1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 2000-08-14
2 Copyright (C) 1999, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 See the end for copying conditions.
5 Please send Emacs bug reports to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.
6 For older news, see the file ONEWS
9 * Installation Changes in Emacs 21.1
11 ** Support for GNU/Linux on IA64 machines has been added.
13 ** Support for LynxOS has been added.
15 ** `movemail' defaults to supporting POP. You can turn this off using
16 the --without-pop configure option, should that be necessary.
18 ** There are new configure options associated with the support for
19 images and toolkit scrollbars. Use the --help option in `configure'
22 ** There is a new configure option `--without-xim' that instructs
23 Emacs to not use X Input Methods (XIM), if these are available.
25 ** There is a new configure option `--disable-largefile' to omit
26 Unix-98-style support for large files if that is available.
28 ** You can build a 64-bit Emacs for SPARC/Solaris systems which
29 support 64-bit executables. See etc/MACHINES for instructions.
32 * Changes in Emacs 21.1
34 ** The new user-option `find-file-suppress-same-file-warnings' can be
35 set to suppress warnings ``X and Y are the same file'' when visiting a
36 file that is already visited under a different name.
38 ** The Strokes package has been updated. If your Emacs has XPM
39 support, you can use it for pictographic editing. In Strokes mode,
40 use C-mouse-2 to compose a complex stoke and insert it into the
41 buffer. You can encode or decode a strokes buffer with new commands
42 M-x strokes-encode-buffer and M-x strokes-decode-buffer. There is a
43 new command M-x strokes-list-strokes.
46 ** New command M-x describe-character-set reads a character set name
47 and displayes information about that.
49 ** When an error is signaled during the loading of the user's init
50 file, Emacs now pops up the *Messages* buffer.
52 ** Polish and German translations of Emacs' reference card have been
53 added. They are named `pl-refcard.tex' and `de-refcard.tex'.
54 Postscript files are included.
56 ** A reference card for Dired has been added. Its name is
59 ** The new variable `auto-mode-interpreter-regexp' contains a regular
60 expression matching interpreters, for file mode determination.
62 This regular expression is matched against the first line of a file to
63 determine the file's mode in `set-auto-mode' when Emacs can't deduce a
64 mode from the file's name. If it matches, the file is assumed to be
65 interpreted by the interpreter matched by the second group of the
66 regular expression. The mode is then determined as the mode
67 associated with that interpreter in `interpreter-mode-alist'.
70 ** C-down-mouse-3 is bound differently. Now if the menu bar is not
71 displayed it pops up a menu containing the items which would be on the
72 menu bar. If the menu bar is displayed, it pops up the major mode
73 menu or the Edit menu if there is no major mode menu.
75 ** Variable `load-path' is no longer customizable because it contains
76 a version-dependent component.
78 ** The <delete> function key is now bound to `delete-char' by default.
79 Note that this takes effect only on window systems. On TTYs, Emacs
80 will receive ASCII 127 when the DEL key is pressed. This
81 character is still bound as before.
83 ** Item Save Options on the Options menu allows saving options set
86 ** New function executable-make-buffer-file-executable-if-script-p is
87 suitable as an after-save-hook as an alternative to `executable-chmod'.
90 ** The most preferred coding-system is now used to save a buffer if
91 buffer-file-coding-system is `undecided' and it is safe for the buffer
92 contents. (The most preferred is set by set-language-environment or
93 by M-x prefer-coding-system.) Thus if you visit an ASCII file and
94 insert a non-ASCII character from your current language environment,
95 the file will be saved silently with the appropriate coding.
96 Previously you would be prompted for a safe coding system.
99 ** New variable `inhibit-iso-escape-detection' determines if Emacs'
100 coding system detection algorithm should pay attention to ISO2022's
101 escape sequences. If this variable is non-nil, the algorithm ignores
102 such escape sequences. The default value is nil, and it is
103 recommended not to change it except for the special case that you
104 always want to read any escape code verbatim. If you just want to
105 read a specific file without decoding escape codes, use C-x RET c
106 (`universal-coding-system-argument'). For instance, C-x RET c latin-1
107 RET C-x C-f filename RET.
109 ** Variable `default-korean-keyboard' is initialized properly from the
110 environment variable `HANGUL_KEYBOARD_TYPE'.
113 ** C-u C-x = provides detailed information about the character at
114 point in a pop-up window.
117 ** New command M-x list-charset-chars reads a character set name and
118 displays all characters in that character set.
120 ** M-x set-terminal-coding-system (C-x RET t) now allows CCL-based
121 coding systems such as cpXXX and cyrillic-koi8.
124 ** M-; now calls comment-dwim which tries to do something clever based
125 on the context. M-x kill-comment is now an alias to comment-kill,
126 defined on newcomment.el.
129 ** The function `getenv' is now callable interactively.
131 ** The many obsolete language `setup-...-environment' commands have
132 been removed -- use `set-language-environment'.
135 ** New user options `display-time-mail-face' and
136 `display-time-use-mail-icon' control the appearance of mode-line mail
137 indicator used by the display-time package. On a suitable display the
138 indicator can be an icon and is mouse-sensitive.
141 ** Emacs' auto-save list files are now by default stored in a
142 sub-directory `.emacs.d/auto-save-list/' of the user's home directory.
143 (On MS-DOS, this subdirectory's name is `_emacs.d/auto-save.list/'.)
144 You can customize `auto-save-list-prefix' to change this location.
147 ** On window-systems, additional space can be put between text lines
148 on the display using several methods
151 - By setting frame parameter `line-spacing' to PIXELS. PIXELS must be
152 a positive integer, and specifies that PIXELS number of pixels should
153 be put below text lines on the affected frame or frames.
156 - By setting X resource `lineSpacing', class `LineSpacing'. This is
157 equivalent ot specifying the frame parameter.
159 - By specifying `--line-spacing=N' or `-lsp N' on the command line.
161 - By setting buffer-local variable `line-spacing'. The meaning is
162 the same, but applies to the a particular buffer only.
165 ** The new command `clone-indirect-buffer' can be used to create
166 an indirect buffer that is a twin copy of the current buffer. The
167 command `clone-indirect-buffer-other-window', bound to C-x 4 c,
168 does the same but displays the indirect buffer in another window.
171 ** New user options `backup-directory-alist' and
172 `make-backup-file-name-function' control the placement of backups,
173 typically in a single directory or in an invisible sub-directory.
175 ** New commands iso-iso2sgml and iso-sgml2iso convert between Latin-1
176 characters and the corresponding SGML (HTML) entities.
179 ** Emacs now refuses to load compiled Lisp files which weren't
180 compiled with Emacs. Set `load-dangerous-libraries' to t to change
183 The reason for this change is an incompatible change in XEmacs' byte
184 compiler. Files compiled with XEmacs can contain byte codes that let
188 ** New X resources recognized
190 *** The X resource `synchronous', class `Synchronous', specifies
191 whether Emacs should run in synchronous mode. Synchronous mode
192 is useful for debugging X problems.
196 emacs.synchronous: true
198 *** The X resource `visualClass, class `VisualClass', specifies the
199 visual Emacs should use. The resource's value should be a string of
200 the form `CLASS-DEPTH', where CLASS is the name of the visual class,
201 and DEPTH is the requested color depth as a decimal number. Valid
202 visual class names are
211 Visual class names specified as X resource are case-insensitive, i.e.
212 `pseudocolor', `Pseudocolor' and `PseudoColor' all have the same
215 The program `xdpyinfo' can be used to list the visual classes
216 supported on your display, and which depths they have. If
217 `visualClass' is not specified, Emacs uses the display's default
222 emacs.visualClass: TrueColor-8
224 *** The X resource `privateColormap', class `PrivateColormap',
225 specifies that Emacs should use a private colormap if it is using the
226 default visual, and that visual is of class PseudoColor. Recognized
227 resource values are `true' or `on'.
231 emacs.privateColormap: true
233 ** The menu bar configuration has changed. The new configuration is
234 more CUA-compliant. The most significant change is that Options is
235 now a separate menu-bar item, with Mule and Customize as its submenus.
237 ** User-option `show-cursor-in-non-selected-windows' controls how to
238 display the cursor in non-selected windows. If nil, no cursor is
239 shown, if non-nil a hollow box cursor is shown. This option can
243 ** The variable `echo-keystrokes' may now have a floating point value.
246 ** C-x 5 1 runs the new command delete-other-frames which deletes
247 all frames except the selected one.
249 ** If your init file is compiled (.emacs.elc), `user-init-file' is set
250 to the source name (.emacs.el), if that exists, after loading it.
252 ** The help string specified for a menu-item whose definition contains
253 the property `:help HELP' is now displayed under X, on MS-Windows, and
254 MS-DOS, either in the echo area or with tooltips. Many standard menus
255 displayed by Emacs now have help strings.
258 ** Highlighting of mouse-sensitive regions is now supported in the
259 MS-DOS version of Emacs.
261 ** New user option `read-mail-command' specifies a command to use to
262 read mail from the menu etc.
265 ** Hexl contains a new command `hexl-insert-hex-string' which inserts
266 a string of hexadecimal numbers read from the mini-buffer.
268 ** Changes in Texinfo mode.
270 ** A couple of new key bindings have been added for inserting Texinfo
274 -------------------------
281 ** Changes in Outline mode.
283 There is now support for Imenu to index headings. A new command
284 `outline-headers-as-kill' copies the visible headings in the region to
285 the kill ring, e.g. to produce a table of contents.
287 ** Changes to Emacs Server
290 *** The new option `server-kill-new-buffers' specifies what to do
291 with buffers when done with them. If non-nil, the default, buffers
292 are killed, unless they were already present before visiting them with
293 Emacs Server. If nil, `server-temp-file-regexp' specifies which
294 buffers to kill, as before.
296 Please note that only buffers are killed that still have a client,
297 i.e. buffers visited with `emacsclient --no-wait' are never killed in
300 ** Changes to Show Paren mode.
302 *** Overlays used by Show Paren mode now use a priority property.
303 The new user option show-paren-priority specifies the priority to
304 use. Default is 1000.
307 ** New command M-x check-parens can be used to find unbalanced paren
308 groups and strings in buffers in Lisp mode (or other modes).
311 ** You can now easily create new *Info* buffers using either
312 M-x clone-buffer, C-u m <entry> RET or C-u g <entry> RET.
313 M-x clone-buffer can also be used on *Help* and several other special
317 ** Emacs can now support 'wheeled' mice (such as the MS IntelliMouse)
318 under XFree86. To enable this, simply put (mwheel-install) in your
321 The variables `mwheel-follow-mouse' and `mwheel-scroll-amount'
322 determine where and by how much buffers are scrolled.
324 ** Listing buffers with M-x list-buffers (C-x C-b) now shows
325 abbreviated file names. Abbreviations can be customized by changing
326 `directory-abbrev-alist'.
328 ** Faces and frame parameters.
330 There are four new faces `scroll-bar', `border', `cursor' and `mouse'.
331 Setting the frame parameters `scroll-bar-foreground' and
332 `scroll-bar-background' sets foreground and background color of face
333 `scroll-bar' and vice versa. Setting frame parameter `border-color'
334 sets the background color of face `border' and vice versa. Likewise
335 for frame parameters `cursor-color' and face `cursor', and frame
336 parameter `mouse-color' and face `mouse'.
338 Changing frame parameter `font' sets font-related attributes of the
339 `default' face and vice versa. Setting frame parameters
340 `foreground-color' or `background-color' sets the colors of the
341 `default' face and vice versa.
346 The face `menu' can be used to change colors and font of Emacs' menus.
347 Setting the font of LessTif/Motif menus is currently not supported;
348 attempts to set the font are ignored in this case.
351 ** New frame parameter `screen-gamma' for gamma correction.
353 The new frame parameter `screen-gamma' specifies gamma-correction for
354 colors. Its value may be nil, the default, in which case no gamma
355 correction occurs, or a number > 0, usually a float, that specifies
356 the screen gamma of a frame's display.
358 PC monitors usually have a screen gamma of 2.2. smaller values result
359 in darker colors. You might want to try a screen gamma of 1.5 for LCD
360 color displays. The viewing gamma Emacs uses is 0.4545. (1/2.2).
362 The X resource name of this parameter is `screenGamma', class
365 ** Emacs has a new redisplay engine.
367 The new redisplay handles characters of variable width and height.
368 Italic text can be used without redisplay problems. Fonts containing
369 oversized characters, i.e. characters larger than the logical height
370 of a font can be used. Images of various formats can be displayed in
373 ** Emacs has a new face implementation.
375 The new faces no longer fundamentally use X font names to specify the
376 font. Instead, each face has several independent attributes--family,
377 height, width, weight and slant--that it may or may not specify.
378 These attributes can be merged from various faces, and then together
381 Faces are supported on terminals that can display color or fonts.
382 These terminal capabilities are auto-detected. Details can be found
383 under Lisp changes, below.
385 ** New default font is Courier 12pt.
388 ** When using a windowing terminal, each Emacs window now has a cursor
389 of its own. When the window is selected, the cursor is solid;
390 otherwise, it is hollow.
392 ** Bitmap areas to the left and right of windows are used to display
393 truncation marks, continuation marks, overlay arrows and alike. The
394 foreground, background, and stipple of these areas can be changed by
395 customizing face `fringe'.
397 ** The mode line under X is now drawn with shadows by default. You
398 can change its appearance by modifying the face `modeline'.
402 Emacs now runs with the LessTif toolkit (see <http://www.lesstif.org>).
403 You will need a version 0.88.1 or later.
405 ** Toolkit scroll bars.
407 Emacs now uses toolkit scrollbars if available. When configured for
408 LessTif/Motif, it will use that toolkit's scrollbar. Otherwise, when
409 configured for Lucid and Athena widgets, it will use the Xaw3d scroll
410 bar if Xaw3d is available. You can turn off the use of toolkit scroll
411 bars by specifying `--with-toolkit-scroll-bars=no' when configuring
414 When you encounter problems with the Xaw3d scroll bar, watch out how
415 Xaw3d is compiled on your system. If the Makefile generated from
416 Xaw3d's Imakefile contains a `-DNARROWPROTO' compiler option, and your
417 Emacs system configuration file `s/your-system.h' does not contain a
418 define for NARROWPROTO, you might consider adding it. Take
419 `s/freebsd.h' as an example.
421 Alternatively, if you don't have access to the Xaw3d source code, take
422 a look at your system's imake configuration file, for example in the
423 directory `/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/config' (paths are different on
424 different systems). You will find files `*.cf' there. If your
425 system's cf-file contains a line like `#define NeedWidePrototypes NO',
426 add a `#define NARROWPROTO' to your Emacs system configuration file.
428 The reason for this is that one Xaw3d function uses `double' or
429 `float' function parameters depending on the setting of NARROWPROTO.
430 This is not a problem when Imakefiles are used because each system's
431 image configuration file contains the necessary information. Since
432 Emacs doesn't use imake, this has do be done manually.
434 ** Toggle buttons and radio buttons in menus.
436 When compiled with LessTif (or Motif) support, Emacs uses toolkit
437 widgets for radio and toggle buttons in menus. When configured for
438 Lucid, Emacs draws radio buttons and toggle buttons similar to Motif.
441 ** Highlighting of trailing whitespace.
443 When `show-trailing-whitespace' is non-nil, Emacs displays trailing
444 whitespace in the face `trailing-whitespace'. Trailing whitespace is
445 defined as spaces or tabs at the end of a line. To avoid busy
446 highlighting when entering new text, trailing whitespace is not
447 displayed if point is at the end of the line containing the
453 Emacs can optionally display a busy-cursor under X. You can turn the
454 display on or off by customizing group `cursor'.
459 M-x blink-cursor-mode toggles a blinking cursor under X and on
460 terminals having terminal capabilities `vi', `vs', and `ve'. Blinking
461 and related parameters like frequency and delay can be customized in
464 ** New font-lock support mode `jit-lock-mode'.
466 This support mode is roughly equivalent to `lazy-lock' but is
467 generally faster. It supports stealth and deferred fontification.
468 See the documentation of the function `jit-lock-mode' for more
471 Font-lock uses jit-lock-mode as default support mode, so you don't
472 have to do anything to activate it.
474 ** Tabs and variable-width text.
476 Tabs are now displayed with stretch properties; the width of a tab is
477 defined as a multiple of the normal character width of a frame, and is
478 independent of the fonts used in the text where the tab appears.
479 Thus, tabs can be used to line up text in different fonts.
481 ** Enhancements of the Lucid menu bar
484 *** The Lucid menu bar now supports the resource "margin".
486 emacs.pane.menubar.margin: 5
488 The default margin is 4 which makes the menu bar appear like the
491 *** Arrows that indicate sub-menus are now drawn with shadows, as in
495 ** Hscrolling in C code.
497 Horizontal scrolling now happens automatically if
498 `automatic-hscrolling' is set (the default). This setting can be
503 Emacs supports a tool bar at the top of a frame under X. For details
504 how to define a tool bar, see the page describing Lisp-level changes.
505 Toolbar global minor mode controls whether or not it is displayed. To
506 make the toolbar more useful, we need contributions of extra icons for
507 specific modes (with copyright assignments).
510 ** Mouse-sensitive mode line.
512 Different parts of the mode line under X have been made
513 mouse-sensitive. Moving the mouse to a mouse-sensitive part in the mode
514 line changes the appearance of the mouse pointer to an arrow, and help
515 about available mouse actions is displayed either in the echo area, or
516 in the tooltip window if you have enabled one.
518 Currently, the following actions have been defined:
520 - Mouse-1 on the buffer name in the mode line switches between two
523 - Mouse-2 on the buffer-name switches to the next buffer, and
524 M-mouse-2 switches to the previous buffer in the buffer list.
526 - Mouse-3 on the buffer-name displays a buffer menu.
528 - Mouse-2 on the read-only or modified status in the mode line (`%' or
529 `*') toggles the status.
531 - Mouse-3 on the mode name display a minor-mode menu.
533 ** LessTif/Motif file selection dialog.
535 When Emacs is configured to use LessTif or Motif, reading a file name
536 from a menu will pop up a file selection dialog if `use-dialog-box' is
539 ** Emacs can display faces on TTY frames.
541 Emacs automatically detects terminals that are able to display colors.
542 Faces with a weight greater than normal are displayed extra-bright, if
543 the terminal supports it. Faces with a weight less than normal and
544 italic faces are displayed dimmed, if the terminal supports it.
545 Underlined faces are displayed underlined if possible. Other face
546 attributes such as `overline', `strike-through', and `box' are ignored
551 Emacs supports playing sound files on GNU/Linux and FreeBSD (Voxware
552 driver and native BSD driver, a.k.a. Luigi's driver). Currently
553 supported file formats are RIFF-WAVE (*.wav) and Sun Audio (*.au).
556 ** A new variable, backup-by-copying-when-privileged-mismatch, gives
557 the highest file uid for which backup-by-copying-when-mismatch will be
558 forced on. The assumption is that uids less than or equal to this
559 value are special uids (root, bin, daemon, etc.--not real system
560 users) and that files owned by these users should not change ownership,
561 even if your system policy allows users other than root to edit them.
563 The default is 200; set the variable to nil to disable the feature.
566 ** A block cursor can be drawn as wide as the glyph under it under X.
568 As an example: if a block cursor is over a tab character, it will be
569 drawn as wide as that tab on the display. To do this, set
570 `x-stretch-cursor' to a non-nil value.
573 ** Empty display lines at the end of a buffer may be marked with a
574 bitmap (this is similar to the tilde displayed by vi).
576 This behavior is activated by setting the buffer-local variable
577 `indicate-empty-lines' to a non-nil value. The default value of this
578 variable is found in `default-indicate-empty-lines'.
581 ** There is a new "aggressive" scrolling method.
583 When scrolling up because point is above the window start, if the
584 value of the buffer-local variable `scroll-up-aggessively' is a
585 number, Emacs chooses a new window start so that point ends up that
586 fraction of the window's height from the top of the window.
588 When scrolling down because point is below the window end, if the
589 value of the buffer-local variable `scroll-down-aggessively' is a
590 number, Emacs chooses a new window start so that point ends up that
591 fraction of the window's height from the bottom of the window.
593 ** The rectangle commands now avoid inserting undesirable spaces,
594 notably at the end of lines.
596 All these functions have been rewritten to avoid inserting unwanted
597 spaces, and an optional prefix now allows them to behave the old way.
600 There is a new command M-x replace-rectangle.
602 ** The new command M-x query-replace-regexp-eval acts like
603 query-replace-regexp, but takes a Lisp expression which is evaluated
604 after each match to get the replacement text.
607 ** M-x query-replace recognizes a new command `e' (or `E') that lets
608 you edit the replacement string.
610 ** The new command mail-abbrev-complete-alias, bound to `M-TAB', lets
611 you complete mail aliases in the text, analogous to
612 lisp-complete-symbol.
615 ** Emacs now resizes mini-windows if appropriate.
617 If a message is longer than one line, or minibuffer contents are
618 longer than one line, Emacs now resizes the minibuffer window unless
619 it is on a frame of its own. You can control the maximum minibuffer
620 window size by setting the following variable:
622 - User option: max-mini-window-height
624 Maximum height for resizing mini-windows. If a float, it specifies a
625 fraction of the mini-window frame's height. If an integer, it
626 specifies a number of lines. If nil, don't resize.
630 ** The command `Info-search' now uses a search history.
632 ** Changes to hideshow.el
634 Hideshow is now at version 5.x. It uses a new algorithms for block
635 selection and traversal and includes more isearch support.
637 *** Generalized block selection and traversal
639 A block is now recognized by three things: its start and end regexps
640 (both strings), and a match-data selector (an integer) specifying
641 which sub-expression in the start regexp serves as the place where a
642 `forward-sexp'-like function can operate. Hideshow always adjusts
643 point to this sub-expression before calling `hs-forward-sexp-func'
644 (which for most modes evaluates to `forward-sexp').
646 If the match-data selector is not specified, it defaults to zero,
647 i.e., the entire start regexp is valid, w/ no prefix. This is
648 backwards compatible with previous versions of hideshow. Please see
649 the docstring for variable `hs-special-modes-alist' for details.
651 *** Isearch support for updating mode line
653 During incremental search, if Hideshow minor mode is active, hidden
654 blocks are temporarily shown. The variable `hs-headline' records the
655 line at the beginning of the opened block (preceding the hidden
656 portion of the buffer), and the mode line is refreshed. When a block
657 is re-hidden, the variable is set to nil.
659 To show `hs-headline' in the mode line, you may wish to include
660 something like this in your .emacs.
662 (add-hook 'hs-minor-mode-hook
664 (add-to-list 'mode-line-format 'hs-headline)))
666 ** Changes to Change Log mode and Add-Log functions
669 If you invoke `add-change-log-entry' from a backup file, it makes an
670 entry appropriate for the file's parent. This is useful for making
671 log entries by comparing a version with deleted functions.
674 New command M-x change-log-merge merges another log into the current
678 New command M-x change-log-redate fixes any old-style date entries in
682 Change Log mode now adds a file's version number to change log entries
683 if user-option `change-log-version-info-enabled' is non-nil.
686 Unless the file is under version control the search for a file's
687 version number is performed based on regular expressions from
688 `change-log-version-number-regexp-list' which can be cutomized.
689 Version numbers are only found in the first 10 percent of a file.
691 ** Changes in Font Lock
693 *** The new function `font-lock-remove-keywords' can be used to remove
694 font-lock keywords from the current buffer or from a specific major
697 ** Comint (subshell) changes
699 By default, comint no longer uses the variable `comint-prompt-regexp' to
700 distiguish prompts from user-input. Instead, it notices which parts of
701 the text were output by the process, and which entered by the user, and
702 attaches `field' properties to allow emacs commands to use this information.
703 Common movement commands, notably beginning-of-line, respect field
704 boundaries in a fairly natural manner.
705 To disable this feature, and use the old behavior, set the variable
706 `comint-use-prompt-regexp-instead-of-fields' to a non-nil value.
708 Comint now includes new features to send commands to running processes
709 and redirect the output to a designated buffer or buffers.
711 The command M-x comint-redirect-send-command reads a command and
712 buffer name from the mini-buffer. The command is sent to the current
713 buffer's process, and its output is inserted into the specified buffer.
715 The command M-x comint-redirect-send-command-to-process acts like
716 M-x comint-redirect-send-command but additionally reads the name of
717 the buffer whose process should be used from the mini-buffer.
719 Packages based on comint.el like shell-mode, and scheme-interaction-mode
720 now highlight user input and program prompts, and support choosing
721 previous input with mouse-2. To control these feature, see the
722 user-options `comint-highlight-input' and `comint-highlight-prompt'.
724 ** Changes to Rmail mode
726 *** The new user-option rmail-rmail-user-mail-address-regexp can be
727 set to fine tune the identification of of the correspondent when
728 receiving new mail. If it matches the address of the sender, the
729 recipient is taken as correspondent of a mail. If nil, the default,
730 `user-login-name' and `user-mail-address' are used to exclude yourself
733 Usually you don't have to set this variable, except if you collect
734 mails sent by you under different user names. Then it should be a
735 regexp matching your mail addresses.
737 *** The new user-option rmail-confirm-expunge controls whether and how
738 to ask for confirmation before expunging deleted messages from an
739 Rmail file. You can choose between no confirmation, confirmation
740 with y-or-n-p, or confirmation with yes-or-no-p. Default is to ask
741 for confirmation with yes-or-no-p.
743 *** RET is now bound in the Rmail summary to rmail-summary-goto-msg,
746 *** There is a new user option `rmail-digest-end-regexps' that
747 specifies the regular expressions to detect the line that ends a
750 *** The new user option `rmail-automatic-folder-directives' specifies
751 in which folder to put messages automatically.
753 ** Changes to TeX mode
755 The default mode has been changed from `plain-tex-mode' to
758 ** Changes to RefTeX mode
760 *** RefTeX has new support for index generation. Index entries can be
761 created with `C-c <', with completion available on index keys.
762 Pressing `C-c /' indexes the word at the cursor with a default
763 macro. `C-c >' compiles all index entries into an alphabetically
764 sorted *Index* buffer which looks like the final index. Entries
765 can be edited from that buffer.
767 *** Label and citation key selection now allow to select several
768 items and reference them together (use `m' to mark items, `a' or
769 `A' to use all marked entries).
771 *** reftex.el has been split into a number of smaller files to reduce
772 memory use when only a part of RefTeX is being used.
774 *** a new command `reftex-view-crossref-from-bibtex' (bound to `C-c &'
775 in BibTeX-mode) can be called in a BibTeX database buffer in order
776 to show locations in LaTeX documents where a particular entry has
779 ** Emacs Lisp mode now allows multiple levels of outline headings.
780 The level of a heading is determined from the number of leading
781 semicolons in a heading line. Toplevel forms starting with a `('
782 in column 1 are always made leaves.
784 ** The M-x time-stamp command (most commonly used on write-file-hooks)
785 has the following new features:
787 *** The patterns for finding the time stamp and for updating a pattern
788 may match text spanning multiple lines. For example, some people like
789 to have the filename and date on separate lines. The new variable
790 time-stamp-inserts-lines controls the matching for multi-line patterns.
792 *** More than one time stamp can be updated in the same file. This
793 feature is useful if you need separate time stamps in a program source
794 file to both include in formatted documentation and insert in the
795 compiled binary. The same time-stamp will be written at each matching
796 pattern. The variable time-stamp-count enables this new feature; it
799 ** Partial Completion mode now completes environment variables in
805 Tooltips are small X windows displaying a help string at the current
806 mouse position. To use them, use the Lisp package `tooltip' which you
807 can access via the user option `tooltip-mode'.
809 Tooltips also provides support for GUD debugging. If activated,
810 variable values can be displayed in tooltips by pointing at them with
811 the mouse in source buffers. You can customize various aspects of the
812 tooltip display in the group `tooltip'.
817 *** Customize now supports comments about customized items. Use the
818 `State' menu to add comments. Note that customization comments will
819 cause the customizations to fail in earlier versions of Emacs.
821 *** The new option `custom-buffer-done-function' says whether to kill
822 Custom buffers when you've done with them or just bury them (the
825 *** The keyword :set-after in defcustom allows to specify dependencies
826 between custom options. Example:
828 (defcustom default-input-method nil
829 "*Default input method for multilingual text (a string).
830 This is the input method activated automatically by the command
831 `toggle-input-method' (\\[toggle-input-method])."
833 :type '(choice (const nil) string)
834 :set-after '(current-language-environment))
836 This specifies that default-input-method should be set after
837 current-language-environment even if default-input-method appears
838 first in a custom-set-variables statement.
840 ** New features in evaluation commands
842 *** The commands to evaluate Lisp expressions, such as C-M-x in Lisp
843 modes, C-j in Lisp Interaction mode, and M-:, now bind the variables
844 print-level, print-length, and debug-on-error based on the
845 customizable variables eval-expression-print-level,
846 eval-expression-print-length, and eval-expression-debug-on-error.
848 *** The function `eval-defun' (M-C-x) now loads Edebug and instruments
849 code when called with a prefix argument.
854 *** The command `ispell' now spell-checks a region if
855 transient-mark-mode is on, and the mark is active. Otherwise it
856 spell-checks the current buffer.
859 *** Support for synchronous subprocesses - DOS/Windoze - has been
862 *** An "alignment error" bug was fixed when a manual spelling
863 correction is made and re-checked.
865 *** An Italian and a Portuguese dictionary definition has been added.
867 *** Region skipping performance has been vastly improved in some
870 *** Spell checking HTML buffers has been improved and isn't so strict
873 *** The buffer-local words are now always placed on a new line at the
878 *** New variable `dired-recursive-deletes' determines if the delete
879 command will delete non-empty directories recursively. The default
880 is, delete only empty directories.
882 *** New variable `dired-recursive-copies' determines if the copy
883 command will copy directories recursively. The default is, do not
884 copy directories recursively.
886 *** In command `dired-do-shell-command' (usually bound to `!') a `?'
887 in the shell command has a special meaning similar to `*', but with
888 the difference that the command will be run on each file individually.
890 *** The new command `dired-find-alternate-file' (usually bound to `a')
891 replaces the Dired buffer with the buffer for an alternate file or
894 *** The new command `dired-show-file-type' (usually bound to `w') shows
895 a message in the echo area describing what type of file the point is on.
896 This command invokes the external program `file' do its work, and so
897 will only work on systems with that program, and will be only as
898 accurate or inaccurate as it is.
900 *** Dired now properly handles undo changes of adding/removing `-R'
903 ** The variable mail-specify-envelope-from controls whether to
904 use the -f option when sending mail.
908 Note: This release contains changes that might not be compatible with
909 current user setups (although it's believed that these
910 incompatibilities will only show in very uncommon circumstances).
911 However, since the impact is uncertain, these changes may be rolled
912 back depending on user feedback. Therefore there's no forward
913 compatibility guarantee wrt the new features introduced in this
916 *** c-style-variables-are-local-p now defaults to t.
917 This is an incompatible change that has been made to make the behavior
918 of the style system wrt global variable settings less confusing for
919 non-advanced users. If you know what this variable does you might
920 want to set it to nil in your .emacs, otherwise you probably don't
923 Defaulting c-style-variables-are-local-p to t avoids the confusing
924 situation that occurs when a user sets some style variables globally
925 and edits both a Java and a non-Java file in the same Emacs session.
926 If the style variables aren't buffer local in this case, loading of
927 the second file will cause the default style (either "gnu" or "java"
928 by default) to override the global settings made by the user.
930 *** New initialization procedure for the style system.
931 When the initial style for a buffer is determined by CC Mode (from the
932 variable c-default-style), the global values of style variables now
933 take precedence over the values specified by the chosen style. This
934 is different than the old behavior: previously, the style-specific
935 settings would override the global settings. This change makes it
936 possible to do simple configuration in the intuitive way with
937 Customize or with setq lines in one's .emacs file.
939 By default, the global value of every style variable is the new
940 special symbol set-from-style, which causes the value to be taken from
941 the style system. This means that in effect, only an explicit setting
942 of a style variable will cause the "overriding" behavior described
945 Also note that global settings override style-specific settings *only*
946 when the initial style of a buffer is chosen by a CC Mode major mode
947 function. When a style is chosen in other ways --- for example, by a
948 call like (c-set-style "gnu") in a hook, or via M-x c-set-style ---
949 then the style-specific values take precedence over any global style
950 values. In Lisp terms, global values override style-specific values
951 only when the new second argument to c-set-style is non-nil; see the
952 function documentation for more info.
954 The purpose of these changes is to make it easier for users,
955 especially novice users, to do simple customizations with Customize or
956 with setq in their .emacs files. On the other hand, the new system is
957 intended to be compatible with advanced users' customizations as well,
958 such as those that choose styles in hooks or whatnot. This new system
959 is believed to be almost entirely compatible with current
960 configurations, in spite of the changed precedence between style and
961 global variable settings when a buffer's default style is set.
963 (Thanks to Eric Eide for clarifying this explanation a bit.)
965 **** c-offsets-alist is now a customizable variable.
966 This became possible as a result of the new initialization behavior.
968 This variable is treated slightly differently from the other style
969 variables; instead of using the symbol set-from-style, it will be
970 completed with the syntactic symbols it doesn't already contain when
971 the style is first initialized. This means it now defaults to the
972 empty list to make all syntactic elements get their values from the
975 **** Compatibility variable to restore the old behavior.
976 In case your configuration doesn't work with this change, you can set
977 c-old-style-variable-behavior to non-nil to get the old behavior back
980 *** Improvements to line breaking and text filling.
981 CC Mode now handles this more intelligently and seamlessly wrt the
982 surrounding code, especially inside comments. For details see the new
983 chapter about this in the manual.
985 **** New variable to recognize comment line prefix decorations.
986 The variable c-comment-prefix-regexp has been added to properly
987 recognize the line prefix in both block and line comments. It's
988 primarily used to initialize the various paragraph recognition and
989 adaptive filling variables that the text handling functions uses.
991 **** New variable c-block-comment-prefix.
992 This is a generalization of the now obsolete variable
993 c-comment-continuation-stars to handle arbitrary strings.
995 **** CC Mode now uses adaptive fill mode.
996 This to make it adapt better to the paragraph style inside comments.
998 It's also possible to use other adaptive filling packages inside CC
999 Mode, notably Kyle E. Jones' Filladapt mode (http://wonderworks.com/).
1000 A new convenience function c-setup-filladapt sets up Filladapt for use
1003 Note though that the 2.12 version of Filladapt lacks a feature that
1004 causes it to work suboptimally when c-comment-prefix-regexp can match
1005 the empty string (which it commonly does). A patch for that is
1006 available from the CC Mode web site (http://www.python.org/emacs/
1009 **** It's now possible to selectively turn off auto filling.
1010 The variable c-ignore-auto-fill is used to ignore auto fill mode in
1011 specific contexts, e.g. in preprocessor directives and in string
1014 **** New context sensitive line break function c-context-line-break.
1015 It works like newline-and-indent in normal code, and adapts the line
1016 prefix according to the comment style when used inside comments. If
1017 you're normally using newline-and-indent, you might want to switch to
1020 *** Fixes to IDL mode.
1021 It now does a better job in recognizing only the constructs relevant
1022 to IDL. E.g. it no longer matches "class" as the beginning of a
1023 struct block, but it does match the CORBA 2.3 "valuetype" keyword.
1024 Thanks to Eric Eide.
1026 *** Improvements to the Whitesmith style.
1027 It now keeps the style consistently on all levels and both when
1028 opening braces hangs and when they don't.
1030 **** New lineup function c-lineup-whitesmith-in-block.
1032 *** New lineup functions c-lineup-template-args and c-indent-multi-line-block.
1033 See their docstrings for details. c-lineup-template-args does a
1034 better job of tracking the brackets used as parens in C++ templates,
1035 and is used by default to line up continued template arguments.
1037 *** c-lineup-comment now preserves alignment with a comment on the
1038 previous line. It used to instead preserve comments that started in
1039 the column specified by comment-column.
1041 *** c-lineup-C-comments handles "free form" text comments.
1042 In comments with a long delimiter line at the start, the indentation
1043 is kept unchanged for lines that start with an empty comment line
1044 prefix. This is intended for the type of large block comments that
1045 contain documentation with its own formatting. In these you normally
1046 don't want CC Mode to change the indentation.
1048 *** The `c' syntactic symbol is now relative to the comment start
1049 instead of the previous line, to make integers usable as lineup
1052 *** All lineup functions have gotten docstrings.
1054 *** More preprocessor directive movement functions.
1055 c-down-conditional does the reverse of c-up-conditional.
1056 c-up-conditional-with-else and c-down-conditional-with-else are
1057 variants of these that also stops at "#else" lines (suggested by Don
1060 *** Minor improvements to many movement functions in tricky situations.
1062 ** Makefile mode changes
1064 *** The mode now uses the abbrev table `makefile-mode-abbrev-table'.
1066 *** Conditionals and include statements are now highlighted when
1067 Fontlock mode is active.
1071 *** Isearch now puts a call to `isearch-resume' in the command history,
1072 so that searches can be resumed.
1074 *** In Isearch mode, M-C-s and M-C-r are now bound like C-s and C-r,
1075 respectively, i.e. you can repeat a regexp isearch with the same keys
1076 that started the search.
1078 *** In Isearch mode, mouse-2 in the echo area now yanks the current
1079 selection into the search string rather than giving an error.
1082 *** There is a new lazy highlighting feature in incremental search.
1084 Lazy highlighting is switched on/off by customizing variable
1085 `isearch-lazy-highlight'. When active, all matches for the current
1086 search string are highlighted. The current match is highlighted as
1087 before using face `isearch' or `region'. All other matches are
1088 highlighted using face `isearch-lazy-highlight-face' which defaults to
1089 `secondary-selection'.
1091 The extra highlighting makes it easier to anticipate where the cursor
1092 will end up each time you press C-s or C-r to repeat a pending search.
1093 Highlighting of these additional matches happens in a deferred fashion
1094 using "idle timers," so the cycles needed do not rob isearch of its
1095 usual snappy response.
1097 If `isearch-lazy-highlight-cleanup' is set to t, highlights for
1098 matches are automatically cleared when you end the search. If it is
1099 set to nil, you can remove the highlights manually with `M-x
1100 isearch-lazy-highlight-cleanup'.
1103 ** Changes in sort.el
1105 The function sort-numeric-fields interprets numbers starting with `0'
1106 as octal and numbers starting with `0x' or `0X' as hexadecimal. The
1107 new user-option sort-numeric-base can be used to specify a default
1110 ** Changes to Ange-ftp
1113 *** Ange-ftp allows you to specify of a port number in remote file
1114 names cleanly. It is appended to the host name, separated by a hash
1115 sign, e.g. `/foo@bar.org#666:mumble'. (This syntax comes from EFS.)
1117 *** If the new user-option `ange-ftp-try-passive-mode' is set, passive
1118 ftp mode will be used if the ftp client supports that.
1120 *** Ange-ftp handles the output of the w32-style clients which
1121 output ^M at the end of lines.
1123 ** Shell script mode changes.
1125 Shell script mode (sh-script) can now indent scripts for shells
1126 derived from sh and rc. The indentation style is customizeable, and
1127 sh-script can attempt to "learn" the current buffer's style.
1131 *** In DOS, etags looks for file.cgz if it cannot find file.c.
1133 *** New option --ignore-case-regex is an alternative to --regex. It is now
1134 possible to bind a regexp to a language, by prepending the regexp with
1135 {lang}, where lang is one of the languages that `etags --help' prints out.
1136 This feature is useful especially for regex files, where each line contains
1137 a regular expression. The manual contains details.
1139 *** In C and derived languages, etags creates tags for function
1140 declarations when given the --declarations option.
1142 *** In C++, tags are created for "operator". The tags have the form
1143 "operator+", without spaces between the keyword and the operator.
1145 *** New language Ada: tags are functions, procedures, packages, tasks, and
1148 *** In Fortran, `procedure' is not tagged.
1150 *** In Java, tags are created for "interface".
1152 *** In Lisp, "(defstruct (foo", "(defun (operator" and similar constructs
1155 *** In Perl, the --globals option tags global variables. my and local
1156 variables are tagged.
1158 *** New language Python: def and class at the beginning of a line are tags.
1160 *** .ss files are Scheme files, .pdb is Postscript with C syntax, .psw is
1164 ** Changes in etags.el
1166 *** The new user-option tags-case-fold-search can be used to make
1167 tags operations case-sensitive or case-insensitive. The default
1168 is to use the same setting as case-fold-search.
1170 *** You can display additional output with M-x tags-apropos by setting
1171 the new variable tags-apropos-additional-actions.
1173 If non-nil, the variable's value should be a list of triples (TITLE
1174 FUNCTION TO-SEARCH). For each triple, M-x tags-apropos processes
1175 TO-SEARCH and lists tags from it. TO-SEARCH should be an alist,
1176 obarray, or symbol. If it is a symbol, the symbol's value is used.
1178 TITLE is a string to use to label the list of tags from TO-SEARCH.
1180 FUNCTION is a function to call when an entry is selected in the Tags
1181 List buffer. It is called with one argument, the selected symbol.
1183 A useful example value for this variable might be something like:
1185 '(("Emacs Lisp" Info-goto-emacs-command-node obarray)
1186 ("Common Lisp" common-lisp-hyperspec common-lisp-hyperspec-obarray)
1187 ("SCWM" scwm-documentation scwm-obarray))
1189 *** The face tags-tag-face can be used to customize the appearance
1190 of tags in the output of M-x tags-apropos.
1192 *** Setting tags-apropos-verbose to a non-nil value displays the
1193 names of tags files in the *Tags List* buffer.
1196 ** Emacs now attempts to determine the initial language environment
1197 and preferred and locale coding systems systematically from the
1198 LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, and LANG environment variables during startup.
1201 ** New language environments `Polish', `Latin-8' and `Latin-9'.
1202 Latin-8 and Latin-9 correspond respectively to the ISO character sets
1203 8859-14 (Celtic) and 8859-15 (updated Latin-1, with the Euro sign).
1204 GNU Intlfonts doesn't support these yet; there are basic 8859-14 and
1205 8859-15 fonts at <URL:http://czyborra.com/charsets/> and recent X
1206 releases have 8859-15. There are new Latin-8 and Latin-9 prefix
1207 (only) and Polish slash input methods in Leim.
1210 ** Fortran mode has a new command `fortran-strip-sequence-nos' to
1211 remove text past column 72. The syntax class of `\' in Fortran is now
1212 appropriate for C-style escape sequences in strings.
1214 ** SGML mode's default `sgml-validate-command' is now `nsgmls'.
1217 ** A new command `view-emacs-problems' (C-h P) displays the PROBLEMS file.
1220 ** The Dabbrev package has a new user-option `dabbrev-ignored-regexps'
1221 containing a list of regular expressions. Buffers matching a regular
1222 expression from that list, are not checked.
1224 ** Emacs can now figure out modification times of remote files.
1225 When you do C-x C-f /user@host:/path/file RET and edit the file,
1226 and someone else modifies the file, you will be prompted to revert
1227 the buffer, just like for the local files.
1229 ** The buffer menu (C-x C-b) no longer lists the *Buffer List* buffer.
1232 ** When invoked with a prefix argument, the command `list-abbrevs' now
1233 displays local abbrevs, only.
1237 VC has been overhauled internally. It is now modular, making it
1238 easier to plug-in arbitrary version control backends. (See Lisp
1239 Changes for details on the new structure.) As a result, the mechanism
1240 to enable and disable support for particular version systems has
1241 changed: everything is now controlled by the new variable
1242 `vc-handled-backends'. Its value is a list of atoms that identify
1243 version systems; the default is '(RCS CVS SCCS). When finding a file,
1244 each of the backends in that list is tried in order to see whether the
1245 file is registered in that backend.
1247 When registering a new file, VC first tries each of the listed
1248 backends to see if any of them considers itself "responsible" for the
1249 directory of the file (e.g. because a corresponding subdirectory for
1250 master files exists). If none of the backends is responsible, then
1251 the first backend in the list that could register the file is chosen.
1252 As a consequence, the variable `vc-default-back-end' is now obsolete.
1254 The old variable `vc-master-templates' is also obsolete, although VC
1255 still supports it for backward compatibility. To define templates for
1256 RCS or SCCS, you should rather use the new variables
1257 vc-{rcs,sccs}-master-templates. (There is no such feature under CVS
1258 where it doesn't make sense.)
1260 The variables `vc-ignore-vc-files' and `vc-handle-cvs' are also
1261 obsolete now, you must set `vc-handled-backends' to nil or exclude
1262 `CVS' from the list, respectively, to achieve their effect now.
1266 The variable `vc-checkout-carefully' is obsolete: the corresponding
1267 checks are always done now.
1269 VC Dired buffers are now kept up-to-date during all version control
1274 There is a new user option, `vc-cvs-stay-local'. If it is `t' (the
1275 default), then VC avoids network queries for files registered in
1276 remote repositories. The state of such files is then only determined
1277 by heuristics and past information. `vc-cvs-stay-local' can also be a
1278 regexp to match against repository hostnames; only files from hosts
1279 that match it are treated locally. If the variable is nil, then VC
1280 queries the repository just as often as it does for local files.
1282 If `vc-cvs-stay-local' is on, and there have been changes in the
1283 repository, VC notifies you about it when you actually try to commit.
1284 If you want to check for updates from the repository without trying to
1285 commit, you can either use C-u C-x v m to perform an update on the
1286 current file, or you can use C-x v r RET to get an update for an
1287 entire directory tree.
1289 The new user option `vc-cvs-use-edit' indicates whether VC should call
1290 "cvs edit" to make files writeable; it defaults to `t'. (This option
1291 is only meaningful if the CVSREAD variable is set, or if files are
1292 "watched" by other developers.)
1294 *** Lisp Changes in VC
1296 VC has been restructured internally to make it modular. You can now
1297 add support for arbitrary version control backends by writing a
1298 library that provides a certain set of backend-specific functions, and
1299 then telling VC to use that library. For example, to add support for
1300 a version system named FOO, you write a library named vc-foo.el, which
1301 provides a number of functions vc-foo-... (see commentary at the end
1302 of vc.el for a detailed list of them). To make VC use that library,
1303 you need to put it somewhere into Emacs' load path and add the atom
1304 `FOO' to the list `vc-handled-backends'.
1306 ** New modes and packages
1309 *** The new package timeclock.el is a mode is for keeping track of time
1310 intervals. You can use it for whatever purpose you like, but the
1311 typical scenario is to keep track of how much time you spend working
1312 on certain projects.
1315 *** The new package hi-lock.el, text matching interactively entered
1316 regexp's can be highlighted. For example,
1318 M-x highlight-regexp RET clearly RET RET
1320 will highlight all occurrences of `clearly' using a yellow background
1321 face. New occurrences of `clearly' will be highlighted as they are
1322 typed. `M-x unhighlight-regexp RET' will remove the highlighting.
1323 Any existing face can be used for highlighting and a set of
1324 appropriate faces is provided. The regexps can be written into the
1325 current buffer in a form that will be recognized the next time the
1326 corresponding file is read.
1329 *** The new package zone.el plays games with Emacs' display when
1332 *** The new package xml.el provides a simple but generic XML
1333 parser. It doesn't parse the DTDs however.
1335 *** The comment operations are now provided by the newcomment.el
1336 package which allows different styles of comment-region and should
1337 be more robust while offering the same functionality.
1340 *** The Ebrowse package implements a C++ class browser and tags
1341 facilities tailored for use with C++. It is documented in a
1342 separate Texinfo file.
1345 *** The PCL-CVS package available by either running M-x cvs-examine or
1346 by visiting a CVS administrative directory (with a prefix argument)
1347 provides an alternative interface to VC-dired for CVS. It comes with
1348 `log-view-mode' to view RCS and SCCS logs and `log-edit-mode' used to
1349 enter checkin log messages.
1352 *** The new package called `woman' allows to browse Unix man pages
1353 without invoking external programs.
1355 The command `M-x woman' formats manual pages entirely in Emacs Lisp
1356 and then displays them, like `M-x manual-entry' does. Unlike
1357 `manual-entry', `woman' does not invoke any external programs, so it
1358 is useful on systems such as MS-DOS/MS-Windows where the `man' and
1359 Groff or `troff' commands are not readily available.
1361 The command `M-x woman-find-file' asks for the file name of a man
1362 page, then formats and displays it like `M-x woman' does.
1365 *** The new command M-x re-builder offers a convenient interface for
1366 authoring regular expressions with immediate visual feedback.
1368 The buffer from which the command was called becomes the target for
1369 the regexp editor popping up in a separate window. Matching text in
1370 the target buffer is immediately color marked during the editing.
1371 Each sub-expression of the regexp will show up in a different face so
1372 even complex regexps can be edited and verified on target data in a
1375 On displays not supporting faces the matches instead blink like
1376 matching parens to make them stand out. On such a setup you will
1377 probably also want to use the sub-expression mode when the regexp
1378 contains such to get feedback about their respective limits.
1381 *** glasses-mode is a minor mode that makes
1382 unreadableIdentifiersLikeThis readable. It works as glasses, without
1383 actually modifying content of a buffer.
1385 *** The package ebnf2ps translates an EBNF to a syntactic chart in
1388 Currently accepts ad-hoc EBNF, ISO EBNF and Bison/Yacc.
1390 The ad-hoc default EBNF syntax has the following elements:
1392 ; comment (until end of line)
1396 $A default non-terminal
1397 $"C" default terminal
1398 $?C? default special
1399 A = B. production (A is the header and B the body)
1400 C D sequence (C occurs before D)
1401 C | D alternative (C or D occurs)
1402 A - B exception (A excluding B, B without any non-terminal)
1403 n * A repetition (A repeats n (integer) times)
1404 (C) group (expression C is grouped together)
1405 [C] optional (C may or not occurs)
1406 C+ one or more occurrences of C
1407 {C}+ one or more occurrences of C
1408 {C}* zero or more occurrences of C
1409 {C} zero or more occurrences of C
1410 C / D equivalent to: C {D C}*
1411 {C || D}+ equivalent to: C {D C}*
1412 {C || D}* equivalent to: [C {D C}*]
1413 {C || D} equivalent to: [C {D C}*]
1415 Please, see ebnf2ps documentation for EBNF syntax and how to use it.
1417 *** The package align.el will align columns within a region, using M-x
1418 align. Its mode-specific rules, based on regular expressions,
1419 determine where the columns should be split. In C and C++, for
1420 example, it will align variable names in declaration lists, or the
1421 equal signs of assignments.
1424 *** `paragraph-indent-minor-mode' is a new minor mode supporting
1425 paragraphs in the same style as `paragraph-indent-text-mode'.
1428 *** bs.el is a new package for buffer selection similar to
1429 list-buffers or electric-buffer-list. Use M-x bs-show to display a
1430 buffer menu with this package. You can use M-x bs-customize to
1431 customize the package.
1433 *** find-lisp.el is a package emulating the Unix find command in Lisp.
1435 *** calculator.el is a small calculator package that is intended to
1436 replace desktop calculators such as xcalc and calc.exe. Actually, it
1437 is not too small - it has more features than most desktop calculators,
1438 and can be customized easily to get many more functions. It should
1439 not be confused with "calc" which is a much bigger mathematical tool
1440 which answers different needs.
1443 *** The minor modes cwarn-mode and global-cwarn-mode highlights
1444 suspicious C and C++ constructions. Currently, assignments inside
1445 expressions, semicolon following `if', `for' and `while' (except, of
1446 course, after a `do .. while' statement), and C++ functions with
1447 reference parameters are recognized. The modes require font-lock mode
1451 *** smerge-mode.el provides `smerge-mode', a simple minor-mode for files
1452 containing diff3-style conflict markers, such as generated by RCS.
1455 *** 5x5.el is a simple puzzle game.
1458 *** hl-line.el provides a minor mode to highlight the current line.
1460 *** ansi-color.el translates ANSI terminal escapes into text-properties.
1462 *** delphi.el provides a major mode for editing the Delphi (Object
1466 *** quickurl.el provides a simple method of inserting a URL based on
1469 *** sql.el provides an interface to SQL data bases.
1472 *** fortune.el uses the fortune program to create mail/news signatures.
1474 *** whitespace.el ???
1476 *** PostScript mode (ps-mode) is a new major mode for editing PostScript
1477 files. It offers: interaction with a PostScript interpreter, including
1478 (very basic) error handling; fontification, easily customizable for
1479 interpreter messages; auto-indentation; insertion of EPSF templates and
1480 often used code snippets; viewing of BoundingBox; commenting out /
1481 uncommenting regions; conversion of 8bit characters to PostScript octal
1482 codes. All functionality is accessible through a menu.
1484 *** delim-col helps to prettify columns in a text region or rectangle.
1486 Here is an example of columns:
1489 dog pineapple car EXTRA
1490 porcupine strawberry airplane
1492 Doing the following settings:
1494 (setq delimit-columns-str-before "[ ")
1495 (setq delimit-columns-str-after " ]")
1496 (setq delimit-columns-str-separator ", ")
1497 (setq delimit-columns-separator "\t")
1500 Selecting the lines above and typing:
1502 M-x delimit-columns-region
1506 [ horse , apple , bus , ]
1507 [ dog , pineapple , car , EXTRA ]
1508 [ porcupine, strawberry, airplane, ]
1510 delim-col has the following options:
1512 delimit-columns-str-before Specify a string to be inserted
1515 delimit-columns-str-separator Specify a string to be inserted
1516 between each column.
1518 delimit-columns-str-after Specify a string to be inserted
1521 delimit-columns-separator Specify a regexp which separates
1524 delim-col has the following commands:
1526 delimit-columns-region Prettify all columns in a text region.
1527 delimit-columns-rectangle Prettify all columns in a text rectangle.
1530 *** The package recentf.el maintains a menu for visiting files that
1531 were operated on recently.
1533 M-x recentf-mode RET toggles recentf mode.
1535 M-x customize-variable RET recentf-mode RET can be used to enable
1536 recentf at Emacs startup.
1538 M-x customize-variable RET recentf-menu-filter RET to specify a menu
1539 filter function to change the menu appearance. For example, the recent
1540 file list can be displayed:
1542 - organized by major modes, directories or user defined rules.
1543 - sorted by file pathes, file names, ascending or descending.
1544 - showing pathes relative to the current default-directory
1546 The `recentf-filter-changer' menu filter function allows to
1547 dynamically change the menu appearance.
1549 *** elide-head.el provides a mechanism for eliding boilerplate header
1553 *** footnote.el provides `footnote-mode', a minor mode supporting use
1554 of footnotes. It is intended for use with Message mode, but isn't
1555 specific to Message mode.
1558 *** diff-mode.el provides `diff-mode', a major mode for
1559 viewing/editing context diffs (patches). It is selected for files
1560 with extension `.diff', `.diffs', `.patch' and `.rej'.
1563 *** EUDC, the Emacs Unified Directory Client, provides a common user
1564 interface to access directory servers using different directory
1565 protocols. It has a separate manual.
1567 *** autoconf.el provides a major mode for editing configure.in files
1568 for Autoconf, selected automatically.
1571 *** windmove.el provides moving between windows.
1573 *** crm.el provides a facility to read multiple strings from the
1574 minibuffer with completion.
1576 *** todo-mode.el provides management of TODO lists and integration
1577 with the diary features.
1579 *** autoarg.el provides a feature reported from Twenex Emacs whereby
1580 numeric keys supply prefix args rather than self inserting.
1582 *** The function `turn-off-auto-fill' unconditionally turns off Auto
1585 ** Withdrawn packages
1587 *** mldrag.el has been removed. mouse.el provides the same
1588 functionality with aliases for the mldrag functions.
1590 *** eval-reg.el has been obsoleted by changes to edebug.el and removed.
1592 *** ph.el has been obsoleted by EUDC and removed.
1595 * Lisp changes made after edition 2.6 of the Emacs Lisp Manual,
1596 (Display-related features are described in a page of their own below.)
1598 ** In image specifications, `:heuristic-mask' has been replaced
1599 with the more general `:mask' property.
1601 ** Image specifications accept more `:algorithm's.
1603 ** A `?' can be used in a symbol name without escaping it with a
1607 ** Reading from the mini-buffer now reads from standard input if Emacs
1608 is running in batch mode. For example,
1610 (message "%s" (read t))
1612 will read a Lisp expression from standard input and print the result
1616 ** The argument of `down-list', `backward-up-list', `up-list',
1617 `kill-sexp', `backward-kill-sexp' and `mark-sexp' is now optional.
1619 ** If `display-buffer-reuse-frames' is set, function `display-buffer'
1620 will raise frames displaying a buffer, instead of creating a new
1624 ** Two new functions for removing elements from lists/sequences
1627 - Function: remove ELT SEQ
1629 Return a copy of SEQ with all occurences of ELT removed. SEQ must be
1630 a list, vector, or string. The comparison is done with `equal'.
1632 - Function: remq ELT LIST
1634 Return a copy of LIST with all occurences of ELT removed. The
1635 comparison is done with `eq'.
1637 ** The function `delete' now also works with vectors and strings.
1639 ** The meaning of the `:weakness WEAK' argument of make-hash-table
1643 ** Function `aset' stores any multibyte character in any string
1644 without signaling "Attempt to change char length of a string". It may
1645 convert a unibyte string to multibyte if necessary.
1647 ** The value of the `help-echo' text property is called as a function
1648 or evaluated, if it is not a string already, to obtain a help string.
1650 ** Function `make-obsolete' now has an optional arg to say when the
1651 function was declared obsolete.
1653 ** Function `plist-member' is renamed from `widget-plist-member' (which is
1654 retained as an alias).
1656 ** Easy-menu's :filter now works as in XEmacs.
1657 It takes the unconverted (i.e. XEmacs) form of the menu and the result
1658 is automatically converted to Emacs' form.
1660 ** The new function `window-list' has been defined
1662 - Function: window-list &optional WINDOW MINIBUF ALL-FRAMES
1664 Return a list of windows in canonical order. The parameters WINDOW,
1665 MINIBUF and ALL-FRAMES are defined like for `next-window'.
1667 ** There's a new function `some-window' defined as follows
1669 - Function: some-window PREDICATE &optional MINIBUF ALL-FRAMES DEFAULT
1671 Return a window satisfying PREDICATE.
1673 This function cycles through all visible windows using `walk-windows',
1674 calling PREDICATE on each one. PREDICATE is called with a window as
1675 argument. The first window for which PREDICATE returns a non-nil
1676 value is returned. If no window satisfies PREDICATE, DEFAULT is
1679 Optional second arg MINIBUF t means count the minibuffer window even
1680 if not active. MINIBUF nil or omitted means count the minibuffer iff
1681 it is active. MINIBUF neither t nor nil means not to count the
1682 minibuffer even if it is active.
1684 Several frames may share a single minibuffer; if the minibuffer
1685 counts, all windows on all frames that share that minibuffer count
1686 too. Therefore, if you are using a separate minibuffer frame
1687 and the minibuffer is active and MINIBUF says it counts,
1688 `walk-windows' includes the windows in the frame from which you
1689 entered the minibuffer, as well as the minibuffer window.
1691 ALL-FRAMES is the optional third argument.
1692 ALL-FRAMES nil or omitted means cycle within the frames as specified above.
1693 ALL-FRAMES = `visible' means include windows on all visible frames.
1694 ALL-FRAMES = 0 means include windows on all visible and iconified frames.
1695 ALL-FRAMES = t means include windows on all frames including invisible frames.
1696 If ALL-FRAMES is a frame, it means include windows on that frame.
1697 Anything else means restrict to the selected frame.
1699 ** The function `single-key-description' now encloses function key and
1700 event names in angle brackets. When called with a second optional
1701 argument non-nil, angle brackets won't be printed.
1703 ** If the variable `message-truncate-lines' is bound to t around a
1704 call to `message', the echo area will not be resized to display that
1705 message; it will be truncated instead, as it was done in 20.x.
1706 Default value is nil.
1708 ** The user option `line-number-display-limit' can now be set to nil,
1711 ** `select-safe-coding-system' now also checks the most preferred
1712 coding-system if buffer-file-coding-system is `undecided' and
1713 DEFAULT-CODING-SYSTEM is not specified,
1715 ** The function `subr-arity' provides information on the argument list
1718 ** The text property `keymap' specifies a key map which overrides the
1719 buffer's local map and the map specified by the `local-map' property.
1720 This is probably what most current uses of `local-map' want, rather
1721 than replacing the local map.
1723 ** The obsolete variables before-change-function and
1724 after-change-function are no longer acted upon and have been removed.
1726 ** The function `apropos-mode' runs the hook `apropos-mode-hook'.
1729 ** `concat' no longer accepts individual integer arguments, as
1732 ** The new function `float-time' returns the current time as a float.
1734 * Lisp changes in Emacs 21.1 (see following page for display-related features)
1736 Note that +++ before an item means the Lisp manual has been updated.
1737 --- means that I have decided it does not need to be in the Lisp manual.
1738 When you add a new item, please add it without either +++ or ---
1739 so I will know I still need to look at it -- rms.
1741 *** The special form `save-restriction' now works correctly even if the
1742 buffer is widened inside the save-restriction and changes made outside
1743 the original restriction. Previously, doing this would cause the saved
1744 restriction to be restored incorrectly.
1746 *** The functions `find-charset-region' and `find-charset-string' include
1747 `eight-bit-control' and/or `eight-bit-graphic' in the returned list
1748 when it finds 8-bit characters. Previously, it included `ascii' in a
1749 multibyte buffer and `unknown' in a unibyte buffer.
1751 *** The functions `set-buffer-modified', `string-as-multibyte' and
1752 `string-as-unibyte' change the byte sequence of a buffer if it
1753 contains a character from the `eight-bit-control' character set.
1755 *** The handling of multibyte sequences in a multibyte buffer is
1756 changed. Previously, a byte sequence matching the pattern
1757 [\200-\237][\240-\377]+ was interpreted as a single character
1758 regardless of the length of the trailing bytes [\240-\377]+. Thus, if
1759 the sequence was longer than what the leading byte indicated, the
1760 extra trailing bytes were ignored by Lisp functions. Now such extra
1761 bytes are independent 8-bit characters belonging to the charset
1764 ** Fontsets are now implemented using char-tables.
1766 A fontset can now be specified for for each independent character, for
1767 a group of characters or for a character set rather than just for a
1768 character set as previously.
1770 *** The arguments of the function `set-fontset-font' are changed.
1771 They are NAME, CHARACTER, FONTNAME, and optional FRAME. The function
1772 modifies fontset NAME to use FONTNAME for CHARACTER.
1774 CHARACTER may be a cons (FROM . TO), where FROM and TO are non-generic
1775 characters. In that case FONTNAME is used for all characters in the
1776 range FROM and TO (inclusive). CHARACTER may be a charset. In that
1777 case FONTNAME is used for all character in the charset.
1779 FONTNAME may be a cons (FAMILY . REGISTRY), where FAMILY is the family
1780 name of a font and REGSITRY is a registry name of a font.
1782 *** Variable x-charset-registry has been deleted. The default charset
1783 registries of character sets are set in the default fontset
1786 *** The function `create-fontset-from-fontset-spec' ignores the second
1787 argument STYLE-VARIANT. It never creates style-variant fontsets.
1789 ** The method of composing characters is changed. Now character
1790 composition is done by a special text property `composition' in
1791 buffers and strings.
1793 *** Charset composition is deleted. Emacs never creates a `composite
1794 character' which is an independent character with a unique character
1795 code. Thus the following functions handling `composite characters'
1796 have been deleted: composite-char-component,
1797 composite-char-component-count, composite-char-composition-rule,
1798 composite-char-composition-rule and decompose-composite-char delete.
1799 The variables leading-code-composition and min-composite-char have
1802 *** Three more glyph reference points are added. They can be used to
1803 specify a composition rule. See the documentation of the variable
1804 `reference-point-alist' for more detail.
1806 *** The function `compose-region' takes new arguments COMPONENTS and
1807 MODIFICATION-FUNC. With COMPONENTS, you can specify not only a
1808 composition rule but also characters to be composed. Such characters
1809 may differ between buffer and string text.
1811 *** The function `compose-string' takes new arguments START, END,
1812 COMPONENTS, and MODIFICATION-FUNC.
1814 *** The function `compose-string' puts text property `composition'
1815 directly on the argument STRING instead of returning a new string.
1816 Likewise, the function `decompose-string' just removes text property
1817 `composition' from STRING.
1819 *** The new function `find-composition' returns information about
1820 a composition at a specified position in a buffer or a string.
1822 *** The function `decompose-composite-char' is now labeled as
1825 ** The new character set `mule-unicode-0100-24ff' is introduced for
1826 Unicode characters of the range U+0100..U+24FF. Currently, this
1827 character set is not used.
1829 ** The new character sets `japanese-jisx0213-1' and
1830 `japanese-jisx0213-2' are introduced for the new Japanese standard JIS
1831 X 0213 Plane 1 and Plane 2.
1834 ** The new character sets `eight-bit-control' and `eight-bit-graphic'
1835 are introduced for 8-bit characters in the ranges 0x80..0x9F and
1836 0xA0..0xFF respectively.
1839 ** If the APPEND argument of `write-region' is an integer, it seeks to
1840 that offset in the file before writing.
1842 ** The function `add-minor-mode' has been added for convenience and
1843 compatibility with XEmacs (and is used internally by define-minor-mode).
1845 ** The function `shell-command' now sets the default directory of the
1846 `*Shell Command Output*' buffer to the default directory of the buffer
1847 from which the command was issued.
1849 ** The functions `query-replace', `query-replace-regexp',
1850 `query-replace-regexp-eval' `map-query-replace-regexp',
1851 `replace-string', `replace-regexp', and `perform-replace' take two
1852 additional optional arguments START and END that specify the region to
1855 ** The new function `count-screen-lines' is a more flexible alternative
1856 to `window-buffer-height'.
1858 - Function: count-screen-lines &optional BEG END COUNT-FINAL-NEWLINE WINDOW
1860 Return the number of screen lines in the region between BEG and END.
1861 The number of screen lines may be different from the number of actual
1862 lines, due to line breaking, display table, etc.
1864 Optional arguments BEG and END default to `point-min' and `point-max'
1867 If region ends with a newline, ignore it unless optinal third argument
1868 COUNT-FINAL-NEWLINE is non-nil.
1870 The optional fourth argument WINDOW specifies the window used for
1871 obtaining parameters such as width, horizontal scrolling, and so
1872 on. The default is to use the selected window's parameters.
1874 Like `vertical-motion', `count-screen-lines' always uses the current
1875 buffer, regardless of which buffer is displayed in WINDOW. This makes
1876 possible to use `count-screen-lines' in any buffer, whether or not it
1877 is currently displayed in some window.
1879 ** The new function `mapc' is like `mapcar' but doesn't collect the
1880 argument function's results.
1882 ** The functions base64-decode-region and base64-decode-string now
1883 signal an error instead of returning nil if decoding fails.
1885 ** The function sendmail-user-agent-compose now recognizes a `body'
1886 header is the list of headers passed to it.
1888 ** The new function member-ignore-case works like `member', but
1889 ignores differences in case and text representation.
1891 ** The buffer-local variable cursor-type can be used to specify the
1892 cursor to use in windows displaying a buffer. Values are interpreted
1895 t use the cursor specified for the frame (default)
1896 nil don't display a cursor
1897 `bar' display a bar cursor with default width
1898 (bar . WIDTH) display a bar cursor with width WIDTH
1899 others display a box cursor.
1901 ** The variable open-paren-in-column-0-is-defun-start controls whether
1902 an open parenthesis in column 0 is considered to be the start of a
1903 defun. If set, the default, it is considered a defun start. If not
1904 set, an open parenthesis in column 0 has no special meaning.
1906 ** The new function `string-to-syntax' can be used to translate syntax
1907 specifications in string form as accepted by `modify-syntax-entry' to
1908 the cons-cell form that is used for the values of the `syntax-table'
1909 text property, and in `font-lock-syntactic-keywords'.
1913 (string-to-syntax "()")
1916 ** Emacs' reader supports CL read syntax for integers in bases
1919 *** `#BINTEGER' or `#bINTEGER' reads INTEGER in binary (radix 2).
1920 INTEGER optionally contains a sign.
1927 *** `#OINTEGER' or `#oINTEGER' reads INTEGER in octal (radix 8).
1932 *** `#XINTEGER' or `#xINTEGER' reads INTEGER in hexadecimal (radix 16).
1937 *** `#RADIXrINTEGER' reads INTEGER in radix RADIX, 2 <= RADIX <= 36.
1944 ** The function `documentation-property' now evaluates the value of
1945 the given property to obtain a string if it doesn't refer to etc/DOC
1948 ** If called for a symbol, the function `documentation' now looks for
1949 a `function-documentation' property of that symbol. If it has a non-nil
1950 value, the documentation is taken from that value. If the value is
1951 not a string, it is evaluated to obtain a string.
1954 ** The last argument of `define-key-after' defaults to t for convenience.
1956 ** The new function `replace-regexp-in-string' replaces all matches
1957 for a regexp in a string.
1959 ** `mouse-position' now runs the abnormal hook
1960 `mouse-position-function'.
1962 ** The function string-to-number now returns a float for numbers
1963 that don't fit into a Lisp integer.
1965 ** The variable keyword-symbols-constants-flag has been removed.
1966 Keywords are now always considered constants.
1969 ** The new function `delete-and-extract-region' deletes text and
1972 ** The function `clear-this-command-keys' now also clears the vector
1973 returned by function `recent-keys'.
1976 ** Variables `beginning-of-defun-function' and `end-of-defun-function'
1977 can be used to define handlers for the functions that find defuns.
1978 Major modes can define these locally instead of rebinding M-C-a
1979 etc. if the normal conventions for defuns are not appropriate for the
1983 ** easy-mmode-define-minor-mode now takes an additional BODY argument
1984 and is renamed `define-minor-mode'.
1987 ** If an abbrev has a hook function which is a symbol, and that symbol
1988 has a non-nil `no-self-insert' property, the return value of the hook
1989 function specifies whether an expansion has been done or not. If it
1990 returns nil, abbrev-expand also returns nil, meaning "no expansion has
1993 When abbrev expansion is done by typing a self-inserting character,
1994 and the abbrev has a hook with the `no-self-insert' property, and the
1995 hook function returns non-nil meaning expansion has been done,
1996 then the self-inserting character is not inserted.
1999 ** The function `intern-soft' now accepts a symbol as first argument.
2000 In this case, that exact symbol is looked up in the specified obarray,
2001 and the function's value is nil if it is not found.
2004 ** The new macro `with-syntax-table' can be used to evaluate forms
2005 with the syntax table of the current buffer temporarily set to a
2008 (with-syntax-table TABLE &rest BODY)
2010 Evaluate BODY with syntax table of current buffer set to a copy of
2011 TABLE. The current syntax table is saved, BODY is evaluated, and the
2012 saved table is restored, even in case of an abnormal exit. Value is
2016 ** Regular expressions now support intervals \{n,m\} as well as
2017 Perl's shy-groups \(?:...\) and non-greedy *? +? and ?? operators.
2020 ** The optional argument BUFFER of function file-local-copy has been
2021 removed since it wasn't used by anything.
2024 ** The file name argument of function `file-locked-p' is now required
2025 instead of being optional.
2028 ** The new built-in error `text-read-only' is signaled when trying to
2029 modify read-only text.
2032 ** New functions and variables for locales.
2034 The new variable `locale-coding-system' specifies how to encode and
2035 decode strings passed to low-level message functions like strerror and
2036 time functions like strftime. The new variables
2037 `system-messages-locale' and `system-time-locale' give the system
2038 locales to be used when invoking these two types of functions.
2040 The new function `set-locale-environment' sets the language
2041 environment, preferred coding system, and locale coding system from
2042 the system locale as specified by the LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, and LANG
2043 environment variables. Normally, it is invoked during startup and need
2044 not be invoked thereafter. It uses the new variables
2045 `locale-language-names', `locale-charset-language-names', and
2046 `locale-preferred-coding-systems' to make its decisions.
2049 ** syntax tables now understand nested comments.
2050 To declare a comment syntax as allowing nesting, just add an `n'
2051 modifier to either of the characters of the comment end and the comment
2055 ** The function `pixmap-spec-p' has been renamed `bitmap-spec-p'
2056 because `bitmap' is more in line with the usual X terminology.
2059 ** New function `propertize'
2061 The new function `propertize' can be used to conveniently construct
2062 strings with text properties.
2064 - Function: propertize STRING &rest PROPERTIES
2066 Value is a copy of STRING with text properties assigned as specified
2067 by PROPERTIES. PROPERTIES is a sequence of pairs PROPERTY VALUE, with
2068 PROPERTY being the name of a text property and VALUE being the
2069 specified value of that property. Example:
2071 (propertize "foo" 'face 'bold 'read-only t)
2074 ** push and pop macros.
2076 Simple versions of the push and pop macros of Common Lisp
2077 are now defined in Emacs Lisp. These macros allow only symbols
2078 as the place that holds the list to be changed.
2080 (push NEWELT LISTNAME) add NEWELT to the front of LISTNAME's value.
2081 (pop LISTNAME) return first elt of LISTNAME, and remove it
2082 (thus altering the value of LISTNAME).
2084 ** New dolist and dotimes macros.
2086 Simple versions of the dolist and dotimes macros of Common Lisp
2087 are now defined in Emacs Lisp.
2089 (dolist (VAR LIST [RESULT]) BODY...)
2090 Execute body once for each element of LIST,
2091 using the variable VAR to hold the current element.
2092 Then return the value of RESULT, or nil if RESULT is omitted.
2094 (dotimes (VAR COUNT [RESULT]) BODY...)
2095 Execute BODY with VAR bound to successive integers running from 0,
2096 inclusive, to COUNT, exclusive.
2097 Then return the value of RESULT, or nil if RESULT is omitted.
2100 ** Regular expressions now support Posix character classes such
2101 as [:alpha:], [:space:] and so on.
2103 [:digit:] matches 0 through 9
2104 [:cntrl:] matches ASCII control characters
2105 [:xdigit:] matches 0 through 9, a through f and A through F.
2106 [:blank:] matches space and tab only
2107 [:graph:] matches graphic characters--everything except ASCII control chars,
2109 [:print:] matches printing characters--everything except ASCII control chars
2111 [:alnum:] matches letters and digits.
2112 (But at present, for multibyte characters,
2113 it matches anything that has word syntax.)
2114 [:alpha:] matches letters.
2115 (But at present, for multibyte characters,
2116 it matches anything that has word syntax.)
2117 [:ascii:] matches ASCII (unibyte) characters.
2118 [:nonascii:] matches non-ASCII (multibyte) characters.
2119 [:lower:] matches anything lower-case.
2120 [:punct:] matches punctuation.
2121 (But at present, for multibyte characters,
2122 it matches anything that has non-word syntax.)
2123 [:space:] matches anything that has whitespace syntax.
2124 [:upper:] matches anything upper-case.
2125 [:word:] matches anything that has word syntax.
2128 ** Emacs now has built-in hash tables.
2130 The following functions are defined for hash tables:
2132 - Function: make-hash-table ARGS
2134 The argument list ARGS consists of keyword/argument pairs. All arguments
2135 are optional. The following arguments are defined:
2139 TEST must be a symbol specifying how to compare keys. Default is `eql'.
2140 Predefined are `eq', `eql' and `equal'. If TEST is not predefined,
2141 it must have been defined with `define-hash-table-test'.
2145 SIZE must be an integer > 0 giving a hint to the implementation how
2146 many elements will be put in the hash table. Default size is 65.
2148 :rehash-size REHASH-SIZE
2150 REHASH-SIZE specifies by how much to grow a hash table once it becomes
2151 full. If REHASH-SIZE is an integer, add that to the hash table's old
2152 size to get the new size. Otherwise, REHASH-SIZE must be a float >
2153 1.0, and the new size is computed by multiplying REHASH-SIZE with the
2154 old size. Default rehash size is 1.5.
2156 :rehash-threshold THRESHOLD
2158 THRESHOLD must be a float > 0 and <= 1.0 specifying when to resize the
2159 hash table. It is resized when the ratio of (number of entries) /
2160 (size of hash table) is >= THRESHOLD. Default threshold is 0.8.
2164 WEAK must be either nil, one of the symbols `key, `value',
2165 `key-or-value', `key-and-value', or t, meaning the same as
2166 `key-and-value'. Entries are removed from weak tables during garbage
2167 collection if their key and/or value are not referenced elsewhere
2168 outside of the hash table. Default are non-weak hash tables.
2170 - Function: makehash &optional TEST
2172 Similar to make-hash-table, but only TEST can be specified.
2174 - Function: hash-table-p TABLE
2176 Returns non-nil if TABLE is a hash table object.
2178 - Function: copy-hash-table TABLE
2180 Returns a copy of TABLE. Only the table itself is copied, keys and
2183 - Function: hash-table-count TABLE
2185 Returns the number of entries in TABLE.
2187 - Function: hash-table-rehash-size TABLE
2189 Returns the rehash size of TABLE.
2191 - Function: hash-table-rehash-threshold TABLE
2193 Returns the rehash threshold of TABLE.
2195 - Function: hash-table-rehash-size TABLE
2197 Returns the size of TABLE.
2199 - Function: hash-table-test TABLE
2201 Returns the test TABLE uses to compare keys.
2203 - Function: hash-table-weakness TABLE
2205 Returns the weakness specified for TABLE.
2207 - Function: clrhash TABLE
2211 - Function: gethash KEY TABLE &optional DEFAULT
2213 Look up KEY in TABLE and return its associated VALUE or DEFAULT if
2216 - Function: puthash KEY VALUE TABLE
2218 Associate KEY with VALUE in TABLE. If KEY is already associated with
2219 another value, replace the old value with VALUE.
2221 - Function: remhash KEY TABLE
2223 Remove KEY from TABLE if it is there.
2225 - Function: maphash FUNCTION TABLE
2227 Call FUNCTION for all elements in TABLE. FUNCTION must take two
2228 arguments KEY and VALUE.
2230 - Function: sxhash OBJ
2232 Return a hash code for Lisp object OBJ.
2234 - Function: define-hash-table-test NAME TEST-FN HASH-FN
2236 Define a new hash table test named NAME. If NAME is specified as
2237 a test in `make-hash-table', the table created will use TEST-FN for
2238 comparing keys, and HASH-FN to compute hash codes for keys. Test
2239 and hash function are stored as symbol property `hash-table-test'
2240 of NAME with a value of (TEST-FN HASH-FN).
2242 TEST-FN must take two arguments and return non-nil if they are the same.
2244 HASH-FN must take one argument and return an integer that is the hash
2245 code of the argument. The function should use the whole range of
2246 integer values for hash code computation, including negative integers.
2248 Example: The following creates a hash table whose keys are supposed to
2249 be strings that are compared case-insensitively.
2251 (defun case-fold-string= (a b)
2252 (compare-strings a nil nil b nil nil t))
2254 (defun case-fold-string-hash (a)
2255 (sxhash (upcase a)))
2257 (define-hash-table-test 'case-fold 'case-fold-string=
2258 'case-fold-string-hash))
2260 (make-hash-table :test 'case-fold)
2263 ** The Lisp reader handles circular structure.
2265 It now works to use the #N= and #N# constructs to represent
2266 circular structures. For example, #1=(a . #1#) represents
2267 a cons cell which is its own cdr.
2270 ** The Lisp printer handles circular structure.
2272 If you bind print-circle to a non-nil value, the Lisp printer outputs
2273 #N= and #N# constructs to represent circular and shared structure.
2276 ** If the second argument to `move-to-column' is anything but nil or
2277 t, that means replace a tab with spaces if necessary to reach the
2278 specified column, but do not add spaces at the end of the line if it
2279 is too short to reach that column.
2282 ** perform-replace has a new feature: the REPLACEMENTS argument may
2283 now be a cons cell (FUNCTION . DATA). This means to call FUNCTION
2284 after each match to get the replacement text. FUNCTION is called with
2285 two arguments: DATA, and the number of replacements already made.
2287 If the FROM-STRING contains any upper-case letters,
2288 perform-replace also turns off `case-fold-search' temporarily
2289 and inserts the replacement text without altering case in it.
2292 ** The function buffer-size now accepts an optional argument
2293 to specify which buffer to return the size of.
2296 ** The calendar motion commands now run the normal hook
2297 calendar-move-hook after moving point.
2300 ** The new variable small-temporary-file-directory specifies a
2301 directory to use for creating temporary files that are likely to be
2302 small. (Certain Emacs features use this directory.) If
2303 small-temporary-file-directory is nil, they use
2304 temporary-file-directory instead.
2307 ** The variable `inhibit-modification-hooks', if non-nil, inhibits all
2308 the hooks that track changes in the buffer. This affects
2309 `before-change-functions' and `after-change-functions', as well as
2310 hooks attached to text properties and overlay properties.
2313 ** assoc-delete-all is a new function that deletes all the
2314 elements of an alist which have a particular value as the car.
2317 ** make-temp-file provides a more reliable way to create a temporary file.
2319 make-temp-file is used like make-temp-name, except that it actually
2320 creates the file before it returns. This prevents a timing error,
2321 ensuring that no other job can use the same name for a temporary file.
2324 ** New exclusive-open feature in `write-region'
2326 The optional seventh arg is now called MUSTBENEW. If non-nil, it insists
2327 on a check for an existing file with the same name. If MUSTBENEW
2328 is `excl', that means to get an error if the file already exists;
2329 never overwrite. If MUSTBENEW is neither nil nor `excl', that means
2330 ask for confirmation before overwriting, but do go ahead and
2331 overwrite the file if the user gives confirmation.
2333 If the MUSTBENEW argument in `write-region' is `excl',
2334 that means to use a special feature in the `open' system call
2335 to get an error if the file exists at that time.
2336 The error reported is `file-already-exists'.
2339 ** Function `format' now handles text properties.
2341 Text properties of the format string are applied to the result string.
2342 If the result string is longer than the format string, text properties
2343 ending at the end of the format string are extended to the end of the
2346 Text properties from string arguments are applied to the result
2347 string where arguments appear in the result string.
2351 (let ((s1 "hello, %s")
2353 (put-text-property 0 (length s1) 'face 'bold s1)
2354 (put-text-property 0 (length s2) 'face 'italic s2)
2357 results in a bold-face string with an italic `world' at the end.
2360 ** Messages can now be displayed with text properties.
2362 Text properties are handled as described above for function `format'.
2363 The following example displays a bold-face message with an italic
2366 (let ((msg "hello, %s!")
2368 (put-text-property 0 (length msg) 'face 'bold msg)
2369 (put-text-property 0 (length arg) 'face 'italic arg)
2375 Emacs supports playing sound files on GNU/Linux and the free BSDs
2376 (Voxware driver and native BSD driver, aka as Luigi's driver).
2378 Currently supported file formats are RIFF-WAVE (*.wav) and Sun Audio
2379 (*.au). You must configure Emacs with the option `--with-sound=yes'
2380 to enable sound support.
2382 Sound files can be played by calling (play-sound SOUND). SOUND is a
2383 list of the form `(sound PROPERTY...)'. The function is only defined
2384 when sound support is present for the system on which Emacs runs. The
2385 functions runs `play-sound-functions' with one argument which is the
2386 sound to play, before playing the sound.
2388 The following sound properties are supported:
2392 FILE is a file name. If FILE isn't an absolute name, it will be
2393 searched relative to `data-directory'.
2397 DATA is a string containing sound data. Either :file or :data
2398 may be present, but not both.
2402 VOLUME must be an integer in the range 0..100 or a float in the range
2403 0..1. This property is optional.
2405 Other properties are ignored.
2407 ** `multimedia' is a new Finder keyword and Custom group.
2409 ** keywordp is a new predicate to test efficiently for an object being
2412 ** Changes to garbage collection
2414 *** The function garbage-collect now additionally returns the number
2415 of live and free strings.
2417 *** There is a new variable `strings-consed' holding the number of
2418 strings that have been consed so far.
2421 * Lisp-level Display features added after release 2.6 of the Emacs
2424 *** On window systems, `glyph-table' is no longer used.
2427 ** Help strings in menu items are now used to provide `help-echo' text.
2429 ** The function `image-size' can be used to determine the size of an
2432 - Function: image-size SPEC &optional PIXELS FRAME
2434 Return the size of an image as a pair (WIDTH . HEIGHT).
2436 SPEC is an image specification. PIXELS non-nil means return sizes
2437 measured in pixels, otherwise return sizes measured in canonical
2438 character units (fractions of the width/height of the frame's default
2439 font). FRAME is the frame on which the image will be displayed.
2440 FRAME nil or omitted means use the selected frame.
2442 ** The function `image-mask-p' can be used to determine if an image
2445 - Function: image-mask-p SPEC &optional FRAME
2447 Return t if image SPEC has a mask bitmap.
2448 FRAME is the frame on which the image will be displayed. FRAME nil
2449 or omitted means use the selected frame.
2452 ** The function `find-image' can be used to find a usable image
2453 satisfying one of a list of specifications.
2456 ** The STRING argument of `put-image' and `insert-image' is now
2460 ** Image specifications may contain the property `:ascent center' (see
2464 * New Lisp-level Display features in Emacs 21.1
2466 Note that +++ before an item means the Lisp manual has been updated.
2467 --- means that I have decided it does not need to be in the Lisp manual.
2468 When you add a new item, please add it without either +++ or ---
2469 so I will know I still need to look at it -- rms.
2471 ** The function tty-suppress-bold-inverse-default-colors can be used
2472 to make Emacs avoid displaying text with bold black foreground on TTYs.
2474 Some terminals, notably PC consoles, emulate bold text by displaying
2475 text in brighter colors. On such a console, a bold black foreground
2476 is displayed in a gray color. If this turns out to be hard to read on
2477 your monitor---the problem occurred with the mode line on
2478 laptops---you can instruct Emacs to ignore the text's boldness, and to
2479 just display it black instead.
2481 This situation can't be detected automatically. You will have to put
2484 (tty-suppress-bold-inverse-default-colors t)
2488 ** New face implementation.
2490 Emacs faces have been reimplemented from scratch. They don't use XLFD
2491 font names anymore and face merging now works as expected.
2496 Each face can specify the following display attributes:
2498 1. Font family or fontset alias name.
2500 2. Relative proportionate width, aka character set width or set
2501 width (swidth), e.g. `semi-compressed'.
2503 3. Font height in 1/10pt
2505 4. Font weight, e.g. `bold'.
2507 5. Font slant, e.g. `italic'.
2509 6. Foreground color.
2511 7. Background color.
2513 8. Whether or not characters should be underlined, and in what color.
2515 9. Whether or not characters should be displayed in inverse video.
2517 10. A background stipple, a bitmap.
2519 11. Whether or not characters should be overlined, and in what color.
2521 12. Whether or not characters should be strike-through, and in what
2524 13. Whether or not a box should be drawn around characters, its
2525 color, the width of the box lines, and 3D appearance.
2527 Faces are frame-local by nature because Emacs allows to define the
2528 same named face (face names are symbols) differently for different
2529 frames. Each frame has an alist of face definitions for all named
2530 faces. The value of a named face in such an alist is a Lisp vector
2531 with the symbol `face' in slot 0, and a slot for each each of the face
2532 attributes mentioned above.
2534 There is also a global face alist `face-new-frame-defaults'. Face
2535 definitions from this list are used to initialize faces of newly
2538 A face doesn't have to specify all attributes. Those not specified
2539 have a nil value. Faces specifying all attributes are called
2545 The display style of a given character in the text is determined by
2546 combining several faces. This process is called `face merging'. Any
2547 aspect of the display style that isn't specified by overlays or text
2548 properties is taken from the `default' face. Since it is made sure
2549 that the default face is always fully-specified, face merging always
2550 results in a fully-specified face.
2553 *** Face realization.
2555 After all face attributes for a character have been determined by
2556 merging faces of that character, that face is `realized'. The
2557 realization process maps face attributes to what is physically
2558 available on the system where Emacs runs. The result is a `realized
2559 face' in form of an internal structure which is stored in the face
2560 cache of the frame on which it was realized.
2562 Face realization is done in the context of the charset of the
2563 character to display because different fonts and encodings are used
2564 for different charsets. In other words, for characters of different
2565 charsets, different realized faces are needed to display them.
2567 Except for composite characters, faces are always realized for a
2568 specific character set and contain a specific font, even if the face
2569 being realized specifies a fontset. The reason is that the result of
2570 the new font selection stage is better than what can be done with
2571 statically defined font name patterns in fontsets.
2573 In unibyte text, Emacs' charsets aren't applicable; function
2574 `char-charset' reports ASCII for all characters, including those >
2575 0x7f. The X registry and encoding of fonts to use is determined from
2576 the variable `face-default-registry' in this case. The variable is
2577 initialized at Emacs startup time from the font the user specified for
2580 Currently all unibyte text, i.e. all buffers with
2581 `enable-multibyte-characters' nil are displayed with fonts of the same
2582 registry and encoding `face-default-registry'. This is consistent
2583 with the fact that languages can also be set globally, only.
2586 **** Clearing face caches.
2588 The Lisp function `clear-face-cache' can be called to clear face caches
2589 on all frames. If called with a non-nil argument, it will also unload
2595 Font selection tries to find the best available matching font for a
2596 given (charset, face) combination. This is done slightly differently
2597 for faces specifying a fontset, or a font family name.
2599 If the face specifies a fontset name, that fontset determines a
2600 pattern for fonts of the given charset. If the face specifies a font
2601 family, a font pattern is constructed. Charset symbols have a
2602 property `x-charset-registry' for that purpose that maps a charset to
2603 an XLFD registry and encoding in the font pattern constructed.
2605 Available fonts on the system on which Emacs runs are then matched
2606 against the font pattern. The result of font selection is the best
2607 match for the given face attributes in this font list.
2609 Font selection can be influenced by the user.
2611 The user can specify the relative importance he gives the face
2612 attributes width, height, weight, and slant by setting
2613 face-font-selection-order (faces.el) to a list of face attribute
2614 names. The default is (:width :height :weight :slant), and means
2615 that font selection first tries to find a good match for the font
2616 width specified by a face, then---within fonts with that width---tries
2617 to find a best match for the specified font height, etc.
2619 Setting `face-alternative-font-family-alist' allows the user to
2620 specify alternative font families to try if a family specified by a
2626 Emacs can make use of scalable fonts but doesn't do so by default,
2627 since the use of too many or too big scalable fonts may crash XFree86
2630 To enable scalable font use, set the variable
2631 `scalable-fonts-allowed'. A value of nil, the default, means never use
2632 scalable fonts. A value of t means any scalable font may be used.
2633 Otherwise, the value must be a list of regular expressions. A
2634 scalable font may then be used if it matches a regular expression from
2637 (setq scalable-fonts-allowed '("muleindian-2$"))
2639 allows the use of scalable fonts with registry `muleindian-2'.
2642 *** Functions and variables related to font selection.
2644 - Function: x-family-fonts &optional FAMILY FRAME
2646 Return a list of available fonts of family FAMILY on FRAME. If FAMILY
2647 is omitted or nil, list all families. Otherwise, FAMILY must be a
2648 string, possibly containing wildcards `?' and `*'.
2650 If FRAME is omitted or nil, use the selected frame. Each element of
2651 the result is a vector [FAMILY WIDTH POINT-SIZE WEIGHT SLANT FIXED-P
2652 FULL REGISTRY-AND-ENCODING]. FAMILY is the font family name.
2653 POINT-SIZE is the size of the font in 1/10 pt. WIDTH, WEIGHT, and
2654 SLANT are symbols describing the width, weight and slant of the font.
2655 These symbols are the same as for face attributes. FIXED-P is non-nil
2656 if the font is fixed-pitch. FULL is the full name of the font, and
2657 REGISTRY-AND-ENCODING is a string giving the registry and encoding of
2658 the font. The result list is sorted according to the current setting
2659 of the face font sort order.
2661 - Function: x-font-family-list
2663 Return a list of available font families on FRAME. If FRAME is
2664 omitted or nil, use the selected frame. Value is a list of conses
2665 (FAMILY . FIXED-P) where FAMILY is a font family, and FIXED-P is
2666 non-nil if fonts of that family are fixed-pitch.
2668 - Variable: font-list-limit
2670 Limit for font matching. If an integer > 0, font matching functions
2671 won't load more than that number of fonts when searching for a
2672 matching font. The default is currently 100.
2675 *** Setting face attributes.
2677 For the most part, the new face implementation is interface-compatible
2678 with the old one. Old face attribute related functions are now
2679 implemented in terms of the new functions `set-face-attribute' and
2682 Face attributes are identified by their names which are keyword
2683 symbols. All attributes can be set to `unspecified'.
2685 The following attributes are recognized:
2689 VALUE must be a string specifying the font family, e.g. ``courier'',
2690 or a fontset alias name. If a font family is specified, wild-cards `*'
2691 and `?' are allowed.
2695 VALUE specifies the relative proportionate width of the font to use.
2696 It must be one of the symbols `ultra-condensed', `extra-condensed',
2697 `condensed', `semi-condensed', `normal', `semi-expanded', `expanded',
2698 `extra-expanded', or `ultra-expanded'.
2702 VALUE must be either an integer specifying the height of the font to use
2703 in 1/10 pt, a floating point number specifying the amount by which to
2704 scale any underlying face, or a function, which is called with the old
2705 height (from the underlying face), and should return the new height.
2709 VALUE specifies the weight of the font to use. It must be one of the
2710 symbols `ultra-bold', `extra-bold', `bold', `semi-bold', `normal',
2711 `semi-light', `light', `extra-light', `ultra-light'.
2715 VALUE specifies the slant of the font to use. It must be one of the
2716 symbols `italic', `oblique', `normal', `reverse-italic', or
2719 `:foreground', `:background'
2721 VALUE must be a color name, a string.
2725 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be underlined. If
2726 VALUE is t, underline with foreground color of the face. If VALUE is
2727 a string, underline with that color. If VALUE is nil, explicitly
2732 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be overlined. If
2733 VALUE is t, overline with foreground color of the face. If VALUE is a
2734 string, overline with that color. If VALUE is nil, explicitly don't
2739 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be drawn with a line
2740 striking through them. If VALUE is t, use the foreground color of the
2741 face. If VALUE is a string, strike-through with that color. If VALUE
2742 is nil, explicitly don't strike through.
2746 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should have a box drawn
2747 around them. If VALUE is nil, explicitly don't draw boxes. If
2748 VALUE is t, draw a box with lines of width 1 in the foreground color
2749 of the face. If VALUE is a string, the string must be a color name,
2750 and the box is drawn in that color with a line width of 1. Otherwise,
2751 VALUE must be a property list of the form `(:line-width WIDTH
2752 :color COLOR :style STYLE)'. If a keyword/value pair is missing from
2753 the property list, a default value will be used for the value, as
2754 specified below. WIDTH specifies the width of the lines to draw; it
2755 defaults to 1. COLOR is the name of the color to draw in, default is
2756 the foreground color of the face for simple boxes, and the background
2757 color of the face for 3D boxes. STYLE specifies whether a 3D box
2758 should be draw. If STYLE is `released-button', draw a box looking
2759 like a released 3D button. If STYLE is `pressed-button' draw a box
2760 that appears like a pressed button. If STYLE is nil, the default if
2761 the property list doesn't contain a style specification, draw a 2D
2766 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be displayed in
2767 inverse video. VALUE must be one of t or nil.
2771 If VALUE is a string, it must be the name of a file of pixmap data.
2772 The directories listed in the `x-bitmap-file-path' variable are
2773 searched. Alternatively, VALUE may be a list of the form (WIDTH
2774 HEIGHT DATA) where WIDTH and HEIGHT are the size in pixels, and DATA
2775 is a string containing the raw bits of the bitmap. VALUE nil means
2776 explicitly don't use a stipple pattern.
2778 For convenience, attributes `:family', `:width', `:height', `:weight',
2779 and `:slant' may also be set in one step from an X font name:
2783 Set font-related face attributes from VALUE. VALUE must be a valid
2784 XLFD font name. If it is a font name pattern, the first matching font
2785 is used--this is for compatibility with the behavior of previous
2788 For compatibility with Emacs 20, keywords `:bold' and `:italic' can
2789 be used to specify that a bold or italic font should be used. VALUE
2790 must be t or nil in that case. A value of `unspecified' is not allowed."
2792 Please see also the documentation of `set-face-attribute' and
2797 VALUE is the name of a face from which to inherit attributes, or a list
2798 of face names. Attributes from inherited faces are merged into the face
2799 like an underlying face would be, with higher priority than underlying faces.
2801 *** Face attributes and X resources
2803 The following X resource names can be used to set face attributes
2806 Face attribute X resource class
2807 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
2808 :family attributeFamily . Face.AttributeFamily
2809 :width attributeWidth Face.AttributeWidth
2810 :height attributeHeight Face.AttributeHeight
2811 :weight attributeWeight Face.AttributeWeight
2812 :slant attributeSlant Face.AttributeSlant
2813 foreground attributeForeground Face.AttributeForeground
2814 :background attributeBackground . Face.AttributeBackground
2815 :overline attributeOverline Face.AttributeOverline
2816 :strike-through attributeStrikeThrough Face.AttributeStrikeThrough
2817 :box attributeBox Face.AttributeBox
2818 :underline attributeUnderline Face.AttributeUnderline
2819 :inverse-video attributeInverse Face.AttributeInverse
2820 :stipple attributeStipple Face.AttributeStipple
2821 or attributeBackgroundPixmap
2822 Face.AttributeBackgroundPixmap
2823 :font attributeFont Face.AttributeFont
2824 :bold attributeBold Face.AttributeBold
2825 :italic attributeItalic . Face.AttributeItalic
2826 :font attributeFont Face.AttributeFont
2829 *** Text property `face'.
2831 The value of the `face' text property can now be a single face
2832 specification or a list of such specifications. Each face
2833 specification can be
2835 1. A symbol or string naming a Lisp face.
2837 2. A property list of the form (KEYWORD VALUE ...) where each
2838 KEYWORD is a face attribute name, and VALUE is an appropriate value
2839 for that attribute. Please see the doc string of `set-face-attribute'
2840 for face attribute names.
2842 3. Conses of the form (FOREGROUND-COLOR . COLOR) or
2843 (BACKGROUND-COLOR . COLOR) where COLOR is a color name. This is
2844 for compatibility with previous Emacs versions.
2847 ** Support functions for colors on text-only terminals.
2849 The function `tty-color-define' can be used to define colors for use
2850 on TTY and MSDOS frames. It maps a color name to a color number on
2851 the terminal. Emacs defines a couple of common color mappings by
2852 default. You can get defined colors with a call to
2853 `defined-colors'. The function `tty-color-clear' can be
2854 used to clear the mapping table.
2856 ** Unified support for colors independent of frame type.
2858 The new functions `defined-colors', `color-defined-p', `color-values',
2859 and `display-color-p' work for any type of frame. On frames whose
2860 type is neither x nor w32, these functions transparently map X-style
2861 color specifications to the closest colors supported by the frame
2862 display. Lisp programs should use these new functions instead of the
2863 old `x-defined-colors', `x-color-defined-p', `x-color-values', and
2864 `x-display-color-p'. (The old function names are still available for
2865 compatibility; they are now aliases of the new names.) Lisp programs
2866 should no more look at the value of the variable window-system to
2867 modify their color-related behavior.
2869 The primitives `color-gray-p' and `color-supported-p' also work for
2872 ** Platform-independent functions to describe display capabilities.
2874 The new functions `display-mouse-p', `display-popup-menus-p',
2875 `display-graphic-p', `display-selections-p', `display-screens',
2876 `display-pixel-width', `display-pixel-height', `display-mm-width',
2877 `display-mm-height', `display-backing-store', `display-save-under',
2878 `display-planes', `display-color-cells', `display-visual-class', and
2879 `display-grayscale-p' describe the basic capabilities of a particular
2880 display. Lisp programs should call these functions instead of testing
2881 the value of the variables `window-system' or `system-type', or calling
2882 platform-specific functions such as `x-display-pixel-width'.
2885 ** The minibuffer prompt is now actually inserted in the minibuffer.
2887 This makes it possible to scroll through the prompt, if you want to.
2889 The function minubuffer-prompt-end returns the current position of the
2890 end of the minibuffer prompt, if the minibuffer is current.
2891 Otherwise, it returns zero.
2893 ** New `field' abstraction in buffers.
2895 There is now code to support an abstraction called `fields' in emacs
2896 buffers. A field is a contiguous region of text with the same `field'
2897 property (which can be a text property or an overlay).
2899 Many emacs functions, such as forward-word, forward-sentence,
2900 forward-paragraph, beginning-of-line, etc., stop moving when they come
2901 to the boundary between fields; beginning-of-line and end-of-line will
2902 not let the point move past the field boundary, but other movement
2903 commands continue into the next field if repeated. Stopping at field
2904 boundaries can be suppressed programmatically by binding
2905 `inhibit-field-text-motion' to a non-nil value around calls to these
2908 Now that the minibuffer prompt is inserted into the minibuffer, it is in
2909 a separate field from the user-input part of the buffer, so that common
2910 editing commands treat the user's text separately from the prompt.
2912 The following functions are defined for operating on fields:
2914 - Function: constrain-to-field NEW-POS OLD-POS &optional ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE ONLY-IN-LINE INHIBIT-CAPTURE-PROPERTY
2916 Return the position closest to NEW-POS that is in the same field as OLD-POS.
2918 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
2919 If NEW-POS is nil, then the current point is used instead, and set to the
2920 constrained position if that is is different.
2922 If OLD-POS is at the boundary of two fields, then the allowable
2923 positions for NEW-POS depends on the value of the optional argument
2924 ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE: If ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE is nil, then NEW-POS is
2925 constrained to the field that has the same `field' char-property
2926 as any new characters inserted at OLD-POS, whereas if ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE
2927 is non-nil, NEW-POS is constrained to the union of the two adjacent
2928 fields. Additionally, if two fields are separated by another field with
2929 the special value `boundary', then any point within this special field is
2930 also considered to be `on the boundary'.
2932 If the optional argument ONLY-IN-LINE is non-nil and constraining
2933 NEW-POS would move it to a different line, NEW-POS is returned
2934 unconstrained. This useful for commands that move by line, like
2935 C-n or C-a, which should generally respect field boundaries
2936 only in the case where they can still move to the right line.
2938 If the optional argument INHIBIT-CAPTURE-PROPERTY is non-nil, and OLD-POS has
2939 a non-nil property of that name, then any field boundaries are ignored.
2941 Field boundaries are not noticed if `inhibit-field-text-motion' is non-nil.
2943 - Function: delete-field &optional POS
2945 Delete the field surrounding POS.
2946 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
2947 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
2949 - Function: field-beginning &optional POS ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE
2951 Return the beginning of the field surrounding POS.
2952 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
2953 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
2954 If ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE is non-nil and POS is at the beginning of its
2955 field, then the beginning of the *previous* field is returned.
2957 - Function: field-end &optional POS ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE
2959 Return the end of the field surrounding POS.
2960 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
2961 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
2962 If ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE is non-nil and POS is at the end of its field,
2963 then the end of the *following* field is returned.
2965 - Function: field-string &optional POS
2967 Return the contents of the field surrounding POS as a string.
2968 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
2969 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
2971 - Function: field-string-no-properties &optional POS
2973 Return the contents of the field around POS, without text-properties.
2974 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
2975 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
2980 Emacs can now display images. Images are inserted into text by giving
2981 strings or buffer text a `display' text property containing one of
2982 (AREA IMAGE) or IMAGE. The display of the `display' property value
2983 replaces the display of the characters having that property.
2985 If the property value has the form (AREA IMAGE), AREA must be one of
2986 `(margin left-margin)', `(margin right-margin)' or `(margin nil)'. If
2987 AREA is `(margin nil)', IMAGE will be displayed in the text area of a
2988 window, otherwise it will be displayed in the left or right marginal
2991 IMAGE is an image specification.
2993 *** Image specifications
2995 Image specifications are lists of the form `(image PROPS)' where PROPS
2996 is a property list whose keys are keyword symbols. Each
2997 specifications must contain a property `:type TYPE' with TYPE being a
2998 symbol specifying the image type, e.g. `xbm'. Properties not
2999 described below are ignored.
3001 The following is a list of properties all image types share.
3005 ASCENT must be a number in the range 0..100, or the symbol `center'.
3006 If it is a number, it specifies the percentage of the image's height
3007 to use for its ascent.
3009 If not specified, ASCENT defaults to the value 50 which means that the
3010 image will be centered with the base line of the row it appears in.
3012 If ASCENT is `center' the image is vertically centered around a
3013 centerline which is the vertical center of text drawn at the position
3014 of the image, in the manner specified by the text properties and
3015 overlays that apply to the image.
3019 MARGIN must be a number >= 0 specifying how many pixels to put as
3020 margin around the image. Default is 0.
3024 RELIEF is analogous to the `:relief' attribute of faces. Puts a relief
3029 Apply an image algorithm to the image before displaying it.
3031 ALGO `laplace' or `emboss' means apply a Laplace or ``emboss''
3032 edge-detection algorithm to the image.
3034 ALGO `(edge-detection :matrix MATRIX :color-adjust ADJUST)' means
3035 apply a general edge-detection algorithm. MATRIX must be either a
3036 nine-element list or a nine-element vector of numbers. A pixel at
3037 position x/y in the transformed image is computed from original pixels
3038 around that position. MATRIX specifies, for each pixel in the
3039 neighborhood of x/y, a factor with which that pixel will influence the
3040 transformed pixel; element 0 specifies the factor for the pixel at
3041 x-1/y-1, element 1 the factor for the pixel at x/y-1 etc. as shown
3044 (x-1/y-1 x/y-1 x+1/y-1
3046 x-1/y+1 x/y+1 x+1/y+1)
3048 The resulting pixel is computed from the color intensity of the color
3049 resulting from summing up the RGB values of surrounding pixels,
3050 multiplied by the specified factors, and dividing that sum by the sum
3051 of the factors' absolute values.
3053 Laplace edge-detection currently uses a matrix of
3059 Emboss edge-detection uses a matrix of
3065 ALGO `disabled' means transform the image so that it looks
3070 If MASK is `heuristic' or `(heuristic BG)', build a clipping mask for
3071 the image, so that the background of a frame is visible behind the
3072 image. If BG is not specified, or if BG is t, determine the
3073 background color of the image by looking at the 4 corners of the
3074 image, assuming the most frequently occuring color from the corners is
3075 the background color of the image. Otherwise, BG must be a list `(RED
3076 GREEN BLUE)' specifying the color to assume for the background of the
3079 If MASK is nil, remove a mask from the image, if it has one. Images
3080 in some formats include a mask which can be removed by specifying
3085 Load image from FILE. If FILE is not absolute after expanding it,
3086 search for the image in `data-directory'. Some image types support
3087 building images from data. When this is done, no `:file' property
3088 may be present in the image specification.
3092 Get image data from DATA. (As of this writing, this is not yet
3093 supported for image type `postscript'). Either :file or :data may be
3094 present in an image specification, but not both. All image types
3095 support strings as DATA, some types allow additional types of DATA.
3097 *** Supported image types
3099 **** XBM, image type `xbm'.
3101 XBM images don't require an external library. Additional image
3102 properties supported are
3106 FG must be a string specifying the image foreground color. Default
3107 is the frame's foreground.
3111 BG must be a string specifying the image foreground color. Default is
3112 the frame's background color.
3114 XBM images can be constructed from data instead of file. In this
3115 case, the image specification must contain the following properties
3116 instead of a `:file' property.
3120 WIDTH specifies the width of the image in pixels.
3124 HEIGHT specifies the height of the image in pixels.
3130 1. a string large enough to hold the bitmap data, i.e. it must
3131 have a size >= (WIDTH + 7) / 8 * HEIGHT
3133 2. a bool-vector of size >= WIDTH * HEIGHT
3135 3. a vector of strings or bool-vectors, one for each line of the
3138 4. a string that's an in-memory XBM file. Neither width nor
3139 height may be specified in this case because these are defined
3142 **** XPM, image type `xpm'
3144 XPM images require the external library `libXpm', package
3145 `xpm-3.4k.tar.gz', version 3.4k or later. Make sure the library is
3146 found when Emacs is configured by supplying appropriate paths via
3147 `--x-includes' and `--x-libraries'.
3149 Additional image properties supported are:
3151 `:color-symbols SYMBOLS'
3153 SYMBOLS must be a list of pairs (NAME . COLOR), with NAME being the
3154 name of color as it appears in an XPM file, and COLOR being an X color
3157 XPM images can be built from memory instead of files. In that case,
3158 add a `:data' property instead of a `:file' property.
3160 The XPM library uses libz in its implementation so that it is able
3161 to display compressed images.
3163 **** PBM, image type `pbm'
3165 PBM images don't require an external library. Color, gray-scale and
3166 mono images are supported. There are no additional image properties
3169 **** JPEG, image type `jpeg'
3171 Support for JPEG images requires the external library `libjpeg',
3172 package `jpegsrc.v6a.tar.gz', or later. Additional image properties
3175 **** TIFF, image type `tiff'
3177 Support for TIFF images requires the external library `libtiff',
3178 package `tiff-v3.4-tar.gz', or later. There are no additional image
3181 **** GIF, image type `gif'
3183 Support for GIF images requires the external library `libungif', package
3184 `libungif-4.1.0', or later.
3186 Additional image properties supported are:
3190 INDEX must be an integer >= 0. Load image number INDEX from a
3191 multi-image GIF file. An error is signalled if INDEX is too large.
3193 This could be used to implement limited support for animated GIFs.
3194 For example, the following function displays a multi-image GIF file
3195 at point-min in the current buffer, switching between sub-images
3198 (defun show-anim (file max)
3199 "Display multi-image GIF file FILE which contains MAX subimages."
3200 (display-anim (current-buffer) file 0 max t))
3202 (defun display-anim (buffer file idx max first-time)
3205 (let ((img (create-image file nil nil :index idx)))
3208 (goto-char (point-min))
3209 (unless first-time (delete-char 1))
3210 (insert-image img "x"))
3211 (run-with-timer 0.1 nil 'display-anim buffer file (1+ idx) max nil)))
3213 **** PNG, image type `png'
3215 Support for PNG images requires the external library `libpng',
3216 package `libpng-1.0.2.tar.gz', or later. There are no additional image
3219 **** Ghostscript, image type `postscript'.
3221 Additional image properties supported are:
3225 WIDTH is width of the image in pt (1/72 inch). WIDTH must be an
3226 integer. This is a required property.
3230 HEIGHT specifies the height of the image in pt (1/72 inch). HEIGHT
3231 must be a integer. This is an required property.
3235 BOX must be a list or vector of 4 integers giving the bounding box of
3236 the PS image, analogous to the `BoundingBox' comment found in PS
3237 files. This is an required property.
3239 Part of the Ghostscript interface is implemented in Lisp. See
3244 The variable `image-types' contains a list of those image types
3245 which are supported in the current configuration.
3247 Images are stored in an image cache and removed from the cache when
3248 they haven't been displayed for `image-cache-eviction-delay seconds.
3249 The function `clear-image-cache' can be used to clear the image cache
3250 manually. Images in the cache are compared with `equal', i.e. all
3251 images with `equal' specifications share the same image.
3253 *** Simplified image API, image.el
3255 The new Lisp package image.el contains functions that simplify image
3256 creation and putting images into text. The function `create-image'
3257 can be used to create images. The macro `defimage' can be used to
3258 define an image based on available image types. The functions
3259 `put-image' and `insert-image' can be used to insert an image into a
3265 Windows can now have margins which are used for special text
3268 To give a window margins, either set the buffer-local variables
3269 `left-margin-width' and `right-margin-width', or call
3270 `set-window-margins'. The function `window-margins' can be used to
3271 obtain the current settings. To make `left-margin-width' and
3272 `right-margin-width' take effect, you must set them before displaying
3273 the buffer in a window, or use `set-window-buffer' to force an update
3274 of the display margins.
3276 You can put text in margins by giving it a `display' text property
3277 containing a pair of the form `(LOCATION . VALUE)', where LOCATION is
3278 one of `left-margin' or `right-margin' or nil. VALUE can be either a
3279 string, an image specification or a stretch specification (see later
3285 Emacs displays short help messages in the echo area, when the mouse
3286 moves over a tool-bar item or a piece of text that has a text property
3287 `help-echo'. This feature also applies to strings in the mode line
3288 that have a `help-echo' property.
3290 If the value of the `help-echo' property is a function, that function
3291 is called with three arguments WINDOW, OBJECT and POSITION. WINDOW is
3292 the window in which the help was found.
3294 If OBJECT is a buffer, POS is the position in the buffer where the
3295 `help-echo' text property was found.
3297 If OBJECT is an overlay, that overlay has a `help-echo' property, and
3298 POS is the position in the overlay's buffer under the mouse.
3300 If OBJECT is a string (an overlay string or a string displayed with
3301 the `display' property), POS is the position in that string under the
3304 If the value of the `help-echo' property is neither a function nor a
3305 string, it is evaluated to obtain a help string.
3307 For tool-bar and menu-bar items, their key definition is used to
3308 determine the help to display. If their definition contains a
3309 property `:help FORM', FORM is evaluated to determine the help string.
3310 For tool-bar items without a help form, the caption of the item is
3311 used as help string.
3313 The hook `show-help-function' can be set to a function that displays
3314 the help string differently. For example, enabling a tooltip window
3315 causes the help display to appear there instead of in the echo area.
3318 ** Vertical fractional scrolling.
3320 The display of text in windows can be scrolled smoothly in pixels.
3321 This is useful, for example, for making parts of large images visible.
3323 The function `window-vscroll' returns the current value of vertical
3324 scrolling, a non-negative fraction of the canonical character height.
3325 The function `set-window-vscroll' can be used to set the vertical
3326 scrolling value. Here is an example of how these function might be
3329 (global-set-key [A-down]
3332 (set-window-vscroll (selected-window)
3333 (+ 0.5 (window-vscroll)))))
3334 (global-set-key [A-up]
3337 (set-window-vscroll (selected-window)
3338 (- (window-vscroll) 0.5)))))
3341 ** New hook `fontification-functions'.
3343 Functions from `fontification-functions' are called from redisplay
3344 when it encounters a region of text that is not yet fontified. This
3345 variable automatically becomes buffer-local when set. Each function
3346 is called with one argument, POS.
3348 At least one of the hook functions should fontify one or more
3349 characters starting at POS in the current buffer. It should mark them
3350 as fontified by giving them a non-nil value of the `fontified' text
3351 property. It may be reasonable for these functions to check for the
3352 `fontified' property and not put it back on, but they do not have to.
3355 ** Tool bar support.
3357 Emacs supports a tool bar at the top of a frame under X. The frame
3358 parameter `tool-bar-lines' (X resource "toolBar", class "ToolBar")
3359 controls how may lines to reserve for the tool bar. A zero value
3360 suppresses the tool bar. If the value is non-zero and
3361 `auto-resize-tool-bars' is non-nil the tool bar's size will be changed
3362 automatically so that all tool bar items are visible.
3364 *** Tool bar item definitions
3366 Tool bar items are defined using `define-key' with a prefix-key
3367 `tool-bar'. For example `(define-key global-map [tool-bar item1] ITEM)'
3368 where ITEM is a list `(menu-item CAPTION BINDING PROPS...)'.
3370 CAPTION is the caption of the item, If it's not a string, it is
3371 evaluated to get a string. The caption is currently not displayed in
3372 the tool bar, but it is displayed if the item doesn't have a `:help'
3373 property (see below).
3375 BINDING is the tool bar item's binding. Tool bar items with keymaps as
3376 binding are currently ignored.
3378 The following properties are recognized:
3382 FORM is evaluated and specifies whether the tool bar item is enabled
3387 FORM is evaluated and specifies whether the tool bar item is displayed.
3391 FUNCTION is called with one parameter, the same list BINDING in which
3392 FUNCTION is specified as the filter. The value FUNCTION returns is
3393 used instead of BINDING to display this item.
3395 `:button (TYPE SELECTED)'
3397 TYPE must be one of `:radio' or `:toggle'. SELECTED is evaluated
3398 and specifies whether the button is selected (pressed) or not.
3402 IMAGES is either a single image specification or a vector of four
3403 image specifications. If it is a vector, this table lists the
3404 meaning of each of the four elements:
3406 Index Use when item is
3407 ----------------------------------------
3408 0 enabled and selected
3409 1 enabled and deselected
3410 2 disabled and selected
3411 3 disabled and deselected
3413 If IMAGE is a single image specification, a Laplace edge-detection
3414 algorithm is used on that image to draw the image in disabled state.
3416 `:help HELP-STRING'.
3418 Gives a help string to display for the tool bar item. This help
3419 is displayed when the mouse is moved over the item.
3421 The function `toolbar-add-item' is a convenience function for adding
3422 toolbar items generally, and `toolbar-like-menu-item' can be used to
3423 define a toolbar item with a binding copied from an item on the menu
3426 *** Tool-bar-related variables.
3428 If `auto-resize-tool-bar' is non-nil, the tool bar will automatically
3429 resize to show all defined tool bar items. It will never grow larger
3430 than 1/4 of the frame's size.
3432 If `auto-raise-tool-bar-buttons' is non-nil, tool bar buttons will be
3433 raised when the mouse moves over them.
3435 You can add extra space between tool bar items by setting
3436 `tool-bar-button-margin' to a positive integer specifying a number of
3437 pixels. Default is 1.
3439 You can change the shadow thickness of tool bar buttons by setting
3440 `tool-bar-button-relief' to an integer. Default is 3.
3442 *** Tool-bar clicks with modifiers.
3444 You can bind commands to clicks with control, shift, meta etc. on
3447 (define-key global-map [tool-bar shell]
3448 '(menu-item "Shell" shell
3449 :image (image :type xpm :file "shell.xpm")))
3451 is the original tool bar item definition, then
3453 (define-key global-map [tool-bar S-shell] 'some-command)
3455 makes a binding to run `some-command' for a shifted click on the same
3458 ** Mode line changes.
3461 *** Mouse-sensitive mode line.
3463 The mode line can be made mouse-sensitive by displaying strings there
3464 that have a `local-map' text property. There are three ways to display
3465 a string with a `local-map' property in the mode line.
3467 1. The mode line spec contains a variable whose string value has
3468 a `local-map' text property.
3470 2. The mode line spec contains a format specifier (e.g. `%12b'), and
3471 that format specifier has a `local-map' property.
3473 3. The mode line spec contains a list containing `:eval FORM'. FORM
3474 is evaluated. If the result is a string, and that string has a
3475 `local-map' property.
3477 The same mechanism is used to determine the `face' and `help-echo'
3478 properties of strings in the mode line. See `bindings.el' for an
3481 *** If a mode line element has the form `(:eval FORM)', FORM is
3482 evaluated and the result is used as mode line element.
3485 *** You can suppress mode-line display by setting the buffer-local
3486 variable mode-line-format to nil.
3489 *** A headerline can now be displayed at the top of a window.
3491 This mode line's contents are controlled by the new variable
3492 `header-line-format' and `default-header-line-format' which are
3493 completely analogous to `mode-line-format' and
3494 `default-mode-line-format'. A value of nil means don't display a top
3497 The appearance of top mode lines is controlled by the face
3500 The function `coordinates-in-window-p' returns `header-line' for a
3501 position in the header-line.
3504 ** Text property `display'
3506 The `display' text property is used to insert images into text, and
3507 also control other aspects of how text displays. The value of the
3508 `display' property should be a display specification, as described
3509 below, or a list or vector containing display specifications.
3511 *** Variable width and height spaces
3513 To display a space of fractional width or height, use a display
3514 specification of the form `(LOCATION STRECH)'. If LOCATION is
3515 `(margin left-margin)', the space is displayed in the left marginal
3516 area, if it is `(margin right-margin)', it is displayed in the right
3517 marginal area, and if LOCATION is `(margin nil)' the space is
3518 displayed in the text. In the latter case you can also use the
3519 simpler form STRETCH as property value.
3521 The stretch specification STRETCH itself is a list of the form `(space
3522 PROPS)', where PROPS is a property list which can contain the
3523 properties described below.
3525 The display of the fractional space replaces the display of the
3526 characters having the `display' property.
3530 Specifies that the space width should be WIDTH times the normal
3531 character width. WIDTH can be an integer or floating point number.
3533 - :relative-width FACTOR
3535 Specifies that the width of the stretch should be computed from the
3536 first character in a group of consecutive characters that have the
3537 same `display' property. The computation is done by multiplying the
3538 width of that character by FACTOR.
3542 Specifies that the space should be wide enough to reach HPOS. The
3543 value HPOS is measured in units of the normal character width.
3545 Exactly one of the above properties should be used.
3549 Specifies the height of the space, as HEIGHT, measured in terms of the
3552 - :relative-height FACTOR
3554 The height of the space is computed as the product of the height
3555 of the text having the `display' property and FACTOR.
3559 Specifies that ASCENT percent of the height of the stretch should be
3560 used for the ascent of the stretch, i.e. for the part above the
3561 baseline. The value of ASCENT must be a non-negative number less or
3564 You should not use both `:height' and `:relative-height' together.
3568 A display specification for an image has the form `(LOCATION
3569 . IMAGE)', where IMAGE is an image specification. The image replaces,
3570 in the display, the characters having this display specification in
3571 their `display' text property. If LOCATION is `(margin left-margin)',
3572 the image will be displayed in the left marginal area, if it is
3573 `(margin right-margin)' it will be displayed in the right marginal
3574 area, and if LOCATION is `(margin nil)' the image will be displayed in
3575 the text. In the latter case you can also use the simpler form IMAGE
3576 as display specification.
3578 *** Other display properties
3580 - :space-width FACTOR
3582 Specifies that space characters in the text having that property
3583 should be displayed FACTOR times as wide as normal; FACTOR must be an
3588 Display text having this property in a font that is smaller or larger.
3590 If HEIGHT is a list of the form `(+ N)', where N is an integer, that
3591 means to use a font that is N steps larger. If HEIGHT is a list of
3592 the form `(- N)', that means to use a font that is N steps smaller. A
3593 ``step'' is defined by the set of available fonts; each size for which
3594 a font is available counts as a step.
3596 If HEIGHT is a number, that means to use a font that is HEIGHT times
3597 as tall as the frame's default font.
3599 If HEIGHT is a symbol, it is called as a function with the current
3600 height as argument. The function should return the new height to use.
3602 Otherwise, HEIGHT is evaluated to get the new height, with the symbol
3603 `height' bound to the current specified font height.
3607 FACTOR must be a number, specifying a multiple of the current
3608 font's height. If it is positive, that means to display the characters
3609 raised. If it is negative, that means to display them lower down. The
3610 amount of raising or lowering is computed without taking account of the
3611 `:height' subproperty.
3613 *** Conditional display properties
3615 All display specifications can be conditionalized. If a specification
3616 has the form `(:when CONDITION . SPEC)', the specification SPEC
3617 applies only when CONDITION yields a non-nil value when evaluated.
3618 During evaluattion, point is temporarily set to the end position of
3619 the text having the `display' property.
3621 The normal specification consisting of SPEC only is equivalent to
3625 ** New menu separator types.
3627 Emacs now supports more than one menu separator type. Menu items with
3628 item names consisting of dashes only (including zero dashes) are
3629 treated like before. In addition, the following item names are used
3630 to specify other menu separator types.
3632 - `--no-line' or `--space', or `--:space', or `--:noLine'
3634 No separator lines are drawn, but a small space is inserted where the
3637 - `--single-line' or `--:singleLine'
3639 A single line in the menu's foreground color.
3641 - `--double-line' or `--:doubleLine'
3643 A double line in the menu's foreground color.
3645 - `--single-dashed-line' or `--:singleDashedLine'
3647 A single dashed line in the menu's foreground color.
3649 - `--double-dashed-line' or `--:doubleDashedLine'
3651 A double dashed line in the menu's foreground color.
3653 - `--shadow-etched-in' or `--:shadowEtchedIn'
3655 A single line with 3D sunken appearance. This is the the form
3656 displayed for item names consisting of dashes only.
3658 - `--shadow-etched-out' or `--:shadowEtchedOut'
3660 A single line with 3D raised appearance.
3662 - `--shadow-etched-in-dash' or `--:shadowEtchedInDash'
3664 A single dashed line with 3D sunken appearance.
3666 - `--shadow-etched-out-dash' or `--:shadowEtchedOutDash'
3668 A single dashed line with 3D raise appearance.
3670 - `--shadow-double-etched-in' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedIn'
3672 Two lines with 3D sunken appearance.
3674 - `--shadow-double-etched-out' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedOut'
3676 Two lines with 3D raised appearance.
3678 - `--shadow-double-etched-in-dash' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedInDash'
3680 Two dashed lines with 3D sunken appearance.
3682 - `--shadow-double-etched-out-dash' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedOutDash'
3684 Two dashed lines with 3D raised appearance.
3686 Under LessTif/Motif, the last four separator types are displayed like
3687 the corresponding single-line separators.
3690 ** New frame parameters for scroll bar colors.
3692 The new frame parameters `scroll-bar-foreground' and
3693 `scroll-bar-background' can be used to change scroll bar colors.
3694 Their value must be either a color name, a string, or nil to specify
3695 that scroll bars should use a default color. For toolkit scroll bars,
3696 default colors are toolkit specific. For non-toolkit scroll bars, the
3697 default background is the background color of the frame, and the
3698 default foreground is black.
3700 The X resource name of these parameters are `scrollBarForeground'
3701 (class ScrollBarForeground) and `scrollBarBackground' (class
3702 `ScrollBarBackground').
3704 Setting these parameters overrides toolkit specific X resource
3705 settings for scroll bar colors.
3708 ** You can set `redisplay-dont-pause' to a non-nil value to prevent
3709 display updates from being interrupted when input is pending.
3712 ** Changing a window's width may now change its window start if it
3713 starts on a continuation line. The new window start is computed based
3714 on the window's new width, starting from the start of the continued
3715 line as the start of the screen line with the minimum distance from
3716 the original window start.
3719 ** The variable `hscroll-step' and the functions
3720 `hscroll-point-visible' and `hscroll-window-column' have been removed
3721 now that proper horizontal scrolling is implemented.
3724 ** Windows can now be made fixed-width and/or fixed-height.
3726 A window is fixed-size if its buffer has a buffer-local variable
3727 `window-size-fixed' whose value is not nil. A value of `height' makes
3728 windows fixed-height, a value of `width' makes them fixed-width, any
3729 other non-nil value makes them both fixed-width and fixed-height.
3731 The following code makes all windows displaying the current buffer
3732 fixed-width and fixed-height.
3734 (set (make-local-variable 'window-size-fixed) t)
3736 A call to enlarge-window on a window gives an error if that window is
3737 fixed-width and it is tried to change the window's width, or if the
3738 window is fixed-height, and it is tried to change its height. To
3739 change the size of a fixed-size window, bind `window-size-fixed'
3740 temporarily to nil, for example
3742 (let ((window-size-fixed nil))
3743 (enlarge-window 10))
3745 Likewise, an attempt to split a fixed-height window vertically,
3746 or a fixed-width window horizontally results in a error.
3748 ** The cursor-type frame parameter is now supported on MS-DOS
3749 terminals. When Emacs starts, it by default changes the cursor shape
3750 to a solid box, as it does on Unix. The `cursor-type' frame parameter
3751 overrides this as it does on Unix, except that the bar cursor is
3752 horizontal rather than vertical (since the MS-DOS display doesn't
3753 support a vertical-bar cursor).
3757 * Emacs 20.7 is a bug-fix release with few user-visible changes
3759 ** It is now possible to use CCL-based coding systems for keyboard
3762 ** ange-ftp now handles FTP security extensions, like Kerberos.
3764 ** Rmail has been extended to recognize more forms of digest messages.
3766 ** Now, most coding systems set in keyboard coding system work not
3767 only for character input, but also in incremental search. The
3768 exceptions are such coding systems that handle 2-byte character sets
3769 (e.g euc-kr, euc-jp) and that use ISO's escape sequence
3770 (e.g. iso-2022-jp). They are ignored in incremental search.
3772 ** Support for Macintosh PowerPC-based machines running GNU/Linux has
3776 * Emacs 20.6 is a bug-fix release with one user-visible change
3778 ** Support for ARM-based non-RISCiX machines has been added.
3781 * Emacs 20.5 is a bug-fix release with no user-visible changes.
3783 ** Not new, but not mentioned before:
3784 M-w when Transient Mark mode is enabled disables the mark.
3786 * Changes in Emacs 20.4
3788 ** Init file may be called .emacs.el.
3790 You can now call the Emacs init file `.emacs.el'.
3791 Formerly the name had to be `.emacs'. If you use the name
3792 `.emacs.el', you can byte-compile the file in the usual way.
3794 If both `.emacs' and `.emacs.el' exist, the latter file
3795 is the one that is used.
3797 ** shell-command, and shell-command-on-region, now return
3798 the exit code of the command (unless it is asynchronous).
3799 Also, you can specify a place to put the error output,
3800 separate from the command's regular output.
3801 Interactively, the variable shell-command-default-error-buffer
3802 says where to put error output; set it to a buffer name.
3803 In calls from Lisp, an optional argument ERROR-BUFFER specifies
3806 When you specify a non-nil error buffer (or buffer name), any error
3807 output is inserted before point in that buffer, with \f\n to separate
3808 it from the previous batch of error output. The error buffer is not
3809 cleared, so error output from successive commands accumulates there.
3811 ** Setting the default value of enable-multibyte-characters to nil in
3812 the .emacs file, either explicitly using setq-default, or via Custom,
3813 is now essentially equivalent to using --unibyte: all buffers
3814 created during startup will be made unibyte after loading .emacs.
3816 ** C-x C-f now handles the wildcards * and ? in file names. For
3817 example, typing C-x C-f c*.c RET visits all the files whose names
3818 match c*.c. To visit a file whose name contains * or ?, add the
3819 quoting sequence /: to the beginning of the file name.
3821 ** The M-x commands keep-lines, flush-lines and count-matches
3822 now have the same feature as occur and query-replace:
3823 if the pattern contains any upper case letters, then
3824 they never ignore case.
3826 ** The end-of-line format conversion feature previously mentioned
3827 under `* Emacs 20.1 changes for MS-DOS and MS-Windows' actually
3828 applies to all operating systems. Emacs recognizes from the contents
3829 of a file what convention it uses to separate lines--newline, CRLF, or
3830 just CR--and automatically converts the contents to the normal Emacs
3831 convention (using newline to separate lines) for editing. This is a
3832 part of the general feature of coding system conversion.
3834 If you subsequently save the buffer, Emacs converts the text back to
3835 the same format that was used in the file before.
3837 You can turn off end-of-line conversion by setting the variable
3838 `inhibit-eol-conversion' to non-nil, e.g. with Custom in the MULE group.
3840 ** The character set property `prefered-coding-system' has been
3841 renamed to `preferred-coding-system', for the sake of correct spelling.
3842 This is a fairly internal feature, so few programs should be affected.
3844 ** Mode-line display of end-of-line format is changed.
3845 The indication of the end-of-line format of the file visited by a
3846 buffer is now more explicit when that format is not the usual one for
3847 your operating system. For example, the DOS-style end-of-line format
3848 is displayed as "(DOS)" on Unix and GNU/Linux systems. The usual
3849 end-of-line format is still displayed as a single character (colon for
3850 Unix, backslash for DOS and Windows, and forward slash for the Mac).
3852 The values of the variables eol-mnemonic-unix, eol-mnemonic-dos,
3853 eol-mnemonic-mac, and eol-mnemonic-undecided, which are strings,
3854 control what is displayed in the mode line for each end-of-line
3855 format. You can now customize these variables.
3857 ** In the previous version of Emacs, tar-mode didn't work well if a
3858 filename contained non-ASCII characters. Now this is fixed. Such a
3859 filename is decoded by file-name-coding-system if the default value of
3860 enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil.
3862 ** The command temp-buffer-resize-mode toggles a minor mode
3863 in which temporary buffers (such as help buffers) are given
3864 windows just big enough to hold the whole contents.
3866 ** If you use completion.el, you must now run the function
3867 dynamic-completion-mode to enable it. Just loading the file
3868 doesn't have any effect.
3870 ** In Flyspell mode, the default is now to make just one Ispell process,
3873 ** If you use iswitchb but do not call (iswitchb-default-keybindings) to
3874 use the default keybindings, you will need to add the following line:
3875 (add-hook 'minibuffer-setup-hook 'iswitchb-minibuffer-setup)
3877 ** Auto-show mode is no longer enabled just by loading auto-show.el.
3878 To control it, set `auto-show-mode' via Custom or use the
3879 `auto-show-mode' command.
3881 ** Handling of X fonts' ascent/descent parameters has been changed to
3882 avoid redisplay problems. As a consequence, compared with previous
3883 versions the line spacing and frame size now differ with some font
3884 choices, typically increasing by a pixel per line. This change
3885 occurred in version 20.3 but was not documented then.
3887 ** If you select the bar cursor style, it uses the frame's
3888 cursor-color, rather than the cursor foreground pixel.
3890 ** In multibyte mode, Rmail decodes incoming MIME messages using the
3891 character set specified in the message. If you want to disable this
3892 feature, set the variable rmail-decode-mime-charset to nil.
3894 ** Not new, but not mentioned previously in NEWS: when you use #! at
3895 the beginning of a file to make it executable and specify an
3896 interpreter program, Emacs looks on the second line for the -*- mode
3897 and variable specification, as well as on the first line.
3899 ** Support for IBM codepage encoding of non-ASCII characters.
3901 The new command M-x codepage-setup creates a special coding system
3902 that can be used to convert text between a specific IBM codepage and
3903 one of the character sets built into Emacs which matches that
3904 codepage. For example, codepage 850 corresponds to Latin-1 character
3905 set, codepage 855 corresponds to Cyrillic-ISO character set, etc.
3907 Windows codepages 1250, 1251 and some others, where Windows deviates
3908 from the corresponding ISO character set, are also supported.
3910 IBM box-drawing characters and other glyphs which don't have
3911 equivalents in the corresponding ISO character set, are converted to
3912 a character defined by dos-unsupported-char-glyph on MS-DOS, and to
3913 `?' on other systems.
3915 IBM codepages are widely used on MS-DOS and MS-Windows, so this
3916 feature is most useful on those platforms, but it can also be used on
3919 Emacs compiled for MS-DOS automatically loads the support for the
3920 current codepage when it starts.
3924 *** When mail is sent using compose-mail (C-x m), and if
3925 `mail-send-nonascii' is set to the new default value `mime',
3926 appropriate MIME headers are added. The headers are added only if
3927 non-ASCII characters are present in the body of the mail, and no other
3928 MIME headers are already present. For example, the following three
3929 headers are added if the coding system used in the *mail* buffer is
3933 Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
3934 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
3936 *** The new variable default-sendmail-coding-system specifies the
3937 default way to encode outgoing mail. This has higher priority than
3938 default-buffer-file-coding-system but has lower priority than
3939 sendmail-coding-system and the local value of
3940 buffer-file-coding-system.
3942 You should not set this variable manually. Instead, set
3943 sendmail-coding-system to specify a fixed encoding for all outgoing
3946 *** When you try to send a message that contains non-ASCII characters,
3947 if the coding system specified by those variables doesn't handle them,
3948 Emacs will ask you to select a suitable coding system while showing a
3949 list of possible coding systems.
3953 *** c-default-style can now take an association list that maps major
3954 modes to style names. When this variable is an alist, Java mode no
3955 longer hardcodes a setting to "java" style. See the variable's
3956 docstring for details.
3958 *** It's now possible to put a list as the offset on a syntactic
3959 symbol. The list is evaluated recursively until a non-nil offset is
3960 found. This is useful to combine several lineup functions to act in a
3961 prioritized order on a single line. However, none of the supplied
3962 lineup functions use this feature currently.
3964 *** New syntactic symbol catch-clause, which is used on the "catch" and
3965 "finally" lines in try-catch constructs in C++ and Java.
3967 *** New cleanup brace-catch-brace on c-cleanup-list, which does for
3968 "catch" lines what brace-elseif-brace does for "else if" lines.
3970 *** The braces of Java anonymous inner classes are treated separately
3971 from the braces of other classes in auto-newline mode. Two new
3972 symbols inexpr-class-open and inexpr-class-close may be used on
3973 c-hanging-braces-alist to control the automatic newlines used for
3976 *** Support for the Pike language added, along with new Pike specific
3977 syntactic symbols: inlambda, lambda-intro-cont
3979 *** Support for Java anonymous classes via new syntactic symbol
3980 inexpr-class. New syntactic symbol inexpr-statement for Pike
3981 support and gcc-style statements inside expressions. New lineup
3982 function c-lineup-inexpr-block.
3984 *** New syntactic symbol brace-entry-open which is used in brace lists
3985 (i.e. static initializers) when a list entry starts with an open
3986 brace. These used to be recognized as brace-list-entry's.
3987 c-electric-brace also recognizes brace-entry-open braces
3988 (brace-list-entry's can no longer be electrified).
3990 *** New command c-indent-line-or-region, not bound by default.
3992 *** `#' is only electric when typed in the indentation of a line.
3994 *** Parentheses are now electric (via the new command c-electric-paren)
3995 for auto-reindenting lines when parens are typed.
3997 *** In "gnu" style, inline-open offset is now set to zero.
3999 *** Uniform handling of the inclass syntactic symbol. The indentation
4000 associated with it is now always relative to the class opening brace.
4001 This means that the indentation behavior has changed in some
4002 circumstances, but only if you've put anything besides 0 on the
4003 class-open syntactic symbol (none of the default styles do that).
4007 *** New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
4008 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See the
4009 Gnus manual for the full story.
4011 *** The nndraft backend has returned, but works differently than
4012 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the nndraft
4013 group, which is created automatically.
4015 *** `gnus-alter-header-function' can now be used to alter header
4018 *** `gnus-summary-goto-article' now accept Message-ID's.
4020 *** A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
4021 outside the region: `C-c C-v'.
4023 *** You can now post to component group in nnvirtual groups with
4026 *** `nntp-rlogin-program' -- new variable to ease customization.
4028 *** `C-u C-c C-c' in `gnus-article-edit-mode' will now inhibit
4029 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
4031 *** New element in `gnus-boring-article-headers' -- `long-to'.
4033 *** `M-i' symbolic prefix command. See the section "Symbolic
4034 Prefixes" in the Gnus manual for details.
4036 *** `L' and `I' in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
4037 `a' to add the score rule to the "all.SCORE" file.
4039 *** `gnus-simplify-subject-functions' variable to allow greater
4040 control over simplification.
4042 *** `A T' -- new command for fetching the current thread.
4044 *** `/ T' -- new command for including the current thread in the
4047 *** `M-RET' is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
4049 *** \\1-expressions are now valid in `nnmail-split-methods'.
4051 *** The `custom-face-lookup' function has been removed.
4052 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
4053 rewrite them to use `face-spec-set' instead.
4055 *** Cancelling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
4056 `a' forces normal posting method.
4058 *** New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper text
4061 *** For easier debugging of nntp, you can set `nntp-record-commands'
4064 *** nntp now uses ~/.authinfo, a .netrc-like file, for controlling
4065 where and how to send AUTHINFO to NNTP servers.
4067 *** A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
4070 *** A history of where mails have been split is available.
4072 *** A new article date command has been added -- `article-date-iso8601'.
4074 *** Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
4075 `gnus-score-thread-simplify'.
4077 *** A new function for citing in Message has been added --
4078 `message-cite-original-without-signature'.
4080 *** `article-strip-all-blank-lines' -- new article command.
4082 *** A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
4085 *** A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
4086 `gnus-adaptive-word-minimum' variable.
4088 *** The "lapsed date" article header can be kept continually
4089 updated by the `gnus-start-date-timer' command.
4091 *** Web listserv archives can be read with the nnlistserv backend.
4093 *** Old dejanews archives can now be read by nnweb.
4095 *** `gnus-posting-styles' has been re-activated.
4097 ** Changes to TeX and LaTeX mode
4099 *** The new variable `tex-start-options-string' can be used to give
4100 options for the TeX run. The default value causes TeX to run in
4101 nonstopmode. For an interactive TeX run set it to nil or "".
4103 *** The command `tex-feed-input' sends input to the Tex Shell. In a
4104 TeX buffer it is bound to the keys C-RET, C-c RET, and C-c C-m (some
4105 of these keys may not work on all systems). For instance, if you run
4106 TeX interactively and if the TeX run stops because of an error, you
4107 can continue it without leaving the TeX buffer by typing C-RET.
4109 *** The Tex Shell Buffer is now in `compilation-shell-minor-mode'.
4110 All error-parsing commands of the Compilation major mode are available
4111 but bound to keys that don't collide with the shell. Thus you can use
4112 the Tex Shell for command line executions like a usual shell.
4114 *** The commands `tex-validate-region' and `tex-validate-buffer' check
4115 the matching of braces and $'s. The errors are listed in a *Occur*
4116 buffer and you can use C-c C-c or mouse-2 to go to a particular
4119 ** Changes to RefTeX mode
4121 *** The table of contents buffer can now also display labels and
4122 file boundaries in addition to sections. Use `l', `i', and `c' keys.
4124 *** Labels derived from context (the section heading) are now
4125 lowercase by default. To make the label legal in LaTeX, latin-1
4126 characters will lose their accent. All Mule characters will be
4127 removed from the label.
4129 *** The automatic display of cross reference information can also use
4130 a window instead of the echo area. See variable `reftex-auto-view-crossref'.
4132 *** kpsewhich can be used by RefTeX to find TeX and BibTeX files. See the
4133 customization group `reftex-finding-files'.
4135 *** The option `reftex-bibfile-ignore-list' has been renamed to
4136 `reftex-bibfile-ignore-regexps' and indeed can be fed with regular
4139 *** Multiple Selection buffers are now hidden buffers.
4141 ** New/deleted modes and packages
4143 *** The package snmp-mode.el provides major modes for editing SNMP and
4144 SNMPv2 MIBs. It has entries on `auto-mode-alist'.
4146 *** The package sql.el provides a major mode, M-x sql-mode, for
4147 editing SQL files, and M-x sql-interactive-mode for interacting with
4148 SQL interpreters. It has an entry on `auto-mode-alist'.
4150 *** M-x highlight-changes-mode provides a minor mode displaying buffer
4151 changes with a special face.
4153 *** ispell4.el has been deleted. It got in the way of ispell.el and
4154 this was hard to fix reliably. It has long been obsolete -- use
4155 Ispell 3.1 and ispell.el.
4157 * MS-DOS changes in Emacs 20.4
4159 ** Emacs compiled for MS-DOS now supports MULE features better.
4160 This includes support for display of all ISO 8859-N character sets,
4161 conversion to and from IBM codepage encoding of non-ASCII characters,
4162 and automatic setup of the MULE environment at startup. For details,
4163 check out the section `MS-DOS and MULE' in the manual.
4165 The MS-DOS installation procedure automatically configures and builds
4166 Emacs with input method support if it finds an unpacked Leim
4167 distribution when the config.bat script is run.
4169 ** Formerly, the value of lpr-command did not affect printing on
4170 MS-DOS unless print-region-function was set to nil, but now it
4171 controls whether an external program is invoked or output is written
4172 directly to a printer port. Similarly, in the previous version of
4173 Emacs, the value of ps-lpr-command did not affect PostScript printing
4174 on MS-DOS unless ps-printer-name was set to something other than a
4175 string (eg. t or `pipe'), but now it controls whether an external
4176 program is used. (These changes were made so that configuration of
4177 printing variables would be almost identical across all platforms.)
4179 ** In the previous version of Emacs, PostScript and non-PostScript
4180 output was piped to external programs, but because most print programs
4181 available for MS-DOS and MS-Windows cannot read data from their standard
4182 input, on those systems the data to be output is now written to a
4183 temporary file whose name is passed as the last argument to the external
4186 An exception is made for `print', a standard program on Windows NT,
4187 and `nprint', a standard program on Novell Netware. For both of these
4188 programs, the command line is constructed in the appropriate syntax
4189 automatically, using only the value of printer-name or ps-printer-name
4190 as appropriate--the value of the relevant `-switches' variable is
4191 ignored, as both programs have no useful switches.
4193 ** The value of the variable dos-printer (cf. dos-ps-printer), if it has
4194 a value, overrides the value of printer-name (cf. ps-printer-name), on
4195 MS-DOS and MS-Windows only. This has been true since version 20.3, but
4196 was not documented clearly before.
4198 ** All the Emacs games now work on MS-DOS terminals.
4199 This includes Tetris and Snake.
4201 * Lisp changes in Emacs 20.4
4203 ** New functions line-beginning-position and line-end-position
4204 return the position of the beginning or end of the current line.
4205 They both accept an optional argument, which has the same
4206 meaning as the argument to beginning-of-line or end-of-line.
4208 ** find-file and allied functions now have an optional argument
4209 WILDCARD. If this is non-nil, they do wildcard processing,
4210 and visit all files that match the wildcard pattern.
4212 ** Changes in the file-attributes function.
4214 *** The file size returned by file-attributes may be an integer or a float.
4215 It is an integer if the size fits in a Lisp integer, float otherwise.
4217 *** The inode number returned by file-attributes may be an integer (if
4218 the number fits in a Lisp integer) or a cons cell containing two
4221 ** The new function directory-files-and-attributes returns a list of
4222 files in a directory and their attributes. It accepts the same
4223 arguments as directory-files and has similar semantics, except that
4224 file names and attributes are returned.
4226 ** The new function file-attributes-lessp is a helper function for
4227 sorting the list generated by directory-files-and-attributes. It
4228 accepts two arguments, each a list of a file name and its atttributes.
4229 It compares the file names of each according to string-lessp and
4232 ** The new function file-expand-wildcards expands a wildcard-pattern
4233 to produce a list of existing files that match the pattern.
4235 ** New functions for base64 conversion:
4237 The function base64-encode-region converts a part of the buffer
4238 into the base64 code used in MIME. base64-decode-region
4239 performs the opposite conversion. Line-breaking is supported
4242 Functions base64-encode-string and base64-decode-string do a similar
4243 job on the text in a string. They return the value as a new string.
4246 The new function process-running-child-p
4247 will tell you if a subprocess has given control of its
4248 terminal to its own child process.
4250 ** interrupt-process and such functions have a new feature:
4251 when the second argument is `lambda', they send a signal
4252 to the running child of the subshell, if any, but if the shell
4253 itself owns its terminal, no signal is sent.
4255 ** There are new widget types `plist' and `alist' which can
4256 be used for customizing variables whose values are plists or alists.
4258 ** easymenu.el Now understands `:key-sequence' and `:style button'.
4259 :included is an alias for :visible.
4261 easy-menu-add-item now understands the values returned by
4262 easy-menu-remove-item and easy-menu-item-present-p. This can be used
4263 to move or copy menu entries.
4265 ** Multibyte editing changes
4267 *** The definitions of sref and char-bytes are changed. Now, sref is
4268 an alias of aref and char-bytes always returns 1. This change is to
4269 make some Emacs Lisp code which works on 20.2 and earlier also
4270 work on the latest Emacs. Such code uses a combination of sref and
4271 char-bytes in a loop typically as below:
4272 (setq char (sref str idx)
4273 idx (+ idx (char-bytes idx)))
4274 The byte-compiler now warns that this is obsolete.
4276 If you want to know how many bytes a specific multibyte character
4277 (say, CH) occupies in a multibyte buffer, use this code:
4278 (charset-bytes (char-charset ch))
4280 *** In multibyte mode, when you narrow a buffer to some region, and the
4281 region is preceded or followed by non-ASCII codes, inserting or
4282 deleting at the head or the end of the region may signal this error:
4284 Byte combining across boundary of accessible buffer text inhibitted
4286 This is to avoid some bytes being combined together into a character
4287 across the boundary.
4289 *** The functions find-charset-region and find-charset-string include
4290 `unknown' in the returned list in the following cases:
4291 o The current buffer or the target string is unibyte and
4292 contains 8-bit characters.
4293 o The current buffer or the target string is multibyte and
4294 contains invalid characters.
4296 *** The functions decode-coding-region and encode-coding-region remove
4297 text properties of the target region. Ideally, they should correctly
4298 preserve text properties, but for the moment, it's hard. Removing
4299 text properties is better than preserving them in a less-than-correct
4302 *** prefer-coding-system sets EOL conversion of default coding systems.
4303 If the argument to prefer-coding-system specifies a certain type of
4304 end of line conversion, the default coding systems set by
4305 prefer-coding-system will specify that conversion type for end of line.
4307 *** The new function thai-compose-string can be used to properly
4308 compose Thai characters in a string.
4310 ** The primitive `define-prefix-command' now takes an optional third
4311 argument NAME, which should be a string. It supplies the menu name
4312 for the created keymap. Keymaps created in order to be displayed as
4313 menus should always use the third argument.
4315 ** The meanings of optional second arguments for read-char,
4316 read-event, and read-char-exclusive are flipped. Now the second
4317 arguments are INHERIT-INPUT-METHOD. These functions use the current
4318 input method (if any) if and only if INHERIT-INPUT-METHOD is non-nil.
4320 ** The new function clear-this-command-keys empties out the contents
4321 of the vector that (this-command-keys) returns. This is useful in
4322 programs that read passwords, to prevent the passwords from echoing
4323 inadvertently as part of the next command in certain cases.
4325 ** The new macro `with-temp-message' displays a temporary message in
4326 the echo area, while executing some Lisp code. Like `progn', it
4327 returns the value of the last form, but it also restores the previous
4330 (with-temp-message MESSAGE &rest BODY)
4332 ** The function `require' now takes an optional third argument
4333 NOERROR. If it is non-nil, then there is no error if the
4334 requested feature cannot be loaded.
4336 ** In the function modify-face, an argument of (nil) for the
4337 foreground color, background color or stipple pattern
4338 means to clear out that attribute.
4340 ** The `outer-window-id' frame property of an X frame
4341 gives the window number of the outermost X window for the frame.
4343 ** Temporary buffers made with with-output-to-temp-buffer are now
4344 read-only by default, and normally use the major mode Help mode
4345 unless you put them in some other non-Fundamental mode before the
4346 end of with-output-to-temp-buffer.
4348 ** The new functions gap-position and gap-size return information on
4349 the gap of the current buffer.
4351 ** The new functions position-bytes and byte-to-position provide a way
4352 to convert between character positions and byte positions in the
4355 ** vc.el defines two new macros, `edit-vc-file' and `with-vc-file', to
4356 facilitate working with version-controlled files from Lisp programs.
4357 These macros check out a given file automatically if needed, and check
4358 it back in after any modifications have been made.
4360 * Installation Changes in Emacs 20.3
4362 ** The default value of load-path now includes most subdirectories of
4363 the site-specific directories /usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp and
4364 /usr/local/share/emacs/VERSION/site-lisp, in addition to those
4365 directories themselves. Both immediate subdirectories and
4366 subdirectories multiple levels down are added to load-path.
4368 Not all subdirectories are included, though. Subdirectories whose
4369 names do not start with a letter or digit are excluded.
4370 Subdirectories named RCS or CVS are excluded. Also, a subdirectory
4371 which contains a file named `.nosearch' is excluded. You can use
4372 these methods to prevent certain subdirectories from being searched.
4374 Emacs finds these subdirectories and adds them to load-path when it
4375 starts up. While it would be cleaner to find the subdirectories each
4376 time Emacs loads a file, that would be much slower.
4378 This feature is an incompatible change. If you have stored some Emacs
4379 Lisp files in a subdirectory of the site-lisp directory specifically
4380 to prevent them from being used, you will need to rename the
4381 subdirectory to start with a non-alphanumeric character, or create a
4382 `.nosearch' file in it, in order to continue to achieve the desired
4385 ** Emacs no longer includes an old version of the C preprocessor from
4386 GCC. This was formerly used to help compile Emacs with C compilers
4387 that had limits on the significant length of an identifier, but in
4388 fact we stopped supporting such compilers some time ago.
4390 * Changes in Emacs 20.3
4392 ** The new command C-x z (repeat) repeats the previous command
4393 including its argument. If you repeat the z afterward,
4394 it repeats the command additional times; thus, you can
4395 perform many repetitions with one keystroke per repetition.
4397 ** Emacs now supports "selective undo" which undoes only within a
4398 specified region. To do this, set point and mark around the desired
4399 region and type C-u C-x u (or C-u C-_). You can then continue undoing
4400 further, within the same region, by repeating the ordinary undo
4401 command C-x u or C-_. This will keep undoing changes that were made
4402 within the region you originally specified, until either all of them
4403 are undone, or it encounters a change which crosses the edge of that
4406 In Transient Mark mode, undoing when a region is active requests
4409 ** If you specify --unibyte when starting Emacs, then all buffers are
4410 unibyte, except when a Lisp program specifically creates a multibyte
4411 buffer. Setting the environment variable EMACS_UNIBYTE has the same
4412 effect. The --no-unibyte option overrides EMACS_UNIBYTE and directs
4413 Emacs to run normally in multibyte mode.
4415 The option --unibyte does not affect the reading of Emacs Lisp files,
4416 though. If you want a Lisp file to be read in unibyte mode, use
4417 -*-unibyte: t;-*- on its first line. That will force Emacs to
4418 load that file in unibyte mode, regardless of how Emacs was started.
4420 ** toggle-enable-multibyte-characters no longer has a key binding and
4421 no longer appears in the menu bar. We've realized that changing the
4422 enable-multibyte-characters variable in an existing buffer is
4423 something that most users not do.
4425 ** You can specify a coding system to use for the next cut or paste
4426 operations through the window system with the command C-x RET X.
4427 The coding system can make a difference for communication with other
4430 C-x RET x specifies a coding system for all subsequent cutting and
4433 ** You can specify the printer to use for commands that do printing by
4434 setting the variable `printer-name'. Just what a printer name looks
4435 like depends on your operating system. You can specify a different
4436 printer for the Postscript printing commands by setting
4439 ** Emacs now supports on-the-fly spell checking by the means of a
4440 minor mode. It is called M-x flyspell-mode. You don't have to remember
4441 any other special commands to use it, and you will hardly notice it
4442 except when you make a spelling error. Flyspell works by highlighting
4443 incorrect words as soon as they are completed or as soon as the cursor
4446 Flyspell mode works with whichever dictionary you have selected for
4447 Ispell in Emacs. In TeX mode, it understands TeX syntax so as not
4448 to be confused by TeX commands.
4450 You can correct a misspelled word by editing it into something
4451 correct. You can also correct it, or accept it as correct, by
4452 clicking on the word with Mouse-2; that gives you a pop-up menu
4453 of various alternative replacements and actions.
4455 Flyspell mode also proposes "automatic" corrections. M-TAB replaces
4456 the current misspelled word with a possible correction. If several
4457 corrections are made possible, M-TAB cycles through them in
4458 alphabetical order, or in order of decreasing likelihood if
4459 flyspell-sort-corrections is nil.
4461 Flyspell mode also flags an error when a word is repeated, if
4462 flyspell-mark-duplications-flag is non-nil.
4464 ** Changes in input method usage.
4466 Now you can use arrow keys (right, left, down, up) for selecting among
4467 the alternatives just the same way as you do by C-f, C-b, C-n, and C-p
4470 You can use the ENTER key to accept the current conversion.
4472 If you type TAB to display a list of alternatives, you can select one
4473 of the alternatives with Mouse-2.
4475 The meaning of the variable `input-method-verbose-flag' is changed so
4476 that you can set it to t, nil, `default', or `complex-only'.
4478 If the value is nil, extra guidance is never given.
4480 If the value is t, extra guidance is always given.
4482 If the value is `complex-only', extra guidance is always given only
4483 when you are using complex input methods such as chinese-py.
4485 If the value is `default' (this is the default), extra guidance is
4486 given in the following case:
4487 o When you are using a complex input method.
4488 o When you are using a simple input method but not in the minibuffer.
4490 If you are using Emacs through a very slow line, setting
4491 input-method-verbose-flag to nil or to complex-only is a good choice,
4492 and if you are using an input method you are not familiar with,
4493 setting it to t is helpful.
4495 The old command select-input-method is now called set-input-method.
4497 In the language environment "Korean", you can use the following
4499 Shift-SPC toggle-korean-input-method
4500 C-F9 quail-hangul-switch-symbol-ksc
4501 F9 quail-hangul-switch-hanja
4502 These key bindings are canceled when you switch to another language
4505 ** The minibuffer history of file names now records the specified file
4506 names, not the entire minibuffer input. For example, if the
4507 minibuffer starts out with /usr/foo/, you might type in /etc/passwd to
4510 /usr/foo//etc/passwd
4512 which stands for the file /etc/passwd.
4514 Formerly, this used to put /usr/foo//etc/passwd in the history list.
4515 Now this puts just /etc/passwd in the history list.
4517 ** If you are root, Emacs sets backup-by-copying-when-mismatch to t
4518 at startup, so that saving a file will be sure to preserve
4519 its owner and group.
4521 ** find-func.el can now also find the place of definition of Emacs
4522 Lisp variables in user-loaded libraries.
4524 ** C-x r t (string-rectangle) now deletes the existing rectangle
4525 contents before inserting the specified string on each line.
4527 ** There is a new command delete-whitespace-rectangle
4528 which deletes whitespace starting from a particular column
4529 in all the lines on a rectangle. The column is specified
4530 by the left edge of the rectangle.
4532 ** You can now store a number into a register with C-u NUMBER C-x r n REG,
4533 increment it by INC with C-u INC C-x r + REG (to increment by one, omit
4534 C-u INC), and insert it in the buffer with C-x r g REG. This is useful
4535 for writing keyboard macros.
4537 ** The new command M-x speedbar displays a frame in which directories,
4538 files, and tags can be displayed, manipulated, and jumped to. The
4539 frame defaults to 20 characters in width, and is the same height as
4540 the frame that it was started from. Some major modes define
4541 additional commands for the speedbar, including Rmail, GUD/GDB, and
4544 ** query-replace-regexp is now bound to C-M-%.
4546 ** In Transient Mark mode, when the region is active, M-x
4547 query-replace and the other replace commands now operate on the region
4550 ** M-x write-region, when used interactively, now asks for
4551 confirmation before overwriting an existing file. When you call
4552 the function from a Lisp program, a new optional argument CONFIRM
4553 says whether to ask for confirmation in this case.
4555 ** If you use find-file-literally and the file is already visited
4556 non-literally, the command asks you whether to revisit the file
4557 literally. If you say no, it signals an error.
4559 ** Major modes defined with the "derived mode" feature
4560 now use the proper name for the mode hook: WHATEVER-mode-hook.
4561 Formerly they used the name WHATEVER-mode-hooks, but that is
4562 inconsistent with Emacs conventions.
4564 ** shell-command-on-region (and shell-command) reports success or
4565 failure if the command produces no output.
4567 ** Set focus-follows-mouse to nil if your window system or window
4568 manager does not transfer focus to another window when you just move
4571 ** mouse-menu-buffer-maxlen has been renamed to
4572 mouse-buffer-menu-maxlen to be consistent with the other related
4573 function and variable names.
4575 ** The new variable auto-coding-alist specifies coding systems for
4576 reading specific files. This has higher priority than
4577 file-coding-system-alist.
4579 ** If you set the variable unibyte-display-via-language-environment to
4580 t, then Emacs displays non-ASCII characters are displayed by
4581 converting them to the equivalent multibyte characters according to
4582 the current language environment. As a result, they are displayed
4583 according to the current fontset.
4585 ** C-q's handling of codes in the range 0200 through 0377 is changed.
4587 The codes in the range 0200 through 0237 are inserted as one byte of
4588 that code regardless of the values of nonascii-translation-table and
4589 nonascii-insert-offset.
4591 For the codes in the range 0240 through 0377, if
4592 enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil and nonascii-translation-table
4593 nor nonascii-insert-offset can't convert them to valid multibyte
4594 characters, they are converted to Latin-1 characters.
4596 ** If you try to find a file that is not read-accessible, you now get
4597 an error, rather than an empty buffer and a warning.
4599 ** In the minibuffer history commands M-r and M-s, an upper case
4600 letter in the regular expression forces case-sensitive search.
4602 ** In the *Help* buffer, cross-references to commands and variables
4603 are inferred and hyperlinked. Use C-h m in Help mode for the relevant
4606 ** M-x apropos-command, with a prefix argument, no longer looks for
4607 user option variables--instead it looks for noninteractive functions.
4609 Meanwhile, the command apropos-variable normally searches for
4610 user option variables; with a prefix argument, it looks at
4611 all variables that have documentation.
4613 ** When you type a long line in the minibuffer, and the minibuffer
4614 shows just one line, automatically scrolling works in a special way
4615 that shows you overlap with the previous line of text. The variable
4616 minibuffer-scroll-overlap controls how many characters of overlap
4617 it should show; the default is 20.
4619 Meanwhile, Resize Minibuffer mode is still available; in that mode,
4620 the minibuffer grows taller (up to a point) as needed to show the whole
4623 ** The new command M-x customize-changed-options lets you customize
4624 all the options whose meanings or default values have changed in
4625 recent Emacs versions. You specify a previous Emacs version number as
4626 argument, and the command creates a customization buffer showing all
4627 the customizable options which were changed since that version.
4628 Newly added options are included as well.
4630 If you don't specify a particular version number argument,
4631 then the customization buffer shows all the customizable options
4632 for which Emacs versions of changes are recorded.
4634 This function is also bound to the Changed Options entry in the
4637 ** When you run M-x grep with a prefix argument, it figures out
4638 the tag around point and puts that into the default grep command.
4640 ** The new command M-* (pop-tag-mark) pops back through a history of
4641 buffer positions from which M-. or other tag-finding commands were
4644 ** The new variable comment-padding specifies the number of spaces
4645 that `comment-region' will insert before the actual text of the comment.
4648 ** In Fortran mode the characters `.', `_' and `$' now have symbol
4649 syntax, not word syntax. Fortran mode now supports `imenu' and has
4650 new commands fortran-join-line (M-^) and fortran-narrow-to-subprogram
4651 (C-x n d). M-q can be used to fill a statement or comment block
4654 ** GUD now supports jdb, the Java debugger, and pdb, the Python debugger.
4656 ** If you set the variable add-log-keep-changes-together to a non-nil
4657 value, the command `C-x 4 a' will automatically notice when you make
4658 two entries in one day for one file, and combine them.
4660 ** You can use the command M-x diary-mail-entries to mail yourself a
4661 reminder about upcoming diary entries. See the documentation string
4662 for a sample shell script for calling this function automatically
4667 *** All you need to do to enable use of the Desktop package, is to set
4668 the variable desktop-enable to t with Custom.
4670 *** Minor modes are now restored. Which minor modes are restored
4671 and how modes are restored is controlled by `desktop-minor-mode-table'.
4673 ** There is no need to do anything special, now, to enable Gnus to
4674 read and post multi-lingual articles.
4676 ** Outline mode has now support for showing hidden outlines when
4677 doing an isearch. In order for this to happen search-invisible should
4678 be set to open (the default). If an isearch match is inside a hidden
4679 outline the outline is made visible. If you continue pressing C-s and
4680 the match moves outside the formerly invisible outline, the outline is
4681 made invisible again.
4683 ** Mail reading and sending changes
4685 *** The Rmail e command now switches to displaying the whole header of
4686 the message before it lets you edit the message. This is so that any
4687 changes you make in the header will not be lost if you subsequently
4690 *** The w command in Rmail, which writes the message body into a file,
4691 now works in the summary buffer as well. (The command to delete the
4692 summary buffer is now Q.) The default file name for the w command, if
4693 the message has no subject, is stored in the variable
4694 rmail-default-body-file.
4696 *** Most of the commands and modes that operate on mail and netnews no
4697 longer depend on the value of mail-header-separator. Instead, they
4698 handle whatever separator the buffer happens to use.
4700 *** If you set mail-signature to a value which is not t, nil, or a string,
4701 it should be an expression. When you send a message, this expression
4702 is evaluated to insert the signature.
4704 *** The new Lisp library feedmail.el (version 8) enhances processing of
4705 outbound email messages. It works in coordination with other email
4706 handling packages (e.g., rmail, VM, gnus) and is responsible for
4707 putting final touches on messages and actually submitting them for
4708 transmission. Users of the emacs program "fakemail" might be
4709 especially interested in trying feedmail.
4711 feedmail is not enabled by default. See comments at the top of
4712 feedmail.el for set-up instructions. Among the bigger features
4713 provided by feedmail are:
4715 **** you can park outgoing messages into a disk-based queue and
4716 stimulate sending some or all of them later (handy for laptop users);
4717 there is also a queue for draft messages
4719 **** you can get one last look at the prepped outbound message and
4720 be prompted for confirmation
4722 **** does smart filling of address headers
4724 **** can generate a MESSAGE-ID: line and a DATE: line; the date can be
4725 the time the message was written or the time it is being sent; this
4726 can make FCC copies more closely resemble copies that recipients get
4728 **** you can specify an arbitrary function for actually transmitting
4729 the message; included in feedmail are interfaces for /bin/[r]mail,
4730 /usr/lib/sendmail, and elisp smtpmail; it's easy to write a new
4731 function for something else (10-20 lines of elisp)
4735 *** The Dired function dired-do-toggle, which toggles marked and unmarked
4736 files, is now bound to "t" instead of "T".
4738 *** dired-at-point has been added to ffap.el. It allows one to easily
4739 run Dired on the directory name at point.
4741 *** Dired has a new command: %g. It searches the contents of
4742 files in the directory and marks each file that contains a match
4743 for a specified regexp.
4747 *** New option vc-ignore-vc-files lets you turn off version control
4750 *** VC Dired has been completely rewritten. It is now much
4751 faster, especially for CVS, and works very similar to ordinary
4754 VC Dired is invoked by typing C-x v d and entering the name of the
4755 directory to display. By default, VC Dired gives you a recursive
4756 listing of all files at or below the given directory which are
4757 currently locked (for CVS, all files not up-to-date are shown).
4759 You can change the listing format by setting vc-dired-recurse to nil,
4760 then it shows only the given directory, and you may also set
4761 vc-dired-terse-display to nil, then it shows all files under version
4762 control plus the names of any subdirectories, so that you can type `i'
4763 on such lines to insert them manually, as in ordinary Dired.
4765 All Dired commands operate normally in VC Dired, except for `v', which
4766 is redefined as the version control prefix. That means you may type
4767 `v l', `v =' etc. to invoke `vc-print-log', `vc-diff' and the like on
4768 the file named in the current Dired buffer line. `v v' invokes
4769 `vc-next-action' on this file, or on all files currently marked.
4771 The new command `v t' (vc-dired-toggle-terse-mode) allows you to
4772 toggle between terse display (only locked files) and full display (all
4773 VC files plus subdirectories). There is also a special command,
4774 `* l', to mark all files currently locked.
4776 Giving a prefix argument to C-x v d now does the same thing as in
4777 ordinary Dired: it allows you to supply additional options for the ls
4778 command in the minibuffer, to fine-tune VC Dired's output.
4780 *** Under CVS, if you merge changes from the repository into a working
4781 file, and CVS detects conflicts, VC now offers to start an ediff
4782 session to resolve them.
4784 Alternatively, you can use the new command `vc-resolve-conflicts' to
4785 resolve conflicts in a file at any time. It works in any buffer that
4786 contains conflict markers as generated by rcsmerge (which is what CVS
4789 *** You can now transfer changes between branches, using the new
4790 command vc-merge (C-x v m). It is implemented for RCS and CVS. When
4791 you invoke it in a buffer under version-control, you can specify
4792 either an entire branch or a pair of versions, and the changes on that
4793 branch or between the two versions are merged into the working file.
4794 If this results in any conflicts, they may be resolved interactively,
4797 ** Changes in Font Lock
4799 *** The face and variable previously known as font-lock-reference-face
4800 are now called font-lock-constant-face to better reflect their typical
4801 use for highlighting constants and labels. (Its face properties are
4802 unchanged.) The variable font-lock-reference-face remains for now for
4803 compatibility reasons, but its value is font-lock-constant-face.
4805 ** Frame name display changes
4807 *** The command set-frame-name lets you set the name of the current
4808 frame. You can use the new command select-frame-by-name to select and
4809 raise a frame; this is mostly useful on character-only terminals, or
4810 when many frames are invisible or iconified.
4812 *** On character-only terminal (not a window system), changing the
4813 frame name is now reflected on the mode line and in the Buffers/Frames
4816 ** Comint (subshell) changes
4818 *** In Comint modes, the commands to kill, stop or interrupt a
4819 subjob now also kill pending input. This is for compatibility
4820 with ordinary shells, where the signal characters do this.
4822 *** There are new commands in Comint mode.
4824 C-c C-x fetches the "next" line from the input history;
4825 that is, the line after the last line you got.
4826 You can use this command to fetch successive lines, one by one.
4828 C-c SPC accumulates lines of input. More precisely, it arranges to
4829 send the current line together with the following line, when you send
4832 C-c C-a if repeated twice consecutively now moves to the process mark,
4833 which separates the pending input from the subprocess output and the
4834 previously sent input.
4836 C-c M-r now runs comint-previous-matching-input-from-input;
4837 it searches for a previous command, using the current pending input
4838 as the search string.
4840 *** New option compilation-scroll-output can be set to scroll
4841 automatically in compilation-mode windows.
4845 *** Multiline macros are now handled, both as they affect indentation,
4846 and as recognized syntax. New syntactic symbol cpp-macro-cont is
4847 assigned to second and subsequent lines of a multiline macro
4850 *** A new style "user" which captures all non-hook-ified
4851 (i.e. top-level) .emacs file variable settings and customizations.
4852 Style "cc-mode" is an alias for "user" and is deprecated. "gnu"
4853 style is still the default however.
4855 *** "java" style now conforms to Sun's JDK coding style.
4857 *** There are new commands c-beginning-of-defun, c-end-of-defun which
4858 are alternatives which you could bind to C-M-a and C-M-e if you prefer
4859 them. They do not have key bindings by default.
4861 *** New and improved implementations of M-a (c-beginning-of-statement)
4862 and M-e (c-end-of-statement).
4864 *** C++ namespace blocks are supported, with new syntactic symbols
4865 namespace-open, namespace-close, and innamespace.
4867 *** File local variable settings of c-file-style and c-file-offsets
4868 makes the style variables local to that buffer only.
4870 *** New indentation functions c-lineup-close-paren,
4871 c-indent-one-line-block, c-lineup-dont-change.
4873 *** Improvements (hopefully!) to the way CC Mode is loaded. You
4874 should now be able to do a (require 'cc-mode) to get the entire
4875 package loaded properly for customization in your .emacs file. A new
4876 variable c-initialize-on-load controls this and is t by default.
4878 ** Changes to hippie-expand.
4880 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-dabbrev-skip-space'. If
4881 non-nil, trailing spaces may be included in the abbreviation to search for,
4882 which then gives the same behavior as the original `dabbrev-expand'.
4884 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-dabbrev-as-symbol'. If
4885 non-nil, characters of syntax '_' is considered part of the word when
4886 expanding dynamically.
4888 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-no-restriction'. If
4889 non-nil, narrowed buffers are widened before they are searched.
4891 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-only-buffers'. If
4892 non-empty, buffers searched are restricted to the types specified in
4893 this list. Useful for example when constructing new special-purpose
4894 expansion functions with `make-hippie-expand-function'.
4896 *** Text properties of the expansion are no longer copied.
4898 ** Changes in BibTeX mode.
4900 *** Any titleword matching a regexp in the new variable
4901 bibtex-autokey-titleword-ignore (case sensitive) is ignored during
4902 automatic key generation. This replaces variable
4903 bibtex-autokey-titleword-first-ignore, which only checked for matches
4904 against the first word in the title.
4906 *** Autokey generation now uses all words from the title, not just
4907 capitalized words. To avoid conflicts with existing customizations,
4908 bibtex-autokey-titleword-ignore is set up such that words starting with
4909 lowerkey characters will still be ignored. Thus, if you want to use
4910 lowercase words from the title, you will have to overwrite the
4911 bibtex-autokey-titleword-ignore standard setting.
4913 *** Case conversion of names and title words for automatic key
4914 generation is more flexible. Variable bibtex-autokey-preserve-case is
4915 replaced by bibtex-autokey-titleword-case-convert and
4916 bibtex-autokey-name-case-convert.
4918 ** Changes in vcursor.el.
4920 *** Support for character terminals is available: there is a new keymap
4921 and the vcursor will appear as an arrow between buffer text. A
4922 variable `vcursor-interpret-input' allows input from the vcursor to be
4923 entered exactly as if typed. Numerous functions, including
4924 `vcursor-compare-windows', have been rewritten to improve consistency
4925 in the selection of windows and corresponding keymaps.
4927 *** vcursor options can now be altered with M-x customize under the
4928 Editing group once the package is loaded.
4930 *** Loading vcursor now does not define keys by default, as this is
4931 generally a bad side effect. Use M-x customize to set
4932 vcursor-key-bindings to t to restore the old behaviour.
4934 *** vcursor-auto-disable can be `copy', which turns off copying from the
4935 vcursor, but doesn't disable it, after any non-vcursor command.
4939 *** You can now spell check comments and strings in the current
4940 buffer with M-x ispell-comments-and-strings. Comments and strings
4941 are identified by syntax tables in effect.
4943 *** Generic region skipping implemented.
4944 A single buffer can be broken into a number of regions where text will
4945 and will not be checked. The definitions of the regions can be user
4946 defined. New applications and improvements made available by this
4949 o URLs are automatically skipped
4950 o EMail message checking is vastly improved.
4952 *** Ispell can highlight the erroneous word even on non-window terminals.
4954 ** Changes to RefTeX mode
4956 RefTeX has been updated in order to make it more usable with very
4957 large projects (like a several volume math book). The parser has been
4958 re-written from scratch. To get maximum speed from RefTeX, check the
4959 section `Optimizations' in the manual.
4961 *** New recursive parser.
4963 The old version of RefTeX created a single large buffer containing the
4964 entire multifile document in order to parse the document. The new
4965 recursive parser scans the individual files.
4967 *** Parsing only part of a document.
4969 Reparsing of changed document parts can now be made faster by enabling
4970 partial scans. To use this feature, read the documentation string of
4971 the variable `reftex-enable-partial-scans' and set the variable to t.
4973 (setq reftex-enable-partial-scans t)
4975 *** Storing parsing information in a file.
4977 This can improve startup times considerably. To turn it on, use
4979 (setq reftex-save-parse-info t)
4981 *** Using multiple selection buffers
4983 If the creation of label selection buffers is too slow (this happens
4984 for large documents), you can reuse these buffers by setting
4986 (setq reftex-use-multiple-selection-buffers t)
4988 *** References to external documents.
4990 The LaTeX package `xr' allows to cross-reference labels in external
4991 documents. RefTeX can provide information about the external
4992 documents as well. To use this feature, set up the \externaldocument
4993 macros required by the `xr' package and rescan the document with
4994 RefTeX. The external labels can then be accessed with the `x' key in
4995 the selection buffer provided by `reftex-reference' (bound to `C-c )').
4996 The `x' key also works in the table of contents buffer.
4998 *** Many more labeled LaTeX environments are recognized by default.
5000 The builtin command list now covers all the standard LaTeX commands,
5001 and all of the major packages included in the LaTeX distribution.
5003 Also, RefTeX now understands the \appendix macro and changes
5004 the enumeration of sections in the *toc* buffer accordingly.
5006 *** Mouse support for selection and *toc* buffers
5008 The mouse can now be used to select items in the selection and *toc*
5009 buffers. See also the new option `reftex-highlight-selection'.
5011 *** New keymaps for selection and table of contents modes.
5013 The selection processes for labels and citation keys, and the table of
5014 contents buffer now have their own keymaps: `reftex-select-label-map',
5015 `reftex-select-bib-map', `reftex-toc-map'. The selection processes
5016 have a number of new keys predefined. In particular, TAB lets you
5017 enter a label with completion. Check the on-the-fly help (press `?'
5018 at the selection prompt) or read the Info documentation to find out
5021 *** Support for the varioref package
5023 The `v' key in the label selection buffer toggles \ref versus \vref.
5027 Three new hooks can be used to redefine the way labels, references,
5028 and citations are created. These hooks are
5029 `reftex-format-label-function', `reftex-format-ref-function',
5030 `reftex-format-cite-function'.
5032 *** Citations outside LaTeX
5034 The command `reftex-citation' may also be used outside LaTeX (e.g. in
5035 a mail buffer). See the Info documentation for details.
5037 *** Short context is no longer fontified.
5039 The short context in the label menu no longer copies the
5040 fontification from the text in the buffer. If you prefer it to be
5043 (setq reftex-refontify-context t)
5045 ** file-cache-minibuffer-complete now accepts a prefix argument.
5046 With a prefix argument, it does not try to do completion of
5047 the file name within its directory; it only checks for other
5048 directories that contain the same file name.
5050 Thus, given the file name Makefile, and assuming that a file
5051 Makefile.in exists in the same directory, ordinary
5052 file-cache-minibuffer-complete will try to complete Makefile to
5053 Makefile.in and will therefore never look for other directories that
5054 have Makefile. A prefix argument tells it not to look for longer
5055 names such as Makefile.in, so that instead it will look for other
5056 directories--just as if the name were already complete in its present
5059 ** New modes and packages
5061 *** There is a new alternative major mode for Perl, Cperl mode.
5062 It has many more features than Perl mode, and some people prefer
5063 it, but some do not.
5065 *** There is a new major mode, M-x vhdl-mode, for editing files of VHDL
5068 *** M-x which-function-mode enables a minor mode that displays the
5069 current function name continuously in the mode line, as you move
5072 Which Function mode is effective in major modes which support Imenu.
5074 *** Gametree is a major mode for editing game analysis trees. The author
5075 uses it for keeping notes about his postal Chess games, but it should
5076 be helpful for other two-player games as well, as long as they have an
5077 established system of notation similar to Chess.
5079 *** The new minor mode checkdoc-minor-mode provides Emacs Lisp
5080 documentation string checking for style and spelling. The style
5081 guidelines are found in the Emacs Lisp programming manual.
5083 *** The net-utils package makes some common networking features
5084 available in Emacs. Some of these functions are wrappers around
5085 system utilities (ping, nslookup, etc); others are implementations of
5086 simple protocols (finger, whois) in Emacs Lisp. There are also
5087 functions to make simple connections to TCP/IP ports for debugging and
5090 *** highlight-changes-mode is a minor mode that uses colors to
5091 identify recently changed parts of the buffer text.
5093 *** The new package `midnight' lets you specify things to be done
5094 within Emacs at midnight--by default, kill buffers that you have not
5095 used in a considerable time. To use this feature, customize
5096 the user option `midnight-mode' to t.
5098 *** The file generic-x.el defines a number of simple major modes.
5100 apache-generic-mode: For Apache and NCSA httpd configuration files
5101 samba-generic-mode: Samba configuration files
5102 fvwm-generic-mode: For fvwm initialization files
5103 x-resource-generic-mode: For X resource files
5104 hosts-generic-mode: For hosts files (.rhosts, /etc/hosts, etc)
5105 mailagent-rules-generic-mode: For mailagent .rules files
5106 javascript-generic-mode: For JavaScript files
5107 vrml-generic-mode: For VRML files
5108 java-manifest-generic-mode: For Java MANIFEST files
5109 java-properties-generic-mode: For Java property files
5110 mailrc-generic-mode: For .mailrc files
5112 Platform-specific modes:
5114 prototype-generic-mode: For Solaris/Sys V prototype files
5115 pkginfo-generic-mode: For Solaris/Sys V pkginfo files
5116 alias-generic-mode: For C shell alias files
5117 inf-generic-mode: For MS-Windows INF files
5118 ini-generic-mode: For MS-Windows INI files
5119 reg-generic-mode: For MS-Windows Registry files
5120 bat-generic-mode: For MS-Windows BAT scripts
5121 rc-generic-mode: For MS-Windows Resource files
5122 rul-generic-mode: For InstallShield scripts
5124 * Lisp changes in Emacs 20.3 since the Emacs Lisp Manual was published
5126 ** If you want a Lisp file to be read in unibyte mode,
5127 use -*-unibyte: t;-*- on its first line.
5128 That will force Emacs to read that file in unibyte mode.
5129 Otherwise, the file will be loaded and byte-compiled in multibyte mode.
5131 Thus, each lisp file is read in a consistent way regardless of whether
5132 you started Emacs with --unibyte, so that a Lisp program gives
5133 consistent results regardless of how Emacs was started.
5135 ** The new function assoc-default is useful for searching an alist,
5136 and using a default value if the key is not found there. You can
5137 specify a comparison predicate, so this function is useful for
5138 searching comparing a string against an alist of regular expressions.
5140 ** The functions unibyte-char-to-multibyte and
5141 multibyte-char-to-unibyte convert between unibyte and multibyte
5142 character codes, in a way that is appropriate for the current language
5145 ** The functions read-event, read-char and read-char-exclusive now
5146 take two optional arguments. PROMPT, if non-nil, specifies a prompt
5147 string. SUPPRESS-INPUT-METHOD, if non-nil, says to disable the
5148 current input method for reading this one event.
5150 ** Two new variables print-escape-nonascii and print-escape-multibyte
5151 now control whether to output certain characters as
5152 backslash-sequences. print-escape-nonascii applies to single-byte
5153 non-ASCII characters; print-escape-multibyte applies to multibyte
5154 characters. Both of these variables are used only when printing
5155 in readable fashion (prin1 uses them, princ does not).
5157 * Lisp changes in Emacs 20.3 before the Emacs Lisp Manual was published
5159 ** Compiled Emacs Lisp files made with the modified "MBSK" version
5160 of Emacs 20.2 do not work in Emacs 20.3.
5162 ** Buffer positions are now measured in characters, as they were
5163 in Emacs 19 and before. This means that (forward-char 1)
5164 always increases point by 1.
5166 The function chars-in-region now just subtracts its arguments. It is
5167 considered obsolete. The function char-boundary-p has been deleted.
5169 See below for additional changes relating to multibyte characters.
5171 ** defcustom, defface and defgroup now accept the keyword `:version'.
5172 Use this to specify in which version of Emacs a certain variable's
5173 default value changed. For example,
5175 (defcustom foo-max 34 "*Maximum number of foo's allowed."
5180 (defgroup foo-group nil "The foo group."
5183 If an entire new group is added or the variables in it have the
5184 default values changed, then just add a `:version' to that group. It
5185 is recommended that new packages added to the distribution contain a
5186 `:version' in the top level group.
5188 This information is used to control the customize-changed-options command.
5190 ** It is now an error to change the value of a symbol whose name
5191 starts with a colon--if it is interned in the standard obarray.
5193 However, setting such a symbol to its proper value, which is that
5194 symbol itself, is not an error. This is for the sake of programs that
5195 support previous Emacs versions by explicitly setting these variables
5198 If you set the variable keyword-symbols-constant-flag to nil,
5199 this error is suppressed, and you can set these symbols to any
5202 ** There is a new debugger command, R.
5203 It evaluates an expression like e, but saves the result
5204 in the buffer *Debugger-record*.
5206 ** Frame-local variables.
5208 You can now make a variable local to various frames. To do this, call
5209 the function make-variable-frame-local; this enables frames to have
5210 local bindings for that variable.
5212 These frame-local bindings are actually frame parameters: you create a
5213 frame-local binding in a specific frame by calling
5214 modify-frame-parameters and specifying the variable name as the
5217 Buffer-local bindings take precedence over frame-local bindings.
5218 Thus, if the current buffer has a buffer-local binding, that binding is
5219 active; otherwise, if the selected frame has a frame-local binding,
5220 that binding is active; otherwise, the default binding is active.
5222 It would not be hard to implement window-local bindings, but it is not
5223 clear that this would be very useful; windows tend to come and go in a
5224 very transitory fashion, so that trying to produce any specific effect
5225 through a window-local binding would not be very robust.
5227 ** `sregexq' and `sregex' are two new functions for constructing
5228 "symbolic regular expressions." These are Lisp expressions that, when
5229 evaluated, yield conventional string-based regexps. The symbolic form
5230 makes it easier to construct, read, and maintain complex patterns.
5231 See the documentation in sregex.el.
5233 ** parse-partial-sexp's return value has an additional element which
5234 is used to pass information along if you pass it to another call to
5235 parse-partial-sexp, starting its scan where the first call ended.
5236 The contents of this field are not yet finalized.
5238 ** eval-region now accepts a fourth optional argument READ-FUNCTION.
5239 If it is non-nil, that function is used instead of `read'.
5241 ** unload-feature by default removes the feature's functions from
5242 known hooks to avoid trouble, but a package providing FEATURE can
5243 define a hook FEATURE-unload-hook to be run by unload-feature instead.
5245 ** read-from-minibuffer no longer returns the argument DEFAULT-VALUE
5246 when the user enters empty input. It now returns the null string, as
5247 it did in Emacs 19. The default value is made available in the
5248 history via M-n, but it is not applied here as a default.
5250 The other, more specialized minibuffer-reading functions continue to
5251 return the default value (not the null string) when the user enters
5254 ** The new variable read-buffer-function controls which routine to use
5255 for selecting buffers. For example, if you set this variable to
5256 `iswitchb-read-buffer', iswitchb will be used to read buffer names.
5257 Other functions can also be used if they accept the same arguments as
5258 `read-buffer' and return the selected buffer name as a string.
5260 ** The new function read-passwd reads a password from the terminal,
5261 echoing a period for each character typed. It takes three arguments:
5262 a prompt string, a flag which says "read it twice to make sure", and a
5263 default password to use if the user enters nothing.
5265 ** The variable fill-nobreak-predicate gives major modes a way to
5266 specify not to break a line at certain places. Its value is a
5267 function which is called with no arguments, with point located at the
5268 place where a break is being considered. If the function returns
5269 non-nil, then the line won't be broken there.
5271 ** window-end now takes an optional second argument, UPDATE.
5272 If this is non-nil, then the function always returns an accurate
5273 up-to-date value for the buffer position corresponding to the
5274 end of the window, even if this requires computation.
5276 ** other-buffer now takes an optional argument FRAME
5277 which specifies which frame's buffer list to use.
5278 If it is nil, that means use the selected frame's buffer list.
5280 ** The new variable buffer-display-time, always local in every buffer,
5281 holds the value of (current-time) as of the last time that a window
5282 was directed to display this buffer.
5284 ** It is now meaningful to compare two window-configuration objects
5285 with `equal'. Two window-configuration objects are equal if they
5286 describe equivalent arrangements of windows, in the same frame--in
5287 other words, if they would give the same results if passed to
5288 set-window-configuration.
5290 ** compare-window-configurations is a new function that compares two
5291 window configurations loosely. It ignores differences in saved buffer
5292 positions and scrolling, and considers only the structure and sizes of
5293 windows and the choice of buffers to display.
5295 ** The variable minor-mode-overriding-map-alist allows major modes to
5296 override the key bindings of a minor mode. The elements of this alist
5297 look like the elements of minor-mode-map-alist: (VARIABLE . KEYMAP).
5299 If the VARIABLE in an element of minor-mode-overriding-map-alist has a
5300 non-nil value, the paired KEYMAP is active, and totally overrides the
5301 map (if any) specified for the same variable in minor-mode-map-alist.
5303 minor-mode-overriding-map-alist is automatically local in all buffers,
5304 and it is meant to be set by major modes.
5306 ** The function match-string-no-properties is like match-string
5307 except that it discards all text properties from the result.
5309 ** The function load-average now accepts an optional argument
5310 USE-FLOATS. If it is non-nil, the load average values are returned as
5311 floating point numbers, rather than as integers to be divided by 100.
5313 ** The new variable temporary-file-directory specifies the directory
5314 to use for creating temporary files. The default value is determined
5315 in a reasonable way for your operating system; on GNU and Unix systems
5316 it is based on the TMP and TMPDIR environment variables.
5320 *** easymenu.el now uses the new menu item format and supports the
5321 keywords :visible and :filter. The existing keyword :keys is now
5324 The variable `easy-menu-precalculate-equivalent-keybindings' controls
5325 a new feature which calculates keyboard equivalents for the menu when
5326 you define the menu. The default is t. If you rarely use menus, you
5327 can set the variable to nil to disable this precalculation feature;
5328 then the calculation is done only if you use the menu bar.
5330 *** A new format for menu items is supported.
5332 In a keymap, a key binding that has the format
5333 (STRING . REAL-BINDING) or (STRING HELP-STRING . REAL-BINDING)
5334 defines a menu item. Now a menu item definition may also be a list that
5335 starts with the symbol `menu-item'.
5338 (menu-item ITEM-NAME) or
5339 (menu-item ITEM-NAME REAL-BINDING . ITEM-PROPERTY-LIST)
5340 where ITEM-NAME is an expression which evaluates to the menu item
5341 string, and ITEM-PROPERTY-LIST has the form of a property list.
5342 The supported properties include
5344 :enable FORM Evaluate FORM to determine whether the
5346 :visible FORM Evaluate FORM to determine whether the
5347 item should appear in the menu.
5349 FILTER-FN is a function of one argument,
5350 which will be REAL-BINDING.
5351 It should return a binding to use instead.
5353 DESCRIPTION is a string that describes an equivalent keyboard
5354 binding for for REAL-BINDING. DESCRIPTION is expanded with
5355 `substitute-command-keys' before it is used.
5356 :key-sequence KEY-SEQUENCE
5357 KEY-SEQUENCE is a key-sequence for an equivalent
5360 This means that the command normally has no
5361 keyboard equivalent.
5362 :help HELP HELP is the extra help string (not currently used).
5363 :button (TYPE . SELECTED)
5364 TYPE is :toggle or :radio.
5365 SELECTED is a form, to be evaluated, and its
5366 value says whether this button is currently selected.
5368 Buttons are at the moment only simulated by prefixes in the menu.
5369 Eventually ordinary X-buttons may be supported.
5371 (menu-item ITEM-NAME) defines unselectable item.
5375 *** The new event type `mouse-wheel' is generated by a wheel on a
5376 mouse (such as the MS Intellimouse). The event contains a delta that
5377 corresponds to the amount and direction that the wheel is rotated,
5378 which is typically used to implement a scroll or zoom. The format is:
5380 (mouse-wheel POSITION DELTA)
5382 where POSITION is a list describing the position of the event in the
5383 same format as a mouse-click event, and DELTA is a signed number
5384 indicating the number of increments by which the wheel was rotated. A
5385 negative DELTA indicates that the wheel was rotated backwards, towards
5386 the user, and a positive DELTA indicates that the wheel was rotated
5387 forward, away from the user.
5389 As of now, this event type is generated only on MS Windows.
5391 *** The new event type `drag-n-drop' is generated when a group of
5392 files is selected in an application outside of Emacs, and then dragged
5393 and dropped onto an Emacs frame. The event contains a list of
5394 filenames that were dragged and dropped, which are then typically
5395 loaded into Emacs. The format is:
5397 (drag-n-drop POSITION FILES)
5399 where POSITION is a list describing the position of the event in the
5400 same format as a mouse-click event, and FILES is the list of filenames
5401 that were dragged and dropped.
5403 As of now, this event type is generated only on MS Windows.
5405 ** Changes relating to multibyte characters.
5407 *** The variable enable-multibyte-characters is now read-only;
5408 any attempt to set it directly signals an error. The only way
5409 to change this value in an existing buffer is with set-buffer-multibyte.
5411 *** In a string constant, `\ ' now stands for "nothing at all". You
5412 can use it to terminate a hex escape which is followed by a character
5413 that could otherwise be read as part of the hex escape.
5415 *** String indices are now measured in characters, as they were
5416 in Emacs 19 and before.
5418 The function chars-in-string has been deleted.
5419 The function concat-chars has been renamed to `string'.
5421 *** The function set-buffer-multibyte sets the flag in the current
5422 buffer that says whether the buffer uses multibyte representation or
5423 unibyte representation. If the argument is nil, it selects unibyte
5424 representation. Otherwise it selects multibyte representation.
5426 This function does not change the contents of the buffer, viewed
5427 as a sequence of bytes. However, it does change the contents
5428 viewed as characters; a sequence of two bytes which is treated as
5429 one character when the buffer uses multibyte representation
5430 will count as two characters using unibyte representation.
5432 This function sets enable-multibyte-characters to record which
5433 representation is in use. It also adjusts various data in the buffer
5434 (including its markers, overlays and text properties) so that they are
5435 consistent with the new representation.
5437 *** string-make-multibyte takes a string and converts it to multibyte
5438 representation. Most of the time, you don't need to care
5439 about the representation, because Emacs converts when necessary;
5440 however, it makes a difference when you compare strings.
5442 The conversion of non-ASCII characters works by adding the value of
5443 nonascii-insert-offset to each character, or by translating them
5444 using the table nonascii-translation-table.
5446 *** string-make-unibyte takes a string and converts it to unibyte
5447 representation. Most of the time, you don't need to care about the
5448 representation, but it makes a difference when you compare strings.
5450 The conversion from multibyte to unibyte representation
5451 loses information; the only time Emacs performs it automatically
5452 is when inserting a multibyte string into a unibyte buffer.
5454 *** string-as-multibyte takes a string, and returns another string
5455 which contains the same bytes, but treats them as multibyte.
5457 *** string-as-unibyte takes a string, and returns another string
5458 which contains the same bytes, but treats them as unibyte.
5460 *** The new function compare-strings lets you compare
5461 portions of two strings. Unibyte strings are converted to multibyte,
5462 so that a unibyte string can match a multibyte string.
5463 You can specify whether to ignore case or not.
5465 *** assoc-ignore-case now uses compare-strings so that
5466 it can treat unibyte and multibyte strings as equal.
5468 *** Regular expression operations and buffer string searches now
5469 convert the search pattern to multibyte or unibyte to accord with the
5470 buffer or string being searched.
5472 One consequence is that you cannot always use \200-\377 inside of
5473 [...] to match all non-ASCII characters. This does still work when
5474 searching or matching a unibyte buffer or string, but not when
5475 searching or matching a multibyte string. Unfortunately, there is no
5476 obvious choice of syntax to use within [...] for that job. But, what
5477 you want is just to match all non-ASCII characters, the regular
5478 expression [^\0-\177] works for it.
5480 *** Structure of coding system changed.
5482 All coding systems (including aliases and subsidiaries) are named
5483 by symbols; the symbol's `coding-system' property is a vector
5484 which defines the coding system. Aliases share the same vector
5485 as the principal name, so that altering the contents of this
5486 vector affects the principal name and its aliases. You can define
5487 your own alias name of a coding system by the function
5488 define-coding-system-alias.
5490 The coding system definition includes a property list of its own. Use
5491 the new functions `coding-system-get' and `coding-system-put' to
5492 access such coding system properties as post-read-conversion,
5493 pre-write-conversion, character-translation-table-for-decode,
5494 character-translation-table-for-encode, mime-charset, and
5495 safe-charsets. For instance, (coding-system-get 'iso-latin-1
5496 'mime-charset) gives the corresponding MIME-charset parameter
5499 Among the coding system properties listed above, safe-charsets is new.
5500 The value of this property is a list of character sets which this
5501 coding system can correctly encode and decode. For instance:
5502 (coding-system-get 'iso-latin-1 'safe-charsets) => (ascii latin-iso8859-1)
5504 Here, "correctly encode" means that the encoded character sets can
5505 also be handled safely by systems other than Emacs as far as they
5506 are capable of that coding system. Though, Emacs itself can encode
5507 the other character sets and read it back correctly.
5509 *** The new function select-safe-coding-system can be used to find a
5510 proper coding system for encoding the specified region or string.
5511 This function requires a user interaction.
5513 *** The new functions find-coding-systems-region and
5514 find-coding-systems-string are helper functions used by
5515 select-safe-coding-system. They return a list of all proper coding
5516 systems to encode a text in some region or string. If you don't want
5517 a user interaction, use one of these functions instead of
5518 select-safe-coding-system.
5520 *** The explicit encoding and decoding functions, such as
5521 decode-coding-region and encode-coding-string, now set
5522 last-coding-system-used to reflect the actual way encoding or decoding
5525 *** The new function detect-coding-with-language-environment can be
5526 used to detect a coding system of text according to priorities of
5527 coding systems used by some specific language environment.
5529 *** The functions detect-coding-region and detect-coding-string always
5530 return a list if the arg HIGHEST is nil. Thus, if only ASCII
5531 characters are found, they now return a list of single element
5532 `undecided' or its subsidiaries.
5534 *** The new functions coding-system-change-eol-conversion and
5535 coding-system-change-text-conversion can be used to get a different
5536 coding system than what specified only in how end-of-line or text is
5539 *** The new function set-selection-coding-system can be used to set a
5540 coding system for communicating with other X clients.
5542 *** The function `map-char-table' now passes as argument only valid
5543 character codes, plus generic characters that stand for entire
5544 character sets or entire subrows of a character set. In other words,
5545 each time `map-char-table' calls its FUNCTION argument, the key value
5546 either will be a valid individual character code, or will stand for a
5547 range of characters.
5549 *** The new function `char-valid-p' can be used for checking whether a
5550 Lisp object is a valid character code or not.
5552 *** The new function `charset-after' returns a charset of a character
5553 in the current buffer at position POS.
5555 *** Input methods are now implemented using the variable
5556 input-method-function. If this is non-nil, its value should be a
5557 function; then, whenever Emacs reads an input event that is a printing
5558 character with no modifier bits, it calls that function, passing the
5559 event as an argument. Often this function will read more input, first
5560 binding input-method-function to nil.
5562 The return value should be a list of the events resulting from input
5563 method processing. These events will be processed sequentially as
5564 input, before resorting to unread-command-events. Events returned by
5565 the input method function are not passed to the input method function,
5566 not even if they are printing characters with no modifier bits.
5568 The input method function is not called when reading the second and
5569 subsequent events of a key sequence.
5571 *** You can customize any language environment by using
5572 set-language-environment-hook and exit-language-environment-hook.
5574 The hook `exit-language-environment-hook' should be used to undo
5575 customizations that you made with set-language-environment-hook. For
5576 instance, if you set up a special key binding for a specific language
5577 environment by set-language-environment-hook, you should set up
5578 exit-language-environment-hook to restore the normal key binding.
5580 * Changes in Emacs 20.1
5582 ** Emacs has a new facility for customization of its many user
5583 options. It is called M-x customize. With this facility you can look
5584 at the many user options in an organized way; they are grouped into a
5587 M-x customize also knows what sorts of values are legitimate for each
5588 user option and ensures that you don't use invalid values.
5590 With M-x customize, you can set options either for the present Emacs
5591 session or permanently. (Permanent settings are stored automatically
5592 in your .emacs file.)
5594 ** Scroll bars are now on the left side of the window.
5595 You can change this with M-x customize-option scroll-bar-mode.
5597 ** The mode line no longer includes the string `Emacs'.
5598 This makes more space in the mode line for other information.
5600 ** When you select a region with the mouse, it is highlighted
5601 immediately afterward. At that time, if you type the DELETE key, it
5604 The BACKSPACE key, and the ASCII character DEL, do not do this; they
5605 delete the character before point, as usual.
5607 ** In an incremental search the whole current match is highlighted
5608 on terminals which support this. (You can disable this feature
5609 by setting search-highlight to nil.)
5611 ** In the minibuffer, in some cases, you can now use M-n to
5612 insert the default value into the minibuffer as text. In effect,
5613 the default value (if the minibuffer routines know it) is tacked
5614 onto the history "in the future". (The more normal use of the
5615 history list is to use M-p to insert minibuffer input used in the
5618 ** In Text mode, now only blank lines separate paragraphs.
5619 This makes it possible to get the full benefit of Adaptive Fill mode
5620 in Text mode, and other modes derived from it (such as Mail mode).
5621 TAB in Text mode now runs the command indent-relative; this
5622 makes a practical difference only when you use indented paragraphs.
5624 As a result, the old Indented Text mode is now identical to Text mode,
5625 and is an alias for it.
5627 If you want spaces at the beginning of a line to start a paragraph,
5628 use the new mode, Paragraph Indent Text mode.
5630 ** Scrolling changes
5632 *** Scroll commands to scroll a whole screen now preserve the screen
5633 position of the cursor, if scroll-preserve-screen-position is non-nil.
5635 In this mode, if you scroll several screens back and forth, finishing
5636 on the same screen where you started, the cursor goes back to the line
5639 *** If you set scroll-conservatively to a small number, then when you
5640 move point a short distance off the screen, Emacs will scroll the
5641 screen just far enough to bring point back on screen, provided that
5642 does not exceed `scroll-conservatively' lines.
5644 *** The new variable scroll-margin says how close point can come to the
5645 top or bottom of a window. It is a number of screen lines; if point
5646 comes within that many lines of the top or bottom of the window, Emacs
5647 recenters the window.
5649 ** International character set support (MULE)
5651 Emacs now supports a wide variety of international character sets,
5652 including European variants of the Latin alphabet, as well as Chinese,
5653 Devanagari (Hindi and Marathi), Ethiopian, Greek, IPA, Japanese,
5654 Korean, Lao, Russian, Thai, Tibetan, and Vietnamese scripts. These
5655 features have been merged from the modified version of Emacs known as
5656 MULE (for "MULti-lingual Enhancement to GNU Emacs")
5658 Users of these scripts have established many more-or-less standard
5659 coding systems for storing files. Emacs uses a single multibyte
5660 character encoding within Emacs buffers; it can translate from a wide
5661 variety of coding systems when reading a file and can translate back
5662 into any of these coding systems when saving a file.
5664 Keyboards, even in the countries where these character sets are used,
5665 generally don't have keys for all the characters in them. So Emacs
5666 supports various "input methods", typically one for each script or
5667 language, to make it possible to type them.
5669 The Emacs internal multibyte encoding represents a non-ASCII
5670 character as a sequence of bytes in the range 0200 through 0377.
5672 The new prefix key C-x RET is used for commands that pertain
5673 to multibyte characters, coding systems, and input methods.
5675 You can disable multibyte character support as follows:
5677 (setq-default enable-multibyte-characters nil)
5679 Calling the function standard-display-european turns off multibyte
5680 characters, unless you specify a non-nil value for the second
5681 argument, AUTO. This provides compatibility for people who are
5682 already using standard-display-european to continue using unibyte
5683 characters for their work until they want to change.
5687 An input method is a kind of character conversion which is designed
5688 specifically for interactive input. In Emacs, typically each language
5689 has its own input method (though sometimes several languages which use
5690 the same characters can share one input method). Some languages
5691 support several input methods.
5693 The simplest kind of input method works by mapping ASCII letters into
5694 another alphabet. This is how the Greek and Russian input methods
5697 A more powerful technique is composition: converting sequences of
5698 characters into one letter. Many European input methods use
5699 composition to produce a single non-ASCII letter from a sequence which
5700 consists of a letter followed by diacritics. For example, a' is one
5701 sequence of two characters that might be converted into a single
5704 The input methods for syllabic scripts typically use mapping followed
5705 by conversion. The input methods for Thai and Korean work this way.
5706 First, letters are mapped into symbols for particular sounds or tone
5707 marks; then, sequences of these which make up a whole syllable are
5708 mapped into one syllable sign--most often a "composite character".
5710 None of these methods works very well for Chinese and Japanese, so
5711 they are handled specially. First you input a whole word using
5712 phonetic spelling; then, after the word is in the buffer, Emacs
5713 converts it into one or more characters using a large dictionary.
5715 Since there is more than one way to represent a phonetically spelled
5716 word using Chinese characters, Emacs can only guess which one to use;
5717 typically these input methods give you a way to say "guess again" if
5718 the first guess is wrong.
5720 *** The command C-x RET m (toggle-enable-multibyte-characters)
5721 turns multibyte character support on or off for the current buffer.
5723 If multibyte character support is turned off in a buffer, then each
5724 byte is a single character, even codes 0200 through 0377--exactly as
5725 they did in Emacs 19.34. This includes the features for support for
5726 the European characters, ISO Latin-1 and ISO Latin-2.
5728 However, there is no need to turn off multibyte character support to
5729 use ISO Latin-1 or ISO Latin-2; the Emacs multibyte character set
5730 includes all the characters in these character sets, and Emacs can
5731 translate automatically to and from either one.
5733 *** Visiting a file in unibyte mode.
5735 Turning off multibyte character support in the buffer after visiting a
5736 file with multibyte code conversion will display the multibyte
5737 sequences already in the buffer, byte by byte. This is probably not
5740 If you want to edit a file of unibyte characters (Latin-1, for
5741 example), you can do it by specifying `no-conversion' as the coding
5742 system when reading the file. This coding system also turns off
5743 multibyte characters in that buffer.
5745 If you turn off multibyte character support entirely, this turns off
5746 character conversion as well.
5748 *** Displaying international characters on X Windows.
5750 A font for X typically displays just one alphabet or script.
5751 Therefore, displaying the entire range of characters Emacs supports
5752 requires using many fonts.
5754 Therefore, Emacs now supports "fontsets". Each fontset is a
5755 collection of fonts, each assigned to a range of character codes.
5757 A fontset has a name, like a font. Individual fonts are defined by
5758 the X server; fontsets are defined within Emacs itself. But once you
5759 have defined a fontset, you can use it in a face or a frame just as
5760 you would use a font.
5762 If a fontset specifies no font for a certain character, or if it
5763 specifies a font that does not exist on your system, then it cannot
5764 display that character. It will display an empty box instead.
5766 The fontset height and width are determined by the ASCII characters
5767 (that is, by the font in the fontset which is used for ASCII
5768 characters). If another font in the fontset has a different height,
5769 or the wrong width, then characters assigned to that font are clipped,
5770 and displayed within a box if highlight-wrong-size-font is non-nil.
5772 *** Defining fontsets.
5774 Emacs does not use any fontset by default. Its default font is still
5775 chosen as in previous versions. You can tell Emacs to use a fontset
5776 with the `-fn' option or the `Font' X resource.
5778 Emacs creates a standard fontset automatically according to the value
5779 of standard-fontset-spec. This fontset's short name is
5780 `fontset-standard'. Bold, italic, and bold-italic variants of the
5781 standard fontset are created automatically.
5783 If you specify a default ASCII font with the `Font' resource or `-fn'
5784 argument, a fontset is generated from it. This works by replacing the
5785 FOUNDARY, FAMILY, ADD_STYLE, and AVERAGE_WIDTH fields of the font name
5786 with `*' then using this to specify a fontset. This fontset's short
5787 name is `fontset-startup'.
5789 Emacs checks resources of the form Fontset-N where N is 0, 1, 2...
5790 The resource value should have this form:
5791 FONTSET-NAME, [CHARSET-NAME:FONT-NAME]...
5792 FONTSET-NAME should have the form of a standard X font name, except:
5793 * most fields should be just the wild card "*".
5794 * the CHARSET_REGISTRY field should be "fontset"
5795 * the CHARSET_ENCODING field can be any nickname of the fontset.
5796 The construct CHARSET-NAME:FONT-NAME can be repeated any number
5797 of times; each time specifies the font for one character set.
5798 CHARSET-NAME should be the name name of a character set, and
5799 FONT-NAME should specify an actual font to use for that character set.
5801 Each of these fontsets has an alias which is made from the
5802 last two font name fields, CHARSET_REGISTRY and CHARSET_ENCODING.
5803 You can refer to the fontset by that alias or by its full name.
5805 For any character sets that you don't mention, Emacs tries to choose a
5806 font by substituting into FONTSET-NAME. For instance, with the
5808 Emacs*Fontset-0: -*-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-24-*-*-*-*-*-fontset-24
5809 the font for ASCII is generated as below:
5810 -*-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-24-*-ISO8859-1
5811 Here is the substitution rule:
5812 Change CHARSET_REGISTRY and CHARSET_ENCODING to that of the charset
5813 defined in the variable x-charset-registries. For instance, ASCII has
5814 the entry (ascii . "ISO8859-1") in this variable. Then, reduce
5815 sequences of wild cards -*-...-*- with a single wildcard -*-.
5816 (This is to prevent use of auto-scaled fonts.)
5818 The function which processes the fontset resource value to create the
5819 fontset is called create-fontset-from-fontset-spec. You can also call
5820 that function explicitly to create a fontset.
5822 With the X resource Emacs.Font, you can specify a fontset name just
5823 like an actual font name. But be careful not to specify a fontset
5824 name in a wildcard resource like Emacs*Font--that tries to specify the
5825 fontset for other purposes including menus, and they cannot handle
5828 *** The command M-x set-language-environment sets certain global Emacs
5829 defaults for a particular choice of language.
5831 Selecting a language environment typically specifies a default input
5832 method and which coding systems to recognize automatically when
5833 visiting files. However, it does not try to reread files you have
5834 already visited; the text in those buffers is not affected. The
5835 language environment may also specify a default choice of coding
5836 system for new files that you create.
5838 It makes no difference which buffer is current when you use
5839 set-language-environment, because these defaults apply globally to the
5840 whole Emacs session.
5842 For example, M-x set-language-environment RET Latin-1 RET
5843 chooses the Latin-1 character set. In the .emacs file, you can do this
5844 with (set-language-environment "Latin-1").
5846 *** The command C-x RET f (set-buffer-file-coding-system)
5847 specifies the file coding system for the current buffer. This
5848 specifies what sort of character code translation to do when saving
5849 the file. As an argument, you must specify the name of one of the
5850 coding systems that Emacs supports.
5852 *** The command C-x RET c (universal-coding-system-argument)
5853 lets you specify a coding system when you read or write a file.
5854 This command uses the minibuffer to read a coding system name.
5855 After you exit the minibuffer, the specified coding system
5856 is used for *the immediately following command*.
5858 So if the immediately following command is a command to read or
5859 write a file, it uses the specified coding system for that file.
5861 If the immediately following command does not use the coding system,
5862 then C-x RET c ultimately has no effect.
5864 For example, C-x RET c iso-8859-1 RET C-x C-f temp RET
5865 visits the file `temp' treating it as ISO Latin-1.
5867 *** You can specify the coding system for a file using the -*-
5868 construct. Include `coding: CODINGSYSTEM;' inside the -*-...-*-
5869 to specify use of coding system CODINGSYSTEM. You can also
5870 specify the coding system in a local variable list at the end
5873 *** The command C-x RET t (set-terminal-coding-system) specifies
5874 the coding system for terminal output. If you specify a character
5875 code for terminal output, all characters output to the terminal are
5876 translated into that character code.
5878 This feature is useful for certain character-only terminals built in
5879 various countries to support the languages of those countries.
5881 By default, output to the terminal is not translated at all.
5883 *** The command C-x RET k (set-keyboard-coding-system) specifies
5884 the coding system for keyboard input.
5886 Character code translation of keyboard input is useful for terminals
5887 with keys that send non-ASCII graphic characters--for example,
5888 some terminals designed for ISO Latin-1 or subsets of it.
5890 By default, keyboard input is not translated at all.
5892 Character code translation of keyboard input is similar to using an
5893 input method, in that both define sequences of keyboard input that
5894 translate into single characters. However, input methods are designed
5895 to be convenient for interactive use, while the code translations are
5896 designed to work with terminals.
5898 *** The command C-x RET p (set-buffer-process-coding-system)
5899 specifies the coding system for input and output to a subprocess.
5900 This command applies to the current buffer; normally, each subprocess
5901 has its own buffer, and thus you can use this command to specify
5902 translation to and from a particular subprocess by giving the command
5903 in the corresponding buffer.
5905 By default, process input and output are not translated at all.
5907 *** The variable file-name-coding-system specifies the coding system
5908 to use for encoding file names before operating on them.
5909 It is also used for decoding file names obtained from the system.
5911 *** The command C-\ (toggle-input-method) activates or deactivates
5912 an input method. If no input method has been selected before, the
5913 command prompts for you to specify the language and input method you
5916 C-u C-\ (select-input-method) lets you switch to a different input
5917 method. C-h C-\ (or C-h I) describes the current input method.
5919 *** Some input methods remap the keyboard to emulate various keyboard
5920 layouts commonly used for particular scripts. How to do this
5921 remapping properly depends on your actual keyboard layout. To specify
5922 which layout your keyboard has, use M-x quail-set-keyboard-layout.
5924 *** The command C-h C (describe-coding-system) displays
5925 the coding systems currently selected for various purposes, plus
5926 related information.
5928 *** The command C-h h (view-hello-file) displays a file called
5929 HELLO, which has examples of text in many languages, using various
5932 *** The command C-h L (describe-language-support) displays
5933 information about the support for a particular language.
5934 You specify the language as an argument.
5936 *** The mode line now contains a letter or character that identifies
5937 the coding system used in the visited file. It normally follows the
5940 A dash indicates the default state of affairs: no code conversion
5941 (except CRLF => newline if appropriate). `=' means no conversion
5942 whatsoever. The ISO 8859 coding systems are represented by digits
5943 1 through 9. Other coding systems are represented by letters:
5945 A alternativnyj (Russian)
5947 C cn-gb-2312 (Chinese)
5948 C iso-2022-cn (Chinese)
5949 D in-is13194-devanagari (Indian languages)
5950 E euc-japan (Japanese)
5951 I iso-2022-cjk or iso-2022-ss2 (Chinese, Japanese, Korean)
5952 J junet (iso-2022-7) or old-jis (iso-2022-jp-1978-irv) (Japanese)
5953 K euc-korea (Korean)
5956 S shift_jis (Japanese)
5959 V viscii or vscii (Vietnamese)
5960 i iso-2022-lock (Chinese, Japanese, Korean)
5961 k iso-2022-kr (Korean)
5965 When you are using a character-only terminal (not a window system),
5966 two additional characters appear in between the dash and the file
5967 coding system. These two characters describe the coding system for
5968 keyboard input, and the coding system for terminal output.
5970 *** The new variable rmail-file-coding-system specifies the code
5971 conversion to use for RMAIL files. The default value is nil.
5973 When you read mail with Rmail, each message is decoded automatically
5974 into Emacs' internal format. This has nothing to do with
5975 rmail-file-coding-system. That variable controls reading and writing
5976 Rmail files themselves.
5978 *** The new variable sendmail-coding-system specifies the code
5979 conversion for outgoing mail. The default value is nil.
5981 Actually, there are three different ways of specifying the coding system
5984 - If you use C-x RET f in the mail buffer, that takes priority.
5985 - Otherwise, if you set sendmail-coding-system non-nil, that specifies it.
5986 - Otherwise, the default coding system for new files is used,
5987 if that is non-nil. That comes from your language environment.
5988 - Otherwise, Latin-1 is used.
5990 *** The command C-h t (help-with-tutorial) accepts a prefix argument
5991 to specify the language for the tutorial file. Currently, English,
5992 Japanese, Korean and Thai are supported. We welcome additional
5995 ** An easy new way to visit a file with no code or format conversion
5996 of any kind: Use M-x find-file-literally. There is also a command
5997 insert-file-literally which inserts a file into the current buffer
5998 without any conversion.
6000 ** C-q's handling of octal character codes is changed.
6001 You can now specify any number of octal digits.
6002 RET terminates the digits and is discarded;
6003 any other non-digit terminates the digits and is then used as input.
6005 ** There are new commands for looking up Info documentation for
6006 functions, variables and file names used in your programs.
6008 Type M-x info-lookup-symbol to look up a symbol in the buffer at point.
6009 Type M-x info-lookup-file to look up a file in the buffer at point.
6011 Precisely which Info files are used to look it up depends on the major
6012 mode. For example, in C mode, the GNU libc manual is used.
6014 ** M-TAB in most programming language modes now runs the command
6015 complete-symbol. This command performs completion on the symbol name
6016 in the buffer before point.
6018 With a numeric argument, it performs completion based on the set of
6019 symbols documented in the Info files for the programming language that
6022 With no argument, it does completion based on the current tags tables,
6023 just like the old binding of M-TAB (complete-tag).
6025 ** File locking works with NFS now.
6027 The lock file for FILENAME is now a symbolic link named .#FILENAME,
6028 in the same directory as FILENAME.
6030 This means that collision detection between two different machines now
6031 works reasonably well; it also means that no file server or directory
6032 can become a bottleneck.
6034 The new method does have drawbacks. It means that collision detection
6035 does not operate when you edit a file in a directory where you cannot
6036 create new files. Collision detection also doesn't operate when the
6037 file server does not support symbolic links. But these conditions are
6038 rare, and the ability to have collision detection while using NFS is
6039 so useful that the change is worth while.
6041 When Emacs or a system crashes, this may leave behind lock files which
6042 are stale. So you may occasionally get warnings about spurious
6043 collisions. When you determine that the collision is spurious, just
6044 tell Emacs to go ahead anyway.
6046 ** If you wish to use Show Paren mode to display matching parentheses,
6047 it is no longer sufficient to load paren.el. Instead you must call
6050 ** If you wish to use Delete Selection mode to replace a highlighted
6051 selection when you insert new text, it is no longer sufficient to load
6052 delsel.el. Instead you must call the function delete-selection-mode.
6054 ** If you wish to use Partial Completion mode to complete partial words
6055 within symbols or filenames, it is no longer sufficient to load
6056 complete.el. Instead you must call the function partial-completion-mode.
6058 ** If you wish to use uniquify to rename buffers for you,
6059 it is no longer sufficient to load uniquify.el. You must also
6060 set uniquify-buffer-name-style to one of the non-nil legitimate values.
6062 ** Changes in View mode.
6064 *** Several new commands are available in View mode.
6065 Do H in view mode for a list of commands.
6067 *** There are two new commands for entering View mode:
6068 view-file-other-frame and view-buffer-other-frame.
6070 *** Exiting View mode does a better job of restoring windows to their
6073 *** New customization variable view-scroll-auto-exit. If non-nil,
6074 scrolling past end of buffer makes view mode exit.
6076 *** New customization variable view-exits-all-viewing-windows. If
6077 non-nil, view-mode will at exit restore all windows viewing buffer,
6078 not just the selected window.
6080 *** New customization variable view-read-only. If non-nil, visiting a
6081 read-only file automatically enters View mode, and toggle-read-only
6082 turns View mode on or off.
6084 *** New customization variable view-remove-frame-by-deleting controls
6085 how to remove a not needed frame at view mode exit. If non-nil,
6086 delete the frame, if nil make an icon of it.
6088 ** C-x v l, the command to print a file's version control log,
6089 now positions point at the entry for the file's current branch version.
6091 ** C-x v =, the command to compare a file with the last checked-in version,
6092 has a new feature. If the file is currently not locked, so that it is
6093 presumably identical to the last checked-in version, the command now asks
6094 which version to compare with.
6096 ** When using hideshow.el, incremental search can temporarily show hidden
6097 blocks if a match is inside the block.
6099 The block is hidden again if the search is continued and the next match
6100 is outside the block. By customizing the variable
6101 isearch-hide-immediately you can choose to hide all the temporarily
6102 shown blocks only when exiting from incremental search.
6104 By customizing the variable hs-isearch-open you can choose what kind
6105 of blocks to temporarily show during isearch: comment blocks, code
6106 blocks, all of them or none.
6108 ** The new command C-x 4 0 (kill-buffer-and-window) kills the
6109 current buffer and deletes the selected window. It asks for
6112 ** C-x C-w, which saves the buffer into a specified file name,
6113 now changes the major mode according to that file name.
6114 However, the mode will not be changed if
6115 (1) a local variables list or the `-*-' line specifies a major mode, or
6116 (2) the current major mode is a "special" mode,
6117 not suitable for ordinary files, or
6118 (3) the new file name does not particularly specify any mode.
6120 This applies to M-x set-visited-file-name as well.
6122 However, if you set change-major-mode-with-file-name to nil, then
6123 these commands do not change the major mode.
6125 ** M-x occur changes.
6127 *** If the argument to M-x occur contains upper case letters,
6128 it performs a case-sensitive search.
6130 *** In the *Occur* buffer made by M-x occur,
6131 if you type g or M-x revert-buffer, this repeats the search
6132 using the same regular expression and the same buffer as before.
6134 ** In Transient Mark mode, the region in any one buffer is highlighted
6135 in just one window at a time. At first, it is highlighted in the
6136 window where you set the mark. The buffer's highlighting remains in
6137 that window unless you select to another window which shows the same
6138 buffer--then the highlighting moves to that window.
6140 ** The feature to suggest key bindings when you use M-x now operates
6141 after the command finishes. The message suggesting key bindings
6142 appears temporarily in the echo area. The previous echo area contents
6143 come back after a few seconds, in case they contain useful information.
6145 ** Each frame now independently records the order for recently
6146 selected buffers, so that the default for C-x b is now based on the
6147 buffers recently selected in the selected frame.
6149 ** Outline mode changes.
6151 *** Outline mode now uses overlays (this is the former noutline.el).
6153 *** Incremental searches skip over invisible text in Outline mode.
6155 ** When a minibuffer window is active but not the selected window, if
6156 you try to use the minibuffer, you used to get a nested minibuffer.
6157 Now, this not only gives an error, it also cancels the minibuffer that
6160 The motive for this change is so that beginning users do not
6161 unknowingly move away from minibuffers, leaving them active, and then
6164 If you want to be able to have recursive minibuffers, you must
6165 set enable-recursive-minibuffers to non-nil.
6167 ** Changes in dynamic abbrevs.
6169 *** Expanding dynamic abbrevs with M-/ is now smarter about case
6170 conversion. If the expansion has mixed case not counting the first
6171 character, and the abbreviation matches the beginning of the expansion
6172 including case, then the expansion is copied verbatim.
6174 The expansion is also copied verbatim if the abbreviation itself has
6175 mixed case. And using SPC M-/ to copy an additional word always
6176 copies it verbatim except when the previous copied word is all caps.
6178 *** The values of `dabbrev-case-replace' and `dabbrev-case-fold-search'
6179 are no longer Lisp expressions. They have simply three possible
6182 `dabbrev-case-replace' has these three values: nil (don't preserve
6183 case), t (do), or `case-replace' (do like M-x query-replace).
6184 `dabbrev-case-fold-search' has these three values: nil (don't ignore
6185 case), t (do), or `case-fold-search' (do like search).
6187 ** Minibuffer history lists are truncated automatically now to a
6188 certain length. The variable history-length specifies how long they
6189 can be. The default value is 30.
6191 ** Changes in Mail mode.
6193 *** The key C-x m no longer runs the `mail' command directly.
6194 Instead, it runs the command `compose-mail', which invokes the mail
6195 composition mechanism you have selected with the variable
6196 `mail-user-agent'. The default choice of user agent is
6197 `sendmail-user-agent', which gives behavior compatible with the old
6200 C-x 4 m now runs compose-mail-other-window, and C-x 5 m runs
6201 compose-mail-other-frame.
6203 *** While composing a reply to a mail message, from Rmail, you can use
6204 the command C-c C-r to cite just the region from the message you are
6205 replying to. This copies the text which is the selected region in the
6206 buffer that shows the original message.
6208 *** The command C-c C-i inserts a file at the end of the message,
6209 with separator lines around the contents.
6211 *** The command M-x expand-mail-aliases expands all mail aliases
6212 in suitable mail headers. Emacs automatically extracts mail alias
6213 definitions from your mail alias file (e.g., ~/.mailrc). You do not
6214 need to expand mail aliases yourself before sending mail.
6216 *** New features in the mail-complete command.
6218 **** The mail-complete command now inserts the user's full name,
6219 for local users or if that is known. The variable mail-complete-style
6220 controls the style to use, and whether to do this at all.
6221 Its values are like those of mail-from-style.
6223 **** The variable mail-passwd-command lets you specify a shell command
6224 to run to fetch a set of password-entries that add to the ones in
6227 **** The variable mail-passwd-file now specifies a list of files to read
6228 to get the list of user ids. By default, one file is used:
6231 ** You can "quote" a file name to inhibit special significance of
6232 special syntax, by adding `/:' to the beginning. Thus, if you have a
6233 directory named `/foo:', you can prevent it from being treated as a
6234 reference to a remote host named `foo' by writing it as `/:/foo:'.
6236 Emacs uses this new construct automatically when necessary, such as
6237 when you start it with a working directory whose name might otherwise
6238 be taken to be magic.
6240 ** There is a new command M-x grep-find which uses find to select
6241 files to search through, and grep to scan them. The output is
6242 available in a Compile mode buffer, as with M-x grep.
6244 M-x grep now uses the -e option if the grep program supports that.
6245 (-e prevents problems if the search pattern starts with a dash.)
6247 ** In Dired, the & command now flags for deletion the files whose names
6248 suggest they are probably not needed in the long run.
6250 In Dired, * is now a prefix key for mark-related commands.
6252 new key dired.el binding old key
6253 ------- ---------------- -------
6254 * c dired-change-marks c
6256 * * dired-mark-executables * (binding deleted)
6257 * / dired-mark-directories / (binding deleted)
6258 * @ dired-mark-symlinks @ (binding deleted)
6260 * DEL dired-unmark-backward DEL
6261 * ? dired-unmark-all-files M-C-?
6262 * ! dired-unmark-all-marks
6263 * % dired-mark-files-regexp % m
6264 * C-n dired-next-marked-file M-}
6265 * C-p dired-prev-marked-file M-{
6269 *** When Rmail cannot convert your incoming mail into Babyl format, it
6270 saves the new mail in the file RMAILOSE.n, where n is an integer
6271 chosen to make a unique name. This way, Rmail will not keep crashing
6272 each time you run it.
6274 *** In Rmail, the variable rmail-summary-line-count-flag now controls
6275 whether to include the line count in the summary. Non-nil means yes.
6277 *** In Rmail summary buffers, d and C-d (the commands to delete
6278 messages) now take repeat counts as arguments. A negative argument
6279 means to move in the opposite direction.
6281 *** In Rmail, the t command now takes an optional argument which lets
6282 you specify whether to show the message headers in full or pruned.
6284 *** In Rmail, the new command w (rmail-output-body-to-file) writes
6285 just the body of the current message into a file, without the headers.
6286 It takes the file name from the message subject, by default, but you
6287 can edit that file name in the minibuffer before it is actually used
6292 *** nntp.el has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
6294 *** Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
6297 *** Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like
6298 `and', `or', `not', and parent redirection.
6300 *** Article washing status can be displayed in the
6303 *** gnus.el has been split into many smaller files.
6305 *** Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID.
6307 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
6309 *** New variables for specifying what score and adapt files
6310 are to be considered home score and adapt files. See
6311 `gnus-home-score-file' and `gnus-home-adapt-files'.
6313 *** Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics.
6315 *** Article editing has been revamped and is now usable.
6317 *** Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions.
6318 See `gnus-signature-separator' and `gnus-signature-limit'.
6320 *** Summary pick mode has been made to look more nn-like.
6321 Line numbers are displayed and the `.' command can be
6322 used to pick articles.
6324 *** Commands for moving the .newsrc.eld from one server to
6325 another have been added.
6327 `M-x gnus-change-server'
6329 *** A way to specify that "uninteresting" fields be suppressed when
6330 generating lines in buffers.
6332 *** Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with
6335 *** Scoring can be done on words using the new score type `w'.
6337 *** Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis:
6339 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
6341 *** Scores can be decayed.
6343 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
6345 *** Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The
6346 Date is normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first.
6348 *** A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
6351 `M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups'
6353 *** A new command for reading collections of documents
6354 (nndoc with nnvirtual on top) has been added -- `M-C-d'.
6356 *** Process mark sets can be pushed and popped.
6358 *** A new mail-to-news backend makes it possible to post
6359 even when the NNTP server doesn't allow posting.
6361 *** A new backend for reading searches from Web search engines
6362 (DejaNews, Alta Vista, InReference) has been added.
6364 Use the `G w' command in the group buffer to create such
6367 *** Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard
6368 sorting functions, and each topic can be sorted independently.
6370 See the commands under the `T S' submap.
6372 *** Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently.
6374 See the commands under the `G P' submap.
6376 *** Cached articles can be pulled into the groups.
6378 Use the `Y c' command.
6380 *** Score files are now applied in a more reliable order.
6382 *** Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated.
6384 `M-x nnmail-split-history'
6386 *** More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk
6387 from incoming mail before saving the mail.
6389 See `nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook'.
6391 *** The nnml mail backend now understands compressed article files.
6393 *** To enable Gnus to read/post multi-lingual articles, you must execute
6394 the following code, for instance, in your .emacs.
6396 (add-hook 'gnus-startup-hook 'gnus-mule-initialize)
6398 Then, when you start Gnus, it will decode non-ASCII text automatically
6399 and show appropriate characters. (Note: if you are using gnus-mime
6400 from the SEMI package, formerly known as TM, you should NOT add this
6401 hook to gnus-startup-hook; gnus-mime has its own method of handling
6404 Since it is impossible to distinguish all coding systems
6405 automatically, you may need to specify a choice of coding system for a
6406 particular news group. This can be done by:
6408 (gnus-mule-add-group NEWSGROUP 'CODING-SYSTEM)
6410 Here NEWSGROUP should be a string which names a newsgroup or a tree
6411 of newsgroups. If NEWSGROUP is "XXX.YYY", all news groups under
6412 "XXX.YYY" (including "XXX.YYY.ZZZ") will use the specified coding
6413 system. CODING-SYSTEM specifies which coding system to use (for both
6414 for reading and posting).
6416 CODING-SYSTEM can also be a cons cell of the form
6417 (READ-CODING-SYSTEM . POST-CODING-SYSTEM)
6418 Then READ-CODING-SYSTEM is used when you read messages from the
6419 newsgroups, while POST-CODING-SYSTEM is used when you post messages
6422 Emacs knows the right coding systems for certain newsgroups by
6423 default. Here are some of these default settings:
6425 (gnus-mule-add-group "fj" 'iso-2022-7)
6426 (gnus-mule-add-group "alt.chinese.text" 'hz-gb-2312)
6427 (gnus-mule-add-group "alt.hk" 'hz-gb-2312)
6428 (gnus-mule-add-group "alt.chinese.text.big5" 'cn-big5)
6429 (gnus-mule-add-group "soc.culture.vietnamese" '(nil . viqr))
6431 When you reply by mail to an article, these settings are ignored;
6432 the mail is encoded according to sendmail-coding-system, as usual.
6436 *** If you edit primarily one style of C (or C++, Objective-C, Java)
6437 code, you may want to make the CC Mode style variables have global
6438 values so that you can set them directly in your .emacs file. To do
6439 this, set c-style-variables-are-local-p to nil in your .emacs file.
6440 Note that this only takes effect if you do it *before* cc-mode.el is
6443 If you typically edit more than one style of C (or C++, Objective-C,
6444 Java) code in a single Emacs session, you may want to make the CC Mode
6445 style variables have buffer local values. By default, all buffers
6446 share the same style variable settings; to make them buffer local, set
6447 c-style-variables-are-local-p to t in your .emacs file. Note that you
6448 must do this *before* CC Mode is loaded.
6450 *** The new variable c-indentation-style holds the C style name
6451 of the current buffer.
6453 *** The variable c-block-comments-indent-p has been deleted, because
6454 it is no longer necessary. C mode now handles all the supported styles
6455 of block comments, with no need to say which one you will use.
6457 *** There is a new indentation style "python", which specifies the C
6458 style that the Python developers like.
6460 *** There is a new c-cleanup-list option: brace-elseif-brace.
6461 This says to put ...} else if (...) {... on one line,
6462 just as brace-else-brace says to put ...} else {... on one line.
6466 ** In vc-retrieve-snapshot (C-x v r), if you don't specify a snapshot
6467 name, it retrieves the *latest* versions of all files in the current
6468 directory and its subdirectories (aside from files already locked).
6470 This feature is useful if your RCS directory is a link to a common
6471 master directory, and you want to pick up changes made by other
6474 You can do the same thing for an individual file by typing C-u C-x C-q
6475 RET in a buffer visiting that file.
6477 *** VC can now handle files under CVS that are being "watched" by
6478 other developers. Such files are made read-only by CVS. To get a
6479 writable copy, type C-x C-q in a buffer visiting such a file. VC then
6480 calls "cvs edit", which notifies the other developers of it.
6482 *** vc-version-diff (C-u C-x v =) now suggests reasonable defaults for
6483 version numbers, based on the current state of the file.
6485 ** Calendar changes.
6487 A new function, list-holidays, allows you list holidays or subclasses
6488 of holidays for ranges of years. Related menu items allow you do this
6489 for the year of the selected date, or the following/previous years.
6493 There are some new user variables for customizing the page layout.
6495 *** Paper size, paper orientation, columns
6497 The variable `ps-paper-type' determines the size of paper ps-print
6498 formats for; it should contain one of the symbols:
6499 `a4' `a3' `letter' `legal' `letter-small' `tabloid'
6500 `ledger' `statement' `executive' `a4small' `b4' `b5'
6501 It defaults to `letter'.
6502 If you need other sizes, see the variable `ps-page-dimensions-database'.
6504 The variable `ps-landscape-mode' determines the orientation
6505 of the printing on the page. nil, the default, means "portrait" mode,
6506 non-nil means "landscape" mode.
6508 The variable `ps-number-of-columns' must be a positive integer.
6509 It determines the number of columns both in landscape and portrait mode.
6512 *** Horizontal layout
6514 The horizontal layout is determined by the variables
6515 `ps-left-margin', `ps-inter-column', and `ps-right-margin'.
6516 All are measured in points.
6520 The vertical layout is determined by the variables
6521 `ps-bottom-margin', `ps-top-margin', and `ps-header-offset'.
6522 All are measured in points.
6526 If the variable `ps-print-header' is nil, no header is printed. Then
6527 `ps-header-offset' is not relevant and `ps-top-margin' represents the
6528 margin above the text.
6530 If the variable `ps-print-header-frame' is non-nil, a gaudy
6531 framing box is printed around the header.
6533 The contents of the header are determined by `ps-header-lines',
6534 `ps-show-n-of-n', `ps-left-header' and `ps-right-header'.
6536 The height of the header is determined by `ps-header-line-pad',
6537 `ps-header-font-family', `ps-header-title-font-size' and
6538 `ps-header-font-size'.
6542 The variable `ps-font-family' determines which font family is to be
6543 used for ordinary text. Its value must be a key symbol in the alist
6544 `ps-font-info-database'. You can add other font families by adding
6545 elements to this alist.
6547 The variable `ps-font-size' determines the size of the font
6548 for ordinary text. It defaults to 8.5 points.
6550 ** hideshow changes.
6552 *** now supports hiding of blocks of single line comments (like // for
6555 *** Support for java-mode added.
6557 *** When doing `hs-hide-all' it is now possible to also hide the comments
6558 in the file if `hs-hide-comments-when-hiding-all' is set.
6560 *** The new function `hs-hide-initial-comment' hides the the comments at
6561 the beginning of the files. Finally those huge RCS logs don't stay in your
6562 way! This is run by default when entering the `hs-minor-mode'.
6564 *** Now uses overlays instead of `selective-display', so is more
6565 robust and a lot faster.
6567 *** A block beginning can span multiple lines.
6569 *** The new variable `hs-show-hidden-short-form' if t, directs hideshow
6570 to show only the beginning of a block when it is hidden. See the
6571 documentation for more details.
6573 ** Changes in Enriched mode.
6575 *** When you visit a file in enriched-mode, Emacs will make sure it is
6576 filled to the current fill-column. This behavior is now independent
6577 of the size of the window. When you save the file, the fill-column in
6578 use is stored as well, so that the whole buffer need not be refilled
6579 the next time unless the fill-column is different.
6581 *** use-hard-newlines is now a minor mode. When it is enabled, Emacs
6582 distinguishes between hard and soft newlines, and treats hard newlines
6583 as paragraph boundaries. Otherwise all newlines inserted are marked
6584 as soft, and paragraph boundaries are determined solely from the text.
6590 The variables font-lock-face-attributes, font-lock-display-type and
6591 font-lock-background-mode are now obsolete; the recommended way to specify the
6592 faces to use for Font Lock mode is with M-x customize-group on the new custom
6593 group font-lock-highlighting-faces. If you set font-lock-face-attributes in
6594 your ~/.emacs file, Font Lock mode will respect its value. However, you should
6595 consider converting from setting that variable to using M-x customize.
6597 You can still use X resources to specify Font Lock face appearances.
6599 *** Maximum decoration
6601 Fontification now uses the maximum level of decoration supported by
6602 default. Previously, fontification used a mode-specific default level
6603 of decoration, which is typically the minimum level of decoration
6604 supported. You can set font-lock-maximum-decoration to nil
6605 to get the old behavior.
6609 Support is now provided for Java, Objective-C, AWK and SIMULA modes.
6611 Note that Font Lock mode can be turned on without knowing exactly what modes
6612 support Font Lock mode, via the command global-font-lock-mode.
6614 *** Configurable support
6616 Support for C, C++, Objective-C and Java can be more easily configured for
6617 additional types and classes via the new variables c-font-lock-extra-types,
6618 c++-font-lock-extra-types, objc-font-lock-extra-types and, you guessed it,
6619 java-font-lock-extra-types. These value of each of these variables should be a
6620 list of regexps matching the extra type names. For example, the default value
6621 of c-font-lock-extra-types is ("\\sw+_t") which means fontification follows the
6622 convention that C type names end in _t. This results in slower fontification.
6624 Of course, you can change the variables that specify fontification in whatever
6625 way you wish, typically by adding regexps. However, these new variables make
6626 it easier to make specific and common changes for the fontification of types.
6628 *** Adding highlighting patterns to existing support
6630 You can use the new function font-lock-add-keywords to add your own
6631 highlighting patterns, such as for project-local or user-specific constructs,
6634 For example, to highlight `FIXME:' words in C comments, put:
6636 (font-lock-add-keywords 'c-mode '(("\\<FIXME:" 0 font-lock-warning-face t)))
6642 Font Lock now defines two new faces, font-lock-builtin-face and
6643 font-lock-warning-face. These are intended to highlight builtin keywords,
6644 distinct from a language's normal keywords, and objects that should be brought
6645 to user attention, respectively. Various modes now use these new faces.
6647 *** Changes to fast-lock support mode
6649 The fast-lock package, one of the two Font Lock support modes, can now process
6650 cache files silently. You can use the new variable fast-lock-verbose, in the
6651 same way as font-lock-verbose, to control this feature.
6653 *** Changes to lazy-lock support mode
6655 The lazy-lock package, one of the two Font Lock support modes, can now fontify
6656 according to the true syntactic context relative to other lines. You can use
6657 the new variable lazy-lock-defer-contextually to control this feature. If
6658 non-nil, changes to the buffer will cause subsequent lines in the buffer to be
6659 refontified after lazy-lock-defer-time seconds of idle time. If nil, then only
6660 the modified lines will be refontified; this is the same as the previous Lazy
6661 Lock mode behaviour and the behaviour of Font Lock mode.
6663 This feature is useful in modes where strings or comments can span lines.
6664 For example, if a string or comment terminating character is deleted, then if
6665 this feature is enabled subsequent lines in the buffer will be correctly
6666 refontified to reflect their new syntactic context. Previously, only the line
6667 containing the deleted character would be refontified and you would have to use
6668 the command M-g M-g (font-lock-fontify-block) to refontify some lines.
6670 As a consequence of this new feature, two other variables have changed:
6672 Variable `lazy-lock-defer-driven' is renamed `lazy-lock-defer-on-scrolling'.
6673 Variable `lazy-lock-defer-time' can now only be a time, i.e., a number.
6674 Buffer modes for which on-the-fly deferral applies can be specified via the
6675 new variable `lazy-lock-defer-on-the-fly'.
6677 If you set these variables in your ~/.emacs, then you may have to change those
6680 ** Ada mode changes.
6682 *** There is now better support for using find-file.el with Ada mode.
6683 If you switch between spec and body, the cursor stays in the same
6684 procedure (modulo overloading). If a spec has no body file yet, but
6685 you try to switch to its body file, Ada mode now generates procedure
6688 *** There are two new commands:
6689 - `ada-make-local' : invokes gnatmake on the current buffer
6690 - `ada-check-syntax' : check syntax of current buffer.
6692 The user options `ada-compiler-make', `ada-make-options',
6693 `ada-language-version', `ada-compiler-syntax-check', and
6694 `ada-compile-options' are used within these commands.
6696 *** Ada mode can now work with Outline minor mode. The outline level
6697 is calculated from the indenting, not from syntactic constructs.
6698 Outlining does not work if your code is not correctly indented.
6700 *** The new function `ada-gnat-style' converts the buffer to the style of
6701 formatting used in GNAT. It places two blanks after a comment start,
6702 places one blank between a word end and an opening '(', and puts one
6703 space between a comma and the beginning of a word.
6705 ** Scheme mode changes.
6707 *** Scheme mode indentation now uses many of the facilities of Lisp
6708 mode; therefore, the variables to customize it are the variables used
6709 for Lisp mode which have names starting with `lisp-'. The variables
6710 with names starting with `scheme-' which used to do this no longer
6713 If you want to use different indentation for Scheme and Lisp, this is
6714 still possible, but now you must do it by adding a hook to
6715 scheme-mode-hook, which could work by setting the `lisp-' indentation
6716 variables as buffer-local variables.
6718 *** DSSSL mode is a variant of Scheme mode, for editing DSSSL scripts.
6721 ** Changes to the emacsclient program
6723 *** If a socket can't be found, and environment variables LOGNAME or
6724 USER are set, emacsclient now looks for a socket based on the UID
6725 associated with the name. That is an emacsclient running as root
6726 can connect to an Emacs server started by a non-root user.
6728 *** The emacsclient program now accepts an option --no-wait which tells
6729 it to return immediately without waiting for you to "finish" the
6732 *** The new option --alternate-editor allows to specify an editor to
6733 use if Emacs is not running. The environment variable
6734 ALTERNATE_EDITOR can be used for the same effect; the command line
6735 option takes precedence.
6737 ** M-x eldoc-mode enables a minor mode in which the echo area
6738 constantly shows the parameter list for function being called at point
6739 (in Emacs Lisp and Lisp Interaction modes only).
6741 ** C-x n d now runs the new command narrow-to-defun,
6742 which narrows the accessible parts of the buffer to just
6745 ** Emacs now handles the `--' argument in the standard way; all
6746 following arguments are treated as ordinary file names.
6748 ** On MSDOS and Windows, the bookmark file is now called _emacs.bmk,
6749 and the saved desktop file is now called _emacs.desktop (truncated if
6752 ** When you kill a buffer that visits a file,
6753 if there are any registers that save positions in the file,
6754 these register values no longer become completely useless.
6755 If you try to go to such a register with C-x j, then you are
6756 asked whether to visit the file again. If you say yes,
6757 it visits the file and then goes to the same position.
6759 ** When you visit a file that changes frequently outside Emacs--for
6760 example, a log of output from a process that continues to run--it may
6761 be useful for Emacs to revert the file without querying you whenever
6762 you visit the file afresh with C-x C-f.
6764 You can request this behavior for certain files by setting the
6765 variable revert-without-query to a list of regular expressions. If a
6766 file's name matches any of these regular expressions, find-file and
6767 revert-buffer revert the buffer without asking for permission--but
6768 only if you have not edited the buffer text yourself.
6770 ** set-default-font has been renamed to set-frame-font
6771 since it applies only to the current frame.
6773 ** In TeX mode, you can use the variable tex-main-file to specify the
6774 file for tex-file to run TeX on. (By default, tex-main-file is nil,
6775 and tex-file runs TeX on the current visited file.)
6777 This is useful when you are editing a document that consists of
6778 multiple files. In each of the included files, you can set up a local
6779 variable list which specifies the top-level file of your document for
6780 tex-main-file. Then tex-file will run TeX on the whole document
6781 instead of just the file you are editing.
6785 RefTeX mode is a new minor mode with special support for \label, \ref
6786 and \cite macros in LaTeX documents. RefTeX distinguishes labels of
6787 different environments (equation, figure, ...) and has full support for
6788 multifile documents. To use it, select a buffer with a LaTeX document and
6789 turn the mode on with M-x reftex-mode. Here are the main user commands:
6792 Creates a label semi-automatically. RefTeX is context sensitive and
6793 knows which kind of label is needed.
6795 C-c ) reftex-reference
6796 Offers in a menu all labels in the document, along with context of the
6797 label definition. The selected label is referenced as \ref{LABEL}.
6799 C-c [ reftex-citation
6800 Prompts for a regular expression and displays a list of matching BibTeX
6801 database entries. The selected entry is cited with a \cite{KEY} macro.
6803 C-c & reftex-view-crossref
6804 Views the cross reference of a \ref or \cite command near point.
6807 Shows a table of contents of the (multifile) document. From there you
6808 can quickly jump to every section.
6810 Under X, RefTeX installs a "Ref" menu in the menu bar, with additional
6811 commands. Press `?' to get help when a prompt mentions this feature.
6812 Full documentation and customization examples are in the file
6813 reftex.el. You can use the finder to view the file documentation:
6814 C-h p --> tex --> reftex.el
6816 ** Changes in BibTeX mode.
6818 *** Info documentation is now available.
6820 *** Don't allow parentheses in string constants anymore. This confused
6821 both the BibTeX program and Emacs BibTeX mode.
6823 *** Renamed variable bibtex-mode-user-optional-fields to
6824 bibtex-user-optional-fields.
6826 *** Removed variable bibtex-include-OPTannote
6827 (use bibtex-user-optional-fields instead).
6829 *** New interactive functions to copy and kill fields and complete
6830 entries to the BibTeX kill ring, from where they can be yanked back by
6831 appropriate functions.
6833 *** New interactive functions for repositioning and marking of
6834 entries. They are bound by default to M-C-l and M-C-h.
6836 *** New hook bibtex-clean-entry-hook. It is called after entry has
6839 *** New variable bibtex-field-delimiters, which replaces variables
6840 bibtex-field-{left|right}-delimiter.
6842 *** New variable bibtex-entry-delimiters to determine how entries
6845 *** Allow preinitialization of fields. See documentation of
6846 bibtex-user-optional-fields, bibtex-entry-field-alist, and
6847 bibtex-include-OPTkey for details.
6849 *** Book and InBook entries require either an author or an editor
6850 field. This is now supported by bibtex.el. Alternative fields are
6851 prefixed with `ALT'.
6853 *** New variable bibtex-entry-format, which replaces variable
6854 bibtex-clean-entry-zap-empty-opts and allows specification of many
6855 formatting options performed on cleaning an entry (see variable
6858 *** Even more control on how automatic keys are generated. See
6859 documentation of bibtex-generate-autokey for details. Transcriptions
6860 for foreign languages other than German are now handled, too.
6862 *** New boolean user option bibtex-comma-after-last-field to decide if
6863 comma should be inserted at end of last field.
6865 *** New boolean user option bibtex-align-at-equal-sign to determine if
6866 alignment should be made at left side of field contents or at equal
6867 signs. New user options to control entry layout (e.g. indentation).
6869 *** New function bibtex-fill-entry to realign entries.
6871 *** New function bibtex-reformat to reformat region or buffer.
6873 *** New function bibtex-convert-alien to convert a BibTeX database
6876 *** New function bibtex-complete-key (similar to bibtex-complete-string)
6877 to complete prefix to a key defined in buffer. Mainly useful in
6880 *** New function bibtex-count-entries to count entries in buffer or
6883 *** Added support for imenu.
6885 *** The function `bibtex-validate' now checks current region instead
6886 of buffer if mark is active. Now it shows all errors of buffer in a
6887 `compilation mode' buffer. You can use the normal commands (e.g.
6888 `next-error') for compilation modes to jump to errors.
6890 *** New variable `bibtex-string-file-path' to determine where the files
6891 from `bibtex-string-files' are searched.
6893 ** Iso Accents mode now supports Latin-3 as an alternative.
6895 ** The command next-error now opens blocks hidden by hideshow.
6897 ** The function using-unix-filesystems has been replaced by the
6898 functions add-untranslated-filesystem and remove-untranslated-filesystem.
6899 Each of these functions takes the name of a drive letter or directory
6902 When a filesystem is added as untranslated, all files on it are read
6903 and written in binary mode (no cr/lf translation is performed).
6905 ** browse-url changes
6907 *** New methods for: Grail (browse-url-generic), MMM (browse-url-mmm),
6908 Lynx in a separate xterm (browse-url-lynx-xterm) or in an Emacs window
6909 (browse-url-lynx-emacs), remote W3 (browse-url-w3-gnudoit), generic
6910 non-remote-controlled browsers (browse-url-generic) and associated
6911 customization variables.
6913 *** New commands `browse-url-of-region' and `browse-url'.
6915 *** URLs marked up with <URL:...> (RFC1738) work if broken across
6916 lines. Browsing methods can be associated with URL regexps
6917 (e.g. mailto: URLs) via `browse-url-browser-function'.
6921 *** Clicking Mouse-2 on a brief command description in Ediff control panel
6922 pops up the Info file for this command.
6924 *** There is now a variable, ediff-autostore-merges, which controls whether
6925 the result of a merge is saved in a file. By default, this is done only when
6926 merge is done from a session group (eg, when merging files in two different
6929 *** Since Emacs 19.31 (this hasn't been announced before), Ediff can compare
6930 and merge groups of files residing in different directories, or revisions of
6931 files in the same directory.
6933 *** Since Emacs 19.31, Ediff can apply multi-file patches interactively.
6934 The patches must be in the context format or GNU unified format. (The bug
6935 related to the GNU format has now been fixed.)
6939 *** The startup file is now .viper instead of .vip
6940 *** All variable/function names have been changed to start with viper-
6942 *** C-\ now simulates the meta-key in all Viper states.
6943 *** C-z in Insert state now escapes to Vi for the duration of the next
6944 Viper command. In Vi and Insert states, C-z behaves as before.
6945 *** C-c \ escapes to Vi for one command if Viper is in Insert or Emacs states.
6946 *** _ is no longer the meta-key in Vi state.
6947 *** The variable viper-insert-state-cursor-color can be used to change cursor
6948 color when Viper is in insert state.
6949 *** If search lands the cursor near the top or the bottom of the window,
6950 Viper pulls the window up or down to expose more context. The variable
6951 viper-adjust-window-after-search controls this behavior.
6955 *** In C, C++, Objective C and Java, Etags tags global variables by
6956 default. The resulting tags files are inflated by 30% on average.
6957 Use --no-globals to turn this feature off. Etags can also tag
6958 variables which are members of structure-like constructs, but it does
6959 not by default. Use --members to turn this feature on.
6961 *** C++ member functions are now recognized as tags.
6963 *** Java is tagged like C++. In addition, "extends" and "implements"
6964 constructs are tagged. Files are recognised by the extension .java.
6966 *** Etags can now handle programs written in Postscript. Files are
6967 recognised by the extensions .ps and .pdb (Postscript with C syntax).
6968 In Postscript, tags are lines that start with a slash.
6970 *** Etags now handles Objective C and Objective C++ code. The usual C and
6971 C++ tags are recognized in these languages; in addition, etags
6972 recognizes special Objective C syntax for classes, class categories,
6973 methods and protocols.
6975 *** Etags also handles Cobol. Files are recognised by the extension
6976 .cobol. The tagged lines are those containing a word that begins in
6977 column 8 and ends in a full stop, i.e. anything that could be a
6980 *** Regexps in Etags now support intervals, as in ed or grep. The syntax of
6981 an interval is \{M,N\}, and it means to match the preceding expression
6982 at least M times and as many as N times.
6984 ** The format for specifying a custom format for time-stamp to insert
6985 in files has changed slightly.
6987 With the new enhancements to the functionality of format-time-string,
6988 time-stamp-format will change to be eventually compatible with it.
6989 This conversion is being done in two steps to maintain compatibility
6990 with old time-stamp-format values.
6992 In the new scheme, alternate case is signified by the number-sign
6993 (`#') modifier, rather than changing the case of the format character.
6994 This feature is as yet incompletely implemented for compatibility
6997 In the old time-stamp-format, all numeric fields defaulted to their
6998 natural width. (With format-time-string, each format has a
6999 fixed-width default.) In this version, you can specify the colon
7000 (`:') modifier to a numeric conversion to mean "give me the historical
7001 time-stamp-format width default." Do not use colon if you are
7002 specifying an explicit width, as in "%02d".
7004 Numbers are no longer truncated to the requested width, except in the
7005 case of "%02y", which continues to give a two-digit year. Digit
7006 truncation probably wasn't being used for anything else anyway.
7008 The new formats will work with old versions of Emacs. New formats are
7009 being recommended now to allow time-stamp-format to change in the
7010 future to be compatible with format-time-string. The new forms being
7011 recommended now will continue to work then.
7013 See the documentation string for the variable time-stamp-format for
7016 ** There are some additional major modes:
7018 dcl-mode, for editing VMS DCL files.
7019 m4-mode, for editing files of m4 input.
7020 meta-mode, for editing MetaFont and MetaPost source files.
7022 ** In Shell mode, the command shell-copy-environment-variable lets you
7023 copy the value of a specified environment variable from the subshell
7026 ** New Lisp packages include:
7028 *** battery.el displays battery status for laptops.
7030 *** M-x bruce (named after Lenny Bruce) is a program that might
7031 be used for adding some indecent words to your email.
7033 *** M-x crisp-mode enables an emulation for the CRiSP editor.
7035 *** M-x dirtrack arranges for better tracking of directory changes
7038 *** The new library elint.el provides for linting of Emacs Lisp code.
7039 See the documentation for `elint-initialize', `elint-current-buffer'
7042 *** M-x expand-add-abbrevs defines a special kind of abbrev which is
7043 meant for programming constructs. These abbrevs expand like ordinary
7044 ones, when you type SPC, but only at the end of a line and not within
7045 strings or comments.
7047 These abbrevs can act as templates: you can define places within an
7048 abbrev for insertion of additional text. Once you expand the abbrev,
7049 you can then use C-x a p and C-x a n to move back and forth to these
7050 insertion points. Thus you can conveniently insert additional text
7053 *** filecache.el remembers the location of files so that you
7054 can visit them by short forms of their names.
7056 *** find-func.el lets you find the definition of the user-loaded
7057 Emacs Lisp function at point.
7059 *** M-x handwrite converts text to a "handwritten" picture.
7061 *** M-x iswitchb-buffer is a command for switching to a buffer, much like
7062 switch-buffer, but it reads the argument in a more helpful way.
7064 *** M-x landmark implements a neural network for landmark learning.
7066 *** M-x locate provides a convenient interface to the `locate' program.
7068 *** M4 mode is a new mode for editing files of m4 input.
7070 *** mantemp.el creates C++ manual template instantiations
7071 from the GCC error messages which indicate which instantiations are needed.
7073 *** mouse-copy.el provides a one-click copy and move feature.
7074 You can drag a region with M-mouse-1, and it is automatically
7075 inserted at point. M-Shift-mouse-1 deletes the text from its
7076 original place after inserting the copy.
7078 *** mouse-drag.el lets you do scrolling by dragging Mouse-2
7081 You click the mouse and move; that distance either translates into the
7082 velocity to scroll (with mouse-drag-throw) or the distance to scroll
7083 (with mouse-drag-drag). Horizontal scrolling is enabled when needed.
7085 Enable mouse-drag with:
7086 (global-set-key [down-mouse-2] 'mouse-drag-throw)
7088 (global-set-key [down-mouse-2] 'mouse-drag-drag)
7090 *** mspools.el is useful for determining which mail folders have
7091 mail waiting to be read in them. It works with procmail.
7093 *** Octave mode is a major mode for editing files of input for Octave.
7094 It comes with a facility for communicating with an Octave subprocess.
7098 The ogonek package provides functions for changing the coding of
7099 Polish diacritic characters in buffers. Codings known from various
7100 platforms are supported such as ISO8859-2, Mazovia, IBM Latin2, and
7101 TeX. For example, you can change the coding from Mazovia to
7102 ISO8859-2. Another example is a change of coding from ISO8859-2 to
7103 prefix notation (in which `/a' stands for the aogonek character, for
7104 instance) and vice versa.
7106 To use this package load it using
7107 M-x load-library [enter] ogonek
7108 Then, you may get an explanation by calling one of
7109 M-x ogonek-jak -- in Polish
7110 M-x ogonek-how -- in English
7111 The info specifies the commands and variables provided as well as the
7112 ways of customization in `.emacs'.
7114 *** Interface to ph.
7116 Emacs provides a client interface to CCSO Nameservers (ph/qi)
7118 The CCSO nameserver is used in many universities to provide directory
7119 services about people. ph.el provides a convenient Emacs interface to
7122 *** uce.el is useful for replying to unsolicited commercial email.
7124 *** vcursor.el implements a "virtual cursor" feature.
7125 You can move the virtual cursor with special commands
7126 while the real cursor does not move.
7128 *** webjump.el is a "hot list" package which you can set up
7129 for visiting your favorite web sites.
7131 *** M-x winner-mode is a minor mode which saves window configurations,
7132 so you can move back to other configurations that you have recently used.
7136 Movemail no longer needs to be installed setuid root in order for POP
7137 mail retrieval to function properly. This is because it no longer
7138 supports the RPOP (reserved-port POP) protocol; instead, it uses the
7139 user's POP password to authenticate to the mail server.
7141 This change was made earlier, but not reported in NEWS before.
7143 * Emacs 20.1 changes for MS-DOS and MS-Windows.
7145 ** Changes in handling MS-DOS/MS-Windows text files.
7147 Emacs handles three different conventions for representing
7148 end-of-line: CRLF for MSDOS, LF for Unix and GNU, and CR (used on the
7149 Macintosh). Emacs determines which convention is used in a specific
7150 file based on the contents of that file (except for certain special
7151 file names), and when it saves the file, it uses the same convention.
7153 To save the file and change the end-of-line convention, you can use
7154 C-x RET f (set-buffer-file-coding-system) to specify a different
7155 coding system for the buffer. Then, when you save the file, the newly
7156 specified coding system will take effect. For example, to save with
7157 LF, specify undecided-unix (or some other ...-unix coding system); to
7158 save with CRLF, specify undecided-dos.
7160 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 20.1
7162 ** Byte-compiled files made with Emacs 20 will, in general, work in
7163 Emacs 19 as well, as long as the source code runs in Emacs 19. And
7164 vice versa: byte-compiled files made with Emacs 19 should also run in
7165 Emacs 20, as long as the program itself works in Emacs 20.
7167 ** Windows-specific functions and variables have been renamed
7168 to start with w32- instead of win32-.
7170 In hacker language, calling something a "win" is a form of praise. We
7171 don't want to praise a non-free Microsoft system, so we don't call it
7174 ** Basic Lisp changes
7176 *** A symbol whose name starts with a colon now automatically
7177 evaluates to itself. Therefore such a symbol can be used as a constant.
7179 *** The defined purpose of `defconst' has been changed. It should now
7180 be used only for values that should not be changed whether by a program
7183 The actual behavior of defconst has not been changed.
7185 *** There are new macros `when' and `unless'
7187 (when CONDITION BODY...) is short for (if CONDITION (progn BODY...))
7188 (unless CONDITION BODY...) is short for (if CONDITION nil BODY...)
7190 *** Emacs now defines functions caar, cadr, cdar and cddr with their
7191 usual Lisp meanings. For example, caar returns the car of the car of
7194 *** equal, when comparing strings, now ignores their text properties.
7196 *** The new function `functionp' tests whether an object is a function.
7198 *** arrayp now returns t for char-tables and bool-vectors.
7200 *** Certain primitives which use characters (as integers) now get an
7201 error if the integer is not a valid character code. These primitives
7202 include insert-char, char-to-string, and the %c construct in the
7205 *** The `require' function now insists on adding a suffix, either .el
7206 or .elc, to the file name. Thus, (require 'foo) will not use a file
7207 whose name is just foo. It insists on foo.el or foo.elc.
7209 *** The `autoload' function, when the file name does not contain
7210 either a directory name or the suffix .el or .elc, insists on
7211 adding one of these suffixes.
7213 *** string-to-number now takes an optional second argument BASE
7214 which specifies the base to use when converting an integer.
7215 If BASE is omitted, base 10 is used.
7217 We have not implemented other radices for floating point numbers,
7218 because that would be much more work and does not seem useful.
7220 *** substring now handles vectors as well as strings.
7222 *** The Common Lisp function eql is no longer defined normally.
7223 You must load the `cl' library to define it.
7225 *** The new macro `with-current-buffer' lets you evaluate an expression
7226 conveniently with a different current buffer. It looks like this:
7228 (with-current-buffer BUFFER BODY-FORMS...)
7230 BUFFER is the expression that says which buffer to use.
7231 BODY-FORMS say what to do in that buffer.
7233 *** The new primitive `save-current-buffer' saves and restores the
7234 choice of current buffer, like `save-excursion', but without saving or
7235 restoring the value of point or the mark. `with-current-buffer'
7236 works using `save-current-buffer'.
7238 *** The new macro `with-temp-file' lets you do some work in a new buffer and
7239 write the output to a specified file. Like `progn', it returns the value
7242 *** The new macro `with-temp-buffer' lets you do some work in a new buffer,
7243 which is discarded after use. Like `progn', it returns the value of the
7244 last form. If you wish to return the buffer contents, use (buffer-string)
7247 *** The new function split-string takes a string, splits it at certain
7248 characters, and returns a list of the substrings in between the
7251 For example, (split-string "foo bar lose" " +") returns ("foo" "bar" "lose").
7253 *** The new macro with-output-to-string executes some Lisp expressions
7254 with standard-output set up so that all output feeds into a string.
7255 Then it returns that string.
7257 For example, if the current buffer name is `foo',
7259 (with-output-to-string
7260 (princ "The buffer is ")
7261 (princ (buffer-name)))
7263 returns "The buffer is foo".
7265 ** Non-ASCII characters are now supported, if enable-multibyte-characters
7268 These characters have character codes above 256. When inserted in the
7269 buffer or stored in a string, they are represented as multibyte
7270 characters that occupy several buffer positions each.
7272 *** When enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil, a single character in
7273 a buffer or string can be two or more bytes (as many as four).
7275 Buffers and strings are still made up of unibyte elements;
7276 character positions and string indices are always measured in bytes.
7277 Therefore, moving forward one character can increase the buffer
7278 position by 2, 3 or 4. The function forward-char moves by whole
7279 characters, and therefore is no longer equivalent to
7280 (lambda (n) (goto-char (+ (point) n))).
7282 ASCII characters (codes 0 through 127) are still single bytes, always.
7283 Sequences of byte values 128 through 255 are used to represent
7284 non-ASCII characters. These sequences are called "multibyte
7287 The first byte of a multibyte character is always in the range 128
7288 through 159 (octal 0200 through 0237). These values are called
7289 "leading codes". The second and subsequent bytes are always in the
7290 range 160 through 255 (octal 0240 through 0377). The first byte, the
7291 leading code, determines how many bytes long the sequence is.
7293 *** The function forward-char moves over characters, and therefore
7294 (forward-char 1) may increase point by more than 1 if it moves over a
7295 multibyte character. Likewise, delete-char always deletes a
7296 character, which may be more than one buffer position.
7298 This means that some Lisp programs, which assume that a character is
7299 always one buffer position, need to be changed.
7301 However, all ASCII characters are always one buffer position.
7303 *** The regexp [\200-\377] no longer matches all non-ASCII characters,
7304 because when enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil, these characters
7305 have codes that are not in the range octal 200 to octal 377. However,
7306 the regexp [^\000-\177] does match all non-ASCII characters,
7309 *** The function char-boundary-p returns non-nil if position POS is
7310 between two characters in the buffer (not in the middle of a
7313 When the value is non-nil, it says what kind of character follows POS:
7315 0 if POS is at an ASCII character or at the end of range,
7316 1 if POS is before a 2-byte length multi-byte form,
7317 2 if POS is at a head of 3-byte length multi-byte form,
7318 3 if POS is at a head of 4-byte length multi-byte form,
7319 4 if POS is at a head of multi-byte form of a composite character.
7321 *** The function char-bytes returns how many bytes the character CHAR uses.
7323 *** Strings can contain multibyte characters. The function
7324 `length' returns the string length counting bytes, which may be
7325 more than the number of characters.
7327 You can include a multibyte character in a string constant by writing
7328 it literally. You can also represent it with a hex escape,
7329 \xNNNNNNN..., using as many digits as necessary. Any character which
7330 is not a valid hex digit terminates this construct. If you want to
7331 follow it with a character that is a hex digit, write backslash and
7332 newline in between; that will terminate the hex escape.
7334 *** The function concat-chars takes arguments which are characters
7335 and returns a string containing those characters.
7337 *** The function sref access a multibyte character in a string.
7338 (sref STRING INDX) returns the character in STRING at INDEX. INDEX
7339 counts from zero. If INDEX is at a position in the middle of a
7340 character, sref signals an error.
7342 *** The function chars-in-string returns the number of characters
7343 in a string. This is less than the length of the string, if the
7344 string contains multibyte characters (the length counts bytes).
7346 *** The function chars-in-region returns the number of characters
7347 in a region from BEG to END. This is less than (- END BEG) if the
7348 region contains multibyte characters (the length counts bytes).
7350 *** The function string-to-list converts a string to a list of
7351 the characters in it. string-to-vector converts a string
7352 to a vector of the characters in it.
7354 *** The function store-substring alters part of the contents
7355 of a string. You call it as follows:
7357 (store-substring STRING IDX OBJ)
7359 This says to alter STRING, by storing OBJ starting at index IDX in
7360 STRING. OBJ may be either a character or a (smaller) string.
7361 This function really does alter the contents of STRING.
7362 Since it is impossible to change the length of an existing string,
7363 it is an error if OBJ doesn't fit within STRING's actual length.
7365 *** char-width returns the width (in columns) of the character CHAR,
7366 if it were displayed in the current buffer and the selected window.
7368 *** string-width returns the width (in columns) of the text in STRING,
7369 if it were displayed in the current buffer and the selected window.
7371 *** truncate-string-to-width shortens a string, if necessary,
7372 to fit within a certain number of columns. (Of course, it does
7373 not alter the string that you give it; it returns a new string
7374 which contains all or just part of the existing string.)
7376 (truncate-string-to-width STR END-COLUMN &optional START-COLUMN PADDING)
7378 This returns the part of STR up to column END-COLUMN.
7380 The optional argument START-COLUMN specifies the starting column.
7381 If this is non-nil, then the first START-COLUMN columns of the string
7382 are not included in the resulting value.
7384 The optional argument PADDING, if non-nil, is a padding character to be added
7385 at the beginning and end the resulting string, to extend it to exactly
7386 WIDTH columns. If PADDING is nil, that means do not pad; then, if STRING
7387 is narrower than WIDTH, the value is equal to STRING.
7389 If PADDING and START-COLUMN are both non-nil, and if there is no clean
7390 place in STRING that corresponds to START-COLUMN (because one
7391 character extends across that column), then the padding character
7392 PADDING is added one or more times at the beginning of the result
7393 string, so that its columns line up as if it really did start at
7394 column START-COLUMN.
7396 *** When the functions in the list after-change-functions are called,
7397 the third argument is the number of bytes in the pre-change text, not
7398 necessarily the number of characters. It is, in effect, the
7399 difference in buffer position between the beginning and the end of the
7400 changed text, before the change.
7402 *** The characters Emacs uses are classified in various character
7403 sets, each of which has a name which is a symbol. In general there is
7404 one character set for each script, not for each language.
7406 **** The function charsetp tests whether an object is a character set name.
7408 **** The variable charset-list holds a list of character set names.
7410 **** char-charset, given a character code, returns the name of the character
7411 set that the character belongs to. (The value is a symbol.)
7413 **** split-char, given a character code, returns a list containing the
7414 name of the character set, followed by one or two byte-values
7415 which identify the character within that character set.
7417 **** make-char, given a character set name and one or two subsequent
7418 byte-values, constructs a character code. This is roughly the
7419 opposite of split-char.
7421 **** find-charset-region returns a list of the character sets
7422 of all the characters between BEG and END.
7424 **** find-charset-string returns a list of the character sets
7425 of all the characters in a string.
7427 *** Here are the Lisp facilities for working with coding systems
7428 and specifying coding systems.
7430 **** The function coding-system-list returns a list of all coding
7431 system names (symbols). With optional argument t, it returns a list
7432 of all distinct base coding systems, not including variants.
7433 (Variant coding systems are those like latin-1-dos, latin-1-unix
7434 and latin-1-mac which specify the end-of-line conversion as well
7435 as what to do about code conversion.)
7437 **** coding-system-p tests a symbol to see if it is a coding system
7438 name. It returns t if so, nil if not.
7440 **** file-coding-system-alist specifies which coding systems to use
7441 for certain file names. It works like network-coding-system-alist,
7442 except that the PATTERN is matched against the file name.
7444 Each element has the format (PATTERN . VAL), where PATTERN determines
7445 which file names the element applies to. PATTERN should be a regexp
7446 to match against a file name.
7448 VAL is a coding system, a cons cell containing two coding systems, or
7449 a function symbol. If VAL is a coding system, it is used for both
7450 decoding what received from the network stream and encoding what sent
7451 to the network stream. If VAL is a cons cell containing two coding
7452 systems, the car specifies the coding system for decoding, and the cdr
7453 specifies the coding system for encoding.
7455 If VAL is a function symbol, the function must return a coding system
7456 or a cons cell containing two coding systems, which is used as above.
7458 **** The variable network-coding-system-alist specifies
7459 the coding system to use for network sockets.
7461 Each element has the format (PATTERN . VAL), where PATTERN determines
7462 which network sockets the element applies to. PATTERN should be
7463 either a port number or a regular expression matching some network
7466 VAL is a coding system, a cons cell containing two coding systems, or
7467 a function symbol. If VAL is a coding system, it is used for both
7468 decoding what received from the network stream and encoding what sent
7469 to the network stream. If VAL is a cons cell containing two coding
7470 systems, the car specifies the coding system for decoding, and the cdr
7471 specifies the coding system for encoding.
7473 If VAL is a function symbol, the function must return a coding system
7474 or a cons cell containing two coding systems, which is used as above.
7476 **** process-coding-system-alist specifies which coding systems to use
7477 for certain subprocess. It works like network-coding-system-alist,
7478 except that the PATTERN is matched against the program name used to
7479 start the subprocess.
7481 **** The variable default-process-coding-system specifies the coding
7482 systems to use for subprocess (and net connection) input and output,
7483 when nothing else specifies what to do. The value is a cons cell
7484 (OUTPUT-CODING . INPUT-CODING). OUTPUT-CODING applies to output
7485 to the subprocess, and INPUT-CODING applies to input from it.
7487 **** The variable coding-system-for-write, if non-nil, specifies the
7488 coding system to use for writing a file, or for output to a synchronous
7491 It also applies to any asynchronous subprocess or network connection,
7492 but in a different way: the value of coding-system-for-write when you
7493 start the subprocess or connection affects that subprocess or
7494 connection permanently or until overridden.
7496 The variable coding-system-for-write takes precedence over
7497 file-coding-system-alist, process-coding-system-alist and
7498 network-coding-system-alist, and all other methods of specifying a
7499 coding system for output. But most of the time this variable is nil.
7500 It exists so that Lisp programs can bind it to a specific coding
7501 system for one operation at a time.
7503 **** coding-system-for-read applies similarly to input from
7504 files, subprocesses or network connections.
7506 **** The function process-coding-system tells you what
7507 coding systems(s) an existing subprocess is using.
7508 The value is a cons cell,
7509 (DECODING-CODING-SYSTEM . ENCODING-CODING-SYSTEM)
7510 where DECODING-CODING-SYSTEM is used for decoding output from
7511 the subprocess, and ENCODING-CODING-SYSTEM is used for encoding
7512 input to the subprocess.
7514 **** The function set-process-coding-system can be used to
7515 change the coding systems in use for an existing subprocess.
7517 ** Emacs has a new facility to help users manage the many
7518 customization options. To make a Lisp program work with this facility,
7519 you need to use the new macros defgroup and defcustom.
7521 You use defcustom instead of defvar, for defining a user option
7522 variable. The difference is that you specify two additional pieces of
7523 information (usually): the "type" which says what values are
7524 legitimate, and the "group" which specifies the hierarchy for
7527 Thus, instead of writing
7529 (defvar foo-blurgoze nil
7530 "*Non-nil means that foo will act very blurgozely.")
7532 you would now write this:
7534 (defcustom foo-blurgoze nil
7535 "*Non-nil means that foo will act very blurgozely."
7539 The type `boolean' means that this variable has only
7540 two meaningful states: nil and non-nil. Other type values
7541 describe other possibilities; see the manual for Custom
7542 for a description of them.
7544 The "group" argument is used to specify a group which the option
7545 should belong to. You define a new group like this:
7547 (defgroup ispell nil
7548 "Spell checking using Ispell."
7551 The "group" argument in defgroup specifies the parent group. The root
7552 group is called `emacs'; it should not contain any variables itself,
7553 but only other groups. The immediate subgroups of `emacs' correspond
7554 to the keywords used by C-h p. Under these subgroups come
7555 second-level subgroups that belong to individual packages.
7557 Each Emacs package should have its own set of groups. A simple
7558 package should have just one group; a more complex package should
7559 have a hierarchy of its own groups. The sole or root group of a
7560 package should be a subgroup of one or more of the "keyword"
7561 first-level subgroups.
7563 ** New `widget' library for inserting UI components in buffers.
7565 This library, used by the new custom library, is documented in a
7566 separate manual that accompanies Emacs.
7570 The easy-mmode package provides macros and functions that make
7571 developing minor modes easier. Roughly, the programmer has to code
7572 only the functionality of the minor mode. All the rest--toggles,
7573 predicate, and documentation--can be done in one call to the macro
7574 `easy-mmode-define-minor-mode' (see the documentation). See also
7575 `easy-mmode-define-keymap'.
7577 ** Text property changes
7579 *** The `intangible' property now works on overlays as well as on a
7582 *** The new functions next-char-property-change and
7583 previous-char-property-change scan through the buffer looking for a
7584 place where either a text property or an overlay might change. The
7585 functions take two arguments, POSITION and LIMIT. POSITION is the
7586 starting position for the scan. LIMIT says where to stop the scan.
7588 If no property change is found before LIMIT, the value is LIMIT. If
7589 LIMIT is nil, scan goes to the beginning or end of the accessible part
7590 of the buffer. If no property change is found, the value is the
7591 position of the beginning or end of the buffer.
7593 *** In the `local-map' text property or overlay property, the property
7594 value can now be a symbol whose function definition is a keymap. This
7595 is an alternative to using the keymap itself.
7597 ** Changes in invisibility features
7599 *** Isearch can now temporarily show parts of the buffer which are
7600 hidden by an overlay with a invisible property, when the search match
7601 is inside that portion of the buffer. To enable this the overlay
7602 should have a isearch-open-invisible property which is a function that
7603 would be called having the overlay as an argument, the function should
7604 make the overlay visible.
7606 During incremental search the overlays are shown by modifying the
7607 invisible and intangible properties, if beside this more actions are
7608 needed the overlay should have a isearch-open-invisible-temporary
7609 which is a function. The function is called with 2 arguments: one is
7610 the overlay and the second is nil when it should show the overlay and
7611 t when it should hide it.
7613 *** add-to-invisibility-spec, remove-from-invisibility-spec
7615 Modes that use overlays to hide portions of a buffer should set the
7616 invisible property of the overlay to the mode's name (or another symbol)
7617 and modify the `buffer-invisibility-spec' to include that symbol.
7618 Use `add-to-invisibility-spec' and `remove-from-invisibility-spec' to
7619 manipulate the `buffer-invisibility-spec'.
7620 Here is an example of how to do this:
7622 ;; If we want to display an ellipsis:
7623 (add-to-invisibility-spec '(my-symbol . t))
7624 ;; If you don't want ellipsis:
7625 (add-to-invisibility-spec 'my-symbol)
7628 (overlay-put (make-overlay beginning end) 'invisible 'my-symbol)
7631 ;; When done with the overlays:
7632 (remove-from-invisibility-spec '(my-symbol . t))
7634 (remove-from-invisibility-spec 'my-symbol)
7636 ** Changes in syntax parsing.
7638 *** The syntax-directed buffer-scan functions (such as
7639 `parse-partial-sexp', `forward-word' and similar functions) can now
7640 obey syntax information specified by text properties, if the variable
7641 `parse-sexp-lookup-properties' is non-nil.
7643 If the value of `parse-sexp-lookup-properties' is nil, the behavior
7644 is as before: the syntax-table of the current buffer is always
7645 used to determine the syntax of the character at the position.
7647 When `parse-sexp-lookup-properties' is non-nil, the syntax of a
7648 character in the buffer is calculated thus:
7650 a) if the `syntax-table' text-property of that character
7651 is a cons, this cons becomes the syntax-type;
7653 Valid values of `syntax-table' text-property are: nil, a valid
7654 syntax-table, and a valid syntax-table element, i.e.,
7655 a cons cell of the form (SYNTAX-CODE . MATCHING-CHAR).
7657 b) if the character's `syntax-table' text-property
7658 is a syntax table, this syntax table is used
7659 (instead of the syntax-table of the current buffer) to
7660 determine the syntax type of the character.
7662 c) otherwise the syntax-type is determined by the syntax-table
7663 of the current buffer.
7665 *** The meaning of \s in regular expressions is also affected by the
7666 value of `parse-sexp-lookup-properties'. The details are the same as
7667 for the syntax-directed buffer-scan functions.
7669 *** There are two new syntax-codes, `!' and `|' (numeric values 14
7670 and 15). A character with a code `!' starts a comment which is ended
7671 only by another character with the same code (unless quoted). A
7672 character with a code `|' starts a string which is ended only by
7673 another character with the same code (unless quoted).
7675 These codes are mainly meant for use as values of the `syntax-table'
7678 *** The function `parse-partial-sexp' has new semantics for the sixth
7679 arg COMMENTSTOP. If it is `syntax-table', parse stops after the start
7680 of a comment or a string, or after end of a comment or a string.
7682 *** The state-list which the return value from `parse-partial-sexp'
7683 (and can also be used as an argument) now has an optional ninth
7684 element: the character address of the start of last comment or string;
7685 nil if none. The fourth and eighth elements have special values if the
7686 string/comment is started by a "!" or "|" syntax-code.
7688 *** Since new features of `parse-partial-sexp' allow a complete
7689 syntactic parsing, `font-lock' no longer supports
7690 `font-lock-comment-start-regexp'.
7692 ** Changes in face features
7694 *** The face functions are now unconditionally defined in Emacs, even
7695 if it does not support displaying on a device that supports faces.
7697 *** The function face-documentation returns the documentation string
7698 of a face (or nil if it doesn't have one).
7700 *** The function face-bold-p returns t if a face should be bold.
7701 set-face-bold-p sets that flag.
7703 *** The function face-italic-p returns t if a face should be italic.
7704 set-face-italic-p sets that flag.
7706 *** You can now specify foreground and background colors for text
7707 by adding elements of the form (foreground-color . COLOR-NAME)
7708 and (background-color . COLOR-NAME) to the list of faces in
7709 the `face' property (either the character's text property or an
7712 This means that you no longer need to create named faces to use
7713 arbitrary colors in a Lisp package.
7715 ** Changes in file-handling functions
7717 *** File-access primitive functions no longer discard an extra redundant
7718 directory name from the beginning of the file name. In other words,
7719 they no longer do anything special with // or /~. That conversion
7720 is now done only in substitute-in-file-name.
7722 This makes it possible for a Lisp program to open a file whose name
7725 *** If copy-file is unable to set the date of the output file,
7726 it now signals an error with the condition file-date-error.
7728 *** The inode number returned by file-attributes may be an integer (if
7729 the number fits in a Lisp integer) or a list of integers.
7731 *** insert-file-contents can now read from a special file,
7732 as long as the arguments VISIT and REPLACE are nil.
7734 *** The RAWFILE arg to find-file-noselect, if non-nil, now suppresses
7735 character code conversion as well as other things.
7737 Meanwhile, this feature does work with remote file names
7738 (formerly it did not).
7740 *** Lisp packages which create temporary files should use the TMPDIR
7741 environment variable to decide which directory to put them in.
7743 *** interpreter-mode-alist elements now specify regexps
7744 instead of constant strings.
7746 *** expand-file-name no longer treats `//' or `/~' specially. It used
7747 to delete all the text of a file name up through the first slash of
7748 any `//' or `/~' sequence. Now it passes them straight through.
7750 substitute-in-file-name continues to treat those sequences specially,
7751 in the same way as before.
7753 *** The variable `format-alist' is more general now.
7754 The FROM-FN and TO-FN in a format definition can now be strings
7755 which specify shell commands to use as filters to perform conversion.
7757 *** The new function access-file tries to open a file, and signals an
7758 error if that fails. If the open succeeds, access-file does nothing
7759 else, and returns nil.
7761 *** The function insert-directory now signals an error if the specified
7762 directory cannot be listed.
7764 ** Changes in minibuffer input
7766 *** The functions read-buffer, read-variable, read-command, read-string
7767 read-file-name, read-from-minibuffer and completing-read now take an
7768 additional argument which specifies the default value. If this
7769 argument is non-nil, it should be a string; that string is used in two
7772 It is returned if the user enters empty input.
7773 It is available through the history command M-n.
7775 *** The functions read-string, read-from-minibuffer,
7776 read-no-blanks-input and completing-read now take an additional
7777 argument INHERIT-INPUT-METHOD. If this is non-nil, then the
7778 minibuffer inherits the current input method and the setting of
7779 enable-multibyte-characters from the previously current buffer.
7781 In an interactive spec, you can use M instead of s to read an
7782 argument in this way.
7784 *** All minibuffer input functions discard text properties
7785 from the text you enter in the minibuffer, unless the variable
7786 minibuffer-allow-text-properties is non-nil.
7788 ** Echo area features
7790 *** Clearing the echo area now runs the normal hook
7791 echo-area-clear-hook. Note that the echo area can be used while the
7792 minibuffer is active; in that case, the minibuffer is still active
7793 after the echo area is cleared.
7795 *** The function current-message returns the message currently displayed
7796 in the echo area, or nil if there is none.
7798 ** Keyboard input features
7800 *** tty-erase-char is a new variable that reports which character was
7801 set up as the terminal's erase character when time Emacs was started.
7803 *** num-nonmacro-input-events is the total number of input events
7804 received so far from the terminal. It does not count those generated
7807 ** Frame-related changes
7809 *** make-frame runs the normal hook before-make-frame-hook just before
7810 creating a frame, and just after creating a frame it runs the abnormal
7811 hook after-make-frame-functions with the new frame as arg.
7813 *** The new hook window-configuration-change-hook is now run every time
7814 the window configuration has changed. The frame whose configuration
7815 has changed is the selected frame when the hook is run.
7817 *** Each frame now independently records the order for recently
7818 selected buffers, in its buffer-list frame parameter, so that the
7819 value of other-buffer is now based on the buffers recently displayed
7820 in the selected frame.
7822 *** The value of the frame parameter vertical-scroll-bars
7823 is now `left', `right' or nil. A non-nil value specifies
7824 which side of the window to put the scroll bars on.
7826 ** X Windows features
7828 *** You can examine X resources for other applications by binding
7829 x-resource-class around a call to x-get-resource. The usual value of
7830 x-resource-class is "Emacs", which is the correct value for Emacs.
7832 *** In menus, checkboxes and radio buttons now actually work.
7833 The menu displays the current status of the box or button.
7835 *** The function x-list-fonts now takes an optional fourth argument
7836 MAXIMUM which sets a limit on how many matching fonts to return.
7837 A smaller value of MAXIMUM makes the function faster.
7839 If the only question is whether *any* font matches the pattern,
7840 it is good to supply 1 for this argument.
7842 ** Subprocess features
7844 *** A reminder: it is no longer necessary for subprocess filter
7845 functions and sentinels to do save-match-data, because Emacs does this
7848 *** The new function shell-command-to-string executes a shell command
7849 and returns the output from the command as a string.
7851 *** The new function process-contact returns t for a child process,
7852 and (HOSTNAME SERVICE) for a net connection.
7854 ** An error in running pre-command-hook or post-command-hook
7855 does clear the variable to nil. The documentation was wrong before.
7857 ** In define-key-after, if AFTER is t, the new binding now always goes
7858 at the end of the keymap. If the keymap is a menu, this means it
7859 goes after the other menu items.
7861 ** If you have a program that makes several changes in the same area
7862 of the buffer, you can use the macro combine-after-change-calls
7863 around that Lisp code to make it faster when after-change hooks
7866 The macro arranges to call the after-change functions just once for a
7867 series of several changes--if that seems safe.
7869 Don't alter the variables after-change-functions and
7870 after-change-function within the body of a combine-after-change-calls
7873 ** If you define an abbrev (with define-abbrev) whose EXPANSION
7874 is not a string, then the abbrev does not expand in the usual sense,
7875 but its hook is still run.
7877 ** Normally, the Lisp debugger is not used (even if you have enabled it)
7878 for errors that are handled by condition-case.
7880 If you set debug-on-signal to a non-nil value, then the debugger is called
7881 regardless of whether there is a handler for the condition. This is
7882 useful for debugging problems that happen inside of a condition-case.
7884 This mode of operation seems to be unreliable in other ways. Errors that
7885 are normal and ought to be handled, perhaps in timers or process
7886 filters, will instead invoke the debugger. So don't say you weren't
7889 ** The new variable ring-bell-function lets you specify your own
7890 way for Emacs to "ring the bell".
7892 ** If run-at-time's TIME argument is t, the action is repeated at
7893 integral multiples of REPEAT from the epoch; this is useful for
7894 functions like display-time.
7896 ** You can use the function locate-library to find the precise file
7897 name of a Lisp library. This isn't new, but wasn't documented before.
7899 ** Commands for entering view mode have new optional arguments that
7900 can be used from Lisp. Low-level entrance to and exit from view mode
7901 is done by functions view-mode-enter and view-mode-exit.
7903 ** batch-byte-compile-file now makes Emacs return a nonzero status code
7904 if there is an error in compilation.
7906 ** pop-to-buffer, switch-to-buffer-other-window and
7907 switch-to-buffer-other-frame now accept an additional optional
7908 argument NORECORD, much like switch-to-buffer. If it is non-nil,
7909 they don't put the buffer at the front of the buffer list.
7911 ** If your .emacs file leaves the *scratch* buffer non-empty,
7912 Emacs does not display the startup message, so as to avoid changing
7913 the *scratch* buffer.
7915 ** The new function regexp-opt returns an efficient regexp to match a string.
7916 The arguments are STRINGS and (optionally) PAREN. This function can be used
7917 where regexp matching or searching is intensively used and speed is important,
7918 e.g., in Font Lock mode.
7920 ** The variable buffer-display-count is local to each buffer,
7921 and is incremented each time the buffer is displayed in a window.
7922 It starts at 0 when the buffer is created.
7924 ** The new function compose-mail starts composing a mail message
7925 using the user's chosen mail composition agent (specified with the
7926 variable mail-user-agent). It has variants compose-mail-other-window
7927 and compose-mail-other-frame.
7929 ** The `user-full-name' function now takes an optional parameter which
7930 can either be a number (the UID) or a string (the login name). The
7931 full name of the specified user will be returned.
7933 ** Lisp packages that load files of customizations, or any other sort
7934 of user profile, should obey the variable init-file-user in deciding
7935 where to find it. They should load the profile of the user name found
7936 in that variable. If init-file-user is nil, meaning that the -q
7937 option was used, then Lisp packages should not load the customization
7940 ** format-time-string now allows you to specify the field width
7941 and type of padding. This works as in printf: you write the field
7942 width as digits in the middle of a %-construct. If you start
7943 the field width with 0, it means to pad with zeros.
7945 For example, %S normally specifies the number of seconds since the
7946 minute; %03S means to pad this with zeros to 3 positions, %_3S to pad
7947 with spaces to 3 positions. Plain %3S pads with zeros, because that
7948 is how %S normally pads to two positions.
7950 ** thing-at-point now supports a new kind of "thing": url.
7952 ** imenu.el changes.
7954 You can now specify a function to be run when selecting an
7955 item from menu created by imenu.
7957 An example of using this feature: if we define imenu items for the
7958 #include directives in a C file, we can open the included file when we
7959 select one of those items.
7961 * Emacs 19.34 is a bug-fix release with no user-visible changes.
7963 * Changes in Emacs 19.33.
7965 ** Bibtex mode no longer turns on Auto Fill automatically. (No major
7966 mode should do that--it is the user's choice.)
7968 ** The variable normal-auto-fill-function specifies the function to
7969 use for auto-fill-function, if and when Auto Fill is turned on.
7970 Major modes can set this locally to alter how Auto Fill works.
7972 * Editing Changes in Emacs 19.32
7974 ** C-x f with no argument now signals an error.
7975 To set the fill column at the current column, use C-u C-x f.
7977 ** Expanding dynamic abbrevs with M-/ is now smarter about case
7978 conversion. If you type the abbreviation with mixed case, and it
7979 matches the beginning of the expansion including case, then the
7980 expansion is copied verbatim. Using SPC M-/ to copy an additional
7981 word always copies it verbatim except when the previous copied word is
7984 ** On a non-windowing terminal, which can display only one Emacs frame
7985 at a time, creating a new frame with C-x 5 2 also selects that frame.
7987 When using a display that can show multiple frames at once, C-x 5 2
7988 does make the frame visible, but does not select it. This is the same
7989 as in previous Emacs versions.
7991 ** You can use C-x 5 2 to create multiple frames on MSDOS, just as on a
7992 non-X terminal on Unix. Of course, only one frame is visible at any
7993 time, since your terminal doesn't have the ability to display multiple
7996 ** On Windows, set win32-pass-alt-to-system to a non-nil value
7997 if you would like tapping the Alt key to invoke the Windows menu.
7998 This feature is not enabled by default; since the Alt key is also the
7999 Meta key, it is too easy and painful to activate this feature by
8002 ** The command apply-macro-to-region-lines repeats the last defined
8003 keyboard macro once for each complete line within the current region.
8004 It does this line by line, by moving point to the beginning of that
8005 line and then executing the macro.
8007 This command is not new, but was never documented before.
8009 ** You can now use Mouse-1 to place the region around a string constant
8010 (something surrounded by doublequote characters or other delimiter
8011 characters of like syntax) by double-clicking on one of the delimiting
8016 *** Font Lock support modes
8018 Font Lock can be configured to use Fast Lock mode and Lazy Lock mode (see
8019 below) in a flexible way. Rather than adding the appropriate function to the
8020 hook font-lock-mode-hook, you can use the new variable font-lock-support-mode
8021 to control which modes have Fast Lock mode or Lazy Lock mode turned on when
8022 Font Lock mode is enabled.
8024 For example, to use Fast Lock mode when Font Lock mode is turned on, put:
8026 (setq font-lock-support-mode 'fast-lock-mode)
8032 The lazy-lock package speeds up Font Lock mode by making fontification occur
8033 only when necessary, such as when a previously unfontified part of the buffer
8034 becomes visible in a window. When you create a buffer with Font Lock mode and
8035 Lazy Lock mode turned on, the buffer is not fontified. When certain events
8036 occur (such as scrolling), Lazy Lock makes sure that the visible parts of the
8037 buffer are fontified. Lazy Lock also defers on-the-fly fontification until
8038 Emacs has been idle for a given amount of time.
8040 To use this package, put in your ~/.emacs:
8042 (setq font-lock-support-mode 'lazy-lock-mode)
8044 To control the package behaviour, see the documentation for `lazy-lock-mode'.
8046 ** Changes in BibTeX mode.
8048 *** For all entries allow spaces and tabs between opening brace or
8051 *** Non-escaped double-quoted characters (as in `Sch"of') are now
8056 Gnus, the Emacs news reader, has undergone further rewriting. Many new
8057 commands and variables have been added. There should be no
8058 significant incompatibilities between this Gnus version and the
8059 previously released version, except in the message composition area.
8061 Below is a list of the more user-visible changes. Coding changes
8062 between Gnus 5.1 and 5.2 are more extensive.
8064 *** A new message composition mode is used. All old customization
8065 variables for mail-mode, rnews-reply-mode and gnus-msg are now
8068 *** Gnus is now able to generate "sparse" threads -- threads where
8069 missing articles are represented by empty nodes.
8071 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
8073 *** Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server.
8075 To disable this: (setq gnus-message-archive-group nil)
8077 *** Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
8080 *** Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions:
8082 (setq gnus-use-grouplens t)
8084 *** A trn-line tree buffer can be displayed.
8086 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
8088 *** An nn-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
8091 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
8093 *** In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode:
8095 `M-x gnus-binary-mode'
8097 *** Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy.
8099 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
8101 *** Gnus can re-send and bounce mail.
8103 Use the `S D r' and `S D b'.
8105 *** Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
8108 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
8110 *** Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
8113 *** Caching is possible in virtual groups.
8115 *** nndoc now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews news
8116 batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything else.
8118 *** Gnus has a new backend (nnsoup) to create/read SOUP packets.
8120 *** The Gnus cache is much faster.
8122 *** Groups can be sorted according to many criteria.
8124 For instance: (setq gnus-group-sort-function 'gnus-group-sort-by-rank)
8126 *** New group parameters have been introduced to set list-address and
8129 *** All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used.
8131 *** There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on
8132 process marked articles on the `M P' submap.
8134 *** The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
8135 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
8136 bound to keys on the `/' submap.
8138 *** Articles can be made persistent -- as an alternative to saving
8139 articles with the `*' command.
8141 *** All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
8143 *** Article headers can be buttonized.
8145 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head)
8147 *** All mail backends support fetching articles by Message-ID.
8149 *** Duplicate mail can now be treated properly. See the
8150 `nnmail-treat-duplicates' variable.
8152 *** All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
8155 *** Frames can be part of `gnus-buffer-configuration'.
8157 *** Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process.
8159 *** Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to filter spam.
8161 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
8163 *** Groups can be made permanently visible.
8165 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
8167 *** Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
8169 *** Gnus respects the Mail-Copies-To header.
8171 *** Threads can be gathered by looking at the References header.
8173 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
8174 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
8176 *** Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
8179 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
8181 *** A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
8182 buffer to allow easier treatment.
8184 *** Gnus can suggest where to save articles. See `gnus-split-methods'.
8186 *** Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving.
8188 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
8190 *** gnus-uu can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
8193 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
8195 *** Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text.
8197 *** Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
8198 cited text to hide is now customizable.
8200 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
8202 *** Boring headers can be hidden.
8204 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-article-hide-boring-headers)
8206 *** Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
8208 *** Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
8210 The Gnus manual has been expanded. It explains all these new features
8213 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 19.32
8215 ** The function set-visited-file-name now accepts an optional
8216 second argument NO-QUERY. If it is non-nil, then the user is not
8217 asked for confirmation in the case where the specified file already
8220 ** The variable print-length applies to printing vectors and bitvectors,
8223 ** The new function keymap-parent returns the parent keymap
8226 ** The new function set-keymap-parent specifies a new parent for a
8227 given keymap. The arguments are KEYMAP and PARENT. PARENT must be a
8230 ** Sometimes menu keymaps use a command name, a symbol, which is really
8231 an automatically generated alias for some other command, the "real"
8232 name. In such a case, you should give that alias symbol a non-nil
8233 menu-alias property. That property tells the menu system to look for
8234 equivalent keys for the real name instead of equivalent keys for the
8237 * Editing Changes in Emacs 19.31
8239 ** Freedom of the press restricted in the United States.
8241 Emacs has been censored in accord with the Communications Decency Act.
8242 This includes removing some features of the doctor program. That law
8243 was described by its supporters as a ban on pornography, but it bans
8244 far more than that. The Emacs distribution has never contained any
8245 pornography, but parts of it were nonetheless prohibited.
8247 For information on US government censorship of the Internet, and what
8248 you can do to bring back freedom of the press, see the web site
8249 `http://www.vtw.org/'.
8251 ** A note about C mode indentation customization.
8253 The old (Emacs 19.29) ways of specifying a C indentation style
8254 do not normally work in the new implementation of C mode.
8255 It has its own methods of customizing indentation, which are
8256 much more powerful than the old C mode. See the Editing Programs
8257 chapter of the manual for details.
8259 However, you can load the library cc-compat to make the old
8260 customization variables take effect.
8262 ** Marking with the mouse.
8264 When you mark a region with the mouse, the region now remains
8265 highlighted until the next input event, regardless of whether you are
8266 using M-x transient-mark-mode.
8268 ** Improved Windows NT/95 support.
8270 *** Emacs now supports scroll bars on Windows NT and Windows 95.
8272 *** Emacs now supports subprocesses on Windows 95. (Subprocesses used
8273 to work on NT only and not on 95.)
8275 *** There are difficulties with subprocesses, though, due to problems
8276 in Windows, beyond the control of Emacs. They work fine as long as
8277 you run Windows applications. The problems arise when you run a DOS
8278 application in a subprocesses. Since current shells run as DOS
8279 applications, these problems are significant.
8281 If you run a DOS application in a subprocess, then the application is
8282 likely to busy-wait, which means that your machine will be 100% busy.
8283 However, if you don't mind the temporary heavy load, the subprocess
8284 will work OK as long as you tell it to terminate before you start any
8285 other DOS application as a subprocess.
8287 Emacs is unable to terminate or interrupt a DOS subprocess.
8288 You have to do this by providing input directly to the subprocess.
8290 If you run two DOS applications at the same time in two separate
8291 subprocesses, even if one of them is asynchronous, you will probably
8292 have to reboot your machine--until then, it will remain 100% busy.
8293 Windows simply does not cope when one Windows process tries to run two
8294 separate DOS subprocesses. Typing CTL-ALT-DEL and then choosing
8295 Shutdown seems to work although it may take a few minutes.
8297 ** M-x resize-minibuffer-mode.
8299 This command, not previously mentioned in NEWS, toggles a mode in
8300 which the minibuffer window expands to show as many lines as the
8301 minibuffer contains.
8303 ** `title' frame parameter and resource.
8305 The `title' X resource now specifies just the frame title, nothing else.
8306 It does not affect the name used for looking up other X resources.
8307 It works by setting the new `title' frame parameter, which likewise
8308 affects just the displayed title of the frame.
8310 The `name' parameter continues to do what it used to do:
8311 it specifies the frame name for looking up X resources,
8312 and also serves as the default for the displayed title
8313 when the `title' parameter is unspecified or nil.
8315 ** Emacs now uses the X toolkit by default, if you have a new
8316 enough version of X installed (X11R5 or newer).
8318 ** When you compile Emacs with the Motif widget set, Motif handles the
8319 F10 key by activating the menu bar. To avoid confusion, the usual
8320 Emacs binding of F10 is replaced with a no-op when using Motif.
8322 If you want to be able to use F10 in Emacs, you can rebind the Motif
8323 menubar to some other key which you don't use. To do so, add
8324 something like this to your X resources file. This example rebinds
8325 the Motif menu bar activation key to S-F12:
8327 Emacs*defaultVirtualBindings: osfMenuBar : Shift<Key>F12
8329 ** In overwrite mode, DEL now inserts spaces in most cases
8330 to replace the characters it "deletes".
8332 ** The Rmail summary now shows the number of lines in each message.
8334 ** Rmail has a new command M-x unforward-rmail-message, which extracts
8335 a forwarded message from the message that forwarded it. To use it,
8336 select a message which contains a forwarded message and then type the command.
8337 It inserts the forwarded message as a separate Rmail message
8338 immediately after the selected one.
8340 This command also undoes the textual modifications that are standardly
8341 made, as part of forwarding, by Rmail and other mail reader programs.
8343 ** Turning off saving of .saves-... files in your home directory.
8345 Each Emacs session writes a file named .saves-... in your home
8346 directory to record which files M-x recover-session should recover.
8347 If you exit Emacs normally with C-x C-c, it deletes that file. If
8348 Emacs or the operating system crashes, the file remains for M-x
8351 You can turn off the writing of these files by setting
8352 auto-save-list-file-name to nil. If you do this, M-x recover-session
8355 Some previous Emacs versions failed to delete these files even on
8356 normal exit. This is fixed now. If you are thinking of turning off
8357 this feature because of past experiences with versions that had this
8358 bug, it would make sense to check whether you still want to do so
8359 now that the bug is fixed.
8361 ** Changes to Version Control (VC)
8363 There is a new variable, vc-follow-symlinks. It indicates what to do
8364 when you visit a link to a file that is under version control.
8365 Editing the file through the link bypasses the version control system,
8366 which is dangerous and probably not what you want.
8368 If this variable is t, VC follows the link and visits the real file,
8369 telling you about it in the echo area. If it is `ask' (the default),
8370 VC asks for confirmation whether it should follow the link. If nil,
8371 the link is visited and a warning displayed.
8373 ** iso-acc.el now lets you specify a choice of language.
8374 Languages include "latin-1" (the default) and "latin-2" (which
8375 is designed for entering ISO Latin-2 characters).
8377 There are also choices for specific human languages such as French and
8378 Portuguese. These are subsets of Latin-1, which differ in that they
8379 enable only the accent characters needed for particular language.
8380 The other accent characters, not needed for the chosen language,
8383 ** Posting articles and sending mail now has M-TAB completion on various
8384 header fields (Newsgroups, To, CC, ...).
8386 Completion in the Newsgroups header depends on the list of groups
8387 known to your news reader. Completion in the Followup-To header
8388 offers those groups which are in the Newsgroups header, since
8389 Followup-To usually just holds one of those.
8391 Completion in fields that hold mail addresses works based on the list
8392 of local users plus your aliases. Additionally, if your site provides
8393 a mail directory or a specific host to use for any unrecognized user
8394 name, you can arrange to query that host for completion also. (See the
8395 documentation of variables `mail-directory-process' and
8396 `mail-directory-stream'.)
8398 ** A greatly extended sgml-mode offers new features such as (to be configured)
8399 skeletons with completing read for tags and attributes, typing named
8400 characters including optionally all 8bit characters, making tags invisible
8401 with optional alternate display text, skipping and deleting tag(pair)s.
8403 Note: since Emacs' syntax feature cannot limit the special meaning of ', " and
8404 - to inside <>, for some texts the result, especially of font locking, may be
8405 wrong (see `sgml-specials' if you get wrong results).
8407 The derived html-mode configures this with tags and attributes more or
8408 less HTML3ish. It also offers optional quick keys like C-c 1 for
8409 headline or C-c u for unordered list (see `html-quick-keys'). Edit /
8410 Text Properties / Face or M-g combinations create tags as applicable.
8411 Outline minor mode is supported and level 1 font-locking tries to
8412 fontify tag contents (which only works when they fit on one line, due
8413 to a limitation in font-lock).
8415 External viewing via browse-url can occur automatically upon saving.
8417 ** M-x imenu-add-to-menubar now adds to the menu bar for the current
8418 buffer only. If you want to put an Imenu item in the menu bar for all
8419 buffers that use a particular major mode, use the mode hook, as in
8422 (add-hook 'emacs-lisp-mode-hook
8423 '(lambda () (imenu-add-to-menubar "Index")))
8425 ** Changes in BibTeX mode.
8427 *** Field names may now contain digits, hyphens, and underscores.
8429 *** Font Lock mode is now supported.
8431 *** bibtex-make-optional-field is no longer interactive.
8433 *** If bibtex-maintain-sorted-entries is non-nil, inserting new
8434 entries is now done with a faster algorithm. However, inserting
8435 will fail in this case if the buffer contains invalid entries or
8436 isn't in sorted order, so you should finish each entry with C-c C-c
8437 (bibtex-close-entry) after you have inserted or modified it.
8438 The default value of bibtex-maintain-sorted-entries is nil.
8440 *** Function `show-all' is no longer bound to a key, since C-u C-c C-q
8443 *** Entries with quotes inside quote-delimited fields (as `author =
8444 "Stefan Sch{\"o}f"') are now supported.
8446 *** Case in field names doesn't matter anymore when searching for help
8451 *** Global Font Lock mode
8453 Font Lock mode can be turned on globally, in buffers that support it, by the
8454 new command global-font-lock-mode. You can use the new variable
8455 font-lock-global-modes to control which modes have Font Lock mode automagically
8456 turned on. By default, this variable is set so that Font Lock mode is turned
8457 on globally where the buffer mode supports it.
8459 For example, to automagically turn on Font Lock mode where supported, put:
8461 (global-font-lock-mode t)
8465 *** Local Refontification
8467 In Font Lock mode, editing a line automatically refontifies that line only.
8468 However, if your change alters the syntactic context for following lines,
8469 those lines remain incorrectly fontified. To refontify them, use the new
8470 command M-g M-g (font-lock-fontify-block).
8472 In certain major modes, M-g M-g refontifies the entire current function.
8473 (The variable font-lock-mark-block-function controls how to find the
8474 current function.) In other major modes, M-g M-g refontifies 16 lines
8475 above and below point.
8477 With a prefix argument N, M-g M-g refontifies N lines above and below point.
8481 Follow mode is a new minor mode combining windows showing the same
8482 buffer into one tall "virtual window". The windows are typically two
8483 side-by-side windows. Follow mode makes them scroll together as if
8484 they were a unit. To use it, go to a frame with just one window,
8485 split it into two side-by-side windows using C-x 3, and then type M-x
8488 M-x follow-mode turns off Follow mode if it is already enabled.
8490 To display two side-by-side windows and activate Follow mode, use the
8491 command M-x follow-delete-other-windows-and-split.
8493 ** hide-show changes.
8495 The hooks hs-hide-hooks and hs-show-hooks have been renamed
8496 to hs-hide-hook and hs-show-hook, to follow the convention for
8499 ** Simula mode now has a menu containing the most important commands.
8500 The new command simula-indent-exp is bound to C-M-q.
8502 ** etags can now handle programs written in Erlang. Files are
8503 recognised by the extensions .erl and .hrl. The tagged lines are
8504 those that begin a function, record, or macro.
8508 *** It is now possible to compile Emacs with the version 2 of DJGPP.
8509 Compilation with DJGPP version 1 also still works.
8511 *** The documentation of DOS-specific aspects of Emacs was rewritten
8512 and expanded; see the ``MS-DOS'' node in the on-line docs.
8514 *** Emacs now uses ~ for backup file names, not .bak.
8516 *** You can simulate mouse-3 on two-button mice by simultaneously
8517 pressing both mouse buttons.
8519 *** A number of packages and commands which previously failed or had
8520 restricted functionality on MS-DOS, now work. The most important ones
8523 **** Printing (both with `M-x lpr-buffer' and with `ps-print' package)
8526 **** `Ediff' works (in a single-frame mode).
8528 **** `M-x display-time' can be used on MS-DOS (due to the new
8529 implementation of Emacs timers, see below).
8531 **** `Dired' supports Unix-style shell wildcards.
8533 **** The `c-macro-expand' command now works as on other platforms.
8535 **** `M-x recover-session' works.
8537 **** `M-x list-colors-display' displays all the available colors.
8539 **** The `TPU-EDT' package works.
8541 * Lisp changes in Emacs 19.31.
8543 ** The function using-unix-filesystems on Windows NT and Windows 95
8544 tells Emacs to read and write files assuming that they reside on a
8545 remote Unix filesystem. No CR/LF translation is done on any files in
8546 this case. Invoking using-unix-filesystems with t activates this
8547 behavior, and invoking it with any other value deactivates it.
8549 ** Change in system-type and system-configuration values.
8551 The value of system-type on a Linux-based GNU system is now `lignux',
8552 not `linux'. This means that some programs which use `system-type'
8553 need to be changed. The value of `system-configuration' will also
8556 It is generally recommended to use `system-configuration' rather
8559 See the file LINUX-GNU in this directory for more about this.
8561 ** The functions shell-command and dired-call-process
8562 now run file name handlers for default-directory, if it has them.
8564 ** Undoing the deletion of text now restores the positions of markers
8565 that pointed into or next to the deleted text.
8567 ** Timers created with run-at-time now work internally to Emacs, and
8568 no longer use a separate process. Therefore, they now work more
8569 reliably and can be used for shorter time delays.
8571 The new function run-with-timer is a convenient way to set up a timer
8572 to run a specified amount of time after the present. A call looks
8575 (run-with-timer SECS REPEAT FUNCTION ARGS...)
8577 SECS says how many seconds should elapse before the timer happens.
8578 It may be an integer or a floating point number. When the timer
8579 becomes ripe, the action is to call FUNCTION with arguments ARGS.
8581 REPEAT gives the interval for repeating the timer (measured in
8582 seconds). It may be an integer or a floating point number. nil or 0
8583 means don't repeat at all--call FUNCTION just once.
8585 *** with-timeout provides an easy way to do something but give
8586 up if too much time passes.
8588 (with-timeout (SECONDS TIMEOUT-FORMS...) BODY...)
8590 This executes BODY, but gives up after SECONDS seconds.
8591 If it gives up, it runs the TIMEOUT-FORMS and returns the value
8592 of the last one of them. Normally it returns the value of the last
8595 *** You can now arrange to call a function whenever Emacs is idle for
8596 a certain length of time. To do this, call run-with-idle-timer. A
8597 call looks like this:
8599 (run-with-idle-timer SECS REPEAT FUNCTION ARGS...)
8601 SECS says how many seconds of idleness should elapse before the timer
8602 runs. It may be an integer or a floating point number. When the
8603 timer becomes ripe, the action is to call FUNCTION with arguments
8606 Emacs becomes idle whenever it finishes executing a keyboard or mouse
8607 command. It remains idle until it receives another keyboard or mouse
8610 REPEAT, if non-nil, means this timer should be activated again each
8611 time Emacs becomes idle and remains idle for SECS seconds The timer
8612 does not repeat if Emacs *remains* idle; it runs at most once after
8613 each time Emacs becomes idle.
8615 If REPEAT is nil, the timer runs just once, the first time Emacs is
8616 idle for SECS seconds.
8618 *** post-command-idle-hook is now obsolete; you shouldn't use it at
8619 all, because it interferes with the idle timer mechanism. If your
8620 programs use post-command-idle-hook, convert them to use idle timers
8623 *** y-or-n-p-with-timeout lets you ask a question but give up if
8624 there is no answer within a certain time.
8626 (y-or-n-p-with-timeout PROMPT SECONDS DEFAULT-VALUE)
8628 asks the question PROMPT (just like y-or-n-p). If the user answers
8629 within SECONDS seconds, it returns the answer that the user gave.
8630 Otherwise it gives up after SECONDS seconds, and returns DEFAULT-VALUE.
8632 ** Minor change to `encode-time': you can now pass more than seven
8633 arguments. If you do that, the first six arguments have the usual
8634 meaning, the last argument is interpreted as the time zone, and the
8635 arguments in between are ignored.
8637 This means that it works to use the list returned by `decode-time' as
8638 the list of arguments for `encode-time'.
8640 ** The default value of load-path now includes the directory
8641 /usr/local/share/emacs/VERSION/site-lisp In addition to
8642 /usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp. You can use this new directory for
8643 site-specific Lisp packages that belong with a particular Emacs
8646 It is not unusual for a Lisp package that works well in one Emacs
8647 version to cause trouble in another. Sometimes packages need updating
8648 for incompatible changes; sometimes they look at internal data that
8649 has changed; sometimes the package has been installed in Emacs itself
8650 and the installed version should be used. Whatever the reason for the
8651 problem, this new feature makes it easier to solve.
8653 ** When your program contains a fixed file name (like .completions or
8654 .abbrev.defs), the file name usually needs to be different on operating
8655 systems with limited file name syntax.
8657 Now you can avoid ad-hoc conditionals by using the function
8658 convert-standard-filename to convert the file name to a proper form
8659 for each operating system. Here is an example of use, from the file
8662 (defvar save-completions-file-name
8663 (convert-standard-filename "~/.completions")
8664 "*The filename to save completions to.")
8666 This sets the variable save-completions-file-name to a value that
8667 depends on the operating system, because the definition of
8668 convert-standard-filename depends on the operating system. On
8669 Unix-like systems, it returns the specified file name unchanged. On
8670 MS-DOS, it adapts the name to fit the limitations of that system.
8672 ** The interactive spec N now returns the numeric prefix argument
8673 rather than the raw prefix argument. (It still reads a number using the
8674 minibuffer if there is no prefix argument at all.)
8676 ** When a process is deleted, this no longer disconnects the process
8677 marker from its buffer position.
8679 ** The variable garbage-collection-messages now controls whether
8680 Emacs displays a message at the beginning and end of garbage collection.
8681 The default is nil, meaning there are no messages.
8683 ** The variable debug-ignored-errors specifies certain kinds of errors
8684 that should not enter the debugger. Its value is a list of error
8685 condition symbols and/or regular expressions. If the error has any
8686 of the condition symbols listed, or if any of the regular expressions
8687 matches the error message, then that error does not enter the debugger,
8688 regardless of the value of debug-on-error.
8690 This variable is initialized to match certain common but uninteresting
8691 errors that happen often during editing.
8693 ** The new function error-message-string converts an error datum
8694 into its error message. The error datum is what condition-case
8695 puts into the variable, to describe the error that happened.
8697 ** Anything that changes which buffer appears in a given window
8698 now runs the window-scroll-functions for that window.
8700 ** The new function get-buffer-window-list returns a list of windows displaying
8701 a buffer. The function is called with the buffer (a buffer object or a buffer
8702 name) and two optional arguments specifying the minibuffer windows and frames
8703 to search. Therefore this function takes optional args like next-window etc.,
8704 and not get-buffer-window.
8706 ** buffer-substring now runs the hook buffer-access-fontify-functions,
8707 calling each function with two arguments--the range of the buffer
8708 being accessed. buffer-substring-no-properties does not call them.
8710 If you use this feature, you should set the variable
8711 buffer-access-fontified-property to a non-nil symbol, which is a
8712 property name. Then, if all the characters in the buffer range have a
8713 non-nil value for that property, the buffer-access-fontify-functions
8714 are not called. When called, these functions should put a non-nil
8715 property on the text that they fontify, so that they won't get called
8716 over and over for the same text.
8718 ** Changes in lisp-mnt.el
8720 *** The lisp-mnt package can now recognize file headers that are written
8721 in the formats used by the `what' command and the RCS `ident' command:
8723 ;; @(#) HEADER: text
8726 in addition to the normal
8730 *** The commands lm-verify and lm-synopsis are now interactive. lm-verify
8731 checks that the library file has proper sections and headers, and
8732 lm-synopsis extracts first line "synopsis'"information.
8736 * For older news, see the file ONEWS
8738 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
8739 Copyright information:
8741 Copyright (C) 1999, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
8743 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
8744 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
8745 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
8746 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
8748 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
8749 of this document, or of portions of it,
8750 under the above conditions, provided also that they
8751 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
8755 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"