Version control

Emacs helps you manipulate and edit files stored in version control. Emacs supports CVS, Subversion,
bzr, git, hg, and other systems, but it offers a uniform interface, called VC, regardless of the version
control system you are using.
Emacs automatically detects when a file you're editing is under version control, and displays something
like this in the mode line: CVS-1.14 to indicate the version control system in use, and the current
version.
M-x vc-next-action or C-x v v commits the current file (prompting you for a log message) if
you've modified it. (Under version control systems that require locking, this command also acquires a
lock for you.)
VC provides other commands for version control-related tasks:
C-x v =

Displays a diff showing the changes you've made to the current file.

C-x v ~

Prompts you for a version number and shows you that version of the current file in another
window.

C-x v g

Displays an annotated version of the file showing, for each line, the commit where that line was
last changed and by whom. On any line you can press L to view the log message for that commit
or D to view the associated diff.

C-x v l

Displays a log of previous changes to the file. When the cursor is on a particular log entry, you
can press d to view the diff associated with that change or f to view that version of the file.

See (info "(emacs)Version Control") for more information.

Some special features are enabled when you are looking at a diff (whether from a file, or one produced
by VC). Emacs lets you move around in a diff by hunks or files, apply individual hunks to a file,
reverse a diff, and do other operations useful for reading or manually editing diffs.
See (info "(emacs)Diff Mode") for more information.

Editing remote files

Emacs can edit remote files transparently (as if they were local) using a feature called Tramp.
Whenever Emacs asks for a file, you can indicate a remote file like so:
/myname@remotehost:/remote/path/to/file. Emacs retrieves the file over SSH, FTP, or
another method and takes care of saving it when you're done. With Tramp you can edit files on
different computers using a single Emacs session, even if Emacs is not installed on the remote side.
You can also use Tramp to edit local files with another user's permissions. You can edit files with root
privileges via sudo: /sudo::/etc/file, or via su: /root@localhost:/etc/file.

See (info "(TRAMP)") for more information.

Emacs server
Some people like to keep only a single instance of Emacs open and edit all their files in there. Doing
this has a few advantages:
 You can kill/yank text between buffers in the same instance of Emacs.
 Emacs remembers argument histories (what commands you've used, what files you've opened,
terms you've searched for, etc.), but only within each instance.
 If you have many customizations, starting new instances of Emacs is slow.
Alas, when you type emacs in a shell to edit a file (or when $EDITOR is invoked by an external
program), a new instance of Emacs is started. You can avoid this by using emacsclient, which
instead opens a new frame connected to an existing instance of Emacs:
1. In your existing instance of Emacs, type M-x server-start. Or add (server-start)
to your .emacs file to make it do that automatically at startup.
2. To edit a file, type emacsclient -t FILENAME at a prompt. You can also change your
$EDITOR to emacsclient -t if you're using programs that automatically invoke
$EDITOR. (emacsclient -t opens a new frame on the terminal; alternatively,
emacsclient -c opens a new X frame.)
3. When you're done editing, type C-x C-c, which closes the frame.

For more information, see (info "(emacs)Emacs Server").

Being unproductive with Emacs

Emacs even comes with diversions:
M-x tetris Tetris
M-x hanoi Towers of Hanoi game
M-x doctor Emacs psychotherapist

Common Emacs concepts

Prefix arguments
As we've seen, prefix arguments are sometimes used to indicate repetition:
C-u 10 C-f Forward 10 characters
C-u M-a Backward 4 sentences
We've also seen a prefix argument used to modify the following command (the numeric argument, if
provided, is ignored):
M-x shell Create or switch to shell buffer named *shell*
C-u M-x shell Create or switch to shell buffer with specified name
If you ever get confused, the documentation for any command (accessible with C-h f or C-h k)
describes the effect of the prefix argument, if any.
See (info "(emacs)Arguments") for more information.

Major modes
Every buffer has an associated major mode, which alters certain behaviors, key bindings, and text
display in that buffer. The idea is to customize the appearance and features available based on the
contents of the buffer.
Emacs ships with dozens of major modes for editing widely used programming languages, markup
languages, and configuration file formats. These major modes tell Emacs how to:
 Indent your code correctly (usually, simply pressing TAB once will make Emacs indent the
current line correctly).
 Do syntax highlighting
 Identify the boundaries of functions
 Invoke interpreters, compilers, or debuggers for your code.
Some commands we've seen, like M-x dired, M-x compile, and M-x shell, in fact use their
own special major modes to make their buffers provide certain features (such as highlighting compile
errors and making them clickable).
The current major mode is displayed in the mode line. The last thing on the mode line should be one or
more items in parentheses, like (Python Narrow). The first of these is the name of the major
mode.
You can switch modes in an existing buffer by using M-x and the name of the mode:

M-x java-mode Mode for editing Java files

M-x python-mode Mode for editing Python files
M-x text-mode Mode for editing text files
M-x fundamental-mode Mode with no specializations at all
Emacs is very good at determining the right mode to use when you open a file, so you'll rarely have to
use the above commands.
These are examples of the commands provided by language major modes:

Language Some special commands available

Lisp Manipulate s-exps in various ways; execute expressions
Python Indent, unindent blocks; run code in Python shell
Language Some special commands available
HTML Insert and close tags; preview in browser
In almost all cases, major modes for unsupported formats are available as extension packages. You can
find many of them on EmacsWiki.
See (info "(emacs)Major Modes") for more information.

Minor modes
Every buffer can also have any number of minor modes, which are extra pieces of functionality you can
enable, independently of each other and of the major mode. Minor modes are listed in the mode line
after the major mode inside the parentheses. Here are a few commonly used ones:
M-x auto-fill-mode

Wraps your lines automatically when they get longer than 70 characters.

M-x flyspell-mode

Highlights misspelled words as you type.

M-x follow-mode

If you have a buffer displayed in two windows side by side, follow-mode forces them to scroll
together such that the text displayed in the second window comes right after the text in the first
window, and moving your cursor off the bottom of the left window causes it to appear at the top
of the right window:
Some minor modes are global, i.e. they affect the behavior of the entire editor, rather than just that of a
specific buffer.
M-x icomplete-mode In the M-x prompt (and elsewhere), show completions as you type
M-x iswitchb-mode Show all buffer names when you switch buffers with C-x b
See (info "(emacs)Minor Modes") for more information.

If you need help with a particular mode, C-h m describes the active major and minor modes. The
mode description often lists important commands which are useful in that mode, which is helpful when
you're learning to use a new mode.

The minibuffer
The minibuffer (the space at the bottom of the frame) is where Emacs prompts you for input in most
situations: for a command, when you type M-x; for a file name, within M-x find-file; for an Elisp
expression, within M-x eval-expression, etc. Here are some features common to most
minibuffer prompts:
 You can use most buffer editing and movement commands. You can move around in, kill text
from, and yank text to minibuffers.
  You can browse previous inputs to the current prompt using M-p and M-n.
 Tab completion is often available. For example, the M-x prompt offers tab completion, so you
needn't worry about typing long command names like M-x wdired-change-to-wdired-
mode when M-x wdired-ch TAB suffices.

Tips for beginners

In the event of an emergency…
Here's what to do if you've accidentally pressed a wrong key:
 If you executed a command and Emacs has modified your buffer, use C-/ to undo that change.
 If you pressed a prefix key (e.g. C-x) or you invoked a command which is now prompting you
for input (e.g. Find file: …), type C-g, repeatedly if necessary, to cancel.
C-g also cancels a long-running operation if it appears that Emacs has frozen.

Keyboard and terminal setup

Some Emacs users remap their Caps Lock key to act as an additional Ctrl key, because it is easier to
reach. See instructions for moving Ctrl.
Due to your keyboard or terminal configuration, you may find that some keys seem to do the wrong
thing:
If your DEL key is not working (sometimes, typing DEL brings up a help screen, as if you typed C-h),
try M-x normal-erase-is-backspace-mode.

If your meta key is not working, in order to type a key that contains meta, you can instead type ESC,
then the remaining keys. For example, ESC x is the same as M-x, and ESC C-s is the same as C-M-
s.

Frequently asked questions

Emacs comes with a FAQ which explains how to perform many commonly requested tasks; press C-h
C-f to read it.

Migrating to Emacs
Emacs has a number of options for easing the transition from other editing environments.

Emacs for Windows users

In Windows, the bread and butter editing commands are C-z, C-x, C-c, and C-v. Unfortunately,
these keys are frequently used in Emacs for other purposes (suspend, prefix key, prefix key, and next
page). You can get those keys back for Undo, Cut, Copy, and Paste by turning on "CUA mode" from
the Options menu. CUA mode also lets you make a selection by using Shift in combination with
movement keys, as you would do on Windows.
Since C-x and C-c are so integral to Emacs operation (they are prefix keys for many commands),
CUA mode only binds C-x and C-c to Cut and Copy, respectively, when you have selected some text.

You can learn more about CUA mode by typing C-h f cua-mode RET.

Emacs for vi/vim users

Viper (M-x viper-mode) is a set of modes for emulating vi editing behavior in Emacs. It provides
different levels of vi-adherence, depending on how vi-like you want your Emacs to be.
For more information about Viper, see (info "(viper)").

Emacs resources
The GNU Emacs Manual (C-h r) is the definitive guide if you want to learn more about Emacs.
Some Emacs features have their own, separate manuals (C-h i d).

The GNU Emacs FAQ (C-h C-f) answers many questions that beginners have about how Emacs
works and how to set it up to do particular things.
EmacsWiki contains information about many downloadable Emacs extensions, as well as tips for using
and customizing Emacs.
You can ask questions on the help-gnu-emacs mailing list.