Provided by: xemacs21-bin_21.4.24-9_amd64 
NAME
xemacs - Emacs: The Next Generation
SYNOPSIS
xemacs [ command-line switches ] [ files ... ]
DESCRIPTION
XEmacs is a version of Emacs, compatible with and containing many improvements over GNU Emacs, written by
Richard Stallman of the Free Software Foundation. It was originally based on an early release of GNU
Emacs Version 19, and has tracked subsequent releases of GNU Emacs as they have become available.
The primary documentation of XEmacs is in the XEmacs Reference Manual, which you can read on-line using
Info, a subsystem of XEmacs. Please look there for complete and up-to-date documentation. Complete
documentation on using Emacs Lisp is available on-line through the XEmacs Lisp Programmer's Manual. Both
manuals also can be printed out nicely using the TeX formatting package.
The user functionality of XEmacs encompasses everything other Emacs editors do, and it is easily
extensible since its editing commands are written in Lisp.
XEmacs has an extensive interactive help facility, but the facility assumes that you know how to
manipulate XEmacs windows and buffers. CTRL-h enters the Help facility. Help Tutorial (CTRL-h t)
requests an interactive tutorial which can teach beginners the fundamentals of XEmacs in a few minutes.
Help Apropos (CTRL-h a) helps you find a command given its functionality, Help Key Binding (CTRL-h k)
describes a given key sequence's effect, and Help Function (CTRL-h f) describes a given Lisp function
specified by name. You can also look up key sequences in the XEmacs Reference Manual using Lookup Key
Binding (CTRL-h CTRL-k), and look up Lisp functions in the XEmacs Lisp Programmer's Manual using Lookup
Function (CTRL-h CTRL-f). All of these help functions, and more, are available on the Help menu if you
are using a window system.
XEmacs has extensive GUI (graphical user interface) support when running under a window system such as X,
including multiple frames (top-level windows), a menubar, a toolbar, horizontal and vertical scrollbars,
dialog boxes, and extensive mouse support.
XEmacs has full support for multiple fonts and colors, variable-width fonts, and variable-height lines,
and allows for pixmaps to be inserted into a buffer. (This is used in the W3 web-browsing package and in
some of the debugger and outlining interfaces, among other things.)
XEmacs's Undo can undo several steps of modification to your buffers, so it is easy to recover from
editing mistakes.
XEmacs's many special packages handle mail reading (VM, MH-E and RMail) and sending (Mail), Usenet news
reading and posting (GNUS), World Wide Web browsing (W3), specialized modes for editing source code in
all common programming languages, syntax highlighting for many languages (Font-Lock), compiling
(Compile), running subshells within XEmacs windows (Shell), outline editing (Outline), running a Lisp
read-eval-print loop (Lisp-Interaction-Mode), and automated psychotherapy (Doctor).
There is an extensive reference manual, but users of other Emacsen should have little trouble adapting
even without a copy. Users new to Emacs will be able to use basic features fairly rapidly by studying
the tutorial and using the self-documentation features.
XEmacs Options
XEmacs accepts all standard X Toolkit command line options when run in an X Windows environment. In
addition, the following options are accepted (when options imply a sequence of actions to perform, they
are performed in the order encountered):
-t file Use specified file as the terminal instead of using stdin/stdout. This implies -nw.
-batch Edit in batch mode. The editor will send messages to stdout. You must use the -l, -f, and -eval
options to specify files to execute and functions to call.
-nw Inhibit the use of any window-system-specific display code: use the current TTY.
-debug-init
Enter the debugger if an error occurs loading the init file.
-unmapped
Do not map the initial frame.
-no-site-file
Do not load the site-specific init file (site-start.el).
-q, -no-init-file
Do not load an init file.
-no-early-packages
Do not process the early packages.
-vanilla
Load no extra files at startup. Equivalent to the combination of -q , -no-site-file , and -no-
early-packages
-u user, -user user
Load user's init file.
file Edit file.
+number Go to the line specified by number (do not insert a space between the "+" sign and the number).
-help Print a help message and exit.
-V, -version,
Print the version number and exit.
-f function, -funcall function
Execute the lisp function function.
-l file, -load file
Load the Lisp code in the file file.
-eval form
Evaluate the Lisp form form.
-i file, -insert file
Insert file into the current buffer.
-kill Exit XEmacs (useful with -batch).
Using XEmacs with X Windows
XEmacs has been tailored to work well with the X window system. If you run XEmacs from under X windows,
it will create its own X window to display in.
XEmacs can be started with the following standard X options:
-visual <visualname><bitdepth>
Select the visual that XEmacs will attempt to use. <visualname> should be one of the strings
"StaticColor", "TrueColor", "GrayScale", "PseudoColor" or "DirectColor", and <bitdepth> should be
the number of bits per pixel (example, "-visual TrueColor24" for a 24bit TrueColor visual) See
X(1) for more information.
-privateColormap
Require XEmacs to create and use a private colormap for display. This will keep XEmacs from
taking colors from the default colormap and keeping them from other clients, at the cost of
causing annoying flicker when the focus changes. Use this option only if your X server does not
support 24 bit visuals.
-geometry ##x##+##+##
Specify the geometry of the initial window. The ##'s represent a number; the four numbers are
width (characters), height (characters), X offset (pixels), and Y offset (pixels), respectively.
Partial specifications of the form ##x## or +##+## are also allowed. (The geometry specification
is in the standard X format; see X(1) for more information.)
-iconic
Specifies that the initial window should initially appear iconified.
-name name
Specifies the program name which should be used when looking up defaults in the user's X
resources.
-title title, -T title, -wn title
Specifies the title which should be assigned to the XEmacs window.
-d displayname, -display displayname
Create the XEmacs window on the display specified by displayname. Must be the first option
specified in the command line.
-font font, -fn font
Set the XEmacs window's font to that specified by font. You will find the various X fonts in the
/usr/lib/X11/fonts directory. XEmacs works with either fixed- or variable-width fonts, but will
probably look better with a fixed-width font.
-scrollbar-width pixels
Specify the width of the vertical scrollbars.
-scrollbar-height pixels
Specify the height of the horizontal scrollbars.
-bw pixels, -borderwidth pixels
Set the XEmacs window's border width to the number of pixels specified by pixels. Defaults to
one pixel on each side of the window.
-ib pixels, -internal-border-width pixels
Specify the width between a frame's border and its text, in pixels. Defaults to one pixel on
each side of the window.
-fg color, -foreground color
Sets the color of the text.
See the file /usr/lib/X11/rgb.txt for a list of valid color names.
-bg color, -background color
Sets the color of the window's background.
-bd color, -bordercolor color
Sets the color of the window's border.
-mc color
Sets the color of the mouse pointer.
-cr color
Sets the color of the text cursor.
-rv, -reverse
Reverses the foreground and background colors (reverse video). Consider explicitly setting the
foreground and background colors instead of using this option.
-xrm argument
This allows you to set an arbitrary resource on the command line. argument should be a resource
specification, as might be found in your .Xresources or .Xdefaults file.
You can also set resources, i.e. X default values, for your XEmacs windows in your .Xresources or
.Xdefaults file (see xrdb(1)). Use the following format:
Emacs.keyword:value
or
Emacs*EmacsFrame.keyword:value
where value specifies the default value of keyword. (Some resources need the former format; some the
latter.)
You can also set resources for a particular frame by using the format
Emacs*framename.keyword:value
where framename is the resource name assigned to that particular frame. (Certain packages, such as VM,
give their frames unique resource names, in this case "VM".)
XEmacs lets you set default values for the following keywords:
default.attributeFont (class Face.AttributeFont)
Sets the window's text font.
default.attributeForeground (class Face.AttributeForeground)
Sets the window's text color.
default.attributeBackground (class Face.AttributeBackground)
Sets the window's background color.
face.attributeFont (class Face.AttributeFont)
Sets the font for face, which should be the name of a face. Common face names are
FACE PURPOSE
default Normal text.
bold Bold text.
italic Italicized text.
bold-italic Bold and italicized text.
modeline Modeline text.
zmacs-region Text selected with the mouse.
highlight Text highlighted when the mouse passes over.
left-margin Text in the left margin.
right-margin Text in the right margin.
isearch Text highlighted during incremental search.
info-node Text of Info menu items.
info-xref Text of Info cross references.
face.attributeForeground (class Face.AttributeForeground)
Sets the foreground color for face.
face.attributeBackground (class Face.AttributeBackground)
Sets the background color for face.
face.attributeBackgroundPixmap (class Face.AttributeBackgroundPixmap)
Sets the background pixmap (stipple) for face.
face.attributeUnderline (class Face.AttributeUnderline)
Whether face should be underlined.
reverseVideo (class ReverseVideo)
If set to on, the window will be displayed in reverse video. Consider explicitly setting the
foreground and background colors instead of using this resource.
borderWidth (class BorderWidth)
Sets the window's border width in pixels.
internalBorderWidth (class InternalBorderWidth)
Sets the window's internal border width in pixels.
borderColor (class BorderColor)
Sets the color of the window's border.
cursorColor (class Foreground)
Sets the color of the window's text cursor.
pointerColor (class Foreground)
Sets the color of the window's mouse cursor.
emacsVisual (class EmacsVisual)
Sets the default visual XEmacs will try to use (as described above).
privateColormap (class PrivateColormap)
If set, XEmacs will default to using a private colormap.
geometry (class Geometry)
Sets the geometry of the XEmacs window (as described above).
iconic (class Iconic)
If set to on, the XEmacs window will initially appear as an icon.
menubar (class Menubar)
Whether the XEmacs window will have a menubar. Defaults to true.
initiallyUnmapped (class InitiallyUnmapped)
Whether XEmacs will leave the initial frame unmapped when it starts up.
barCursor (class BarCursor)
Whether the cursor should be a bar instead of the traditional box.
title (class Title)
Sets the title of the XEmacs window.
iconName (class Title)
Sets the icon name for the XEmacs window icon.
scrollBarWidth (class ScrollBarWidth)
Sets the width of the vertical scrollbars, in pixels. A width of 0 means no vertical scrollbars.
scrollBarHeight (class ScrollBarHeight)
Sets the height of the horizontal scrollbars, in pixels. A height of 0 means no horizontal
scrollbars.
scrollBarPlacement (class ScrollBarPlacement)
Sets the position of vertical and horizontal scrollbars. Should be one of the strings "top-
left", "bottom-left", "top-right", or "bottom-right". The default is "bottom-right" for the
Motif and Lucid scrollbars and "bottom-left" for the Athena scrollbars.
topToolBarHeight (class TopToolBarHeight)
Sets the height of the top toolbar, in pixels. 0 means no top toolbar.
bottomToolBarHeight (class BottomToolBarHeight)
Sets the height of the bottom toolbar, in pixels. 0 means no bottom toolbar.
leftToolBarWidth (class LeftToolBarWidth)
Sets the width of the left toolbar, in pixels. 0 means no left toolbar.
rightToolBarWidth (class RightToolBarWidth)
Sets the width of the right toolbar, in pixels. 0 means no right toolbar.
topToolBarShadowColor (class TopToolBarShadowColor)
Sets the color of the top shadows for the toolbars. (For all toolbars, not just the toolbar at
the top of the frame.)
bottomToolBarShadowColor (class BottomToolBarShadowColor)
Sets the color of the bottom shadows for the toolbars. (For all toolbars, not just the toolbar at
the bottom of the frame.)
topToolBarShadowPixmap (class TopToolBarShadowPixmap)
Sets the pixmap of the top shadows for the toolbars. (For all toolbars, not just the toolbar at
the top of the frame.) If set, this resource overrides the corresponding color resource.
bottomToolBarShadowPixmap (class BottomToolBarShadowPixmap)
Sets the pixmap of the bottom shadows for the toolbars. (For all toolbars, not just the toolbar
at the bottom of the frame.) If set, this resource overrides the corresponding color resource.
toolBarShadowThickness (class ToolBarShadowThickness)
Thickness of the shadows around the toolbars, in pixels.
visualBell (class VisualBell)
Whether XEmacs should flash the screen rather than making an audible beep.
bellVolume (class BellVolume)
Volume of the audible beep. Range is 0 through 100.
useBackingStore (class UseBackingStore)
Whether XEmacs should set the backing-store attribute of the X windows it creates. This
increases the memory usage of the X server but decreases the amount of X traffic necessary to
update the screen, and is useful when the connection to the X server goes over a low-bandwidth
line such as a modem connection.
textPointer (class Cursor)
The cursor to use when the mouse is over text.
selectionPointer (class Cursor)
The cursor to use when the mouse is over a mouse-highlighted text region.
spacePointer (class Cursor)
The cursor to use when the mouse is over a blank space in a buffer (that is, after the end of a
line or after the end-of-file).
modeLinePointer (class Cursor)
The cursor to use when the mouse is over a mode line.
gcPointer (class Cursor)
The cursor to display when a garbage-collection is in progress.
scrollbarPointer (class Cursor)
The cursor to use when the mouse is over the scrollbar.
pointerColor (class Foreground)
The foreground color of the mouse cursor.
pointerBackground (class Background)
The background color of the mouse cursor.
Using the Mouse
The following lists the mouse button bindings for the XEmacs window under X11.
MOUSE BUTTON FUNCTION
left Set point or make a text selection.
middle Paste text.
right Pop up a menu of options.
SHIFT-left Extend a selection.
CTRL-left Make a selection and insert it at point.
CTRL-middle Set point and move selected text there.
CTRL-SHIFT-left Make a selection, delete it, and insert it at point.
META-left Make a rectangular selection.
FILES
Lisp code is read at startup from the user's init file, $HOME/.emacs.
/usr/local/info - files for the Info documentation browser (a subsystem of XEmacs) to refer to. The
complete text of the XEmacs Reference Manual and the XEmacs Lisp Programmer's Manual is included in a
convenient tree structured form.
/usr/local/lib/xemacs-$VERSION/info - the Info files may be here instead.
/usr/local/lib/xemacs-$VERSION/lisp/* - Lisp source files and compiled files that define most editing
commands. The files are contained in subdirectories, categorized by function or individual package.
Some are preloaded; others are autoloaded from these directories when used.
/usr/local/lib/xemacs-$VERSION/etc - some files of information, pixmap files, other data files used by
certain packages, etc.
/usr/local/lib/xemacs-$VERSION/$CONFIGURATION - various programs that are used with XEmacs.
/usr/local/lib/xemacs-$VERSION/$CONFIGURATION/DOC - contains the documentation strings for the Lisp
primitives and preloaded Lisp functions of XEmacs. They are stored here to reduce the size of XEmacs
proper.
/usr/local/lib/xemacs/site-lisp - locally-provided Lisp files.
BUGS AND HELP
There is a newsgroup, comp.emacs.xemacs, for reporting XEmacs bugs and fixes and requesting help. But
before reporting something as a bug, please try to be sure that it really is a bug, not a
misunderstanding or a deliberate feature. We ask you to read the section ``Reporting XEmacs Bugs'' near
the end of the reference manual (or Info system) for hints on how and when to report bugs. Also, include
the version number of the XEmacs you are running and the system you are running it on in every bug report
that you send in. Finally, the more you can isolate the cause of a bug and the conditions it happens
under, the more likely it is to be fixed, so please take the time to do so.
The newsgroup is bidirectionally gatewayed to and from the mailing list xemacs@xemacs.org. You can read
the list instead of the newsgroup if you do not have convenient Usenet news access. To request to be
added to the mailing list, send mail to xemacs-request@xemacs.org. (Do not send mail to the list itself.)
The XEmacs maintainers read the newsgroup regularly and will attempt to fix bugs reported in a timely
fashion. However, not every message will get a response from one of the maintainers. Note that there
are many people other than the maintainers who read the newsgroup, and will usually be of assistance in
helping with any problems encountered.
If you need more personal assistance than can be provided by the newsgroup, look in the SERVICE file (see
above) for a list of people who offer it.
For more information about XEmacs mailing lists, see the file
/usr/local/lib/xemacs-$VERSION/etc/MAILINGLISTS.
UNRESTRICTIONS
XEmacs is free; anyone may redistribute copies of XEmacs to anyone under the terms stated in the XEmacs
General Public License, a copy of which accompanies each copy of XEmacs and which also appears in the
reference manual.
Copies of XEmacs may sometimes be received packaged with distributions of Unix systems, but it is never
included in the scope of any license covering those systems. Such inclusion violates the terms on which
distribution is permitted. In fact, the primary purpose of the General Public License is to prohibit
anyone from attaching any other restrictions to redistribution of XEmacs.
SEE ALSO
X(1), xlsfonts(1), xterm(1), xrdb(1), emacs(1), vi(1)
AUTHORS
XEmacs was written by Steve Baur <steve@xemacs.org>, Martin Buchholz <martin@xemacs.org>, Richard
Mlynarik <mly@adoc.xerox.com>, Hrvoje Niksic <hniksic@xemacs.org>, Chuck Thompson <cthomp@xemacs.org>,
Ben Wing <ben@xemacs.org>, Jamie Zawinski <jwz@jwz.org>, and many others. It was based on an early
version of GNU Emacs Version 19, written by Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org> of the Free Software
Foundation, and has tracked subsequent releases of GNU Emacs as they have become available. It was
originally written by Lucid, Inc. (now defunct) and was called Lucid Emacs.
Chuck Thompson wrote the XEmacs redisplay engine, maintains the XEmacs FTP and WWW sites, and has put out
all releases of XEmacs since 19.11 (the first release called XEmacs). Ben Wing wrote the Asian-language
support, the on-line documentation (including this man page and much of the FAQ), the external widget
code, and retooled or rewrote most of the basic, low-level XEmacs subsystems. Jamie Zawinski put out all
releases of Lucid Emacs, from the first (19.0) through the last (19.10), and was the primary code
contributor for all of these releases. Richard Mlynarik rewrote the XEmacs Lisp-object allocation
system, improved the keymap and minibuffer code, and did the initial synching of XEmacs with GNU Emacs
Version 19.
Many others have also contributed significantly. For more detailed information, including a long history
of XEmacs from multiple viewpoints and pretty pictures and bios of the major XEmacs contributors, see the
XEmacs About Page (the About XEmacs option on the Help menu).
MORE INFORMATION
For more information about XEmacs, see the XEmacs About Page (mentioned above), look in the file
/usr/local/lib/xemacs-$VERSION/etc/NEWS, or point your Web browser at
http://www.xemacs.org/
for up-to-the-minute information about XEmacs.
The XEmacs FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) can be found at the Web site just listed. A possibly out-of-
date version is also accessible through the Info system inside of XEmacs.
The latest version of XEmacs can be downloaded using anonymous FTP from
ftp://ftp.xemacs.org/pub/xemacs/
or from a mirror site near you. Mirror sites are listed in the file etc/FTP in the XEmacs distribution
or see the Web site for an up-to-date list of mirror sites.