Debra Cameron - Learning GNU Emacs, 3rd Edition

Info-scroll-up

Scroll the screen; move to the next topic at this level when finished.

Del or PgUp

Info-scroll-down

Scroll backward.

p

Info-prev

Move to the previous topic at this level (not like a browser back button). If there is no previous topic, move up a level.

u

Info-up

Move up a level.

n

Info-next

Move to the next topic at this level.

i

Info-index

Search the index for a topic.

,

Info-index-next

Go to the next topic in the index.

m

Info-menu

Select a menu item through the keyboard.

q

Info-exit

Quit info.

s

Info-search

Search for a regular expression.

g

Info-goto-node

Go to a specified node.

t

Info-top-node

Go to the top node.

l

Info-last

Go to the last node you visited (like a browser back button).

h

Info-help

Start the info tutorial.

To display the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) file, type C-h f. This file is in Info format.

Perhaps the most important of the remaining Emacs help commands for hard-core users and customizers is C-h n(for view-emacs-news), which visits the NEWS file that comes with Emacs. This file contains a history of changes made to Emacs since the last major version; for example, all changes in Version 20.1 and following up to the latest minor version (which in our case is Version 21.3.5, though the file says 21.4). This can be a very long file if there have been several minor releases since the last major version—in our case, the file is 12,886 lines long. If you want to look through it for changes to a specific aspect of Emacs, use an appropriate search command. But if you just want to skim it, note that this file was intended for use with outline mode: topics are introduced on lines beginning with *, and subtopics are introduced on lines beginning with **. Use outline mode commands to skim the file; see Chapter 7for information. The outline mode command hide-bodydisplays the main topics and hides the text; show-allredisplays all the text as well.

An entertaining approach to learning about the latest release is Antinews. This file takes the viewpoint that Emacs has been downgraded, in our case from 21.4 to 21.3. It takes you through all the features that have been ripped from Emacs 21.4 to create Emacs 21.3. Antinews is a menu item on the first page of the Emacs manual you reach via C-h r.

Table 14-4summarizes commands relating to reading documentation, getting general information about Emacs, and language encoding issues.

Table 14-4. Documentation, general information, and encoding options