How it fits together
Warning: this section may not make any sense to you. If so, just skip
it, go to the next one, and don't worry
about it. You can come back here after you've used GNU Emacs for a
while.
In GNU Emacs, each key is "bound" to a function. That is, when you
press a key, a certain function is performed. You can change which keys
perform which functions and even write your own functions. Most of the
keys are bound to the function "self-insert-command" which just causes
the key to be inserted into your file.
Control and meta keystrokes,
however, are bound to functions which perform some task. Only the most
commonly used functions are bound to keystrokes; others must be
executed by name. For example, the function "auto-fill-mode" is not bound
to any key. To use it, type:
(Remember that on most keyboards, you have to type ESC x to get M-x.)
The key M-x is bound to the function "execute-extended-command" which
allows you to type in the command name. As shown
later, you often don't have to type
in the complete function name.
Text is stored in buffers which may or may not appear
on the screen. It is possible to split the screen into two or more
windows which can display parts of different buffers, allowing you to
work on two files at the same time or to display different parts of the
same file. Since a buffer can be larger than one screenful, a window
allows us to view part of the buffer.
The screen we saw before was divided into three portions:
- A buffer into which text may be typed or a file may be read.
- The mode line, displayed in inverse video if possible, which tells the name of the window, its mode (special settings for editing different kinds of files, such as FORTRAN programs or LaTeX source) and the position within the buffer. In this case, we're looking at All of the buffer.
- A one-line buffer (called the minibuffer) used for answering prompts from GNU Emacs.
Actually, the mode line is considered to be part of the window above it.
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