code:
@node Frame, Keystrokes, Concept Index, Top
@comment  node-name,  next,  previous,  up
@chapter The XEmacs Frame
@cindex frame
@cindex window
@cindex buffer

@table @asis
@item Frame
In many environments, such as a tty terminal, an XEmacs frame
literally takes up the whole screen.  If you are
running XEmacs in a multi-window system like the X Window System, the
XEmacs frame takes up one X window.  @xref{XEmacs under X}, for more
information.@refill

@item Window
No matter what environment you are running in, XEmacs allows you to look
at several buffers at the same time by having several windows be part of
the frame.  Often, the whole frame is taken up by just one window, but
you can split the frame into two or more subwindows.  If you are
running XEmacs under the X window system, that means you can have several
@dfn{XEmacs windows} inside the X window that contains the XEmacs frame.
You can even have multiple frames in different X windows, each with
their own set of subwindows.
@refill
@end table

Each XEmacs frame displays a variety of information:
@itemize @bullet
@item
The biggest area usually displays the text you are editing.  It may
consist of one window or of two or more windows if you need to look at two
buffers a the same time.
@item
Below each text window's last line is a @dfn{mode line} (@pxref{Mode
Line}), which describes what is going on in that window.  The mode line
is in inverse video if the terminal supports that.  If there are several
XEmacs windows in one frame, each window has its own mode line.
@item
At the bottom of each XEmacs frame is the @dfn{echo area} or @dfn{minibuffer
window}(@pxref{Echo Area}).  It is used by XEmacs to exchange information
with the user.  There is only one echo area per XEmacs frame.
@item
If you are running XEmacs under a graphical windowing system, a
menu bar at the top of the frame makes shortcuts to several of the
commands available (@pxref{Pull-down Menus}).
@item
Under a graphical windowing system, a
toolbar at the top of the frame, just under the menu bar if it exists,
provides ``one-touch'' shortcuts to several commands.  (Not yet
documented.)
@item
Under a graphical windowing system, a
gutter at the top (under the toolbar) and/or bottom of the frame
provides advanced GUI facilities like tab controls for rapid switching
among related windows and progress bars for time-consuming operations
like downloads across the Internet.  Gutters are an experimental feature
introduced in XEmacs version 21.2.  (Not yet documented.)
@end itemize

  You can subdivide the XEmacs frame into multiple text windows, and use
each window for a different file (@pxref{Windows}).  Multiple XEmacs
windows are tiled vertically on the XEmacs frame.  The upper XEmacs window
is separated from the lower window by its mode line.

  When there are multiple, tiled XEmacs windows on a single XEmacs frame,
the XEmacs window receiving input from the keyboard has the @dfn{keyboard
focus} and is called the @dfn{selected window}.  The selected window
contains the cursor, which indicates the insertion point.  If you are
working in an environment that permits multiple XEmacs frames, and you
move the focus from one XEmacs frame into another, the
selected window is the one that was last selected in that frame.

  The same text can be displayed simultaneously in several XEmacs
windows, which can be in different XEmacs frames.  If you alter the text
in an XEmacs buffer by editing it in one XEmacs window, the changes are
visible in all XEmacs windows containing that buffer.

@menu
* Point::	        The place in the text where editing commands operate.
* Echo Area::           Short messages appear at the bottom of the frame.
* Mode Line::	        Interpreting the mode line.
* GUI Components::      Menubar, toolbars, gutters.
* XEmacs under X::      Some information on using XEmacs under the X
                        Window System.
* XEmacs under MS Windows:: Some information on using XEmacs under
                        Microsoft Windows.
@end menu

@node Point, Echo Area, Frame, Frame
@comment  node-name,  next,  previous,  up
@section Point
@cindex point
@cindex cursor

  When XEmacs is running, the cursor shows the location at which editing
commands will take effect.  This location is called @dfn{point}.  You
can use keystrokes or the mouse cursor to move point through the text
and edit the text at different places.

  While the cursor appears to point @var{at} a character, you should
think of point as @var{between} two characters: it points @var{before}
the character on which the cursor appears.  The exception is at the
end of the line, where the cursor appears after the last character of
the line.  Where the display is capable, the cursor at the end of the
line will appear differently from a cursor over whitespace at the end
of the line.  (In an X Windows frame, the end-of-line cursor is half
the width of a within-line cursor.)  Sometimes people speak of ``the
cursor'' when they mean ``point,'' or speak of commands that move
point as ``cursor motion'' commands.

 Each XEmacs frame has only one cursor.  When output is in progress, the cursor
must appear where the typing is being done.  This does not mean that
point is moving.  It is only that XEmacs has no way to show you the
location of point except when the terminal is idle.

  If you are editing several files in XEmacs, each file has its own point
location.  A file that is not being displayed remembers where point is.
Point becomes visible at the correct location when you look at the file again.

  When there are multiple text windows, each window has its own point
location.  The cursor shows the location of point in the selected
window.  The visible cursor also shows you which window is selected.  If
the same buffer appears in more than one window, point can be moved in
each window independently.

  The term `point' comes from the character @samp{.}, which was the
command in TECO (the language in which the original Emacs was written)
for accessing the value now called `point'.

@node Echo Area, Mode Line, Point, Frame
@section The Echo Area
@cindex echo area

  The line at the bottom of the frame (below the mode line) is the
@dfn{echo area}.  XEmacs uses this area to communicate with the user:

@itemize @bullet
@item
  @dfn{Echoing} means printing out the characters that the user types.  XEmacs
never echoes single-character commands.  Multi-character commands are
echoed only if you pause while typing them: As soon as you pause for more
than one second in the middle of a command, all the characters of the command
so far are echoed.  This is intended to @dfn{prompt} you for the rest of
the command.  Once echoing has started, the rest of the command is echoed
immediately as you type it.  This behavior is designed to give confident
users fast response, while giving hesitant users maximum feedback.  You
can change this behavior by setting a variable (@pxref{Display Vars}).
@item
  If you issue a command that cannot be executed, XEmacs may print an
@dfn{error message} in the echo area.  Error messages are accompanied by
a beep or by flashing the frame.  Any input you have typed ahead is
thrown away when an error happens.
@item
  Some commands print informative messages in the echo area.  These
messages look similar to error messages, but are not announced with a
beep and do not throw away input.  Sometimes a message tells you what the
command has done, when this is not obvious from looking at the text being
edited.  Sometimes the sole purpose of a command is to print a message
giving you specific information.  For example, the command @kbd{C-x =} is
used to print a message describing the character position of point in the
text and its current column in the window.  Commands that take a long time
often display messages ending in @samp{...} while they are working, and
add @samp{done} at the end when they are finished.
@item
  The echo area is also used to display the @dfn{minibuffer}, a window
that is used for reading arguments to commands, such as the name of a
file to be edited.  When the minibuffer is in use, the echo area displays
with a prompt string that usually ends with a colon.  The cursor
appears after the prompt.  You can always get out of the minibuffer by
typing @kbd{C-g}.  @xref{Minibuffer}.
@end itemize

@node Mode Line, GUI Components, Echo Area, Frame
@comment  node-name,  next,  previous,  up
@section The Mode Line
@cindex mode line
@cindex top level

  Each text window's last line is a @dfn{mode line} which describes what is
going on in that window.  When there is only one text window, the mode line
appears right above the echo area.  The mode line is in inverse video if
the terminal supports that, starts and ends with dashes, and contains text
like @samp{XEmacs:@: @var{something}}.

  If a mode line has something else in place of @samp{XEmacs:@:
@var{something}}, the window above it is in a special subsystem
such as Dired.  The mode line then indicates the status of the
subsystem.

  Normally, the mode line has the following appearance:

@example
--@var{ch}-XEmacs: @var{buf}      (@var{major} @var{minor})----@var{pos}------
@end example

@noindent
This gives information about the buffer being displayed in the window: the
buffer's name, what major and minor modes are in use, whether the buffer's
text has been changed, and how far down the buffer you are currently
looking.

  @var{ch} contains two stars (@samp{**}) if the text in the buffer has been
edited (the buffer is ``modified''), or two dashes (@samp{--}) if the
buffer has not been edited.  Exception: for a read-only buffer, it is
@samp{%%}.

  @var{buf} is the name of the window's chosen @dfn{buffer}.  The chosen
buffer in the selected window (the window that the cursor is in) is also
XEmacs's selected buffer, the buffer in which editing takes place.  When
we speak of what some command does to ``the buffer'', we mean the
currently selected buffer.  @xref{Buffers}.

  @var{pos} tells you whether there is additional text above the top of
the screen or below the bottom.  If your file is small and it is
completely visible on the screen, @var{pos} is @samp{All}.  Otherwise,
@var{pos} is @samp{Top} if you are looking at the beginning of the file,
@samp{Bot} if you are looking at the end of the file, or
@samp{@var{nn}%}, where @var{nn} is the percentage of the file above the
top of the screen.@refill

  @var{major} is the name of the @dfn{major mode} in effect in the buffer.  At
any time, each buffer is in one and only one major mode.
The available major modes include Fundamental mode (the least specialized),
Text mode, Lisp mode, and C mode.  @xref{Major Modes}, for details
on how the modes differ and how you select one.@refill

  @var{minor} is a list of some of the @dfn{minor modes} that are turned on
in the window's chosen buffer.  For example, @samp{Fill} means that Auto
Fill mode is on.  @code{Abbrev} means that Word Abbrev mode is on.
@code{Ovwrt} means that Overwrite mode is on.  @xref{Minor Modes}, for more
information.  @samp{Narrow} means that the buffer being displayed has
editing restricted to only a portion of its text.  This is not really a
minor mode, but is like one.  @xref{Narrowing}.  @code{Def} means that a
keyboard macro is being defined.  @xref{Keyboard Macros}.

  Some buffers display additional information after the minor modes.  For
example, Rmail buffers display the current message number and the total
number of messages.  Compilation buffers and Shell mode display the status
of the subprocess.

  If XEmacs is currently inside a recursive editing level, square
brackets (@samp{[@dots{}]}) appear around the parentheses that surround
the modes.  If XEmacs is in one recursive editing level within another,
double square brackets appear, and so on.  Since information on
recursive editing applies to XEmacs in general and not to any one buffer,
the square brackets appear in every mode line on the screen or not in
any of them.  @xref{Recursive Edit}.@refill

@findex display-time
  XEmacs can optionally display the time and system load in all mode lines.
To enable this feature, type @kbd{M-x display-time}.  The information added
to the mode line usually appears after the file name, before the mode names
and their parentheses.  It looks like this:

@example
@var{hh}:@var{mm}pm @var{l.ll} [@var{d}]
@end example

@noindent
(Some fields may be missing if your operating system cannot support them.)
@var{hh} and @var{mm} are the hour and minute, followed always by @samp{am}
or @samp{pm}.  @var{l.ll} is the average number of running processes in the
whole system recently.  @var{d} is an approximate index of the ratio of
disk activity to CPU activity for all users.

The word @samp{Mail} appears after the load level if there is mail for
you that you have not read yet.

@vindex mode-line-inverse-video
  Customization note: the variable @code{mode-line-inverse-video}
controls whether the mode line is displayed in inverse video (assuming
the terminal supports it); @code{nil} means no inverse video.  The
default is @code{t}.  For X frames, simply set the foreground and
background colors appropriately.

@node GUI Components, XEmacs under X, Mode Line, Frame
@comment  node-name,  next,  previous,  up
@section GUI Components

When executed in a graphical windowing environment such as the X Window
System or Microsoft Windows, XEmacs displays several graphical user
interface components such as scrollbars, menubars, toolbars, and
gutters.  By default there is a vertical scrollbar at the right of each
frame, and at the top of the frame there is a menubar, a toolbar, and a
gutter, in that order.  Gutters can contain any of several widgets, but
the default configuration puts a set of "notebook tabs" which you can
use as a shortcut for selecting any of several related buffers in a
given frame.  Operating the GUI components is "obvious":  click on the
menubar to pull down a menu, on a button in the toolbar to invoke a
function, and on a tab in the gutter to switch buffers.

@menu
* Menubar Basics::      How XEmacs uses the menubar.
* Scrollbar Basics::    How XEmacs uses scrollbars.
* Mode Line Basics::    How XEmacs uses modelines.
* Toolbar Basics::      How XEmacs uses toolbars.
* Gutter Basics::       How XEmacs uses gutters.
* Inhibiting::          What if you don't like GUI?
* Customizing::         Position, orientation, and appearance of GUI objects.
@end menu

@node Menubar Basics, Scrollbar Basics, , GUI Components
@comment  node-name,  next,  previous,  up
@section The XEmacs Menubar

The XEmacs menubar is intended to be conformant to the usual conventions
for menubars, although conformance is not yet perfect.  The menu at the
extreme right is the @samp{Help} menu, which should always be
available.  It provides access to all the XEmacs help facilities
available through @kbd{C-h}, as well as samples of various configuration
files like @samp{~/.Xdefaults} and @samp{~/.emacs}.  At the extreme left
is the @samp{Files} menu, which provides the usual file reading,
writing, and printing operations, as well as operations like revert
buffer from most recent save.  The next menu from the left is the
@samp{Edit} menu, which provides the @samp{Undo} operation as well as
cutting and pasting, searching, and keyboard macro definition and
execution.

@c #### w3.el and VM should get cross-references here.
XEmacs provides a very dynamic environment, and the Lisp language makes
for highly flexible applications.  The menubar reflects this: many menus
(eg, the @samp{Buffers} menu, @pxref{Buffers Menu}) contain items
determined by the current state of XEmacs, and most major modes and many
minor modes add items to menus and even whole menus to the menubar.  In
fact, some applications like w3.el and VM provide so many menus that
they define a whole new menubar and add a button that allows convenient
switching between the ``XEmacs menubar'' and the ``application
menubar''.  Such applications normally bind themselves to a particular
frame, and this switching only takes place on frames where such an
application is active (ie, the current window of the frame is displaying
a buffer in the appropriate major mode).

Other menus which are typically available are the @samp{Options},
@samp{Tools}, @samp{Buffers}, @samp{Apps}, and @samp{Mule} menus.  For
detailed descriptions of these menus, @ref{Pull-down Menus}.  (In 21.2
XEmacsen, the @samp{Mule} menu will be moved under @samp{Options}.)

@node Scrollbar Basics, Mode Line Basics, Menubar Basics, GUI Components
@comment  node-name,  next,  previous,  up
@section XEmacs Scrollbars

XEmacs scrollbars provide the usual interface.  Arrow buttons at either
end allow for line by line scrolling, including autorepeat.  Clicking in
the scrollbar itself provides scrolling by windowsfull, depending on
which side of the slider is clicked.  The slider itself may be dragged
for smooth scrolling.

The position of the slider corresponds to the position of the window in
the buffer.  In particular, the length of the slider is proportional to
the fraction of the buffer which appears in the window.

The presence of the scrollbars is under control of the application or
may be customized by the user.  By default a vertical scrollbar is
present in all windows (except the minibuffer), and there is no
horizontal scrollbar.

@node Mode Line Basics, Toolbar Basics, Scrollbar Basics, GUI Components
@comment  node-name,  next,  previous,  up
@section XEmacs Mode Lines

When used in a windowing system, the XEmacs modelines can be dragged
vertically. The effect is to resize the windows above and below the
modeline (this includes the minibuffer window).

Additionally, a modeline can be dragged horizontally, in which case it
scrolls its own text. This behavior is not enabled by default because it
could be considered as disturbing when dragging vertically. When this
behavior is enabled, the modeline's text can be dragged either in the
same direction as the mouse, or in the opposite sense, making the
modeline act as a scrollbar for its own text.

You can select the behavior you want from the @samp{Display} submenu of
the @samp{Options} menu.

@node Toolbar Basics, Gutter Basics, Mode Line Basics, GUI Components
@comment  node-name,  next,  previous,  up
@section XEmacs Toolbars

XEmacs has a default toolbar which provides shortcuts for some of the
commonly used operations (such as opening files) and applications (such
as the Info manual reader).  Operations which require arguments will pop
up dialogs to get them.

The position of the default toolbar can be customized.  Also, several
toolbars may be present simultaneously (in different positions).  VM,
for example, provides an application toolbar which shortcuts for
mail-specific operations like sending, saving, and deleting messages.

@node Gutter Basics, Inhibiting, Toolbar Basics, GUI Components
@comment  node-name,  next,  previous,  up
@section XEmacs Gutters

Gutters are the most flexible of the GUI components described in this
section.  In theory, the other GUI components could be implemented by
customizing a gutter, but in practice the other components were
introduced earlier and have their own special implementations.  Gutters
tend to be more transient than the other components.  Buffer tabs, for
example, change every time the selected buffer in the frame changes.
And for progress gauges a gutter to contain the gauge is typically
created on the fly when needed, then destroyed when the operation whose
staus is being displayed is completed.

Buffer tabs, having somewhat complex behavior, deserve a closer look.
By default, a row of buffer tabs is displayed at the top of every frame.
(The tabs could be placed in the bottom gutter, but would be oriented
the same way and look rather odd.  The horizontal orientation makes
putting them in a side gutter utterly impractical.)  The buffer
displayed in the current window of a frame can be changed to a specific
buffer by clicking [mouse-1] on the corresponding tab in the gutter.

Each tab contains the name of its buffer.  The tab for the current
buffer in each frame is displayed in raised relief.  The list of buffers
chosen for display in the buffer tab row is derived by filtering the
buffer list (like the @code{Buffers} menu).  The list starts out with
all existing buffers, with more recently selected buffers coming earlier
in the list.

Then "uninteresting" buffers, like internal XEmacs buffers, the
@code{*Message Log*} buffer, and so on are deleted from the list.  Next,
the frame's selected buffer is determined.  Buffers with a different
major mode from the selected buffer are removed from the list.  Finally,
if the list is too long, the least recently used buffers are deleted
from the list.  By default up to 6 most recently used buffers with the
same mode are displayed on tabs in the gutter.

@node Inhibiting, Customizing, Gutter Basics, GUI Components
@comment  node-name,  next,  previous,  up
@section Inhibiting Display of GUI Components

Use of GUI facilities is a personal thing.  Almost everyone agrees that
drawing via keyboard-based "turtle graphics" is acceptable to hardly
anyone if a mouse is available, but conversely emulating a keyboard with
a screenful of buttons is a painful experience.  But between those
extremes the complete novice will require a fair amount of time before
toolbars and menus become dispensable, but many an "Ancien Haquer" sees
them as a complete waste of precious frame space that could be filled
with text.

Display of all of the GUI components created by XEmacs can be inhibited
through the use of Customize.  Customize can be accessed through
@samp{Options | Customize} in the menu bar, or via @kbd{M-x customize}.
Then navigate through the Customize tree to @samp{Emacs | Environment}.
Scrollbar and toolbar visibility is controlled via the @samp{Display}
group, options @samp{Scrollbars visible} and  @samp{Toolbar visible}
respectively.  Gutter visibility is controlled by group @samp{Gutter},
option @samp{Visible}.

Or they can be controlled directly by @kbd{M-x customize-variable}, by
changing the values of the variables @code{menubar-visible-p},
@code{scrollbars-visible-p}, @code{toolbar-visible-p}, or
@code{gutter-buffers-tab-visible-p} respectively.  (The strange form of
the last variable is due to the fact that gutters are often used to
display transient widgets like progress gauges, which you probably don't
want to inhibit.  It is more likely that you want to inhibit the default
display of the buffers tab widget, which is what that variable controls.
This interface is subject to change depending on developer experience
and user feedback.)

Control of frame configuration can controlled automatically according to
various parameters such as buffer or frame because these are
@dfn{specifiers} @ref{Specifiers, , , lispref}.  Using these features
requires programming in Lisp; Customize is not yet that sophisticated.
Also, components that appear in various positions and orientations can
have display suppressed according to position.  @kbd{C-h a visible-p}
gives a list of variables which can be customized.  E.g., to control the
visibility of specifically the left-side toolbar only, customize
@code{left-toolbar-visible-p}.

@node Customizing, , Inhibiting, GUI Components
@comment  node-name,  next,  previous,  up
@section Changing the Position, Orientation, and Appearance of GUI Components

  #### Not documented yet.

@node XEmacs under X, XEmacs under MS Windows, GUI Components, Frame
@section Using XEmacs Under the X Window System
@comment  node-name,  next,  previous,  up

XEmacs can be used with the X Window System and a window manager like
MWM or TWM.  In that case, the X window manager opens, closes, and
resizes XEmacs frames.  You use the window manager's mouse gestures to
perform the operations.  Consult your window manager guide or reference
manual for information on manipulating X windows.

When you are working under X, each X window (that is, each XEmacs frame)
has a menu bar for mouse-controlled operations (@pxref{Pull-down Menus}).

@cindex multi-frame XEmacs
@findex make-frame
XEmacs under X is also a multi-frame XEmacs.  You can use the @b{New
Frame} menu item from the @b{File} menu to create a new XEmacs frame in a
new X window from the same process.  The different frames will share the
same buffer list, but you can look at different buffers in the different
frames.

@findex find-file-other-frame
The function @code{find-file-other-frame} is just like @code{find-file},
but creates a new frame to display the buffer in first.  This is
normally bound to @kbd{C-x 5 C-f}, and is what the @b{Open File, New
Frame} menu item does.

@findex switch-to-buffer-other-frame
The function @code{switch-to-buffer-other-frame} is just like
@code{switch-to-buffer}, but creates a new frame to display the buffer
in first.  This is normally bound to @kbd{C-x 5 b}.

@vindex default-frame-alist
@vindex default-frame-plist
You can specify a different default frame size other than the one provided.
Use the variable @code{default-frame-plist}, which is a plist of default
values for frame creation other than the first one.  These may be set in
your init file, like this:

@example
  (setq default-frame-plist '(width 80 height 55))
@end example

This variable has replaced @code{default-frame-alist}, which is
considered obsolete.

@vindex x-frame-defaults
For values specific to the first XEmacs frame, you must use X resources.
The variable @code{x-frame-defaults} takes an alist of default frame
creation parameters for X window frames.  These override what is
specified in @file{~/.Xdefaults} but are overridden by the arguments to
the particular call to @code{x-create-frame}.

@vindex create-frame-hook
When you create a new frame, the variable @code{create-frame-hook}
is called with one argument, the frame just created.

If you want to close one or more of the X windows you created using
@b{New Frame}, use the @b{Delete Frame} menu item from the @b{File} menu.

@vindex frame-title-format
@vindex frame-icon-title-format
If you are working with multiple frames, some special information
applies:
@itemize @bullet
@item
Two variables, @code{frame-title-format} and
@code{frame-icon-title-format} determine the title of the frame and
the title of the icon that results if you shrink the frame.

@vindex auto-lower-frame
@vindex auto-raise-frame
@item
The variables @code{auto-lower-frame} and @code{auto-raise-frame}
position a frame. If true, @code{auto-lower-frame} lowers a frame to
the bottom when it is no longer selected. If true,
@code{auto-raise-frame} raises a frame to the top when it is
selected. Under X, most ICCCM-compliant window managers will have
options to do this for you, but these variables are provided in case you
are using a broken window manager.

@item
There is a new frame/modeline format directive, %S, which expands to
the name of the current frame (a frame's name is distinct from its
title; the name is used for resource lookup, among other things, and the
title is simply what appears above the window.)
@end itemize

@node XEmacs under MS Windows, , XEmacs under X, Frame
@section Using XEmacs Under Microsoft Windows
@comment  node-name,  next,  previous,  up

Use of XEmacs under MS Windows is not separately documented here, but
most operations available under the X Window System are also available
with MS Windows.

Where possible, native MS Windows GUI components and capabilities are
used in XEmacs.


code:
@node Glossary, Manifesto, Intro, Top
@unnumbered Glossary

@table @asis
@item Abbrev
An abbrev is a text string which expands into a different text string
when present in the buffer.  For example, you might define a short
word as an abbrev for a long phrase that you want to insert
frequently.  @xref{Abbrevs}.

@item Aborting
Aborting means getting out of a recursive edit (q.v.@:).  You can use
the commands @kbd{C-]} and @kbd{M-x top-level} for this.
@xref{Quitting}.

@item Auto Fill mode
Auto Fill mode is a minor mode in which text you insert is
automatically broken into lines of fixed width.  @xref{Filling}.

@item Auto Saving
Auto saving means that Emacs automatically stores the contents of an
Emacs buffer in a specially-named file so the information will not be
lost if the buffer is lost due to a system error or user error.
@xref{Auto Save}.

@item Backup File
A backup file records the contents that a file had before the current
editing session.  Emacs creates backup files automatically to help you
track down or cancel changes you later regret.  @xref{Backup}.

@item Balance Parentheses
Emacs can balance parentheses manually or automatically.  Manual
balancing is done by the commands to move over balanced expressions
(@pxref{Lists}).  Automatic balancing is done by blinking the
parenthesis that matches one just inserted (@pxref{Matching,,Matching
Parens}).

@item Bind
To bind a key is to change its binding (q.v.@:).  @xref{Rebinding}.

@item Binding
A key gets its meaning in Emacs by having a binding which is a
command (q.v.@:), a Lisp function that is run when the key is typed.
@xref{Commands,Binding}.  Customization often involves rebinding a
character to a different command function.  The bindings of all keys
are recorded in the keymaps (q.v.@:).  @xref{Keymaps}.

@item Blank Lines
Blank lines are lines that contain only whitespace.  Emacs has several
commands for operating on the blank lines in a buffer.

@item Buffer
The buffer is the basic editing unit; one buffer corresponds to one
piece of text being edited.  You can have several buffers, but at any
time you are editing only one, the `selected' buffer, though several
buffers can be visible when you are using multiple windows.  @xref{Buffers}.

@item Buffer Selection History
Emacs keeps a buffer selection history which records how recently each
Emacs buffer was selected.  Emacs uses this list when choosing a buffer to
select.  @xref{Buffers}.

@item C-
@samp{C} in the name of a character is an abbreviation for Control.
@xref{Keystrokes,C-}.

@item C-M-
@samp{C-M-} in the name of a character is an abbreviation for
Control-Meta.  @xref{Keystrokes,C-M-}.

@item Case Conversion
Case conversion means changing text from upper case to lower case or
vice versa.  @xref{Case}, for the commands for case conversion.

@item Characters
Characters form the contents of an Emacs buffer; also, Emacs commands
are invoked by keys (q.v.@:), which are sequences of one or more
characters.  @xref{Keystrokes}.

@item Command
A command is a Lisp function specially defined to be able to serve as a
key binding in Emacs.  When you type a key (q.v.@:), Emacs looks up its
binding (q.v.@:) in the relevant keymaps (q.v.@:) to find the command to
run.  @xref{Commands}.

@item Command Name
A command name is the name of a Lisp symbol which is a command
(@pxref{Commands}).  You can invoke any command by its name using
@kbd{M-x} (@pxref{M-x}).

@item Comments
A comment is text in a program which is intended only for the people
reading the program, and is marked specially so that it will be
ignored when the program is loaded or compiled.  Emacs offers special
commands for creating, aligning, and killing comments.
@xref{Comments}.

@item Compilation
Compilation is the process of creating an executable program from
source code.  Emacs has commands for compiling files of Emacs Lisp
code (@pxref{Lisp Libraries}) and programs in C and other languages
(@pxref{Compilation}).

@item Complete Key
A complete key is a character or sequence of characters which, when typed
by the user, fully specifies one action to be performed by Emacs.  For
example, @kbd{X} and @kbd{Control-f} and @kbd{Control-x m} are keys.  Keys
derive their meanings from being bound (q.v.@:) to commands (q.v.@:).
Thus, @kbd{X} is conventionally bound to a command to insert @samp{X} in
the buffer; @kbd{C-x m} is conventionally bound to a command to begin
composing a mail message. @xref{Keystrokes}.

@item Completion
When Emacs automatically fills an abbreviation for a name into the
entire name, that process is called completion.  Completion is done for
minibuffer (q.v.@:) arguments when the set of possible valid inputs is
known; for example, on command names, buffer names, and file names.
Completion occurs when you type @key{TAB}, @key{SPC}, or @key{RET}.
@xref{Completion}.@refill

@item Continuation Line
When a line of text is longer than the width of the frame, it
takes up more than one screen line when displayed.  We say that the
text line is continued, and all screen lines used for it after the
first are called continuation lines.  @xref{Basic,Continuation,Basic
Editing}.

@item Control-Character
ASCII characters with octal codes 0 through 037, and also code 0177,
do not have graphic images assigned to them.  These are the control
characters.  Any control character can be typed by holding down the
@key{CTRL} key and typing some other character; some have special keys
on the keyboard.  @key{RET}, @key{TAB}, @key{ESC}, @key{LFD}, and
@key{DEL} are all control characters.  @xref{Keystrokes}.@refill

@item Copyleft
A copyleft is a notice giving the public legal permission to redistribute
a program or other work of art.  Copylefts are used by leftists to enrich
the public just as copyrights are used by rightists to gain power over
the public.

@item Current Buffer
The current buffer in Emacs is the Emacs buffer on which most editing
commands operate.  You can select any Emacs buffer as the current one.
@xref{Buffers}.

@item Current Line
The line point is on (@pxref{Point}).

@item Current Paragraph
The paragraph that point is in.  If point is between paragraphs, the
current paragraph is the one that follows point.  @xref{Paragraphs}.

@item Current Defun
The defun (q.v.@:) that point is in.  If point is between defuns, the
current defun is the one that follows point.  @xref{Defuns}.

@item Cursor
The cursor is the rectangle on the screen which indicates the position
called point (q.v.@:) at which insertion and deletion takes place.
The cursor is on or under the character that follows point.  Often
people speak of `the cursor' when, strictly speaking, they mean
`point'.  @xref{Basic,Cursor,Basic Editing}.

@item Customization
Customization is making minor changes in the way Emacs works.  It is
often done by setting variables (@pxref{Variables}) or by rebinding
keys (@pxref{Keymaps}).

@item Default Argument
The default for an argument is the value that is used if you do not
specify one.  When Emacs prompts you in the minibuffer for an argument,
the default argument is used if you just type @key{RET}.
@xref{Minibuffer}.

@item Default Directory
When you specify a file name that does not start with @samp{/} or @samp{~},
it is interpreted relative to the current buffer's default directory.
@xref{Minibuffer File,Default Directory}.

@item Defun
A defun is a list at the top level of parenthesis or bracket structure
in a program.  It is so named because most such lists in Lisp programs
are calls to the Lisp function @code{defun}.  @xref{Defuns}.

@item @key{DEL}
The @key{DEL} character runs the command that deletes one character of
text.  @xref{Basic,DEL,Basic Editing}.

@item Deletion
Deleting text means erasing it without saving it.  Emacs deletes text
only when it is expected not to be worth saving (all whitespace, or
only one character).  The alternative is killing (q.v.@:).
@xref{Killing,Deletion}.

@item Deletion of Files
Deleting a file means removing it from the file system.
@xref{Misc File Ops}.

@item Deletion of Messages
Deleting a message means flagging it to be eliminated from your mail
file.  Until the mail file is expunged, you can undo this by undeleting
the message.

@item Deletion of Frames
When working under the multi-frame X-based version of XEmacs,
you can delete individual frames using the @b{Close} menu item from the
@b{File} menu.

@item Deletion of Windows
When you delete a subwindow of an Emacs frame, you eliminate it from
the frame.  Other windows expand to use up the space.  The deleted
window can never come back, but no actual text is lost.  @xref{Windows}.

@item Directory
Files in the Unix file system are grouped into file directories.
@xref{ListDir,,Directories}.

@item Dired
Dired is the Emacs facility that displays the contents of a file
directory and allows you to ``edit the directory'', performing
operations on the files in the directory.  @xref{Dired}.

@item Disabled Command
A disabled command is one that you may not run without special
confirmation.  Commands are usually disabled because they are
confusing for beginning users.  @xref{Disabling}.

@item Dribble File
A file into which Emacs writes all the characters that the user types
on the keyboard.  Dribble files are used to make a record for
debugging Emacs bugs.  Emacs does not make a dribble file unless you
tell it to.  @xref{Bugs}.

@item Echo Area
The area at the bottom of the Emacs frame which is used for echoing the
arguments to commands, for asking questions, and for printing brief
messages (including error messages).  @xref{Echo Area}.

@item Echoing
Echoing refers to acknowledging the receipt of commands by displaying them
(in the echo area).  Emacs never echoes single-character keys; longer
keys echo only if you pause while typing them.

@item Error
An error occurs when an Emacs command cannot execute in the current
circumstances.  When an error occurs, execution of the command stops
(unless the command has been programmed to do otherwise) and Emacs
reports the error by printing an error message (q.v.).  Type-ahead
is discarded.  Then Emacs is ready to read another editing command.

@item Error Messages
Error messages are single lines of output printed by Emacs when the
user asks for something impossible to do (such as killing text
forward when point is at the end of the buffer).  They appear in the
echo area, accompanied by a beep.

@item @key{ESC}
@key{ESC} is a character used as a prefix for typing Meta characters on
keyboards lacking a @key{META} key.  Unlike the @key{META} key (which,
like the @key{SHIFT} key, is held down while another character is
typed), the @key{ESC} key is pressed and released, and applies to the
next character typed.

@item Fill Prefix
The fill prefix is a string that Emacs enters at the beginning
of each line when it performs filling.  It is not regarded as part of the
text to be filled.  @xref{Filling}.

@item Filling
Filling text means moving text from line to line so that all the lines
are approximately the same length.  @xref{Filling}.

@item Frame
When running Emacs on a TTY terminal, ``frame'' means the terminal's
screen.  When running Emacs under X, you can have multiple frames,
each corresponding to a top-level X window and each looking like
the screen on a TTY.  Each frame contains one or more non-overlapping
Emacs windows (possibly with associated scrollbars, under X), an
echo area, and (under X) possibly a menubar, toolbar, and/or gutter.

@item Global
Global means `independent of the current environment; in effect
@*throughout Emacs'.  It is the opposite of local (q.v.@:).
Examples of the use of `global' appear below.

@item Global Abbrev
A global definition of an abbrev (q.v.@:) is effective in all major
modes that do not have local (q.v.@:) definitions for the same abbrev.
@xref{Abbrevs}.

@item Global Keymap
The global keymap (q.v.@:) contains key bindings that are in effect
unless local key bindings in a major mode's local
keymap (q.v.@:) override them.@xref{Keymaps}.

@item Global Substitution
Global substitution means replacing each occurrence of one string by
another string through a large amount of text.  @xref{Replace}.

@item Global Variable
The global value of a variable (q.v.@:) takes effect in all buffers
that do not have their own local (q.v.@:) values for the variable.
@xref{Variables}.

@item Graphic Character
Graphic characters are those assigned pictorial images rather than
just names.  All the non-Meta (q.v.@:) characters except for the
Control (q.v.@:) character are graphic characters.  These include
letters, digits, punctuation, and spaces; they do not include
@key{RET} or @key{ESC}.  In Emacs, typing a graphic character inserts
that character (in ordinary editing modes).  @xref{Basic,,Basic Editing}.

@item Grinding
Grinding means adjusting the indentation in a program to fit the
nesting structure.  @xref{Indentation,Grinding}.

@item Hardcopy
Hardcopy means printed output.  Emacs has commands for making printed
listings of text in Emacs buffers.  @xref{Hardcopy}.

@item @key{HELP}
You can type @key{HELP} at any time to ask what options you have, or
to ask what any command does.  @key{HELP} is really @kbd{Control-h}.
@xref{Help}.

@item Inbox
An inbox is a file in which mail is delivered by the operating system.
Some mail handlers transfers mail from inboxes to mail files (q.v.) in
which the mail is then stored permanently or until explicitly deleted.

@item Indentation
Indentation means blank space at the beginning of a line.  Most
programming languages have conventions for using indentation to
illuminate the structure of the program, and Emacs has special
features to help you set up the correct indentation.
@xref{Indentation}.

@item Insertion
Insertion means copying text into the buffer, either from the keyboard
or from some other place in Emacs.

@item Justification
Justification means adding extra spaces to lines of text to make them
come exactly to a specified width.  @xref{Filling,Justification}.

@item Keyboard Macros
Keyboard macros are a way of defining new Emacs commands from
sequences of existing ones, with no need to write a Lisp program.
@xref{Keyboard Macros}.

@item Key
A key is a sequence of characters that, when input to Emacs, specify
or begin to specify a single action for Emacs to perform.  That is,
the sequence is considered a single unit.  If the key is enough to
specify one action, it is a complete key (q.v.); if it is less than
enough, it is a prefix key (q.v.).  @xref{Keystrokes}.

@item Keymap
The keymap is the data structure that records the bindings (q.v.@:) of
keys to the commands that they run.  For example, the keymap binds the
character @kbd{C-n} to the command function @code{next-line}.
@xref{Keymaps}.

@item Kill Ring
The kill ring is the place where all text you have killed recently is saved.
You can re-insert any of the killed text still in the ring; this is
called yanking (q.v.@:).  @xref{Yanking}.

@item Killing
Killing means erasing text and saving it on the kill ring so it can be
yanked (q.v.@:) later.  Some other systems call this ``cutting.''
Most Emacs commands to erase text do killing, as opposed to deletion
(q.v.@:).  @xref{Killing}.

@item Killing Jobs
Killing a job (such as, an invocation of Emacs) means making it cease
to exist.  Any data within it, if not saved in a file, is lost.
@xref{Exiting}.

@item List
A list is, approximately, a text string beginning with an open
parenthesis and ending with the matching close parenthesis.  In C mode
and other non-Lisp modes, groupings surrounded by other kinds of matched
delimiters appropriate to the language, such as braces, are also
considered lists.  Emacs has special commands for many operations on
lists.  @xref{Lists}.

@item Local
Local means `in effect only in a particular context'; the relevant
kind of context is a particular function execution, a particular
buffer, or a particular major mode.  Local is the opposite of `global'
(q.v.@:).  Specific uses of `local' in Emacs terminology appear below.

@item Local Abbrev
A local abbrev definition is effective only if a particular major mode
is selected.  In that major mode, it overrides any global definition
for the same abbrev.  @xref{Abbrevs}.

@item Local Keymap
A local keymap is used in a particular major mode; the key bindings
(q.v.@:) in the current local keymap override global bindings of the
same keys.  @xref{Keymaps}.

@item Local Variable
A local value of a variable (q.v.@:) applies to only one buffer.
@xref{Locals}.

@item M-
@kbd{M-} in the name of a character is an abbreviation for @key{META},
one of the modifier keys that can accompany any character.
@xref{Keystrokes}.

@item M-C-
@samp{M-C-} in the name of a character is an abbreviation for
Control-Meta; it means the same thing as @samp{C-M-}.  If your
terminal lacks a real @key{META} key, you type a Control-Meta character by
typing @key{ESC} and then typing the corresponding Control character.
@xref{Keystrokes,C-M-}.

@item M-x
@kbd{M-x} is the key which is used to call an Emacs command by name.
You use it to call commands that are not bound to keys.
@xref{M-x}.

@item Mail
Mail means messages sent from one user to another through the computer
system, to be read at the recipient's convenience.  Emacs has commands for
composing and sending mail, and for reading and editing the mail you have
received.  @xref{Sending Mail}.

@item Major Mode
The major modes are a mutually exclusive set of options each of which
configures Emacs for editing a certain sort of text.  Ideally, each
programming language has its own major mode.  @xref{Major Modes}.

@item Mark
The mark points to a position in the text.  It specifies one end of the
region (q.v.@:), point being the other end.  Many commands operate on
the whole region, that is, all the text from point to the mark.
@xref{Mark}.

@item Mark Ring
The mark ring is used to hold several recent previous locations of the
mark, just in case you want to move back to them.  @xref{Mark Ring}.

@item Message
See `mail'.

@item Meta
Meta is the name of a modifier bit which a command character may have.
It is present in a character if the character is typed with the
@key{META} key held down.  Such characters are given names that start
with @kbd{Meta-}.  For example, @kbd{Meta-<} is typed by holding down
@key{META} and at the same time typing @kbd{<} (which itself is done,
on most terminals, by holding down @key{SHIFT} and typing @kbd{,}).
@xref{Keystrokes,Meta}.

@item Meta Character
A Meta character is one whose character code includes the Meta bit.

@item Minibuffer
The minibuffer is the window that Emacs displays inside the
echo area (q.v.@:) when it prompts you for arguments to commands.
@xref{Minibuffer}.

@item Minor Mode
A minor mode is an optional feature of Emacs which can be switched on
or off independent of the major mode.  Each minor mode has a
command to turn it on or off.  @xref{Minor Modes}.

@item Mode Line
The mode line is the line at the bottom of each text window (q.v.@:),
which gives status information on the buffer displayed in that window.
@xref{Mode Line}.

@item Modified Buffer
A buffer (q.v.@:) is modified if its text has been changed since the
last time the buffer was saved (or since it was created, if it
has never been saved).  @xref{Saving}.

@item Moving Text
Moving text means erasing it from one place and inserting it in
another.  This is done by killing (q.v.@:) and then yanking (q.v.@:).
@xref{Killing}.

@item Named Mark
A named mark is a register (q.v.@:) in its role of recording a
location in text so that you can move point to that location.
@xref{Registers}.

@item Narrowing
Narrowing means creating a restriction (q.v.@:) that limits editing in
the current buffer to only a part of the text in the buffer.  Text
outside that part is inaccessible to the user until the boundaries are
widened again, but it is still there, and saving the file saves the
invisible text.  @xref{Narrowing}.

@item Newline
@key{LFD} characters in the buffer terminate lines of text and are
called newlines.  @xref{Keystrokes,Newline}.

@item Numeric Argument
A numeric argument is a number, specified before a command, to change
the effect of the command.  Often the numeric argument serves as a
repeat count.  @xref{Arguments}.

@item Option
An option is a variable (q.v.@:) that allows you to customize
Emacs by giving it a new value.  @xref{Variables}.

@item Overwrite Mode
Overwrite mode is a minor mode.  When it is enabled, ordinary text
characters replace the existing text after point rather than pushing
it to the right.  @xref{Minor Modes}.

@item Page
A page is a unit of text, delimited by formfeed characters (ASCII
Control-L, code 014) coming at the beginning of a line.  Some Emacs
commands are provided for moving over and operating on pages.
@xref{Pages}.

@item Paragraphs
Paragraphs are the medium-size unit of English text.  There are
special Emacs commands for moving over and operating on paragraphs.
@xref{Paragraphs}.

@item Parsing
We say that Emacs parses words or expressions in the text being
edited.  Really, all it knows how to do is find the other end of a
word or expression.  @xref{Syntax}.

@item Point
Point is the place in the buffer at which insertion and deletion
occur.  Point is considered to be between two characters, not at one
character.  The terminal's cursor (q.v.@:) indicates the location of
point.  @xref{Basic,Point}.

@item Prefix Key
A prefix key is a key (q.v.@:) whose sole function is to introduce a
set of multi-character keys.  @kbd{Control-x} is an example of a prefix
key; any two-character sequence starting with @kbd{C-x} is also
a legitimate key.  @xref{Keystrokes}.

@item Prompt
A prompt is text printed to ask the user for input.  Printing a prompt
is called prompting.  Emacs prompts always appear in the echo area
(q.v.@:).  One kind of prompting happens when the minibuffer is used
to read an argument (@pxref{Minibuffer}); the echoing which happens
when you pause in the middle of typing a multi-character key is also a
kind of prompting (@pxref{Echo Area}).

@item Quitting
Quitting means cancelling a partially typed command or a running
command, using @kbd{C-g}.  @xref{Quitting}.

@item Quoting
Quoting means depriving a character of its usual special significance.
In Emacs this is usually done with @kbd{Control-q}.  What constitutes special
significance depends on the context and on convention.  For example,
an ``ordinary'' character as an Emacs command inserts itself; so in
this context, a special character is any character that does not
normally insert itself (such as @key{DEL}, for example), and quoting
it makes it insert itself as if it were not special.  Not all contexts
allow quoting.  @xref{Basic,Quoting,Basic Editing}.

@item Read-only Buffer
A read-only buffer is one whose text you are not allowed to change.
Normally Emacs makes buffers read-only when they contain text which
has a special significance to Emacs, such as Dired buffers.
Visiting a file that is write-protected also makes a read-only buffer.
@xref{Buffers}.

@item Recursive Editing Level
A recursive editing level is a state in which part of the execution of
a command involves asking the user to edit some text.  This text may
or may not be the same as the text to which the command was applied.
The mode line indicates recursive editing levels with square brackets
(@samp{[} and @samp{]}).  @xref{Recursive Edit}.

@item Redisplay
Redisplay is the process of correcting the image on the screen to
correspond to changes that have been made in the text being edited.
@xref{Frame,Redisplay}.

@item Regexp
See `regular expression'.

@item Region
The region is the text between point (q.v.@:) and the mark (q.v.@:).
Many commands operate on the text of the region.  @xref{Mark,Region}.

@item Registers
Registers are named slots in which text or buffer positions or
rectangles can be saved for later use.  @xref{Registers}.

@item Regular Expression
A regular expression is a pattern that can match various text strings;
for example, @samp{l[0-9]+} matches @samp{l} followed by one or more
digits.  @xref{Regexps}.

@item Replacement
See `global substitution'.

@item Restriction
A buffer's restriction is the amount of text, at the beginning or the
end of the buffer, that is temporarily invisible and inaccessible.
Giving a buffer a nonzero amount of restriction is called narrowing
(q.v.).  @xref{Narrowing}.

@item @key{RET}
@key{RET} is the character than runs the command to insert a
newline into the text.  It is also used to terminate most arguments
read in the minibuffer (q.v.@:).  @xref{Keystrokes,Return}.

@item Saving
Saving a buffer means copying its text into the file that was visited
(q.v.@:) in that buffer.  To actually change a file you have edited in
Emacs, you have to save it.  @xref{Saving}.

@item Scrolling
Scrolling means shifting the text in the Emacs window to make a
different part of the buffer visible.  @xref{Display,Scrolling}.

@item Searching
Searching means moving point to the next occurrence of a specified
string.  @xref{Search}.

@item Selecting
Selecting a buffer means making it the current (q.v.@:) buffer.
@xref{Buffers,Selecting}.

@item Self-documentation
Self-documentation is the feature of Emacs which can tell you what any
command does, or can give you a list of all commands related to a topic
you specify.  You ask for self-documentation with the help character,
@kbd{C-h}.  @xref{Help}.

@item Sentences
Emacs has commands for moving by or killing by sentences.
@xref{Sentences}.

@item Sexp
An sexp (short for `s-expression,' itself short for `symbolic
expression') is the basic syntactic unit of Lisp
in its textual form: either a list, or Lisp atom.  Many Emacs commands
operate on sexps.  The term `sexp' is generalized to languages other
than Lisp to mean a syntactically recognizable expression.
@xref{Lists,Sexps}.

@item Simultaneous Editing
Simultaneous editing means two users modifying the same file at once.
If simultaneous editing is not detected, you may lose your
work.  Emacs detects all cases of simultaneous editing and warns the
user to investigate them.  @xref{Interlocking,,Simultaneous Editing}.

@item String
A string is a kind of Lisp data object which contains a sequence of
characters.  Many Emacs variables are intended to have strings as
values.  The Lisp syntax for a string consists of the characters in
the string with a @samp{"} before and another @samp{"} after. Write a
@samp{"} that is part of the string as @samp{\"} and a
@samp{\} that is part of the string as @samp{\\}.  You can include all
other characters, including newline, just by writing
them inside the string. You can also include escape sequences as in C, such as
@samp{\n} for newline or @samp{\241} using an octal character code.

@item String Substitution
See `global substitution'.

@item Syntax Table
The syntax table tells Emacs which characters are part of a word,
which characters balance each other like parentheses, etc.
@xref{Syntax}.

@item Tag Table
A tag table is a file that serves as an index to the function
definitions in one or more other files.  @xref{Tags}.

@item Termscript File
A termscript file contains a record of all characters Emacs sent to
the terminal.  It is used for tracking down bugs in Emacs redisplay.
Emacs does not make a termscript file unless explicitly instructed to do
so.
@xref{Bugs}.

@item Text
Text has two meanings (@pxref{Text}):

@itemize @bullet
@item
Data consisting of a sequence of characters, as opposed to binary
numbers, images, graphics commands, executable programs, and the like.
The contents of an Emacs buffer are always text in this sense.
@item
Data consisting of written human language, as opposed to programs,
or something that follows the stylistic conventions of human language.
@end itemize

@item Top Level
Top level is the normal state of Emacs, in which you are editing the
text of the file you have visited.  You are at top level whenever you
are not in a recursive editing level (q.v.@:) or the minibuffer
(q.v.@:), and not in the middle of a command.  You can get back to top
level by aborting (q.v.@:) and quitting (q.v.@:).  @xref{Quitting}.

@item Transposition
Transposing two units of text means putting each one into the place
formerly occupied by the other.  There are Emacs commands to transpose
two adjacent characters, words, sexps (q.v.@:), or lines
(@pxref{Transpose}).

@item Truncation
Truncating text lines in the display means leaving out any text on a
line that does not fit within the right margin of the window
displaying it.  See also `continuation line'.
@xref{Basic,Truncation,Basic Editing}.

@item Undoing
Undoing means making your previous editing go in reverse, bringing
back the text that existed earlier in the editing session.
@xref{Undo}.

@item Variable
A variable is Lisp object that can store an arbitrary value.  Emacs uses
some variables for internal purposes, and has others (known as `options'
(q.v.@:)) you can set to control the behavior of Emacs.  The variables
used in Emacs that you are likely to be interested in are listed in the
Variables Index of this manual.  @xref{Variables}, for information on
variables.

@item Visiting
Visiting a file means loading its contents into a buffer (q.v.@:)
where they can be edited.  @xref{Visiting}.

@item Whitespace
Whitespace is any run of consecutive formatting characters (spaces,
tabs, newlines, and backspaces).

@item Widening
Widening is removing any restriction (q.v.@:) on the current buffer;
it is the opposite of narrowing (q.v.@:).  @xref{Narrowing}.

@item Window
Emacs divides the frame into one or more windows, each of which can
display the contents of one buffer (q.v.@:) at any time.
@xref{Frame}, for basic information on how Emacs uses the frame.
@xref{Windows}, for commands to control the use of windows. Note that if
you are running Emacs under X, terminology can be confusing: Each Emacs
frame occupies a separate X window and can, in turn, be divided into
different subwindows.

@item Word Abbrev
Synonymous with `abbrev'.

@item Word Search
Word search is searching for a sequence of words, considering the
punctuation between them as insignificant.  @xref{Word Search}.

@item Yanking
Yanking means reinserting text previously killed.  It can be used to
undo a mistaken kill, or for copying or moving text.  Some other
systems call this ``pasting''.  @xref{Yanking}.
@end table

repo_name: mthl/texinfo

license: mit


code:
@node Manifesto, Key Index, Glossary, Top
@unnumbered The GNU Manifesto

@unnumberedsec What's GNU?  GNU's Not Unix!

GNU, which stands for GNU's Not Unix, is the name for the complete
Unix-compatible software system which I am writing so that I can give it
away free to everyone who can use it.  Several other volunteers are helping
me.  Contributions of time, money, programs, and equipment are greatly
needed.

So far we have an Emacs text editor with Lisp for writing editor commands,
a source level debugger, a yacc-compatible parser generator, a linker, and
around 35 utilities.  A shell (command interpreter) is nearly completed.  A
new portable optimizing C compiler has compiled itself and may be released
this year.  An initial kernel exists, but many more features are needed to
emulate Unix.  When the kernel and compiler are finished, it will be
possible to distribute a GNU system suitable for program development.  We
will use @TeX{} as our text formatter, but an nroff is being worked on.  We
will use the free, portable X window system as well.  After this we will
add a portable Common Lisp, an Empire game, a spreadsheet, and hundreds of
other things, plus online documentation.  We hope to supply, eventually,
everything useful that normally comes with a Unix system, and more.

GNU will be able to run Unix programs, but will not be identical to Unix.
We will make all improvements that are convenient, based on our experience
with other operating systems.  In particular, we plan to have longer
filenames, file version numbers, a crashproof file system, filename
completion perhaps, terminal-independent display support, and perhaps
eventually a Lisp-based window system through which several Lisp programs
and ordinary Unix programs can share a screen.  Both C and Lisp will be
available as system programming languages.  We will try to support UUCP,
MIT Chaosnet, and Internet protocols for communication.

GNU is aimed initially at machines in the 68000/16000 class with virtual
memory, because they are the easiest machines to make it run on.  The extra
effort to make it run on smaller machines will be left to someone who wants
to use it on them.

To avoid horrible confusion, please pronounce the `G' in the word `GNU'
when it is the name of this project.

@page
@unnumberedsec Why I Must Write GNU

I consider that the golden rule requires that if I like a program I must
share it with other people who like it.  Software sellers want to divide
the users and conquer them, making each user agree not to share with
others.  I refuse to break solidarity with other users in this way.  I
cannot in good conscience sign a nondisclosure agreement or a software
license agreement.  For years I worked within the Artificial Intelligence
Lab to resist such tendencies and other inhospitalities, but eventually
they had gone too far: I could not remain in an institution where such
things are done for me against my will.

So that I can continue to use computers without dishonor, I have decided to
put together a sufficient body of free software so that I will be able to
get along without any software that is not free.  I have resigned from the
AI lab to deny MIT any legal excuse to prevent me from giving GNU away.

@unnumberedsec Why GNU Will Be Compatible With Unix

Unix is not my ideal system, but it is not too bad.  The essential features
of Unix seem to be good ones, and I think I can fill in what Unix lacks
without spoiling them.  And a system compatible with Unix would be
convenient for many other people to adopt.

@unnumberedsec How GNU Will Be Available

GNU is not in the public domain.  Everyone will be permitted to modify and
redistribute GNU, but no distributor will be allowed to restrict its
further redistribution.  That is to say, proprietary modifications will not
be allowed.  I want to make sure that all versions of GNU remain free.

@unnumberedsec Why Many Other Programmers Want to Help

I have found many other programmers who are excited about GNU and want to
help.

Many programmers are unhappy about the commercialization of system
software.  It may enable them to make more money, but it requires them to
feel in conflict with other programmers in general rather than feel as
comrades.  The fundamental act of friendship among programmers is the
sharing of programs; marketing arrangements now typically used essentially
forbid programmers to treat others as friends.  The purchaser of software
must choose between friendship and obeying the law.  Naturally, many decide
that friendship is more important.  But those who believe in law often do
not feel at ease with either choice.  They become cynical and think that
programming is just a way of making money.

By working on and using GNU rather than proprietary programs, we can be
hospitable to everyone and obey the law.  In addition, GNU serves as an
example to inspire and a banner to rally others to join us in sharing.
This can give us a feeling of harmony which is impossible if we use
software that is not free.  For about half the programmers I talk to, this
is an important happiness that money cannot replace.

@unnumberedsec How You Can Contribute

I am asking computer manufacturers for donations of machines and money.
I'm asking individuals for donations of programs and work.

One consequence you can expect if you donate machines is that GNU will run
on them at an early date.  The machines should be complete, ready-to-use
systems, approved for use in a residential area, and not in need of
sophisticated cooling or power.

I have found very many programmers eager to contribute part-time work for
GNU.  For most projects, such part-time distributed work would be very hard
to coordinate; the independently-written parts would not work together.
But for the particular task of replacing Unix, this problem is absent.  A
complete Unix system contains hundreds of utility programs, each of which
is documented separately.  Most interface specifications are fixed by Unix
compatibility.  If each contributor can write a compatible replacement for
a single Unix utility, and make it work properly in place of the original
on a Unix system, then these utilities will work right when put together.
Even allowing for Murphy to create a few unexpected problems, assembling
these components will be a feasible task.  (The kernel will require closer
communication and will be worked on by a small, tight group.)

If I get donations of money, I may be able to hire a few people full or
part time.  The salary won't be high by programmers' standards, but I'm
looking for people for whom building community spirit is as important as
making money.  I view this as a way of enabling dedicated people to devote
their full energies to working on GNU by sparing them the need to make a
living in another way.

@unnumberedsec Why All Computer Users Will Benefit

Once GNU is written, everyone will be able to obtain good system software
free, just like air.

This means much more than just saving everyone the price of a Unix license.
It means that much wasteful duplication of system programming effort will
be avoided.  This effort can go instead into advancing the state of the
art.

Complete system sources will be available to everyone.  As a result, a user
who needs changes in the system will always be free to make them himself,
or hire any available programmer or company to make them for him.  Users
will no longer be at the mercy of one programmer or company which owns the
sources and is in sole position to make changes.

Schools will be able to provide a much more educational environment by
encouraging all students to study and improve the system code.  Harvard's
computer lab used to have the policy that no program could be installed on
the system if its sources were not on public display, and upheld it by
actually refusing to install certain programs.  I was very much inspired by
this.

Finally, the overhead of considering who owns the system software and what
one is or is not entitled to do with it will be lifted.

Arrangements to make people pay for using a program, including licensing of
copies, always incur a tremendous cost to society through the cumbersome
mechanisms necessary to figure out how much (that is, which programs) a
person must pay for.  And only a police state can force everyone to obey
them.  Consider a space station where air must be manufactured at great
cost: charging each breather per liter of air may be fair, but wearing the
metered gas mask all day and all night is intolerable even if everyone can
afford to pay the air bill.  And the TV cameras everywhere to see if you
ever take the mask off are outrageous.  It's better to support the air
plant with a head tax and chuck the masks.

Copying all or parts of a program is as natural to a programmer as
breathing, and as productive.  It ought to be as free.

@unnumberedsec Some Easily Rebutted Objections to GNU's Goals

@quotation
``Nobody will use it if it is free, because that means they can't rely
on any support.''

``You have to charge for the program to pay for providing the
support.''
@end quotation

If people would rather pay for GNU plus service than get GNU free without
service, a company to provide just service to people who have obtained GNU
free ought to be profitable.

We must distinguish between support in the form of real programming work
and mere handholding.  The former is something one cannot rely on from a
software vendor.  If your problem is not shared by enough people, the
vendor will tell you to get lost.

If your business needs to be able to rely on support, the only way is to
have all the necessary sources and tools.  Then you can hire any available
person to fix your problem; you are not at the mercy of any individual.
With Unix, the price of sources puts this out of consideration for most
businesses.  With GNU this will be easy.  It is still possible for there to
be no available competent person, but this problem cannot be blamed on
distribution arrangements.  GNU does not eliminate all the world's problems,
only some of them.

Meanwhile, the users who know nothing about computers need handholding:
doing things for them which they could easily do themselves but don't know
how.

Such services could be provided by companies that sell just hand-holding
and repair service.  If it is true that users would rather spend money and
get a product with service, they will also be willing to buy the service
having got the product free.  The service companies will compete in quality
and price; users will not be tied to any particular one.  Meanwhile, those
of us who don't need the service should be able to use the program without
paying for the service.

@quotation
``You cannot reach many people without advertising,
and you must charge for the program to support that.''

``It's no use advertising a program people can get free.''
@end quotation

There are various forms of free or very cheap publicity that can be used to
inform numbers of computer users about something like GNU.  But it may be
true that one can reach more microcomputer users with advertising.  If this
is really so, a business which advertises the service of copying and
mailing GNU for a fee ought to be successful enough to pay for its
advertising and more.  This way, only the users who benefit from the
advertising pay for it.

On the other hand, if many people get GNU from their friends, and such
companies don't succeed, this will show that advertising was not really
necessary to spread GNU.  Why is it that free market advocates don't want
to let the free market decide this?
@page
@quotation
``My company needs a proprietary operating system
to get a competitive edge.''
@end quotation

GNU will remove operating system software from the realm of competition.
You will not be able to get an edge in this area, but neither will your
competitors be able to get an edge over you.  You and they will compete in
other areas, while benefitting mutually in this one.  If your business is
selling an operating system, you will not like GNU, but that's tough on
you.  If your business is something else, GNU can save you from being
pushed into the expensive business of selling operating systems.

I would like to see GNU development supported by gifts from many
manufacturers and users, reducing the cost to each.

@quotation
``Don't programmers deserve a reward for their creativity?''
@end quotation

If anything deserves a reward, it is social contribution.  Creativity can
be a social contribution, but only in so far as society is free to use the
results.  If programmers deserve to be rewarded for creating innovative
programs, by the same token they deserve to be punished if they restrict
the use of these programs.

@quotation
``Shouldn't a programmer be able to ask for a reward for his creativity?''
@end quotation

There is nothing wrong with wanting pay for work, or seeking to maximize
one's income, as long as one does not use means that are destructive.  But
the means customary in the field of software today are based on
destruction.

Extracting money from users of a program by restricting their use of it is
destructive because the restrictions reduce the amount and the ways that
the program can be used.  This reduces the amount of wealth that humanity
derives from the program.  When there is a deliberate choice to restrict,
the harmful consequences are deliberate destruction.

The reason a good citizen does not use such destructive means to become
wealthier is that, if everyone did so, we would all become poorer from the
mutual destructiveness.  This is Kantian ethics; or, the Golden Rule.
Since I do not like the consequences that result if everyone hoards
information, I am required to consider it wrong for one to do so.
Specifically, the desire to be rewarded for one's creativity does not
justify depriving the world in general of all or part of that creativity.

@quotation
``Won't programmers starve?''
@end quotation

I could answer that nobody is forced to be a programmer.  Most of us cannot
manage to get any money for standing on the street and making faces.  But
we are not, as a result, condemned to spend our lives standing on the
street making faces, and starving.  We do something else.

But that is the wrong answer because it accepts the questioner's implicit
assumption: that without ownership of software, programmers cannot possibly
be paid a cent.  Supposedly it is all or nothing.

The real reason programmers will not starve is that it will still be
possible for them to get paid for programming; just not paid as much as
now.

Restricting copying is not the only basis for business in software.  It is
the most common basis because it brings in the most money.  If it were
prohibited, or rejected by the customer, software business would move to
other bases of organization which are now used less often.  There are
always numerous ways to organize any kind of business.

Probably programming will not be as lucrative on the new basis as it is
now.  But that is not an argument against the change.  It is not considered
an injustice that sales clerks make the salaries that they now do.  If
programmers made the same, that would not be an injustice either.  (In
practice they would still make considerably more than that.)

@quotation
``Don't people have a right to control how their creativity is used?''
@end quotation

``Control over the use of one's ideas'' really constitutes control over
other people's lives; and it is usually used to make their lives more
difficult.

People who have studied the issue of intellectual property rights carefully
(such as lawyers) say that there is no intrinsic right to intellectual
property.  The kinds of supposed intellectual property rights that the
government recognizes were created by specific acts of legislation for
specific purposes.

For example, the patent system was established to encourage inventors to
disclose the details of their inventions.  Its purpose was to help society
rather than to help inventors.  At the time, the life span of 17 years for
a patent was short compared with the rate of advance of the state of the
art.  Since patents are an issue only among manufacturers, for whom the
cost and effort of a license agreement are small compared with setting up
production, the patents often do not do much harm.  They do not obstruct
most individuals who use patented products.

The idea of copyright did not exist in ancient times, when authors
frequently copied other authors at length in works of non-fiction.  This
practice was useful, and is the only way many authors' works have survived
even in part.  The copyright system was created expressly for the purpose
of encouraging authorship.  In the domain for which it was
invented---books, which could be copied economically only on a printing
press---it did little harm, and did not obstruct most of the individuals
who read the books.

All intellectual property rights are just licenses granted by society
because it was thought, rightly or wrongly, that society as a whole would
benefit by granting them.  But in any particular situation, we have to ask:
are we really better off granting such license?  What kind of act are we
licensing a person to do?

The case of programs today is very different from that of books a hundred
years ago.  The fact that the easiest way to copy a program is from one
neighbor to another, the fact that a program has both source code and
object code which are distinct, and the fact that a program is used rather
than read and enjoyed, combine to create a situation in which a person who
enforces a copyright is harming society as a whole both materially and
spiritually; in which a person should not do so regardless of whether the
law enables him to.

@quotation
``Competition makes things get done better.''
@end quotation

The paradigm of competition is a race: by rewarding the winner, we
encourage everyone to run faster.  When capitalism really works this way,
it does a good job; but its defenders are wrong in assuming it always works
this way.  If the runners forget why the reward is offered and become
intent on winning, no matter how, they may find other strategies---such as,
attacking other runners.  If the runners get into a fist fight, they will
all finish late.

Proprietary and secret software is the moral equivalent of runners in a
fist fight.  Sad to say, the only referee we've got does not seem to
object to fights; he just regulates them (``For every ten yards you run,
you can fire one shot'').  He really ought to break them up, and penalize
runners for even trying to fight.

@quotation
``Won't everyone stop programming without a monetary incentive?''
@end quotation

Actually, many people will program with absolutely no monetary incentive.
Programming has an irresistible fascination for some people, usually the
people who are best at it.  There is no shortage of professional musicians
who keep at it even though they have no hope of making a living that way.

But really this question, though commonly asked, is not appropriate to the
situation.  Pay for programmers will not disappear, only become less.  So
the right question is, will anyone program with a reduced monetary
incentive?  My experience shows that they will.

For more than ten years, many of the world's best programmers worked at the
Artificial Intelligence Lab for far less money than they could have had
anywhere else.  They got many kinds of non-monetary rewards: fame and
appreciation, for example.  And creativity is also fun, a reward in itself.
@page
Then most of them left when offered a chance to do the same interesting
work for a lot of money.

What the facts show is that people will program for reasons other than
riches; but if given a chance to make a lot of money as well, they will
come to expect and demand it.  Low-paying organizations do poorly in
competition with high-paying ones, but they do not have to do badly if the
high-paying ones are banned.

@quotation
``We need the programmers desperately.  If they demand that we
stop helping our neighbors, we have to obey.''
@end quotation

You're never so desperate that you have to obey this sort of demand.
Remember: millions for defense, but not a cent for tribute!

@quotation
``Programmers need to make a living somehow.''
@end quotation

In the short run, this is true.  However, there are plenty of ways that
programmers could make a living without selling the right to use a program.
This way is customary now because it brings programmers and businessmen the
most money, not because it is the only way to make a living.  It is easy to
find other ways if you want to find them.  Here are a number of examples.

A manufacturer introducing a new computer will pay for the porting of
operating systems onto the new hardware.

The sale of teaching, hand-holding, and maintenance services could also
employ programmers.

People with new ideas could distribute programs as freeware and ask for
donations from satisfied users or sell hand-holding services.  I have
met people who are already working this way successfully.

Users with related needs can form users' groups and pay dues.  A group
would contract with programming companies to write programs that the
group's members would like to use.

All sorts of development can be funded with a Software Tax:

@quotation
Suppose everyone who buys a computer has to pay a certain percent of
the price as a software tax.  The government gives this to
an agency like the NSF to spend on software development.

But if the computer buyer makes a donation to software development
himself, he can take a credit against the tax.  He can donate to
the project of his own choosing---often, chosen because he hopes to
use the results when
@page
it is done.  He can take a credit for any amount
of donation up to the total tax he had to pay.

The total tax rate could be decided by a vote of the payers of
the tax, weighted according to the amount they will be taxed on.

The consequences:

@itemize @bullet
@item
The computer-using community supports software development.
@item
This community decides what level of support is needed.
@item
Users who care which projects their share is spent on
can choose this for themselves.
@end itemize
@end quotation

In the long run, making programs free is a step toward the post-scarcity
world, where nobody will have to work very hard just to make a living.
People will be free to devote themselves to activities that are fun, such
as programming, after spending the necessary ten hours a week on required
tasks such as legislation, family counseling, robot repair, and asteroid
prospecting.  There will be no need to be able to make a living from
programming.

We have already greatly reduced the amount of work that the whole society
must do for its actual productivity, but only a little of this has
translated itself into leisure for workers because much nonproductive
activity is required to accompany productive activity.  The main causes of
this are bureaucracy and isometric struggles against competition.  Free
software will greatly reduce these drains in the area of software
production.  We must do this, in order for technical gains in productivity
to translate into less work for us.