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Emacs Lisp
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This Info file contains edition 2.9 of the GNU Emacs Lisp Reference
Manual, corresponding to GNU Emacs version 22.2.

Introduction: Introduction and conventions used.
Lisp Data Types: Data types of objects in Emacs Lisp.
Numbers: Numbers and arithmetic functions.
Strings and Characters: Strings, and functions that work on them.
Lists: Lists, cons cells, and related functions.
Sequences Arrays Vectors: Lists, strings and vectors are called sequences.
Hash Tables: Very fast lookup-tables.
Symbols: Symbols represent names, uniquely.
Evaluation: How Lisp expressions are evaluated.
Control Structures: Conditionals, loops, nonlocal exits.
Variables: Using symbols in programs to stand for values.
Functions: A function is a Lisp program
Macros: Macros are a way to extend the Lisp language.
Customization: Writing customization declarations.
Loading: Reading files of Lisp code into Lisp.
Byte Compilation: Compilation makes programs run faster.
Advising Functions: Adding to the definition of a function.
Debugging: Tools and tips for debugging Lisp programs.
Read and Print: Converting Lisp objects to text and back.
Minibuffers: Using the minibuffer to read input.
Command Loop: How the editor command loop works,
Keymaps: Defining the bindings from keys to commands.
Modes: Defining major and minor modes.
Documentation: Writing and using documentation strings.
Files: Accessing files.
Backups and Auto-Saving: Controlling how backups and auto-save
Buffers: Creating and using buffer objects.
Windows: Manipulating windows and displaying buffers.
Frames: Making multiple system-level windows.
Positions: Buffer positions and motion functions.
Markers: Markers represent positions and update
Text: Examining and changing text in buffers.
Non-ASCII Characters: Non-ASCII text in buffers and strings.
Searching and Matching: Searching buffers for strings or regexps.
Syntax Tables: The syntax table controls word and list parsing.
Abbrevs: How Abbrev mode works, and its data structures.
Processes: Running and communicating with subprocesses.
Display: Features for controlling the screen display.
System Interface: Getting the user id, system type, environment

Appendices

Antinews: Info for users downgrading to Emacs 21.
GNU Free Documentation License: The license for this documentation
GPL: Conditions for copying and changing GNU Emacs.
Tips: Advice and coding conventions for Emacs Lisp.
GNU Emacs Internals: Building and dumping Emacs;
Standard Errors: List of all error symbols.
Standard Buffer-Local Variables
Standard Keymaps: List of standard keymaps.
Standard Hooks: List of standard hook variables.
Index: Index including concepts, functions, variables,

--- The Detailed Node Listing --- --------------------------------- Here are other nodes that are inferiors of those already listed, mentioned here so you can get to them in one step: Introduction

Caveats: Flaws and a request for help.
Lisp History: Emacs Lisp is descended from Maclisp.
Conventions: How the manual is formatted.
Version Info: Which Emacs version is running?
Acknowledgements: The authors, editors, and sponsors of this manual.

Conventions

Some Terms: Explanation of terms we use in this manual.
nil and t: How the symbols `nil' and `t' are used.
Evaluation Notation: The format we use for examples of evaluation.
Printing Notation: The format we use for examples that print output.
Error Messages: The format we use for examples of errors.
Buffer Text Notation: The format we use for buffer contents in examples.
Format of Descriptions: Notation for describing functions, variables, etc.

Format of Descriptions

A Sample Function Description: A description of an imaginary
A Sample Variable Description: A description of an imaginary

Lisp Data Types

Printed Representation: How Lisp objects are represented as text.
Comments: Comments and their formatting conventions.
Programming Types: Types found in all Lisp systems.
Editing Types: Types specific to Emacs.
Circular Objects: Read syntax for circular structure.
Type Predicates: Tests related to types.
Equality Predicates: Tests of equality between any two objects.

Programming Types

Integer Type: Numbers without fractional parts.
Floating Point Type: Numbers with fractional parts and with a large range.
Character Type: The representation of letters, numbers and
Symbol Type: A multi-use object that refers to a function,
Sequence Type: Both lists and arrays are classified as sequences.
Cons Cell Type: Cons cells, and lists (which are made from cons cells).
Array Type: Arrays include strings and vectors.
String Type: An (efficient) array of characters.
Vector Type: One-dimensional arrays.
Char-Table Type: One-dimensional sparse arrays indexed by characters.
Bool-Vector Type: One-dimensional arrays of `t' or `nil'.
Hash Table Type: Super-fast lookup tables.
Function Type: A piece of executable code you can call from elsewhere.
Macro Type: A method of expanding an expression into another
Primitive Function Type: A function written in C, callable from Lisp.
Byte-Code Type: A function written in Lisp, then compiled.
Autoload Type: A type used for automatically loading seldom-used

Character Type

Basic Char Syntax: Syntax for regular characters.
General Escape Syntax: How to specify characters by their codes.
Ctl-Char Syntax: Syntax for control characters.
Meta-Char Syntax: Syntax for meta-characters.
Other Char Bits: Syntax for hyper-, super-, and alt-characters.

Cons Cell and List Types

Box Diagrams: Drawing pictures of lists.
Dotted Pair Notation: An alternative syntax for lists.
Association List Type: A specially constructed list.

String Type

Syntax for Strings: How to specify Lisp strings.
Non-ASCII in Strings: International characters in strings.
Nonprinting Characters: Literal unprintable characters in strings.
Text Props and Strings: Strings with text properties.

Editing Types

Buffer Type: The basic object of editing.
Marker Type: A position in a buffer.
Window Type: What makes buffers visible.
Frame Type: Windows subdivide frames.
Window Configuration Type: Recording the way a frame is subdivided.
Frame Configuration Type: Recording the status of all frames.
Process Type: A process running on the underlying OS.
Stream Type: Receive or send characters.
Keymap Type: What function a keystroke invokes.
Overlay Type: How an overlay is represented.

Numbers

Integer Basics: Representation and range of integers.
Float Basics: Representation and range of floating point.
Predicates on Numbers: Testing for numbers.
Comparison of Numbers: Equality and inequality predicates.
Numeric Conversions: Converting float to integer and vice versa.
Arithmetic Operations: How to add, subtract, multiply and divide.
Rounding Operations: Explicitly rounding floating point numbers.
Bitwise Operations: Logical and, or, not, shifting.
Math Functions: Trig, exponential and logarithmic functions.
Random Numbers: Obtaining random integers, predictable or not.

Strings and Characters

String Basics: Basic properties of strings and characters.
Predicates for Strings: Testing whether an object is a string or char.
Creating Strings: Functions to allocate new strings.
Modifying Strings: Altering the contents of an existing string.
Text Comparison: Comparing characters or strings.
String Conversion: Converting characters to strings and vice versa.
Formatting Strings: `format': Emacs's analogue of `printf'.
Case Conversion: Case conversion functions.
Case Tables: Customizing case conversion.

Lists

Cons Cells: How lists are made out of cons cells.
List-related Predicates: Is this object a list? Comparing two lists.
List Elements: Extracting the pieces of a list.
Building Lists: Creating list structure.
List Variables: Modifying lists stored in variables.
Modifying Lists: Storing new pieces into an existing list.
Sets And Lists: A list can represent a finite mathematical set.
Association Lists: A list can represent a finite relation or mapping.
Rings: Managing a fixed-size ring of objects.

Modifying Existing List Structure

Setcar: Replacing an element in a list.
Setcdr: Replacing part of the list backbone.
Rearrangement: Reordering the elements in a list; combining lists.

Sequences, Arrays, and Vectors

Sequence Functions: Functions that accept any kind of sequence.
Arrays: Characteristics of arrays in Emacs Lisp.
Array Functions: Functions specifically for arrays.
Vectors: Special characteristics of Emacs Lisp vectors.
Vector Functions: Functions specifically for vectors.
Char-Tables: How to work with char-tables.
Bool-Vectors: How to work with bool-vectors.

Hash Tables

Creating Hash: Functions to create hash tables.
Hash Access: Reading and writing the hash table contents.
Defining Hash: Defining new comparison methods
Other Hash: Miscellaneous.

Symbols

Symbol Components: Symbols have names, values, function definitions
Definitions: A definition says how a symbol will be used.
Creating Symbols: How symbols are kept unique.
Property Lists: Each symbol has a property list

Property Lists

Plists and Alists: Comparison of the advantages of property
Symbol Plists: Functions to access symbols' property lists.
Other Plists: Accessing property lists stored elsewhere.

Evaluation

Intro Eval: Evaluation in the scheme of things.
Forms: How various sorts of objects are evaluated.
Quoting: Avoiding evaluation (to put constants in
Eval: How to invoke the Lisp interpreter explicitly.

Kinds of Forms

Self-Evaluating Forms: Forms that evaluate to themselves.
Symbol Forms: Symbols evaluate as variables.
Classifying Lists: How to distinguish various sorts of list forms.
Function Indirection: When a symbol appears as the car of a list,
Function Forms: Forms that call functions.
Macro Forms: Forms that call macros.
Special Forms: "Special forms" are idiosyncratic primitives,
Autoloading: Functions set up to load files

Control Structures

Sequencing: Evaluation in textual order.
Conditionals: `if', `cond', `when', `unless'.
Combining Conditions: `and', `or', `not'.
Iteration: `while' loops.
Nonlocal Exits: Jumping out of a sequence.

Nonlocal Exits

Catch and Throw: Nonlocal exits for the program's own purposes.
Examples of Catch: Showing how such nonlocal exits can be written.
Errors: How errors are signaled and handled.
Cleanups: Arranging to run a cleanup form if an

Errors

Signaling Errors: How to report an error.
Processing of Errors: What Emacs does when you report an error.
Handling Errors: How you can trap errors and continue execution.
Error Symbols: How errors are classified for trapping them.
Standard Errors: List of all error symbols.

Variables

Global Variables: Variable values that exist permanently, everywhere.
Constant Variables: Certain "variables" have values that never change.
Local Variables: Variable values that exist only temporarily.
Void Variables: Symbols that lack values.
Defining Variables: A definition says a symbol is used as a variable.
Tips for Defining: Things you should think about when you
Accessing Variables: Examining values of variables whose names
Setting Variables: Storing new values in variables.
Variable Scoping: How Lisp chooses among local and global values.
Buffer-Local Variables: Variable values in effect only in one buffer.
Future Local Variables: New kinds of local values we might add some day.
File Local Variables: Handling local variable lists in files.
Variable Aliases: Variables that are aliases for other variables.
Variables with Restricted Values: Non-constant variables whose value can
Standard Buffer-Local Variables

Scoping Rules for Variable Bindings

Scope: Scope means where in the program a value
Extent: Extent means how long in time a value exists.
Impl of Scope: Two ways to implement dynamic scoping.
Using Scoping: How to use dynamic scoping carefully and

Buffer-Local Variables

Intro to Buffer-Local: Introduction and concepts.
Creating Buffer-Local: Creating and destroying buffer-local bindings.
Default Value: The default value is seen in buffers

Functions

What Is a Function: Lisp functions vs primitives; terminology.
Lambda Expressions: How functions are expressed as Lisp objects.
Function Names: A symbol can serve as the name of a function.
Defining Functions: Lisp expressions for defining functions.
Calling Functions: How to use an existing function.
Mapping Functions: Applying a function to each element of a list, etc.
Anonymous Functions: Lambda-expressions are functions with no names.
Function Cells: Accessing or setting the function definition
Obsolete Functions: Declaring functions obsolete.
Inline Functions: Defining functions that the compiler will open code.
Function Safety: Determining whether a function is safe to call.
Related Topics: Cross-references to specific Lisp primitives

Lambda Expressions

Lambda Components: The parts of a lambda expression.
Simple Lambda: A simple example.
Argument List: Details and special features of argument lists.
Function Documentation: How to put documentation in a function.

Macros

Simple Macro: A basic example.
Expansion: How, when and why macros are expanded.
Compiling Macros: How macros are expanded by the compiler.
Defining Macros: How to write a macro definition.
Backquote: Easier construction of list structure.
Problems with Macros: Don't evaluate the macro arguments too many times.
Indenting Macros: Specifying how to indent macro calls.

Common Problems Using Macros

Wrong Time: Do the work in the expansion, not in the macro.
Argument Evaluation: The expansion should evaluate each macro arg once.
Surprising Local Vars: Local variable bindings in the expansion
Eval During Expansion: Don't evaluate them; put them in the expansion.
Repeated Expansion: Avoid depending on how many times expansion is done.

Writing Customization Definitions

Common Keywords: Common keyword arguments for all kinds of
Group Definitions: Writing customization group definitions.
Variable Definitions: Declaring user options.
Customization Types: Specifying the type of a user option.

Customization Types

Simple Types: Simple customization types: sexp, integer, number,
Composite Types: Build new types from other types or data.
Splicing into Lists: Splice elements into list with `:inline'.
Type Keywords: Keyword-argument pairs in a customization type.
Defining New Types: Give your type a name.

Loading

How Programs Do Loading: The `load' function and others.
Load Suffixes: Details about the suffixes that `load' tries.
Library Search: Finding a library to load.
Loading Non-ASCII: Non-ASCII characters in Emacs Lisp files.
Autoload: Setting up a function to autoload.
Repeated Loading: Precautions about loading a file twice.
Named Features: Loading a library if it isn't already loaded.
Where Defined: Finding which file defined a certain symbol.
Unloading: How to "unload" a library that was loaded.
Hooks for Loading: Providing code to be run when

Byte Compilation

Speed of Byte-Code: An example of speedup from byte compilation.
Compilation Functions: Byte compilation functions.
Docs and Compilation: Dynamic loading of documentation strings.
Dynamic Loading: Dynamic loading of individual functions.
Eval During Compile: Code to be evaluated when you compile.
Compiler Errors: Handling compiler error messages.
Byte-Code Objects: The data type used for byte-compiled functions.
Disassembly: Disassembling byte-code; how to read byte-code.

Advising Emacs Lisp Functions

Simple Advice: A simple example to explain the basics of advice.
Defining Advice: Detailed description of `defadvice'.
Around-Advice: Wrapping advice around a function's definition.
Computed Advice: is to `defadvice' as `fset' is to `defun'.
Activation of Advice: Advice doesn't do anything until you activate it.
Enabling Advice: You can enable or disable each piece of advice.
Preactivation: Preactivation is a way of speeding up the
Argument Access in Advice: How advice can access the function's arguments.
Advising Primitives: Accessing arguments when advising a primitive.
Combined Definition: How advice is implemented.

Debugging Lisp Programs

Debugger: How the Emacs Lisp debugger is implemented.
Edebug: A source-level Emacs Lisp debugger.
Syntax Errors: How to find syntax errors.
Test Coverage: Ensuring you have tested all branches in your code.
Compilation Errors: How to find errors that show up in

The Lisp Debugger

Error Debugging: Entering the debugger when an error happens.
Infinite Loops: Stopping and debugging a program that doesn't exit.
Function Debugging: Entering it when a certain function is called.
Explicit Debug: Entering it at a certain point in the program.
Using Debugger: What the debugger does; what you see while in it.
Debugger Commands: Commands used while in the debugger.
Invoking the Debugger: How to call the function `debug'.
Internals of Debugger: Subroutines of the debugger, and global variables.

Edebug

Using Edebug: Introduction to use of Edebug.
Instrumenting: You must instrument your code
Edebug Execution Modes: Execution modes, stopping more or less often.
Jumping: Commands to jump to a specified place.
Edebug Misc: Miscellaneous commands.
Breaks: Setting breakpoints to make the program stop.
Trapping Errors: Trapping errors with Edebug.
Edebug Views: Views inside and outside of Edebug.
Edebug Eval: Evaluating expressions within Edebug.
Eval List: Expressions whose values are displayed
Printing in Edebug: Customization of printing.
Trace Buffer: How to produce trace output in a buffer.
Coverage Testing: How to test evaluation coverage.
The Outside Context: Data that Edebug saves and restores.
Edebug and Macros: Specifying how to handle macro calls.
Edebug Options: Option variables for customizing Edebug.

Debugging Invalid Lisp Syntax

Excess Open: How to find a spurious open paren or missing close.
Excess Close: How to find a spurious close paren or missing open.

Reading and Printing Lisp Objects

Streams Intro: Overview of streams, reading and printing.
Input Streams: Various data types that can be used as
Input Functions: Functions to read Lisp objects from text.
Output Streams: Various data types that can be used as
Output Functions: Functions to print Lisp objects as text.
Output Variables: Variables that control what the printing

Minibuffers

Intro to Minibuffers: Basic information about minibuffers.
Text from Minibuffer: How to read a straight text string.
Object from Minibuffer: How to read a Lisp object or expression.
Minibuffer History: Recording previous minibuffer inputs
Initial Input: Specifying initial contents for the minibuffer.
Completion: How to invoke and customize completion.
Yes-or-No Queries: Asking a question with a simple answer.
Multiple Queries: Asking a series of similar questions.
Reading a Password: Reading a password from the terminal.
Minibuffer Commands: Commands used as key bindings in minibuffers.
Minibuffer Contents: How such commands access the minibuffer text.
Minibuffer Windows: Operating on the special minibuffer windows.
Recursive Mini: Whether recursive entry to minibuffer is allowed.
Minibuffer Misc: Various customization hooks and variables.

Completion

Basic Completion: Low-level functions for completing strings.
Minibuffer Completion: Invoking the minibuffer with completion.
Completion Commands: Minibuffer commands that do completion.
High-Level Completion: Convenient special cases of completion
Reading File Names: Using completion to read file names.
Programmed Completion: Finding the completions for a given file name.

Command Loop

Command Overview: How the command loop reads commands.
Defining Commands: Specifying how a function should read arguments.
Interactive Call: Calling a command, so that it will read arguments.
Distinguish Interactive: Making a command distinguish interactive calls.
Command Loop Info: Variables set by the command loop for you to examine.
Adjusting Point: Adjustment of point after a command.
Input Events: What input looks like when you read it.
Reading Input: How to read input events from the keyboard or mouse.
Special Events: Events processed immediately and individually.
Waiting: Waiting for user input or elapsed time.
Quitting: How C-g works. How to catch or defer quitting.
Prefix Command Arguments: How the commands to set prefix args work.
Recursive Editing: Entering a recursive edit,
Disabling Commands: How the command loop handles disabled commands.
Command History: How the command history is set up, and how accessed.
Keyboard Macros: How keyboard macros are implemented.

Defining Commands

Using Interactive: General rules for `interactive'.
Interactive Codes: The standard letter-codes for reading arguments
Interactive Examples: Examples of how to read interactive arguments.

Input Events

Keyboard Events: Ordinary characters--keys with symbols on them.
Function Keys: Function keys--keys with names, not symbols.
Mouse Events: Overview of mouse events.
Click Events: Pushing and releasing a mouse button.
Drag Events: Moving the mouse before releasing the button.
Button-Down Events: A button was pushed and not yet released.
Repeat Events: Double and triple click (or drag, or down).
Motion Events: Just moving the mouse, not pushing a button.
Focus Events: Moving the mouse between frames.
Misc Events: Other events the system can generate.
Event Examples: Examples of the lists for mouse events.
Classifying Events: Finding the modifier keys in an event symbol.
Accessing Mouse: Functions to extract info from mouse events.
Accessing Scroll: Functions to get info from scroll bar events.
Strings of Events: Special considerations for putting

Reading Input

Key Sequence Input: How to read one key sequence.
Reading One Event: How to read just one event.
Event Mod: How Emacs modifies events as they are read.
Invoking the Input Method: How reading an event uses the input method.
Quoted Character Input: Asking the user to specify a character.
Event Input Misc: How to reread or throw away input events.

Keymaps

Key Sequences: Key sequences as Lisp objects.
Keymap Basics: Basic concepts of keymaps.
Format of Keymaps: What a keymap looks like as a Lisp object.
Creating Keymaps: Functions to create and copy keymaps.
Inheritance and Keymaps: How one keymap can inherit the bindings
Prefix Keys: Defining a key with a keymap as its definition.
Active Keymaps: How Emacs searches the active keymaps
Searching Keymaps: A pseudo-Lisp summary of searching active maps.
Controlling Active Maps: Each buffer has a local keymap
Key Lookup: How extracting elements from keymaps works.
Functions for Key Lookup: How to request key lookup.
Changing Key Bindings: Redefining a key in a keymap.
Remapping Commands: A keymap can translate one command to another.
Translation Keymaps: Keymaps for translating sequences of events.
Key Binding Commands: Interactive interfaces for redefining keys.
Scanning Keymaps: Looking through all keymaps, for printing help.
Menu Keymaps: A keymap can define a menu for X
Standard Keymaps: List of standard keymaps.

Major and Minor Modes

Hooks: How to use hooks; how to write code that
Major Modes: Defining major modes.
Minor Modes: Defining minor modes.
Mode Line Format: Customizing the text that appears in the mode line.
Imenu: How a mode can provide a menu
Font Lock Mode: How modes can highlight text according to syntax.
Desktop Save Mode: How modes can have buffer state saved between

Menu Keymaps

Defining Menus: How to make a keymap that defines a menu.
Mouse Menus: How users actuate the menu with the mouse.
Keyboard Menus: How users actuate the menu with the keyboard.
Menu Example: Making a simple menu.
Menu Bar: How to customize the menu bar.
Tool Bar: A tool bar is a row of images.
Modifying Menus: How to add new items to a menu.

Defining Menus

Simple Menu Items: A simple kind of menu key binding,
Extended Menu Items: More powerful menu item definitions
Menu Separators: Drawing a horizontal line through a menu.
Alias Menu Items: Using command aliases in menu items.

Major and Minor Modes

Hooks: How to use hooks; how to write code that provides hooks.
Major Modes: Defining major modes.
Minor Modes: Defining minor modes.
Mode Line Format: Customizing the text that appears in the mode line.
Imenu: How a mode can provide a menu
Font Lock Mode: How modes can highlight text according to syntax.
Desktop Save Mode: How modes can have buffer state saved between

Major Modes

Major Mode Basics
Major Mode Conventions: Coding conventions for keymaps, etc.
Example Major Modes: Text mode and Lisp modes.
Auto Major Mode: How Emacs chooses the major mode automatically.
Mode Help: Finding out how to use a mode.
Derived Modes: Defining a new major mode based on another major
Generic Modes: Defining a simple major mode that supports
Mode Hooks: Hooks run at the end of major mode functions.

Minor Modes

Minor Mode Conventions: Tips for writing a minor mode.
Keymaps and Minor Modes: How a minor mode can have its own keymap.
Defining Minor Modes: A convenient facility for defining minor modes.

Mode Line Format

Mode Line Basics
Mode Line Data: The data structure that controls the mode line.
Mode Line Variables: Variables used in that data structure.
%-Constructs: Putting information into a mode line.
Properties in Mode: Using text properties in the mode line.
Header Lines: Like a mode line, but at the top.
Emulating Mode Line: Formatting text as the mode line would.

Font Lock Mode

Font Lock Basics: Overview of customizing Font Lock.
Search-based Fontification: Fontification based on regexps.
Customizing Keywords: Customizing search-based fontification.
Other Font Lock Variables: Additional customization facilities.
Levels of Font Lock: Each mode can define alternative levels
Precalculated Fontification: How Lisp programs that produce the buffer
Faces for Font Lock: Special faces specifically for Font Lock.
Syntactic Font Lock: Fontification based on syntax tables.
Setting Syntax Properties: Defining character syntax based on context
Multiline Font Lock: How to coerce Font Lock into properly

Multiline Font Lock Constructs

Font Lock Multiline: Marking multiline chunks with a text property
Region to Fontify: Controlling which region gets refontified

Documentation

Documentation Basics: Good style for doc strings.
Accessing Documentation: How Lisp programs can access doc strings.
Keys in Documentation: Substituting current key bindings.
Describing Characters: Making printable descriptions of
Help Functions: Subroutines used by Emacs help facilities.

Files

Visiting Files: Reading files into Emacs buffers for editing.
Saving Buffers: Writing changed buffers back into files.
Reading from Files: Reading files into other buffers.
Writing to Files: Writing new files from parts of buffers.
File Locks: Locking and unlocking files, to prevent
Information about Files: Testing existence, accessibility, size of files.
Changing Files: Renaming files, changing protection, etc.
File Names: Decomposing and expanding file names.
Contents of Directories: Getting a list of the files in a directory.
Create/Delete Dirs: Creating and Deleting Directories.
Magic File Names: Defining "magic" special handling
Format Conversion: Conversion to and from various file formats.

Visiting Files

Visiting Functions: The usual interface functions for visiting.
Subroutines of Visiting: Lower-level subroutines that they use.

Information about Files

Testing Accessibility: Is a given file readable? Writable?
Kinds of Files: Is it a directory? A symbolic link?
Truenames: Eliminating symbolic links from a file name.
File Attributes: How large is it? Any other names? Etc.
Locating Files: How to find a file in standard places.

File Names

File Name Components: The directory part of a file name, and the rest.
Relative File Names: Some file names are relative to a
Directory Names: A directory's name as a directory
File Name Expansion: Converting relative file names to absolute ones.
Unique File Names: Generating names for temporary files.
File Name Completion: Finding the completions for a given file name.
Standard File Names: If your package uses a fixed file name,

Backups and Auto-Saving

Backup Files: How backup files are made; how their names
Auto-Saving: How auto-save files are made; how their
Reverting: `revert-buffer', and how to customize

Backup Files

Making Backups: How Emacs makes backup files, and when.
Rename or Copy: Two alternatives: renaming the old file
Numbered Backups: Keeping multiple backups for each source file.
Backup Names: How backup file names are computed; customization.

Buffers

Buffer Basics: What is a buffer?
Current Buffer: Designating a buffer as current
Buffer Names: Accessing and changing buffer names.
Buffer File Name: The buffer file name indicates which file
Buffer Modification: A buffer is "modified" if it needs to be saved.
Modification Time: Determining whether the visited file was changed
Read Only Buffers: Modifying text is not allowed in a
The Buffer List: How to look at all the existing buffers.
Creating Buffers: Functions that create buffers.
Killing Buffers: Buffers exist until explicitly killed.
Indirect Buffers: An indirect buffer shares text with some
Buffer Gap: The gap in the buffer.

Windows

Basic Windows: Basic information on using windows.
Splitting Windows: Splitting one window into two windows.
Deleting Windows: Deleting a window gives its space to other windows.
Selecting Windows: The selected window is the one that you edit in.
Cyclic Window Ordering: Moving around the existing windows.
Buffers and Windows: Each window displays the contents of a buffer.
Displaying Buffers: Higher-level functions for displaying a buffer
Choosing Window: How to choose a window for displaying a buffer.
Window Point: Each window has its own location of point.
Window Start: The display-start position controls which text
Textual Scrolling: Moving text up and down through the window.
Vertical Scrolling: Moving the contents up and down on the window.
Horizontal Scrolling: Moving the contents sideways on the window.
Size of Window: Accessing the size of a window.
Resizing Windows: Changing the size of a window.
Coordinates and Windows: Converting coordinates to windows.
Window Tree: The layout and sizes of all windows in a frame.
Window Configurations: Saving and restoring the state of the screen.
Window Hooks: Hooks for scrolling, window size changes,

Frames

Creating Frames: Creating additional frames.
Multiple Displays: Creating frames on other displays.
Frame Parameters: Controlling frame size, position, font, etc.
Frame Titles: Automatic updating of frame titles.
Deleting Frames: Frames last until explicitly deleted.
Finding All Frames: How to examine all existing frames.
Frames and Windows: A frame contains windows;
Minibuffers and Frames: How a frame finds the minibuffer to use.
Input Focus: Specifying the selected frame.
Visibility of Frames: Frames may be visible or invisible, or icons.
Raising and Lowering: Raising a frame makes it hide other windows;
Frame Configurations: Saving the state of all frames.
Mouse Tracking: Getting events that say when the mouse moves.
Mouse Position: Asking where the mouse is, or moving it.
Pop-Up Menus: Displaying a menu for the user to select from.
Dialog Boxes: Displaying a box to ask yes or no.
Pointer Shape: Specifying the shape of the mouse pointer.
Window System Selections: Transferring text to and from other windows.
Drag and Drop: Internals of Drag-and-Drop implementation.
Color Names: Getting the definitions of color names.
Text Terminal Colors: Defining colors for text-only terminals.
Resources: Getting resource values from the server.
Display Feature Testing: Determining the features of a terminal.

Frame Parameters

Parameter Access: How to change a frame's parameters.
Initial Parameters: Specifying frame parameters when you make a frame.
Window Frame Parameters: List of frame parameters for window systems.
Size and Position: Changing the size and position of a frame.
Geometry: Parsing geometry specifications.

Window Frame Parameters

Basic Parameters: Parameters that are fundamental.
Position Parameters: The position of the frame on the screen.
Size Parameters: Frame's size.
Layout Parameters: Size of parts of the frame, and
Buffer Parameters: Which buffers have been or should be shown.
Management Parameters: Communicating with the window manager.
Cursor Parameters: Controlling the cursor appearance.
Color Parameters: Colors of various parts of the frame.

Positions

Point: The special position where editing takes place.
Motion: Changing point.
Excursions: Temporary motion and buffer changes.
Narrowing: Restricting editing to a portion of the buffer.

Motion

Character Motion: Moving in terms of characters.
Word Motion: Moving in terms of words.
Buffer End Motion: Moving to the beginning or end of the buffer.
Text Lines: Moving in terms of lines of text.
Screen Lines: Moving in terms of lines as displayed.
List Motion: Moving by parsing lists and sexps.
Skipping Characters: Skipping characters belonging to a certain set.

Markers

Overview of Markers: The components of a marker, and how it relocates.
Predicates on Markers: Testing whether an object is a marker.
Creating Markers: Making empty markers or markers at certain places.
Information from Markers: Finding the marker's buffer or character
Marker Insertion Types: Two ways a marker can relocate when you
Moving Markers: Moving the marker to a new buffer or position.
The Mark: How "the mark" is implemented with a marker.
The Region: How to access "the region".

Text

Near Point: Examining text in the vicinity of point.
Buffer Contents: Examining text in a general fashion.
Comparing Text: Comparing substrings of buffers.
Insertion: Adding new text to a buffer.
Commands for Insertion: User-level commands to insert text.
Deletion: Removing text from a buffer.
User-Level Deletion: User-level commands to delete text.
The Kill Ring: Where removed text sometimes is saved for
Undo: Undoing changes to the text of a buffer.
Maintaining Undo: How to enable and disable undo information.
Filling: Functions for explicit filling.
Margins: How to specify margins for filling commands.
Adaptive Fill: Adaptive Fill mode chooses a fill prefix
Auto Filling: How auto-fill mode is implemented to break lines.
Sorting: Functions for sorting parts of the buffer.
Columns: Computing horizontal positions, and using them.
Indentation: Functions to insert or adjust indentation.
Case Changes: Case conversion of parts of the buffer.
Text Properties: Assigning Lisp property lists to text characters.
Substitution: Replacing a given character wherever it appears.
Transposition: Swapping two portions of a buffer.
Registers: How registers are implemented. Accessing
Base 64: Conversion to or from base 64 encoding.
MD5 Checksum: Compute the MD5 "message digest"/"checksum".
Atomic Changes: Installing several buffer changes "atomically".
Change Hooks: Supplying functions to be run when text is changed.

The Kill Ring

Kill Ring Concepts: What text looks like in the kill ring.
Kill Functions: Functions that kill text.
Yanking: How yanking is done.
Yank Commands: Commands that access the kill ring.
Low-Level Kill Ring: Functions and variables for kill ring access.
Internals of Kill Ring: Variables that hold kill-ring data.

Indentation

Primitive Indent: Functions used to count and insert indentation.
Mode-Specific Indent: Customize indentation for different modes.
Region Indent: Indent all the lines in a region.
Relative Indent: Indent the current line based on previous lines.
Indent Tabs: Adjustable, typewriter-like tab stops.
Motion by Indent: Move to first non-blank character.

Text Properties

Examining Properties: Looking at the properties of one character.
Changing Properties: Setting the properties of a range of text.
Property Search: Searching for where a property changes value.
Special Properties: Particular properties with special meanings.
Format Properties: Properties for representing formatting of text.
Sticky Properties: How inserted text gets properties from
Saving Properties: Saving text properties in files, and reading
Lazy Properties: Computing text properties in a lazy fashion
Clickable Text: Using text properties to make regions of text
Links and Mouse-1: How to make <Mouse-1> follow a link.
Fields: The `field' property defines
Not Intervals: Why text properties do not use

Non-ASCII Characters

Text Representations: Unibyte and multibyte representations
Converting Representations: Converting unibyte to multibyte and vice versa.
Selecting a Representation: Treating a byte sequence as unibyte or multi.
Character Codes: How unibyte and multibyte relate to
Character Sets: The space of possible character codes
Chars and Bytes: More information about multibyte encodings.
Splitting Characters: Converting a character to its byte sequence.
Scanning Charsets: Which character sets are used in a buffer?
Translation of Characters: Translation tables are used for conversion.
Coding Systems: Coding systems are conversions for saving files.
Input Methods: Input methods allow users to enter various
Locales: Interacting with the POSIX locale.

Coding Systems

Coding System Basics: Basic concepts.
Encoding and I/O: How file I/O functions handle coding systems.
Lisp and Coding Systems: Functions to operate on coding system names.
User-Chosen Coding Systems: Asking the user to choose a coding system.
Default Coding Systems: Controlling the default choices.
Specifying Coding Systems: Requesting a particular coding system
Explicit Encoding: Encoding or decoding text without doing I/O.
Terminal I/O Encoding: Use of encoding for terminal I/O.
MS-DOS File Types: How DOS "text" and "binary" files

Searching and Matching

String Search: Search for an exact match.
Searching and Case: Case-independent or case-significant searching.
Regular Expressions: Describing classes of strings.
Regexp Search: Searching for a match for a regexp.
POSIX Regexps: Searching POSIX-style for the longest match.
Match Data: Finding out which part of the text matched,
Search and Replace: Commands that loop, searching and replacing.
Standard Regexps: Useful regexps for finding sentences, pages,...

Regular Expressions

Syntax of Regexps: Rules for writing regular expressions.
Regexp Example: Illustrates regular expression syntax.
Regexp Functions: Functions for operating on regular expressions.

Syntax of Regular Expressions

Regexp Special: Special characters in regular expressions.
Char Classes: Character classes used in regular expressions.
Regexp Backslash: Backslash-sequences in regular expressions.

The Match Data

Replacing Match: Replacing a substring that was matched.
Simple Match Data: Accessing single items of match data,
Entire Match Data: Accessing the entire match data at once, as a list.
Saving Match Data: Saving and restoring the match data.

Syntax Tables

Syntax Basics: Basic concepts of syntax tables.
Syntax Descriptors: How characters are classified.
Syntax Table Functions: How to create, examine and alter syntax tables.
Syntax Properties: Overriding syntax with text properties.
Motion and Syntax: Moving over characters with certain syntaxes.
Parsing Expressions: Parsing balanced expressions
Standard Syntax Tables: Syntax tables used by various major modes.
Syntax Table Internals: How syntax table information is stored.
Categories: Another way of classifying character syntax.

Syntax Descriptors

Syntax Class Table: Table of syntax classes.
Syntax Flags: Additional flags each character can have.

Parsing Expressions

Motion via Parsing: Motion functions that work by parsing.
Position Parse: Determining the syntactic state of a position.
Parser State: How Emacs represents a syntactic state.
Low-Level Parsing: Parsing across a specified region.
Control Parsing: Parameters that affect parsing.

Abbrevs And Abbrev Expansion

Abbrev Mode: Setting up Emacs for abbreviation.
Abbrev Tables: Creating and working with abbrev tables.
Defining Abbrevs: Specifying abbreviations and their expansions.
Abbrev Files: Saving abbrevs in files.
Abbrev Expansion: Controlling expansion; expansion subroutines.
Standard Abbrev Tables: Abbrev tables used by various major modes.

Processes

Subprocess Creation: Functions that start subprocesses.
Shell Arguments: Quoting an argument to pass it to a shell.
Synchronous Processes: Details of using synchronous subprocesses.
Asynchronous Processes: Starting up an asynchronous subprocess.
Deleting Processes: Eliminating an asynchronous subprocess.
Process Information: Accessing run-status and other attributes.
Input to Processes: Sending input to an asynchronous subprocess.
Signals to Processes: Stopping, continuing or interrupting
Output from Processes: Collecting output from an asynchronous subprocess.
Sentinels: Sentinels run when process run-status changes.
Query Before Exit: Whether to query if exiting will kill a process.
Transaction Queues: Transaction-based communication with subprocesses.
Network: Opening network connections.
Network Servers: Network servers let Emacs accept net connections.
Datagrams: UDP network connections.
Low-Level Network: Lower-level but more general function
Misc Network: Additional relevant functions for network connections.
Byte Packing: Using bindat to pack and unpack binary data.

Receiving Output from Processes

Process Buffers: If no filter, output is put in a buffer.
Filter Functions: Filter functions accept output from the process.
Decoding Output: Filters can get unibyte or multibyte strings.
Accepting Output: How to wait until process output arrives.

Low-Level Network Access

Proc: Network Processes. Using `make-network-process'.
Options: Network Options. Further control over network connections.
Features: Network Feature Testing.

Packing and Unpacking Byte Arrays

Bindat Spec: Describing data layout.
Bindat Functions: Doing the unpacking and packing.
Bindat Examples: Samples of what bindat.el can do for you!

Emacs Display

Refresh Screen: Clearing the screen and redrawing everything on it.
Forcing Redisplay: Forcing redisplay.
Truncation: Folding or wrapping long text lines.
The Echo Area: Displaying messages at the bottom of the screen.
Warnings: Displaying warning messages for the user.
Invisible Text: Hiding part of the buffer text.
Selective Display: Hiding part of the buffer text (the old way).
Temporary Displays: Displays that go away automatically.
Overlays: Use overlays to highlight parts of the buffer.
Width: How wide a character or string is on the screen.
Line Height: Controlling the height of lines.
Faces: A face defines a graphics style
Fringes: Controlling window fringes.
Scroll Bars: Controlling vertical scroll bars.
Display Property: Enabling special display features.
Images: Displaying images in Emacs buffers.
Buttons: Adding clickable buttons to Emacs buffers.
Abstract Display: Emacs' Widget for Object Collections.
Blinking: How Emacs shows the matching open parenthesis.
Usual Display: The usual conventions for displaying nonprinting chars.
Display Tables: How to specify other conventions.
Beeping: Audible signal to the user.
Window Systems: Which window system is being used.

The Echo Area

Displaying Messages: Explicitly displaying text in the echo area.
Progress: Informing user about progress of a long operation.
Logging Messages: Echo area messages are logged for the user.
Echo Area Customization: Controlling the echo area.

Reporting Warnings

Warning Basics: Warnings concepts and functions to report them.
Warning Variables: Variables programs bind to customize their warnings.
Warning Options: Variables users set to control display of warnings.

Overlays

Managing Overlays: Creating and moving overlays.
Overlay Properties: How to read and set properties.
Finding Overlays: Searching for overlays.

Faces

Defining Faces: How to define a face with `defface'.
Face Attributes: What is in a face?
Attribute Functions: Functions to examine and set face attributes.
Displaying Faces: How Emacs combines the faces specified for
Font Selection: Finding the best available font for a face.
Face Functions: How to define and examine faces.
Auto Faces: Hook for automatic face assignment.
Font Lookup: Looking up the names of available fonts
Fontsets: A fontset is a collection of fonts

Fringes

Fringe Size/Pos: Specifying where to put the window fringes.
Fringe Indicators: Displaying indicator icons in the window fringes.
Fringe Cursors: Displaying cursors in the right fringe.
Fringe Bitmaps: Specifying bitmaps for fringe indicators.
Customizing Bitmaps: Specifying your own bitmaps to use in the fringes.
Overlay Arrow: Display of an arrow to indicate position.

The `display' Property

Specified Space: Displaying one space with a specified width.
Pixel Specification: Specifying space width or height in pixels.
Other Display Specs: Displaying an image; magnifying text; moving it
Display Margins: Displaying text or images to the side of

Images

Image Descriptors: How to specify an image for use in `:display'.
XBM Images: Special features for XBM format.
XPM Images: Special features for XPM format.
GIF Images: Special features for GIF format.
PostScript Images: Special features for PostScript format.
Other Image Types: Various other formats are supported.
Defining Images: Convenient ways to define an image for later use.
Showing Images: Convenient ways to display an image once
Image Cache: Internal mechanisms of image display.

Buttons

Button Properties: Button properties with special meanings.
Button Types: Defining common properties for classes of buttons.
Making Buttons: Adding buttons to Emacs buffers.
Manipulating Buttons: Getting and setting properties of buttons.
Button Buffer Commands: Buffer-wide commands and bindings for buttons.

Abstract Display

Abstract Display Functions: Functions in the Ewoc package.
Abstract Display Example: Example of using Ewoc.

Display Tables

Display Table Format: What a display table consists of.
Active Display Table: How Emacs selects a display table to use.
Glyphs: How to define a glyph, and what glyphs mean.

Operating System Interface

Starting Up: Customizing Emacs start-up processing.
Getting Out: How exiting works (permanent or temporary).
System Environment: Distinguish the name and kind of system.
User Identification: Finding the name and user id of the user.
Time of Day: Getting the current time.
Time Conversion: Converting a time from numeric form to a string, or
Time Parsing: Converting a time from numeric form to text
Processor Run Time: Getting the run time used by Emacs.
Time Calculations: Adding, subtracting, comparing times, etc.
Timers: Setting a timer to call a function at a certain time.
Idle Timers: Setting a timer to call a function when Emacs has
Terminal Input: Accessing and recording terminal input.
Terminal Output: Controlling and recording terminal output.
Sound Output: Playing sounds on the computer's speaker.
X11 Keysyms: Operating on key symbols for X Windows
Batch Mode: Running Emacs without terminal interaction.
Session Management: Saving and restoring state with X Session Management.

Starting Up Emacs

Startup Summary: Sequence of actions Emacs performs at start-up.
Init File: Details on reading the init file (`.emacs').
Terminal-Specific: How the terminal-specific Lisp file is read.
Command-Line Arguments: How command-line arguments are processed,

Getting Out of Emacs

Killing Emacs: Exiting Emacs irreversibly.
Suspending Emacs: Exiting Emacs reversibly.

Terminal Input

Input Modes: Options for how input is processed.
Recording Input: Saving histories of recent or all input events.

Tips and Conventions

Coding Conventions: Conventions for clean and robust programs.
Key Binding Conventions: Which keys should be bound by which programs.
Programming Tips: Making Emacs code fit smoothly in Emacs.
Compilation Tips: Making compiled code run fast.
Warning Tips: Turning off compiler warnings.
Documentation Tips: Writing readable documentation strings.
Comment Tips: Conventions for writing comments.
Library Headers: Standard headers for library packages.

GNU Emacs Internals

Building Emacs: How the dumped Emacs is made.
Pure Storage: A kludge to make preloaded Lisp functions sharable.
Garbage Collection: Reclaiming space for Lisp objects no longer used.
Memory Usage: Info about total size of Lisp objects made so far.
Writing Emacs Primitives: Writing C code for Emacs.
Object Internals: Data formats of buffers, windows, processes.

Object Internals

Buffer Internals: Components of a buffer structure.
Window Internals: Components of a window structure.
Process Internals: Components of a process structure.

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