SGI Freeware 1999 August/SGI Freeware 1999 August.iso/dist/fw_emacs.idb/usr/freeware/info/emacs-22.z/emacs-22

GNU Info File | 1998-10-28 | 48.8 KB | 1,301 lines

This is Info file ../info/emacs, produced by Makeinfo-1.63 from the
input file emacs.texi.


File: emacs,  Node: Resume Arguments,  Next: Environment,  Prev: Command Example,  Up: Command Arguments

Resuming Emacs with Arguments
=============================

   You can specify action arguments for Emacs when you resume it after
a suspension.  To prepare for this, put the following code in your
`.emacs' file (*note Hooks::.):

     (add-hook 'suspend-hook 'resume-suspend-hook)
     (add-hook 'suspend-resume-hook 'resume-process-args)

   As further preparation, you must execute the shell script
`emacs.csh' (if you use csh as your shell) or `emacs.bash' (if you use
bash as your shell).  These scripts define an alias named `edit', which
will resume Emacs giving it new command line arguments such as files to
visit.

   Only action arguments work properly when you resume Emacs.  Initial
arguments are not recognized--it's too late to execute them anyway.

   Note that resuming Emacs (with or without arguments) must be done
from within the shell that is the parent of the Emacs job.  This is why
`edit' is an alias rather than a program or a shell script.  It is not
possible to implement a resumption command that could be run from other
subjobs of the shell; no way to define a command that could be made the
value of `EDITOR', for example.  Therefore, this feature does not take
the place of the Emacs Server feature (*note Emacs Server::.).

   The aliases use the Emacs Server feature if you appear to have a
server Emacs running.  However, they cannot determine this with complete
accuracy.  They may think that a server is still running when in
actuality you have killed that Emacs, because the file `/tmp/.esrv...'
still exists.  If this happens, find that file and delete it.


File: emacs,  Node: Environment,  Next: Display X,  Prev: Resume Arguments,  Up: Command Arguments

Environment Variables
=====================

   This appendix describes how Emacs uses environment variables.  An
environment variable is a string passed from the operating system to
Emacs, and the collection of environment variables is known as the
environment.  Environment variable names are case sensitive and it is
conventional to use upper case letters only.

   Because environment variables come from the operating system there
is no general way to set them; it depends on the operating system and
especially the shell that you are using.  For example, here's how to set
the environment variable `ORGANIZATION' to `not very much' using bash:

     export ORGANIZATION="not very much"

and here's how to do it in csh or tcsh:

     setenv ORGANIZATION "not very much"

   When Emacs is set-up to use the X windowing system, it inherits the
use of a large number of environment variables from the X library.  See
the X documentation for more information.

* Menu:

* General Variables::     Environment variables that all versions of Emacs use.
* Misc Variables::        Certain system specific variables.


File: emacs,  Node: General Variables,  Next: Misc Variables,  Up: Environment

General Variables
-----------------

`AUTHORCOPY'
     The name of a file used to archive news articles posted with the
     GNUS package.

`CDPATH'
     Used by the `cd' command.

`DOMAINNAME'
     The name of the internet domain that the machine running Emacs is
     located in.  Used by the GNUS package.

`EMACSDATA'
     Used to initialize the variable `data-directory' used to locate the
     architecture-independent files that come with Emacs.  Setting this
     variable overrides the setting in `paths.h' when Emacs was built.

`EMACSLOADPATH'
     A colon-separated list of directories from which to load Emacs Lisp
     files.  Setting this variable overrides the setting in `paths.h'
     when Emacs was built.

`EMACSLOCKDIR'
     The directory that Emacs places lock files--files used to protect
     users from editing the same files simultaneously.  Setting this
     variable overrides the setting in `paths.h' when Emacs was built.

`EMACSPATH'
     The location of Emacs-specific binaries.  Setting this variable
     overrides the setting in `paths.h' when Emacs was built.

`ESHELL'
     Used for shell-mode to override the `SHELL' environment variable.

`HISTFILE'
     The name of the file that shell commands are saved in between
     logins.  This variable defaults to `~/.history' if you use (t)csh
     as shell, to `~/.bash_history' if you use bash, to `~/.sh_history'
     if you use ksh, and to `~/.history' otherwise.

`HOME'
     The location of the user's files in the directory tree; used for
     expansion of file names starting with a tilde (`~').  On MS-DOS, it
     defaults to the directory from which Emacs was started, with `/bin'
     removed from the end if it was present.

`HOSTNAME'
     The name of the machine that Emacs is running on.

`INCPATH'
     A colon-separated list of directories.  Used by the `complete'
     package to search for files.

`INFOPATH'
     A colon separated list of directories holding info files.  Setting
     this variable overrides the setting in `paths.el' when Emacs was
     built.

`LOGNAME'
     The user's login name.  See also `USER'.

`MAIL'
     The name of the user's system mail box.

`MAILRC'
     Name of file containing mail aliases.  This defaults to
     `~/.mailrc'.

`MH'
     Name of setup file for the mh system.  This defaults to
     `~/.mh_profile'.

`NAME'
     The real-world name of the user.

`NNTPSERVER'
     The name of the news server.  Used by the mh and GNUS packages.

`ORGANIZATION'
     The name of the organization to which you belong.  Used for
     setting the `Organization:' header in your posts from the GNUS
     package.

`PATH'
     A colon-separated list of directories in which executables reside.
     (On MS-DOS, it is semicolon-separated instead.)  This variable is
     used to set the Emacs Lisp variable `exec-path' which you should
     consider to use instead.

`PWD'
     If set, this should be the default directory when Emacs was
     started.

`REPLYTO'
     If set, this specifies an initial value for the variable
     `mail-default-reply-to'.  *Note Mail Headers::.

`SAVEDIR'
     The name of a directory in which news articles are saved by
     default.  Used by the GNUS package.

`SHELL'
     The name of an interpreter used to parse and execute programs run
     from inside Emacs.

`TERM'
     The name of the terminal that Emacs is running on.  The variable
     must be set unless Emacs is run in batch mode.  On MS-DOS, it
     defaults to `internal', which specifies a built-in terminal
     emulation that handles the machine's own display.

`TERMCAP'
     The name of the termcap library file describing how to program the
     terminal specified by the `TERM' variable.  This defaults to
     `/etc/termcap'.

`TMPDIR'
     Used by the Emerge package as a prefix for temporary files.

`TZ'
     This specifies the current time zone and possibly also daylight
     savings information.  On MS-DOS, the default is based on country
     code; see the file `msdos.c' for details.

`USER'
     The user's login name.  See also `LOGNAME'.  On MS-DOS, this
     defaults to `root'.

`VERSION_CONTROL'
     Used to initialize the `version-control' variable (*note Backup
     Names::.).


File: emacs,  Node: Misc Variables,  Prev: General Variables,  Up: Environment

Misc Variables
--------------

   These variables are used only on particular configurations:

`COMSPEC'
     On MS-DOS, the name of the command interpreter to use.  This is
     used to make a default value for the `SHELL' environment variable.

`NAME'
     On MS-DOS, this variable defaults to the value of the `USER'
     variable.

`TEMP'
`TMP'
     On MS-DOS, these specify the name of the directory for storing
     temporary files in.

`EMACSTEST'
     On MS-DOS, this specifies a file to use to log the operation of the
     internal terminal emulator.  This feature is useful for submitting
     bug reports.

`EMACSCOLORS'
     Used on MS-DOS systems to set screen colors early, so that the
     screen won't momentarily flash the default colors when Emacs
     starts up.  The value of this variable should be two-character
     encoding of the foreground (the first character) and the
     background (the second character) colors of the default face.
     Each character should be the hexadecimal code for the desired
     color on a standard PC text-mode display.

     Only the low three bits of the background color are actually used,
     because the PC display supports only eight background colors.

`WINDOW_GFX'
     Used when initializing the Sun windows system.


File: emacs,  Node: Display X,  Next: Font X,  Prev: Environment,  Up: Command Arguments

Specifying the Display Name
===========================

   The environment variable `DISPLAY' tells all X clients, including
Emacs, where to display their windows.  Its value is set up by default
in ordinary circumstances, when you start an X server and run jobs
locally.  Occasionally you may need to specify the display yourself; for
example, if you do a remote login and want to run a client program
remotely, displaying on your local screen.

   With Emacs, the main reason people change the default display is to
let them log into another system, run Emacs on that system, but have the
window displayed at their local terminal.  You might need to use login
to another system because the files you want to edit are there, or
because the Emacs executable file you want to run is there.

   The syntax of the `DISPLAY' environment variable is
`HOST:DISPLAY.SCREEN', where HOST is the host name of the X Window
System server machine, DISPLAY is an arbitrarily-assigned number that
distinguishes your server (X terminal) from other servers on the same
machine, and SCREEN is a rarely-used field that allows an X server to
control multiple terminal screens.  The period and the SCREEN field are
optional.  If included, SCREEN is usually zero.

   For example, if your host is named `glasperle' and your server is
the first (or perhaps the only) server listed in the configuration, your
`DISPLAY' is `glasperle:0.0'.

   You can specify the display name explicitly when you run Emacs,
either by changing the `DISPLAY' variable, or with the option `-d
DISPLAY' or `--display=DISPLAY'.  Here is an example:

     emacs --display=glasperle:0 &

   You can inhibit the direct use of X with the `-nw' option.  This is
also an initial option.  It tells Emacs to display using ordinary ASCII
on its controlling terminal.

   Sometimes, security arrangements prevent a program on a remote system
from displaying on your local system.  In this case, trying to run Emacs
produces messages like this:

     Xlib:  connection to "glasperle:0.0" refused by server

You might be able to overcome this problem by using the `xhost' command
on the local system to give permission for access from your remote
machine.


File: emacs,  Node: Font X,  Next: Colors X,  Prev: Display X,  Up: Command Arguments

Font Specification Options
==========================

   By default, Emacs displays text in the font named `9x15', which
makes each character nine pixels wide and fifteen pixels high.  You can
specify a different font on your command line through the option `-fn
NAME'.

`-fn NAME'
     Use font NAME as the default font.

`--font=NAME'
     `--font' is an alias for `-fn'.

   Under X, each font has a long name which consists of eleven words or
numbers, separated by dashes.  Some fonts also have shorter
nicknames--`9x15' is such a nickname.  You can use either kind of name.
You can use wild card patterns for the font name; then Emacs lets X
choose one of the fonts that match the pattern.  Here is an example,
which happens to specify the font whose nickname is `6x13':

     emacs -fn "-misc-fixed-medium-r-semicondensed--13-*-*-*-c-60-iso8859-1" &

You can also specify the font in your `.Xdefaults' file:

     emacs.font: -misc-fixed-medium-r-semicondensed--13-*-*-*-c-60-iso8859-1

   A long font name has the following form:

     -MAKER-FAMILY-WEIGHT-SLANT-WIDTHTYPE-STYLE...
     ...-PIXELS-HEIGHT-HORIZ-VERT-SPACING-WIDTH-CHARSET

FAMILY
     This is the name of the font family-for example, `courier'.

WEIGHT
     This is normally `bold', `medium' or `light'.  Other words may
     appear here in some font names.

SLANT
     This is `r' (roman), `i' (italic), `o' (oblique), `ri' (reverse
     italic), or `ot' (other).

WIDTHTYPE
     This is normally `condensed', `extended', `semicondensed' or
     `normal'.  Other words may appear here in some font names.

STYLE
     This is an optional additional style name.  Usually it is
     empty--most long font names have two hyphens in a row at this
     point.

PIXELS
     This is the font height, in pixels.

HEIGHT
     This is the font height on the screen, measured in printer's points
     (approximately 1/72 of an inch), times ten.  For a given vertical
     resolution, HEIGHT and PIXELS are proportional; therefore, it is
     common to specify just one of them and use `*' for the other.

HORIZ
     This is the horizontal resolution, in pixels per inch, of the
     screen for which the font is intended.

VERT
     This is the vertical resolution, in dots per inch, of the screen
     for which the font is intended.  Normally the resolution of the
     fonts on your system is the right value for your screen;
     therefore, you normally specify `*' for this and HORIZ.

SPACING
     This is `m' (monospace), `p' (proportional) or `c' (character
     cell).  Emacs can use `m' and `c' fonts.

WIDTH
     This is the average character width, in pixels, times ten.

CHARSET
     This is the character set that the font depicts.  Normally you
     should use `iso8859-1'.

   Use only fixed width fonts--that is, fonts in which all characters
have the same width; Emacs cannot yet handle display properly for
variable width fonts.  Any font with `m' or `c' in the SPACING field of
the long name is a fixed width font.  Here's how to use the `xlsfonts'
program to list all the fixed width fonts available on your system:

     xlsfonts -fn '*x*'
     xlsfonts -fn '*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-m*'
     xlsfonts -fn '*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-c*'

To see what a particular font looks like, use the `xfd' command.  For
example:

     xfd -fn 6x13

displays the entire font `6x13'.

   While running Emacs, you can set the font of the current frame
(*note Frame Parameters::.) or for a specific kind of text (*note
Faces::.).


File: emacs,  Node: Colors X,  Next: Window Size X,  Prev: Font X,  Up: Command Arguments

Window Color Options
====================

   On a color display, you can specify which color to use for various
parts of the Emacs display.  To find out what colors are available on
your system, look at the `/usr/lib/X11/rgb.txt' file.  If you do not
specify colors, the default for the background is white and the default
for all other colors is black.  On a monochrome display, the foreground
is black, the background is white, and the border is gray if the
display supports that.

   Here is a list of the options for specifying colors:

`-fg COLOR'
`--foreground-color=COLOR'
     Specify the foreground color.

`-bg COLOR'
`--background-color=COLOR'
     Specify the background color.

`-bd COLOR'
`--border-color=COLOR'
     Specify the color of the border of the X window.

`-cr COLOR'
`--cursor-color=COLOR'
     Specify the color of the Emacs cursor which indicates where point
     is.

`-ms COLOR'
`--mouse-color=COLOR'
     Specify the color for the mouse cursor when the mouse is in the
     Emacs window.

`-r'
`--reverse-video'
     Reverse video--swap the foreground and background colors.

   For example, to use a coral mouse cursor and a slate blue text
cursor, enter:

     emacs -ms coral -cr 'slate blue' &

   You can reverse the foreground and background colors through the
`-r' option or with the X resource `reverseVideo'.


File: emacs,  Node: Window Size X,  Next: Borders X,  Prev: Colors X,  Up: Command Arguments

Options for Window Geometry
===========================

   The `-geometry' option controls the size and position of the initial
Emacs frame.  Here is the format for specifying the window geometry:

`-g WIDTHxHEIGHT{+-}XOFFSET{+-}YOFFSET'
     Specify window size WIDTH and HEIGHT (measured in character
     columns and lines), and positions XOFFSET and YOFFSET (measured in
     pixels).

`--geometry=WIDTHxHEIGHT{+-}XOFFSET{+-}YOFFSET'
     This is another way of writing the same thing.

`{+-}' means either a plus sign or a minus sign.  A plus sign before
XOFFSET means it is the distance from the left side of the screen; a
minus sign means it counts from the right side.  A plus sign before
YOFFSET means it is the distance from the top of the screen, and a
minus sign there indicates the distance from the bottom.  The values
XOFFSET and YOFFSET may themselves be positive or negative, but that
doesn't change their meaning, only their direction.

   Emacs uses the same units as `xterm' does to interpret the geometry.
The WIDTH and HEIGHT are measured in characters, so a large font
creates a larger frame than a small font.  The XOFFSET and YOFFSET are
measured in pixels.

   Since the mode line and the echo area occupy the last 2 lines of the
frame, the height of the initial text window is 2 less than the height
specified in your geometry.  In non-X-toolkit versions of Emacs, the
menu bar also takes one line of the specified number.

   You do not have to specify all of the fields in the geometry
specification.

   If you omit both XOFFSET and YOFFSET, the window manager decides
where to put the Emacs frame, possibly by letting you place it with the
mouse.  For example, `164x55' specifies a window 164 columns wide,
enough for two ordinary width windows side by side, and 55 lines tall.

   The default width for Emacs is 80 characters and the default height
is 40 lines.  You can omit either the width or the height or both.  If
you start the geometry with an integer, Emacs interprets it as the
width.  If you start with an `x' followed by an integer, Emacs
interprets it as the height.  Thus, `81' specifies just the width;
`x45' specifies just the height.

   If you start with `+' or `-', that introduces an offset, which means
both sizes are omitted.  Thus, `-3' specifies the XOFFSET only.  (If
you give just one offset, it is always XOFFSET.)  `+3-3' specifies both
the XOFFSET and the YOFFSET, placing the frame near the bottom left of
the screen.

   You can specify a default for any or all of the fields in
`.Xdefaults' file, and then override selected fields with a
`--geometry' option.


File: emacs,  Node: Borders X,  Next: Title X,  Prev: Window Size X,  Up: Command Arguments

Internal and External Borders
=============================

   An Emacs frame has an internal border and an external border.  The
internal border is an extra strip of the background color around all
four edges of the frame.  Emacs itself adds the internal border.  The
external border is added by the window manager outside the internal
border; it may contain various boxes you can click on to move or iconify
the window.

`-ib WIDTH'
`--internal-border=WIDTH'
     Specify WIDTH as the width of the internal border.

`-bw WIDTH'
`--border-width=WIDTH'
     Specify WIDTH as the width of the main border.

   When you specify the size of the frame, that does not count the
borders.  The frame's position is measured from the outside edge of the
external border.

   Use the `-ib N' option to specify an internal border N pixels wide.
The default is 1.  Use `-bw N' to specify the width of the external
border (though the window manager may not pay attention to what you
specify).  The default width of the external border is 2.


File: emacs,  Node: Title X,  Next: Icons X,  Prev: Borders X,  Up: Command Arguments

Frame Titles
============

   An Emacs frame may or may not have a specified title.  The frame
title, if specified, appears in window decorations and icons as the name
of the frame.  If an Emacs frame has no specified title, the default
title is the name of the executable program (if there is only one frame)
or the selected window's buffer name (if there is more than one frame).

   You can specify a title for the initial Emacs frame with a command
line option:

`-title TITLE'
`--title=TITLE'
`-T TITLE'
     Specify TITLE as the title for the initial Emacs frame.

   The `--name' option (*note Resources X::.) also specifies the title
for the initial Emacs frame.


File: emacs,  Node: Icons X,  Next: Resources X,  Prev: Title X,  Up: Command Arguments

Icons
=====

   Most window managers allow the user to "iconify" a frame, removing
it from sight, and leaving a small, distinctive "icon" window in its
place.  Clicking on the icon window makes the frame itself appear again.
If you have many clients running at once, you can avoid cluttering up
the screen by iconifying most of the clients.

`-i'
`--icon-type'
     Use a picture of a gnu as the Emacs icon.

`-iconic'
`--iconic'
     Start Emacs in iconified state.

   The `-i' or `--icon-type' option tells Emacs to use an icon window
containing a picture of the GNU gnu.  If omitted, Emacs lets the window
manager choose what sort of icon to use--usually just a small rectangle
containing the frame's title.

   The `-iconic' option tells Emacs to begin running as an icon, rather
than opening a frame right away.  In this situation, the icon window
provides only indication that Emacs has started; the usual text frame
doesn't appear until you deiconify it.


File: emacs,  Node: Resources X,  Next: Lucid Resources,  Prev: Icons X,  Up: Command Arguments

X Resources
===========

   Programs running under the X Window System organize their user
options under a hierarchy of classes and resources.  You can specify
default values for these options in your X resources file, usually named
`~/.Xdefaults'.

   Each line in the file specifies a value for one option or for a
collection of related options, for one program or for several programs
(optionally even for all programs).

   Programs define named resources with particular meanings.  They also
define how to group resources into named classes.  For instance, in
Emacs, the `internalBorder' resource controls the width of the internal
border, and the `borderWidth' resource controls the width of the
external border.  Both of these resources are part of the `BorderWidth'
class.  Case distinctions are significant in these names.

   In `~/.Xdefaults', you can specify a value for a single resource on
one line, like this:

     emacs.borderWidth: 2

Or you can use a class name to specify the same value for all resources
in that class.  Here's an example:

     emacs.BorderWidth: 2

   If you specify a value for a class, it becomes the default for all
resources in that class.  You can specify values for individual
resources as well; these override the class value, for those particular
resources.  Thus, this example specifies 2 as the default width for all
borders, but overrides this value with 4 for the external border:

     emacs.Borderwidth: 2
     emacs.borderwidth: 4

   The order in which the lines appear in the file does not matter.
Also, command-line options always override the X resources file.

   The string `emacs' in the examples above is also a resource name.
It actually represents the name of the executable file that you invoke
to run Emacs.  If Emacs is installed under a different name, it looks
for resources under that name instead of `emacs'.

`-name NAME'
`--name=NAME'
     Use NAME as the resource name (and the title) for the initial
     Emacs frame.  This option does not affect subsequent frames, but
     Lisp programs can specify frame names when they create frames.

     If you don't specify this option, the default is to use the Emacs
     executable's name as the resource name.

`-xrm RESOURCE-VALUES'
`--xrm=RESOURCE-VALUES'
     Specify X resource values for this Emacs job (see below).

   For consistency, `-name' also specifies the name to use for other
resource values that do not belong to any particular frame.

   The resources that name Emacs invocations also belong to a class; its
name is `Emacs'.  If you write `Emacs' instead of `emacs', the resource
applies to all frames in all Emacs jobs, regardless of frame titles and
regardless of the name of the executable file.  Here is an example:

     Emacs.BorderWidth: 2
     Emacs.borderWidth: 4

   You can specify a string of additional resource values for Emacs to
use with the command line option `-xrm RESOURCES'.  The text RESOURCES
should have the same format that you would use inside a file of X
resources.  To include multiple resource specifications in DATA, put a
newline between them, just as you would in a file.  You can also use
`#include "FILENAME"' to include a file full of resource
specifications.  Resource values specified with `-xrm' take precedence
over all other resource specifications.

   The following table lists the resource names that designate options
for Emacs, each with the class that it belongs to:

`background' (class `Background')
     Background color name.

`bitmapIcon' (class `BitmapIcon')
     Use a bitmap icon (a picture of a gnu) if `on', let the window
     manager choose an icon if `off'.

`borderColor' (class `BorderColor')
     Color name for the external border.

`borderWidth' (class `BorderWidth')
     Width in pixels of the external border.

`cursorColor' (class `Foreground')
     Color name for text cursor (point).

`font' (class `Font')
     Font name for text.

`foreground' (class `Foreground')
     Color name for text.

`geometry' (class `Geometry')
     Window size and position.  Be careful not to specify this resource
     as `emacs*geometry', because that may affect individual menus as
     well as the Emacs frame itself.

     If this resource specifies a position, that position applies only
     to the initial Emacs frame (or, in the case of a resource for a
     specific frame name, only that frame).  However, the size if
     specified here applies to all frames.

`iconName' (class `Title')
     Name to display in the icon.

`internalBorder' (class `BorderWidth')
     Width in pixels of the internal border.

`menuBar' (class `MenuBar')
     Give frames menu bars if `on'; don't have menu bars if `off'.

`paneFont' (class `Font')
     Font name for menu pane titles, in non-toolkit versions of Emacs.

`pointerColor' (class `Foreground')
     Color of the mouse cursor.

`reverseVideo' (class `ReverseVideo')
     Switch foreground and background default colors if `on', use
     colors as specified if `off'.

`verticalScrollBars' (class `ScrollBars')
     Give frames scroll bars if `on'; don't have scroll bars if `off'.

`selectionFont' (class `Font')
     Font name for pop-up menu items, in non-toolkit versions of Emacs.
     (For toolkit versions, see *Note Lucid Resources::, also see
     *Note Motif Resources::.)

`title' (class `Title')
     Name to display in the title bar of the initial Emacs frame.

   Here are resources for controlling the appearance of particular faces
(*note Faces::.):

`FACE.attributeFont'
     Font for face FACE.

`FACE.attributeForeground'
     Foreground color for face FACE.

`FACE.attributeBackground'
     Background color for face FACE.

`FACE.attributeUnderline'
     Underline flag for face FACE.  Use `on' or `true' for yes.


File: emacs,  Node: Lucid Resources,  Next: Motif Resources,  Prev: Resources X,  Up: Command Arguments

Lucid Menu X Resources
======================

   If the Emacs installed at your site was built to use the X toolkit
with the Lucid menu widgets, then the menu bar is a separate widget and
has its own resources.  The resource names contain `pane.menubar'
(following, as always, the name of the Emacs invocation or `Emacs'
which stands for all Emacs invocations).  Specify them like this:

     Emacs.pane.menubar.RESOURCE:  VALUE

For example, to specify the font `8x16' for the menu bar items, write
this:

     Emacs.pane.menubar.font:  8x16

   Resources for *non-menubar* toolkit popup menus have `menu*', in
like fashion.  For example, to specify the font `8x16' for the popup
menu items, write this:

     Emacs.menu*.font:    8x16

   For dialog boxes, use `dialog' instead of `menu':

     Emacs.dialog*.font:    8x16

   Experience shows that on some systems you may need to add `shell.'
before the `pane.menubar' or `menu*'.  On some other systems, you must
not add `shell.'.

   Here is a list of the specific resources for menu bars and popup
menus:

`font'
     Font for menu item text.

`foreground'
     Color of the foreground.

`background'
     Color of the background.

`buttonForeground'
     In the menu bar, the color of the foreground for a selected item.

`horizontalSpacing'
     Horizontal spacing in pixels between items.  Default is 3.

`verticalSpacing'
     Vertical spacing in pixels between items.  Default is 1.

`arrowSpacing'
     Horizontal spacing between the arrow (which indicates a submenu)
     and the associated text.  Default is 10.

`shadowThickness'
     Thickness of shadow line around the widget.


File: emacs,  Node: Motif Resources,  Prev: Lucid Resources,  Up: Command Arguments

Motif Menu X Resources
======================

   If the Emacs installed at your site was built to use the X toolkit
with the Motif widgets, then the menu bar is a separate widget and has
its own resources.  The resource names contain `pane.menubar'
(following, as always, the name of the Emacs invocation or `Emacs'
which stands for all Emacs invocations).  Specify them like this:

     Emacs.pane.menubar.SUBWIDGET.RESOURCE:  VALUE

   Each individual string in the menu bar is a subwidget; the
subwidget's name is the same as the menu item string.  For example, the
word `Files' in the menu bar is part of a subwidget named
`emacs.pane.menubar.Files'.  Most likely, you want to specify the same
resources for the whole menu bar.  To do this, use `*' instead of a
specific subwidget name.  For example, to specify the font `8x16' for
the menu bar items, write this:

     Emacs.pane.menubar.*.fontList:  8x16

This also specifies the resource value for submenus.

   Each item in a submenu in the menu bar also has its own name for X
resources; for example, the `Files' submenu has an item named `Save
Buffer'.  A resource specification for a submenu item looks like this:

     Emacs.pane.menubar.popup_*.MENU.ITEM.RESOURCE: VALUE

For example, here's how to specify the font for the `Save Buffer' item:

     Emacs.pane.menubar.popup_*.Files.Save Buffer.fontList: 8x16

   For an item in a second-level submenu, such as `Check Message' under
`Spell' under `Edit', the resource fits this template:

     Emacs.pane.menubar.popup_*.popup_*.MENU.RESOURCE: VALUE

For example,

     Emacs.pane.menubar.popup_*.popup_*.Spell.Check Message: VALUE

   It's impossible to specify a resource for all the menu bar items
without also specifying it for the submenus as well.  So if you want the
submenu items to look different from the menu bar itself, you must ask
for that in two steps.  First, specify the resource for all of them;
then, override the value for submenus alone.  Here is an example:

     Emacs.pane.menubar.*.fontList:  8x16
     Emacs.pane.menubar.popup_*.fontList: 8x16

   For toolkit popup menus, use `menu*' instead of `pane.menubar'.  For
example, to specify the font `8x16' for the popup menu items, write
this:

     Emacs.menu*.fontList:  8x16

   Here is a list of the specific resources for menu bars and popup
menus:

`armColor'
     The color to show in an armed button.

`fontList'
     The font to use.

`marginBottom'
`marginHeight'
`marginLeft'
`marginRight'
`marginTop'
`marginWidth'
     Amount of space to leave around the item, within the border.

`borderWidth'
     The width of border around the menu item, on all sides.

`shadowThickness'
     The width of the border shadow.

`bottomShadowColor'
     The color for the border shadow, on the bottom and the right.

`topShadowColor'
     The color for the border shadow, on the bottom and the right.


File: emacs,  Node: Antinews,  Next: MS-DOS,  Prev: Command Arguments,  Up: Top

Emacs 19.28 and 19.29 Antinews
******************************

   For those users who live backwards in time, here is information about
downgrading to Emacs version 19.28 or 19.29.  We hope you will enjoy the
greater simplicity that results from the absence of certain Emacs 19.34
features.

   * This version doesn't support Windows NT, or the DEC Alpha.

   * In Emacs 19.28, or even 19.29, the features for controlling
     indentation in C are much simpler.  There is a separate variable
     for each aspect of indentation which you can control.  Here is a
     list of them:

    `c-indent-level'
          Level of indentation of C statements with respect to
          containing block.

    `c-label-offset'
          Offset of C label lines and case statements relative to usual
          indentation.

    `c-continued-brace-offset'
          Extra indentation for substatements that start with
          open-braces.  This is in addition to
          `c-continued-statement-offset'.

    `c-continued-statement-offset'
          Extra indentation for lines not starting new statements.

    `c-brace-offset'
          Extra indentation for braces, compared with other text in
          same context.

    `c-brace-imaginary-offset'
          Imagined indentation of a C open brace that actually follows
          a statement.

    `c-argdecl-indent'
          Indentation level of declarations of C function arguments.

   * There is no support for editing formatted text.  The text formatter
     TeX does a much better job of formatting than any formatted text
     editor; we recommend you learn to use it.

   * `C-Mouse-2' now runs the menu for setting the default font.

   * F1 is no longer an alias for the Help key; you must actually type
     `C-h' if you want help.

   * Integers and buffer sizes are limited to 24 bits on most machines.
     But as memory gets more expensive, you won't want to edit such
     large files any more.

   * There are no indirect buffers, so you can only display one view of
     an outline.  Meanwhile, the prefix key for Outline minor mode is
     now `C-c C-o'.

   * When you are in Transient Mark mode, incremental search always
     deactivates the mark.

   * Dynamic abbrev completion has been eliminated in 19.28, and some
     of the other dynamic abbrev customization features are also gone.

   * In Dired, Occur mode, Compilation mode, and other such modes, you
     must use `C-c C-c' to select the item point is on.  RET won't do
     it.

   * `M-x buffer-menu' now displays the menu buffer in another window.

   * The VC (version control) package no longer supports CVS or
     selecting branches other than the principal branch.

   * There is no `recover-session' command; if Emacs crashes, you simply
     have to remember which files you were editing before the crash,
     and use `recover-file' on the individual files.

   * In Emacs Lisp mode, `C-M-x' now lets `defvar' operate as it
     usually does--setting the value of the variable only if it has no
     value yet.  Use `ESC ESC' to evaluate a Lisp expression, instead
     of `M-:'.

   * GNU-standard long option names are not supported.  (Real hackers
     prefer the shorter single-dash names, to save typing.)  All the
     initial options must come before all the action options, and
     whatever initial options you use must appear in this order: `-t',
     `-d', `-nw', `-batch', `-q' or `-no-init-file', `-no-site-file',
     `-u' or `-user', `-debug-init'.

   * Many special-case kludges for MS-DOS have been removed.  This means
     that many features don't work on MS-DOS; however, the code of Emacs
     is much simpler.

     For instance, you cannot print from within Emacs, Dired doesn't
     support shell wildcards in filenames, some Lisp packages won't
     work because their standard filenames are invalid on MS-DOS,
     `display-time' doesn't work, Font Lock mode won't work unless you
     create some faces by hand first, and `call-process' cannot
     redirect `stderr'.

     As an additional bonus, you get random characters inserted into the
     buffer without a warning (unless you're clever enough to discover
     that setting `visible-bell' makes this problem to go away).

     In a word, it's a great relief for those who still need proof that
     MS-DOG isn't a real operating system.


File: emacs,  Node: MS-DOS,  Next: Manifesto,  Prev: Antinews,  Up: Top

MS-DOS Issues
*************

   This section briefly describes the peculiarities of using Emacs under
the MS-DOS "operating system" (also known as "MS-DOG").  If you build
Emacs for MS-DOS, the binary will also run on Windows 3, Windows NT,
Windows 95, or OS-2 as a DOS application; the information in this
chapter applies for all of those systems, if you use an Emacs that was
built for MS-DOS.

   Note that it is possible to build Emacs specifically for Windows NT
or Windows 95.  If you do that, most of this chapter does not apply;
instead, you get behavior much closer to what is documented in the rest
of the manual, including support for long file names, multiple frames,
scroll bars, mouse menus, and subprocesses.  However, the section on
text files and binary files does still apply.  There are also two
sections at the end of this chapter which apply specifically for Windows
NT and 95.

* Menu:

* Keyboard and Mouse on MS-DOS::
* Display on MS-DOS::
* File Names on MS-DOS::
* Text and Binary::
* Printing and MS-DOS::
* Subprocesses on MS-DOS::
* Windows Subprocesses::
* System Menu on Windows::


File: emacs,  Node: Keyboard and Mouse on MS-DOS,  Next: Display on MS-DOS,  Up: MS-DOS

Keyboard and Mouse on MS-DOS
============================

   The PC keyboard maps use the left Alt key as the META key.  You have
two choices for emulating the SUPER and HYPER keys: either the right
CONTROL key or the right ALT key by setting the variables
`dos-hyper-key' and `dos-super-key' to 1 or 2 respectively.

   The variable `dos-keypad-mode' is a flag variable which controls
what key codes are returned by keys in the numeric keypad.  There is no
dedicated LFD key; use `C-j' instead.  You can also define the kp-enter
key to act as LFD, by putting the following line into your `_emacs'
file:

     ;; Make the Enter key from the Numeric keypad act as LFD.
     (define-key function-key-map [kp-enter] [?\C-j])

   The key which is called DEL in Emacs (because that's how it is
designated on most workstations) is known as BS (backspace) on a PC.
That is why the PC-specific terminal initialization remaps the BS key
to act as DEL; the DEL key is remapped to act as `C-d' for the same
reasons.

   Emacs on MS-DOS supports a mouse (on the default terminal only).
The mouse commands work as documented, including those that use menus
and the menu bar (*note Menu Bars::.).  Scroll bars don't work in
MS-DOS Emacs.  PC mice usually have only two buttons; these act as
`Mouse-1' and `Mouse-2', but if you press both of them together, that
has the effect of `Mouse-3'.

   The variable `dos-display-scancodes', when non-`nil', directs Emacs
to display the ASCII value and the keyboard scan code of each
keystroke; this feature serves as a complement to the `view-lossage'
command, for debugging.


File: emacs,  Node: Display on MS-DOS,  Next: File Names on MS-DOS,  Prev: Keyboard and Mouse on MS-DOS,  Up: MS-DOS

Display on MS-DOS
=================

   Display on MS-DOS cannot use multiple fonts, but it does support
multiple faces, each of which can specify a foreground and a background
color.  Therefore, you can get the full functionality of Emacs packages
which use fonts (such as `font-lock', Enriched Text mode, and others)
by defining the relevant faces to use different colors.  Use the
`list-colors-display' and `list-faces-display' commands (*note
Modifying Faces::.) to see what colors and faces are available and what
they look like.

   Multiple frames (*note Frames::.) are supported on MS-DOS, but they
all overlap, so you only see a single frame at any given moment.  That
single visible frame occupies the entire screen.  When you run Emacs
under Windows version 3, you can make the visible frame smaller than
the full screen, but Emacs still cannot display more than a single
frame at a time.

   The `mode4350' command switches the display to 43 or 50 lines,
depending on your hardware; the `mode25' command switches to the
default 80x25 screen size.

   By default, Emacs only knows how to set screen sizes of 80 columns by
25 or 43/50 rows.  However, if your video adapter has special video
modes that will switch the display to other sizes, you can have Emacs
support those too.  When you ask Emacs to switch the frame to N rows by
M cols dimensions, it checks if there is a variable called
`screen-dimensions-NxM', and if so, uses its value (which must be an
integer) as the video mode to switch to.  (Emacs switches to that video
mode by calling the BIOS `Set Video Mode' function with the value of
`screen-dimensions-NxM' in the `AL' register.)  For example, suppose
your adapter will switch to 66x80 dimensions when put into video mode
85.  Then you can make Emacs support this screen size by putting the
following into your `_emacs' file:

     (setq screen-dimensions-66x80 85)

   Since Emacs on MS-DOS can only set the frame size to specific
supported dimensions, it cannot honor every possible frame resizing
request.  When an unsupported size is requested, Emacs chooses the next
larger supported size beyond the specified size.  For example, if you
ask for 36x80 frame, you will get 50x80 instead.

   The variables `screen-dimensions-NxM' are used only when they
exactly match the specified size; the search for the next larger
supported size ignores them.  In the above example, even if your VGA
supports 44x80 dimensions and you define a variable
`screen-dimensions-44x80' with a suitable value, you will still get
50x80 screen when you ask for a 36x80 frame.  If you want to get the
44x80 size in this case, you can do it by setting the variable named
`screen-dimensions-36x80' with the same video mode value as
`screen-dimensions-44x80'.

   Changing frame dimensions on MS-DOS has the effect of changing all
the other frames to the new dimensions.


File: emacs,  Node: File Names on MS-DOS,  Next: Text and Binary,  Prev: Display on MS-DOS,  Up: MS-DOS

File Names on MS-DOS
====================

   MS-DOS normally uses a backslash, `\', to separate name units within
a file name, instead of the slash used on other systems.  Emacs on
MS-DOS permits use of either slash or backslash, and also knows about
drive letters in file names.

   On MS-DOS, file names are case-insensitive and limited to eight
characters, plus optionally a period and three more characters.  Emacs
knows enough about these limitations to handle file names that were
meant for other operating systems.  For instance, leading dots `.' in
file names are invalid in MS-DOS, so Emacs transparently converts them
to underscores `_'; thus your default init file (*note Init File::.) is
called `_emacs' on MS-DOS.  Excess characters before or after the
period are generally ignored by MS-DOS itself, so if you, e.g., visit a
file `LongFileName.EvenLongerExtension', you will silently get
`longfile.eve'; but Emacs will still display the long file name on the
mode line.  Other than that, it's up to you to specify file names which
are valid under MS-DOS; the transparent conversion as described above
only works on file names built into Emacs.

   The above restrictions on the file names on MS-DOS make it almost
impossible to construct the name of a backup file (*note Backup
Names::.) without losing some of the original file name characters.  For
example, the name of a backup file for `docs.txt' is `docs.tx~' even if
single backup is used.

   If you run Emacs as a DOS application under Windows 95 or NT, you can
turn on support for long file names.  If you do that, Emacs doesn't
truncate file names or convert them to lower case; instead, it uses the
file names that you specify, verbatim.  To enable long file name
support, set the environment variable `LFN' to `y' before starting
Emacs.

   MS-DOS has no notion of home directory, so Emacs on MS-DOS pretends
that the directory where it is installed is the value of `HOME'
environment variable.  That is, if your Emacs binary, `emacs.exe', is
in the directory `c:/utils/emacs/bin', then Emacs acts as if `HOME'
were set to `c:/utils/emacs'.  In particular, that is where Emacs looks
for the init file `_emacs'.  With this in mind, you can use `~' in file
names as an alias for the home directory, as you would in Unix.  You
can also set `HOME' variable in the environment before starting Emacs;
its value will then override the above default behavior.


File: emacs,  Node: Text and Binary,  Next: Printing and MS-DOS,  Prev: File Names on MS-DOS,  Up: MS-DOS

Text Files and Binary Files
===========================

   Emacs on MS-DOS distinguishes between text and binary files.  This
distinction is not part of MS-DOS; it is made by Emacs only.  Emacs
treats files of human-readable text (including program source code) as
text files, and treats executable programs, compressed archives, etc.,
as binary files.  Emacs uses the file name to decide whether to treat a
file as text or binary: the variable `file-name-buffer-file-type-alist'
defines the file name patterns which denote binary files.

   Emacs reads and writes binary files verbatim.  Text files use a two
character sequence to end a line: carriage-return (control-m) followed
by newline (control-j).  When you visit a text file, Emacs strips off
these control-m characters; when you write a text file to disk, Emacs
puts them back in.  Thus, the text appears within Emacs with just a
newline character at the end of each line.

   You can tell whether Emacs considers the visited file as text or
binary based on the mode line (*note Mode Line::.).  Text files have a
`T:' marker prefixed to the major mode name; binary files have a `B:'
prefix.

   One consequence of this special format-conversion of text files is
that character positions as reported by Emacs (*note Position Info::.)
do not agree with the file size information known to the operating
system.


File: emacs,  Node: Printing and MS-DOS,  Next: Subprocesses on MS-DOS,  Prev: Text and Binary,  Up: MS-DOS

Printing and MS-DOS
===================

   Printing commands, such as `lpr-buffer' (*note Hardcopy::.) and
`ps-print-buffer' (*note Postscript::.) can work in MS-DOS by sending
the output to one of the printer ports, if a Unix-style `lpr' program
is unavailable.  A few DOS-specific variables control how this works.

   If you want to use your local printer, printing on it in the usual
DOS manner, then set the Lisp variable `dos-printer' to the name of the
printer port--for example. `"PRN"', the usual local printer port
(that's the default), or `"LPT2"' or `"COM1"' for a serial printer.
You can also set `dos-printer' to a file name, in which case "printed"
output is actually appended to that file.  If you set `dos-printer' to
`"NUL"', printed output is silently discarded.

   If you set `dos-printer' to a file name, it's best to use an
absolute file name.  Emacs changes the working directory according to
the default directory of the current buffer, so if the file name in
`dos-printer' is relative, you will end up with several such files,
each one in the directory of the buffer from which the printing was
done.

   The commands `print-buffer' and `print-region' call the `pr'
program, or use special switches to the `lpr' program, to produce
headers on each printed page.  MS-DOS doesn't normally have these
programs, so by default, the variable `lpr-headers-switches' is set so
that the requests to print page headers are silently ignored.  Thus,
`print-buffer' and `print-region' produce the same output as
`lpr-buffer' and `lpr-region', respectively.  If you do have a suitable
`pr' program (e.g., from GNU Textutils), set `lpr-headers-switches' to
`nil'; Emacs will then call `pr' to produce the page headers, and print
the resulting output as specified by `dos-printer'.

   Finally, if you do have an `lpr' work-alike, you can set
`print-region-function' to `nil'.  Then Emacs uses `lpr' for printing,
as on other systems.  (If the name of the program isn't `lpr', set the
`lpr-command' variable to specify where to find it.)

   A separate variable, `dos-ps-printer', defines how PostScript files
should be printed.  If its value is a string, it is used as the name of
the device (or file) to which PostScript output is sent, just as
`dos-printer' is used for non-PostScript printing.  (These are two
distinct variables in case you have two printers attached to two
different ports, and only one of them is a PostScript printer.)  If the
value of `dos-ps-printer' is not a string, then the variables
`ps-lpr-command' and `ps-lpr-switches' (*note Postscript::.) control
how to print PostScript files.  Thus, if you have a non-PostScript
printer, you can set these variables to the name and the switches
appropriate for a PostScript interpreter program (e.g., Ghostscript).

   For example, to use Ghostscript for printing on an Epson printer
connected to `LPT2' port, put this on your `.emacs' file:

     (setq dos-ps-printer t)  ; Anything but a string.
     (setq ps-lpr-command "c:/gs/gs386")
     (setq ps-lpr-switches '("-q" "-dNOPAUSE"
                 "-sDEVICE=epson"
                 "-r240x72"
                 "-sOutputFile=LPT2"
                 "-Ic:/gs"
                 "-"))

(This assumes that Ghostscript is installed in the `"c:/gs"' directory.)