XEmacs is a version of Emacs, compatible with and containing many improvements over GNUEmacs, written by
Richard Stallman of the Free Software Foundation. It was originally based on an early release of GNUEmacsVersion19, and has tracked subsequent releases of GNUEmacs as they have become available.
The primary documentation of XEmacs is in the XEmacsReferenceManual, 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 XEmacsLispProgrammer'sManual. 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 XEmacsReferenceManual using Lookup Key
Binding (CTRL-h CTRL-k), and look up Lisp functions in the XEmacsLispProgrammer'sManual 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):
-tfile 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-uuser,-useruser
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.
-ffunction,-funcallfunction
Execute the lisp function function.
-lfile,-loadfile
Load the Lisp code in the file file.
-evalform
Evaluate the Lisp form form.
-ifile,-insertfile
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.
-namename
Specifies the program name which should be used when looking up defaults in the user's X
resources.
-titletitle,-Ttitle,-wntitle
Specifies the title which should be assigned to the XEmacs window.
-ddisplayname,-displaydisplayname
Create the XEmacs window on the display specified by displayname. Must be the first option
specified in the command line.
-fontfont,-fnfont
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-widthpixels
Specify the width of the vertical scrollbars.
-scrollbar-heightpixels
Specify the height of the horizontal scrollbars.
-bwpixels,-borderwidthpixels
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.
-ibpixels,-internal-border-widthpixels
Specify the width between a frame's border and its text, in pixels. Defaults to one pixel on
each side of the window.
-fgcolor,-foregroundcolor
Sets the color of the text.
See the file /usr/lib/X11/rgb.txt for a list of valid color names.
-bgcolor,-backgroundcolor
Sets the color of the window's background.
-bdcolor,-bordercolorcolor
Sets the color of the window's border.
-mccolor
Sets the color of the mouse pointer.
-crcolor
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.
-xrmargument
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(classFace.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(classFace.AttributeForeground)
Sets the foreground color for face.
face.attributeBackground(classFace.AttributeBackground)
Sets the background color for face.
face.attributeBackgroundPixmap(classFace.AttributeBackgroundPixmap)
Sets the background pixmap (stipple) for face.
face.attributeUnderline(classFace.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.
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