Getting HELP in Emacs
Emacs has an excellent internal help facility. You can give it a keystroke,
and it will tell you the name of the command it executes. Or you can give it
a word, and it will tell you the names of several commands that include that
word. Emacs' help facility has other features, as well. Here are some of the
most useful ones:
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I know there's a keystroke that will let me insert another file into my
present file. So I'll check the commands that have the word "file" in them ...
C-h a (a is for Apropos.)
file
Then do
C-x o
to go to the other half of your (now split) window, and then
C-v (to move down it, just like usual)
and you find:
insert-file C-x i
Function: Insert contents of file FILENAME into buffer after point.
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How do I find out what the command C-x C-s does, and its name?
C-h k (k is for Keystroke.)
C-x C-s (and then the return key)
This yields the command "save-buffers", and a paragraph or so explaining
how to use the command. This is also useful because you can then
execute the same command by typing:
M-x the-command-name
In this case, it would be
M-X save-buffers
Or, you can bind the command, possibly with another set of commands, to
a function key. (See the stock answer "How to use the FUNCTION keys in
Emacs".)
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What other help does emacs have available for me to use?
C-h ? C-h (h is for help. So is the '?'.)
gives a list of the different kinds of help that emacs has, and how to
use them. The most expansive of these is the Info browser, invoked by the
key sequence C-h i. See the stock answer "Using the INFO browser" for
details.
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What are the special commands for the mode that I'm in?
C-h m (m is for mode)
This gives help that is specific to to the mode you're in, such as Latex or
Mail. It usually gives a brief description of the mode, as well as the
additional commands specific to that mode.
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