🚀 go-pugleaf

Archive-Name: GNU-Emacs-FAQ/part0
Last-Modified: Tue, 4 May 1993 02:43:42 GMT
Last-Posted: Tue, 4 May 1993 02:52:18 GMT

                       GNU Emacs FAQ: Introduction

[To find what has changed, see the "Changes" posting.]

[The FAQ post date slipped big-time this time.  Now that school is over
 with and I can get on with the rest of my life, posting should become a
 lot more regular. - sbyrnes]

This is the introduction to a list of frequently asked questions (FAQ) about
GNU Emacs with answers.  This article contains a listing of the questions;
subsequent articles contain the questions and answers.

The FAQ list is posted 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 answers to these questions,
corrections to the wrong answers, corrections to the corrections, debate, name
calling, etc.  Also, it serves as a repository of the canonical "best" answers
to these questions.  However, if you know a better answer or even a slight
change that improves an answer, please tell us!

If you know the answer of a question is in the FAQ list, please reply to the
question by e-mail instead of posting.  Help reduce noise!

The FAQ list is crossposted to `comp.emacs' because some sites do not receive
the `gnu.*' newsgroups.  The FAQ list is also crossposted to `news.answers'.

Please suggest new questions, answers, wording changes, deletions, etc.  The
most helpful form for suggestions is a context diff (ie., the output of `diff
-c').  Include `FAQ' in the subject of messages sent to us about the FAQ list.

Please do not send questions to us just because you do not want to disturb a
lot of people and you think we would know the answer.  We do not have time to
answer questions individually.  :-(

Full instructions for getting the latest FAQ are in question 22.  Also see the
`Introduction to news.answers' posting in the `news.answers' newsgroup, or send
e-mail to `mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu' with `help' on a body line, or use FTP,
WAIS, or Prospero to rtfm.mit.edu.

These ideas have already been suggested, but we have not had time to
implement them:

  * A Texinfo version.
  * Marking questions in the table of contents that have been changed
    recently.

-- 
Steven Byrnes <sbyrnes@rice.edu> (and Joe Wells <jbw@cs.bu.edu>)

E-mail lpf@uunet.uu.net for details about the League for Programming Freedom.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

                     GNU Emacs FAQ: Table of Contents

Notation Used in FAQ

1:   What do these mean: C-h, M-C-a, RET, "ESC a", etc.?
2:   What does "M-x command" mean?
3:   How do I read topic XXX in the on-line manual?
4:   What do these mean: etc/SERVICE, src/config.h, lisp/default.el?
5:   What are FSF, LPF, OSF, GNU, RMS, FTP, and GPL?

General Questions

6:   What is the LPF and why should I join it?
7:   What is the real legal meaning of the GNU copyleft?
8:   What are appropriate messages for gnu.emacs.help, gnu.emacs.bug,
     comp.emacs, etc.?
9:   Where can I get old postings to gnu.emacs.help and other GNU groups?
10:  Where should I report bugs and other problems with GNU Emacs?
11:  How do I unsubscribe to this mailing list?
12:  What is the current address of the FSF?

On-line Help, Printed Manuals, Other Sources of Help

13:  I'm just starting GNU Emacs; how do I do basic editing?
14:  How do I find out how to do something in GNU Emacs?
15:  How do I get a printed copy of the GNU Emacs manual?
16:  Where can I get documentation on GNU Emacs Lisp?
17:  How do I install a piece of Texinfo documentation?
18:  How do I print a Texinfo file?
19:  Can I view Info files without using GNU Emacs?
20:  What informational files are available for GNU Emacs?
21:  Where can I get help in installing GNU Emacs?
22:  Where can I get the latest version of this document (the FAQ list)?

Status of Emacs

23:  Where does the name "Emacs" come from?
24:  What is the latest version of GNU Emacs?
25:  When will GNU Emacs 19 be available?
26:  What is different about GNU Emacs 19?
27:  What variants of GNU Emacs exist?

Common Things People Want To Do

28:  How do I set up a .emacs file properly?
29:  How do I debug a .emacs file?
30:  How do I make Emacs display the current line (or column) number?
31:  How do I turn on Abbrevs by default just in mode XXX?
32:  How do I turn on Auto-Fill mode by default?
33:  How do I make Emacs use a certain major mode for certain files?
34:  How do I search for, delete, or replace unprintable (8-bit or control)
     characters?
35:  How can I highlight a region of text in Emacs?
36:  How do I control Emacs's case-sensitivity when searching/replacing?
37:  How do I make Emacs wrap words for me?
38:  Where can I get a better spelling checker for Emacs?
39:  How can I spell-check TeX or *roff documents?
40:  How do I change load-path?
41:  How do I use an already running Emacs from another window?
42:  How do I make Emacs recognize my compiler's funny error messages?
43:  How do I indent switch statements like this?
44:  How can I make Emacs automatically scroll horizontally?
45:  How do I make Emacs "typeover" or "overwrite" instead of inserting?
46:  How do I stop Emacs from beeping on a terminal?
47:  How do I turn down the bell volume in Emacs running under X Windows?
48:  How do I tell Emacs to automatically indent a new line to the
     indentation of the previous line?
49:  How do I show which parenthesis matches the one I'm looking at?
50:  In C mode, can I show just the lines that will be left after #ifdef
     commands are handled by the compiler?
51:  Is there an equivalent to the `.' (dot) command of vi?
52:  What are the valid X resource settings (ie., stuff in .Xdefaults)?
53:  How do I execute a piece of Emacs Lisp code?
54:  How do I change Emacs's idea of the tab character's length?
55:  How do I insert `>' at the beginning of every line?
56:  How do I insert `_^H' before each character in a paragraph to get an
     underlined paragraph?
57:  How do I repeat a command as many times as possible?
58:  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?
59:  How do I tell Emacs to iconify itself?
60:  How do I use regexps (regular expressions) in Emacs?
61:  How do I perform a replace operation across more than one file?
62:  Where is the documentation for `etags'?

Bugs/Problems

63:  Does Emacs have problems with files larger than 8 megabytes?
64:  Why can't Emacs find files in current directory on startup?
65:  How do I get rid of the ^M junk in my Shell buffer?
66:  Why do I get `Process shell exited abnormally with code 1'?
67:  Why can't I cut from Emacs and paste in other X programs?
68:  Where is the termcap/terminfo entry for terminal type `emacs'?
69:  Why does Emacs spontaneously start displaying `I-search:' and beeping?
70:  Why can't Emacs talk to certain hosts (or certain hostnames)?
71:  Why does Emacs say `Error in init file'?
72:  Why does Emacs ignore my X resources (my .Xdefaults file)?
73:  Why does Emacs take 20 seconds to visit a file?
74:  How do I edit a file with a `$' in its name?
75:  Why does Shell mode lose track of the shell's current directory?
76:  Why doesn't my change to load-path work?
77:  Why does the cursor always go to the wrong column when I move up or
     down one line?
78:  Why does Emacs hang with message `Unknown XMenu error' with X11R4?
79:  Why doesn't display-time show the load average in the mode line
     anymore?
80:  Why does ispell sometimes ignore the local dictionary?
81:  Why does Ispell treat each line as a single word?
82:  Are there any security risks in GNU Emacs?

Difficulties Building/Installing/Porting Emacs

83:  What should I do if I have trouble building Emacs?
84:  How do I stop Emacs from failing when the executable is stripped?
85:  Why does linking Emacs with -lX11 fail?
86:  Why does Emacs 18.55 say `Fatal error (6).Abort' under SunOS 4.1?

Finding/Getting Emacs and Related Packages

87:  Where can I get GNU Emacs on the net (or by snail mail)?
88:  How do I find a GNU Emacs Lisp package that does XXX?
89:  Where can I get GNU Emacs Lisp packages that don't come with Emacs?
90:  How do I submit code to the Emacs Lisp Archive?
91:  Where can I get other up-to-date GNU stuff?
92:  Where can I get an Emacs with better mouse and X window support?
93:  What is the difference between GNU Emacs and Epoch?
94:  What is the difference between GNU Emacs and Lucid GNU Emacs?
95:  Where can I get the "unofficial HP GNU Emacs"?
96:  Where can I get Emacs for my PC running MS-DOS?
97:  Where can I get Emacs for my PC running Windows?
98:  Where can I get Emacs for my PC running OS/2?
99:  Where can I get Emacs for my Atari ST?
100: Where can I get Emacs for my Amiga?
101: Where can I get Emacs for my Apple computer?
102: Where can I get Emacs with NeWS support?
103: Where do I get Emacs that runs on VMS under DECwindows?
104: Where can I get modes for Lex, Yacc/Bison, Bourne Shell, Csh, C++,
     Objective C, Pascal, Awk?
105: What is the IP address of XXX.YYY.ZZZ?

Major Emacs Lisp Packages, Emacs Extensions, and Related Programs

106: VM (View Mail) -- another mail reader within Emacs
107: Supercite -- mail and news citation package within Emacs
108: GNUS -- news reader within Emacs
109: Calc -- poor man's Mathematica within Emacs
110: Calendar/Diary -- calendar manager within Emacs
111: Ange-FTP -- transparent FTP access for Emacs's file access routines
112: VIP -- vi emulation for Emacs
113: Dired -- better directory editor for Emacs
114: AUC TeX -- enhanced LaTeX mode with debugging facilities
115: Hyperbole -- extensible hypertext management system within Emacs
116: Byte Compiler -- enhanced version of Emacs's byte compiler
117: comint -- hugely enhanced shell mode and other derived modes
118: BBDB -- personal info rolodex integrated with mail/news readers
119: Ispell -- spell checker in C with interface for Emacs
120: Epoch -- enhanced GNU Emacs with better X interface
121: Lucid GNU Emacs -- alternative Emacs 19 with better X interface
122: Demacs -- GNU Emacs altered to run on MS-DOS on 386/486 machines
123: Freemacs -- a small Emacs for MS-DOS
124: Patch -- program to apply "diffs" for updating files

Changing Key Bindings and Handling Key Binding Problems

125: How do I bind keys (including function keys) to commands?
126: Why does Emacs say `Key sequence XXX uses invalid prefix characters'?
127: Why doesn't this [terminal or window-system setup] code work in my
     .emacs file, but it works just fine after Emacs starts up?
128: How do I use function keys under X Windows?
129: How do I tell what characters my function or arrow keys emit?
130: How do I set the X key "translations" for Emacs?
131: How do I handle C-s and C-q being used for flow control?
132: How do I use commands bound to C-s and C-q (or any key) if these keys
     are filtered out?
133: Why does the `BackSpace' key invoke help?
134: Why doesn't Emacs look at the stty settings for Backspace vs. Delete?
135: Why don't the arrow keys work?
136: How do I "swap" two keys?
137: How do I produce C-XXX with my keyboard?
138: What if I don't have a Meta key?
139: What if I don't have an Escape key?
140: How do I type DEL on PC terminal emulators?
141: Can I make my `Compose Character' key behave like a Meta key?
142: How do I bind a combination of modifier key and function key?
143: Why doesn't my Meta key work in an xterm window?
144: Why doesn't my ExtendChar key work as a Meta key under HP-UX 8.0?
145: Where can I get key bindings to make Emacs emulate WordStar?
146: Where can I get an XEDIT emulator for Emacs?

Using Emacs with Alternate Character Sets

147: How do I make Emacs display 8-bit characters?
148: How do I input 8-bit characters?
149: Where can I get an Emacs that can handle kanji characters?
150: Where can I get an Emacs that can handle Chinese?
151: Where is an Emacs that can handle Semitic (right-to-left) alphabets?

Mail and News

152: How do I change the included text prefix in mail/news followups?
153: How do I save a copy of outgoing mail?
154: Why doesn't Emacs expand my aliases when sending mail?
155: Why does RMAIL think all my saved messages are one big message?
156: How can I sort the messages in my RMAIL folder?
157: Why does RMAIL need to write to /usr/spool/mail?
158: How do I recover my mail files after RMAIL munges their format?
159: How do I make Emacs automatically start my mail/news reader?
160: How do I read news under Emacs?
161: Why does `rnews' say "No News is good news" when there is news?
162: Why doesn't GNUS work anymore via NNTP?
163: How do I view text with embedded underlining (eg., ClariNews)?
164: When I try to post a long article in GNUS (about 10K or longer), I get
     the error, "Writing to process: no more processes, nntpd"
165: How do I save all the items of a multi-part posting in GNUS?
166: Why does GNUS put the subjects in replies beyond the 80th column?
167: Why is GNUS so slow to start up?
168: How do I catch up all newsgroups in GNUS?
169: Why can't I kill in GNUS on the Newsgroups/Keywords/Control line?
170: How do I get rid of flashing messages in GNUS for slow connections?
171: Why is catch up slow in Gnews/GNUS?
172: Why does GNUS hang for a long time when posting?
173: Why don't my news postings in GNUS get past the local machine?
174: Why is the GNUS-generated `Date:' header invalid?
175: Why doesn't GNUS generate the `Lines:' header?
176: Why do I get "Cannot open load file" "nntp" when compiling GNUS?
177: How do I kill all articles in GNUS but those matching a pattern?


----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright (C) 1990, 1991, 1992 Joseph Brian Wells
Copyright (C) 1992, 1993 Steven Byrnes

This list of frequently asked questions about GNU Emacs with answers
("FAQ") may be translated into other languages, transformed into other
formats (e.g. Texinfo, Info, WWW, WAIS, etc.), and updated with new
information.  The same conditions apply to any derivative of the FAQ as
apply to the FAQ itself.  Every copy of the FAQ must include this notice
or an approved translation, information on who is currently maintaining
the FAQ and how to contact them (including their e-mail address), and
information on where the latest version of the FAQ is archived (including
FTP information).  The FAQ may be copied and redistributed under these
conditions, except that the FAQ may not be embedded in a larger literary
work unless that work itself allows free copying and redistribution.