about GNU Emacs 20 with answers. Some of the answers are not valid for GNU
Emacs 18 or 19.
+[This version has been somewhat edited from the last-posted version
+(as of January 1999) for inclusion in the Emacs distribution.]
+
The FAQ is posted (in five parts) to reduce the noise level in the
gnu.emacs.help newsgroup (which is also the help-gnu-emacs mailing list)
which results from the repetition of frequently asked questions, wrong
67: How can I force Emacs to scroll only one line when I move past the
bottom of the screen?
68: How can I replace highlighted text with what I type?
-69: How can I edit MS-DOS files using Emacs?
+69: How can I edit MS-DOS-style text files using Emacs?
70: How can I tell Emacs to fill paragraphs with a single space after
each period?
93: What is the difference between Emacs and XEmacs (formerly "Lucid
Emacs")?
94: Where can I get Emacs for my PC running MS-DOS?
-95: Where can I get Emacs for Microsoft Windows, Windows '95, or Windows
+95: Where can I get Emacs for Microsoft Windows, Windows 9x, or Windows
NT?
96: Where can I get Emacs for my PC running OS/2?
97: Where can I get Emacs for my Atari ST?
To search for a question numbered XXX, type "M-C-s ^XXX:", followed by a
C-r if that doesn't work. Type RET to end the search.
-If you have w3-mode installed (see question 111), you can visit ftp and
-HTTP uniform resource locators (URLs) by placing the cursor on the URL and
-typing M-x w3-follow-url-at-point.
+If you have a web browser and the browse-url package configured for
+it, you can visit ftp and HTTP uniform resource locators (URLs) by
+placing the cursor on the URL and typing M-x browse-url-at-point.
The FAQ is posted in five parts; if you are missing a section or would
prefer to read the FAQ in a single file, see question 22.
postings from, but pretty much everything is there. The latest archives
are available at
- ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/MailingListArchives/current
+ ftp://gnudist.gnu.org/pub/gnu/MailingListArchives/current
Web-based Usenet search services, such as DejaNews, also archive the
gnu.* groups. You can reach DejaNews at
format. Texinfo source for the manual (along with pregenerated Info
files) is available at
- ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/elisp-manual-20-2.5.tar.gz
+ ftp://gnudist.gnu.org/pub/gnu/elisp-manual-20-2.5.tar.gz
- and all mirrors of ftp.gnu.org (See question 92 for a list). See
+ and all mirrors of gnudist.gnu.org (See question 92 for a list). See
question 17 if you want to install the Info files, or question 18 if you
want to use the Texinfo source to print the manual yourself.
using the stand-alone "makeinfo" program, available as part of the latest
Texinfo package at
- ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/texinfo-3.12.tar.gz
+ ftp://gnudist.gnu.org/pub/gnu/texinfo-3.12.tar.gz
- and all mirrors of ftp.gnu.org (see question 92 for a list).
+ and all mirrors of gnudist.gnu.org (see question 92 for a list).
For information about the Texinfo format, read the Texinfo manual which
comes with Emacs. This manual also comes installed in Info format, so
* Topic: (relative-pathname). Short description of topic.
+ If (as it should have done) the Texinfo file used the @direntry
+ command, you can run the "install-info" command from the current
+ Texinfo distribution to do this automatically -- see the example in
+ the top-level Makefile in the Emacs source.
+
If you want to install Info files and you don't have the necessary
privileges, you have several options:
your site.
To get more general instructions, retrieve the latest Texinfo package
- mentioned in question 17.
+ mentioned in question 17. The "texi2dvi" command from it will perform
+ the above steps 1 to 4 for you.
19: Can I view Info files without using Emacs?
* Xinfo, a stand-alone version of the Info program that runs under X
Windows. You can get it at
- ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/xinfo-1.01.01.tar.gz
+ ftp://gnudist.gnu.org/pub/gnu/xinfo-1.01.01.tar.gz
- and all mirrors of ftp.gnu.org (See question 92 for a list).
+ and all mirrors of gnudist.gnu.org (See question 92 for a list).
* Tkinfo, an Info viewer that runs under X Windows and uses Tcl/Tk. You
can get Tkinfo at
MACHINES -- Status of Emacs on Various Machines and Systems
MAILINGLISTS -- GNU Project Electronic Mailing Lists
NEWS -- Emacs news, a history of user-visible changes
+ PROBLEMS -- Known problems with building and running Emacs in various
+ situations, often with workarounds.
SERVICE -- GNU Service Directory
SUN-SUPPORT -- including "Using Emacstool with GNU Emacs"
- Latest versions of the above files also available at
+ Latest versions of some of the above files are also available at
- ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/GNUinfo/
+ ftp://gnudist.gnu.org/pub/gnu/GNUinfo/
More GNU information, including back issues of the "GNU's Bulletin", are at
The file etc/SERVICE (see question 4 if you're not sure where that is)
lists companies and individuals willing to sell you help in installing or
- using Emacs. An up-to-date version this file is available on ftp.gnu.org
+ using Emacs. An up-to-date version this file is available on gnudist.gnu.org
(see question 20).
22: Where can I get the latest version of this document (the FAQ list)?
24: What is the latest version of Emacs?
- Emacs 20.3 is the current version as of this writing.
+ Emacs 20.4 is the current version as of this writing.
25: What is different about Emacs 20?
automatic conversion of files from Macintosh, Microsoft, and Unix
platforms.
- A number of older Lisp packages, such as Gnus, Supercite and the
- calendar/diary, have been updated and enhanced to work with Emacs 20, and
- are now included with the standard distribution.
+ Many Lisp packages have been updated and enhanced for Emacs 20.
Common Things People Want To Do
documented. :-)
Emacs 20 includes the new "customize" facility, which can be invoked
- using M-x customize RET. This allows users who are unfamiliar with Emacs
- Lisp to modify their .emacs files in a relatively straightforward way,
- using menus rather than Lisp code. Not all packages support Customize as
- of this writing, but the number is growing fairly steadily.
+ using M-x customize RET or via the Help menu. This allows users who are
+ unfamiliar with Emacs Lisp to modify their .emacs files in a relatively
+ straightforward way, using menus rather than Lisp code. While all the
+ packages included with Emacs (are meant to) support Customize now,
+ packages from other sources may not.
While Customize might indeed make it easier to configure Emacs, consider
taking a bit of time to learn Emacs Lisp and modifying your .emacs
You can also evaluate an individual function or argument to a function in
your .emacs file by moving the cursor to the end of the function or
- argument and typing "C-x C-e" (M-x eval-last-sexp).
+ argument and typing "C-x C-e" (M-x eval-last-sexp). "C-M-x" (M-x
+ eval-defun) is particularly useful for re-evaluating "defvar" and
+ "customize" forms.
Use "C-h v" (M-x describe-variable) to check the value of variables which
you are trying to set or use.
28: How do I make Emacs display the current line (or column) number?
- To have Emacs automatically display the current line number of the point
- in the mode line, do "M-x line-number-mode". You can also put the form
-
- (setq line-number-mode t)
-
- in your .emacs file to achieve this whenever you start Emacs. Note that
- Emacs will not display the line number if the buffer is larger than the
- value of the variable line-number-display-limit.
+ To toggle having Emacs automatically display the current line number of the
+ point in the mode line, do "M-x line-number-mode". (This option is on by
+ default.) Note that Emacs will not display the line number if the buffer is
+ larger than the value of the variable line-number-display-limit.
As of Emacs 20, you can similarly display the current column with "M-x
- column-number-mode", or by putting the form
+ column-number-mode", by putting the form
(setq column-number-mode t)
- in your .emacs file.
+ in your .emacs file or by using Customize.
The "%c" format specifier in the variable mode-line-format will insert
the current column's value into the mode line. See the documentation for
instructions on how to get it.
None of the vi emulation modes provide the "set number" capability of vi
- (as far as we know).
+ (as far as we know) but Kyle Jones's setnu.el package implements such a
+ feature.
29: How can I modify the titlebar to contain the current filename?
(file-error nil))
(add-hook 'XXX-mode-hook
- (function
- (lambda ()
- (setq abbrev-mode t))))
+ (lambda ()
+ (setq abbrev-mode t)))
31: How do I turn on auto-fill mode by default?
(add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'turn-on-auto-fill)
+ You can also do this via the Help -> Options menu, which runs the command
+ toggle-text-mode-auto-fill.
+
If you want auto-fill mode on in all major modes, do this:
(setq-default auto-fill-function 'do-auto-fill)
If you want to use XXX mode for all files which end with the extension
".YYY", this will do it for you:
- (setq auto-mode-alist (cons '("\\.YYY\\'" . XXX-mode) auto-mode-alist))
+ (add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.YYY\\'" . XXX-mode))
Otherwise put this somewhere in the first line of any file you want to
edit in XXX mode (in the second line, if the first line begins with
(transient-mark-mode t)
- in your .emacs file. (Also see question 66.)
+ in your .emacs file, using Customize or via the Help->Options menu.
+ (Also see question 66.)
35: How do I control Emacs's case-sensitivity when searching/replacing?
(setq case-fold-search nil) ; make searches case sensitive
(setq case-fold-search t) ; make searches case insensitive
- Similarly, for replacing the variable case-replace determines whether
+ To change this or similar variables during an Emacs session, use
+ M-x set-variable.
+
+ Similarly, for replacing, the variable case-replace determines whether
replacements preserve case.
To change the case sensitivity just for one major mode, use the major
mode's hook. For example:
(add-hook 'XXX-mode-hook
- (function
- (lambda ()
- (setq case-fold-search nil))))
+ (lambda ()
+ (setq case-fold-search nil)))
36: How do I make Emacs wrap words for me?
The alpha version of an enhanced version of gnuserv is available at
- ftp://ftp.wellfleet.com/netman/psmith/emacs/gnuserv-2.1alpha.tar.gz
+ ftp://ftp.splode.com/pub/users/friedman/packages/fgnuserv-1.0.tar.gz
41: How do I make Emacs recognize my compiler's funny error messages?
already provided. Once you have determined the proper regexps, use the
following to inform Emacs of your changes:
- (setq compilation-error-regexp-alist
- (cons '(REGEXP FILE-IDX LINE-IDX)
- compilation-error-regexp-alist))
+ (add-to-list 'compilation-error-regexp-alist
+ '(REGEXP FILE-IDX LINE-IDX))
-42: How do I indent switch statements like this?
+42: How do I indent C switch statements like this?
Many people want to indent their switch statements like this:
off, so exiting from overwrite-mode is as easy as another M-x
overwrite-mode.
- On some workstations, the "Insert" key toggles overwrite-mode on and off.
+ On some systems the "Insert" key toggles overwrite-mode on and off.
45: How do I stop Emacs from beeping on a terminal?
(setq visible-bell t)
+ There is also a way to turn off _all_ effects of a bell, by defining
+ a custom `ring-bell-function' that does nothing.
+
46: How do I turn down the bell volume in Emacs running under X Windows?
You can adjust the bell volume and duration for all programs with the
47: How do I tell Emacs to automatically indent a new line to the
indentation of the previous line?
- Such behavior is automatic in Emacs 20. From the NEWS file for Emacs
- 20.2:
+ Such behavior is automatic in text mode in Emacs 20. From the NEWS file
+ for Emacs 20.2:
** In Text mode, now only blank lines separate paragraphs. This makes
it possible to get the full benefit of Adaptive Fill mode in Text mode,
(require 'paren)
- in your .emacs file. Alan Shutko <shutkoa@ugsolutions.com> reports that
- as of version 20.1, you must also call show-paren-mode in your .emacs
- file:
+ in your .emacs file. As of version 20.1, you must instead call
+ show-paren-mode in your .emacs file:
(show-paren-mode 1)
+ and the "require" is redundant.
+
The "customize" facility will let you turn on show-paren-mode. Use M-x
customize-group RET paren-showing RET. From within customize, you can
also go directly to the "paren-showing" group.
* Here is some Emacs Lisp that will make the % key show the matching
parenthesis, like in vi. In addition, if the cursor isn't over a
- parenthesis, it simply inserts a % like normal.
+ parenthesis, it simply inserts a % like normal. (`Parenthesis' actually
+ includes and character with `open' or `close' syntax, which usually means
+ "()[]{}".)
;; By an unknown contributor
(`.' is the redo command in vi. It redoes the last insertion/deletion.)
- The next version of
-
- No, not really, because Emacs doesn't have a special insertion mode.
+ In Emacs 20.3 and later, use the C-x z ("repeat") command to repeat `simple
+ commands'.
- You can type "C-x ESC ESC" (repeat-complex-command) to reinvoke commands
- that used the minibuffer to get arguments. In repeat-complex-command you
- can type M-p and M-n to scan through all the different complex commands
- you've typed.
+ Otherwise you can type "C-x ESC ESC" (repeat-complex-command) to reinvoke
+ commands that used the minibuffer to get arguments. In
+ repeat-complex-command you can type M-p and M-n to scan through all the
+ different complex commands you've typed.
To repeat a set of commands, use keyboard macros. (See "Keyboard Macros"
in the on-line manual.)
- If you're really desperate for the `.' command, use VIPER, which comes
- with Emacs, and which appears to support it. (See question 107.)
+ VIPER, which comes with Emacs, emulates vi, including `.'. (See question
+ 107.)
51: What are the valid X resource settings (i.e., stuff in .Xdefaults)?
To do this to a region, use "string-rectangle" ("C-x r t"). Set the mark
(`C-SPC') at the beginning of the first line you want to prefix, move the
cursor to last line to be prefixed, and type "C-x r t > RET". To do this
- for the whole buffer, type "C-x h C-x r t > RET".
+ for the whole buffer, type "C-x h C-x r t > RET". In Emacs 20.3 and
+ later, this will affect only the current region if Transient Mark mode is
+ on (see NEWS via C-h N).
If you are trying to prefix a yanked mail message with '>', you might
want to set the variable mail-yank-prefix. Better yet, get the Supercite
61: Where is the documentation for "etags"?
- The "etags" man page should be in the same place as the "emacs" man page.
+ "etags" is documented in the Tags node of the Emacs manual. The "etags"
+ man page should be in the same place as the "emacs" man page.
Quick command-line switch descriptions are also available. For example,
"etags -H".
If you're tired of seeing backup files whenever you do an "ls" at the
Unix shell, try GNU ls with the "-B" option. GNU ls is part of the GNU
- fileutils package, available at mirrors of ftp.gnu.org (see question 92).
+ fileutils package, available at mirrors of gnudist.gnu.org (see question 92).
To disable or change how backups are made, see "Backup Names" in the
on-line manual.
More detailed information -- and more examples of how to create and
modify menu options -- are in the Emacs Lisp Reference Manual, under
- "Keymaps." (See question 16 for information on this manual.)
+ "Menu Keymaps." (See question 16 for information on this manual.)
+
+ Note that Emacs 20.3 introduced a better (`extended') format for menu
+ items, described in the NEWS file and the Lisp Manual. The "easymenu"
+ package provides support for defining menus conveniently with some
+ portability amongst Emacs versions.
65: How do I delete menus and menu options?
font-lock-mode RET".
To automatically invoke font-lock mode when a particular major mode is
- invoked, set the major mode's hook. For example, to fontify all c-mode
- buffers, add the following to your .emacs file:
+ invoked, set the major mode's hook or define font-lock-global-modes as a
+ list with the mode name as an element. For example, to fontify all
+ c-mode buffers, add the following to your .emacs file:
(add-hook 'c-mode-hook 'turn-on-font-lock)
To automatically invoke font-lock mode for all major modes, you can turn
on global-font-lock mode by including the following line in your .emacs
- file:
+ file (or use Custom):
(global-font-lock-mode 1)
This instructs Emacs to turn on font-lock mode in those buffers for which
a font-lock mode definition has been provided (in the variable
- font-lock-global-modes). If you edit a file in pie-ala-mode, and no
- font-lock definitions have been provided for pie-ala files, then the
- above setting will have no effect on that particular buffer.
+ font-lock-global-modes or via the variable font-lock-defaults-alist). If
+ you edit a file in pie-ala-mode, and no font-lock definitions have been
+ provided for pie-ala files, then the above setting will have no effect on
+ that particular buffer.
Highlighting with font-lock mode can take quite a while, and thus
different levels of decoration are available, from slight to gaudy. To
typing C-h f font-lock-mode ("M-x describe-function RET font-lock-mode
RET").
- For more information on font-lock mode, take a look at the font-lock mode
- FAQ, maintained by Jari Aalto <jari.aalto@ntc.nokia.com> at
-
- ftp://cs.uta.fi/pub/ssjaaa/ema-font.gui
+ For more information on font-lock mode, particularly adding new patterns,
+ see the Lisp Reference Manual and the commentary in the source
+ font-lock.el, which you can find in Emacs 20 (if it is installed) using,
+ say, M-x find-function font-lock-mode.
To print buffers with the faces (i.e., colors and fonts) intact, use
"M-x ps-print-buffer-with-faces" or "M-x ps-print-region-with-faces".
This mode also allows you to delete (not kill) the highlighted region by
pressing DEL.
-69: How can I edit MS-DOS files using Emacs?
+69: How can I edit MS-DOS-style text files using Emacs?
As of Emacs 20, detection and handling of MS-DOS (and Windows) files is
- performed transparently. You can open MS-DOS files on a Unix system, edit
- it, and save it without having to worry about the file format.
+ performed transparently. You can open an MS-DOS file on a Unix system
+ (and vice versa), edit it, and save it without having to worry about the
+ file format. To save it with a different end-of-line convention use
+ C-x RET c to specify a new coding system such as undecided-unix.
When editing an MS-DOS style file, a backslash (\) will appear in the
mode line.
- If you are running an earlier version of Emacs, get crypt++ from the
- Emacs Lisp Archive (see question 90). Among other things, crypt++
+ You can avoid translation of the end-of-line conventions either by
+ visiting a file using M-x find-file-literally or by setting the variable
+ inhibit-eol-conversion to t.
+
+ If you are running an earlier version of Emacs, get crypt++ from
+ ftp://ftp.cs.umb.edu/pub/misc/crypt++.el. Among other things, crypt++
transparently modifies MS-DOS files as they are loaded and saved,
allowing you to ignore the different conventions that Unix and MS-DOS
have for delineating the end of a line.
(setq sentence-end "[.?!][]\"')}]*\\($\\|[ \t]\\)[ \t\n]*")
(setq sentence-end-double-space nil)
+ See "Sentences" in the online manual.
+
Bugs/Problems
72: How do I get rid of ^M or echoed commands in my shell buffer?
Try typing "M-x shell-strip-ctrl-m RET" while in shell-mode to make them
- go away. If that doesn't work, you have several options:
+ go away. You might add this function to comint-output-filter-functions:
+
+ (add-hook 'comint-output-filter-functions 'shell-strip-ctrl-m)
+
+ If that doesn't work, you have several options:
For tcsh, put this in your .cshrc (or .tcshrc) file:
can cause a failure and don't know a general solution for working around
the problem in this case.
- The "make clean" command will remove "env" and other vital programs, so
- be careful when using it.
-
It has been reported that this sometimes happened when Emacs was started
as an X client from an xterm window (i.e., had a controlling tty) but the
xterm was later terminated.
- See also PROBLEMS (in the top-level directory when you unpack the Emacs
- source) for other possible causes of this message.
+ See also etc/PROBLEMS for other possible causes of this message.
74: Where is the termcap/terminfo entry for terminal type "emacs"?
from scratch. You will need:
* Emacs sources. See question 92 for a list of ftp sites that make them
- available. On ftp.gnu.org, the main GNU distribution site, sources are
+ available. On gnudist.gnu.org, the main GNU distribution site, sources are
available at
- ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/emacs-20.3.tar.gz
+ ftp://gnudist.gnu.org/pub/gnu/emacs-20.4.tar.gz
The above will obviously change as new versions of Emacs come out. For
- instance, when Emacs 20.4 is released, it will most probably be
+ instance, when Emacs 20.5 is released, it will most probably be
available at
- ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/emacs-20.4.tar.gz
+ ftp://gnudist.gnu.org/pub/gnu/emacs-20.5.tar.gz
Again, you should use one of the mirror sites in question 92 (and
- adjust the URL accordingly) so as to reduce load on ftp.gnu.org.
+ adjust the URL accordingly) so as to reduce load on gnudist.gnu.org.
* Gzip, the GNU compression utility. You can get gzip via anonymous ftp
- at mirrors of ftp.gnu.org sites; it should compile and install without
+ at mirrors of gnudist.gnu.org sites; it should compile and install without
much trouble on most systems. Once you have retrieved the Emacs
sources, you will probably be able to uncompress them with the command
- gunzip --verbose emacs-20.3.tar.gz
+ gunzip --verbose emacs-20.4.tar.gz
- changing the Emacs version (20.3), as necessary. Once gunzip has
- finished doing its job, a file by the name of "emacs-20.3.tar" should
+ changing the Emacs version (20.4), as necessary. Once gunzip has
+ finished doing its job, a file by the name of "emacs-20.4.tar" should
be in your build directory.
* Tar, the "tape archiving" program, which moves multiple files into and
before you can build Emacs. Typically, the extraction command would
look like
- tar -xvvf emacs-20.3.tar
+ tar -xvvf emacs-20.4.tar
The `x' indicates that we want to extract files from this tarfile, the
two `v's force verbose output, and the `f' tells tar to use a disk
file, rather than one on tape.
- If you're using GNU tar (available at mirrors of ftp.gnu.org), you can
+ If you're using GNU tar (available at mirrors of gnudist.gnu.org), you can
combine this step and the previous one by using the command
- tar -zxvvf emacs-20.3.tar.gz
+ tar -zxvvf emacs-20.4.tar.gz
The additional `z' at the beginning of the options list tells GNU tar
to uncompress the file with gunzip before extracting the tarfile's
components.
At this point, the Emacs sources (all 25+ megabytes of them) should be
- sitting in a directory called "emacs-20.3". On most common Unix and
+ sitting in a directory called "emacs-20.4". On most common Unix and
Unix-like systems, you should be able to compile Emacs (with X Windows
support) with the following commands:
- cd emacs-20.3 [ change directory to emacs-20.3 ]
+ cd emacs-20.4 [ change directory to emacs-20.4 ]
./configure [ configure Emacs for your particular system ]
make [ use Makefile to build components, then Emacs ]
build has gone well. (See question 86 if you weren't successful.)
To install Emacs in its default directories of /usr/local/bin (binaries),
- /usr/local/share/emacs/20.xx (Lisp code and support files), and
+ /usr/local/share/emacs/20.xx (Lisp code and support files),
+ /usr/local/libexec/CONFIGURATION/emacs/VERSION (executable files to be
+ run by Emacs rather than users), /usr/local/man/man1 (man pages) and
/usr/local/info (Info documentation), become the super-user and type
make install
Follow the instructions in question 84.
Emacs places nearly everything in version-specific directories (e.g.,
- /usr/local/share/emacs/20.3), so the only files that can be overwritten
+ /usr/local/share/emacs/20.4), so the only files that can be overwritten
when installing a new release are /usr/local/bin/emacs and the Emacs Info
documentation in /usr/local/info. Back up these files before you install
a new release, and you shouldn't have too much trouble.
lists all functions and variables containing the string "wordstar".
It is also possible that the package is on your system, but has not been
- loaded. To see which packages are available for loading, look through
- your computer's lisp directory (see question 4). The Lisp source to most
- most packages contains a short description of how they should be loaded,
- invoked, and configured -- so before you use or modify a Lisp package,
- see if the author has provided any hints in the source code.
+ loaded. To see which packages are available for loading, look through your
+ computer's lisp directory (see question 4) or use the Finder (C-h p) to
+ search under keywords. The Lisp source to most packages contains a
+ short description of how they should be loaded, invoked, and configured --
+ so before you use or modify a Lisp package, see if the author has provided
+ any hints in the source code.
If a package does not come with Emacs, check the Lisp Code Directory,
maintained by Dave Brennan <brennan@hal.com>. The directory is contained
lisp-dir-apropos RET ange-ftp RET" produces this output:
GNU Emacs Lisp Code Directory Apropos -- "ange-ftp"
- "~/" refers to archive.cis.ohio-state.edu:pub/gnu/emacs/elisp-archive/
+ "~/" refers to ftp.cs.ohio-state.edu:pub/gnu/emacs/elisp-archive/
ange-ftp (4.18) 15-Jul-1992
Andy Norman, <ange@hplb.hpl.hp.com>
You can access the Emacs Lisp Archive at the following sites:
- ftp://archive.cis.ohio-state.edu/pub/gnu/emacs/elisp-archive/
+ ftp://ftp.cs.ohio-state.edu/pub/gnu/emacs/elisp-archive/
ftp://calypso-2.oit.unc.edu/pub/gnu/elisp-archive/
ftp://faui43.informatik.uni-erlangen.de/pub/gnu/elisp-archive/
ftp://ftp.cs.umn.edu/pub/elisp-archive/
them. You should also use binary mode whenever you retrieve any
files with names ending in ".elc".
+ Note that the archive is apparently not being maintained at the time of
+ writing; a volunteer to take on the task would be welcome.
+
+ Packages which have been posted to gnu.emacs.sources should be locatable
+ via a service like Dejanews.
+
91: How do I submit code to the Emacs Lisp Archive?
Guidelines and procedures for submission to the archive can be found in
The lispdir.el package has a function named submit-lcd-entry which will
help you with this.
+ See question 90 regarding non-maintenance of the archive.
+
92: Where can I get other up-to-date GNU stuff?
The most up-to-date official GNU software is normally kept on
- ftp.gnu.org and is available at
+ gnudist.gnu.org and is available at
- ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu
+ ftp://gnudist.gnu.org/pub/gnu
Read the files etc/DISTRIB and etc/FTP for more information.
ftp://vixen.cso.uiuc.edu/gnu,
ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/systems/gnu
- The directory at ftp.uu.net is a mirror of ftp.gnu.org except that files
+ The directory at ftp.uu.net is a mirror of gnudist.gnu.org except that files
larger than one megabyte are split into multiple parts. If you have
trouble transferring large files, you should try that site. A file
normally named "XXX" is split into files XXX-split/part[0-9][0-9], and
93: What is the difference between Emacs and XEmacs (formerly "Lucid
Emacs")?
- First of all, they're both GNU Emacs. XEmacs is just as much a later
- version of GNU Emacs as the FSF-distributed version. This FAQ refers to
- the latest version to be distributed by the FSF as "Emacs," partly
- because the XEmacs maintainers now refer to their product using the
- "XEmacs" name, and partly because there isn't any accurate way to
- differentiate between the two without getting mired in paragraphs of
- legalese and history.
+ XEmacs is a modified version of GNU Emacs.
+
+ This FAQ refers to the latest version to be distributed by the FSF
+ as "Emacs," partly because the XEmacs maintainers now refer to their
+ product using the "XEmacs" name, and partly because there isn't any
+ accurate way to differentiate between the two without getting mired
+ in paragraphs of legalese and history.
XEmacs, which began life as Lucid Emacs, is based on an early version of
Emacs 19 and Epoch, an X-aware version of Emacs 18.
Emacs (i.e., the version distributed by the FSF) has a larger installed
- base, while XEmacs can do some clever tricks with X Windows, such as
- putting arbitrary graphics in a buffer. Emacs and XEmacs each come with
- Lisp packages that are lacking in the other; RMS says that the FSF would
- include more packages that come with XEmacs, but that the XEmacs
- maintainers don't always keep track of the authors of contributed code,
- which makes it impossible for the FSF to have certain legal papers
- signed. (Without these legal papers, the FSF will not distribute Lisp
- packages with Emacs.)
-
- Many XEmacs features have found their way into recent versions of Emacs,
- and more features can be expected in the future, but there are still many
- differences between the two.
-
- The latest version of XEmacs as of this writing is 20.4; you can get it
- at
-
- ftp://ftp.xemacs.org/pub/xemacs/xemacs-20.4.tar.gz
-
- More information about XEmacs, including a list of frequently asked
- questions (FAQ), is available at
-
- http://www.xemacs.org/
+ base and now always contains the MULE multilingual facilities. XEmacs
+ can do some clever tricks with X Windows, such as putting arbitrary
+ graphics in a buffer; similar facilities have been implemented for Emacs,
+ which will be integrated after version 20.4. Emacs and XEmacs each come
+ with some Lisp packages that are lacking or more up-to-date in the other;
+ RMS says that the FSF would include more packages that come with XEmacs,
+ but that the XEmacs maintainers don't always keep track of the authors of
+ contributed code, which makes it impossible for the FSF to have certain
+ legal papers signed. (Without these legal papers, the FSF will not
+ distribute Lisp packages with Emacs.) The two versions have some
+ significant differences at the Lisp programming level.
94: Where can I get Emacs for my PC running MS-DOS?
A pre-built binary distribution of Emacs is available from the Simtel
- archives. This version apparently works under MS-DOS and Windows (3.x,
- 95, and NT) and supports long file names. More information is availble
+ archives. This version works under MS-DOS and Windows (3.x, 9x, and NT) and
+ supports long file names under Windows 9x. More information is available
from:
ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/gnu/djgpp/v2gnu/emacs.README
Compiler: djgpp version 1.12 maint 1 or later. Djgpp 2.0 or later is
recommended, since 1.x is being phased out. Djgpp 2 supports
- long filenames under Windows 95.
+ long filenames under Windows 9x.
You can get the latest release of djgpp by retrieving
all of the files in
ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/gnu/gnuish
- The files INSTALL and PROBLEMS in the top-level directory of the Emacs
- source contains some additional information regarding Emacs under MS-DOS.
+ The files INSTALL and etc/PROBLEMS in the Emacs source contains some
+ additional information regarding Emacs under MS-DOS.
For a list of other MS-DOS implementations of Emacs (and Emacs
look-alikes), consult the list of "Emacs implementations and literature,"
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/comp.emacs/
Note that while many of these programs look similar to Emacs, they often
- lack certain features, such as the Emacs Lisp extension language.
+ lack certain features, particularly as the Emacs Lisp extension language.
-95: Where can I get Emacs for Microsoft Windows, Windows '95, or Windows
+95: Where can I get Emacs for Microsoft Windows, Windows 9x, or Windows
NT?
- For information on Emacs for Windows 95 and NT, read the FAQ produced by
- Geoff Voelker <voelker@cs.washington.edu>, available at
+ GNU Emacs has been fully ported to Windows NT and Windows 95/98.
+ If you have MSVC 4.0 or greater, then you can compile GNU Emacs
+ directly from the source distribution. First read the file
+ nt/README, and then the file nt/INSTALL, for step by step
+ instructions on how to compile and install GNU Emacs on your system.
+
+ You can also download precompiled distributions of GNU Emacs from:
+
+ ftp://ftp.cs.washington.edu/pub/ntemacs
+
+ If you need the gunzip and tar utilities for unpacking distributions,
+ you can download precompiled versions from:
+
+ ftp://ftp.cs.washington.edu/pub/ntemacs/utilities
+
+ For more information on configuring your favorite package to run with
+ GNU Emacs on Windows NT/95/98, see the following FAQ:
http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/voelker/ntemacs.html
+ ftp://ftp.cs.washington.edu/pub/ntemacs/docs/ntemacs.html
- For Windows 3.1, see question 94.
+ If you are running Windows 3.11, and if you compile GNU Emacs for MSDOS
+ with the tools listed in the previous question, it will run under
+ Microsoft Windows in a DOS box.
96: Where can I get Emacs for my PC running OS/2?
100: Where can I get Emacs for my Apple computer?
+
+ There used to be a boycott of Apple because of its "look and feel"
+ lawsuit. The lawsuit failed, and the boycott is over.
+ Currently the GNU project treats Apple like other computer companies.
+
+ Since the Mac operating system is very different from Unix and GNU,
+ support for it would be a big job. And this job would be tangential
+ to the GNU project's goals. Meanwhile, we don't have the resources
+ to do all we want to do on supporting Emacs for GNU-like systems.
+ So if we had to do work on support for the Macintosh, that would
+ directly harm the GNU project.
+
+ Of course, the same is true for MSDOS and Windows NT. We decided to
+ incorporate support for those systems because the code was very modular,
+ because volunteers not only wrote all the code but also investigate
+ all the bugs reported on those systems, and because we hoped that we
+ will be able to raise funds for GNU using these versions, and in this
+ way these ports will make up for the effort that they took. (We still
+ hope so, but it has not happened yet.)
+
An unofficial port of GNU Emacs 18.59 to the Macintosh is available at a
number of ftp sites, the home being
If you are on a Unix machine, try using the "nslookup" command, included
in the Berkeley BIND package. For example, to find the IP address of
- "ftp.gnu.org", you would type
+ "gnudist.gnu.org", you would type
- nslookup ftp.gnu.org
+ nslookup gnudist.gnu.org
Your computer should then provide the IP address of that computer.
Author: Dave Gillespie <daveg@csvax.cs.caltech.edu>
Latest version: 2.02f
Anonymous FTP:
- ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/calc-2.02f.tar.gz
+ ftp://gnudist.gnu.org/pub/gnu/calc-2.02f.tar.gz
NOTE: Unlike Wolfram Research, Dave has never threatened to sue
anyone for having a program with a similar command language to
Calc. :-)
Author: Aamod Sane <sane@cs.uiuc.edu>
Latest version: 4.3
Anonymous FTP:
- ftp://archive.cis.ohio-state.edu/pub/gnu/emacs/elisp-archive/modes/vip-mode.tar.Z
+ ftp://ftp.cs.ohio-state.edu/pub/gnu/emacs/elisp-archive/modes/vip-mode.tar.Z
108: AUC TeX -- enhanced LaTeX mode with debugging facilities
Authors: Patrick J. LoPresti <patl@lcs.mit.edu> and
Jin S. Choi <jin@atype.com>
Maintainer: Len Budney <lbudney@pobox.com>
- Latest version: 3.4
+ Latest version: 3.5b6
Anonymous FTP:
http://www.nb.net/~lbudney/linux/software/mailcrypt/mailcrypt-3.5b6.tar.gz
World Wide Web:
is in the kill ring, and can be yanked into your .emacs file. If the key
binding is global, no changes to the command are required. For example,
- (global-set-key (quote [f1]) (quote help-for-help))
+ (global-set-key [f1] 'help-for-help)
can be placed directly into the .emacs file. If the key binding is
local, the command is used in conjunction with the "add-hook" command.
For example, in tex-mode, a local binding might be
(add-hook 'tex-mode-hook
- (function (lambda ()
- (local-set-key (quote [f1]) (quote help-for-help))))
+ (lambda ()
+ (local-set-key [f1] 'help-for-help)))
NOTE: * Control characters in key sequences, in the form yanked from the
kill ring are given in their graphic form -- i.e., CTRL is shown
(global-set-key [f10] [?\C-x?\e?\e?\C-a?\C-k?\C-g]) ;; or
(global-set-key [f10] "\C-x\e\e\C-a\C-k\C-g")
+ * The "kbd" macro is convenient for converting a key description in
+ the form used in documentation or printed by C-h c (except that
+ function key symbols must be enclosed in angle brackets). For
+ example:
+
+ (global-set-key (kbd "<f1>") 'help-for-help)
+ (global-set-key (kbd "C-h") 'help-for-help)
+ (local-set-key (kbd "DEL") 'scroll-down)
+
117: Why does Emacs say "Key sequence XXX uses invalid prefix characters"?
Usually, one of two things has happened. In one case, the control
(global-set-key [do] 'execute-extended-command))
))))
- For information on what Emacs does every time it is started, see the
- lisp/startup.el file.
+ For information on what Emacs does every time it is started, see
+ "Starting Up Emacs" in the Lisp Reference Manual.
119: How do I use function keys under X Windows?
(global-set-key [H-M-right] 'forward-word)
+ In recent Emacs versions this may also be written as:
+
+ (global-set-key [(hyper meta right)] 'forward-word)
+
NOTE: * Not all modifiers are permitted in all situations. Hyper, Super,
and Alt are available only under X (provided there are such
keys). Non-ASCII keys and mouse events (e.g. "C-=" and
134: How do I make Emacs display 8-bit characters?
- Emacs 19 has built-in support for 8-bit characters. Here is an excerpt
- from the "European Display" page of the on-line manual:
-
- Some European languages use accented letters and other special symbols.
- The ISO 8859 Latin-1 character set defines character codes for many
- European languages in the range 160 to 255.
-
- Emacs can display those characters according to Latin-1, provided the
- terminal or font in use supports them. The "M-x
- standard-display-european" command toggles European character display
- mode. With a numeric argument, "M-x standard-display-european" enables
- European character display if and only if the argument is positive.
-
- Some operating systems let you specify the language you are using by
- setting a locale. Emacs handles one common special case of this: if
- your locale name for character types contains the string "8859-1" or
- "88591", Emacs automatically enables European character display mode
- when it starts up.
+ Emacs 19 introduced built-in support for 8-bit characters. Emacs 20 can
+ operate similarly in Unibyte mode or else in Multibyte mode. See the
+ "International" node in the online manual, specifically "Single-Byte
+ European Support".
135: How do I input 8-bit characters?
- Again, from the "European Display" page of the on-line manual:
-
- If you enter non-ASCII ISO Latin-1 characters often, you might find ISO
- Accents mode convenient. When this minor mode is enabled, the
- characters ``', `'', `"', `^', `/' and `~' modify the following letter
- by adding the corresponding diacritical mark to it, if possible. To
- enable or disable ISO Accents mode, use the command "M-x
- iso-accents-mode". This command affects only the current buffer.
-
- To enter one of those six special characters, type the character,
- followed by a space. Some of those characters have a corresponding
- "dead key" accent character in the ISO Latin-1 character set; to enter
- that character, type the corresponding ASCII character twice. For
- example, `''' enters the Latin-1 character acute-accent (character code
- 0264).
+ Again, see the "International" node of the on-line manual.
136: Where can I get an Emacs that handles kanji, Chinese, or other
character sets?
The output file will be in Unix mail format, which can be read directly
by VM, but not always by Rmail. See question 141.
+ For Gnus, see the `Archived Messages node of the Gnus manual.
+
If you use mh-e, add an "FCC:" or "BCC:" field to your components file.
It does not work to put "set record filename" in the .mailrc file.
Version 6.x of VM supports MIME. See question 104.
+ MIME support has been added in the development version of Gnus which will
+ be included with a future version of Emacs.
+
147: How do I make Emacs automatically start my mail/news reader?
To start Emacs in Gnus:
_^Hu_^Hn_^Hd_^He_^Hr_^Hl_^Hi_^Hn_^Hi_^Hn_^Hg
- Per Abrahamsen <amanda@iesd.auc.dk> suggests using the following code,
- which uses the underline face to turn such text into true underlining:
-
- (defun gnus-article-prepare-overstrike ()
- ;; Prepare article for overstrike commands.
- (save-excursion
- (set-buffer gnus-article-buffer)
- (let ((buffer-read-only nil))
- (goto-char (point-min))
- (while (search-forward "\b" nil t)
- (let ((next (following-char))
- (previous (char-after (- (point) 2))))
- (cond ((eq next previous)
- (delete-region (- (point) 2) (point))
- (put-text-property (point) (1+ (point))
- 'face 'bold))
- ((eq next ?_)
- (delete-region (1- (point)) (1+ (point)))
- (put-text-property (1- (point)) (point)
- 'face 'underline))
- ((eq previous ?_)
- (delete-region (- (point) 2) (point))
- (put-text-property (point) (1+ (point))
- 'face 'underline))))))))
-
- (add-hook 'gnus-article-prepare-hook 'gnus-article-prepare-overstrike)
+ Use Gnus' "Overstrike" function from the Article -> Washing menu (or type
+ "W o"). You can do this for all articles with:
+
+ (add-hook 'gnus-article-prepare-hook 'gnus-article-treat-overstrike)
If you prefer to do away with underlining altogether, you can
destructively remove it with M-x ununderline-region; do this
automatically via
(add-hook 'gnus-article-prepare-hook
- '(lambda () (ununderline-region (point-min) (point-max))))
+ (lambda () (ununderline-region (point-min) (point-max))))
+
+ See the Gnus manual for more information about this and similar methods
+ for treating article contents.
151: How do I save all the items of a multi-part posting in Gnus?
158: Where can I find out more about Gnus?
- Look for the Gnus FAQ, available at
-
- http://www.miranova.com/~steve/gnus-faq.html
+ Visit http://www.gnus.org/, which has a pointer to the current Gnus FAQ and
+ more information. The relevant newsgroup is gnu.emacs.gnus.
------------------------------------------------------------
+Modified, with permission, for the Emacs 20.4 distribution by Dave Love.
+
Copyright 1994-1998 Reuven M. Lerner
Copyright 1992-1993 Steven Byrnes
Copyright 1990-1992 Joseph Brian Wells