. However, none of the supplied
8801 lineup functions use this feature currently.
8803 *** New syntactic symbol catch-clause, which is used on the "catch" and
8804 "finally" lines in try-catch constructs in C++ and Java.
8806 *** New cleanup brace-catch-brace on c-cleanup-list, which does for
8807 "catch" lines what brace-elseif-brace does for "else if" lines.
8809 *** The braces of Java anonymous inner classes are treated separately
8810 from the braces of other classes in auto-newline mode. Two new
8811 symbols inexpr-class-open and inexpr-class-close may be used on
8812 c-hanging-braces-alist to control the automatic newlines used for
8815 *** Support for the Pike language added, along with new Pike specific
8816 syntactic symbols: inlambda, lambda-intro-cont
8818 *** Support for Java anonymous classes via new syntactic symbol
8819 inexpr-class. New syntactic symbol inexpr-statement for Pike
8820 support and gcc-style statements inside expressions. New lineup
8821 function c-lineup-inexpr-block.
8823 *** New syntactic symbol brace-entry-open which is used in brace lists
8824 (i.e. static initializers) when a list entry starts with an open
8825 brace. These used to be recognized as brace-list-entry's.
8826 c-electric-brace also recognizes brace-entry-open braces
8827 (brace-list-entry's can no longer be electrified).
8829 *** New command c-indent-line-or-region, not bound by default.
8831 *** `#' is only electric when typed in the indentation of a line.
8833 *** Parentheses are now electric (via the new command c-electric-paren)
8834 for auto-reindenting lines when parens are typed.
8836 *** In "gnu" style, inline-open offset is now set to zero.
8838 *** Uniform handling of the inclass syntactic symbol. The indentation
8839 associated with it is now always relative to the class opening brace.
8840 This means that the indentation behavior has changed in some
8841 circumstances, but only if you've put anything besides 0 on the
8842 class-open syntactic symbol (none of the default styles do that).
8846 *** New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
8847 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See the
8848 Gnus manual for the full story.
8850 *** The nndraft backend has returned, but works differently than
8851 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the nndraft
8852 group, which is created automatically.
8854 *** `gnus-alter-header-function' can now be used to alter header
8857 *** `gnus-summary-goto-article' now accept Message-ID's.
8859 *** A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
8860 outside the region: `C-c C-v'.
8862 *** You can now post to component group in nnvirtual groups with
8865 *** `nntp-rlogin-program' -- new variable to ease customization.
8867 *** `C-u C-c C-c' in `gnus-article-edit-mode' will now inhibit
8868 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
8870 *** New element in `gnus-boring-article-headers' -- `long-to'.
8872 *** `M-i' symbolic prefix command. See the section "Symbolic
8873 Prefixes" in the Gnus manual for details.
8875 *** `L' and `I' in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
8876 `a' to add the score rule to the "all.SCORE" file.
8878 *** `gnus-simplify-subject-functions' variable to allow greater
8879 control over simplification.
8881 *** `A T' -- new command for fetching the current thread.
8883 *** `/ T' -- new command for including the current thread in the
8886 *** `M-RET' is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
8888 *** \\1-expressions are now valid in `nnmail-split-methods'.
8890 *** The `custom-face-lookup' function has been removed.
8891 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
8892 rewrite them to use `face-spec-set' instead.
8894 *** Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
8895 `a' forces normal posting method.
8897 *** New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper text
8900 *** For easier debugging of nntp, you can set `nntp-record-commands'
8903 *** nntp now uses ~/.authinfo, a .netrc-like file, for controlling
8904 where and how to send AUTHINFO to NNTP servers.
8906 *** A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
8909 *** A history of where mails have been split is available.
8911 *** A new article date command has been added -- `article-date-iso8601'.
8913 *** Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
8914 `gnus-score-thread-simplify'.
8916 *** A new function for citing in Message has been added --
8917 `message-cite-original-without-signature'.
8919 *** `article-strip-all-blank-lines' -- new article command.
8921 *** A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
8924 *** A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
8925 `gnus-adaptive-word-minimum' variable.
8927 *** The "lapsed date" article header can be kept continually
8928 updated by the `gnus-start-date-timer' command.
8930 *** Web listserv archives can be read with the nnlistserv backend.
8932 *** Old dejanews archives can now be read by nnweb.
8934 *** `gnus-posting-styles' has been re-activated.
8936 ** Changes to TeX and LaTeX mode
8938 *** The new variable `tex-start-options-string' can be used to give
8939 options for the TeX run. The default value causes TeX to run in
8940 nonstopmode. For an interactive TeX run set it to nil or "".
8942 *** The command `tex-feed-input' sends input to the Tex Shell. In a
8943 TeX buffer it is bound to the keys C-RET, C-c RET, and C-c C-m (some
8944 of these keys may not work on all systems). For instance, if you run
8945 TeX interactively and if the TeX run stops because of an error, you
8946 can continue it without leaving the TeX buffer by typing C-RET.
8948 *** The Tex Shell Buffer is now in `compilation-shell-minor-mode'.
8949 All error-parsing commands of the Compilation major mode are available
8950 but bound to keys that don't collide with the shell. Thus you can use
8951 the Tex Shell for command line executions like a usual shell.
8953 *** The commands `tex-validate-region' and `tex-validate-buffer' check
8954 the matching of braces and $'s. The errors are listed in a *Occur*
8955 buffer and you can use C-c C-c or mouse-2 to go to a particular
8958 ** Changes to RefTeX mode
8960 *** The table of contents buffer can now also display labels and
8961 file boundaries in addition to sections. Use `l', `i', and `c' keys.
8963 *** Labels derived from context (the section heading) are now
8964 lowercase by default. To make the label legal in LaTeX, latin-1
8965 characters will lose their accent. All Mule characters will be
8966 removed from the label.
8968 *** The automatic display of cross reference information can also use
8969 a window instead of the echo area. See variable `reftex-auto-view-crossref'.
8971 *** kpsewhich can be used by RefTeX to find TeX and BibTeX files. See the
8972 customization group `reftex-finding-files'.
8974 *** The option `reftex-bibfile-ignore-list' has been renamed to
8975 `reftex-bibfile-ignore-regexps' and indeed can be fed with regular
8978 *** Multiple Selection buffers are now hidden buffers.
8980 ** New/deleted modes and packages
8982 *** The package snmp-mode.el provides major modes for editing SNMP and
8983 SNMPv2 MIBs. It has entries on `auto-mode-alist'.
8985 *** The package sql.el provides a major mode, M-x sql-mode, for
8986 editing SQL files, and M-x sql-interactive-mode for interacting with
8987 SQL interpreters. It has an entry on `auto-mode-alist'.
8989 *** M-x highlight-changes-mode provides a minor mode displaying buffer
8990 changes with a special face.
8992 *** ispell4.el has been deleted. It got in the way of ispell.el and
8993 this was hard to fix reliably. It has long been obsolete -- use
8994 Ispell 3.1 and ispell.el.
8996 * MS-DOS changes in Emacs 20.4
8998 ** Emacs compiled for MS-DOS now supports MULE features better.
8999 This includes support for display of all ISO 8859-N character sets,
9000 conversion to and from IBM codepage encoding of non-ASCII characters,
9001 and automatic setup of the MULE environment at startup. For details,
9002 check out the section `MS-DOS and MULE' in the manual.
9004 The MS-DOS installation procedure automatically configures and builds
9005 Emacs with input method support if it finds an unpacked Leim
9006 distribution when the config.bat script is run.
9008 ** Formerly, the value of lpr-command did not affect printing on
9009 MS-DOS unless print-region-function was set to nil, but now it
9010 controls whether an external program is invoked or output is written
9011 directly to a printer port. Similarly, in the previous version of
9012 Emacs, the value of ps-lpr-command did not affect PostScript printing
9013 on MS-DOS unless ps-printer-name was set to something other than a
9014 string (eg. t or `pipe'), but now it controls whether an external
9015 program is used. (These changes were made so that configuration of
9016 printing variables would be almost identical across all platforms.)
9018 ** In the previous version of Emacs, PostScript and non-PostScript
9019 output was piped to external programs, but because most print programs
9020 available for MS-DOS and MS-Windows cannot read data from their standard
9021 input, on those systems the data to be output is now written to a
9022 temporary file whose name is passed as the last argument to the external
9025 An exception is made for `print', a standard program on Windows NT,
9026 and `nprint', a standard program on Novell Netware. For both of these
9027 programs, the command line is constructed in the appropriate syntax
9028 automatically, using only the value of printer-name or ps-printer-name
9029 as appropriate--the value of the relevant `-switches' variable is
9030 ignored, as both programs have no useful switches.
9032 ** The value of the variable dos-printer (cf. dos-ps-printer), if it has
9033 a value, overrides the value of printer-name (cf. ps-printer-name), on
9034 MS-DOS and MS-Windows only. This has been true since version 20.3, but
9035 was not documented clearly before.
9037 ** All the Emacs games now work on MS-DOS terminals.
9038 This includes Tetris and Snake.
9040 * Lisp changes in Emacs 20.4
9042 ** New functions line-beginning-position and line-end-position
9043 return the position of the beginning or end of the current line.
9044 They both accept an optional argument, which has the same
9045 meaning as the argument to beginning-of-line or end-of-line.
9047 ** find-file and allied functions now have an optional argument
9048 WILDCARD. If this is non-nil, they do wildcard processing,
9049 and visit all files that match the wildcard pattern.
9051 ** Changes in the file-attributes function.
9053 *** The file size returned by file-attributes may be an integer or a float.
9054 It is an integer if the size fits in a Lisp integer, float otherwise.
9056 *** The inode number returned by file-attributes may be an integer (if
9057 the number fits in a Lisp integer) or a cons cell containing two
9060 ** The new function directory-files-and-attributes returns a list of
9061 files in a directory and their attributes. It accepts the same
9062 arguments as directory-files and has similar semantics, except that
9063 file names and attributes are returned.
9065 ** The new function file-attributes-lessp is a helper function for
9066 sorting the list generated by directory-files-and-attributes. It
9067 accepts two arguments, each a list of a file name and its attributes.
9068 It compares the file names of each according to string-lessp and
9071 ** The new function file-expand-wildcards expands a wildcard-pattern
9072 to produce a list of existing files that match the pattern.
9074 ** New functions for base64 conversion:
9076 The function base64-encode-region converts a part of the buffer
9077 into the base64 code used in MIME. base64-decode-region
9078 performs the opposite conversion. Line-breaking is supported
9081 Functions base64-encode-string and base64-decode-string do a similar
9082 job on the text in a string. They return the value as a new string.
9085 The new function process-running-child-p
9086 will tell you if a subprocess has given control of its
9087 terminal to its own child process.
9089 ** interrupt-process and such functions have a new feature:
9090 when the second argument is `lambda', they send a signal
9091 to the running child of the subshell, if any, but if the shell
9092 itself owns its terminal, no signal is sent.
9094 ** There are new widget types `plist' and `alist' which can
9095 be used for customizing variables whose values are plists or alists.
9097 ** easymenu.el now understands `:key-sequence' and `:style button'.
9098 :included is an alias for :visible.
9100 easy-menu-add-item now understands the values returned by
9101 easy-menu-remove-item and easy-menu-item-present-p. This can be used
9102 to move or copy menu entries.
9104 ** Multibyte editing changes
9106 *** The definitions of sref and char-bytes are changed. Now, sref is
9107 an alias of aref and char-bytes always returns 1. This change is to
9108 make some Emacs Lisp code which works on 20.2 and earlier also
9109 work on the latest Emacs. Such code uses a combination of sref and
9110 char-bytes in a loop typically as below:
9111 (setq char (sref str idx)
9112 idx (+ idx (char-bytes idx)))
9113 The byte-compiler now warns that this is obsolete.
9115 If you want to know how many bytes a specific multibyte character
9116 (say, CH) occupies in a multibyte buffer, use this code:
9117 (charset-bytes (char-charset ch))
9119 *** In multibyte mode, when you narrow a buffer to some region, and the
9120 region is preceded or followed by non-ASCII codes, inserting or
9121 deleting at the head or the end of the region may signal this error:
9123 Byte combining across boundary of accessible buffer text inhibited
9125 This is to avoid some bytes being combined together into a character
9126 across the boundary.
9128 *** The functions find-charset-region and find-charset-string include
9129 `unknown' in the returned list in the following cases:
9130 o The current buffer or the target string is unibyte and
9131 contains 8-bit characters.
9132 o The current buffer or the target string is multibyte and
9133 contains invalid characters.
9135 *** The functions decode-coding-region and encode-coding-region remove
9136 text properties of the target region. Ideally, they should correctly
9137 preserve text properties, but for the moment, it's hard. Removing
9138 text properties is better than preserving them in a less-than-correct
9141 *** prefer-coding-system sets EOL conversion of default coding systems.
9142 If the argument to prefer-coding-system specifies a certain type of
9143 end of line conversion, the default coding systems set by
9144 prefer-coding-system will specify that conversion type for end of line.
9146 *** The new function thai-compose-string can be used to properly
9147 compose Thai characters in a string.
9149 ** The primitive `define-prefix-command' now takes an optional third
9150 argument NAME, which should be a string. It supplies the menu name
9151 for the created keymap. Keymaps created in order to be displayed as
9152 menus should always use the third argument.
9154 ** The meanings of optional second arguments for read-char,
9155 read-event, and read-char-exclusive are flipped. Now the second
9156 arguments are INHERIT-INPUT-METHOD. These functions use the current
9157 input method (if any) if and only if INHERIT-INPUT-METHOD is non-nil.
9159 ** The new function clear-this-command-keys empties out the contents
9160 of the vector that (this-command-keys) returns. This is useful in
9161 programs that read passwords, to prevent the passwords from echoing
9162 inadvertently as part of the next command in certain cases.
9164 ** The new macro `with-temp-message' displays a temporary message in
9165 the echo area, while executing some Lisp code. Like `progn', it
9166 returns the value of the last form, but it also restores the previous
9169 (with-temp-message MESSAGE &rest BODY)
9171 ** The function `require' now takes an optional third argument
9172 NOERROR. If it is non-nil, then there is no error if the
9173 requested feature cannot be loaded.
9175 ** In the function modify-face, an argument of (nil) for the
9176 foreground color, background color or stipple pattern
9177 means to clear out that attribute.
9179 ** The `outer-window-id' frame property of an X frame
9180 gives the window number of the outermost X window for the frame.
9182 ** Temporary buffers made with with-output-to-temp-buffer are now
9183 read-only by default, and normally use the major mode Help mode
9184 unless you put them in some other non-Fundamental mode before the
9185 end of with-output-to-temp-buffer.
9187 ** The new functions gap-position and gap-size return information on
9188 the gap of the current buffer.
9190 ** The new functions position-bytes and byte-to-position provide a way
9191 to convert between character positions and byte positions in the
9194 ** vc.el defines two new macros, `edit-vc-file' and `with-vc-file', to
9195 facilitate working with version-controlled files from Lisp programs.
9196 These macros check out a given file automatically if needed, and check
9197 it back in after any modifications have been made.
9199 * Installation Changes in Emacs 20.3
9201 ** The default value of load-path now includes most subdirectories of
9202 the site-specific directories /usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp and
9203 /usr/local/share/emacs/VERSION/site-lisp, in addition to those
9204 directories themselves. Both immediate subdirectories and
9205 subdirectories multiple levels down are added to load-path.
9207 Not all subdirectories are included, though. Subdirectories whose
9208 names do not start with a letter or digit are excluded.
9209 Subdirectories named RCS or CVS are excluded. Also, a subdirectory
9210 which contains a file named `.nosearch' is excluded. You can use
9211 these methods to prevent certain subdirectories from being searched.
9213 Emacs finds these subdirectories and adds them to load-path when it
9214 starts up. While it would be cleaner to find the subdirectories each
9215 time Emacs loads a file, that would be much slower.
9217 This feature is an incompatible change. If you have stored some Emacs
9218 Lisp files in a subdirectory of the site-lisp directory specifically
9219 to prevent them from being used, you will need to rename the
9220 subdirectory to start with a non-alphanumeric character, or create a
9221 `.nosearch' file in it, in order to continue to achieve the desired
9224 ** Emacs no longer includes an old version of the C preprocessor from
9225 GCC. This was formerly used to help compile Emacs with C compilers
9226 that had limits on the significant length of an identifier, but in
9227 fact we stopped supporting such compilers some time ago.
9229 * Changes in Emacs 20.3
9231 ** The new command C-x z (repeat) repeats the previous command
9232 including its argument. If you repeat the z afterward,
9233 it repeats the command additional times; thus, you can
9234 perform many repetitions with one keystroke per repetition.
9236 ** Emacs now supports "selective undo" which undoes only within a
9237 specified region. To do this, set point and mark around the desired
9238 region and type C-u C-x u (or C-u C-_). You can then continue undoing
9239 further, within the same region, by repeating the ordinary undo
9240 command C-x u or C-_. This will keep undoing changes that were made
9241 within the region you originally specified, until either all of them
9242 are undone, or it encounters a change which crosses the edge of that
9245 In Transient Mark mode, undoing when a region is active requests
9248 ** If you specify --unibyte when starting Emacs, then all buffers are
9249 unibyte, except when a Lisp program specifically creates a multibyte
9250 buffer. Setting the environment variable EMACS_UNIBYTE has the same
9251 effect. The --no-unibyte option overrides EMACS_UNIBYTE and directs
9252 Emacs to run normally in multibyte mode.
9254 The option --unibyte does not affect the reading of Emacs Lisp files,
9255 though. If you want a Lisp file to be read in unibyte mode, use
9256 -*-unibyte: t;-*- on its first line. That will force Emacs to
9257 load that file in unibyte mode, regardless of how Emacs was started.
9259 ** toggle-enable-multibyte-characters no longer has a key binding and
9260 no longer appears in the menu bar. We've realized that changing the
9261 enable-multibyte-characters variable in an existing buffer is
9262 something that most users not do.
9264 ** You can specify a coding system to use for the next cut or paste
9265 operations through the window system with the command C-x RET X.
9266 The coding system can make a difference for communication with other
9269 C-x RET x specifies a coding system for all subsequent cutting and
9272 ** You can specify the printer to use for commands that do printing by
9273 setting the variable `printer-name'. Just what a printer name looks
9274 like depends on your operating system. You can specify a different
9275 printer for the Postscript printing commands by setting
9278 ** Emacs now supports on-the-fly spell checking by the means of a
9279 minor mode. It is called M-x flyspell-mode. You don't have to remember
9280 any other special commands to use it, and you will hardly notice it
9281 except when you make a spelling error. Flyspell works by highlighting
9282 incorrect words as soon as they are completed or as soon as the cursor
9285 Flyspell mode works with whichever dictionary you have selected for
9286 Ispell in Emacs. In TeX mode, it understands TeX syntax so as not
9287 to be confused by TeX commands.
9289 You can correct a misspelled word by editing it into something
9290 correct. You can also correct it, or accept it as correct, by
9291 clicking on the word with Mouse-2; that gives you a pop-up menu
9292 of various alternative replacements and actions.
9294 Flyspell mode also proposes "automatic" corrections. M-TAB replaces
9295 the current misspelled word with a possible correction. If several
9296 corrections are made possible, M-TAB cycles through them in
9297 alphabetical order, or in order of decreasing likelihood if
9298 flyspell-sort-corrections is nil.
9300 Flyspell mode also flags an error when a word is repeated, if
9301 flyspell-mark-duplications-flag is non-nil.
9303 ** Changes in input method usage.
9305 Now you can use arrow keys (right, left, down, up) for selecting among
9306 the alternatives just the same way as you do by C-f, C-b, C-n, and C-p
9309 You can use the ENTER key to accept the current conversion.
9311 If you type TAB to display a list of alternatives, you can select one
9312 of the alternatives with Mouse-2.
9314 The meaning of the variable `input-method-verbose-flag' is changed so
9315 that you can set it to t, nil, `default', or `complex-only'.
9317 If the value is nil, extra guidance is never given.
9319 If the value is t, extra guidance is always given.
9321 If the value is `complex-only', extra guidance is always given only
9322 when you are using complex input methods such as chinese-py.
9324 If the value is `default' (this is the default), extra guidance is
9325 given in the following case:
9326 o When you are using a complex input method.
9327 o When you are using a simple input method but not in the minibuffer.
9329 If you are using Emacs through a very slow line, setting
9330 input-method-verbose-flag to nil or to complex-only is a good choice,
9331 and if you are using an input method you are not familiar with,
9332 setting it to t is helpful.
9334 The old command select-input-method is now called set-input-method.
9336 In the language environment "Korean", you can use the following
9338 Shift-SPC toggle-korean-input-method
9339 C-F9 quail-hangul-switch-symbol-ksc
9340 F9 quail-hangul-switch-hanja
9341 These key bindings are canceled when you switch to another language
9344 ** The minibuffer history of file names now records the specified file
9345 names, not the entire minibuffer input. For example, if the
9346 minibuffer starts out with /usr/foo/, you might type in /etc/passwd to
9349 /usr/foo//etc/passwd
9351 which stands for the file /etc/passwd.
9353 Formerly, this used to put /usr/foo//etc/passwd in the history list.
9354 Now this puts just /etc/passwd in the history list.
9356 ** If you are root, Emacs sets backup-by-copying-when-mismatch to t
9357 at startup, so that saving a file will be sure to preserve
9358 its owner and group.
9360 ** find-func.el can now also find the place of definition of Emacs
9361 Lisp variables in user-loaded libraries.
9363 ** C-x r t (string-rectangle) now deletes the existing rectangle
9364 contents before inserting the specified string on each line.
9366 ** There is a new command delete-whitespace-rectangle
9367 which deletes whitespace starting from a particular column
9368 in all the lines on a rectangle. The column is specified
9369 by the left edge of the rectangle.
9371 ** You can now store a number into a register with C-u NUMBER C-x r n REG,
9372 increment it by INC with C-u INC C-x r + REG (to increment by one, omit
9373 C-u INC), and insert it in the buffer with C-x r g REG. This is useful
9374 for writing keyboard macros.
9376 ** The new command M-x speedbar displays a frame in which directories,
9377 files, and tags can be displayed, manipulated, and jumped to. The
9378 frame defaults to 20 characters in width, and is the same height as
9379 the frame that it was started from. Some major modes define
9380 additional commands for the speedbar, including Rmail, GUD/GDB, and
9383 ** query-replace-regexp is now bound to C-M-%.
9385 ** In Transient Mark mode, when the region is active, M-x
9386 query-replace and the other replace commands now operate on the region
9389 ** M-x write-region, when used interactively, now asks for
9390 confirmation before overwriting an existing file. When you call
9391 the function from a Lisp program, a new optional argument CONFIRM
9392 says whether to ask for confirmation in this case.
9394 ** If you use find-file-literally and the file is already visited
9395 non-literally, the command asks you whether to revisit the file
9396 literally. If you say no, it signals an error.
9398 ** Major modes defined with the "derived mode" feature
9399 now use the proper name for the mode hook: WHATEVER-mode-hook.
9400 Formerly they used the name WHATEVER-mode-hooks, but that is
9401 inconsistent with Emacs conventions.
9403 ** shell-command-on-region (and shell-command) reports success or
9404 failure if the command produces no output.
9406 ** Set focus-follows-mouse to nil if your window system or window
9407 manager does not transfer focus to another window when you just move
9410 ** mouse-menu-buffer-maxlen has been renamed to
9411 mouse-buffer-menu-maxlen to be consistent with the other related
9412 function and variable names.
9414 ** The new variable auto-coding-alist specifies coding systems for
9415 reading specific files. This has higher priority than
9416 file-coding-system-alist.
9418 ** If you set the variable unibyte-display-via-language-environment to
9419 t, then Emacs displays non-ASCII characters are displayed by
9420 converting them to the equivalent multibyte characters according to
9421 the current language environment. As a result, they are displayed
9422 according to the current fontset.
9424 ** C-q's handling of codes in the range 0200 through 0377 is changed.
9426 The codes in the range 0200 through 0237 are inserted as one byte of
9427 that code regardless of the values of nonascii-translation-table and
9428 nonascii-insert-offset.
9430 For the codes in the range 0240 through 0377, if
9431 enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil and nonascii-translation-table
9432 nor nonascii-insert-offset can't convert them to valid multibyte
9433 characters, they are converted to Latin-1 characters.
9435 ** If you try to find a file that is not read-accessible, you now get
9436 an error, rather than an empty buffer and a warning.
9438 ** In the minibuffer history commands M-r and M-s, an upper case
9439 letter in the regular expression forces case-sensitive search.
9441 ** In the *Help* buffer, cross-references to commands and variables
9442 are inferred and hyperlinked. Use C-h m in Help mode for the relevant
9445 ** M-x apropos-command, with a prefix argument, no longer looks for
9446 user option variables--instead it looks for noninteractive functions.
9448 Meanwhile, the command apropos-variable normally searches for
9449 user option variables; with a prefix argument, it looks at
9450 all variables that have documentation.
9452 ** When you type a long line in the minibuffer, and the minibuffer
9453 shows just one line, automatically scrolling works in a special way
9454 that shows you overlap with the previous line of text. The variable
9455 minibuffer-scroll-overlap controls how many characters of overlap
9456 it should show; the default is 20.
9458 Meanwhile, Resize Minibuffer mode is still available; in that mode,
9459 the minibuffer grows taller (up to a point) as needed to show the whole
9462 ** The new command M-x customize-changed-options lets you customize
9463 all the options whose meanings or default values have changed in
9464 recent Emacs versions. You specify a previous Emacs version number as
9465 argument, and the command creates a customization buffer showing all
9466 the customizable options which were changed since that version.
9467 Newly added options are included as well.
9469 If you don't specify a particular version number argument,
9470 then the customization buffer shows all the customizable options
9471 for which Emacs versions of changes are recorded.
9473 This function is also bound to the Changed Options entry in the
9476 ** When you run M-x grep with a prefix argument, it figures out
9477 the tag around point and puts that into the default grep command.
9479 ** The new command M-* (pop-tag-mark) pops back through a history of
9480 buffer positions from which M-. or other tag-finding commands were
9483 ** The new variable comment-padding specifies the number of spaces
9484 that `comment-region' will insert before the actual text of the comment.
9487 ** In Fortran mode the characters `.', `_' and `$' now have symbol
9488 syntax, not word syntax. Fortran mode now supports `imenu' and has
9489 new commands fortran-join-line (M-^) and fortran-narrow-to-subprogram
9490 (C-x n d). M-q can be used to fill a statement or comment block
9493 ** GUD now supports jdb, the Java debugger, and pdb, the Python debugger.
9495 ** If you set the variable add-log-keep-changes-together to a non-nil
9496 value, the command `C-x 4 a' will automatically notice when you make
9497 two entries in one day for one file, and combine them.
9499 ** You can use the command M-x diary-mail-entries to mail yourself a
9500 reminder about upcoming diary entries. See the documentation string
9501 for a sample shell script for calling this function automatically
9506 *** All you need to do to enable use of the Desktop package, is to set
9507 the variable desktop-enable to t with Custom.
9509 *** Minor modes are now restored. Which minor modes are restored
9510 and how modes are restored is controlled by `desktop-minor-mode-table'.
9512 ** There is no need to do anything special, now, to enable Gnus to
9513 read and post multi-lingual articles.
9515 ** Outline mode has now support for showing hidden outlines when
9516 doing an isearch. In order for this to happen search-invisible should
9517 be set to open (the default). If an isearch match is inside a hidden
9518 outline the outline is made visible. If you continue pressing C-s and
9519 the match moves outside the formerly invisible outline, the outline is
9520 made invisible again.
9522 ** Mail reading and sending changes
9524 *** The Rmail e command now switches to displaying the whole header of
9525 the message before it lets you edit the message. This is so that any
9526 changes you make in the header will not be lost if you subsequently
9529 *** The w command in Rmail, which writes the message body into a file,
9530 now works in the summary buffer as well. (The command to delete the
9531 summary buffer is now Q.) The default file name for the w command, if
9532 the message has no subject, is stored in the variable
9533 rmail-default-body-file.
9535 *** Most of the commands and modes that operate on mail and netnews no
9536 longer depend on the value of mail-header-separator. Instead, they
9537 handle whatever separator the buffer happens to use.
9539 *** If you set mail-signature to a value which is not t, nil, or a string,
9540 it should be an expression. When you send a message, this expression
9541 is evaluated to insert the signature.
9543 *** The new Lisp library feedmail.el (version 8) enhances processing of
9544 outbound email messages. It works in coordination with other email
9545 handling packages (e.g., rmail, VM, gnus) and is responsible for
9546 putting final touches on messages and actually submitting them for
9547 transmission. Users of the emacs program "fakemail" might be
9548 especially interested in trying feedmail.
9550 feedmail is not enabled by default. See comments at the top of
9551 feedmail.el for set-up instructions. Among the bigger features
9552 provided by feedmail are:
9554 **** you can park outgoing messages into a disk-based queue and
9555 stimulate sending some or all of them later (handy for laptop users);
9556 there is also a queue for draft messages
9558 **** you can get one last look at the prepped outbound message and
9559 be prompted for confirmation
9561 **** does smart filling of address headers
9563 **** can generate a MESSAGE-ID: line and a DATE: line; the date can be
9564 the time the message was written or the time it is being sent; this
9565 can make FCC copies more closely resemble copies that recipients get
9567 **** you can specify an arbitrary function for actually transmitting
9568 the message; included in feedmail are interfaces for /bin/[r]mail,
9569 /usr/lib/sendmail, and elisp smtpmail; it's easy to write a new
9570 function for something else (10-20 lines of elisp)
9574 *** The Dired function dired-do-toggle, which toggles marked and unmarked
9575 files, is now bound to "t" instead of "T".
9577 *** dired-at-point has been added to ffap.el. It allows one to easily
9578 run Dired on the directory name at point.
9580 *** Dired has a new command: %g. It searches the contents of
9581 files in the directory and marks each file that contains a match
9582 for a specified regexp.
9586 *** New option vc-ignore-vc-files lets you turn off version control
9589 *** VC Dired has been completely rewritten. It is now much
9590 faster, especially for CVS, and works very similar to ordinary
9593 VC Dired is invoked by typing C-x v d and entering the name of the
9594 directory to display. By default, VC Dired gives you a recursive
9595 listing of all files at or below the given directory which are
9596 currently locked (for CVS, all files not up-to-date are shown).
9598 You can change the listing format by setting vc-dired-recurse to nil,
9599 then it shows only the given directory, and you may also set
9600 vc-dired-terse-display to nil, then it shows all files under version
9601 control plus the names of any subdirectories, so that you can type `i'
9602 on such lines to insert them manually, as in ordinary Dired.
9604 All Dired commands operate normally in VC Dired, except for `v', which
9605 is redefined as the version control prefix. That means you may type
9606 `v l', `v =' etc. to invoke `vc-print-log', `vc-diff' and the like on
9607 the file named in the current Dired buffer line. `v v' invokes
9608 `vc-next-action' on this file, or on all files currently marked.
9610 The new command `v t' (vc-dired-toggle-terse-mode) allows you to
9611 toggle between terse display (only locked files) and full display (all
9612 VC files plus subdirectories). There is also a special command,
9613 `* l', to mark all files currently locked.
9615 Giving a prefix argument to C-x v d now does the same thing as in
9616 ordinary Dired: it allows you to supply additional options for the ls
9617 command in the minibuffer, to fine-tune VC Dired's output.
9619 *** Under CVS, if you merge changes from the repository into a working
9620 file, and CVS detects conflicts, VC now offers to start an ediff
9621 session to resolve them.
9623 Alternatively, you can use the new command `vc-resolve-conflicts' to
9624 resolve conflicts in a file at any time. It works in any buffer that
9625 contains conflict markers as generated by rcsmerge (which is what CVS
9628 *** You can now transfer changes between branches, using the new
9629 command vc-merge (C-x v m). It is implemented for RCS and CVS. When
9630 you invoke it in a buffer under version-control, you can specify
9631 either an entire branch or a pair of versions, and the changes on that
9632 branch or between the two versions are merged into the working file.
9633 If this results in any conflicts, they may be resolved interactively,
9636 ** Changes in Font Lock
9638 *** The face and variable previously known as font-lock-reference-face
9639 are now called font-lock-constant-face to better reflect their typical
9640 use for highlighting constants and labels. (Its face properties are
9641 unchanged.) The variable font-lock-reference-face remains for now for
9642 compatibility reasons, but its value is font-lock-constant-face.
9644 ** Frame name display changes
9646 *** The command set-frame-name lets you set the name of the current
9647 frame. You can use the new command select-frame-by-name to select and
9648 raise a frame; this is mostly useful on character-only terminals, or
9649 when many frames are invisible or iconified.
9651 *** On character-only terminal (not a window system), changing the
9652 frame name is now reflected on the mode line and in the Buffers/Frames
9655 ** Comint (subshell) changes
9657 *** In Comint modes, the commands to kill, stop or interrupt a
9658 subjob now also kill pending input. This is for compatibility
9659 with ordinary shells, where the signal characters do this.
9661 *** There are new commands in Comint mode.
9663 C-c C-x fetches the "next" line from the input history;
9664 that is, the line after the last line you got.
9665 You can use this command to fetch successive lines, one by one.
9667 C-c SPC accumulates lines of input. More precisely, it arranges to
9668 send the current line together with the following line, when you send
9671 C-c C-a if repeated twice consecutively now moves to the process mark,
9672 which separates the pending input from the subprocess output and the
9673 previously sent input.
9675 C-c M-r now runs comint-previous-matching-input-from-input;
9676 it searches for a previous command, using the current pending input
9677 as the search string.
9679 *** New option compilation-scroll-output can be set to scroll
9680 automatically in compilation-mode windows.
9684 *** Multiline macros are now handled, both as they affect indentation,
9685 and as recognized syntax. New syntactic symbol cpp-macro-cont is
9686 assigned to second and subsequent lines of a multiline macro
9689 *** A new style "user" which captures all non-hook-ified
9690 (i.e. top-level) .emacs file variable settings and customizations.
9691 Style "cc-mode" is an alias for "user" and is deprecated. "gnu"
9692 style is still the default however.
9694 *** "java" style now conforms to Sun's JDK coding style.
9696 *** There are new commands c-beginning-of-defun, c-end-of-defun which
9697 are alternatives which you could bind to C-M-a and C-M-e if you prefer
9698 them. They do not have key bindings by default.
9700 *** New and improved implementations of M-a (c-beginning-of-statement)
9701 and M-e (c-end-of-statement).
9703 *** C++ namespace blocks are supported, with new syntactic symbols
9704 namespace-open, namespace-close, and innamespace.
9706 *** File local variable settings of c-file-style and c-file-offsets
9707 makes the style variables local to that buffer only.
9709 *** New indentation functions c-lineup-close-paren,
9710 c-indent-one-line-block, c-lineup-dont-change.
9712 *** Improvements (hopefully!) to the way CC Mode is loaded. You
9713 should now be able to do a (require 'cc-mode) to get the entire
9714 package loaded properly for customization in your .emacs file. A new
9715 variable c-initialize-on-load controls this and is t by default.
9717 ** Changes to hippie-expand.
9719 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-dabbrev-skip-space'. If
9720 non-nil, trailing spaces may be included in the abbreviation to search for,
9721 which then gives the same behavior as the original `dabbrev-expand'.
9723 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-dabbrev-as-symbol'. If
9724 non-nil, characters of syntax '_' is considered part of the word when
9725 expanding dynamically.
9727 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-no-restriction'. If
9728 non-nil, narrowed buffers are widened before they are searched.
9730 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-only-buffers'. If
9731 non-empty, buffers searched are restricted to the types specified in
9732 this list. Useful for example when constructing new special-purpose
9733 expansion functions with `make-hippie-expand-function'.
9735 *** Text properties of the expansion are no longer copied.
9737 ** Changes in BibTeX mode.
9739 *** Any titleword matching a regexp in the new variable
9740 bibtex-autokey-titleword-ignore (case sensitive) is ignored during
9741 automatic key generation. This replaces variable
9742 bibtex-autokey-titleword-first-ignore, which only checked for matches
9743 against the first word in the title.
9745 *** Autokey generation now uses all words from the title, not just
9746 capitalized words. To avoid conflicts with existing customizations,
9747 bibtex-autokey-titleword-ignore is set up such that words starting with
9748 lowerkey characters will still be ignored. Thus, if you want to use
9749 lowercase words from the title, you will have to overwrite the
9750 bibtex-autokey-titleword-ignore standard setting.
9752 *** Case conversion of names and title words for automatic key
9753 generation is more flexible. Variable bibtex-autokey-preserve-case is
9754 replaced by bibtex-autokey-titleword-case-convert and
9755 bibtex-autokey-name-case-convert.
9757 ** Changes in vcursor.el.
9759 *** Support for character terminals is available: there is a new keymap
9760 and the vcursor will appear as an arrow between buffer text. A
9761 variable `vcursor-interpret-input' allows input from the vcursor to be
9762 entered exactly as if typed. Numerous functions, including
9763 `vcursor-compare-windows', have been rewritten to improve consistency
9764 in the selection of windows and corresponding keymaps.
9766 *** vcursor options can now be altered with M-x customize under the
9767 Editing group once the package is loaded.
9769 *** Loading vcursor now does not define keys by default, as this is
9770 generally a bad side effect. Use M-x customize to set
9771 vcursor-key-bindings to t to restore the old behavior.
9773 *** vcursor-auto-disable can be `copy', which turns off copying from the
9774 vcursor, but doesn't disable it, after any non-vcursor command.
9778 *** You can now spell check comments and strings in the current
9779 buffer with M-x ispell-comments-and-strings. Comments and strings
9780 are identified by syntax tables in effect.
9782 *** Generic region skipping implemented.
9783 A single buffer can be broken into a number of regions where text will
9784 and will not be checked. The definitions of the regions can be user
9785 defined. New applications and improvements made available by this
9788 o URLs are automatically skipped
9789 o EMail message checking is vastly improved.
9791 *** Ispell can highlight the erroneous word even on non-window terminals.
9793 ** Changes to RefTeX mode
9795 RefTeX has been updated in order to make it more usable with very
9796 large projects (like a several volume math book). The parser has been
9797 re-written from scratch. To get maximum speed from RefTeX, check the
9798 section `Optimizations' in the manual.
9800 *** New recursive parser.
9802 The old version of RefTeX created a single large buffer containing the
9803 entire multifile document in order to parse the document. The new
9804 recursive parser scans the individual files.
9806 *** Parsing only part of a document.
9808 Reparsing of changed document parts can now be made faster by enabling
9809 partial scans. To use this feature, read the documentation string of
9810 the variable `reftex-enable-partial-scans' and set the variable to t.
9812 (setq reftex-enable-partial-scans t)
9814 *** Storing parsing information in a file.
9816 This can improve startup times considerably. To turn it on, use
9818 (setq reftex-save-parse-info t)
9820 *** Using multiple selection buffers
9822 If the creation of label selection buffers is too slow (this happens
9823 for large documents), you can reuse these buffers by setting
9825 (setq reftex-use-multiple-selection-buffers t)
9827 *** References to external documents.
9829 The LaTeX package `xr' allows to cross-reference labels in external
9830 documents. RefTeX can provide information about the external
9831 documents as well. To use this feature, set up the \externaldocument
9832 macros required by the `xr' package and rescan the document with
9833 RefTeX. The external labels can then be accessed with the `x' key in
9834 the selection buffer provided by `reftex-reference' (bound to `C-c )').
9835 The `x' key also works in the table of contents buffer.
9837 *** Many more labeled LaTeX environments are recognized by default.
9839 The built-in command list now covers all the standard LaTeX commands,
9840 and all of the major packages included in the LaTeX distribution.
9842 Also, RefTeX now understands the \appendix macro and changes
9843 the enumeration of sections in the *toc* buffer accordingly.
9845 *** Mouse support for selection and *toc* buffers
9847 The mouse can now be used to select items in the selection and *toc*
9848 buffers. See also the new option `reftex-highlight-selection'.
9850 *** New keymaps for selection and table of contents modes.
9852 The selection processes for labels and citation keys, and the table of
9853 contents buffer now have their own keymaps: `reftex-select-label-map',
9854 `reftex-select-bib-map', `reftex-toc-map'. The selection processes
9855 have a number of new keys predefined. In particular, TAB lets you
9856 enter a label with completion. Check the on-the-fly help (press `?'
9857 at the selection prompt) or read the Info documentation to find out
9860 *** Support for the varioref package
9862 The `v' key in the label selection buffer toggles \ref versus \vref.
9866 Three new hooks can be used to redefine the way labels, references,
9867 and citations are created. These hooks are
9868 `reftex-format-label-function', `reftex-format-ref-function',
9869 `reftex-format-cite-function'.
9871 *** Citations outside LaTeX
9873 The command `reftex-citation' may also be used outside LaTeX (e.g. in
9874 a mail buffer). See the Info documentation for details.
9876 *** Short context is no longer fontified.
9878 The short context in the label menu no longer copies the
9879 fontification from the text in the buffer. If you prefer it to be
9882 (setq reftex-refontify-context t)
9884 ** file-cache-minibuffer-complete now accepts a prefix argument.
9885 With a prefix argument, it does not try to do completion of
9886 the file name within its directory; it only checks for other
9887 directories that contain the same file name.
9889 Thus, given the file name Makefile, and assuming that a file
9890 Makefile.in exists in the same directory, ordinary
9891 file-cache-minibuffer-complete will try to complete Makefile to
9892 Makefile.in and will therefore never look for other directories that
9893 have Makefile. A prefix argument tells it not to look for longer
9894 names such as Makefile.in, so that instead it will look for other
9895 directories--just as if the name were already complete in its present
9898 ** New modes and packages
9900 *** There is a new alternative major mode for Perl, Cperl mode.
9901 It has many more features than Perl mode, and some people prefer
9902 it, but some do not.
9904 *** There is a new major mode, M-x vhdl-mode, for editing files of VHDL
9907 *** M-x which-function-mode enables a minor mode that displays the
9908 current function name continuously in the mode line, as you move
9911 Which Function mode is effective in major modes which support Imenu.
9913 *** Gametree is a major mode for editing game analysis trees. The author
9914 uses it for keeping notes about his postal Chess games, but it should
9915 be helpful for other two-player games as well, as long as they have an
9916 established system of notation similar to Chess.
9918 *** The new minor mode checkdoc-minor-mode provides Emacs Lisp
9919 documentation string checking for style and spelling. The style
9920 guidelines are found in the Emacs Lisp programming manual.
9922 *** The net-utils package makes some common networking features
9923 available in Emacs. Some of these functions are wrappers around
9924 system utilities (ping, nslookup, etc); others are implementations of
9925 simple protocols (finger, whois) in Emacs Lisp. There are also
9926 functions to make simple connections to TCP/IP ports for debugging and
9929 *** highlight-changes-mode is a minor mode that uses colors to
9930 identify recently changed parts of the buffer text.
9932 *** The new package `midnight' lets you specify things to be done
9933 within Emacs at midnight--by default, kill buffers that you have not
9934 used in a considerable time. To use this feature, customize
9935 the user option `midnight-mode' to t.
9937 *** The file generic-x.el defines a number of simple major modes.
9939 apache-generic-mode: For Apache and NCSA httpd configuration files
9940 samba-generic-mode: Samba configuration files
9941 fvwm-generic-mode: For fvwm initialization files
9942 x-resource-generic-mode: For X resource files
9943 hosts-generic-mode: For hosts files (.rhosts, /etc/hosts, etc)
9944 mailagent-rules-generic-mode: For mailagent .rules files
9945 javascript-generic-mode: For JavaScript files
9946 vrml-generic-mode: For VRML files
9947 java-manifest-generic-mode: For Java MANIFEST files
9948 java-properties-generic-mode: For Java property files
9949 mailrc-generic-mode: For .mailrc files
9951 Platform-specific modes:
9953 prototype-generic-mode: For Solaris/Sys V prototype files
9954 pkginfo-generic-mode: For Solaris/Sys V pkginfo files
9955 alias-generic-mode: For C shell alias files
9956 inf-generic-mode: For MS-Windows INF files
9957 ini-generic-mode: For MS-Windows INI files
9958 reg-generic-mode: For MS-Windows Registry files
9959 bat-generic-mode: For MS-Windows BAT scripts
9960 rc-generic-mode: For MS-Windows Resource files
9961 rul-generic-mode: For InstallShield scripts
9963 * Lisp changes in Emacs 20.3 since the Emacs Lisp Manual was published
9965 ** If you want a Lisp file to be read in unibyte mode,
9966 use -*-unibyte: t;-*- on its first line.
9967 That will force Emacs to read that file in unibyte mode.
9968 Otherwise, the file will be loaded and byte-compiled in multibyte mode.
9970 Thus, each lisp file is read in a consistent way regardless of whether
9971 you started Emacs with --unibyte, so that a Lisp program gives
9972 consistent results regardless of how Emacs was started.
9974 ** The new function assoc-default is useful for searching an alist,
9975 and using a default value if the key is not found there. You can
9976 specify a comparison predicate, so this function is useful for
9977 searching comparing a string against an alist of regular expressions.
9979 ** The functions unibyte-char-to-multibyte and
9980 multibyte-char-to-unibyte convert between unibyte and multibyte
9981 character codes, in a way that is appropriate for the current language
9984 ** The functions read-event, read-char and read-char-exclusive now
9985 take two optional arguments. PROMPT, if non-nil, specifies a prompt
9986 string. SUPPRESS-INPUT-METHOD, if non-nil, says to disable the
9987 current input method for reading this one event.
9989 ** Two new variables print-escape-nonascii and print-escape-multibyte
9990 now control whether to output certain characters as
9991 backslash-sequences. print-escape-nonascii applies to single-byte
9992 non-ASCII characters; print-escape-multibyte applies to multibyte
9993 characters. Both of these variables are used only when printing
9994 in readable fashion (prin1 uses them, princ does not).
9996 * Lisp changes in Emacs 20.3 before the Emacs Lisp Manual was published
9998 ** Compiled Emacs Lisp files made with the modified "MBSK" version
9999 of Emacs 20.2 do not work in Emacs 20.3.
10001 ** Buffer positions are now measured in characters, as they were
10002 in Emacs 19 and before. This means that (forward-char 1)
10003 always increases point by 1.
10005 The function chars-in-region now just subtracts its arguments. It is
10006 considered obsolete. The function char-boundary-p has been deleted.
10008 See below for additional changes relating to multibyte characters.
10010 ** defcustom, defface and defgroup now accept the keyword `:version'.
10011 Use this to specify in which version of Emacs a certain variable's
10012 default value changed. For example,
10014 (defcustom foo-max 34 "*Maximum number of foo's allowed."
10019 (defgroup foo-group nil "The foo group."
10022 If an entire new group is added or the variables in it have the
10023 default values changed, then just add a `:version' to that group. It
10024 is recommended that new packages added to the distribution contain a
10025 `:version' in the top level group.
10027 This information is used to control the customize-changed-options command.
10029 ** It is now an error to change the value of a symbol whose name
10030 starts with a colon--if it is interned in the standard obarray.
10032 However, setting such a symbol to its proper value, which is that
10033 symbol itself, is not an error. This is for the sake of programs that
10034 support previous Emacs versions by explicitly setting these variables
10037 If you set the variable keyword-symbols-constant-flag to nil,
10038 this error is suppressed, and you can set these symbols to any
10041 ** There is a new debugger command, R.
10042 It evaluates an expression like e, but saves the result
10043 in the buffer *Debugger-record*.
10045 ** Frame-local variables.
10047 You can now make a variable local to various frames. To do this, call
10048 the function make-variable-frame-local; this enables frames to have
10049 local bindings for that variable.
10051 These frame-local bindings are actually frame parameters: you create a
10052 frame-local binding in a specific frame by calling
10053 modify-frame-parameters and specifying the variable name as the
10056 Buffer-local bindings take precedence over frame-local bindings.
10057 Thus, if the current buffer has a buffer-local binding, that binding is
10058 active; otherwise, if the selected frame has a frame-local binding,
10059 that binding is active; otherwise, the default binding is active.
10061 It would not be hard to implement window-local bindings, but it is not
10062 clear that this would be very useful; windows tend to come and go in a
10063 very transitory fashion, so that trying to produce any specific effect
10064 through a window-local binding would not be very robust.
10066 ** `sregexq' and `sregex' are two new functions for constructing
10067 "symbolic regular expressions." These are Lisp expressions that, when
10068 evaluated, yield conventional string-based regexps. The symbolic form
10069 makes it easier to construct, read, and maintain complex patterns.
10070 See the documentation in sregex.el.
10072 ** parse-partial-sexp's return value has an additional element which
10073 is used to pass information along if you pass it to another call to
10074 parse-partial-sexp, starting its scan where the first call ended.
10075 The contents of this field are not yet finalized.
10077 ** eval-region now accepts a fourth optional argument READ-FUNCTION.
10078 If it is non-nil, that function is used instead of `read'.
10080 ** unload-feature by default removes the feature's functions from
10081 known hooks to avoid trouble, but a package providing FEATURE can
10082 define a hook FEATURE-unload-hook to be run by unload-feature instead.
10084 ** read-from-minibuffer no longer returns the argument DEFAULT-VALUE
10085 when the user enters empty input. It now returns the null string, as
10086 it did in Emacs 19. The default value is made available in the
10087 history via M-n, but it is not applied here as a default.
10089 The other, more specialized minibuffer-reading functions continue to
10090 return the default value (not the null string) when the user enters
10093 ** The new variable read-buffer-function controls which routine to use
10094 for selecting buffers. For example, if you set this variable to
10095 `iswitchb-read-buffer', iswitchb will be used to read buffer names.
10096 Other functions can also be used if they accept the same arguments as
10097 `read-buffer' and return the selected buffer name as a string.
10099 ** The new function read-passwd reads a password from the terminal,
10100 echoing a period for each character typed. It takes three arguments:
10101 a prompt string, a flag which says "read it twice to make sure", and a
10102 default password to use if the user enters nothing.
10104 ** The variable fill-nobreak-predicate gives major modes a way to
10105 specify not to break a line at certain places. Its value is a
10106 function which is called with no arguments, with point located at the
10107 place where a break is being considered. If the function returns
10108 non-nil, then the line won't be broken there.
10110 ** window-end now takes an optional second argument, UPDATE.
10111 If this is non-nil, then the function always returns an accurate
10112 up-to-date value for the buffer position corresponding to the
10113 end of the window, even if this requires computation.
10115 ** other-buffer now takes an optional argument FRAME
10116 which specifies which frame's buffer list to use.
10117 If it is nil, that means use the selected frame's buffer list.
10119 ** The new variable buffer-display-time, always local in every buffer,
10120 holds the value of (current-time) as of the last time that a window
10121 was directed to display this buffer.
10123 ** It is now meaningful to compare two window-configuration objects
10124 with `equal'. Two window-configuration objects are equal if they
10125 describe equivalent arrangements of windows, in the same frame--in
10126 other words, if they would give the same results if passed to
10127 set-window-configuration.
10129 ** compare-window-configurations is a new function that compares two
10130 window configurations loosely. It ignores differences in saved buffer
10131 positions and scrolling, and considers only the structure and sizes of
10132 windows and the choice of buffers to display.
10134 ** The variable minor-mode-overriding-map-alist allows major modes to
10135 override the key bindings of a minor mode. The elements of this alist
10136 look like the elements of minor-mode-map-alist: (VARIABLE . KEYMAP).
10138 If the VARIABLE in an element of minor-mode-overriding-map-alist has a
10139 non-nil value, the paired KEYMAP is active, and totally overrides the
10140 map (if any) specified for the same variable in minor-mode-map-alist.
10142 minor-mode-overriding-map-alist is automatically local in all buffers,
10143 and it is meant to be set by major modes.
10145 ** The function match-string-no-properties is like match-string
10146 except that it discards all text properties from the result.
10148 ** The function load-average now accepts an optional argument
10149 USE-FLOATS. If it is non-nil, the load average values are returned as
10150 floating point numbers, rather than as integers to be divided by 100.
10152 ** The new variable temporary-file-directory specifies the directory
10153 to use for creating temporary files. The default value is determined
10154 in a reasonable way for your operating system; on GNU and Unix systems
10155 it is based on the TMP and TMPDIR environment variables.
10159 *** easymenu.el now uses the new menu item format and supports the
10160 keywords :visible and :filter. The existing keyword :keys is now
10163 The variable `easy-menu-precalculate-equivalent-keybindings' controls
10164 a new feature which calculates keyboard equivalents for the menu when
10165 you define the menu. The default is t. If you rarely use menus, you
10166 can set the variable to nil to disable this precalculation feature;
10167 then the calculation is done only if you use the menu bar.
10169 *** A new format for menu items is supported.
10171 In a keymap, a key binding that has the format
10172 (STRING . REAL-BINDING) or (STRING HELP-STRING . REAL-BINDING)
10173 defines a menu item. Now a menu item definition may also be a list that
10174 starts with the symbol `menu-item'.
10177 (menu-item ITEM-NAME) or
10178 (menu-item ITEM-NAME REAL-BINDING . ITEM-PROPERTY-LIST)
10179 where ITEM-NAME is an expression which evaluates to the menu item
10180 string, and ITEM-PROPERTY-LIST has the form of a property list.
10181 The supported properties include
10183 :enable FORM Evaluate FORM to determine whether the
10185 :visible FORM Evaluate FORM to determine whether the
10186 item should appear in the menu.
10188 FILTER-FN is a function of one argument,
10189 which will be REAL-BINDING.
10190 It should return a binding to use instead.
10192 DESCRIPTION is a string that describes an equivalent keyboard
10193 binding for REAL-BINDING. DESCRIPTION is expanded with
10194 `substitute-command-keys' before it is used.
10195 :key-sequence KEY-SEQUENCE
10196 KEY-SEQUENCE is a key-sequence for an equivalent
10199 This means that the command normally has no
10200 keyboard equivalent.
10201 :help HELP HELP is the extra help string (not currently used).
10202 :button (TYPE . SELECTED)
10203 TYPE is :toggle or :radio.
10204 SELECTED is a form, to be evaluated, and its
10205 value says whether this button is currently selected.
10207 Buttons are at the moment only simulated by prefixes in the menu.
10208 Eventually ordinary X-buttons may be supported.
10210 (menu-item ITEM-NAME) defines unselectable item.
10214 *** The new event type `mouse-wheel' is generated by a wheel on a
10215 mouse (such as the MS Intellimouse). The event contains a delta that
10216 corresponds to the amount and direction that the wheel is rotated,
10217 which is typically used to implement a scroll or zoom. The format is:
10219 (mouse-wheel POSITION DELTA)
10221 where POSITION is a list describing the position of the event in the
10222 same format as a mouse-click event, and DELTA is a signed number
10223 indicating the number of increments by which the wheel was rotated. A
10224 negative DELTA indicates that the wheel was rotated backwards, towards
10225 the user, and a positive DELTA indicates that the wheel was rotated
10226 forward, away from the user.
10228 As of now, this event type is generated only on MS Windows.
10230 *** The new event type `drag-n-drop' is generated when a group of
10231 files is selected in an application outside of Emacs, and then dragged
10232 and dropped onto an Emacs frame. The event contains a list of
10233 filenames that were dragged and dropped, which are then typically
10234 loaded into Emacs. The format is:
10236 (drag-n-drop POSITION FILES)
10238 where POSITION is a list describing the position of the event in the
10239 same format as a mouse-click event, and FILES is the list of filenames
10240 that were dragged and dropped.
10242 As of now, this event type is generated only on MS Windows.
10244 ** Changes relating to multibyte characters.
10246 *** The variable enable-multibyte-characters is now read-only;
10247 any attempt to set it directly signals an error. The only way
10248 to change this value in an existing buffer is with set-buffer-multibyte.
10250 *** In a string constant, `\ ' now stands for "nothing at all". You
10251 can use it to terminate a hex escape which is followed by a character
10252 that could otherwise be read as part of the hex escape.
10254 *** String indices are now measured in characters, as they were
10255 in Emacs 19 and before.
10257 The function chars-in-string has been deleted.
10258 The function concat-chars has been renamed to `string'.
10260 *** The function set-buffer-multibyte sets the flag in the current
10261 buffer that says whether the buffer uses multibyte representation or
10262 unibyte representation. If the argument is nil, it selects unibyte
10263 representation. Otherwise it selects multibyte representation.
10265 This function does not change the contents of the buffer, viewed
10266 as a sequence of bytes. However, it does change the contents
10267 viewed as characters; a sequence of two bytes which is treated as
10268 one character when the buffer uses multibyte representation
10269 will count as two characters using unibyte representation.
10271 This function sets enable-multibyte-characters to record which
10272 representation is in use. It also adjusts various data in the buffer
10273 (including its markers, overlays and text properties) so that they are
10274 consistent with the new representation.
10276 *** string-make-multibyte takes a string and converts it to multibyte
10277 representation. Most of the time, you don't need to care
10278 about the representation, because Emacs converts when necessary;
10279 however, it makes a difference when you compare strings.
10281 The conversion of non-ASCII characters works by adding the value of
10282 nonascii-insert-offset to each character, or by translating them
10283 using the table nonascii-translation-table.
10285 *** string-make-unibyte takes a string and converts it to unibyte
10286 representation. Most of the time, you don't need to care about the
10287 representation, but it makes a difference when you compare strings.
10289 The conversion from multibyte to unibyte representation
10290 loses information; the only time Emacs performs it automatically
10291 is when inserting a multibyte string into a unibyte buffer.
10293 *** string-as-multibyte takes a string, and returns another string
10294 which contains the same bytes, but treats them as multibyte.
10296 *** string-as-unibyte takes a string, and returns another string
10297 which contains the same bytes, but treats them as unibyte.
10299 *** The new function compare-strings lets you compare
10300 portions of two strings. Unibyte strings are converted to multibyte,
10301 so that a unibyte string can match a multibyte string.
10302 You can specify whether to ignore case or not.
10304 *** assoc-ignore-case now uses compare-strings so that
10305 it can treat unibyte and multibyte strings as equal.
10307 *** Regular expression operations and buffer string searches now
10308 convert the search pattern to multibyte or unibyte to accord with the
10309 buffer or string being searched.
10311 One consequence is that you cannot always use \200-\377 inside of
10312 [...] to match all non-ASCII characters. This does still work when
10313 searching or matching a unibyte buffer or string, but not when
10314 searching or matching a multibyte string. Unfortunately, there is no
10315 obvious choice of syntax to use within [...] for that job. But, what
10316 you want is just to match all non-ASCII characters, the regular
10317 expression [^\0-\177] works for it.
10319 *** Structure of coding system changed.
10321 All coding systems (including aliases and subsidiaries) are named
10322 by symbols; the symbol's `coding-system' property is a vector
10323 which defines the coding system. Aliases share the same vector
10324 as the principal name, so that altering the contents of this
10325 vector affects the principal name and its aliases. You can define
10326 your own alias name of a coding system by the function
10327 define-coding-system-alias.
10329 The coding system definition includes a property list of its own. Use
10330 the new functions `coding-system-get' and `coding-system-put' to
10331 access such coding system properties as post-read-conversion,
10332 pre-write-conversion, character-translation-table-for-decode,
10333 character-translation-table-for-encode, mime-charset, and
10334 safe-charsets. For instance, (coding-system-get 'iso-latin-1
10335 'mime-charset) gives the corresponding MIME-charset parameter
10338 Among the coding system properties listed above, safe-charsets is new.
10339 The value of this property is a list of character sets which this
10340 coding system can correctly encode and decode. For instance:
10341 (coding-system-get 'iso-latin-1 'safe-charsets) => (ascii latin-iso8859-1)
10343 Here, "correctly encode" means that the encoded character sets can
10344 also be handled safely by systems other than Emacs as far as they
10345 are capable of that coding system. Though, Emacs itself can encode
10346 the other character sets and read it back correctly.
10348 *** The new function select-safe-coding-system can be used to find a
10349 proper coding system for encoding the specified region or string.
10350 This function requires a user interaction.
10352 *** The new functions find-coding-systems-region and
10353 find-coding-systems-string are helper functions used by
10354 select-safe-coding-system. They return a list of all proper coding
10355 systems to encode a text in some region or string. If you don't want
10356 a user interaction, use one of these functions instead of
10357 select-safe-coding-system.
10359 *** The explicit encoding and decoding functions, such as
10360 decode-coding-region and encode-coding-string, now set
10361 last-coding-system-used to reflect the actual way encoding or decoding
10364 *** The new function detect-coding-with-language-environment can be
10365 used to detect a coding system of text according to priorities of
10366 coding systems used by some specific language environment.
10368 *** The functions detect-coding-region and detect-coding-string always
10369 return a list if the arg HIGHEST is nil. Thus, if only ASCII
10370 characters are found, they now return a list of single element
10371 `undecided' or its subsidiaries.
10373 *** The new functions coding-system-change-eol-conversion and
10374 coding-system-change-text-conversion can be used to get a different
10375 coding system than what specified only in how end-of-line or text is
10378 *** The new function set-selection-coding-system can be used to set a
10379 coding system for communicating with other X clients.
10381 *** The function `map-char-table' now passes as argument only valid
10382 character codes, plus generic characters that stand for entire
10383 character sets or entire subrows of a character set. In other words,
10384 each time `map-char-table' calls its FUNCTION argument, the key value
10385 either will be a valid individual character code, or will stand for a
10386 range of characters.
10388 *** The new function `char-valid-p' can be used for checking whether a
10389 Lisp object is a valid character code or not.
10391 *** The new function `charset-after' returns a charset of a character
10392 in the current buffer at position POS.
10394 *** Input methods are now implemented using the variable
10395 input-method-function. If this is non-nil, its value should be a
10396 function; then, whenever Emacs reads an input event that is a printing
10397 character with no modifier bits, it calls that function, passing the
10398 event as an argument. Often this function will read more input, first
10399 binding input-method-function to nil.
10401 The return value should be a list of the events resulting from input
10402 method processing. These events will be processed sequentially as
10403 input, before resorting to unread-command-events. Events returned by
10404 the input method function are not passed to the input method function,
10405 not even if they are printing characters with no modifier bits.
10407 The input method function is not called when reading the second and
10408 subsequent events of a key sequence.
10410 *** You can customize any language environment by using
10411 set-language-environment-hook and exit-language-environment-hook.
10413 The hook `exit-language-environment-hook' should be used to undo
10414 customizations that you made with set-language-environment-hook. For
10415 instance, if you set up a special key binding for a specific language
10416 environment by set-language-environment-hook, you should set up
10417 exit-language-environment-hook to restore the normal key binding.
10419 * Changes in Emacs 20.1
10421 ** Emacs has a new facility for customization of its many user
10422 options. It is called M-x customize. With this facility you can look
10423 at the many user options in an organized way; they are grouped into a
10426 M-x customize also knows what sorts of values are legitimate for each
10427 user option and ensures that you don't use invalid values.
10429 With M-x customize, you can set options either for the present Emacs
10430 session or permanently. (Permanent settings are stored automatically
10431 in your .emacs file.)
10433 ** Scroll bars are now on the left side of the window.
10434 You can change this with M-x customize-option scroll-bar-mode.
10436 ** The mode line no longer includes the string `Emacs'.
10437 This makes more space in the mode line for other information.
10439 ** When you select a region with the mouse, it is highlighted
10440 immediately afterward. At that time, if you type the DELETE key, it
10443 The BACKSPACE key, and the ASCII character DEL, do not do this; they
10444 delete the character before point, as usual.
10446 ** In an incremental search the whole current match is highlighted
10447 on terminals which support this. (You can disable this feature
10448 by setting search-highlight to nil.)
10450 ** In the minibuffer, in some cases, you can now use M-n to
10451 insert the default value into the minibuffer as text. In effect,
10452 the default value (if the minibuffer routines know it) is tacked
10453 onto the history "in the future". (The more normal use of the
10454 history list is to use M-p to insert minibuffer input used in the
10457 ** In Text mode, now only blank lines separate paragraphs.
10458 This makes it possible to get the full benefit of Adaptive Fill mode
10459 in Text mode, and other modes derived from it (such as Mail mode).
10460 TAB in Text mode now runs the command indent-relative; this
10461 makes a practical difference only when you use indented paragraphs.
10463 As a result, the old Indented Text mode is now identical to Text mode,
10464 and is an alias for it.
10466 If you want spaces at the beginning of a line to start a paragraph,
10467 use the new mode, Paragraph Indent Text mode.
10469 ** Scrolling changes
10471 *** Scroll commands to scroll a whole screen now preserve the screen
10472 position of the cursor, if scroll-preserve-screen-position is non-nil.
10474 In this mode, if you scroll several screens back and forth, finishing
10475 on the same screen where you started, the cursor goes back to the line
10478 *** If you set scroll-conservatively to a small number, then when you
10479 move point a short distance off the screen, Emacs will scroll the
10480 screen just far enough to bring point back on screen, provided that
10481 does not exceed `scroll-conservatively' lines.
10483 *** The new variable scroll-margin says how close point can come to the
10484 top or bottom of a window. It is a number of screen lines; if point
10485 comes within that many lines of the top or bottom of the window, Emacs
10486 recenters the window.
10488 ** International character set support (MULE)
10490 Emacs now supports a wide variety of international character sets,
10491 including European variants of the Latin alphabet, as well as Chinese,
10492 Devanagari (Hindi and Marathi), Ethiopian, Greek, IPA, Japanese,
10493 Korean, Lao, Russian, Thai, Tibetan, and Vietnamese scripts. These
10494 features have been merged from the modified version of Emacs known as
10495 MULE (for "MULti-lingual Enhancement to GNU Emacs")
10497 Users of these scripts have established many more-or-less standard
10498 coding systems for storing files. Emacs uses a single multibyte
10499 character encoding within Emacs buffers; it can translate from a wide
10500 variety of coding systems when reading a file and can translate back
10501 into any of these coding systems when saving a file.
10503 Keyboards, even in the countries where these character sets are used,
10504 generally don't have keys for all the characters in them. So Emacs
10505 supports various "input methods", typically one for each script or
10506 language, to make it possible to type them.
10508 The Emacs internal multibyte encoding represents a non-ASCII
10509 character as a sequence of bytes in the range 0200 through 0377.
10511 The new prefix key C-x RET is used for commands that pertain
10512 to multibyte characters, coding systems, and input methods.
10514 You can disable multibyte character support as follows:
10516 (setq-default enable-multibyte-characters nil)
10518 Calling the function standard-display-european turns off multibyte
10519 characters, unless you specify a non-nil value for the second
10520 argument, AUTO. This provides compatibility for people who are
10521 already using standard-display-european to continue using unibyte
10522 characters for their work until they want to change.
10526 An input method is a kind of character conversion which is designed
10527 specifically for interactive input. In Emacs, typically each language
10528 has its own input method (though sometimes several languages which use
10529 the same characters can share one input method). Some languages
10530 support several input methods.
10532 The simplest kind of input method works by mapping ASCII letters into
10533 another alphabet. This is how the Greek and Russian input methods
10536 A more powerful technique is composition: converting sequences of
10537 characters into one letter. Many European input methods use
10538 composition to produce a single non-ASCII letter from a sequence which
10539 consists of a letter followed by diacritics. For example, a' is one
10540 sequence of two characters that might be converted into a single
10543 The input methods for syllabic scripts typically use mapping followed
10544 by conversion. The input methods for Thai and Korean work this way.
10545 First, letters are mapped into symbols for particular sounds or tone
10546 marks; then, sequences of these which make up a whole syllable are
10547 mapped into one syllable sign--most often a "composite character".
10549 None of these methods works very well for Chinese and Japanese, so
10550 they are handled specially. First you input a whole word using
10551 phonetic spelling; then, after the word is in the buffer, Emacs
10552 converts it into one or more characters using a large dictionary.
10554 Since there is more than one way to represent a phonetically spelled
10555 word using Chinese characters, Emacs can only guess which one to use;
10556 typically these input methods give you a way to say "guess again" if
10557 the first guess is wrong.
10559 *** The command C-x RET m (toggle-enable-multibyte-characters)
10560 turns multibyte character support on or off for the current buffer.
10562 If multibyte character support is turned off in a buffer, then each
10563 byte is a single character, even codes 0200 through 0377--exactly as
10564 they did in Emacs 19.34. This includes the features for support for
10565 the European characters, ISO Latin-1 and ISO Latin-2.
10567 However, there is no need to turn off multibyte character support to
10568 use ISO Latin-1 or ISO Latin-2; the Emacs multibyte character set
10569 includes all the characters in these character sets, and Emacs can
10570 translate automatically to and from either one.
10572 *** Visiting a file in unibyte mode.
10574 Turning off multibyte character support in the buffer after visiting a
10575 file with multibyte code conversion will display the multibyte
10576 sequences already in the buffer, byte by byte. This is probably not
10579 If you want to edit a file of unibyte characters (Latin-1, for
10580 example), you can do it by specifying `no-conversion' as the coding
10581 system when reading the file. This coding system also turns off
10582 multibyte characters in that buffer.
10584 If you turn off multibyte character support entirely, this turns off
10585 character conversion as well.
10587 *** Displaying international characters on X Windows.
10589 A font for X typically displays just one alphabet or script.
10590 Therefore, displaying the entire range of characters Emacs supports
10591 requires using many fonts.
10593 Therefore, Emacs now supports "fontsets". Each fontset is a
10594 collection of fonts, each assigned to a range of character codes.
10596 A fontset has a name, like a font. Individual fonts are defined by
10597 the X server; fontsets are defined within Emacs itself. But once you
10598 have defined a fontset, you can use it in a face or a frame just as
10599 you would use a font.
10601 If a fontset specifies no font for a certain character, or if it
10602 specifies a font that does not exist on your system, then it cannot
10603 display that character. It will display an empty box instead.
10605 The fontset height and width are determined by the ASCII characters
10606 (that is, by the font in the fontset which is used for ASCII
10609 *** Defining fontsets.
10611 Emacs does not use any fontset by default. Its default font is still
10612 chosen as in previous versions. You can tell Emacs to use a fontset
10613 with the `-fn' option or the `Font' X resource.
10615 Emacs creates a standard fontset automatically according to the value
10616 of standard-fontset-spec. This fontset's short name is
10617 `fontset-standard'. Bold, italic, and bold-italic variants of the
10618 standard fontset are created automatically.
10620 If you specify a default ASCII font with the `Font' resource or `-fn'
10621 argument, a fontset is generated from it. This works by replacing the
10622 FOUNDARY, FAMILY, ADD_STYLE, and AVERAGE_WIDTH fields of the font name
10623 with `*' then using this to specify a fontset. This fontset's short
10624 name is `fontset-startup'.
10626 Emacs checks resources of the form Fontset-N where N is 0, 1, 2...
10627 The resource value should have this form:
10628 FONTSET-NAME, [CHARSET-NAME:FONT-NAME]...
10629 FONTSET-NAME should have the form of a standard X font name, except:
10630 * most fields should be just the wild card "*".
10631 * the CHARSET_REGISTRY field should be "fontset"
10632 * the CHARSET_ENCODING field can be any nickname of the fontset.
10633 The construct CHARSET-NAME:FONT-NAME can be repeated any number
10634 of times; each time specifies the font for one character set.
10635 CHARSET-NAME should be the name of a character set, and FONT-NAME
10636 should specify an actual font to use for that character set.
10638 Each of these fontsets has an alias which is made from the
10639 last two font name fields, CHARSET_REGISTRY and CHARSET_ENCODING.
10640 You can refer to the fontset by that alias or by its full name.
10642 For any character sets that you don't mention, Emacs tries to choose a
10643 font by substituting into FONTSET-NAME. For instance, with the
10644 following resource,
10645 Emacs*Fontset-0: -*-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-24-*-*-*-*-*-fontset-24
10646 the font for ASCII is generated as below:
10647 -*-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-24-*-ISO8859-1
10648 Here is the substitution rule:
10649 Change CHARSET_REGISTRY and CHARSET_ENCODING to that of the charset
10650 defined in the variable x-charset-registries. For instance, ASCII has
10651 the entry (ascii . "ISO8859-1") in this variable. Then, reduce
10652 sequences of wild cards -*-...-*- with a single wildcard -*-.
10653 (This is to prevent use of auto-scaled fonts.)
10655 The function which processes the fontset resource value to create the
10656 fontset is called create-fontset-from-fontset-spec. You can also call
10657 that function explicitly to create a fontset.
10659 With the X resource Emacs.Font, you can specify a fontset name just
10660 like an actual font name. But be careful not to specify a fontset
10661 name in a wildcard resource like Emacs*Font--that tries to specify the
10662 fontset for other purposes including menus, and they cannot handle
10665 *** The command M-x set-language-environment sets certain global Emacs
10666 defaults for a particular choice of language.
10668 Selecting a language environment typically specifies a default input
10669 method and which coding systems to recognize automatically when
10670 visiting files. However, it does not try to reread files you have
10671 already visited; the text in those buffers is not affected. The
10672 language environment may also specify a default choice of coding
10673 system for new files that you create.
10675 It makes no difference which buffer is current when you use
10676 set-language-environment, because these defaults apply globally to the
10677 whole Emacs session.
10679 For example, M-x set-language-environment RET Latin-1 RET
10680 chooses the Latin-1 character set. In the .emacs file, you can do this
10681 with (set-language-environment "Latin-1").
10683 *** The command C-x RET f (set-buffer-file-coding-system)
10684 specifies the file coding system for the current buffer. This
10685 specifies what sort of character code translation to do when saving
10686 the file. As an argument, you must specify the name of one of the
10687 coding systems that Emacs supports.
10689 *** The command C-x RET c (universal-coding-system-argument)
10690 lets you specify a coding system when you read or write a file.
10691 This command uses the minibuffer to read a coding system name.
10692 After you exit the minibuffer, the specified coding system
10693 is used for *the immediately following command*.
10695 So if the immediately following command is a command to read or
10696 write a file, it uses the specified coding system for that file.
10698 If the immediately following command does not use the coding system,
10699 then C-x RET c ultimately has no effect.
10701 For example, C-x RET c iso-8859-1 RET C-x C-f temp RET
10702 visits the file `temp' treating it as ISO Latin-1.
10704 *** You can specify the coding system for a file using the -*-
10705 construct. Include `coding: CODINGSYSTEM;' inside the -*-...-*-
10706 to specify use of coding system CODINGSYSTEM. You can also
10707 specify the coding system in a local variable list at the end
10710 *** The command C-x RET t (set-terminal-coding-system) specifies
10711 the coding system for terminal output. If you specify a character
10712 code for terminal output, all characters output to the terminal are
10713 translated into that character code.
10715 This feature is useful for certain character-only terminals built in
10716 various countries to support the languages of those countries.
10718 By default, output to the terminal is not translated at all.
10720 *** The command C-x RET k (set-keyboard-coding-system) specifies
10721 the coding system for keyboard input.
10723 Character code translation of keyboard input is useful for terminals
10724 with keys that send non-ASCII graphic characters--for example,
10725 some terminals designed for ISO Latin-1 or subsets of it.
10727 By default, keyboard input is not translated at all.
10729 Character code translation of keyboard input is similar to using an
10730 input method, in that both define sequences of keyboard input that
10731 translate into single characters. However, input methods are designed
10732 to be convenient for interactive use, while the code translations are
10733 designed to work with terminals.
10735 *** The command C-x RET p (set-buffer-process-coding-system)
10736 specifies the coding system for input and output to a subprocess.
10737 This command applies to the current buffer; normally, each subprocess
10738 has its own buffer, and thus you can use this command to specify
10739 translation to and from a particular subprocess by giving the command
10740 in the corresponding buffer.
10742 By default, process input and output are not translated at all.
10744 *** The variable file-name-coding-system specifies the coding system
10745 to use for encoding file names before operating on them.
10746 It is also used for decoding file names obtained from the system.
10748 *** The command C-\ (toggle-input-method) activates or deactivates
10749 an input method. If no input method has been selected before, the
10750 command prompts for you to specify the language and input method you
10753 C-u C-\ (select-input-method) lets you switch to a different input
10754 method. C-h C-\ (or C-h I) describes the current input method.
10756 *** Some input methods remap the keyboard to emulate various keyboard
10757 layouts commonly used for particular scripts. How to do this
10758 remapping properly depends on your actual keyboard layout. To specify
10759 which layout your keyboard has, use M-x quail-set-keyboard-layout.
10761 *** The command C-h C (describe-coding-system) displays
10762 the coding systems currently selected for various purposes, plus
10763 related information.
10765 *** The command C-h h (view-hello-file) displays a file called
10766 HELLO, which has examples of text in many languages, using various
10769 *** The command C-h L (describe-language-support) displays
10770 information about the support for a particular language.
10771 You specify the language as an argument.
10773 *** The mode line now contains a letter or character that identifies
10774 the coding system used in the visited file. It normally follows the
10777 A dash indicates the default state of affairs: no code conversion
10778 (except CRLF => newline if appropriate). `=' means no conversion
10779 whatsoever. The ISO 8859 coding systems are represented by digits
10780 1 through 9. Other coding systems are represented by letters:
10782 A alternativnyj (Russian)
10784 C cn-gb-2312 (Chinese)
10785 C iso-2022-cn (Chinese)
10786 D in-is13194-devanagari (Indian languages)
10787 E euc-japan (Japanese)
10788 I iso-2022-cjk or iso-2022-ss2 (Chinese, Japanese, Korean)
10789 J junet (iso-2022-7) or old-jis (iso-2022-jp-1978-irv) (Japanese)
10790 K euc-korea (Korean)
10793 S shift_jis (Japanese)
10796 V viscii or vscii (Vietnamese)
10797 i iso-2022-lock (Chinese, Japanese, Korean)
10798 k iso-2022-kr (Korean)
10799 v viqr (Vietnamese)
10802 When you are using a character-only terminal (not a window system),
10803 two additional characters appear in between the dash and the file
10804 coding system. These two characters describe the coding system for
10805 keyboard input, and the coding system for terminal output.
10807 *** The new variable rmail-file-coding-system specifies the code
10808 conversion to use for RMAIL files. The default value is nil.
10810 When you read mail with Rmail, each message is decoded automatically
10811 into Emacs' internal format. This has nothing to do with
10812 rmail-file-coding-system. That variable controls reading and writing
10813 Rmail files themselves.
10815 *** The new variable sendmail-coding-system specifies the code
10816 conversion for outgoing mail. The default value is nil.
10818 Actually, there are three different ways of specifying the coding system
10821 - If you use C-x RET f in the mail buffer, that takes priority.
10822 - Otherwise, if you set sendmail-coding-system non-nil, that specifies it.
10823 - Otherwise, the default coding system for new files is used,
10824 if that is non-nil. That comes from your language environment.
10825 - Otherwise, Latin-1 is used.
10827 *** The command C-h t (help-with-tutorial) accepts a prefix argument
10828 to specify the language for the tutorial file. Currently, English,
10829 Japanese, Korean and Thai are supported. We welcome additional
10832 ** An easy new way to visit a file with no code or format conversion
10833 of any kind: Use M-x find-file-literally. There is also a command
10834 insert-file-literally which inserts a file into the current buffer
10835 without any conversion.
10837 ** C-q's handling of octal character codes is changed.
10838 You can now specify any number of octal digits.
10839 RET terminates the digits and is discarded;
10840 any other non-digit terminates the digits and is then used as input.
10842 ** There are new commands for looking up Info documentation for
10843 functions, variables and file names used in your programs.
10845 Type M-x info-lookup-symbol to look up a symbol in the buffer at point.
10846 Type M-x info-lookup-file to look up a file in the buffer at point.
10848 Precisely which Info files are used to look it up depends on the major
10849 mode. For example, in C mode, the GNU libc manual is used.
10851 ** M-TAB in most programming language modes now runs the command
10852 complete-symbol. This command performs completion on the symbol name
10853 in the buffer before point.
10855 With a numeric argument, it performs completion based on the set of
10856 symbols documented in the Info files for the programming language that
10859 With no argument, it does completion based on the current tags tables,
10860 just like the old binding of M-TAB (complete-tag).
10862 ** File locking works with NFS now.
10864 The lock file for FILENAME is now a symbolic link named .#FILENAME,
10865 in the same directory as FILENAME.
10867 This means that collision detection between two different machines now
10868 works reasonably well; it also means that no file server or directory
10869 can become a bottleneck.
10871 The new method does have drawbacks. It means that collision detection
10872 does not operate when you edit a file in a directory where you cannot
10873 create new files. Collision detection also doesn't operate when the
10874 file server does not support symbolic links. But these conditions are
10875 rare, and the ability to have collision detection while using NFS is
10876 so useful that the change is worth while.
10878 When Emacs or a system crashes, this may leave behind lock files which
10879 are stale. So you may occasionally get warnings about spurious
10880 collisions. When you determine that the collision is spurious, just
10881 tell Emacs to go ahead anyway.
10883 ** If you wish to use Show Paren mode to display matching parentheses,
10884 it is no longer sufficient to load paren.el. Instead you must call
10887 ** If you wish to use Delete Selection mode to replace a highlighted
10888 selection when you insert new text, it is no longer sufficient to load
10889 delsel.el. Instead you must call the function delete-selection-mode.
10891 ** If you wish to use Partial Completion mode to complete partial words
10892 within symbols or filenames, it is no longer sufficient to load
10893 complete.el. Instead you must call the function partial-completion-mode.
10895 ** If you wish to use uniquify to rename buffers for you,
10896 it is no longer sufficient to load uniquify.el. You must also
10897 set uniquify-buffer-name-style to one of the non-nil legitimate values.
10899 ** Changes in View mode.
10901 *** Several new commands are available in View mode.
10902 Do H in view mode for a list of commands.
10904 *** There are two new commands for entering View mode:
10905 view-file-other-frame and view-buffer-other-frame.
10907 *** Exiting View mode does a better job of restoring windows to their
10910 *** New customization variable view-scroll-auto-exit. If non-nil,
10911 scrolling past end of buffer makes view mode exit.
10913 *** New customization variable view-exits-all-viewing-windows. If
10914 non-nil, view-mode will at exit restore all windows viewing buffer,
10915 not just the selected window.
10917 *** New customization variable view-read-only. If non-nil, visiting a
10918 read-only file automatically enters View mode, and toggle-read-only
10919 turns View mode on or off.
10921 *** New customization variable view-remove-frame-by-deleting controls
10922 how to remove a not needed frame at view mode exit. If non-nil,
10923 delete the frame, if nil make an icon of it.
10925 ** C-x v l, the command to print a file's version control log,
10926 now positions point at the entry for the file's current branch version.
10928 ** C-x v =, the command to compare a file with the last checked-in version,
10929 has a new feature. If the file is currently not locked, so that it is
10930 presumably identical to the last checked-in version, the command now asks
10931 which version to compare with.
10933 ** When using hideshow.el, incremental search can temporarily show hidden
10934 blocks if a match is inside the block.
10936 The block is hidden again if the search is continued and the next match
10937 is outside the block. By customizing the variable
10938 isearch-hide-immediately you can choose to hide all the temporarily
10939 shown blocks only when exiting from incremental search.
10941 By customizing the variable hs-isearch-open you can choose what kind
10942 of blocks to temporarily show during isearch: comment blocks, code
10943 blocks, all of them or none.
10945 ** The new command C-x 4 0 (kill-buffer-and-window) kills the
10946 current buffer and deletes the selected window. It asks for
10947 confirmation first.
10949 ** C-x C-w, which saves the buffer into a specified file name,
10950 now changes the major mode according to that file name.
10951 However, the mode will not be changed if
10952 (1) a local variables list or the `-*-' line specifies a major mode, or
10953 (2) the current major mode is a "special" mode,
10954 not suitable for ordinary files, or
10955 (3) the new file name does not particularly specify any mode.
10957 This applies to M-x set-visited-file-name as well.
10959 However, if you set change-major-mode-with-file-name to nil, then
10960 these commands do not change the major mode.
10962 ** M-x occur changes.
10964 *** If the argument to M-x occur contains upper case letters,
10965 it performs a case-sensitive search.
10967 *** In the *Occur* buffer made by M-x occur,
10968 if you type g or M-x revert-buffer, this repeats the search
10969 using the same regular expression and the same buffer as before.
10971 ** In Transient Mark mode, the region in any one buffer is highlighted
10972 in just one window at a time. At first, it is highlighted in the
10973 window where you set the mark. The buffer's highlighting remains in
10974 that window unless you select to another window which shows the same
10975 buffer--then the highlighting moves to that window.
10977 ** The feature to suggest key bindings when you use M-x now operates
10978 after the command finishes. The message suggesting key bindings
10979 appears temporarily in the echo area. The previous echo area contents
10980 come back after a few seconds, in case they contain useful information.
10982 ** Each frame now independently records the order for recently
10983 selected buffers, so that the default for C-x b is now based on the
10984 buffers recently selected in the selected frame.
10986 ** Outline mode changes.
10988 *** Outline mode now uses overlays (this is the former noutline.el).
10990 *** Incremental searches skip over invisible text in Outline mode.
10992 ** When a minibuffer window is active but not the selected window, if
10993 you try to use the minibuffer, you used to get a nested minibuffer.
10994 Now, this not only gives an error, it also cancels the minibuffer that
10995 was already active.
10997 The motive for this change is so that beginning users do not
10998 unknowingly move away from minibuffers, leaving them active, and then
10999 get confused by it.
11001 If you want to be able to have recursive minibuffers, you must
11002 set enable-recursive-minibuffers to non-nil.
11004 ** Changes in dynamic abbrevs.
11006 *** Expanding dynamic abbrevs with M-/ is now smarter about case
11007 conversion. If the expansion has mixed case not counting the first
11008 character, and the abbreviation matches the beginning of the expansion
11009 including case, then the expansion is copied verbatim.
11011 The expansion is also copied verbatim if the abbreviation itself has
11012 mixed case. And using SPC M-/ to copy an additional word always
11013 copies it verbatim except when the previous copied word is all caps.
11015 *** The values of `dabbrev-case-replace' and `dabbrev-case-fold-search'
11016 are no longer Lisp expressions. They have simply three possible
11019 `dabbrev-case-replace' has these three values: nil (don't preserve
11020 case), t (do), or `case-replace' (do like M-x query-replace).
11021 `dabbrev-case-fold-search' has these three values: nil (don't ignore
11022 case), t (do), or `case-fold-search' (do like search).
11024 ** Minibuffer history lists are truncated automatically now to a
11025 certain length. The variable history-length specifies how long they
11026 can be. The default value is 30.
11028 ** Changes in Mail mode.
11030 *** The key C-x m no longer runs the `mail' command directly.
11031 Instead, it runs the command `compose-mail', which invokes the mail
11032 composition mechanism you have selected with the variable
11033 `mail-user-agent'. The default choice of user agent is
11034 `sendmail-user-agent', which gives behavior compatible with the old
11037 C-x 4 m now runs compose-mail-other-window, and C-x 5 m runs
11038 compose-mail-other-frame.
11040 *** While composing a reply to a mail message, from Rmail, you can use
11041 the command C-c C-r to cite just the region from the message you are
11042 replying to. This copies the text which is the selected region in the
11043 buffer that shows the original message.
11045 *** The command C-c C-i inserts a file at the end of the message,
11046 with separator lines around the contents.
11048 *** The command M-x expand-mail-aliases expands all mail aliases
11049 in suitable mail headers. Emacs automatically extracts mail alias
11050 definitions from your mail alias file (e.g., ~/.mailrc). You do not
11051 need to expand mail aliases yourself before sending mail.
11053 *** New features in the mail-complete command.
11055 **** The mail-complete command now inserts the user's full name,
11056 for local users or if that is known. The variable mail-complete-style
11057 controls the style to use, and whether to do this at all.
11058 Its values are like those of mail-from-style.
11060 **** The variable mail-passwd-command lets you specify a shell command
11061 to run to fetch a set of password-entries that add to the ones in
11064 **** The variable mail-passwd-file now specifies a list of files to read
11065 to get the list of user ids. By default, one file is used:
11068 ** You can "quote" a file name to inhibit special significance of
11069 special syntax, by adding `/:' to the beginning. Thus, if you have a
11070 directory named `/foo:', you can prevent it from being treated as a
11071 reference to a remote host named `foo' by writing it as `/:/foo:'.
11073 Emacs uses this new construct automatically when necessary, such as
11074 when you start it with a working directory whose name might otherwise
11075 be taken to be magic.
11077 ** There is a new command M-x grep-find which uses find to select
11078 files to search through, and grep to scan them. The output is
11079 available in a Compile mode buffer, as with M-x grep.
11081 M-x grep now uses the -e option if the grep program supports that.
11082 (-e prevents problems if the search pattern starts with a dash.)
11084 ** In Dired, the & command now flags for deletion the files whose names
11085 suggest they are probably not needed in the long run.
11087 In Dired, * is now a prefix key for mark-related commands.
11089 new key dired.el binding old key
11090 ------- ---------------- -------
11091 * c dired-change-marks c
11093 * * dired-mark-executables * (binding deleted)
11094 * / dired-mark-directories / (binding deleted)
11095 * @ dired-mark-symlinks @ (binding deleted)
11097 * DEL dired-unmark-backward DEL
11098 * ? dired-unmark-all-files C-M-?
11099 * ! dired-unmark-all-marks
11100 * % dired-mark-files-regexp % m
11101 * C-n dired-next-marked-file M-}
11102 * C-p dired-prev-marked-file M-{
11106 *** When Rmail cannot convert your incoming mail into Babyl format, it
11107 saves the new mail in the file RMAILOSE.n, where n is an integer
11108 chosen to make a unique name. This way, Rmail will not keep crashing
11109 each time you run it.
11111 *** In Rmail, the variable rmail-summary-line-count-flag now controls
11112 whether to include the line count in the summary. Non-nil means yes.
11114 *** In Rmail summary buffers, d and C-d (the commands to delete
11115 messages) now take repeat counts as arguments. A negative argument
11116 means to move in the opposite direction.
11118 *** In Rmail, the t command now takes an optional argument which lets
11119 you specify whether to show the message headers in full or pruned.
11121 *** In Rmail, the new command w (rmail-output-body-to-file) writes
11122 just the body of the current message into a file, without the headers.
11123 It takes the file name from the message subject, by default, but you
11124 can edit that file name in the minibuffer before it is actually used
11129 *** nntp.el has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
11131 *** Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
11134 *** Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like
11135 `and', `or', `not', and parent redirection.
11137 *** Article washing status can be displayed in the
11140 *** gnus.el has been split into many smaller files.
11142 *** Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID.
11144 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
11146 *** New variables for specifying what score and adapt files
11147 are to be considered home score and adapt files. See
11148 `gnus-home-score-file' and `gnus-home-adapt-files'.
11150 *** Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics.
11152 *** Article editing has been revamped and is now usable.
11154 *** Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions.
11155 See `gnus-signature-separator' and `gnus-signature-limit'.
11157 *** Summary pick mode has been made to look more nn-like.
11158 Line numbers are displayed and the `.' command can be
11159 used to pick articles.
11161 *** Commands for moving the .newsrc.eld from one server to
11162 another have been added.
11164 `M-x gnus-change-server'
11166 *** A way to specify that "uninteresting" fields be suppressed when
11167 generating lines in buffers.
11169 *** Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with
11172 *** Scoring can be done on words using the new score type `w'.
11174 *** Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis:
11176 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
11178 *** Scores can be decayed.
11180 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
11182 *** Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The
11183 Date is normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first.
11185 *** A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
11188 `M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups'
11190 *** A new command for reading collections of documents
11191 (nndoc with nnvirtual on top) has been added -- `C-M-d'.
11193 *** Process mark sets can be pushed and popped.
11195 *** A new mail-to-news backend makes it possible to post
11196 even when the NNTP server doesn't allow posting.
11198 *** A new backend for reading searches from Web search engines
11199 (DejaNews, Alta Vista, InReference) has been added.
11201 Use the `G w' command in the group buffer to create such
11204 *** Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard
11205 sorting functions, and each topic can be sorted independently.
11207 See the commands under the `T S' submap.
11209 *** Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently.
11211 See the commands under the `G P' submap.
11213 *** Cached articles can be pulled into the groups.
11215 Use the `Y c' command.
11217 *** Score files are now applied in a more reliable order.
11219 *** Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated.
11221 `M-x nnmail-split-history'
11223 *** More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk
11224 from incoming mail before saving the mail.
11226 See `nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook'.
11228 *** The nnml mail backend now understands compressed article files.
11230 *** To enable Gnus to read/post multi-lingual articles, you must execute
11231 the following code, for instance, in your .emacs.
11233 (add-hook 'gnus-startup-hook 'gnus-mule-initialize)
11235 Then, when you start Gnus, it will decode non-ASCII text automatically
11236 and show appropriate characters. (Note: if you are using gnus-mime
11237 from the SEMI package, formerly known as TM, you should NOT add this
11238 hook to gnus-startup-hook; gnus-mime has its own method of handling
11241 Since it is impossible to distinguish all coding systems
11242 automatically, you may need to specify a choice of coding system for a
11243 particular news group. This can be done by:
11245 (gnus-mule-add-group NEWSGROUP 'CODING-SYSTEM)
11247 Here NEWSGROUP should be a string which names a newsgroup or a tree
11248 of newsgroups. If NEWSGROUP is "XXX.YYY", all news groups under
11249 "XXX.YYY" (including "XXX.YYY.ZZZ") will use the specified coding
11250 system. CODING-SYSTEM specifies which coding system to use (for both
11251 for reading and posting).
11253 CODING-SYSTEM can also be a cons cell of the form
11254 (READ-CODING-SYSTEM . POST-CODING-SYSTEM)
11255 Then READ-CODING-SYSTEM is used when you read messages from the
11256 newsgroups, while POST-CODING-SYSTEM is used when you post messages
11259 Emacs knows the right coding systems for certain newsgroups by
11260 default. Here are some of these default settings:
11262 (gnus-mule-add-group "fj" 'iso-2022-7)
11263 (gnus-mule-add-group "alt.chinese.text" 'hz-gb-2312)
11264 (gnus-mule-add-group "alt.hk" 'hz-gb-2312)
11265 (gnus-mule-add-group "alt.chinese.text.big5" 'cn-big5)
11266 (gnus-mule-add-group "soc.culture.vietnamese" '(nil . viqr))
11268 When you reply by mail to an article, these settings are ignored;
11269 the mail is encoded according to sendmail-coding-system, as usual.
11271 ** CC mode changes.
11273 *** If you edit primarily one style of C (or C++, Objective-C, Java)
11274 code, you may want to make the CC Mode style variables have global
11275 values so that you can set them directly in your .emacs file. To do
11276 this, set c-style-variables-are-local-p to nil in your .emacs file.
11277 Note that this only takes effect if you do it *before* cc-mode.el is
11280 If you typically edit more than one style of C (or C++, Objective-C,
11281 Java) code in a single Emacs session, you may want to make the CC Mode
11282 style variables have buffer local values. By default, all buffers
11283 share the same style variable settings; to make them buffer local, set
11284 c-style-variables-are-local-p to t in your .emacs file. Note that you
11285 must do this *before* CC Mode is loaded.
11287 *** The new variable c-indentation-style holds the C style name
11288 of the current buffer.
11290 *** The variable c-block-comments-indent-p has been deleted, because
11291 it is no longer necessary. C mode now handles all the supported styles
11292 of block comments, with no need to say which one you will use.
11294 *** There is a new indentation style "python", which specifies the C
11295 style that the Python developers like.
11297 *** There is a new c-cleanup-list option: brace-elseif-brace.
11298 This says to put ...} else if (...) {... on one line,
11299 just as brace-else-brace says to put ...} else {... on one line.
11301 ** VC Changes [new]
11303 *** In vc-retrieve-snapshot (C-x v r), if you don't specify a snapshot
11304 name, it retrieves the *latest* versions of all files in the current
11305 directory and its subdirectories (aside from files already locked).
11307 This feature is useful if your RCS directory is a link to a common
11308 master directory, and you want to pick up changes made by other
11311 You can do the same thing for an individual file by typing C-u C-x C-q
11312 RET in a buffer visiting that file.
11314 *** VC can now handle files under CVS that are being "watched" by
11315 other developers. Such files are made read-only by CVS. To get a
11316 writable copy, type C-x C-q in a buffer visiting such a file. VC then
11317 calls "cvs edit", which notifies the other developers of it.
11319 *** vc-version-diff (C-u C-x v =) now suggests reasonable defaults for
11320 version numbers, based on the current state of the file.
11322 ** Calendar changes.
11324 *** A new function, list-holidays, allows you list holidays or
11325 subclasses of holidays for ranges of years. Related menu items allow
11326 you do this for the year of the selected date, or the
11327 following/previous years.
11329 *** There is now support for the Baha'i calendar system. Use `pb' in
11330 the *Calendar* buffer to display the current Baha'i date. The Baha'i
11331 calendar, or "Badi calendar" is a system of 19 months with 19 days
11332 each, and 4 intercalary days (5 during a Gregorian leap year). The
11333 calendar begins May 23, 1844, with each of the months named after a
11334 supposed attribute of God.
11336 ** ps-print changes
11338 There are some new user variables and subgroups for customizing the page
11341 *** Headers & Footers (subgroup)
11343 Some printer systems print a header page and force the first page to
11344 be printed on the back of the header page when using duplex. If your
11345 printer system has this behavior, set variable
11346 `ps-banner-page-when-duplexing' to t.
11348 If variable `ps-banner-page-when-duplexing' is non-nil, it prints a
11349 blank page as the very first printed page. So, it behaves as if the
11350 very first character of buffer (or region) were a form feed ^L (\014).
11352 The variable `ps-spool-config' specifies who is responsible for
11353 setting duplex mode and page size. Valid values are:
11355 lpr-switches duplex and page size are configured by `ps-lpr-switches'.
11356 Don't forget to set `ps-lpr-switches' to select duplex
11357 printing for your printer.
11359 setpagedevice duplex and page size are configured by ps-print using the
11360 setpagedevice PostScript operator.
11362 nil duplex and page size are configured by ps-print *not* using
11363 the setpagedevice PostScript operator.
11365 The variable `ps-spool-tumble' specifies how the page images on
11366 opposite sides of a sheet are oriented with respect to each other. If
11367 `ps-spool-tumble' is nil, ps-print produces output suitable for
11368 bindings on the left or right. If `ps-spool-tumble' is non-nil,
11369 ps-print produces output suitable for bindings at the top or bottom.
11370 This variable takes effect only if `ps-spool-duplex' is non-nil.
11371 The default value is nil.
11373 The variable `ps-header-frame-alist' specifies a header frame
11374 properties alist. Valid frame properties are:
11376 fore-color Specify the foreground frame color.
11377 Value should be a float number between 0.0 (black
11378 color) and 1.0 (white color), or a string which is a
11379 color name, or a list of 3 float numbers which
11380 correspond to the Red Green Blue color scale, each
11381 float number between 0.0 (dark color) and 1.0 (bright
11382 color). The default is 0 ("black").
11384 back-color Specify the background frame color (similar to fore-color).
11385 The default is 0.9 ("gray90").
11387 shadow-color Specify the shadow color (similar to fore-color).
11388 The default is 0 ("black").
11390 border-color Specify the border color (similar to fore-color).
11391 The default is 0 ("black").
11393 border-width Specify the border width.
11394 The default is 0.4.
11396 Any other property is ignored.
11398 Don't change this alist directly; instead use Custom, or the
11399 `ps-value', `ps-get', `ps-put' and `ps-del' functions (see there for
11402 Ps-print can also print footers. The footer variables are:
11403 `ps-print-footer', `ps-footer-offset', `ps-print-footer-frame',
11404 `ps-footer-font-family', `ps-footer-font-size', `ps-footer-line-pad',
11405 `ps-footer-lines', `ps-left-footer', `ps-right-footer' and
11406 `ps-footer-frame-alist'. These variables are similar to those
11407 controlling headers.
11409 *** Color management (subgroup)
11411 If `ps-print-color-p' is non-nil, the buffer's text will be printed in
11414 *** Face Management (subgroup)
11416 If you need to print without worrying about face background colors,
11417 set the variable `ps-use-face-background' which specifies if face
11418 background should be used. Valid values are:
11420 t always use face background color.
11421 nil never use face background color.
11422 (face...) list of faces whose background color will be used.
11424 *** N-up printing (subgroup)
11426 The variable `ps-n-up-printing' specifies the number of pages per
11429 The variable `ps-n-up-margin' specifies the margin in points (pt)
11430 between the sheet border and the n-up printing.
11432 If variable `ps-n-up-border-p' is non-nil, a border is drawn around
11435 The variable `ps-n-up-filling' specifies how the page matrix is filled
11436 on each sheet of paper. Following are the valid values for
11437 `ps-n-up-filling' with a filling example using a 3x4 page matrix:
11439 `left-top' 1 2 3 4 `left-bottom' 9 10 11 12
11443 `right-top' 4 3 2 1 `right-bottom' 12 11 10 9
11447 `top-left' 1 4 7 10 `bottom-left' 3 6 9 12
11451 `top-right' 10 7 4 1 `bottom-right' 12 9 6 3
11455 Any other value is treated as `left-top'.
11457 *** Zebra stripes (subgroup)
11459 The variable `ps-zebra-color' controls the zebra stripes grayscale or
11462 The variable `ps-zebra-stripe-follow' specifies how zebra stripes
11463 continue on next page. Visually, valid values are (the character `+'
11464 to the right of each column indicates that a line is printed):
11466 `nil' `follow' `full' `full-follow'
11467 Current Page -------- ----------- --------- ----------------
11468 1 XXXXX + 1 XXXXXXXX + 1 XXXXXX + 1 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
11469 2 XXXXX + 2 XXXXXXXX + 2 XXXXXX + 2 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
11470 3 XXXXX + 3 XXXXXXXX + 3 XXXXXX + 3 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
11474 7 XXXXX + 7 XXXXXXXX + 7 XXXXXX + 7 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
11475 8 XXXXX + 8 XXXXXXXX + 8 XXXXXX + 8 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
11476 9 XXXXX + 9 XXXXXXXX + 9 XXXXXX + 9 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
11479 -------- ----------- --------- ----------------
11480 Next Page -------- ----------- --------- ----------------
11481 12 XXXXX + 12 + 10 XXXXXX + 10 +
11482 13 XXXXX + 13 XXXXXXXX + 11 XXXXXX + 11 +
11483 14 XXXXX + 14 XXXXXXXX + 12 XXXXXX + 12 +
11484 15 + 15 XXXXXXXX + 13 + 13 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
11485 16 + 16 + 14 + 14 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
11486 17 + 17 + 15 + 15 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
11487 18 XXXXX + 18 + 16 XXXXXX + 16 +
11488 19 XXXXX + 19 XXXXXXXX + 17 XXXXXX + 17 +
11489 20 XXXXX + 20 XXXXXXXX + 18 XXXXXX + 18 +
11492 -------- ----------- --------- ----------------
11494 Any other value is treated as `nil'.
11497 *** Printer management (subgroup)
11499 The variable `ps-printer-name-option' determines the option used by
11500 some utilities to indicate the printer name; it's used only when
11501 `ps-printer-name' is a non-empty string. If you're using the lpr
11502 utility to print, for example, `ps-printer-name-option' should be set
11505 The variable `ps-manual-feed' indicates if the printer requires manual
11506 paper feeding. If it's nil, automatic feeding takes place. If it's
11507 non-nil, manual feeding takes place.
11509 The variable `ps-end-with-control-d' specifies whether C-d (\x04)
11510 should be inserted at end of the generated PostScript. Non-nil means
11513 *** Page settings (subgroup)
11515 If variable `ps-warn-paper-type' is nil, it's *not* treated as an
11516 error if the PostScript printer doesn't have a paper with the size
11517 indicated by `ps-paper-type'; the default paper size will be used
11518 instead. If `ps-warn-paper-type' is non-nil, an error is signaled if
11519 the PostScript printer doesn't support a paper with the size indicated
11520 by `ps-paper-type'. This is used when `ps-spool-config' is set to
11523 The variable `ps-print-upside-down' determines the orientation for
11524 printing pages: nil means `normal' printing, non-nil means
11525 `upside-down' printing (that is, the page is rotated by 180 degrees).
11527 The variable `ps-selected-pages' specifies which pages to print. If
11528 it's nil, all pages are printed. If it's a list, list elements may be
11529 integers specifying a single page to print, or cons cells (FROM . TO)
11530 specifying to print from page FROM to TO. Invalid list elements, that
11531 is integers smaller than one, or elements whose FROM is greater than
11532 its TO, are ignored.
11534 The variable `ps-even-or-odd-pages' specifies how to print even/odd
11535 pages. Valid values are:
11537 nil print all pages.
11539 `even-page' print only even pages.
11541 `odd-page' print only odd pages.
11543 `even-sheet' print only even sheets.
11544 That is, if `ps-n-up-printing' is 1, it behaves like
11545 `even-page', but for values greater than 1, it'll
11546 print only the even sheet of paper.
11548 `odd-sheet' print only odd sheets.
11549 That is, if `ps-n-up-printing' is 1, it behaves like
11550 `odd-page'; but for values greater than 1, it'll print
11551 only the odd sheet of paper.
11553 Any other value is treated as nil.
11555 If you set `ps-selected-pages' (see there for documentation), pages
11556 are filtered by `ps-selected-pages', and then by
11557 `ps-even-or-odd-pages'. For example, if we have:
11559 (setq ps-selected-pages '(1 4 (6 . 10) (12 . 16) 20))
11561 and we combine this with `ps-even-or-odd-pages' and
11562 `ps-n-up-printing', we get:
11564 `ps-n-up-printing' = 1:
11565 `ps-even-or-odd-pages' PAGES PRINTED
11566 nil 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 20
11567 even-page 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 20
11568 odd-page 1, 7, 9, 13, 15
11569 even-sheet 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 20
11570 odd-sheet 1, 7, 9, 13, 15
11572 `ps-n-up-printing' = 2:
11573 `ps-even-or-odd-pages' PAGES PRINTED
11574 nil 1/4, 6/7, 8/9, 10/12, 13/14, 15/16, 20
11575 even-page 4/6, 8/10, 12/14, 16/20
11576 odd-page 1/7, 9/13, 15
11577 even-sheet 6/7, 10/12, 15/16
11578 odd-sheet 1/4, 8/9, 13/14, 20
11580 *** Miscellany (subgroup)
11582 The variable `ps-error-handler-message' specifies where error handler
11583 messages should be sent.
11585 It is also possible to add a user-defined PostScript prologue code in
11586 front of all generated prologue code by setting the variable
11587 `ps-user-defined-prologue'.
11589 The variable `ps-line-number-font' specifies the font for line numbers.
11591 The variable `ps-line-number-font-size' specifies the font size in
11592 points for line numbers.
11594 The variable `ps-line-number-color' specifies the color for line
11595 numbers. See `ps-zebra-color' for documentation.
11597 The variable `ps-line-number-step' specifies the interval in which
11598 line numbers are printed. For example, if `ps-line-number-step' is set
11599 to 2, the printing will look like:
11611 integer an integer specifying the interval in which line numbers are
11612 printed. If it's smaller than or equal to zero, 1
11615 `zebra' specifies that only the line number of the first line in a
11616 zebra stripe is to be printed.
11618 Any other value is treated as `zebra'.
11620 The variable `ps-line-number-start' specifies the starting point in
11621 the interval given by `ps-line-number-step'. For example, if
11622 `ps-line-number-step' is set to 3, and `ps-line-number-start' is set to
11623 3, the output will look like:
11637 The variable `ps-postscript-code-directory' specifies the directory
11638 where the PostScript prologue file used by ps-print is found.
11640 The variable `ps-line-spacing' determines the line spacing in points,
11641 for ordinary text, when generating PostScript (similar to
11644 The variable `ps-paragraph-spacing' determines the paragraph spacing,
11645 in points, for ordinary text, when generating PostScript (similar to
11648 The variable `ps-paragraph-regexp' specifies the paragraph delimiter.
11650 The variable `ps-begin-cut-regexp' and `ps-end-cut-regexp' specify the
11651 start and end of a region to cut out when printing.
11653 ** hideshow changes.
11655 *** now supports hiding of blocks of single line comments (like // for
11658 *** Support for java-mode added.
11660 *** When doing `hs-hide-all' it is now possible to also hide the comments
11661 in the file if `hs-hide-comments-when-hiding-all' is set.
11663 *** The new function `hs-hide-initial-comment' hides the comments at
11664 the beginning of the files. Finally those huge RCS logs don't stay in your
11665 way! This is run by default when entering the `hs-minor-mode'.
11667 *** Now uses overlays instead of `selective-display', so is more
11668 robust and a lot faster.
11670 *** A block beginning can span multiple lines.
11672 *** The new variable `hs-show-hidden-short-form' if t, directs hideshow
11673 to show only the beginning of a block when it is hidden. See the
11674 documentation for more details.
11676 ** Changes in Enriched mode.
11678 *** When you visit a file in enriched-mode, Emacs will make sure it is
11679 filled to the current fill-column. This behavior is now independent
11680 of the size of the window. When you save the file, the fill-column in
11681 use is stored as well, so that the whole buffer need not be refilled
11682 the next time unless the fill-column is different.
11684 *** use-hard-newlines is now a minor mode. When it is enabled, Emacs
11685 distinguishes between hard and soft newlines, and treats hard newlines
11686 as paragraph boundaries. Otherwise all newlines inserted are marked
11687 as soft, and paragraph boundaries are determined solely from the text.
11693 The variables font-lock-face-attributes, font-lock-display-type and
11694 font-lock-background-mode are now obsolete; the recommended way to specify the
11695 faces to use for Font Lock mode is with M-x customize-group on the new custom
11696 group font-lock-highlighting-faces. If you set font-lock-face-attributes in
11697 your ~/.emacs file, Font Lock mode will respect its value. However, you should
11698 consider converting from setting that variable to using M-x customize.
11700 You can still use X resources to specify Font Lock face appearances.
11702 *** Maximum decoration
11704 Fontification now uses the maximum level of decoration supported by
11705 default. Previously, fontification used a mode-specific default level
11706 of decoration, which is typically the minimum level of decoration
11707 supported. You can set font-lock-maximum-decoration to nil
11708 to get the old behavior.
11712 Support is now provided for Java, Objective-C, AWK and SIMULA modes.
11714 Note that Font Lock mode can be turned on without knowing exactly what modes
11715 support Font Lock mode, via the command global-font-lock-mode.
11717 *** Configurable support
11719 Support for C, C++, Objective-C and Java can be more easily configured for
11720 additional types and classes via the new variables c-font-lock-extra-types,
11721 c++-font-lock-extra-types, objc-font-lock-extra-types and, you guessed it,
11722 java-font-lock-extra-types. These value of each of these variables should be a
11723 list of regexps matching the extra type names. For example, the default value
11724 of c-font-lock-extra-types is ("\\sw+_t") which means fontification follows the
11725 convention that C type names end in _t. This results in slower fontification.
11727 Of course, you can change the variables that specify fontification in whatever
11728 way you wish, typically by adding regexps. However, these new variables make
11729 it easier to make specific and common changes for the fontification of types.
11731 *** Adding highlighting patterns to existing support
11733 You can use the new function font-lock-add-keywords to add your own
11734 highlighting patterns, such as for project-local or user-specific constructs,
11737 For example, to highlight `FIXME:' words in C comments, put:
11739 (font-lock-add-keywords 'c-mode '(("\\<FIXME:" 0 font-lock-warning-face t)))
11745 Font Lock now defines two new faces, font-lock-builtin-face and
11746 font-lock-warning-face. These are intended to highlight builtin keywords,
11747 distinct from a language's normal keywords, and objects that should be brought
11748 to user attention, respectively. Various modes now use these new faces.
11750 *** Changes to fast-lock support mode
11752 The fast-lock package, one of the two Font Lock support modes, can now process
11753 cache files silently. You can use the new variable fast-lock-verbose, in the
11754 same way as font-lock-verbose, to control this feature.
11756 *** Changes to lazy-lock support mode
11758 The lazy-lock package, one of the two Font Lock support modes, can now fontify
11759 according to the true syntactic context relative to other lines. You can use
11760 the new variable lazy-lock-defer-contextually to control this feature. If
11761 non-nil, changes to the buffer will cause subsequent lines in the buffer to be
11762 refontified after lazy-lock-defer-time seconds of idle time. If nil, then only
11763 the modified lines will be refontified; this is the same as the previous Lazy
11764 Lock mode behavior and the behavior of Font Lock mode.
11766 This feature is useful in modes where strings or comments can span lines.
11767 For example, if a string or comment terminating character is deleted, then if
11768 this feature is enabled subsequent lines in the buffer will be correctly
11769 refontified to reflect their new syntactic context. Previously, only the line
11770 containing the deleted character would be refontified and you would have to use
11771 the command M-g M-g (font-lock-fontify-block) to refontify some lines.
11773 As a consequence of this new feature, two other variables have changed:
11775 Variable `lazy-lock-defer-driven' is renamed `lazy-lock-defer-on-scrolling'.
11776 Variable `lazy-lock-defer-time' can now only be a time, i.e., a number.
11777 Buffer modes for which on-the-fly deferral applies can be specified via the
11778 new variable `lazy-lock-defer-on-the-fly'.
11780 If you set these variables in your ~/.emacs, then you may have to change those
11783 ** Ada mode changes.
11785 *** There is now better support for using find-file.el with Ada mode.
11786 If you switch between spec and body, the cursor stays in the same
11787 procedure (modulo overloading). If a spec has no body file yet, but
11788 you try to switch to its body file, Ada mode now generates procedure
11791 *** There are two new commands:
11792 - `ada-make-local' : invokes gnatmake on the current buffer
11793 - `ada-check-syntax' : check syntax of current buffer.
11795 The user options `ada-compiler-make', `ada-make-options',
11796 `ada-language-version', `ada-compiler-syntax-check', and
11797 `ada-compile-options' are used within these commands.
11799 *** Ada mode can now work with Outline minor mode. The outline level
11800 is calculated from the indenting, not from syntactic constructs.
11801 Outlining does not work if your code is not correctly indented.
11803 *** The new function `ada-gnat-style' converts the buffer to the style of
11804 formatting used in GNAT. It places two blanks after a comment start,
11805 places one blank between a word end and an opening '(', and puts one
11806 space between a comma and the beginning of a word.
11808 ** Scheme mode changes.
11810 *** Scheme mode indentation now uses many of the facilities of Lisp
11811 mode; therefore, the variables to customize it are the variables used
11812 for Lisp mode which have names starting with `lisp-'. The variables
11813 with names starting with `scheme-' which used to do this no longer
11816 If you want to use different indentation for Scheme and Lisp, this is
11817 still possible, but now you must do it by adding a hook to
11818 scheme-mode-hook, which could work by setting the `lisp-' indentation
11819 variables as buffer-local variables.
11821 *** DSSSL mode is a variant of Scheme mode, for editing DSSSL scripts.
11822 Use M-x dsssl-mode.
11824 ** Changes to the emacsclient program
11826 *** If a socket can't be found, and environment variables LOGNAME or
11827 USER are set, emacsclient now looks for a socket based on the UID
11828 associated with the name. That is an emacsclient running as root
11829 can connect to an Emacs server started by a non-root user.
11831 *** The emacsclient program now accepts an option --no-wait which tells
11832 it to return immediately without waiting for you to "finish" the
11835 *** The new option --alternate-editor allows to specify an editor to
11836 use if Emacs is not running. The environment variable
11837 ALTERNATE_EDITOR can be used for the same effect; the command line
11838 option takes precedence.
11840 ** M-x eldoc-mode enables a minor mode in which the echo area
11841 constantly shows the parameter list for function being called at point
11842 (in Emacs Lisp and Lisp Interaction modes only).
11844 ** C-x n d now runs the new command narrow-to-defun,
11845 which narrows the accessible parts of the buffer to just
11848 ** Emacs now handles the `--' argument in the standard way; all
11849 following arguments are treated as ordinary file names.
11851 ** On MSDOS and Windows, the bookmark file is now called _emacs.bmk,
11852 and the saved desktop file is now called _emacs.desktop (truncated if
11855 ** When you kill a buffer that visits a file,
11856 if there are any registers that save positions in the file,
11857 these register values no longer become completely useless.
11858 If you try to go to such a register with C-x j, then you are
11859 asked whether to visit the file again. If you say yes,
11860 it visits the file and then goes to the same position.
11862 ** When you visit a file that changes frequently outside Emacs--for
11863 example, a log of output from a process that continues to run--it may
11864 be useful for Emacs to revert the file without querying you whenever
11865 you visit the file afresh with C-x C-f.
11867 You can request this behavior for certain files by setting the
11868 variable revert-without-query to a list of regular expressions. If a
11869 file's name matches any of these regular expressions, find-file and
11870 revert-buffer revert the buffer without asking for permission--but
11871 only if you have not edited the buffer text yourself.
11873 ** set-default-font has been renamed to set-frame-font
11874 since it applies only to the current frame.
11876 ** In TeX mode, you can use the variable tex-main-file to specify the
11877 file for tex-file to run TeX on. (By default, tex-main-file is nil,
11878 and tex-file runs TeX on the current visited file.)
11880 This is useful when you are editing a document that consists of
11881 multiple files. In each of the included files, you can set up a local
11882 variable list which specifies the top-level file of your document for
11883 tex-main-file. Then tex-file will run TeX on the whole document
11884 instead of just the file you are editing.
11888 RefTeX mode is a new minor mode with special support for \label, \ref
11889 and \cite macros in LaTeX documents. RefTeX distinguishes labels of
11890 different environments (equation, figure, ...) and has full support for
11891 multifile documents. To use it, select a buffer with a LaTeX document and
11892 turn the mode on with M-x reftex-mode. Here are the main user commands:
11895 Creates a label semi-automatically. RefTeX is context sensitive and
11896 knows which kind of label is needed.
11898 C-c ) reftex-reference
11899 Offers in a menu all labels in the document, along with context of the
11900 label definition. The selected label is referenced as \ref{LABEL}.
11902 C-c [ reftex-citation
11903 Prompts for a regular expression and displays a list of matching BibTeX
11904 database entries. The selected entry is cited with a \cite{KEY} macro.
11906 C-c & reftex-view-crossref
11907 Views the cross reference of a \ref or \cite command near point.
11910 Shows a table of contents of the (multifile) document. From there you
11911 can quickly jump to every section.
11913 Under X, RefTeX installs a "Ref" menu in the menu bar, with additional
11914 commands. Press `?' to get help when a prompt mentions this feature.
11915 Full documentation and customization examples are in the file
11916 reftex.el. You can use the finder to view the file documentation:
11917 C-h p --> tex --> reftex.el
11919 ** Changes in BibTeX mode.
11921 *** Info documentation is now available.
11923 *** Don't allow parentheses in string constants anymore. This confused
11924 both the BibTeX program and Emacs BibTeX mode.
11926 *** Renamed variable bibtex-mode-user-optional-fields to
11927 bibtex-user-optional-fields.
11929 *** Removed variable bibtex-include-OPTannote
11930 (use bibtex-user-optional-fields instead).
11932 *** New interactive functions to copy and kill fields and complete
11933 entries to the BibTeX kill ring, from where they can be yanked back by
11934 appropriate functions.
11936 *** New interactive functions for repositioning and marking of
11937 entries. They are bound by default to C-M-l and C-M-h.
11939 *** New hook bibtex-clean-entry-hook. It is called after entry has
11942 *** New variable bibtex-field-delimiters, which replaces variables
11943 bibtex-field-{left|right}-delimiter.
11945 *** New variable bibtex-entry-delimiters to determine how entries
11946 shall be delimited.
11948 *** Allow preinitialization of fields. See documentation of
11949 bibtex-user-optional-fields, bibtex-entry-field-alist, and
11950 bibtex-include-OPTkey for details.
11952 *** Book and InBook entries require either an author or an editor
11953 field. This is now supported by bibtex.el. Alternative fields are
11954 prefixed with `ALT'.
11956 *** New variable bibtex-entry-format, which replaces variable
11957 bibtex-clean-entry-zap-empty-opts and allows specification of many
11958 formatting options performed on cleaning an entry (see variable
11961 *** Even more control on how automatic keys are generated. See
11962 documentation of bibtex-generate-autokey for details. Transcriptions
11963 for foreign languages other than German are now handled, too.
11965 *** New boolean user option bibtex-comma-after-last-field to decide if
11966 comma should be inserted at end of last field.
11968 *** New boolean user option bibtex-align-at-equal-sign to determine if
11969 alignment should be made at left side of field contents or at equal
11970 signs. New user options to control entry layout (e.g. indentation).
11972 *** New function bibtex-fill-entry to realign entries.
11974 *** New function bibtex-reformat to reformat region or buffer.
11976 *** New function bibtex-convert-alien to convert a BibTeX database
11977 from alien sources.
11979 *** New function bibtex-complete-key (similar to bibtex-complete-string)
11980 to complete prefix to a key defined in buffer. Mainly useful in
11983 *** New function bibtex-count-entries to count entries in buffer or
11986 *** Added support for imenu.
11988 *** The function `bibtex-validate' now checks current region instead
11989 of buffer if mark is active. Now it shows all errors of buffer in a
11990 `compilation mode' buffer. You can use the normal commands (e.g.
11991 `next-error') for compilation modes to jump to errors.
11993 *** New variable `bibtex-string-file-path' to determine where the files
11994 from `bibtex-string-files' are searched.
11996 ** Iso Accents mode now supports Latin-3 as an alternative.
11998 ** The command next-error now opens blocks hidden by hideshow.
12000 ** The function using-unix-filesystems has been replaced by the
12001 functions add-untranslated-filesystem and remove-untranslated-filesystem.
12002 Each of these functions takes the name of a drive letter or directory
12005 When a filesystem is added as untranslated, all files on it are read
12006 and written in binary mode (no cr/lf translation is performed).
12008 ** browse-url changes
12010 *** New methods for: Grail (browse-url-generic), MMM (browse-url-mmm),
12011 Lynx in a separate xterm (browse-url-lynx-xterm) or in an Emacs window
12012 (browse-url-lynx-emacs), remote W3 (browse-url-w3-gnudoit), generic
12013 non-remote-controlled browsers (browse-url-generic) and associated
12014 customization variables.
12016 *** New commands `browse-url-of-region' and `browse-url'.
12018 *** URLs marked up with <URL:...> (RFC1738) work if broken across
12019 lines. Browsing methods can be associated with URL regexps
12020 (e.g. mailto: URLs) via `browse-url-browser-function'.
12022 ** Changes in Ediff
12024 *** Clicking Mouse-2 on a brief command description in Ediff control panel
12025 pops up the Info file for this command.
12027 *** There is now a variable, ediff-autostore-merges, which controls whether
12028 the result of a merge is saved in a file. By default, this is done only when
12029 merge is done from a session group (eg, when merging files in two different
12032 *** Since Emacs 19.31 (this hasn't been announced before), Ediff can compare
12033 and merge groups of files residing in different directories, or revisions of
12034 files in the same directory.
12036 *** Since Emacs 19.31, Ediff can apply multi-file patches interactively.
12037 The patches must be in the context format or GNU unified format. (The bug
12038 related to the GNU format has now been fixed.)
12040 ** Changes in Viper
12042 *** The startup file is now .viper instead of .vip
12043 *** All variable/function names have been changed to start with viper-
12045 *** C-\ now simulates the meta-key in all Viper states.
12046 *** C-z in Insert state now escapes to Vi for the duration of the next
12047 Viper command. In Vi and Insert states, C-z behaves as before.
12048 *** C-c \ escapes to Vi for one command if Viper is in Insert or Emacs states.
12049 *** _ is no longer the meta-key in Vi state.
12050 *** The variable viper-insert-state-cursor-color can be used to change cursor
12051 color when Viper is in insert state.
12052 *** If search lands the cursor near the top or the bottom of the window,
12053 Viper pulls the window up or down to expose more context. The variable
12054 viper-adjust-window-after-search controls this behavior.
12058 *** In C, C++, Objective C and Java, Etags tags global variables by
12059 default. The resulting tags files are inflated by 30% on average.
12060 Use --no-globals to turn this feature off. Etags can also tag
12061 variables which are members of structure-like constructs, but it does
12062 not by default. Use --members to turn this feature on.
12064 *** C++ member functions are now recognized as tags.
12066 *** Java is tagged like C++. In addition, "extends" and "implements"
12067 constructs are tagged. Files are recognised by the extension .java.
12069 *** Etags can now handle programs written in Postscript. Files are
12070 recognised by the extensions .ps and .pdb (Postscript with C syntax).
12071 In Postscript, tags are lines that start with a slash.
12073 *** Etags now handles Objective C and Objective C++ code. The usual C and
12074 C++ tags are recognized in these languages; in addition, etags
12075 recognizes special Objective C syntax for classes, class categories,
12076 methods and protocols.
12078 *** Etags also handles Cobol. Files are recognised by the extension
12079 .cobol. The tagged lines are those containing a word that begins in
12080 column 8 and ends in a full stop, i.e. anything that could be a
12083 *** Regexps in Etags now support intervals, as in ed or grep. The syntax of
12084 an interval is \{M,N\}, and it means to match the preceding expression
12085 at least M times and as many as N times.
12087 ** The format for specifying a custom format for time-stamp to insert
12088 in files has changed slightly.
12090 With the new enhancements to the functionality of format-time-string,
12091 time-stamp-format will change to be eventually compatible with it.
12092 This conversion is being done in two steps to maintain compatibility
12093 with old time-stamp-format values.
12095 In the new scheme, alternate case is signified by the number-sign
12096 (`#') modifier, rather than changing the case of the format character.
12097 This feature is as yet incompletely implemented for compatibility
12100 In the old time-stamp-format, all numeric fields defaulted to their
12101 natural width. (With format-time-string, each format has a
12102 fixed-width default.) In this version, you can specify the colon
12103 (`:') modifier to a numeric conversion to mean "give me the historical
12104 time-stamp-format width default." Do not use colon if you are
12105 specifying an explicit width, as in "%02d".
12107 Numbers are no longer truncated to the requested width, except in the
12108 case of "%02y", which continues to give a two-digit year. Digit
12109 truncation probably wasn't being used for anything else anyway.
12111 The new formats will work with old versions of Emacs. New formats are
12112 being recommended now to allow time-stamp-format to change in the
12113 future to be compatible with format-time-string. The new forms being
12114 recommended now will continue to work then.
12116 See the documentation string for the variable time-stamp-format for
12119 ** There are some additional major modes:
12121 dcl-mode, for editing VMS DCL files.
12122 m4-mode, for editing files of m4 input.
12123 meta-mode, for editing MetaFont and MetaPost source files.
12125 ** In Shell mode, the command shell-copy-environment-variable lets you
12126 copy the value of a specified environment variable from the subshell
12129 ** New Lisp packages include:
12131 *** battery.el displays battery status for laptops.
12133 *** M-x bruce (named after Lenny Bruce) is a program that might
12134 be used for adding some indecent words to your email.
12136 *** M-x crisp-mode enables an emulation for the CRiSP editor.
12138 *** M-x dirtrack arranges for better tracking of directory changes
12141 *** The new library elint.el provides for linting of Emacs Lisp code.
12142 See the documentation for `elint-initialize', `elint-current-buffer'
12145 *** M-x expand-add-abbrevs defines a special kind of abbrev which is
12146 meant for programming constructs. These abbrevs expand like ordinary
12147 ones, when you type SPC, but only at the end of a line and not within
12148 strings or comments.
12150 These abbrevs can act as templates: you can define places within an
12151 abbrev for insertion of additional text. Once you expand the abbrev,
12152 you can then use C-x a p and C-x a n to move back and forth to these
12153 insertion points. Thus you can conveniently insert additional text
12156 *** filecache.el remembers the location of files so that you
12157 can visit them by short forms of their names.
12159 *** find-func.el lets you find the definition of the user-loaded
12160 Emacs Lisp function at point.
12162 *** M-x handwrite converts text to a "handwritten" picture.
12164 *** M-x iswitchb-buffer is a command for switching to a buffer, much like
12165 switch-buffer, but it reads the argument in a more helpful way.
12167 *** M-x landmark implements a neural network for landmark learning.
12169 *** M-x locate provides a convenient interface to the `locate' program.
12171 *** M4 mode is a new mode for editing files of m4 input.
12173 *** mantemp.el creates C++ manual template instantiations
12174 from the GCC error messages which indicate which instantiations are needed.
12176 *** mouse-copy.el provides a one-click copy and move feature.
12177 You can drag a region with M-mouse-1, and it is automatically
12178 inserted at point. M-Shift-mouse-1 deletes the text from its
12179 original place after inserting the copy.
12181 *** mouse-drag.el lets you do scrolling by dragging Mouse-2
12184 You click the mouse and move; that distance either translates into the
12185 velocity to scroll (with mouse-drag-throw) or the distance to scroll
12186 (with mouse-drag-drag). Horizontal scrolling is enabled when needed.
12188 Enable mouse-drag with:
12189 (global-set-key [down-mouse-2] 'mouse-drag-throw)
12191 (global-set-key [down-mouse-2] 'mouse-drag-drag)
12193 *** mspools.el is useful for determining which mail folders have
12194 mail waiting to be read in them. It works with procmail.
12196 *** Octave mode is a major mode for editing files of input for Octave.
12197 It comes with a facility for communicating with an Octave subprocess.
12201 The ogonek package provides functions for changing the coding of
12202 Polish diacritic characters in buffers. Codings known from various
12203 platforms are supported such as ISO8859-2, Mazovia, IBM Latin2, and
12204 TeX. For example, you can change the coding from Mazovia to
12205 ISO8859-2. Another example is a change of coding from ISO8859-2 to
12206 prefix notation (in which `/a' stands for the aogonek character, for
12207 instance) and vice versa.
12209 To use this package load it using
12210 M-x load-library [enter] ogonek
12211 Then, you may get an explanation by calling one of
12212 M-x ogonek-jak -- in Polish
12213 M-x ogonek-how -- in English
12214 The info specifies the commands and variables provided as well as the
12215 ways of customization in `.emacs'.
12217 *** Interface to ph.
12219 Emacs provides a client interface to CCSO Nameservers (ph/qi)
12221 The CCSO nameserver is used in many universities to provide directory
12222 services about people. ph.el provides a convenient Emacs interface to
12225 *** uce.el is useful for replying to unsolicited commercial email.
12227 *** vcursor.el implements a "virtual cursor" feature.
12228 You can move the virtual cursor with special commands
12229 while the real cursor does not move.
12231 *** webjump.el is a "hot list" package which you can set up
12232 for visiting your favorite web sites.
12234 *** M-x winner-mode is a minor mode which saves window configurations,
12235 so you can move back to other configurations that you have recently used.
12239 Movemail no longer needs to be installed setuid root in order for POP
12240 mail retrieval to function properly. This is because it no longer
12241 supports the RPOP (reserved-port POP) protocol; instead, it uses the
12242 user's POP password to authenticate to the mail server.
12244 This change was made earlier, but not reported in NEWS before.
12246 * Emacs 20.1 changes for MS-DOS and MS-Windows.
12248 ** Changes in handling MS-DOS/MS-Windows text files.
12250 Emacs handles three different conventions for representing
12251 end-of-line: CRLF for MSDOS, LF for Unix and GNU, and CR (used on the
12252 Macintosh). Emacs determines which convention is used in a specific
12253 file based on the contents of that file (except for certain special
12254 file names), and when it saves the file, it uses the same convention.
12256 To save the file and change the end-of-line convention, you can use
12257 C-x RET f (set-buffer-file-coding-system) to specify a different
12258 coding system for the buffer. Then, when you save the file, the newly
12259 specified coding system will take effect. For example, to save with
12260 LF, specify undecided-unix (or some other ...-unix coding system); to
12261 save with CRLF, specify undecided-dos.
12263 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 20.1
12265 ** Byte-compiled files made with Emacs 20 will, in general, work in
12266 Emacs 19 as well, as long as the source code runs in Emacs 19. And
12267 vice versa: byte-compiled files made with Emacs 19 should also run in
12268 Emacs 20, as long as the program itself works in Emacs 20.
12270 ** Windows-specific functions and variables have been renamed
12271 to start with w32- instead of win32-.
12273 In hacker language, calling something a "win" is a form of praise. We
12274 don't want to praise a non-free Microsoft system, so we don't call it
12277 ** Basic Lisp changes
12279 *** A symbol whose name starts with a colon now automatically
12280 evaluates to itself. Therefore such a symbol can be used as a constant.
12282 *** The defined purpose of `defconst' has been changed. It should now
12283 be used only for values that should not be changed whether by a program
12286 The actual behavior of defconst has not been changed.
12288 *** There are new macros `when' and `unless'
12290 (when CONDITION BODY...) is short for (if CONDITION (progn BODY...))
12291 (unless CONDITION BODY...) is short for (if CONDITION nil BODY...)
12293 *** Emacs now defines functions caar, cadr, cdar and cddr with their
12294 usual Lisp meanings. For example, caar returns the car of the car of
12297 *** equal, when comparing strings, now ignores their text properties.
12299 *** The new function `functionp' tests whether an object is a function.
12301 *** arrayp now returns t for char-tables and bool-vectors.
12303 *** Certain primitives which use characters (as integers) now get an
12304 error if the integer is not a valid character code. These primitives
12305 include insert-char, char-to-string, and the %c construct in the
12308 *** The `require' function now insists on adding a suffix, either .el
12309 or .elc, to the file name. Thus, (require 'foo) will not use a file
12310 whose name is just foo. It insists on foo.el or foo.elc.
12312 *** The `autoload' function, when the file name does not contain
12313 either a directory name or the suffix .el or .elc, insists on
12314 adding one of these suffixes.
12316 *** string-to-number now takes an optional second argument BASE
12317 which specifies the base to use when converting an integer.
12318 If BASE is omitted, base 10 is used.
12320 We have not implemented other radices for floating point numbers,
12321 because that would be much more work and does not seem useful.
12323 *** substring now handles vectors as well as strings.
12325 *** The Common Lisp function eql is no longer defined normally.
12326 You must load the `cl' library to define it.
12328 *** The new macro `with-current-buffer' lets you evaluate an expression
12329 conveniently with a different current buffer. It looks like this:
12331 (with-current-buffer BUFFER BODY-FORMS...)
12333 BUFFER is the expression that says which buffer to use.
12334 BODY-FORMS say what to do in that buffer.
12336 *** The new primitive `save-current-buffer' saves and restores the
12337 choice of current buffer, like `save-excursion', but without saving or
12338 restoring the value of point or the mark. `with-current-buffer'
12339 works using `save-current-buffer'.
12341 *** The new macro `with-temp-file' lets you do some work in a new buffer and
12342 write the output to a specified file. Like `progn', it returns the value
12345 *** The new macro `with-temp-buffer' lets you do some work in a new buffer,
12346 which is discarded after use. Like `progn', it returns the value of the
12347 last form. If you wish to return the buffer contents, use (buffer-string)
12350 *** The new function split-string takes a string, splits it at certain
12351 characters, and returns a list of the substrings in between the
12354 For example, (split-string "foo bar lose" " +") returns ("foo" "bar" "lose").
12356 *** The new macro with-output-to-string executes some Lisp expressions
12357 with standard-output set up so that all output feeds into a string.
12358 Then it returns that string.
12360 For example, if the current buffer name is `foo',
12362 (with-output-to-string
12363 (princ "The buffer is ")
12364 (princ (buffer-name)))
12366 returns "The buffer is foo".
12368 ** Non-ASCII characters are now supported, if enable-multibyte-characters
12371 These characters have character codes above 256. When inserted in the
12372 buffer or stored in a string, they are represented as multibyte
12373 characters that occupy several buffer positions each.
12375 *** When enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil, a single character in
12376 a buffer or string can be two or more bytes (as many as four).
12378 Buffers and strings are still made up of unibyte elements;
12379 character positions and string indices are always measured in bytes.
12380 Therefore, moving forward one character can increase the buffer
12381 position by 2, 3 or 4. The function forward-char moves by whole
12382 characters, and therefore is no longer equivalent to
12383 (lambda (n) (goto-char (+ (point) n))).
12385 ASCII characters (codes 0 through 127) are still single bytes, always.
12386 Sequences of byte values 128 through 255 are used to represent
12387 non-ASCII characters. These sequences are called "multibyte
12390 The first byte of a multibyte character is always in the range 128
12391 through 159 (octal 0200 through 0237). These values are called
12392 "leading codes". The second and subsequent bytes are always in the
12393 range 160 through 255 (octal 0240 through 0377). The first byte, the
12394 leading code, determines how many bytes long the sequence is.
12396 *** The function forward-char moves over characters, and therefore
12397 (forward-char 1) may increase point by more than 1 if it moves over a
12398 multibyte character. Likewise, delete-char always deletes a
12399 character, which may be more than one buffer position.
12401 This means that some Lisp programs, which assume that a character is
12402 always one buffer position, need to be changed.
12404 However, all ASCII characters are always one buffer position.
12406 *** The regexp [\200-\377] no longer matches all non-ASCII characters,
12407 because when enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil, these characters
12408 have codes that are not in the range octal 200 to octal 377. However,
12409 the regexp [^\000-\177] does match all non-ASCII characters,
12412 *** The function char-boundary-p returns non-nil if position POS is
12413 between two characters in the buffer (not in the middle of a
12416 When the value is non-nil, it says what kind of character follows POS:
12418 0 if POS is at an ASCII character or at the end of range,
12419 1 if POS is before a 2-byte length multi-byte form,
12420 2 if POS is at a head of 3-byte length multi-byte form,
12421 3 if POS is at a head of 4-byte length multi-byte form,
12422 4 if POS is at a head of multi-byte form of a composite character.
12424 *** The function char-bytes returns how many bytes the character CHAR uses.
12426 *** Strings can contain multibyte characters. The function
12427 `length' returns the string length counting bytes, which may be
12428 more than the number of characters.
12430 You can include a multibyte character in a string constant by writing
12431 it literally. You can also represent it with a hex escape,
12432 \xNNNNNNN..., using as many digits as necessary. Any character which
12433 is not a valid hex digit terminates this construct. If you want to
12434 follow it with a character that is a hex digit, write backslash and
12435 newline in between; that will terminate the hex escape.
12437 *** The function concat-chars takes arguments which are characters
12438 and returns a string containing those characters.
12440 *** The function sref access a multibyte character in a string.
12441 (sref STRING INDX) returns the character in STRING at INDEX. INDEX
12442 counts from zero. If INDEX is at a position in the middle of a
12443 character, sref signals an error.
12445 *** The function chars-in-string returns the number of characters
12446 in a string. This is less than the length of the string, if the
12447 string contains multibyte characters (the length counts bytes).
12449 *** The function chars-in-region returns the number of characters
12450 in a region from BEG to END. This is less than (- END BEG) if the
12451 region contains multibyte characters (the length counts bytes).
12453 *** The function string-to-list converts a string to a list of
12454 the characters in it. string-to-vector converts a string
12455 to a vector of the characters in it.
12457 *** The function store-substring alters part of the contents
12458 of a string. You call it as follows:
12460 (store-substring STRING IDX OBJ)
12462 This says to alter STRING, by storing OBJ starting at index IDX in
12463 STRING. OBJ may be either a character or a (smaller) string.
12464 This function really does alter the contents of STRING.
12465 Since it is impossible to change the length of an existing string,
12466 it is an error if OBJ doesn't fit within STRING's actual length.
12468 *** char-width returns the width (in columns) of the character CHAR,
12469 if it were displayed in the current buffer and the selected window.
12471 *** string-width returns the width (in columns) of the text in STRING,
12472 if it were displayed in the current buffer and the selected window.
12474 *** truncate-string-to-width shortens a string, if necessary,
12475 to fit within a certain number of columns. (Of course, it does
12476 not alter the string that you give it; it returns a new string
12477 which contains all or just part of the existing string.)
12479 (truncate-string-to-width STR END-COLUMN &optional START-COLUMN PADDING)
12481 This returns the part of STR up to column END-COLUMN.
12483 The optional argument START-COLUMN specifies the starting column.
12484 If this is non-nil, then the first START-COLUMN columns of the string
12485 are not included in the resulting value.
12487 The optional argument PADDING, if non-nil, is a padding character to be added
12488 at the beginning and end the resulting string, to extend it to exactly
12489 WIDTH columns. If PADDING is nil, that means do not pad; then, if STRING
12490 is narrower than WIDTH, the value is equal to STRING.
12492 If PADDING and START-COLUMN are both non-nil, and if there is no clean
12493 place in STRING that corresponds to START-COLUMN (because one
12494 character extends across that column), then the padding character
12495 PADDING is added one or more times at the beginning of the result
12496 string, so that its columns line up as if it really did start at
12497 column START-COLUMN.
12499 *** When the functions in the list after-change-functions are called,
12500 the third argument is the number of bytes in the pre-change text, not
12501 necessarily the number of characters. It is, in effect, the
12502 difference in buffer position between the beginning and the end of the
12503 changed text, before the change.
12505 *** The characters Emacs uses are classified in various character
12506 sets, each of which has a name which is a symbol. In general there is
12507 one character set for each script, not for each language.
12509 **** The function charsetp tests whether an object is a character set name.
12511 **** The variable charset-list holds a list of character set names.
12513 **** char-charset, given a character code, returns the name of the character
12514 set that the character belongs to. (The value is a symbol.)
12516 **** split-char, given a character code, returns a list containing the
12517 name of the character set, followed by one or two byte-values
12518 which identify the character within that character set.
12520 **** make-char, given a character set name and one or two subsequent
12521 byte-values, constructs a character code. This is roughly the
12522 opposite of split-char.
12524 **** find-charset-region returns a list of the character sets
12525 of all the characters between BEG and END.
12527 **** find-charset-string returns a list of the character sets
12528 of all the characters in a string.
12530 *** Here are the Lisp facilities for working with coding systems
12531 and specifying coding systems.
12533 **** The function coding-system-list returns a list of all coding
12534 system names (symbols). With optional argument t, it returns a list
12535 of all distinct base coding systems, not including variants.
12536 (Variant coding systems are those like latin-1-dos, latin-1-unix
12537 and latin-1-mac which specify the end-of-line conversion as well
12538 as what to do about code conversion.)
12540 **** coding-system-p tests a symbol to see if it is a coding system
12541 name. It returns t if so, nil if not.
12543 **** file-coding-system-alist specifies which coding systems to use
12544 for certain file names. It works like network-coding-system-alist,
12545 except that the PATTERN is matched against the file name.
12547 Each element has the format (PATTERN . VAL), where PATTERN determines
12548 which file names the element applies to. PATTERN should be a regexp
12549 to match against a file name.
12551 VAL is a coding system, a cons cell containing two coding systems, or
12552 a function symbol. If VAL is a coding system, it is used for both
12553 decoding what received from the network stream and encoding what sent
12554 to the network stream. If VAL is a cons cell containing two coding
12555 systems, the car specifies the coding system for decoding, and the cdr
12556 specifies the coding system for encoding.
12558 If VAL is a function symbol, the function must return a coding system
12559 or a cons cell containing two coding systems, which is used as above.
12561 **** The variable network-coding-system-alist specifies
12562 the coding system to use for network sockets.
12564 Each element has the format (PATTERN . VAL), where PATTERN determines
12565 which network sockets the element applies to. PATTERN should be
12566 either a port number or a regular expression matching some network
12569 VAL is a coding system, a cons cell containing two coding systems, or
12570 a function symbol. If VAL is a coding system, it is used for both
12571 decoding what received from the network stream and encoding what sent
12572 to the network stream. If VAL is a cons cell containing two coding
12573 systems, the car specifies the coding system for decoding, and the cdr
12574 specifies the coding system for encoding.
12576 If VAL is a function symbol, the function must return a coding system
12577 or a cons cell containing two coding systems, which is used as above.
12579 **** process-coding-system-alist specifies which coding systems to use
12580 for certain subprocess. It works like network-coding-system-alist,
12581 except that the PATTERN is matched against the program name used to
12582 start the subprocess.
12584 **** The variable default-process-coding-system specifies the coding
12585 systems to use for subprocess (and net connection) input and output,
12586 when nothing else specifies what to do. The value is a cons cell
12587 (OUTPUT-CODING . INPUT-CODING). OUTPUT-CODING applies to output
12588 to the subprocess, and INPUT-CODING applies to input from it.
12590 **** The variable coding-system-for-write, if non-nil, specifies the
12591 coding system to use for writing a file, or for output to a synchronous
12594 It also applies to any asynchronous subprocess or network connection,
12595 but in a different way: the value of coding-system-for-write when you
12596 start the subprocess or connection affects that subprocess or
12597 connection permanently or until overridden.
12599 The variable coding-system-for-write takes precedence over
12600 file-coding-system-alist, process-coding-system-alist and
12601 network-coding-system-alist, and all other methods of specifying a
12602 coding system for output. But most of the time this variable is nil.
12603 It exists so that Lisp programs can bind it to a specific coding
12604 system for one operation at a time.
12606 **** coding-system-for-read applies similarly to input from
12607 files, subprocesses or network connections.
12609 **** The function process-coding-system tells you what
12610 coding systems(s) an existing subprocess is using.
12611 The value is a cons cell,
12612 (DECODING-CODING-SYSTEM . ENCODING-CODING-SYSTEM)
12613 where DECODING-CODING-SYSTEM is used for decoding output from
12614 the subprocess, and ENCODING-CODING-SYSTEM is used for encoding
12615 input to the subprocess.
12617 **** The function set-process-coding-system can be used to
12618 change the coding systems in use for an existing subprocess.
12620 ** Emacs has a new facility to help users manage the many
12621 customization options. To make a Lisp program work with this facility,
12622 you need to use the new macros defgroup and defcustom.
12624 You use defcustom instead of defvar, for defining a user option
12625 variable. The difference is that you specify two additional pieces of
12626 information (usually): the "type" which says what values are
12627 legitimate, and the "group" which specifies the hierarchy for
12630 Thus, instead of writing
12632 (defvar foo-blurgoze nil
12633 "*Non-nil means that foo will act very blurgozely.")
12635 you would now write this:
12637 (defcustom foo-blurgoze nil
12638 "*Non-nil means that foo will act very blurgozely."
12642 The type `boolean' means that this variable has only
12643 two meaningful states: nil and non-nil. Other type values
12644 describe other possibilities; see the manual for Custom
12645 for a description of them.
12647 The "group" argument is used to specify a group which the option
12648 should belong to. You define a new group like this:
12650 (defgroup ispell nil
12651 "Spell checking using Ispell."
12654 The "group" argument in defgroup specifies the parent group. The root
12655 group is called `emacs'; it should not contain any variables itself,
12656 but only other groups. The immediate subgroups of `emacs' correspond
12657 to the keywords used by C-h p. Under these subgroups come
12658 second-level subgroups that belong to individual packages.
12660 Each Emacs package should have its own set of groups. A simple
12661 package should have just one group; a more complex package should
12662 have a hierarchy of its own groups. The sole or root group of a
12663 package should be a subgroup of one or more of the "keyword"
12664 first-level subgroups.
12666 ** New `widget' library for inserting UI components in buffers.
12668 This library, used by the new custom library, is documented in a
12669 separate manual that accompanies Emacs.
12673 The easy-mmode package provides macros and functions that make
12674 developing minor modes easier. Roughly, the programmer has to code
12675 only the functionality of the minor mode. All the rest--toggles,
12676 predicate, and documentation--can be done in one call to the macro
12677 `easy-mmode-define-minor-mode' (see the documentation). See also
12678 `easy-mmode-define-keymap'.
12680 ** Text property changes
12682 *** The `intangible' property now works on overlays as well as on a
12685 *** The new functions next-char-property-change and
12686 previous-char-property-change scan through the buffer looking for a
12687 place where either a text property or an overlay might change. The
12688 functions take two arguments, POSITION and LIMIT. POSITION is the
12689 starting position for the scan. LIMIT says where to stop the scan.
12691 If no property change is found before LIMIT, the value is LIMIT. If
12692 LIMIT is nil, scan goes to the beginning or end of the accessible part
12693 of the buffer. If no property change is found, the value is the
12694 position of the beginning or end of the buffer.
12696 *** In the `local-map' text property or overlay property, the property
12697 value can now be a symbol whose function definition is a keymap. This
12698 is an alternative to using the keymap itself.
12700 ** Changes in invisibility features
12702 *** Isearch can now temporarily show parts of the buffer which are
12703 hidden by an overlay with a invisible property, when the search match
12704 is inside that portion of the buffer. To enable this the overlay
12705 should have a isearch-open-invisible property which is a function that
12706 would be called having the overlay as an argument, the function should
12707 make the overlay visible.
12709 During incremental search the overlays are shown by modifying the
12710 invisible and intangible properties, if beside this more actions are
12711 needed the overlay should have a isearch-open-invisible-temporary
12712 which is a function. The function is called with 2 arguments: one is
12713 the overlay and the second is nil when it should show the overlay and
12714 t when it should hide it.
12716 *** add-to-invisibility-spec, remove-from-invisibility-spec
12718 Modes that use overlays to hide portions of a buffer should set the
12719 invisible property of the overlay to the mode's name (or another symbol)
12720 and modify the `buffer-invisibility-spec' to include that symbol.
12721 Use `add-to-invisibility-spec' and `remove-from-invisibility-spec' to
12722 manipulate the `buffer-invisibility-spec'.
12723 Here is an example of how to do this:
12725 ;; If we want to display an ellipsis:
12726 (add-to-invisibility-spec '(my-symbol . t))
12727 ;; If you don't want ellipsis:
12728 (add-to-invisibility-spec 'my-symbol)
12731 (overlay-put (make-overlay beginning end) 'invisible 'my-symbol)
12734 ;; When done with the overlays:
12735 (remove-from-invisibility-spec '(my-symbol . t))
12736 ;; Or respectively:
12737 (remove-from-invisibility-spec 'my-symbol)
12739 ** Changes in syntax parsing.
12741 *** The syntax-directed buffer-scan functions (such as
12742 `parse-partial-sexp', `forward-word' and similar functions) can now
12743 obey syntax information specified by text properties, if the variable
12744 `parse-sexp-lookup-properties' is non-nil.
12746 If the value of `parse-sexp-lookup-properties' is nil, the behavior
12747 is as before: the syntax-table of the current buffer is always
12748 used to determine the syntax of the character at the position.
12750 When `parse-sexp-lookup-properties' is non-nil, the syntax of a
12751 character in the buffer is calculated thus:
12753 a) if the `syntax-table' text-property of that character
12754 is a cons, this cons becomes the syntax-type;
12756 Valid values of `syntax-table' text-property are: nil, a valid
12757 syntax-table, and a valid syntax-table element, i.e.,
12758 a cons cell of the form (SYNTAX-CODE . MATCHING-CHAR).
12760 b) if the character's `syntax-table' text-property
12761 is a syntax table, this syntax table is used
12762 (instead of the syntax-table of the current buffer) to
12763 determine the syntax type of the character.
12765 c) otherwise the syntax-type is determined by the syntax-table
12766 of the current buffer.
12768 *** The meaning of \s in regular expressions is also affected by the
12769 value of `parse-sexp-lookup-properties'. The details are the same as
12770 for the syntax-directed buffer-scan functions.
12772 *** There are two new syntax-codes, `!' and `|' (numeric values 14
12773 and 15). A character with a code `!' starts a comment which is ended
12774 only by another character with the same code (unless quoted). A
12775 character with a code `|' starts a string which is ended only by
12776 another character with the same code (unless quoted).
12778 These codes are mainly meant for use as values of the `syntax-table'
12781 *** The function `parse-partial-sexp' has new semantics for the sixth
12782 arg COMMENTSTOP. If it is `syntax-table', parse stops after the start
12783 of a comment or a string, or after end of a comment or a string.
12785 *** The state-list which the return value from `parse-partial-sexp'
12786 (and can also be used as an argument) now has an optional ninth
12787 element: the character address of the start of last comment or string;
12788 nil if none. The fourth and eighth elements have special values if the
12789 string/comment is started by a "!" or "|" syntax-code.
12791 *** Since new features of `parse-partial-sexp' allow a complete
12792 syntactic parsing, `font-lock' no longer supports
12793 `font-lock-comment-start-regexp'.
12795 ** Changes in face features
12797 *** The face functions are now unconditionally defined in Emacs, even
12798 if it does not support displaying on a device that supports faces.
12800 *** The function face-documentation returns the documentation string
12801 of a face (or nil if it doesn't have one).
12803 *** The function face-bold-p returns t if a face should be bold.
12804 set-face-bold-p sets that flag.
12806 *** The function face-italic-p returns t if a face should be italic.
12807 set-face-italic-p sets that flag.
12809 *** You can now specify foreground and background colors for text
12810 by adding elements of the form (foreground-color . COLOR-NAME)
12811 and (background-color . COLOR-NAME) to the list of faces in
12812 the `face' property (either the character's text property or an
12815 This means that you no longer need to create named faces to use
12816 arbitrary colors in a Lisp package.
12818 ** Changes in file-handling functions
12820 *** File-access primitive functions no longer discard an extra redundant
12821 directory name from the beginning of the file name. In other words,
12822 they no longer do anything special with // or /~. That conversion
12823 is now done only in substitute-in-file-name.
12825 This makes it possible for a Lisp program to open a file whose name
12828 *** If copy-file is unable to set the date of the output file,
12829 it now signals an error with the condition file-date-error.
12831 *** The inode number returned by file-attributes may be an integer (if
12832 the number fits in a Lisp integer) or a list of integers.
12834 *** insert-file-contents can now read from a special file,
12835 as long as the arguments VISIT and REPLACE are nil.
12837 *** The RAWFILE arg to find-file-noselect, if non-nil, now suppresses
12838 character code conversion as well as other things.
12840 Meanwhile, this feature does work with remote file names
12841 (formerly it did not).
12843 *** Lisp packages which create temporary files should use the TMPDIR
12844 environment variable to decide which directory to put them in.
12846 *** interpreter-mode-alist elements now specify regexps
12847 instead of constant strings.
12849 *** expand-file-name no longer treats `//' or `/~' specially. It used
12850 to delete all the text of a file name up through the first slash of
12851 any `//' or `/~' sequence. Now it passes them straight through.
12853 substitute-in-file-name continues to treat those sequences specially,
12854 in the same way as before.
12856 *** The variable `format-alist' is more general now.
12857 The FROM-FN and TO-FN in a format definition can now be strings
12858 which specify shell commands to use as filters to perform conversion.
12860 *** The new function access-file tries to open a file, and signals an
12861 error if that fails. If the open succeeds, access-file does nothing
12862 else, and returns nil.
12864 *** The function insert-directory now signals an error if the specified
12865 directory cannot be listed.
12867 ** Changes in minibuffer input
12869 *** The functions read-buffer, read-variable, read-command, read-string
12870 read-file-name, read-from-minibuffer and completing-read now take an
12871 additional argument which specifies the default value. If this
12872 argument is non-nil, it should be a string; that string is used in two
12875 It is returned if the user enters empty input.
12876 It is available through the history command M-n.
12878 *** The functions read-string, read-from-minibuffer,
12879 read-no-blanks-input and completing-read now take an additional
12880 argument INHERIT-INPUT-METHOD. If this is non-nil, then the
12881 minibuffer inherits the current input method and the setting of
12882 enable-multibyte-characters from the previously current buffer.
12884 In an interactive spec, you can use M instead of s to read an
12885 argument in this way.
12887 *** All minibuffer input functions discard text properties
12888 from the text you enter in the minibuffer, unless the variable
12889 minibuffer-allow-text-properties is non-nil.
12891 ** Echo area features
12893 *** Clearing the echo area now runs the normal hook
12894 echo-area-clear-hook. Note that the echo area can be used while the
12895 minibuffer is active; in that case, the minibuffer is still active
12896 after the echo area is cleared.
12898 *** The function current-message returns the message currently displayed
12899 in the echo area, or nil if there is none.
12901 ** Keyboard input features
12903 *** tty-erase-char is a new variable that reports which character was
12904 set up as the terminal's erase character when time Emacs was started.
12906 *** num-nonmacro-input-events is the total number of input events
12907 received so far from the terminal. It does not count those generated
12908 by keyboard macros.
12910 ** Frame-related changes
12912 *** make-frame runs the normal hook before-make-frame-hook just before
12913 creating a frame, and just after creating a frame it runs the abnormal
12914 hook after-make-frame-functions with the new frame as arg.
12916 *** The new hook window-configuration-change-hook is now run every time
12917 the window configuration has changed. The frame whose configuration
12918 has changed is the selected frame when the hook is run.
12920 *** Each frame now independently records the order for recently
12921 selected buffers, in its buffer-list frame parameter, so that the
12922 value of other-buffer is now based on the buffers recently displayed
12923 in the selected frame.
12925 *** The value of the frame parameter vertical-scroll-bars
12926 is now `left', `right' or nil. A non-nil value specifies
12927 which side of the window to put the scroll bars on.
12929 ** X Windows features
12931 *** You can examine X resources for other applications by binding
12932 x-resource-class around a call to x-get-resource. The usual value of
12933 x-resource-class is "Emacs", which is the correct value for Emacs.
12935 *** In menus, checkboxes and radio buttons now actually work.
12936 The menu displays the current status of the box or button.
12938 *** The function x-list-fonts now takes an optional fourth argument
12939 MAXIMUM which sets a limit on how many matching fonts to return.
12940 A smaller value of MAXIMUM makes the function faster.
12942 If the only question is whether *any* font matches the pattern,
12943 it is good to supply 1 for this argument.
12945 ** Subprocess features
12947 *** A reminder: it is no longer necessary for subprocess filter
12948 functions and sentinels to do save-match-data, because Emacs does this
12951 *** The new function shell-command-to-string executes a shell command
12952 and returns the output from the command as a string.
12954 *** The new function process-contact returns t for a child process,
12955 and (HOSTNAME SERVICE) for a net connection.
12957 ** An error in running pre-command-hook or post-command-hook
12958 does clear the variable to nil. The documentation was wrong before.
12960 ** In define-key-after, if AFTER is t, the new binding now always goes
12961 at the end of the keymap. If the keymap is a menu, this means it
12962 goes after the other menu items.
12964 ** If you have a program that makes several changes in the same area
12965 of the buffer, you can use the macro combine-after-change-calls
12966 around that Lisp code to make it faster when after-change hooks
12969 The macro arranges to call the after-change functions just once for a
12970 series of several changes--if that seems safe.
12972 Don't alter the variables after-change-functions and
12973 after-change-function within the body of a combine-after-change-calls
12976 ** If you define an abbrev (with define-abbrev) whose EXPANSION
12977 is not a string, then the abbrev does not expand in the usual sense,
12978 but its hook is still run.
12980 ** Normally, the Lisp debugger is not used (even if you have enabled it)
12981 for errors that are handled by condition-case.
12983 If you set debug-on-signal to a non-nil value, then the debugger is called
12984 regardless of whether there is a handler for the condition. This is
12985 useful for debugging problems that happen inside of a condition-case.
12987 This mode of operation seems to be unreliable in other ways. Errors that
12988 are normal and ought to be handled, perhaps in timers or process
12989 filters, will instead invoke the debugger. So don't say you weren't
12992 ** The new variable ring-bell-function lets you specify your own
12993 way for Emacs to "ring the bell".
12995 ** If run-at-time's TIME argument is t, the action is repeated at
12996 integral multiples of REPEAT from the epoch; this is useful for
12997 functions like display-time.
12999 ** You can use the function locate-library to find the precise file
13000 name of a Lisp library. This isn't new, but wasn't documented before.
13002 ** Commands for entering view mode have new optional arguments that
13003 can be used from Lisp. Low-level entrance to and exit from view mode
13004 is done by functions view-mode-enter and view-mode-exit.
13006 ** batch-byte-compile-file now makes Emacs return a nonzero status code
13007 if there is an error in compilation.
13009 ** pop-to-buffer, switch-to-buffer-other-window and
13010 switch-to-buffer-other-frame now accept an additional optional
13011 argument NORECORD, much like switch-to-buffer. If it is non-nil,
13012 they don't put the buffer at the front of the buffer list.
13014 ** If your .emacs file leaves the *scratch* buffer non-empty,
13015 Emacs does not display the startup message, so as to avoid changing
13016 the *scratch* buffer.
13018 ** The new function regexp-opt returns an efficient regexp to match a string.
13019 The arguments are STRINGS and (optionally) PAREN. This function can be used
13020 where regexp matching or searching is intensively used and speed is important,
13021 e.g., in Font Lock mode.
13023 ** The variable buffer-display-count is local to each buffer,
13024 and is incremented each time the buffer is displayed in a window.
13025 It starts at 0 when the buffer is created.
13027 ** The new function compose-mail starts composing a mail message
13028 using the user's chosen mail composition agent (specified with the
13029 variable mail-user-agent). It has variants compose-mail-other-window
13030 and compose-mail-other-frame.
13032 ** The `user-full-name' function now takes an optional parameter which
13033 can either be a number (the UID) or a string (the login name). The
13034 full name of the specified user will be returned.
13036 ** Lisp packages that load files of customizations, or any other sort
13037 of user profile, should obey the variable init-file-user in deciding
13038 where to find it. They should load the profile of the user name found
13039 in that variable. If init-file-user is nil, meaning that the -q
13040 option was used, then Lisp packages should not load the customization
13043 ** format-time-string now allows you to specify the field width
13044 and type of padding. This works as in printf: you write the field
13045 width as digits in the middle of a %-construct. If you start
13046 the field width with 0, it means to pad with zeros.
13048 For example, %S normally specifies the number of seconds since the
13049 minute; %03S means to pad this with zeros to 3 positions, %_3S to pad
13050 with spaces to 3 positions. Plain %3S pads with zeros, because that
13051 is how %S normally pads to two positions.
13053 ** thing-at-point now supports a new kind of "thing": url.
13055 ** imenu.el changes.
13057 You can now specify a function to be run when selecting an
13058 item from menu created by imenu.
13060 An example of using this feature: if we define imenu items for the
13061 #include directives in a C file, we can open the included file when we
13062 select one of those items.
13064 * For older news, see the file ONEWS
13066 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
13067 Copyright information:
13069 Copyright (C) 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
13071 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
13072 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
13073 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
13074 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
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13086 arch-tag: 1aca9dfa-2ac4-4d14-bebf-0007cee12793