GNU Emacs FAQ

• FAQ notation
  • What do these mean: C-h, M-C-a, RET, ESC a, etc.?
  • What does `M-x command' mean?
  • How do I read topic XXX in the on-line manual?
  • What are `etc/SERVICE', `src/config.h', and `lisp/default.el'?
  • What are FSF, LPF, OSF, GNU, RMS, FTP, and GPL?
• General questions
  • What is the LPF?
  • What is the real legal meaning of the GNU copyleft?
  • What are appropriate messages for @uref{news:gnu.emacs.help}, @uref{news:gnu.emacs.bug}, @uref{news:comp.emacs}, etc.?
  • Where can I get old postings to @uref{news:gnu.emacs.help} and other GNU groups?
  • Where should I report bugs and other problems with Emacs?
  • How do I unsubscribe from this mailing list?
  • What is the current address of the FSF?
• Getting help
  • I'm just starting Emacs; how do I do basic editing?
  • How do I find out how to do something in Emacs?
  • How do I get a printed copy of the Emacs manual?
  • Where can I get documentation on Emacs Lisp?
  • How do I install a piece of Texinfo documentation?
  • How do I print a Texinfo file?
  • Can I view Info files without using Emacs?
  • What informational files are available for Emacs?
  • Where can I get help in installing Emacs?
  • Where can I get the latest version of this FAQ?
• Status of Emacs
  • Where does the name "Emacs" come from?
  • What is the latest version of Emacs?
  • What is different about Emacs 20?
  • What is different about Emacs 21?
• Common requests
  • How do I set up a `.emacs' file properly?
  • How do I get colors and syntax highlighting on a TTY?
  • How do I debug a `.emacs' file?
  • How do I make Emacs display the current line (or column) number?
  • How can I modify the titlebar to contain the current file name?
  • How do I turn on abbrevs by default just in mode mymode?
  • How do I turn on auto-fill-mode by default?
  • How do I make Emacs use a certain major mode for certain files?
  • How do I search for, delete, or replace unprintable (eight-bit or control) characters?
  • How can I highlight a region of text in Emacs?
  • How do I control Emacs's case-sensitivity when searching/replacing?
  • How do I make Emacs wrap words for me?
  • Where can I get a better spelling checker for Emacs?
  • How can I spell-check TeX or *roff documents?
  • How do I change load-path?
  • How do I use an already running Emacs from another window?
  • How do I make Emacs recognize my compiler's funny error messages?
  • How do I change the indentation for switch?
  • How to customize indentation in C, C++, and Java buffers?
  • How can I make Emacs automatically scroll horizontally?
  • How do I make Emacs "typeover" or "overwrite" instead of inserting?
  • How do I stop Emacs from beeping on a terminal?
  • How do I turn down the bell volume in Emacs running under X?
  • How do I tell Emacs to automatically indent a new line to the indentation of the previous line?
  • How do I show which parenthesis matches the one I'm looking at?
  • In C mode, can I show just the lines that will be left after #ifdef commands are handled by the compiler?
  • Is there an equivalent to the . (dot) command of vi?
  • What are the valid X resource settings (i.e., stuff in .Xdefaults)?
  • How do I execute ("evaluate") a piece of Emacs Lisp code?
  • How do I change Emacs's idea of the TAB character's length?
  • How do I insert `>' at the beginning of every line?
  • How do I insert "_^H" before each character in a region to get an underlined paragraph?
  • How do I repeat a command as many times as possible?
  • How do I make Emacs behave like this: when I go up or down, the cursor should stay in the same column even if the line is too short?
  • How do I tell Emacs to iconify itself?
  • How do I use regexps (regular expressions) in Emacs?
  • How do I perform a replace operation across more than one file?
  • Where is the documentation for etags?
  • How do I disable backup files?
  • How do I disable auto-save-mode?
  • How can I go to a certain line given its number?
  • How can I create or modify new pull-down menu options?
  • How do I delete menus and menu options?
  • How do I turn on syntax highlighting?
  • How can I force Emacs to scroll only one line when I move past the bottom of the screen?
  • How can I replace highlighted text with what I type?
  • How can I edit MS-DOS files using Emacs?
  • How can I tell Emacs to fill paragraphs with a single space after each period?
  • Why do I get these strange escape sequences when I run
• Bugs and problems
  • Does Emacs have problems with files larger than 8 megabytes?
  • How do I get rid of `^M' or echoed commands in my shell buffer?
  • Why do I get "Process shell exited abnormally with code 1"?
  • Why do I get an error message when I try to run M-x shell?
  • Where is the termcap/terminfo entry for terminal type "emacs"?
  • Why does Emacs spontaneously start displaying "I-search:" and beeping?
  • Why can't Emacs talk to certain hosts (or certain hostnames)?
  • Why does Emacs say "Error in init file"?
  • Why does Emacs ignore my X resources (my .Xdefaults file)?
  • Why don't my customizations of the frame parameters work?
  • Why does Emacs take 20 seconds to visit a file?
  • How do I edit a file with a `$' in its name?
  • Why does shell mode lose track of the shell's current directory?
  • Are there any security risks in Emacs?
  • Dired says, "no file on this line" when I try to do something.
• Compiling and installing Emacs
  • How do I install Emacs?
  • How do I update Emacs to the latest version?
  • What should I do if I have trouble building Emacs?
  • Why does linking Emacs with -lX11 fail?
• Finding Emacs and related packages
  • Where can I get Emacs on the net (or by snail mail)?
  • How do I find a Emacs Lisp package that does XXX?
  • Where can I get Emacs Lisp packages that don't come with Emacs?
  • How do I submit code to the Emacs Lisp Archive?
  • Where can I get other up-to-date GNU stuff?
  • What is the difference between Emacs and XEmacs (formerly "Lucid Emacs")?
  • Where can I get Emacs for my PC running MS-DOS?
  • Where can I get Emacs for Microsoft Windows
  • Where can I get Emacs for my PC running OS/2?
  • Where can I get Emacs for my Atari ST?
  • Where can I get Emacs for my Amiga?
  • Where can I get Emacs for NeXTSTEP?
  • Where can I get Emacs for my Apple computer?
  • Where do I get Emacs that runs on VMS under DECwindows?
  • Where can I get modes for Lex, Yacc/Bison, Bourne shell, csh, C++, Objective-C, Pascal, Java, and Awk?
  • What is the IP address of XXX.YYY.ZZZ?
• Major packages and programs
  • VM (View Mail) -- another mail reader within Emacs, with MIME support
  • Supercite -- mail and news citation package within Emacs
  • Calc -- poor man's Mathematica within Emacs
  • VIPER -- vi emulation for Emacs
  • AUC TeX -- enhanced LaTeX mode with debugging facilities
  • BBDB -- personal Info Rolodex integrated with mail/news readers
  • Ispell -- spell checker in C with interface for Emacs
  • w3-mode -- A World Wide Web browser inside of Emacs
  • EDB -- Database program for Emacs; replaces forms editing modes
  • Mailcrypt -- PGP interface within Emacs mail and news
  • JDE -- Integrated development environment for Java
  • Patch -- program to apply "diffs" for updating files
• Key bindings
  • How do I bind keys (including function keys) to commands?
  • Why does Emacs say "Key sequence XXX uses invalid prefix characters"?
  • Why doesn't this [terminal or window-system setup] code work in my `.emacs' file, but it works just fine after Emacs starts up?
  • How do I use function keys under X?
  • How do I tell what characters or symbols my function or arrow keys emit?
  • How do I set the X key "translations" for Emacs?
  • How do I handle C-s and C-q being used for flow control?
  • How do I bind C-s and C-q (or any key) if these keys are filtered out?
  • Why does the Backspace key invoke help?
  • Why doesn't Emacs look at the `stty' settings for Backspace vs. Delete?
  • How do I swap two keys?
  • How do I produce C-XXX with my keyboard?
  • What if I don't have a Meta key?
  • What if I don't have an Escape key?
  • Can I make my Compose Character key behave like a Meta key?
  • How do I bind a combination of modifier key and function key?
  • Why doesn't my Meta key work in an xterm window?
  • Why doesn't my ExtendChar key work as a Meta key under HP-UX 8.0 and 9.x?
• Alternate character sets
  • How do I make Emacs display 8-bit characters?
  • How do I input eight-bit characters?
  • Where can I get an Emacs that handles kanji, Chinese, or other Far-Eastern character sets?
  • Where is an Emacs that can handle Semitic (right-to-left) alphabets?
• Mail and news
  • How do I change the included text prefix in mail/news followups?
  • How do I save a copy of outgoing mail?
  • Why doesn't Emacs expand my aliases when sending mail?
  • Why does Rmail think all my saved messages are one big message?
  • How can I sort the messages in my Rmail folder?
  • Why does Rmail need to write to `/usr/spool/mail'?
  • How do I recover my mail files after Rmail munges their format?
  • How can I force Rmail to reply to the sender of a message, but not the other recipients?
  • How can I get my favorite Emacs mail package to support MIME?
  • How do I make Emacs automatically start my mail/news reader?
  • How do I read news under Emacs?
  • Why doesn't Gnus work via NNTP?
  • How do I view news articles with embedded underlining (e.g., ClariNews)?
  • How do I save all the items of a multi-part posting in Gnus?
  • How do I make Gnus start up faster?
  • How do I catch up all newsgroups in Gnus?
  • Why can't I kill in Gnus based on the Newsgroups/Keywords/Control headers?
  • How do I get rid of flashing messages in Gnus for slow connections?
  • Why is catch up slow in Gnus?
  • Why does Gnus hang for a long time when posting?
  • Where can I find out more about Gnus?
• Concept Index

This document was generated on 3 December 2001 using the texi2html translator version 1.51.