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(and so much easier, since you don't have to go to the mouse all the
time) that I usually forget the menus are there.  Lots of the things
that I'm about to explain to you are bound to be in the menus as well,
but I don't know for sure.  Anyway, play along with me, and as you
read, you can check to see if they exist.  Then you can ignore all of
the control-key sequences I'm about to tell you.<p>


<h3>Reading and Writing Files</h3>

I think of emacs as being primarily an editor.  To load a file from
disk or start editing a new file, use <b>C-x C-f</b> (find file).  In
the minibuffer, you'll be prompted for a filename.  If it exists, it
will be loaded.  Otherwise, it'll create a new file for you.  If
you're not sure of the filename, you can hit SPACE at any time to get
a list of files which match what you've typed up to that point.  Or
use TAB for file completion.<p>

To save a file, use <b>C-x C-s</b>.  If there have been any changes,
the file will be written to disk.  To save it under a different
filename, use <b>C-x C-w</b> (write file).  You'll be prompted for a
new name, and the buffer will be renamed (although the original file
will still exist on disk).<p>

<h3>Moving Around</h3>

Most of the time, you can move the emacs cursor around using the arrow
keys or mouse.  Sometimes, however, they won't work, and you'll have
to use the keys: <b>C-f</b>, <b>C-b</b>, <b>C-p</b>, <b>C-n</b> to
move forwards, back, to the previous line, and to the next line,
respectively.<p>

To jump to the beginning of a screen line use <b>C-a</b> (First letter
in the alphabet).  To jump to the end of the line, use <b>C-e</b>.<p>

To move more quickly, use <b>C-v</b> to move down a screenful, and
<b>M-v</b> to move up a screenful.  Use <b>C-&lt;</b> to move to the
beginning of a buffer and <b>C-&gt;</b> to move to the end.<p>

I never use these, but to get really fine-grained you can use
<b>C-{</b> to move up a paragraph and <b>C-}</b> to move down a
paragraph; <b>M-a</b> to move to the beginning of the previous
sentence and <b>M-e</b> to move to the end of the next sentence.
<b>M-b</b> to move back a word and <b>M-f</b> to move forward a word
(Or <b>M-left</b> and <b>M-right</b>).  Picky picky.<p>

<h3>Marking a Region</h3>

If you can use a mouse with emacs, you can mark a region of text the
way you would on any system:  clicking and dragging.  The highlight
tends to disappear after you let go of the button, but the region 
will still be marked.<p>

Otherwise, you have to mark the region by moving to one end of it and
hitting <b>C-SPACE</b>.  Emacs will respond with "Mark set".  Then
move to the other end and do whatever operation you want.  <b>This is
pretty important:</b> emacs always has a notion of where the last mark
was set (lots of operations set "the mark" wherever the cursor was
when the operation was initiated).  Thus, it always has a notion of
the current region: namely, everything between "the mark" and your
cursor.  This can be a problem if you accidentally hit "delete" for
example, because half of your file will disappear without you
understanding why.  Thank goodness for undo. (read on...)<p>

<h3>Cutting, Copying, and Pasting</b>

One way to cut text in emacs is to use <b>C-k</b> (kill).  I may be
alone in this, but it's the only way I cut text.  <b>C-k</b> takes out
the text between the cursor and the end of the line.  If there is no
text, then it takes out the linefeed and moves the next line up.
Lines that you kill accumulate to be pasted.<p>

A more conventional way of cutting would be to highlight and use
<b>C-w</b> (wipe out).  If you're on a machine where you can't use a
mouse, set the region as described above.<p>

Pasting is done using <b>C-y</b> (yank).<p>

Copying can be done in the X windows way: namely, highlight a region
with the mouse and then click the middle mouse button to paste.  Or
you can use <b>M-w</b>.

<h3>Undoing</h3>

Emacs has a phenomenal undo feature: <b>C-x u</b>.  You can undo until
your fingers turn blue, slowly undoing lots and lots of recent
keystrokes, commands, and what-have-you.  It remembers quite a lot of
what you've recently done.<p>

<h3>Working with Buffers</h3>

When you start emacs up, you'll typically only see one buffer and the
minibuffer.  You can view multiple buffers at once, however, and this
can be useful for viewing multiple files simultaneously.  <b>C-x 2</b>
will divide a buffer window in half vertically giving you two buffers,
each with their own status bar.  Move between the buffers using <b>C-x
C-o</b> or the mouse.  Similarly, you can cut a buffer horizontally
using <b>C-x 3</b>.  When editing Lisp or ML, we recommend dividing
your window in this way so that you can edit in one and run the
interpreter in the second.<p>

To hide the buffer your cursor's in, use <b>C-x 0</b>.  Or to make the
buffer your cursor's in fill up the whole window again, use <b>C-x
1</b>.<p>

To view all the buffers in an emacs session, use <b>C-x C-b</b>.  To
switch to a different buffer, use <b>C-x b</b> and emacs will prompt
you for its name.<p>

Normally when you are not viewing a buffer, it's still there though
it's not visible.  To really drop one from your emacs session, use
<b>C-x k</b> and supply the name.  If it's modified, emacs will check
with you before killing it.  This can be useful if you need to get rid
of a bunch of changes to a file.<p>

You'll notice that emacs uses buffers to report information to you.
These are typically surrounded with *'s to show that they don't have
files associated with them.  You can switch between them or kill them
just like any other buffer.<p>

<h3>Functions/Key Bindings</h3>

Most every function in emacs is implemented somewhere using a Lisp
routine.  The common routines are bound to Control- and Meta- key
sequences as we've been describing.  Emacs lets you bind any function
to any key sequence, which is part of the way in which it's so
customizable.  For example, in preparation for working with Lisp and
ML, we've bound some of the most common functions to keys (detailed
elsewhere).<p>

You can also call functions that are unbound by using <b>M-x</b>.
This allows you to type the name of the function, which will then be
executed.  For example, <b>C-v</b> is bound to the "scroll-up"
function.  You could therefore also scroll up using <b>M-x
scroll-up</b>.<p>

<h3>Searching/Replacing</h3>

To search forward for a string, use <b>C-s</b>.  To search backwards
(reverse), use <b>C-r</b>.<p>

To replace all occurrences of a string in a buffer, use <b>M-x
replace-string</b>.  To replace some instances of a string, use <b>M-x
query-replace</b> and you'll be prompted at every location of the
string.<p>

<h3>On-line help</h3>

Emacs has a lot of help available to you using <b>C-h</b>.  You can
then follow it with a single letter indicating what sort of help you
want.  <b>?</b> gives you a list of options.  <b>a</b> takes a string
and lists all the emacs functions related to that string.  <b>k</b>
lets you type a key sequence, and explains briefly what function that
key is bound to.  <b>f</b> lets you type the name of a function, and
it will describe it in detail.  <b>m</b> gives you information about
the mode of the current buffer (e.g. Common Lisp mode, SML mode, etc.).
<b>t</b> takes you through a tutorial which is somewhat poorly written
in comparison with this document.  :)<p>

<h3>Conclusions</h3>

That's about all I can think of right now.  Feel free to email me if
you want to do something I haven't explained, or have other questions.
I've put together a summary of the above information on a <!WA1><a href =
"http://www.cs.washington.edu/education/courses/341/spring96/help/emacs.clip.html">Clip 'n' Save</a> page.<p>

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<address>
Shamelessly stolen from cse341 Winter '96  <P>
[e-mail]
</i>(Last update:
	
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	03/22/96 at 02PM
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</address>
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