@c This is part of the Emacs manual.
-@c Copyright (C) 1985, 1986, 1987, 1993, 1994, 1995 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+@c Copyright (C) 1985, 1986, 1987, 1993, 1994, 1995, 2001, 2002, 2003,
+@c 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
@c See file emacs.texi for copying conditions.
@node Entering Emacs, Exiting, Text Characters, Top
@chapter Entering and Exiting Emacs
@cindex entering Emacs
@cindex starting Emacs
- The usual way to invoke Emacs is with the shell command @command{emacs}.
-Emacs clears the screen and then displays an initial help message and
-copyright notice. Some operating systems discard all type-ahead when
-Emacs starts up; they give Emacs no way to prevent this. Therefore, it
-is advisable to wait until Emacs clears the screen before typing your
-first editing command.
+ The usual way to invoke Emacs is with the shell command
+@command{emacs}. Emacs clears the screen, then displays an initial
+help message and copyright notice. Some operating systems discard
+your type-ahead when Emacs starts up; they give Emacs no way to
+prevent this. On those systems, wait for Emacs to clear the screen
+before you start typing.
- If you run Emacs from a shell window under the X Window System, run it
-in the background with @command{emacs&}. This way, Emacs does not tie up
-the shell window, so you can use that to run other shell commands while
-Emacs operates its own X windows. You can begin typing Emacs commands
-as soon as you direct your keyboard input to the Emacs frame.
+ From a shell window under the X Window System, run Emacs in the
+background with @command{emacs&}. This way, Emacs won't tie up the
+shell window, so you can use it to run other shell commands while
+Emacs is running. You can type Emacs commands as soon as you direct
+your keyboard input to an Emacs frame.
@vindex initial-major-mode
When Emacs starts up, it creates a buffer named @samp{*scratch*}.
-That's the buffer you start out in. The @samp{*scratch*} buffer uses Lisp
-Interaction mode; you can use it to type Lisp expressions and evaluate
-them, or you can ignore that capability and simply doodle. (You can
-specify a different major mode for this buffer by setting the variable
-@code{initial-major-mode} in your init file. @xref{Init File}.)
+That's the buffer you start out in. The @samp{*scratch*} buffer uses
+Lisp Interaction mode; you can use it to type Lisp expressions and
+evaluate them. You can also ignore that capability and just write notes
+there. You can specify a different major mode for this buffer by
+setting the variable @code{initial-major-mode} in your init file.
+@xref{Init File}.
It is possible to specify files to be visited, Lisp files to be
-loaded, and functions to be called, by giving Emacs arguments in the
-shell command line. @xref{Emacs Invocation}. But we don't recommend
-doing this. The feature exists mainly for compatibility with other
-editors.
-
- Many other editors are designed to be started afresh each time you
-want to edit. You edit one file and then exit the editor. The next
-time you want to edit either another file or the same one, you must run
-the editor again. With these editors, it makes sense to use a
-command-line argument to say which file to edit.
-
- But starting a new Emacs each time you want to edit a different file
-does not make sense. This would fail to take advantage of Emacs's
-ability to visit more than one file in a single editing session, and
-it would lose the other accumulated context, such as the kill ring,
-registers, undo history, and mark ring, that are useful for operating
-on multiple files.
+loaded, and functions to be called through Emacs command-line
+arguments. @xref{Emacs Invocation}. The feature exists mainly for
+compatibility with other editors, and for scripts.
+
+ Many editors are designed to edit one file. When done with that
+file, you exit the editor. The next time you want to edit a file, you
+must start the editor again. Working this way, it is convenient to
+use a command-line argument to say which file to edit.
+
+ However, killing Emacs after editing one each and starting it afresh
+for the next file is both unnecessary and harmful, since it denies you
+the full power of Emacs. Emacs can visit more than one file in a
+single editing session, and that is the right way to use it. Exiting
+the Emacs session loses valuable accumulated context, such as the kill
+ring, registers, undo history, and mark ring. These features are
+useful for operating on multiple files, or even continuing to edit one
+file. If you kill Emacs after each file, you don't take advantage of
+them.
The recommended way to use GNU Emacs is to start it only once, just
after you log in, and do all your editing in the same Emacs session.
-Each time you want to edit a different file, you visit it with the
-existing Emacs, which eventually comes to have many files in it ready
-for editing. Usually you do not kill the Emacs until you are about to
-log out. @xref{Files}, for more information on visiting more than one
-file.
+Each time you edit a file, you visit it with the existing Emacs, which
+eventually has many files in it ready for editing. Usually you do not
+kill Emacs until you are about to log out. @xref{Files}, for more
+information on visiting more than one file.
- If you want to edit a file from another program and already have
-Emacs running, you can use the @command{emacsclient} program to open a
-file in the already running Emacs. @xref{Emacs Server}, for more
-information on editing files with Emacs from other programs.
+ To edit a file from another program while Emacs is running, you can
+use the @command{emacsclient} helper program to open a file in the
+already running Emacs. @xref{Emacs Server}.
@ifnottex
@raisesections
@cindex leaving Emacs
@cindex quitting Emacs
- There are two commands for exiting Emacs because there are three
-kinds of exiting: @dfn{suspending} Emacs, @dfn{Iconifying} Emacs, and
+ There are two commands for exiting Emacs, and three kinds of
+exiting: @dfn{iconifying} Emacs, @dfn{suspending} Emacs, and
@dfn{killing} Emacs.
- @dfn{Suspending} means stopping Emacs temporarily and returning
-control to its parent process (usually a shell), allowing you to resume
-editing later in the same Emacs job, with the same buffers, same kill
-ring, same undo history, and so on. This is the usual way to exit Emacs
-when running on a text terminal.
+ @dfn{Iconifying} means replacing the Emacs frame with a small box or
+``icon'' on the screen. This is the usual way to exit Emacs when
+you're using a graphical display---if you bother to ``exit'' at all.
+(Just switching to another application is usually sufficient.)
- @dfn{Iconifying} means replacing the Emacs frame with a small box
-somewhere on the screen. This is the usual way to exit Emacs when you're
-using a graphics terminal.
+ @dfn{Suspending} means stopping Emacs temporarily and returning
+control to its parent process (usually a shell), allowing you to
+resume editing later in the same Emacs job. This is the usual way to
+exit Emacs when running it on a text terminal.
@dfn{Killing} Emacs means destroying the Emacs job. You can run Emacs
again later, but you will get a fresh Emacs; there is no way to resume
@end table
@kindex C-z
-@findex suspend-emacs
- To suspend or iconify Emacs, type @kbd{C-z} (@code{suspend-emacs}).
-On text terminals, this suspends Emacs. On graphics terminals,
-it iconifies the Emacs frame.
+@findex iconify-or-deiconify-frame
+ On graphical displays, @kbd{C-z} runs the command
+@code{iconify-or-deiconify-frame}, which temporarily iconifies (or
+``minimizes'') the selected Emacs frame (@pxref{Frames}). You can
+then use the window manager to select some other application. (You
+could select another application without iconifying Emacs first, but
+getting the Emacs frame out of the way can make it more convenient to
+find the other application.)
- Suspending Emacs takes you back to the shell from which you invoked
+@findex suspend-emacs
+ On a text terminal, @kbd{C-z} runs the command @code{suspend-emacs}.
+Suspending Emacs takes you back to the shell from which you invoked
Emacs. You can resume Emacs with the shell command @command{%emacs}
in most common shells. On systems that don't support suspending
programs, @kbd{C-z} starts an inferior shell that communicates
-directly with the terminal. Emacs waits until you exit the subshell.
-(The way to do that is probably with @kbd{C-d} or @command{exit}, but
-it depends on which shell you use.) The only way on these systems to
-get back to the shell from which Emacs was run (to log out, for
-example) is to kill Emacs.
+directly with the terminal, and Emacs waits until you exit the
+subshell. (The way to do that is probably with @kbd{C-d} or
+@command{exit}, but it depends on which shell you use.) On these
+systems, you can only get back to the shell from which Emacs was run
+(to log out, for example) when you kill Emacs.
+@vindex cannot-suspend
Suspending can fail if you run Emacs under a shell that doesn't
-support suspending programs, even if the system itself does support
-it. In such a case, you can set the variable @code{cannot-suspend} to
-a non-@code{nil} value to force @kbd{C-z} to start an inferior shell.
-(One might also describe Emacs's parent shell as ``inferior'' for
-failing to support job control properly, but that is a matter of
-taste.)
-
- On graphics terminals, @kbd{C-z} has a different meaning: it runs
-the command @code{iconify-or-deiconify-frame}, which temporarily
-iconifies (or ``minimizes'') the selected Emacs frame
-(@pxref{Frames}). Then you can use the window manager to get back to
-a shell window.
+support suspendion of its subjobs, even if the system itself does
+support it. In such a case, you can set the variable
+@code{cannot-suspend} to a non-@code{nil} value to force @kbd{C-z} to
+start an inferior shell.
@kindex C-x C-c
@findex save-buffers-kill-emacs
To exit and kill Emacs, type @kbd{C-x C-c}
-(@code{save-buffers-kill-emacs}). A two-character key is used for
-this to make it harder to type by accident. This command first offers
-to save any modified file-visiting buffers. If you do not save them
-all, it asks for reconfirmation with @kbd{yes} before killing Emacs,
-since any changes not saved will be lost forever. Also, if any
-subprocesses are still running, @kbd{C-x C-c} asks for confirmation
-about them, since killing Emacs will also kill the subprocesses.
+(@code{save-buffers-kill-emacs}). A two-character key is used to make
+it harder to type by accident. This command first offers to save any
+modified file-visiting buffers. If you do not save them all, it asks
+for confirmation with @kbd{yes} before killing Emacs, since any
+changes not saved now will be lost forever. Also, if any subprocesses are
+still running, @kbd{C-x C-c} asks for confirmation about them, since
+killing Emacs will also kill the subprocesses.
@vindex confirm-kill-emacs
If the value of the variable @code{confirm-kill-emacs} is
function @code{yes-or-no-p}. The default value of
@code{confirm-kill-emacs} is @code{nil}.
- There is no way to resume an Emacs session once you have killed it.
-You can, however, arrange for Emacs to record certain session
-information when you kill it, such as which files are visited, so that
-the next time you start Emacs it will try to visit the same files and
-so on. @xref{Saving Emacs Sessions}.
+ You can't resume an Emacs session after killing it. Emacs can,
+however, record certain session information when you kill it, such as
+which files you visited, so the next time you start Emacs it will try
+to visit the same files. @xref{Saving Emacs Sessions}.
The operating system usually listens for certain special characters
whose meaning is to kill or suspend the program you are running.