3.2 How do I find out how to do something in
Emacs?
There are several
methods for finding out how to do things in Emacs.
- The complete text of the Emacs manual is available via the
Info hypertext reader. Type C-h r to display the
manual in Info mode. Typing <h> immediately after
entering Info will provide a short tutorial on how to use it.
- To quickly locate the section of the manual which discusses
a certain issue, or describes a command or a variable, type
C-h i m emacs <RET> i topic
<RET>, where topic is the name of
the topic, the command, or the variable which you are looking
for. If this does not land you on the right place in the
manual, press , (comma) repeatedly until you find
what you need. (The i and , keys invoke
the index-searching functions, which look for the
topic you type in all the indices of the Emacs
manual.)
- You can list all of the commands whose names contain a
certain word (actually which match a regular expression) using
C-h a (M-x command-apropos).
- The command C-h F
(
Info-goto-emacs-command-node) prompts for the
name of a command, and then attempts to find the section in the
Emacs manual where that command is described.
- You can list all of the functions and variables whose names
contain a certain word using M-x apropos.
- You can list all of the functions and variables whose
documentation matches a regular expression or a string, using
M-x apropos-documentation.
- You can order a hardcopy of the manual from the FSF. See
Getting
a printed manual.
- You can get a printed reference card listing commands and
keys to invoke them. You can order one from the FSF for $2 (or
10 for $18), or you can print your own from the
etc/refcards/refcard.tex
or etc/refcards/refcard.pdf files in the
Emacs distribution. Beginning with version 21.1, the Emacs
distribution comes with translations of the reference card into
several languages; look for files named etc/refcards/lang-refcard.*, where lang is a
two-letter code of the language. For example, the German
version of the reference card is in the files
etc/refcards/de-refcard.tex
and etc/recards/de-refcard.pdf.
- There are many other commands in Emacs for getting help and
information. To get a list of these commands, type
‘?’ after
C-h.