Using the INFO Browser
Emacs comes with a powerful built-in tool for reading manuals on-line,
called the Info Browser. These manuals, or Info files, are in a format
called "TeXinfo", because they can be viewed in textual format, using the
browser, or they can be converted to LaTeX format for printing. Info
files exist in numerous places, for nearly all of the programs in the gnu
locker, and for many other utilities and packages as well.
To get started using the Info Browser, type Control-h i in emacs. This
will load a menu of info files to choose from, including the Emacs editor
and Info browsers themselves. For a tutorial on how to use the info
browser, press "h".
Each Info file is set up like a tree, with each level consisting of
several nodes, each of which contain sub-nodes. Nodes are indicated by a
star at the beginning of the line. The basic commands for reading through
these trees of nodes are:
m prompts for a menu item, or "node", and goes to it
space move forward a page (in current node)
delete move backward a page (in current node)
n go to next node
p return to previous node
u go up one level above current node
d return to top level menu
q quits Info browser and returns to original buffer
The Info browser, however, can be customized: you may extend or shrink
menus, or enter bookmarks for commonly needed entries. Information on all
this is all included in the node entitled Info.
Probably the most widely used is the Info file for Emacs. You can examine
the Emacs Info node by starting up the Info browser, and then typing
mEmacs, followed by return, or by moving the cursor to the line that
starts with "* Emacs", and hitting m and return. Here, you can find the
*entire* GNU Emacs Manual, and any questions you have about Emacs can
almost certainly be found here. If you are unsure of where to look, you
can try one of the Indexes:
Indexes, nodes containing large menus
* Key Index:: An item for each standard Emacs key sequence.
* Command Index:: An item for each command name.
* Variable Index:: An item for each documented variable.
* Concept Index:: An item for each concept.
Simply move the cursor to the Index of your choice, hit m, and return.
The default top-level node only contains of six entries, but there are, in
fact, over 20 currently on Athena. A list of these is kept in the consult
locker. To get a more expansive listing of useful manuals at Athena in
the top-level node of your Info browser, add this line to your .emacs
file:
(setq Info-directory "/afs/athena/contrib/consult/lib/info")
Note that some of these nodes may require that you add the appropriate
locker first. Details on how to customize this file are in the Info node
entitled "Info".
Also, if you add a locker and it has an Info file, then that node
will be automatically added when you start Info.
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