1EMACS(1) General Commands Manual EMACS(1)
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6 emacs - GNU project Emacs
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9 emacs [ command-line switches ] [ files ... ]
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12 GNU Emacs is a version of Emacs, written by the author of the original
13 (PDP-10) Emacs, Richard Stallman.
14 The primary documentation of GNU Emacs is in the GNU Emacs Manual,
15 which you can read using Info, either from Emacs or as a standalone
16 program. Please look there for complete and up-to-date documentation.
17 This man page is updated only when someone volunteers to do so; the
18 Emacs maintainers' priority goal is to minimize the amount of time this
19 man page takes away from other more useful projects.
20 The user functionality of GNU Emacs encompasses everything other Emacs
21 editors do, and it is easily extensible since its editing commands are
22 written in Lisp.
23 Emacs has an extensive interactive help facility, but the facility
25 assumes that you know how to manipulate Emacs windows and buffers.
26 CTRL-h or F1 enters the Help facility. Help Tutorial (CTRL-h t) starts
27 an interactive tutorial which can teach beginners the fundamentals of
28 Emacs in a few minutes. Help Apropos (CTRL-h a) helps you find a com‐
29 mand given its functionality, Help Character (CTRL-h c) describes a
30 given character's effect, and Help Function (CTRL-h f) describes a
31 given Lisp function specified by name.
32 Emacs's Undo can undo several steps of modification to your buffers, so
34 it is easy to recover from editing mistakes.
35 GNU Emacs's many special packages handle mail reading (RMail) and send‐
37 ing (Mail), outline editing (Outline), compiling (Compile), running
38 subshells within Emacs windows (Shell), running a Lisp read-eval-print
39 loop (Lisp-Interaction-Mode), automated psychotherapy (Doctor), and
40 much more.
41 There is an extensive reference manual, but users of other Emacses
43 should have little trouble adapting even without a copy. Users new to
44 Emacs will be able to use basic features fairly rapidly by studying the
45 tutorial and using the self-documentation features.
46 Emacs Options
48 The following options are of general interest:
50 file Edit file.
52 +number Go to the line specified by number (do not insert a space
54 between the "+" sign and the number). This applies only to the
55 next file specified.
56 +line:column
58 Go to the specified line and column
59 -q Do not load an init file.
61 -no-site-file
63 Do not load the site-wide startup file.
64 -debug-init
66 Enable Emacs Lisp debugger during the processing of the user
67 init file ~/.emacs. This is useful for debugging problems in
68 the init file.
69 -u user Load user's init file.
71 -t file Use specified file as the terminal instead of using stdin/std‐
73 out. This must be the first argument specified in the command
74 line.
75 -version
77 Display Emacs version information and exit.
78 The following options are lisp-oriented (these options are processed in
80 the order encountered):
81 -f function
83 Execute the lisp function function.
84 -l file Load the lisp code in the file file.
86 -eval expr
88 Evaluate the Lisp expression expr.
89 The following options are useful when running Emacs as a batch editor:
91 -batch Edit in batch mode. The editor will send messages to stderr.
93 This option must be the first in the argument list. You must
94 use -l and -f options to specify files to execute and functions
95 to call.
96 -kill Exit Emacs while in batch mode.
98 -L directory
100 Add directory to the list of directories Emacs searches for
101 Lisp files.
102 Using Emacs with X
104 Emacs has been tailored to work well with the X window system. If you
106 run Emacs from under X windows, it will create its own X window to dis‐
107 play in. You will probably want to start the editor as a background
108 process so that you can continue using your original window.
109 Emacs can be started with the following X switches:
111 -name name
113 Specifies the name which should be assigned to the initial
114 Emacs window. This controls looking up X resources as well as
115 the window title.
116 -title name
118 Specifies the title for the initial X window.
119 -r Display the Emacs window in reverse video.
121 -font font, -fn font
123 Set the Emacs window's font to that specified by font. You
124 will find the various X fonts in the /usr/lib/X11/fonts direc‐
125 tory. Note that Emacs will only accept fixed width fonts.
126 Under the X11 Release 4 font-naming conventions, any font with
127 the value "m" or "c" in the eleventh field of the font name is
128 a fixed width font. Furthermore, fonts whose name are of the
129 form widthxheight are generally fixed width, as is the font
130 fixed. See xlsfonts(1) for more information.
131 When you specify a font, be sure to put a space between the
133 switch and the font name.
134 -bw pixels
136 Set the Emacs window's border width to the number of pixels
137 specified by pixels. Defaults to one pixel on each side of the
138 window.
139 -ib pixels
141 Set the window's internal border width to the number of pixels
142 specified by pixels. Defaults to one pixel of padding on each
143 side of the window.
144 --geometry geometry
146 Set the Emacs window's width, height, and position as speci‐
147 fied. The geometry specification is in the standard X format;
148 see X(1) for more information. The width and height are speci‐
149 fied in characters; the default is 80 by 24. See the Emacs
150 manual, section "Options for Window Size and Position", for
151 information on how window sizes interact with selecting or des‐
152 electing the tool bar and menu bar.
153 -fg color
155 On color displays, sets the color of the text.
156 Use the command M-x list-colors-display for a list of valid
158 color names.
159 -bg color
161 On color displays, sets the color of the window's background.
162 -bd color
164 On color displays, sets the color of the window's border.
165 -cr color
167 On color displays, sets the color of the window's text cursor.
168 -ms color
170 On color displays, sets the color of the window's mouse cursor.
171 -d displayname, -display displayname
173 Create the Emacs window on the display specified by display‐
174 name. Must be the first option specified in the command line.
175 -nw Tells Emacs not to use its special interface to X. If you use
177 this switch when invoking Emacs from an xterm(1) window, dis‐
178 play is done in that window.
179 You can set X default values for your Emacs windows in your .Xresources
181 file (see xrdb(1)). Use the following format:
182 emacs.keyword:value
184 where value specifies the default value of keyword. Emacs lets you set
186 default values for the following keywords:
187 font (class Font)
189 Sets the window's text font.
190 reverseVideo (class ReverseVideo)
192 If reverseVideo's value is set to on, the window will be dis‐
193 played in reverse video.
194 bitmapIcon (class BitmapIcon)
196 If bitmapIcon's value is set to on, the window will iconify
197 into the "kitchen sink."
198 borderWidth (class BorderWidth)
200 Sets the window's border width in pixels.
201 internalBorder (class BorderWidth)
203 Sets the window's internal border width in pixels.
204 foreground (class Foreground)
206 For color displays, sets the window's text color.
207 background (class Background)
209 For color displays, sets the window's background color.
210 borderColor (class BorderColor)
212 For color displays, sets the color of the window's border.
213 cursorColor (class Foreground)
215 For color displays, sets the color of the window's text cursor.
216 pointerColor (class Foreground)
218 For color displays, sets the color of the window's mouse cur‐
219 sor.
220 geometry (class Geometry)
222 Sets the geometry of the Emacs window (as described above).
223 title (class Title)
225 Sets the title of the Emacs window.
226 iconName (class Title)
228 Sets the icon name for the Emacs window icon.
229 If you try to set color values while using a black and white display,
231 the window's characteristics will default as follows: the foreground
232 color will be set to black, the background color will be set to white,
233 the border color will be set to grey, and the text and mouse cursors
234 will be set to black.
235 Using the Mouse
237 The following lists the mouse button bindings for the Emacs window
239 under X11.
240 MOUSE BUTTON FUNCTION
243 left Set point.
244 middle Paste text.
245 right Cut text into X cut buffer.
246 SHIFT-middle Cut text into X cut buffer.
247 SHIFT-right Paste text.
248 CTRL-middle Cut text into X cut buffer and kill it.
249 CTRL-right Select this window, then split it into two windows.
250 Same as typing CTRL-x 2.
251 CTRL-SHIFT-left X buffer menu — hold the buttons and keys down, wait
252 for menu to appear, select buffer, and release.
253 Move mouse out of menu and release to cancel.
254 CTRL-SHIFT-middle X help menu — pop up index card menu for Emacs help.
255 CTRL-SHIFT-right Select window with mouse, and delete all other win‐
256 dows. Same as typing CTRL-x 1.
257
259 You can order printed copies of the GNU Emacs Manual from the Free
260 Software Foundation, which develops GNU software. See the file ORDERS
261 for ordering information.
262 Your local Emacs maintainer might also have copies available. As with
263 all software and publications from FSF, everyone is permitted to make
264 and distribute copies of the Emacs manual. The TeX source to the man‐
265 ual is also included in the Emacs source distribution.
266
268 /usr/local/share/info - files for the Info documentation browser. The
269 complete text of the Emacs reference manual is included in a convenient
270 tree structured form. Also includes the Emacs Lisp Reference Manual,
271 useful to anyone wishing to write programs in the Emacs Lisp extension
272 language.
273 /usr/local/share/emacs/$VERSION/lisp - Lisp source files and compiled
275 files that define most editing commands. Some are preloaded; others
276 are autoloaded from this directory when used.
277 /usr/local/libexec/emacs/$VERSION/$ARCH - various programs that are
279 used with GNU Emacs.
280 /usr/local/share/emacs/$VERSION/etc - various files of information.
282 /usr/local/share/emacs/$VERSION/etc/DOC.* - contains the documentation
284 strings for the Lisp primitives and preloaded Lisp functions of GNU
285 Emacs. They are stored here to reduce the size of Emacs proper.
286 /usr/local/share/emacs/$VERSION/etc/SERVICE lists people offering vari‐
288 ous services to assist users of GNU Emacs, including education, trou‐
289 bleshooting, porting and customization.
290
293 There is a mailing list, bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org, for reporting Emacs
294 bugs and fixes. But before reporting something as a bug, please try to
295 be sure that it really is a bug, not a misunderstanding or a deliberate
296 feature. We ask you to read the section ``Reporting Emacs Bugs'' near
297 the end of the reference manual (or Info system) for hints on how and
298 when to report bugs. Also, include the version number of the Emacs you
299 are running in every bug report that you send in.
300 Do not expect a personal answer to a bug report. The purpose of
302 reporting bugs is to get them fixed for everyone in the next release,
303 if possible. For personal assistance, look in the SERVICE file (see
304 above) for a list of people who offer it.
305 Please do not send anything but bug reports to this mailing list. For
307 more information about Emacs mailing lists, see the file
308 /usr/local/emacs/etc/MAILINGLISTS. Bugs tend actually to be fixed if
309 they can be isolated, so it is in your interest to report them in such
310 a way that they can be easily reproduced.
311
313 Emacs is free; anyone may redistribute copies of Emacs to anyone under
314 the terms stated in the Emacs General Public License, a copy of which
315 accompanies each copy of Emacs and which also appears in the reference
316 manual.
317 Copies of Emacs may sometimes be received packaged with distributions
319 of Unix systems, but it is never included in the scope of any license
320 covering those systems. Such inclusion violates the terms on which
321 distribution is permitted. In fact, the primary purpose of the General
322 Public License is to prohibit anyone from attaching any other restric‐
323 tions to redistribution of Emacs.
324 Richard Stallman encourages you to improve and extend Emacs, and urges
326 that you contribute your extensions to the GNU library. Eventually GNU
327 (Gnu's Not Unix) will be a complete replacement for Unix. Everyone
328 will be free to use, copy, study and change the GNU system.
329
331 emacsclient(1), etags(1), X(1), xlsfonts(1), xterm(1), xrdb(1)
332
334 Emacs was written by Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation.
335 Joachim Martillo and Robert Krawitz added the X features.
336
338 Copyright (C) 1995, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005,
339 2006, 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
340 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
342 document provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
343 preserved on all copies.
344 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
346 document under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
347 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a per‐
348 mission notice identical to this one.
349 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this docu‐
351 ment into another language, under the above conditions for modified
352 versions, except that this permission notice may be stated in a trans‐
353 lation approved by the Free Software Foundation.
354GNU Emacs 22.1 2007 April 13 EMACS(1)